Hancock County Schools ready to meet Third Grade Success Act requirements

NEW CUMBERLAND -- After preparing for the last few years, Hancock County Schools officials say they are ready to fully meet the requirements of the state’s Third Grade Success Act.

“We have been on a journey with House Bill 3035 for more than four years,” explained Erica Sauer, director of special programs during Monday’s meeting of the Hancock County Board of Education.

HB 3035 -- enacted by the West Virginia Legislature in 2023 -- was developed to address literacy and mathematics skills in young students from kindergarten to the third grade, with Sauer explaining the local school district has spent the last few years building its internal framework -- including taking some action before the legislation was approved -- and is ready to roll out the program.

Those actions included adopting a Science of Reading curriculum, adding phonics and phonetic awareness into English language arts programs and training more than 10 elementary teachers to become Wilson Language Dyslexia practitioners.

From 2023 to 2025, additional training was provided, numeracy and literacy teams were built, and professional development was provided, along with enacting use of the LETRS -- Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling -- cohort, providing a two-year course to teachers.

“In Hancock County, we have over 90 percent of our teachers who have taken advantage of that training, so far,” she said, noting that includes all elementary level administrators.

Third-grade interventionists were added to the classrooms, with two math coaches also brought in through grants, with individual plans developed for students scoring below the 50th percentile on their benchmarks, which includes language, math, behavior and attendance. That compares to state requirements of the 26th percentile for only language and math.

Benchmark assessments are given three times each year.

If a deficiency is found on any of the four benchmarks, the school district notifies the parents or guardian of the student within 15 days, in writing, and 30 days to develop a plan to address the students’ needs.

“Those are activities that have been going on the last three years,” she said.

A student could be retained through this system by not meeting standards under the West Virginia General Summative Assessment in English language arts or math. But Hancock County Schools is making the efforts, through their developed intervention programs, to help students meet those standards.

“There are so many interventions and so many meetings and so many years of opportunities to work with that family,” she said. “I can really say, with 100 percent confidence, there should be no families caught off guard or surprised with the amount of support and communication from our schools.”

Sauer noted there are eight exemptions to the assessments, which would allow for an individual review, including alternate assessments for those in special education programs, students with an IEP or 504 circumstance; those with significant impairment; students who are English learners with fewer than three years of experience with the language; those with two prior retention or intensive intervention; students receiving an acceptable score after a retest on the GSA; those with an acceptable score after summer learning; or those approved following a good cause request as considered by the superintendent.

“I feel very confident that moving into the spring where these decisions will be made, they will be made carefully, they will be made with very good, valid data, and will not be a surprise to any one of our families and students,” Sauer said.