*See Pilot Assessment findings beginning on numbered page 86 of the report.

Virginia Kindergarten Readiness Program (VKRP), in partnership with the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), is conducting a mathematics, self-regulation, social skills, and mental health well-being assessment pilot in grades one through three (1-3 Assessment Pilot). The purpose of the pilot, required by Virginia’s 2022-2023 Biennial Budget, is to explore the utility of building longitudinal measures of mathematics, self-regulation, social skills, and mental health well-being that could potentially extend into grades one through three. These measures could complement Virginia’s use of literacy screening in the primary grades administered by Virginia Literacy Partnership (VLP). At the conclusion of the pilot, VKRP will share a report with VDOE on what has been learned.

School and division leaders, teachers, and families across Virginia have expressed interest in understanding how young students’ skills develop in the early elementary grades and how to better track student growth from prekindergarten through the early grades. Currently, there are several gaps in existing assessments. Apart from literacy, there are no statewide assessments that measure students’ early learning in these areas in grades one and two. Additionally, there are no statewide assessments that universally track students’ growth within the academic year and across academic years in these areas from pre-kindergarten through grade three (noting there are growth assessments in mathematics starting in third grade). Currently, school divisions vary in their approach to student assessments in the early elementary grades.