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Midyear academic update: elementary literacy screening shows midyear gains, division adopts new growth assessment
Summary
Chief Academic Officer Danielle Colucci told the board March 4 that early literacy screening and other midyear measures show progress; the division began using NWEA MAP growth testing in grades 2–9 and reported credential gains in career and technical education.
Chief Academic Officer Danielle Colucci presented the school division’s midyear academic update at the March 4 special meeting.
Colucci highlighted midyear gains in early literacy screening data from the Virginia Literacy Screening System (VLaSS). She said that at the beginning of the school year about 25% of Virginia Beach kindergarteners scored in the system’s high‑risk band; presenters reported a decline in that high‑risk indicator by midyear (the presentation materials described the change as a drop of about 20 percent). Colucci described the screening as a banded risk measure used to identify students who need targeted remediation under the Virginia Literacy Act.
Colucci also described pre‑K screening and said early‑year to midyear comparisons showed growth in foundational literacy skills after the division targeted coaching and interventions. The division has implemented regular progress monitoring and described school‑level supports, instructional coaching and professional learning tied to the screening results.
On growth assessment, Colucci said the division is using the NWEA MAP Growth assessment this year under state guidelines that allow it as an alternative to the Virginia Growth Assessment. She said MAP is being administered in grades 2–9 and in Algebra I; MAP is computer adaptive and the division is using MAP data together with teacher‑created unit assessments and SOLs to identify student needs.
Colucci described classroom‑level MAP reports that show both relative achievement and growth quadrants; teachers use those reports to differentiate instruction. She said the division also combines MAP and locally developed unit assessments to identify course‑level gaps (Colucci used an Algebra I example) and to target tutoring and intervention.
On career and technical education, the division reported that last school year students earned 35 distinct industry credentials and passed 14,330 credential exams in total. Colucci said 8,400 assessments were administered in the fall semester, yielding 6,800 credentials with an 81% fall pass rate. The division added a new U.S. Entrepreneurship certification exam this fall and reported an 86.3% pass rate for that credential in its first administration.
Colucci also noted awards: seven Virginia Beach high schools earned the Virginia Index for Student Ethics (WISE) blue star status for financial‑literacy pass rates, and 24 teachers were recognized as WISE gold‑star teachers for exceptionally high pass rates. Board members asked for follow‑up on specific items, including the set of schools and programs that participated in the entrepreneurship certification and requests for additional term‑to‑term data (for example, fall to spring comparisons) when spring assessments are complete.
Ending: Colucci said the offices in the Department of Teaching and Learning will continue to disaggregate data to support school‑level interventions and will return with additional assessment detail at later meetings.
