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Summers County Schools report winter benchmark gains; Renee Jones outlines grade-by-grade progress
Summary
Renee Jones presented countywide K-5 benchmark results at the Feb. 20 board meeting, reporting that the district moved dozens of students out of intensive-intervention (red) tiers across several grades, including 26 first graders who moved out of red since the fall.
At the Summers County Board of Education meeting on Feb. 20, district staff presented countywide winter benchmark results showing movement of students out of tier-three (red) interventions into yellow and green tiers.
Renee Jones told the board the county uses tiered benchmarking (green = tier one; yellow = tier two; red = tier three) and summarized grade-by-grade changes. "Grade one, this to me is amazing: we had 62 in the fall in tier three and we were able to move 26 of those students out of the red," she said. Jones reported similar movement in math and literacy across multiple elementary grades: kindergarten moved five students out of red in early numeracy; second grade moved eight students out of red and gained 13 students in green; third grade showed smaller gains but still moved students out of red; fourth and fifth grades each shifted several students from red toward yellow or green.
Jones said two of three elementary schools participated in the optional Cambium benchmarks for grades 3—; those schools provided ELA and math data to the board. She emphasized that district staff follow up with school-level teams (principal, interventionist, special education staff and classroom teachers) to analyze data and tailor interventions. Jones said weather disruptions pushed a benchmark schedule earlier and that the district will administer ASWEP (county web-based benchmark) again in the spring.
Board members asked whether another benchmark should be added before spring; Jones said the district will use the spring ASWEP and continue to use Cambium module assessments (short practice tests) and targeted pre/post testing in classrooms. The district noted that movement out of red often reflects a mix of instruction, intervention and student mobility; Jones said some gains may change if students with IEPs or newly enrolled students alter school-level counts.
The presentation concluded with encouragement that continued tier movement would yield improved spring results and a reminder that principals will present school-level breakdowns to Local School Improvement Councils (LSICs).
