Cumberland students are making progress. That’s the big takeaway for Cumberland County Public Schools, as staff review the data released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Over the last week, NCES officials released data from the 2024 math and reading tests, comparing states and districts across the country. As we mentioned in our last edition, while some Virginia districts struggled, neighboring Buckingham was praised for its work. Cumberland didn’t do too bad either. 

This data is from tests given to fourth and eighth graders from late January 2024 through early March. It’s set up as benchmarks every few years, to mark progress or the lack thereof. The last round of this testing was recorded back in 2022. Overall, Virginia finished in the middle of the pack, showing progress in some counties, while others significantly struggled. 

Data for Cumberland students

So what did the data show for Cumberland students? Fourth grade reading improved 16 percentage points, while fourth graders in the county also improved by 10 percentage points in math. Now let’s put that in perspective. According to the NCES data, the average student growth is about eight percentage points over the same time period. Cumberland doubled the national average when it comes to growth in reading. They also were above the national average when it comes to math. To say that Cumberland Superintendent Chip Jones was proud would be an understatement. 

“Our teachers and staff have worked incredibly hard, and we deeply appreciate their dedication to our students’ success,” Jones said. 

Now let’s look at eighth grade. In math, eighth graders who took Algebra I showed a 10-point increase in their scores as well. Reading was pretty much constant, no increase but no real decline either, staying on average with the rest of the scores. Overall as a district, Cumberland saw reading improve by 3% (59 to 62) and math by 5% (59 to 64). 

“As of the recent data indicated, we are making progress, but we recognize that there is still work to be done,” Jones said. “We remain committed to continuous growth and success for all students.”  

Comparing with the state data 

So how did the state do comparatively? A total of 76% of Virginia’s fourth graders showed at least a basic concept of math. However, only 40% of fourth graders in the state earned proficient or higher scores. There was a similar problem with reading, as 58% of Virginia fourth graders had a basic level of reading, with 31% at proficient or higher. The eighth grade data was also mixed. A total of 66% of Virginia eighth graders read at a basic level, while only 29% were labeled as proficient for grade level or above. On the math side, 63% of eighth graders showed a basic understanding, while only 29% were graded as proficient. 

As mentioned earlier, there were several districts, including Cumberland, that did well in multiple areas, showing strong growth. And there were six districts applauded for showing “exemplar” or “All-Star” improvement from the 2022 tests. Those were Buckingham, Danville City Schools, Bath County, Brunswick, Richmond City Schools and Hopewell. 

“Those test results tell us exactly what we expected them to tell us,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a statement. “We had big work to do coming out of the pandemic, where students had deep learning loss. We have a long way to go and we have a lot of work to do. 

We had deep and persistent learning loss. We know schools were shut for too long. We also know we need to raise expectations.”