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Students and staff say notebooks, Walks and Top Score are driving gains at two CSI schools
Summary
At the Mercer County Board of Education meeting, Bluefield Intermediate and Mountain Valley Elementary presented classroom interventions, community partnerships and CSI-funded plans — including student 'data notebooks,' a four-day Walks intervention and the Top Score writing curriculum — and shared multi-year test-score gains and budget requests.
Bluefield Intermediate and Mountain Valley Elementary presented to the Mercer County Board of Education on March 9, 2025, detailing classroom interventions, community partnerships and proposed uses of Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) funds.
At Bluefield Intermediate, students and staff highlighted so-called "data notebooks" — described by fifth-grader Chloe Gore as "brag books" used to "track our ... progress and our testing progress" and to share work with parents and teachers. The school also described a Walks intervention in which students rotate to targeted small-group instruction four days a week for about 40 minutes. "Walks intervention is 4 days a week and 40 minutes long. I like Walks intervention because it helps me with the things that I might struggle a little bit with," fourth-grader Asher Anderson told the board.
Bluefield staff said the school is emphasizing high-impact Tier 1 instruction (modeling, guided practice and checks for understanding), data-driven parent engagement and departmentalizing grade-level instruction to match teacher strengths. The school's CSI budget includes summer leadership training, corrective-reading interventions, data notebooks and classroom document cameras.
Mountain Valley, designated CSI for the subgroup of students with disabilities, told the board it has seen multi-year gains. Principal Teresa Will said the school, with "264 students, 80% low SCES, and 32.58% receiving special ed services," has used multiple measures (West Virginia General Summative Assessment, I-Ready and TOP Score) to monitor progress. Mountain Valley staff reported a 20% improvement in reading and a 14% improvement in math over four years, figures the presenters contrasted with the state's annual target.
Teachers and leaders also described specific instructional investments for approval: Top Score (a structured, scaffolded writing curriculum), Youth Lab phonics, Bridg's math intervention and a proposed partnership with Branch Ed for observation and coaching. Top Score teacher Allison Holland said the program "scaffolds the students really nicely into writing" and pointed to a first-year improvement metric: "we saw 71% of our students improve in their writing ... on the general summative assessment" in early implementation.
Mountain Valley asked the board to consider a schoolwide amplification system to increase audibility in classrooms and cited anecdotal behavior and engagement improvements at sites that have used similar systems. Board members asked about cost, classroom modalities and whether the device is tied to particular hardware; presenters described portable teacher microphones and school-level systems that broadcast instruction to the back of a room.
Why it matters: Both CSI schools told the board their proposed investments are intended to accelerate student achievement across reading, writing and math. Mountain Valley also presented a congratulatory letter from the state superintendent recognizing the school’s performance in English language arts on the 2025 balance scorecard.
Next steps: Presenters asked the board to approve CSI budget line items (staff development, corrective reading, supplemental curriculum and equipment) and to consider pilot or purchase approvals for amplification and Branch Ed supports. The district will host upcoming diagnostic visits by the state department for Mountain Valley (March 17) and Bluefield Intermediate (March 19), which local leaders said will inform next steps.
