By Brian Trompeter
Fairfax County Public Schools students’ standardized-test scores, with a couple of exceptions, continue to exceed those recorded statewide, officials told the School Board Aug. 29.
The data show FCPS continues to “improve modestly in math and science and hold steady in reading,” said Superintendent Michelle Reid. “We continue to outperform the commonwealth in all subjects.”
State officials usually release the information in late September, but did so six weeks early this year, she said.
FCPS students had higher pass rates in math, even though 6.8 percent more fifth-graders took Advanced Math and 9.5 percent more eighth-graders took Algebra 1 or higher courses, Reid said.
Sloan Presidio, the school system’s chief academic officer, attributed those positive outcomes to professional development and coaching within schools and a concerted effort to have counselors approach students about taking more challenging classes at earlier ages.
Strong preparatory efforts at lower grade levels set up students for success in advanced courses, Reid said.
“When we can get those arrows moving in one direction, we’re going to make progress,” she said. “We’re going to move mountains.”
FCPS had 264 National Merit Semifinalists this year, the most recorded since at least 2016, the superintendent said.
In addition, FCPS students took more than 6,000 additional Advanced Placement tests last year and their AP passage rates rose as well, Reid said.
“When you think about that, that’s more access, more opportunity and a demonstration of excellence,” she said.
Only one chart, which showed FCPS students’ passage rates on Standards of Learning (SOL) and Virginia Alternative Assessment Program tests in reading, math and science, showed negative outcomes.
Most student demographic groups did better their counterparts statewide, but Hispanic students and those who were economically disadvantaged registered lower scores in all three categories.
Reid said FCPS officials had determined Hispanic students who were not enrolled in the multi-lingual-learner category performed higher than statewide averages. These included 84-percent passage rates for reading (5 percent above the state average), 78 percent in math and 75 percent in science.
“Our students are performing actually extraordinarily well,” Reid said. “As we work on refining our strategies to meet the needs of our multi-lingual learners, we’re going to continue to see improvements.”
School Board member Mateo Dunne (Mount Vernon) said he hoped the school system could improve the achievement of lagging groups.
“There should be a scientific approach to raising the test scores of these black students, Hispanic students, students with disabilities” and those who are economically disadvantaged, he said.
Dunne said he hoped FCPS could study best practices and lessons learned from outstanding teachers in the school system, as well as from other school divisions.
“To have so much autonomy is good in one way, but to leave so many people to kind of figure it out on their own through trial and error seems inefficient,” he said.
Reid said academic success hinges on having effective educators in every classroom and supported by capable leaders.
“A relationship between the student, teacher and the content being taught is critical,” she said.
School Board member Melanie Meren (Hunter Mill) said quality education has many facets, not merely achievement on standardized tests.
“People know that our schools are not just test score and not just demographics,” she said. “I do think that we need to fight back against this reduction mindset of all we do is teach kids to take a test.”
School Board OKs Extra Spending on Madison High Tennis Courts: The Fairfax County School Board approved a consent-agenda item Aug. 29 that will pay a contractor additional funds to fix an unanticipated problem encountered while attempting to refurbish James Madison High School’s tennis courts.
The School Board on May 23 approved a $361,739 contract with ATC Corp. (formerly American Tennis Courts Inc.) to renovate five tennis courts at the Vienna high school.
But after finishing the milling of the courts’ old asphalt, the contractor found that the ground below was soft and liable to sink under the weight of paving equipment operating on the surface.
The School Board approved a $97,625 change order Aug. 29 that will pay for ACT Corp. to mix Portland cement into the existing soil and stone, then compact it with equipment and roll it into a firmer sub-base for the tennis courts. The improvements properly will support the asphalt above and give the final product greater longevity, officials said.
The contract addition isn’t the project’s first. Fairfax County Public Schools’ Office of Facilities Maintenance earlier processed a $12,034 change order to permit installation of a section of 16-foot-tall fencing on one of the tennis courts, which officials said inadvertently had not been included in the original scope of work.
