The Top 10 Reasons to Be Excited About the New School Year

Transcription

1 The Top 10 Reasons to Be Excited About the New School Year Opening School Report Dr. Steven L. Walts, Superintendent of Schools September 6,

2 Number 10: Clean and Well-Maintained Facilities Our support staff cleaned and prepared 10,995,000 square feet of building space in preparation for the new school year 2

3 Number 9: New Schools On Schedule and Within Budget Kilby Elementary (replacement) School Covington-Harper Elementary School Independence Nontraditional School 3

4 Number 8: School Additions On Schedule and Within Budget 4

5 Number 7: Technology Support All schools are on inet, with wireless access Over the last year More than 18,195 new computers installed, with over 58,000 on the PWCS network Almost 1,000 interactive whiteboards installed, with almost 93% of classrooms now having access Continuing PWCS Future Ready Digital Transformation to integrate technology into classroom instruction Coming this year Divisionwide bandwidth upgrade from 2Gb to 10Gb Based on latest available data. 5

6 Number 6: Student Learning More than 11,200 students attended summer school for remediation, enrichment, extended school year, and high school academic programs Based on latest available data. 6

7 Number 5: Prepared Staff More than 12,600 participants attended more than 1,000 professional development courses this past summer, in preparation for the new school year Many staff attended multiple courses. Based on latest available data. 7

8 PWCS has more than 11,000 employees Number 4: Best and Brightest We welcomed nearly 800 teachers new to PWCS Based on latest available data. Almost 70,000 job applications were received this past year including more than 30,000 certified (e.g., teacher) applications 8

9 Number 3: Support Services On the first day of school: More than 8,000 breakfasts and Nearly 48,000 lunches served 814 buses were on the road, and traveled over 56,000 miles More than 61,000 students rode the buses Based on latest available data. 9

10 Number 2: Celebrating Success All 11 are in the top 10 percent nationwide Washington Post Challenge Index (Colgan HS does not qualify yet) Patriot Gold Medal and with Silver Medals Osbourn Park, Battlefield, and Woodbridge High Schools recognized for being among the best from more than 22,000 nationwide US News and World Report 23 PWCS schools are included in the Northern Virginia magazine s list of top schools, with 12 in the top 25% Based on latest available data. 10

11 Number 2: Celebrating Success continued In , 34% of high school students (grades 9-12) were enrolled in at least one advanced or weighted course The percent of PWCS students earning AP, IB, or Cambridge qualifying scores continues to far exceed the national average Our latest on-time graduation rate for PWCS continues to improve to 91.7% Based on latest available data. 11

12 Number 2: Celebrating Success continued Accreditation pass rates increasing at the majority of PWCS schools $56,741,193 the amount of scholarship money earned by the PWCS class of 2017, up $18 million over 2016 During the past five years, PWCS students have earned $208,338,028 in scholarships 27% of students in PWCS in were English learners increasing numbers of English learners identified for gifted services twice as many in over (1250 compared to 610) Note: This does not mean newly identified this is the total number of students flagged in SMS as gifted. Based on latest available data. 12

13 Number 1: Our Students We welcomed nearly 90,000 students to the new school year, approximately 1,000 additional students PWCS continues to be second largest in Virginia 34 th largest in the nation Based on latest available data. 13

14 My Sincere Thanks to Everyone It takes a team to be successful and our teachers, support staff, administrators, School Board, civic groups, community, business partners, elected officials, parents/guardians, and students have come together to help build our World-Class schools right here in Prince William County. 14

15 Welcome Back to School 15

16 The Top 10 Reasons to Be Excited About the New School Year Opening School Report Dr. Steven L. Walts, Superintendent of Schools September 6,