Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Assessment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Jefferson County reports districtwide elementary gains; high-school scores need targeted work
Summary
District staff presented 2024'25 assessment results showing elementary and middle-school improvements in math and reading and noted that 11th-grade performance lagged; the board asked for trend breakouts and clarification on sample sizes and district plans including Quill for upper grades.
District data staff presented the 2024'25 student-assessment results and school-level interventions the board said helped produce measurable gains in many elementary and middle schools, while high-school results require further attention.
"The district has improved more notably from 35% to 39.5%, outperforming the state in growth rate," said Katie Hillman, coordinator of professional development and data management, summarizing districtwide math progress. Hillman highlighted schools with double-digit gains, including Blue Ridge (math from 18% to 37%; reading from 27% to 39%) and CW Shipley (math 64% to 67.2%, reading gains cited). She said the district's reading proficiency rose from 48.9% to 50.7% and that the system has been implementing science-of-reading-aligned curriculum K'8 for several years.
Board members asked detailed questions about the data. One board member (S8) pressed staff on 11th-grade declines and sample sizes in some programs, noting that percentages are hard to interpret when only a handful of students were tested; staff acknowledged that small cohorts (fewer than 10) can distort percentages and said the district will examine which students were tested to better interpret program-level results. Anna Mia Fennell, an instructional coach, described classroom-level steps used to target gaps, including data binders, PLCs, progress monitoring and targeted interventions such as bell-ringer slides and gallery walks.
Hillman and colleagues also described a planned Quill literacy rollout focused on upper grades to strengthen writing and grammar aligned to SAT-style items, but said implementation details (targeted populations and central-office guidance) were still being finalized.
