Madison County Schools reports stronger ACAP growth, rising English-learner population and plans for standards-based grading pilot

Madison County Schools administrators presented elementary-system assessment results, demographic changes and next steps for a standards-based reporting proposal at the board’s Sept. 5 work session.

District officials told the board that ACAP proficiency and growth improved in 2024–25. The presentation noted systemwide proficiency rates of roughly 70% in ELA, 44% in math and 46% in science (all tested grades combined), and said growth measures showed higher gains than the prior two years. The district said 93% of students were promoted based on spring ACAP this year, compared with 94% the prior year; administrators said supplemental ACAP promotions increased this year as well.

Staff said the state cut score used for promotion in reading rose from the prior benchmark to 463 for 2024–25 and will increase to 471 the following year; that change did not materially alter promotion rates, according to the presentation. District presenters explained the distinction between “sufficiency” (reading subtest, binary sufficient/not sufficient for grade-level reading) and “proficiency” (full ELA battery performance across four performance levels).

Administrators highlighted significant demographic changes since 2019: the English-learner population grew to about 686 students from roughly 338; students identified with exceptional needs (special education) rose from about 2,396 in 2019 to about 2,700; poverty rates increased from about 37% to nearly 46%; and the district added more than 1,000 students overall.

District officials credited expanded staffing and targeted support for improvements in outcomes for English learners, noting the district exited 16 EL students from services last year and projects strong performance on the state report card EL metric (the presentation estimated approximately 4.7 out of 5 points). Administrators said they have added ES L staffing and that most high schools now have a full-time EL position.

To address math proficiency — particularly in middle school — staff described expanded professional learning, deployed intervention programs for foundational math skills, and a new secondary math specialist assigned to work with teams across schools. The district also said it has math coaches for all elementary schools (two for the largest campuses) and is participating in the state MTSS cohort to standardize tiered interventions.

On standards-based grading, staff said a task force is developing a transition plan that separates academic behaviors from content knowledge and is designing a report-card mockup with IT. The district asked the board to decide whether to approve a policy change to move forward with the standards-based reporting process; staff said many implementation details remain and will be refined if the board signals support.

Board members and presenters agreed to continue the work; the standards-based reporting task force will meet again Sept. 10. Administrators offered to provide grade-by-grade and school-level breakdowns to board members on request.