York County reports small gains on new, more rigorous SOLs; division outperforms state averages

Dr. Candy Skinner, the York County School Division chief academic officer, presented the division's 2024''2025 assessment results at the Sept. 8 work session, saying York County students outperformed the state average in each of five tested content areas.

Skinner opened by placing the results against recent changes to Virginia's assessments, noting the state adopted standards that add 30'to'30% more content in reading and math and shifted to more rigorous, higher-order items and computer-adaptive delivery. "Higher-order thinking" on the new tests, she said, expects students to "analyze, to evaluate, and to create," not merely recall facts.

The presentation said York County exceeded the state average by at least three percentage points in reading, writing, math, history and science. Skinner highlighted a one-point increase in the division's overall reading pass rate (3'8 and 11th-grade and other tested grades aggregated) and noted York County ranked second among Virginia's 132 divisions on the reading three-year average and first among the 15 divisions in the region. She said York County recorded the highest state pass rate for fifth-grade math.

Skinner and staff walked the board through disaggregated reporting-group performance, proficiency-level charts and three-year trends. They said many subgroups also exceeded state averages, though English learners and students with disabilities showed achievement gaps and, in some cases, slight declines compared with fiscal year 2023. "Across all reporting groups, York County outperformed state averages," Skinner said as she summarized the charts.

Miss Hopkins (staff member) and other division staff outlined targeted actions generated from the school-level needs assessments. Those steps include an elementary literacy leads "train-the-trainer" stipend program, expanded use of new VDOE-aligned screening tools (the Virginia Language and Literacy Screening-related instruments), customized school- and grade-level supports, ongoing professional development to coach teachers in teaching higher-order math tasks and the instructional materials review (IMR) process. For students who fail an SOL, staff said schools develop Specialized Reading Plans with parent involvement and regular updates.

Skinner described adjustments in history and science instruction to meet newly revised, more rigorous history and science standards and said teachers have written updated curriculum and are receiving training and new unit-level assessments. She also said the division is preparing in case it elects to use locally awarded verified credits for some subjects in the future; no decision has been made.

Board members asked multiple clarifying questions during and after the presentation. In response to a question about NAEP sampling, Skinner said York had very small NAEP samples ("about 50 kids" in recent administrations) and cautioned against interpreting statewide NAEP charts as a direct readout of division-level performance. When asked about why seventh-grade math pass rates look lower than other grades, Skinner explained the grade-7 population is split across several course placements (math 7, pre-algebra, Algebra I) so only a minority actually take the grade-7 assessment, which affects that rate.

The division said it will provide a deeper update at the October work session on the new state accountability system if VDOE releases the data on schedule.

Staff sources quoted in this report: Dr. Candy Skinner; Lisa Beasley (staff member); Carrie Enoch (math coordinator); Miss Hopkins (staff member); Dr. Shandor (presenting superintendent/staff).

The division emphasized that the new SOLs raise content and rigor and that York County's small gains and high comparative rankings reflect teacher and student effort amid those changes. The board asked for ongoing detail on subgroup supports and for staff to continue monthly monitoring of school improvement plans.