Duval shows mixed midyear gains while NAEP and attendance trends raise district concern

Duval County Schools officials told the school board on Thursday that national and state comparisons show worrying declines in some assessments even as the district sees early, localized gains from new curricula and targeted supports.

The district’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) trend lines show Duval above large‑city averages in fourth‑grade math but with signs of leveling. Fourth‑grade reading dropped by four scale points from 215 to 211 on one slide the district presented; eighth‑grade results fell more steeply and put Duval below the large‑city average, presenters said. The district also highlighted a national Education Recovery Scorecard study showing chronic absenteeism rose sharply through the COVID years and has only partially recovered, with higher free‑and‑reduced‑price‑lunch districts seeing larger increases.

Those national and state indicators matter because NAEP provides a common yardstick for cross‑state comparisons and because chronic absenteeism is linked in published research to lower achievement. Board members pressed staff on what the scores mean for local policy and whether Florida’s reporting and attendance definitions complicate comparisons.

Nate (district assessment staff) summarized NAEP’s role as a congressionally mandated, sample‑based measure administered by the National Center for Education Statistics and cautioned that NAEP “does not inform instruction in the current school year” because it tests a representative sample rather than every student. Corey Wright, the district’s chief of accountability and research, and other presenters explained the difference between NAEP and Florida’s adaptive classroom assessments (STAR and FAST) and noted that NAEP is not aligned to Florida standards.

At the district level, midyear progress‑monitoring data (PM2) showed both challenges and gains: STAR early literacy benchmarks identify a kindergarten‑readiness threshold at a STAR scale score of 707; the district reported that 19 of 45 VPK sites already met or exceeded that marker and named several early‑learning sites with substantially higher averages. In math and reading for grades 3–10, presenters highlighted statistically meaningful midyear gains in specific grade bands and schools: Duval reported midyear proficiency increases in fourth and fifth grade reading (from about 30–37% last year to 41% in the current year at PM2) and elementary mathematics gains in schools such as Northwestern Legends and Abbotts Park (double‑digit percentage improvements in proficiency at PM2), and middle‑ and high‑school ELA increases in several high schools.

Board members voiced frustration that, taken as a whole, proficiency rates remain low for many grades and subgroups. Board Member Joyce said she was “angry” and “hurt” by low proficiency percentages she read from the PM2 slides, and asked district leaders how staff and the board should interpret and act on the data. Superintendent Bernier and assessment staff responded that PM2 is a midpoint snapshot and that PM3 and end‑of‑year data will be used, but they acknowledged the need for clearer strategic targets and more regular public reporting on specific goals.

District response: staff outlined a multi‑tiered program of curriculum alignment, professional learning, and targeted interventions. The district described three linked supports: 1) frequent professional learning cohorts in which a representative from every school studies standards and item‑level assessments; 2) “lead” convenings for principals and regional superintendents to review implementation and scale practices that work; and 3) classroom‑level tools and “deep data guides” that match standards to ready‑to‑use tutoring modules and interleaved practice sets. Miss Renfro (district academic lead) described the Accelerating Student Achievement (ASA) structures that include biweekly region content meetings, classroom snapshots, common assessment item analyses, and scripted tutoring modules for identified standards.

Presenters emphasized that FAST is an adaptive assessment and that adaptive item sequencing changes a student’s pathway through the test. Board members and staff discussed test‑taking practice and student stamina as implementation issues; the district said it is teaching test navigation strategies and simulating adaptive item types in professional learning cohorts.

The board asked for more granular subgroup reporting, cohort tracking over several years, and clearer, time‑bound strategic targets. Superintendent Bernier said staff will return with historical trends, disaggregated subgroup data, and a schedule for regular updates.

Ending: District staff framed the midyear results as both an accountability signal and a guide for intervention work through the spring. They asked the board to weigh strategic priorities and agreed to bring more frequent updates that include subgroup breakdowns and school‑level implementation evidence.