The Winslow Unified School District Governing Board held a meeting last week and were offered good news by site leaders. Beginning with Winslow High School Principal Sal Hernandez, each principal informed the board of academic growth displayed by all grade levels in the recent NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Associations) testing cycle.
Hernandez said, “This is our first year using this test and we are excited for this data, as it gives us a good baseline. We are going to use these data points to strengthen our targeted interventions and take a closer look at what some of our struggling students might be dealing with in our curriculum. The feedback from our ELA (English Language Arts) math and science departments is positive. We have seen a lot of growth in ELA, but in our math department, we are really happy with our results. In science, there was growth as well and one of the things that department is excited about is being able to use this hard data to improve their curriculums.”
He did mention, as did other site leaders, that absenteeism in students is still a major obstacle. “We have set some goals for our students, and we are looking forward to improving and strengthen our academics. We are moving in the right direction.”
Junior High Principal Deb Lopez also saw improvements in student performance. She said, “We take a growth assessment that measures student progress from kindergarten to junior high school. As students enter junior high, more growth is illustrated versus the students in eighth grade who should be nearing mastery in these standards. The scores on average for our kids show an even rate of change, which shows what we all know. Our kids came in with learning deficits from COVID and almost a year and a half of fragmented learning but they’re growing in every single category. Our eighth-grade algebra students are actually taking a ninth-grade level test and are pacing very well in terms of where they are and where they need to be.”
All three elementary schools also presented their results and each principal showed appreciation for the map testing.
Bonnie Brennan Principal Larissa Richards said, “It is nice to have a tool that tracks our kids from the beginning of the school year through the end so we can see exactly how much they are gaining from our curriculums.”
NWEA is a research based not-for-profit organization that creates assessments that measure growth and proficiency world-wide.
The Winslow schools will be implementing tutoring and other interventions based on the results of these assessments.
At Jefferson Elementary, Principal Amber Martinez explained kindergarten did not meet their growth projections.
She said, “We found that our kindergarten teachers weren’t following the curriculum maps with fidelity, so we put a policy in place that holds them to it. With that we are hoping to see more growth in the next round of this assessment in the spring semester.”
The governing board also heard from Academic Coach Marie Putman.
She explained her role as advisor to new and veteran teachers. “I regularly meet with administrators as well to get feedback on how teachers are faring in the schools. I spend a lot of time advocating for student outcomes and in fact, am looking to develop a program for student-centered teacher coaching.”
Putman is the sole advisor to the district, where at one point there were five coaches. She mentioned the desire and anticipation for the district’s hiring more academic coaches.
Applications for the position are available on the district website at www.wusd1.org.
In other business, the governing board:
* Ratified vouchers in a routine procedure that allows the board to submit vouchers to the County Superintendent between meetings.
* Accepted a donation in the amount of $2,000 to the WHS Cross Country Team from Ellen Pfulb.
* Accepted a donation in the amount of $350 in the form of hoodies, table runner and team poster for the Bonnie Brennan Robotics Club from More A Corner Thrift Store.
* Approved the hiring of Jaydon Payne, a paraprofessional, Leah Claw and Brandon Tso as district substitutes and Brandon Guzman and junior varsity baseball coach.
* Approved an extra duty stipend of $500 to Natasha Shelton in the high school career center.
* Accepted the resignation of Madison Zamora, a paraprofessional and Frances McCormick a transportation aid.
* Approved the memorandum of understanding between the Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG) and the district for Headstart services. This is a routine annual procedure.
* Approved the rescheduling of the March 16 board meeting to March 23 due to spring break and the May 18 meeting to May 22 due to graduation.
* Heard the monthly financial report for January. Business Manager Shirley Lomeli explained 58% of the school year has elapsed and 49.5% of the budget has been spent. The Arizona Legislature has until March 1 to make a decision on whether or not to extend the aggregate expenditure limit for school districts. If it is not approved, WUSD stands to lose $2.3 million in state funding.
The governing board also adjourned to an executive session to discuss matters relating to school safety operations. Transportation director Jack Hanno met with the board during the session in regard to the safe transportation of students. No public discussion or action took place following the executive session.
The next meeting of the Winslow Unified School District Governing Board will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2, in the board meeting room, located at 800 N. Apache Ave.
