Radford schools report preliminary accountability gains; principals lay out improvement plans focused on attendance, tutoring and curriculum

Radford City Schools officials reported preliminary state accountability scores and presented school improvement plans that pair curriculum changes with stepped-up attendance and tutoring efforts.

Superintendent and district staff said the high school earned a "distinguished" preliminary accountability rating, with a reported score of 95.36, and that several elementary schools are "solidly on track." Doctor McDaniel, who delivered the district update, cautioned the board the numbers are preliminary and have changed as the state updates data: "every time we get an update, it goes up for us, not down," McDaniel said, adding the division has not yet received final public release of the scores.

The state update and principals' presentations framed the district's priorities for the year: reduce chronic absenteeism, increase mastery in reading, math and science, and expand targeted remediation. Radford High School Principal Mr. Simpson told the board the high school's two readiness goals focus on attendance: to lower chronic absenteeism from 24.5% the prior year toward a sub‑20% goal and to reduce tardies by at least 10% compared with last year. Simpson described a mix of interventions and sanctions: a weekly review of at‑risk students, a tiered referral process, a night‑school program (3–7 p.m.) that both serves as remediation and counts as state flex time, and a social‑probation mechanism tied to attendance by block.

Attendance coordinator Miss Wright reported district attendance remains high compared with other divisions: the week of Sept. 22–26 Dalton won the weekly attendance challenge at 96.03% and the district combined rate for that reporting period was 95.78%. Wright outlined early‑intervention practices and a incentives program for secondary students; the school reported 158 students at the high school qualified for an attendance reward event in the first cycle. Wright said the program includes allowances for legitimate medical visits (doctor notes) and a monthly reset so short illnesses do not permanently disqualify students from incentives.

Principals described data‑driven academic interventions. Mr. Freeman (Dalton Intermediate) said weekly "snapshot" checks and quarterly data meetings will use MasteryConnect benchmarks to identify students for tiered tutoring; Dalton reported small reading classes capped at eight students for targeted instruction last year and significant SOL gains among those students. Bell Heath Principal Mr. Wilder and McCarran Principal Mr. Keester outlined use of HMH (a new reading curriculum), Read 180 intervention, Reflex math fluency, and classroom‑embedded remediation approaches. Wilder said the Bell Heath PTA (PSA) has pledged $17,000 toward a roughly $37,000 playground “ninja course” replacement and that a recent color run raised about $20,000.

District staff emphasized the provisional nature of accountability numbers and the district’s approach to using percentile benchmarks (CIP consortium percentiles) rather than absolute cut scores while the state finalizes results. Doctor McDaniel said the district expects the preliminary numbers to trend upward but could not confirm a public release date.

Board members asked principals to balance metrics with school climate. One board member urged administrators to "take out the numbers and look at the heart" and verify students and staff are better off day‑to‑day as interventions scale up.

The board took no final votes tied to the accountability update itself; the presentations were informational and were followed by separate action items on the consent agenda and later approvals.