CMS reports modest gains in grades 3–5 reading; officials say 691 more students needed to meet annual target

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Dr. Earnest L. Hill presented an interim reading report on March 25 showing that 33% of third- through fifth-grade students are projected to score at the college-and-career-ready level on end-of-grade reading assessments, short of the 37% annual target for 2024–25.

The district uses MVPA benchmark assessments to project end-of-year performance. Dr. Hill told the board that the second benchmark projects 35% of students in grades 3–5 to reach levels 4 or 5; the district must accelerate growth to gain 2 percentage points by the April benchmark and the actual test in order to reach 37%.

Board members pressed staff on what would close the remaining gap. Dr. Hill and Chief Academic staff said the district has identified 11,000 students currently projected as college-and-career ready and needs an additional 691 to meet the target. Staff pointed to three primary levers: reduce chronic absenteeism, target instruction to students on the cusp of proficiency, and strengthen job-embedded professional development via school-based master teachers and district specialists.

“Knowing who those students are, being able when we do our core action walks to know who those students are, and taking a really close look at the work they’re doing” is central, Dr. Hill said, describing frequent classroom visits and use of benchmark rosters to pinpoint students who scored “level 3 plus” and who are closest to reaching level 4.

Board members and staff described Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) as the mechanism for assigning supplemental or intensive interventions. CMS staff said MTSS decisions are made using multiple data points (MVPA, i-Ready, attendance, disabilities, suspension history) rather than a single test, and that interventions follow a standard treatment protocol that prescribes intensity, duration and progress monitoring. Staff cited examples such as EL Education skills blocks and Orton-Gillingham for phonics, with specific session lengths and frequencies.

Staff reported movement out of Tier 3 to Tier 1 for roughly 698 students who showed growth after receiving intensive, targeted supports. Chief Hill described that movement as the product of diagnosis of need, application of the correct standard treatment protocol and progress monitoring that demonstrated students could work on grade-level material.

Attendance emerged as a recurring concern. Board members asked whether immigration-related fears were contributing to chronic absenteeism; staff said they saw a spike in January but that attendance had returned toward normal and that My Brother’s Keeper is the primary partner conducting home visits and targeted outreach for chronically absent students. Staff said they are not currently engaging new outside partners specifically for attendance, focusing instead on training school social workers and monitoring logs.

Board members also asked whether the district tracks which school-level intervention models (pull-out, push-in, grade-level targeting, master-teacher deployment) yield the best outcomes. Staff said the district has not systematically compared variations across schools because local contexts (school size, staffing, partnerships) vary widely, making a one-size measurement difficult; they said the district relies on performance-area assistant superintendents and core action walks to identify and replicate promising practices.

Board members requested more specificity about instructional gaps identified in core action walks. Staff said they frequently find insufficient rigor during differentiated core/all-block time in some classrooms — for example, intervention activities taking place where on-grade-level differentiated core should be occurring — and that they are working with schools to correct instructional alignment.

Several board members asked how the district will scale up evidence-based tutoring and family-facing resources. Dr. Hill said the strategic partnerships office is recruiting high-dosage tutoring providers and that family-facing resources (webinars, Family Academy, I-Ready parent tools) are catalogued and posted online to help families interpret assessment reports and support learning at home.

Why it matters: grades 3–5 reading growth is a near-term indicator for the district’s five-year goal to increase college-and-career-readiness. The district’s staff-centered strategy — school-based master teachers supported by district specialists, use of MTSS, targeted interventions and attention to attendance — aims to lift rates, but staff warned that sustained progress will require continued alignment of staffing, coaching and resources.

Looking ahead: staff said the district will use the April MVPA benchmark and the end-of-year assessments to measure whether additional acceleration strategies are effective and will report back to the board.