Statewide increases in “cut scores,” or minimum scores required for demonstrating proficiency in math and reading Standards of Learning tests, was a topic of discussion during last Thursday night’s meeting of the Mathews County School Board.
The meeting, which was held in the Brooks Auditorium at Thomas Hunter Middle School, was held on the same day that the Virginia Board of Education met in Richmond and voted to increase the cut scores.
SOL tests are graded on a scale of 0 to 600, with 400 the current threshold for proficiency, or passing, and 500 for advanced. That basic grading system has been in effect for about a quarter century, since the SOLs were first implemented. Changes were made by individual grade levels, with reading performance proficient cut levels now ranging from 444 to 479 for reading, and 430 to 453 for math.
The new cut scores will be phased in over several years, with current high school seniors exempted from the change. The VBOE is expected to come up with an implementation plan for these new minimum scores when it meets again on Oct. 24.
“There will be higher cut scores in Virginia; the ‘when’ has yet to be determined,” said Mathews County’s Superintendent of Schools Dr. David S. Daniel said during his presentation.
The school division administers about 35 SOL tests, Daniel said, with the number of questions that a student has to get right varying from test to test to reach proficiency or advanced levels. Additionally, he said, the level of difficulty of individual questions may be different and therefore weighted differently. Basically, he said, the goal moving forward is to increase the number of questions that a student must get right to earn proficiency or advanced.
“It is a significant increase,” Daniel said of the increase in cut scores.
With this increased academic rigor, “what you’re going to see is [an] initial dip in pass rates,” he said.
Across the state, if these new cut scores were applied to last year’s SOL tests for reading, Virginia would have had a 37 percent pass rate. With Virginia averaging about a 68 percent pass rate in English language arts SOLs, the state would see about a 30 percent decline … if the new cut scores were implemented immediately, he said.
“We had a hill to climb before in terms of student achievement. The hill is going to get steeper in the next couple years,” he said.
How soon these changes will be incorporated will be decided at the next VBOE meeting. However, Daniel said his “hunch” is that he expects a four- or five-year phase-in.
“The potential exists that we are going to need more support staff in order to get students who are struggling to make that amount of growth over the next three to four years,” Daniel said.
“We’ve got to start earlier too … Working with our preschool partners and making sure our VPI classes and community outreach that students are prepared when they are coming in and reading over the summer and doing things over the summer that it now becomes much more important for it to be a community year-round effort,” he continued. “And I’m not saying go to year-round school … But I’m saying the learning can’t stop on June 9 and only pick up again on August 25. We have to have continual growth.” He suggested looking at summer school differently, as well as after-school tutoring programs.
“We’re still doing the right things. It’s just that the hill’s going to get a little bit steeper in the coming years,” Daniel said.
Enrollment
Earlier in the meeting, Daniel provided an update on student enrollment. Although the division has experienced a major drop in enrollment from the 2003-2004 school year (when K-12 enrollment was 1,298 on Sept. 30), the large yearly decreases have slowed down recently. The enrollment on Sept. 30, 2024 was 769 students, with this year’s Sept. 30 enrollment expected to be about 760, he said. This year’s budget was based on an Average Daily Membership of 725; last year, that figure was 750.
At the start of last Thursday’s meeting, the board recognized the retirement of Heidi Hurst, who has stepped down after 25 years as a bus driver.
The school board’s next monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m. in the Brooks Auditorium. A town hall meeting is set for that Thursday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. in the same location. And the school board’s fall work session will be held the following Thursday, Oct. 30, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Chesapeake Bank Community Room.