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MAP winter results show mixed growth; Petersburg plans expanded tutoring and will use state'federal funds for extended learning
Summary
The district's winter MAP assessment showed highest growth in eighth grade but weaker results in early grades; the board approved purchases and contracts to expand tutoring, buy Chromebooks and fund extended learning programs using state and federal grants.
PETERSBURG, Va. — Petersburg City Public Schools presented winter MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) results at the March 5 meeting, reporting uneven growth across grades and signaling a push to expand targeted tutoring and extended-learning programs.
Director of accountability Dr. Decarda Jackson told the board that eighth graders showed the strongest growth in both math and reading, in some cases exceeding their projected growth targets. Students in grades 3 and 6 also showed notable gains. By contrast, first- and second-grade students were farthest from their projected growth targets in fall-to-winter comparisons.
Proficiency and growth: Jackson and Superintendent Brown noted that while many students registered growth between fall and winter administrations, the district's combined proficiency measures declined between fall and winter in both math and reading. For the MAP-to-SOL proficiency prediction shown at the hearing, combined math proficiency (advanced + proficient) fell from roughly 42.3% in the fall to about 33.7% in the winter; combined reading proficiency dropped from about 37.9% to about 31.3% in the same interval. Administrators said those shifts point to targeted intervention needs in early grades and a focus on computational fluency and comprehension at middle grades.
District response: The board heard several actions and grant-funded efforts designed to accelerate learning: hiring or contracting tutors, deploying a k'8 Chromebook initiative, and using the state'funded "All In" tutoring allocations (the administration described roughly $3.5 million available to the division) to support tutoring and reading initiatives. April Blunt (federal programs) and literacy staff explained that roughly 70% of All In Tutoring funding is expected to be used for high-intensity tutoring and that the division has already hired Virginia Literacy Act (VLA) specialists and early-learning support assistants funded by prior awards.
Extended-learning awards: The district reported it had been awarded extended-learning grants that together total about $1.377 million: roughly $736,000 for elementary after-school STEAM and summer-exploration programs and about $640,000 for secondary after-school and summer CTE/STEAM offerings. The district said it will use those grants to pilot additional after-school clubs, summer camps, industry and college partnerships, and professional development for educators.
Purchases and contracts: As part of the district's intervention plan, staff asked the board to approve several purchases and vendor contracts. The board approved the federal-program purchase requests for: - 3,000 Chromebooks to expand device access for students in grades K'8 (administration cited an estimated cost of about $1,163,000), - a university tutoring contract to provide in-person acceleration and intervention (estimated cost about $537,900), and - a contract with Axiom (described by staff as a tutoring-provider contract) to deliver additional tutors for in-school and after-school support (the staff estimate was roughly $800,000).
Funding sources and oversight: Staff said Title I, school-improvement (SIG) funds and other federal and state grants would pay for many of the purchases and tutoring contracts. April Blunt said state approval channels (VDOE) had to review proposed uses for some school-improvement funds before contracts were finalized. Accountability staff will monitor participation and growth; principals and coaches are expected to run regular data meetings to track student progress.
Parent engagement and measures of success: Administrators told the board they are distributing parent MAP reports, running parent-university sessions and planning device-access guidance so families can support students at home. The district also plans to add monitoring tools to track student engagement with at-home learning resources.
Ending: Board members approved the purchases and the tutoring contracts in voice votes. Administration said it will return with ongoing MAP results and program-level progress at subsequent board meetings.
