St. Lucie midyear tests show modest gains in reading and math; attendance steady

St. Lucie Public Schools reported modest midyear gains in reading and math on Tuesday, saying districtwide reading proficiency across grades 3–10 is about 5 percentage points higher at midyear than last year and math is up roughly 3% across grades 3–8.

Dr. Sommer, the district’s chief of schools, presented the Progress Monitoring 2 (PM2) results and said the district watches scale-score growth — the measurement that moves students from nonproficient to proficient — closely. “When you aggregate the grade levels 3 through 10 together, our proficiency at mid year is 5% higher this year than it was last,” she said.

The presentation highlighted several school- and grade-level improvements. Dr. Sommer pointed to seventh grade reading — up 7 percentage points — and eighth grade reading, which rose by 8 points compared with the prior year. In math, several elementary and middle grades showed double-digit improvements at specific schools; for example, Bayshore improved in both third and fifth grade by more than 10 percentage points.

District leaders cautioned that the PM2 window (December–January) is an early, midyear snapshot and that the state’s end-of-year PM3 remains the metric tied to school grades and recognition funding. The board asked whether earlier testing in December disadvantaged some students; staff said testing early gives the district actionable data and that most sites test in December to inform midyear interventions.

Superintendent Doctor Prince and staff also described the district’s Accelerated Math Program (AMP), which places roughly one-quarter of grades 3–5 students into accelerated coursework that can skew comparisons because accelerated students take higher-grade assessments. “Right now we have approximately 25% of our grades 3, 4, and 5 students taking acceleration,” Prince said, noting that cohorts vary when students are assessed on different grade standards.

Attendance data was another focus: the district said elementary attendance averaged about 94% this year, middle schools 92% and high schools 90%, producing an overall attendance rate near 92%. Dr. Sommer noted the practical impact of small attendance changes: “A 1% change equals about 400 students — almost an entire school of additional students attending every single day,” she said.

Board members asked how PM2 relates to state funding and recognition dollars. District staff and a school finance specialist explained that school recognition funds are based on the combined school grade, which is determined after PM3; PM1 and PM2 inform local interventions but do not themselves trigger state recognition dollars.

The district said staff will continue midyear supports — targeted interventions, principal collaboration and teacher coaching — to sustain growth through PM3 and the end of the year.