DCPS Mid-Year report shows concerns for learning gaps and state testing

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Students are halfway through the school year and new data shows two major concerns for the Duval County Public School district.

The first concern is around the subject of math. District assessments show that students are performing worse in math than in previous years. The number of students performing poorly in math increases if they are in Duval HomeRoom.

“Nationally math is down about 8 points,” Superintendent Dr. Diana Greene said. “I think it is probably worse in the state of Florida. That we are more like nine or ten points down.”

According to the Mid-Year Data Review, seventh graders had a large gap between the 2018-2019 school year and the current year in their district assessments. In 2018-2019, 20 percent of seventh graders were performing below grade level. So far this year, 26 percent of seventh graders were performing below grade level.

For students in Algebra 1 and Geometry, while the numbers haven’t changed as much from the 2018-2019 school year, the number of students doing better in Brick and Mortar classrooms are higher. 45 percent of Algebra 1 students in Duval HomeRoom are doing better than grade level while 49 percent of students in Brick and Mortar Classrooms are performing better. 37 percent of students in Duval HomeRoom for Algebra 1 are performing worse than grade level. This is higher than the 33 percent of Brick and Mortar Algebra 1 students who are performing worse than grade level.

The district does plan on implementing new strategies for reading, math, science and social studies to help students and teachers. Specialists are now on-site every day of the week for students, the curriculum will be revised, and for K-5 students, there will be a new mid-week math morning virtual session to discuss upcoming topics for that week. For Middle School students, there will be more virtual webinars students can attend, and more implementation of Math Academy for teachers.

Another aspect of the data also showed that students in K-3 are doing better when they are in Duval HomeRoom, however district officials say this may be due to parents help.

“Parents unintentionally help students just through the login process and maybe they define a word for a student when they are sitting there in the other room and the student says ‘I don’t know that this means’. Well the parent may think that’s innocent but it may skew the data in some ways,”Corey Wright, the Assistant Superintendent of Assessment and Accountability, said.

The other concern for the district is that only 85 to 88 percent of students took these district assessments. For the end of the year exam, each school and the entire district needs 95 percent of students to complete it. That 95 percent is needed for the school to receive a letter grade from the state and for the district to receive a grade. Without that grade, there are opportunities closed for the schools and the district, opportunities that could affect funding.

The first two district assessments of this year have been offered online and in-person. The third district assessment will take place only in-person as the district wants to do a test-run of what would happen during the end of the year state exams which, as of Monday, is required to be taken in person. Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran announced Monday that Florida will extend the standardized testing period in the spring to allow for in-person testing for students who have not yet returned to campus due to COVID-19 concerns.

Duval HomeRoom students cannot opt out of these tests, but they can simply not show up to them - which would be a detriment to the district and for the student themselves. Greene says that not taking the test could impact school choice, acceleration courses, ESE services, and it could impact their teacher’s VAM score. The biggest impact would be for third graders as the only way for them to move up to fourth grade is to pass the state test.

As of right now, Greene says she is working with her team to come up with the best plan for when Duval HomeRoom students can come back to their school to take the district and the end of the year state assessments.

For the full Mid-Year report, click here.

Cox Media Group