Continuous School Improvement Plan

Students in grades 9-12 were given a diagnostic assessment through IXL, which measures grade-level proficiency, specific skills, growth, progress, and reading levels. This assessment is given at the beginning of each school year to establish baseline proficiency for each student. The information was shared with staff to assist the building in formulating departmental and individual goals to support our work in meeting this goal. The baseline data indicated that 14% are below grade level, and 52% are reading more than one level below grade level.

Our library staff has worked with the staff and students to provide more relevant reading materials to support students in our DEAR (Drop Everything and Read Time) on Mondays to work towards increasing reading endurance.

In November, students are working to complete their second diagnostic in IXL to gather updated data regarding student progress. Updated data will be shared in next quarter's report.

Our teachers are integrating IXL into lessons regularly and have shared the following highlights from our students.

• 5,217 hours spent on IXL at school and home
• 496,233 Questions Answered on IXL as a School
• 12,326 Skills Practiced on IXL
• 9,325 Skills Proficient
• 5,215 Skills Mastered

We discovered with our January administration of IXL that the program automatically increases the expected level of mastery. While our data from IXL shows small gains, when we looked at the data student by student, we found that while students may not have gained levels by IXL standards, they did show positive growth with all groups trending towards positive gains.

During our faculty meetings, we continue to highlight literacy needs and strategies. Our Literacy Team recently provided specific examples to our staff and had them work by content to brainstorm strategies they use to support literacy that are already in use in their classrooms.

See Goal 3 for specific data.

The math department met over the summer and has already begun meeting during their common planning times to review student data, current student progress, and is working to develop lessons and employ teaching strategies to support students in mastering math concepts in Algebra I and Geometry. Other content areas also share areas of overlap, in which they can support this goal.

Our teachers continue to learn and work with EDIA (program that provides progress monitoring and interventions for students in math). The following data was gathered for the 1st Quarter:

• 63.1% of Algebra I students are demonstrating at least 70% or higher mastery, while 36.9% are demonstrating less than 70% mastery of current content.
• 88.9% of Geometry students are demonstrating at least 70% or higher mastery, while 11.1% are demonstrating less than 70% mastery of current content.

Our Math Department continues to regularly check student progress utilizing Common Unit Assessments and Edia, along with DeltaMath, Wayground, Blooket, and other formative checks for progress.

Based on Edia progress, our Algebra I scores continue to trend upward, with a 10% growth as a whole. In Geometry, we are continuing to trend upward, as is FCPS as a whole in Geometry, demonstrating 12% growth.

Areas in which we continue to scaffold learning are outlined below:

Algebra I

1. Solving mulit-step linear inequalities.
2. Transformations of all kinds.
3. Domain and range, zeros, slope and y-intercept.

Most of our students are demonstrating 70% mastery and are trending upward.

Geometry

1. Using definitions, postulates, and theorems to prove and justify triangles are similar (SAS, SSS, AA).
2. Calculating the length of an arc of a circle.

The Sherando School Improvement Team developed a survey for staff to complete beginning on September 22, 2025. The survey will be slightly modified and given to staff again at midyear and at the end of the year to determine whether the goal has been met.

Based on data from the survey, the Warriors for Wellness Committee was established. This team has been creating opportunities to build staff capacity and opportunities for relationship building through various events throughout the first quarter. One event had to be canceled due to a bomb threat.

Based on staff concerns related to safety policies and procedures, a faculty meeting was dedicated to reviewing protocols, policies, and answering questions.

The same survey that was shared in September, was shared with staff again in March. While staff still have time to respond, initial results show positive gains in terms of feeling safe from outside threats, and having a friendly and supportive culture. Safety concerns requested increasing metal detector use, which has been implemented, along with the implementation of the clear bag policy.

• Other concerns/suggestions relate to having more opportunities for staff to get together outside of school. The hospitality committee will take this into consideration and seek more feedback.
• Finally, the need for more collaboration and communication time with administration and department was expressed as an area of need. With the move to our new schedule and the implementation of PLCs for the 2026-2027 school year, we should be able to meet these needs.

In August 2025, our reading specialist provided professional development on reading strategies to all faculty members. The purpose of this professional development was to provide strategies to be utilized across all content areas to meet the identified needs of their students.

On September 22, 2025, based on feedback received from a staff survey that was given at the first faculty meeting, staff engaged in English Language Learner (ELL), Special Education (SPED), and data review professional development sessions to gather additional strategies and information that can be used in their classrooms to support student growth in the area of reading for comprehension, fluency, and overall endurance.

In November, students are working to complete their second diagnostic in IXL to gather updated data regarding student progress.

During our faculty meetings, we continue to highlight literacy needs and strategies. Our Literacy Team recently provided specific examples to our staff and had them work by content to brainstorm strategies they use to support literacy that are already in use in their classrooms.

In January, all students completed their January IXL diagnostic. Data is outlined by grade level below:

9th Grade

Data is indicating steady positive growth towards higher lexile scores, with a higher percentage of English Language Learners moving levels forward as well.

10th Grade

Students are making significant gains in lexile levels; English Language Learners showed growth, but many are still significantly behind grade level when reading documents in English.

11th Grade

This group has shown consistent upward progress as demonstrated in their lexile gains. When looking at ELA growth, while not making huge gains towards reading on grade level for these who were significantly behind, when looking at individual scores, we were able to see that positive gains were being made.

12th Grade

The data for this group seems to be stagnant. In our team discussions, several factors may be impacting the quality of the data being collected, including senior buy-in when completing the assessments, as well as the fact that the scale maxes out and those already reading on grade level are not able to demonstrate growth.

On October 13, 2025, Sherando hosted one of FCPS sponsored Multilingual Readiness Fair evenings for families, which included representation from community services, snacks, and entertainment.

• Open House/Back to School Night was held on August 7, 2025
• Warrior Day of Caring for BTS Campus Clean-up was held on August 9, 2025
• Meet the Team Night was held on August 19, 2025
• Weekly newsletters are sent to families to share upcoming events and to highlight student engagement in various activities, along with sharing important information to support families.

While we are working to get families involved, we have not yet created a family engagement survey. We still plan to do this before the end of the school year to gather information to guide our work for the 2026-2027 school year.

• On March 25, 2026, we hosted our first ELL Family Night with close to 50 families in attendance. A small meal was served and families were given an overview of school information and given time to ask questions and provide feedback.
• In February, we held our Spring Sports Meet the Team Night; in November, we did the same for Winter Sports.
• FFA held their Farm to Table and their Annual Rent-A-Hand Auction to bring families together.
• Choir held a community BINGO event.
• Band sponsored their Safe Halloween event.
• Various teams have held end of season pot luck dinners for their families.
• The senior class is working with parents to plan end of year senior events.
• The junior class is working with families to plan prom.
• Numerous band and choir events have been held to bring in families.

The SHS scheduling team participated in a professional development master scheduling session with a consultant from Scheduling Consultants on September 8, 2025. Since that time, the school team has been developing a new master schedule for the 2026-2027 school year that includes time for teachers to engage in professional learning communities.

The Sherando School Improvement Team and Sherando Department Chairs met to discuss instructional needs and to begin incorporating these discussions into the development of a first draft of our 2026-2027 master schedule with indicated PLT times.

Master scheduled has been developed and is being fine tuned. PLCs have been created for all content areas, and we are working collaboratively with James Wood and Millbrook to provide common PLC time for areas in which there is only one teacher, for example, French, Physics, Latin, Calculus.

Various staff members have gone to conferences to learn about the Professional Learning Process and have shared with staff what they have learned and how they feel this work we are about to embark upon will help to move us forward as a school and community!