Employee of the Week:
Please join in recognizing Mr. Timothy Adkins, Custodian at Gretna Elementary School, on his selection as Employee of the Week for Pittsylvania County Schools. Please click on the following link to find out what employees do to make this A Great Place to Learn and Work! http://www.pcs.k12.va.us/staff/employee-of-week/

Appreciation is expressed to all staff for their work to enhance the instructional programs and academic expectations to ensure that every child is learning at high levels. A measure of these efforts was highlighted in last week’s Wrap-Up where the Division consistently out-performed State averages on the Standards of Learning tests administered in 2015-2016. Principals have shared how team members have worked tirelessly to safeguard student learning. They have told of the many hours associates have devoted to unpacking the Standards and aligning the curriculum, the countless instances in which individuals have used planning time or stayed after school to tutor students, the number of hours dedicated to professional development targeted at improving student learning, the devotion of colleagues to ensure that students have nutritious meals and that the buildings and grounds are clean, and the insistence that the bus rides to and from school are safe and orderly. Thank you.

State Board of Education:
The State Board of Education is revising the Standards of Accreditation (SOA) to ensure that all children in the Commonwealth have access to public schools that pursue academic excellence and continuous improvement while preparing their students for success in college and the workplace. Revisions to the SOA will include diploma requirements aligned with the Profile of a Virginia Graduate and new standards for school quality and improvement. Please click here Educational Initiatives for more information.

To provide opportunities for input from the public, the Virginia Board of Education held two public hearings in Central and Southwest Virginia this week for feedback on accreditation, graduation and new federal education requirements. The public forums were held in Abingdon and Lynchburg this week and featured a round-table discussion before the event was opened to the public for comment. Two additional forums were previously held in Manassas and Williamsburg. The Board will accept input through early fall, when it will consider the information gathered, and in late fall submit a plan to the Governor’s office and the Virginia General Assembly. The hope is to have the plan complete and ready to implement with the start of the 2018-2019 school year.

Virginia Students Again Outscore Nation on ACT: Commonwealth Achievement Increases, While Nation Declines
The Virginia Department of Education announced this week that Virginia students again outperformed their peers nationwide by significant margins on the American College Test (ACT) as the number of the Commonwealth’s high school seniors taking the college-readiness examination continued to grow. Virginia’s public school students meeting the ACT’s college-readiness benchmark in each assessed content area in 2016 was 15 or more percentage points higher than the percentages nationwide. The college-readiness benchmarks identify students whose ACT scores indicate that they are prepared for first-year college English composition, reading, algebra and biology.
 

 

Approximately 31 percent of 2015 Virginia graduates from public, private, and homeschooled students took the ACT. This is an increase from 30 percent the year before and 25 percent in 2012. The overall composite score for Virginia high school graduates for public, private and homeschools was 23.3.

In 2016, 21,824 Virginia public school graduates took the ACT, compared with 18,298 of the State’s 2012 public school graduates (a 19 percent increase in participation). Even though the number of Virginia students taking the ACT continues to grow, the SAT remains the dominant college-admissions test in the Commonwealth.

Compensation Study Update:
The employee orientation and outreach sessions during the week of August 29, 2016, have been extended to September 1, 2016, to ensure that bus drivers have an opportunity to attend. Please be reminded that all employees are invited and highly encouraged to attend one of the orientation sessions. The revised schedule is as follows:

• Monday, August 29, 2016, at 3:30 PM - Gretna High School and Tunstall High School Auditoriums

• Monday, August 29, 2016, at 6:00 PM - School Board Office Boardroom

• Tuesday, August 30, 2016, at 3:30 PM - Chatham High School Auditorium

• Wednesday, August 31, 2016, at 3:30 PM - Dan River High School Auditorium

• Thursday, September 1, 2016, at 10:00 AM - School Board Office Boardroom

 

Employees who cannot attend a session are encouraged to watch the video of the session on our website. Employees will be randomly selected to attend focus groups to provide feedback on current compensation and classification practices. These employees will be individually notified.

Mark Your Calendars:

• PowerSchool Assessment & Analytics (Interactive Achievement) Pretest Window (EL, MS & HS) Ends September 9, 2016

• Initial MAP Assessment Window Ends September 16, 2016

• PALS Screening - Grades 1-3, Ends September 23, 2016

• PALS Screening - Grades PK-K, September 21, 2016 through October 19, 2016

• Volunteer Fingerprinting @ Chatham High School, September 1, 2016 from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.

• Progress Reports Sent Home – September 2, 2016

• Labor Day, Holiday for Students and Staff – September 5, 2016

• Character Word of the Month - Trustworthiness

Please send media requests to: http://www.pcs.k12.va.us/media/.  This may be (1) to request media presence on site to cover an upcoming event or (2) to request media coverage (without media on site) of an upcoming event or (3) to report news from a past event.  Thank you for identifying the great things happening in the schools!