DANVILLE (WSLS 10) - Henry County Public Schools, like all Southside school districts, didn't see huge gains compared to the previous year's SOL scores but Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Sandy Strayer says the consistency is not necessarily a bad thing.
"I feel very confident on how we achieved this year," said Strayer.
The district saw a two-point increase in reading and a three-point increase in math.
History and social science dropped and science remained the same.
The two-point increase in reading is particularly positive Strayer said, as literacy is the district's number one focus right now.
"We, this summer, started working on literacy. So, we hope to make improvement in that area," she explained.
Danville City Schools' Superintendent Dr. Stanley Jones says he, too, is pleased with the consistency of his district's SOL scores but he also says the scores indicate that there is still a lot of work to be done.
"Whatever we're doing is having some positive impact," Dr. Jones said. "The bigger question is what can we do to improve our performance."
He emphasized that he hasn't had time to fully process and analyze the numbers, but says it's important to keep in mind that the SOL test is just one way of measuring student performance.
"We don't want to reduce our students to a number. My heart kind of aches sometimes because I understand the need for an accountability system, but it's one measure," he said.
He added that he's more focused on how the students feel about the work they're doing in the classroom.