ACPS reports fuller buses, small SOL gains and new literacy curriculum to Albemarle supervisors

Albemarle County Public Schools opened the 2024-25 school year with full bus-route coverage and modest improvements in some standardized test pass rates, School Board Chair Judy Lee told the Board of Supervisors Sept. 4.

Lee said preliminary enrollment figures are up slightly from projections but cautioned numbers remain fluid through the 30-day count; she reported about a 300-student increase so far. "As enrollment continues to stabilize at the beginning of the year, we'll share more at a later date," she said. On transportation, Vice Chair Dr. Acuff said an intensive recruitment effort produced 92 applications and new hires that allowed the division to cover all routes for the first day of the year, while continuing work to shorten long rides.

ACPS also reported testing and curriculum changes. The division adopted HMH Into Reading for K-5 after a multi-stakeholder review, and reported modest gains in 2023-24 SOL pass rates: reading pass rates for grades 3-8 averaged 75%, and math pass rates rose to 72% (both slightly above state averages). Dr. Acuff said the division will adopt a new elementary math curriculum after VDOE direction in January and aims to strengthen middle-school math to allow earlier Algebra 1 access.

On student-device policies, ACPS is piloting Yonder phone-storage pouches at Walton Middle School to restrict device access during instructional time and convened a cell-phone policy enforcement committee including students, parents and educators to evaluate effectiveness. "The challenge for our policy or any cell phone policy is enforcement," Dr. Acuff said.

Supervisors praised the transportation staffing gains and pressed for ongoing data sharing between the county and schools on enrollment impacts of new housing developments. The school board said it will continue to update the supervisors and coordinate where possible on shared priorities such as early-childhood programs.