Winchester schools present annual equity report and school support plans; principals cite gains in reading, EL progress and graduation rates

Dr. Walker presented Winchester Public Schools’ annual equity report for the 2024–25 school year, telling the board the report is organized around six components in policy AH (equity) and that much of the data derives from the Panorama Education student survey.

The presentation highlighted culturally responsive instruction, professional development completion, youth leadership and stewardship, family engagement, diverse recruitment, and reducing opportunity gaps. "For this particular ... culturally responsive instruction measurement … 98 percent of teachers said they completed that training, and then 71 percent of our administrative staff," Dr. Walker said.

Walker noted differences between classroom‑level and school‑level Panorama responses: students sometimes responded separately for each teacher, producing higher classroom‑level positive response rates than the aggregated school‑level scores. Walker also flagged that Daniel Morgan Intermediate showed notable increases in fifth‑grade Panorama measures and that gifted students showed consistent gains in several domains.

Assistant superintendent (presenter) Miss Buckley framed the district’s comprehensive school support plans (CSSPs) inside the state’s new performance and support framework, which divides support into four domains: academics, staffing, organizational learning and school climate. Buckley said preliminary, state‑provided performance classifications (still being validated by the Virginia Department of Education) list John Hanley High School as a "distinguished" school, several elementary schools as "on track," and Virginia Avenue and Daniel Morgan Intermediate as "off track," close to the threshold.

Principals described school‑level strategies that link to the CSSPs. "The implementation of the Bookworms curriculum has ... helped us go from a 61 percent pass rate overall in reading in 2023–24 up to a 74 percent overall pass rate in the 24–25 school year," said Miss Mastel, principal at Frederick Douglass, describing a structured daily reading block, differentiated instruction time, and reading specialist support.

Miss DeMarco, principal at Quarrel Elementary, described English‑learner supports that use WIDA proficiency baselines and the Elevations platform to scaffold lessons and set language goals. DeMarco said teachers develop academic and language goals tailored to each student and that the school’s aim is for "90 percent of our EL students to show measurable growth in accessing grade‑level content."

At John Kerr Elementary, Miss Pryor credited early parent outreach, consistent PBIS implementation and targeted counseling and attendance‑recovery work for a multi‑year decline in chronic absenteeism: "Chronic absenteeism was 16.4 percent in '22–'23 ... and 15.4 percent in '24–25. Our early rate this year is 13.32 percent," Pryor said, adding that after recoupment the school reached 9.4 percent and met its CSSP goal to be under 10 percent.

Dr. Pluska and Miss Digiovanni discussed MTSS (multi‑tiered systems of support) and PBIS use to align academic and behavioral interventions, naming universal screeners such as AIMSweb and number sense for identifying students who need Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions. Miss O'Donnell described a math‑workshop model at Daniel Morgan Middle School that pairs whole‑group mini‑lessons with targeted small‑group instruction and a protected intervention block.

Miss Brathwaite described systems at John Hanley High School that support on‑time graduation, including counselor‑maintained academic and career plans, biweekly success teams, and division‑level review meetings; she noted the school’s on‑time graduation rose from 87.1 percent (2022) to 92 percent (2024).

Board members questioned response rates to the Panorama survey and asked how schools interpret results with uneven family participation. Dr. Walker acknowledged response‑rate limitations but described the survey results as a starting point for targeted engagement and school improvement. Buckley reminded the board that CSSPs are working documents and may be revised when the state issues updated templates and validated data.

Ending: The board received the equity report and the division/school support plan presentations for review; principals’ full support plans are posted online and may be updated throughout the year.