The Winslow Unified School District Governing Board meeting last week was a deep dive into the strides being made in student academic achievements, with significant insights from Winslow Junior High School Principal Debra Lopez and Winslow High School (WHS) Principal Sal Hernandez. During the previous meeting, the board reviewed presentations from the elementary school principals about their students’ test scores, which gave the board comprehensive insight into the state of student achievement in the district.
Lopez introduced an innovative incentive program designed to motivate students towards success in their standardized tests at WJHS. The rewards system is straightforward yet effective: a bag of chips for a score indicating the student is on track with one test, chips and a Gatorade for two, and those plus a root beer float for three. For students demonstrating significant improvement from fall to spring, the rewards escalate to an off-campus experience with a double lunch and a trip to the Root Beer Stand for chili fries. “This was a big hit,” Lopez remarked, emphasizing the positive impact of these incentives on student motivation. Additionally, students meeting expected levels in reading and math enjoy a break from academic work during intervention hour, instead participating in a “fun class” where they can engage in enjoyable activities.
Lopez also presented growth data from fall to winter testing, explaining that one can expect younger students to exhibit more growth year to year than older ones. For example, a kindergartener can experience much more growth in one year than a senior in high school. Nonetheless, she proudly noted, “But we saw five points in growth in our eighth graders in math, and that is quite the jump!” Despite facing challenges in English and language arts, which she noted is a nationwide issue, where growth was less than anticipated strategies are in place to improve these areas.
A pivotal element of the junior high’s strategy is ACHIEVE time, a dedicated 30-minute period four days a week for students to receive targeted help in core subjects. “Our math teacher spent a lot of time instructing students on how to multiply and divide decimals because this is a foundational skill they will need to know going forward and don’t have time in class to fully cover,” explained Lopez. This is the point of ACHIEVE time; it is to target discrepancies in a student’s learning that may be a bit more foundational, which means a large amount of regular class time cannot be devoted to those skills.
Principal Sal Hernandez of WHS shared similar strategies and goals for improving student performance. “Right now, our goal is the 50th percentile, but I’m confident once we get to that score, we’re going to start comparing them to the 60th and the 65th percentile,” he stated, expressing optimism about reaching and surpassing their current targets. Hernandez detailed the performance across high school grades, noting that freshmen were slightly behind in English and language but performing well in math. Sophomores showed growth from fall to winter but hadn’t yet met the 50th percentile goal. Juniors, meanwhile, faced a bigger discrepancy in English and language, though they were closer to meeting goals in math and science. Hernandez recalled to the board, “I had an interesting conversation with Ms. Thomas [a math teacher at WHS] the other day. She told me that we need to strengthen our supplemental material because if a teacher leaves us, we want to hand over our curriculum to the new teacher, so they’re on track with what we’re doing.”
Hernandez also emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts among teachers to refine the curriculum based on performance data. He spoke about the weekly meeting that teachers and staff hold that gives teachers the opportunity to review data and look at what works and what doesn’t and build a better education plan and way of delivery materials to students to better enrich all classrooms. This approach allows for the identification of effective teaching strategies and ensures continuity and quality of instruction, even amidst staff changes.
The meeting also had remarks from Louanna Benslow, president of the Indian Education Committee, during call to the public. Benslow highlighted the critical role of the data shared by Lopez and Hernandez in making informed decisions about resource allocation and understanding the specific supports students need. Her comments underscored the importance of such detailed academic insights for the effective use of Johnson O’Malley funds, aimed at addressing the unique educational needs of students in the district.
In other business, the board:
*Approved the following hires: Marjorie Coolidge, substitute; Gerard Krebs, bus driver; and Madison Venegas, a special needs paraprofessional.
* Approved the resignation of special education high needs teacher Bonnita Batala and the retirement of Steve Brodt as a fourth grade teacher effective at the end of the school year.
*Approved the following staff transfers: Brandi Serious a special needs aide from Jefferson Elementary to Washington Elementary; Christie Bratt from second grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary to fourth grade at Bonnie Brennan Elementary; and Virginia Hatch from media technician at Bonnie Brennan Elementary to fourth grade teacher at Bonnie Brennan Elementary.
The next meeting of the WUSD school board will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in the meeting room, located at 800 N. Apache Ave.
