Massive reductions in chronic absenteeism, big gains in test scores
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Page Valley News acknowledges that the writer’s spouse is a middle school teacher in Page County Public Schools.
By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Aug. 22 — On Thursday night, the Page County School Board had a lot to celebrate. Not only the annual good vibes sent out to get the school year off on the right foot, but also a genuine, objective illustration of the hard work that teachers, staff and administrators have put into improving Page County Public Schools.
Last year at this time, PCPS had three schools that were not fully accredited — this year every school in the division is fully accredited, with the exception of one, Luray Elementary. Among Virginia’s 132 school divisions, PCPS went from being ranked 94th two years ago, to 65th last year, and now stands at 60th.
“Two years ago, Page County Public Schools were only ranked above 38 other divisions in the state,” Dr. Antonio Fox told school board members on Thursday night. “Now, we are ranked above 72 other divisions.”
The superintendent gave credit to everyone within local schools for the shared success, but gave a particular shout out to teachers for creating and implementing plans that resulted in greater student success.
“They’re doing the hard work in the classroom that is making those numbers go up,” Dr. Fox said.
A year ago, Chronic Absenteeism was among the top concerns of PCPS administrators, as all schools in the division were at a Level 2 (15 to 25 percent chronic absenteeism) or Level 3 (25+ percent). This year’s report shows three schools moving down to Level 1, with the highest rate still at a Level 2.
It became an area of focus last fall, a plan was put in place, and the results now speak for themselves. Every school in the division lowered its Chronic Absenteeism during the last school year — anywhere from a 5-percent drop at Springfield Elementary and Luray High School, to a division-high 15.7 percent reduction at Stanley Elementary. Luray Middle (13.4 percent) and Luray Elementary (13 percent) also showed dramatic drops in chronic absenteeism.
For the most part, SOL scores continued to rise, with significant gains in some areas:
• ENGLISH — Five of eight schools tested above 80 percent – PCHS 82.07%; LHS 87.6%; PCMS 74.52%; LMS 80.68%; LES 74.9%; SHEN 85.3%; STAN 78.3%; SPRING 82.5%.
• MATH — Six of eight schools tested at 82 percent or higher – PCHS 95.03%; LHS 83.44%; PCMS 74.7; LMS 87.41%; LES 74.5%; SHEN 82.3%; STAN 88.2%; SPRING 86.5%.
• SCIENCE — Only three schools tested at above 80 percent -PCHS 84.73%; LHS 81.29%; PCMS 67.8%; LMS 63.46%; LES 59.46%; SHEN 83.7%; STAN 79.25%; SPRING 79.25%.
Among the testing results highlights from the past school year:
- Shenandoah Elementary made a 37-percent improvement in Science Achivement.
- Nearly every school made significant gains in test scores among Students With Disabilities (SWD); PCHS jumped 29.72 percent in SWD English scores.
- Shenandoah Elementary has a 100 percent pass rate for Hispanic students in English over the past three years.
- Springfield Elementary had an average pass rate of almost 80 percent for all tests across the board; in addition, Springfield ranked in the 72.2 percentile among 265 elementary schools in Virginia.
A total of 41 new staff members were welcomed on Aug. 12 and joined returning faculty for Convocation on Wednesday, Aug. 14 at Page County High School. Local educators were joined by Dr. Cardell Patillo, the president of the Virginia School Board Association, who drove from his home school division in Portsmouth to offer a few encouraging words. Faculty and staff also benefitted from an inspirational speech from LHS and Virginia Tech alum, Nolan Nichols, who works with media supporting the VT football team and also travels around the world delivering his inspiring message.
The messages of the day tied back into this year’s theme — “Positive Pathways.”
“We really are choosing to change our little part of the world from negativity to positivity,” Dr. Fox said on Thursday. “We’re finding the positive in situations and in people. We’re looking for pathways that lead to success and opportunity for students.”
Every Monday, a positive message will be sent out division-wide to inspire the week’s work.
Professional training took place on Monday, Aug. 19 as administrators reviewed policies and requirements under the new Virginia Literacy Act, student engagement, new standards in various areas, and accreditation.
PCPS will start the school year on Monday, Aug. 26 with 29 fewer students than the division’s budgeted enrollment of 2,880. However, that deficit is expected to decrease as enrollment figures grow and settle in for the year. In April, there were 3,005 students recorded in the division, and this year’s projected enrollment is expected to reach 2,935. By comparison, last year’s anticipated enrollment at the start of the year was 2,978 after being recorded at 3,029 in April of 2023.
Information pertaining to the local school system’s Student Personal Device Use Policy, which was adopted by the school board during its Aug. 8 meeting, now has its own page on the PCPS website, including a list of Frequently Asked Questions. During the week of Sept. 9, school officials will circulate a survey in which students, parents and faculty can weigh-in on the rules and regulations regarding personal devices. Local school officials are also awaiting more guidance on the policy from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) in mid-September.
Policies regarding personal devices in schools are being reviewed and revamped across the state following Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order #33 calling for “cell phone-free education.” The Executive Order remains broad and allows each division to create its own rules within forthcoming state guidelines. PCPS administrators plan to wait for the state’s guidance and feedback from the local survey before revamping the current policy.
Everything from Student Handbook and various policy information, to instructions on entering the Parent Portal and using Schoology, can be found on the PCPS website.
For more information on Page County Public Schools,
visit https://www.pagecounty.k12.va.us/o/pcps
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