Northampton’s lower test scores mirror rest of Virginia

The effect of the school shutdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic took its toll on students across the Commonwealth of Virginia and Northampton County Public Schools were no exception.

Northampton’s new Superintendent of Schools Jaime Cole gave a presentation to the Board of Supervisors Tuesday night which showed Northampton, like the rest of the Commonwealth’s public school systems, showed dramatic decreases in test scores in 2020 and 2021.

According to the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening(PALS) data from the University of Virginia, in 2019 71% of Northampton students came into school “at level” with state guidelines, but that number plunged to 48.8% in 2021 and remained there for 2022.

Northampton’s kindergarten students at or above benchmark scores fell from 73.1% in 2019 to 42% in 2020 before bouncing back slightly to 48.8% in 2021. First grade students fell from 75% to 48.9% from 2019 to 2020 before continuing down to 42.7% in 2021, while second graders in the County fell from 67.4% in 2019 to 55.3% in 2020, leveling out at 54.8% in 2021.

“Kids missed critical reading in Kindergarten through 3rd grade,” said Cole.

The percentages of students who are deemed high risk for negative outcomes exploded as a result of the lockdowns, going from 28.7% in 2019 to 51.2% in 2021 and 2022.

While the picture for Northampton’s test scores are bleak, there were bright spots. Northampton’s Schools remain fully accredited, with only Northampton Middle being Accredited with Conditions.

Also, Northampton’s students did perform better than Virginia’s average and comparable school systems in several categories, most notably in history, with students testing equal or higher than the Virginia average and comparable school divisions.

“This is not doom and gloom,” she added. “But we need to come up with solutions for this.”

Cole said they are looking for volunteers at the schools to help get the students back on track.

She also added the school system continues to search for a Chief Financial Officer, following the resignation of Brook Thomas this past summer. Cole has contacted over 25 retired CFOs but has yet to get any takers.