School Improvement Team:

(Your school improvement team should consist of a variety of stakeholders within your school community including parents)

Instructional Overview  

Provide descriptive information related to the curriculum, instructional programs, professional learning, and existing interventions utilizing a Response to Intervention approach to support the academic needs of students.

Provide explicit connections to your  school’s instructional overview and how it supports and aligns with GOAL 1: Empowered Students of the LCPS Strategic Plan and Goal 2.1 Offer high-quality Ongoing Growth and Development available to all staff; 2.2 Develop dedicated resources to improve Professional Collaboration across schools and the division

Secondary  Reading & Writing:

Curriculum and Instruction: Secondary Reading and Writing instruction is grounded in the science of reading and utilizes evidence-based literacy practices that reflect three of the five pillars of literacy:  Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension. In addition to Writing.  Instruction across all areas of literacy should be explicit, systematic, and align to the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs).  Resources: All classrooms are provided with state-approved resources consistent with the expectations of the Virginia Literacy Act and VDOE recommendations.  Resources include digital content such as No Red Ink, Newslea, and Schoology as well as authentic literature and informational texts.  Professional Learning: Secondary teachers and Reading Specialists engage in continuous professional development to support the implementation of best practices for literacy instruction in classrooms and intervention settings.  Intervention and Progress Monitoring:   Each student’s literacy progress is monitored through multiple data points including state-provided assessments such as IReady and the Virginia Standards of Learning.   Students who have identified areas of need are provided with differentiated classroom instruction and/or evidence-based intervention.  Using the LCPS decision trees as guidance, tiered supports are provided to students that align with expectations outlined in the Virginia Literacy Act.  All teachers are provided with professional learning on specific intervention strategies and programs.  To support this collective and ongoing effort of providing high-quality literacy instruction and intervention, all teachers engage in Literacy CLT/PLCs with their grade-level teams, participate in QTEL training, and are immersed in ongoing AVID training.  During these instances, teachers can collaborate and share student progress, strategize, and plan instruction for all students. 

Math: LCPS Math Curriculum and Instruction uses a math workshop structure and focuses on student-centered learning activities that include daily number sense routines and reflection.  Teachers plan small-group targeted instruction, varying the groups regularly.  Instruction prioritizes hands-on, inquiry-based learning focusing on conceptual understanding using representations and models/manipulatives.   Instruction also emphasizes the implementation of the Process Goals and the 5Cs through student collaboration, reasoning, communicating, making connections, and problem-solving.  Students who have identified areas of need are provided with differentiated classroom instruction and/or explicitly taught, evidenced-based intervention.

Instructional expectations for mathematics classrooms at Tuscarora High School prioritize workshop structures. Faculty members work diligently at collaborative planning to ensure that all workshop models are implemented with fidelity.

A growing number of mathematics team members have attended QTEL professional learning (Quality Teaching for English Learners) and actively implemented those instructional strategies in the classroom.  Incorporating QTEL strategies and Thinking Classroom strategies are regularly included in CLT planning.  

Intervention and Progress Monitoring: Students have access to a math-specific study hall each block of the school day, except the 4th block which is the Math Department's common planning block.  These Math-specific Study Halls are posted in newsletters, in the hallways around the school building, in Schoology, and shared with families and students.  Students may be requested to attend a Math Study Hall or afterschool SLED for focused interventions and support.  Teachers will leverage multiple data points for progress monitoring including DeltaMath, common formative assessments, and common summative assessments.  This school year, the county will begin implementing i-Ready Math as an additional progress monitoring tool.

Science: LCPS science programs are designed to actively engage students in the process of science and use reasoning processes that build scientific thinking. These programs teach students to know, use, and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world; to generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations; to understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge; and to participate productively in scientific practices and discourse.

Social Sciences & Global Studies: Social Science and Global Studies instruction in LCPS is grounded in a culturally responsive approach to the content in a way that elevates multiple perspectives. Students are empowered through authentic, inquiry-based learning experiences that promote students' development of historical thinking skills and provide opportunities to make their thinking visible.  Students demonstrate their understanding, knowledge, and skills through authentic performance tasks.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL): The social-emotional framework provides students with explicit SEL instruction, practice, and reinforcement of skills through academic integration and a supportive environment that cultivates relationships, belonging safety, and a student-centered approach. The framework is supported by the involvement of stakeholders, including the community, staff, students, and families.

At Tuscarora, SEL is supported through  Advisory lessons, United Mental Health Team, and Sources of Strength program.

Comprehensive Needs Assessment

Academic Achievement

A summary providing evidence of analysis of trends, patterns, proficiency, and growth in student academic achievement data.  Provide a clear connection between outcomes and contributing factors.

Math

 Overall from 2023 to 2024 70%-69% passed

• Alg 1 - 78% passed out of all students in 2024 (compared to 66% in 2023)
• Alg 2 - 83% passed out of all students in 2024 (compared to 67% in 2023)  
• Geometry -  56% passed for all students in 2024 68% passed for all students in 2022-23

Math Overall from 2023 to 2024:

• Black 65%-63%
• Hispanic  58%-64%
• SpEd 49%-60%
• EL 53%-60%

Alg 1 - Change from 2022-23 to 2023-24 (pass rate)

• Black - 57% - 68% passed
• Hispanic -  63% - 72%
• SpEd 50% - 69%
• EL 60% - 66%

Alg 2 - Not sufficient data (pass rate)

• Hispanic - 54% passed 2023-24
• EL - 100% passed 2022-23

Geometry - Change from 2022-23 to 2023-24 (pass rate)

• Black - 2023 69% passed
• Hispanic - 47% - 42%
• SpEd - 43% - 38%
• EL - 2023 8%

Reading

• Reading - 87% passed out of all students in 2024 (compared to 86% in 2022-2023)

• Writing - 80% passed out of all students in 2024 (compared to 84% in 2023)

Reading change from 2022-23 to 2023-24

• Black - 90% - 77%
• Hispanic - 67% - 77%
• SpEd - 50% - 72%
• EL - 14% - 49%

Writing change from 2022-23 to 2023-24

• Black - 77% - 70%
• Hispanic - 69% - 70%
• SpEd - 36% - 48%
• EL - 19% - 25%

Science

• Biology- 71% for all students passed in 2024.(compared to 69% in 22-23)
• Earth Science- 71% of all students passed in 2024. (compared to 72% in 22-23)

Biology- Change from 22-23 to 23-24

• Black- 68% - 70%
• Hispanic- 50% -44%
• SpED- 56%- 57%
• EL- 13%- 25%

Earth Science- change from 22-23-23-24

• Black- 67%-61%
• Hispanic- 51%-50%
• SpED- 59%-42%
• EL- 21%-26

THS will focus on reading across all content areas. Reading Specialists will increase their support in this endeavor. The leadership teams will work on strategies to support EL, African American, and economically disadvantaged students.

Other strategies include: Continued focused reading intervention meetings; a school-wide reading program; and support from the reading specialists, SSA, and instructional coaches.

Comprehensive Needs Assessment

Student Engagement

A summary of trends, patterns, strengths and areas for growth in student engagement data, including attendance, discipline, perceptual data, and graduation data (HS only).

Attendance

27.6% of the overall student population was chronically absent in 2024;  29.4% for the 2023 SY.

Discipline

In the 22-23 SY 61.9% of Hispanic students had a short-term suspension; 23.8 White; 9.5 multiple races; 4.8 Asian

In 22-23 SY 50% of Hispanic and 50% of White students had a long-term suspension

Graduation

In 23-24 School year 94.4 % of students graduated on time. This was a slight decrease from 22-23 SY at 94.6 %

Extended Learning and Engagement Opportunities

Provide information to describe extended learning and engagement opportunities for students, families, and community including what events you have planned or are considering hosting.

Provide explicit connections to your school’s extended learning and engagement opportunities and how they support and align with GOAL 4: Engaged Community of the LCPS Strategic Plan, especially GOAL 4.1 Deepen Family Engagement by offering inclusive opportunities for conversation across the division.

Extended Learning:

EADL Funding for the 2023-2024 School year was used for several functions:

1. Extra support was offered through the after-school SLED program. Students were able to receive support from all content area teachers to remediate and complete credit recovery.
2. Administrators and counseling teams were able to organize individual plans for any senior who was at risk of not graduating in June.
3. Staff and school counselors partnered to be able to provide opportunities for students to recover credits during the Summer.

Family and Community Engagement Opportunities:

THS’s highest-ranking indicators from the Family’s Stakeholders Survey include:

Behavior expectations at 90% (Safety); The school is clean and well kept at 83% (Safety); School staff members treat me with respect at 80% (relationships); Homework does not interfere with my child’s ability to participate in activities outside of school 83% (Secondary Experience)

THS’s growth opportunity indicators from the Family’s Stakeholders Survey include:

I know how to request interpretation or translation services 50% (Translation); This school empowers me to become a partner in my child’s education 41% (Academic Support); This school provides opportunities for me to connect with other families 40% (Relationships); My child’s school seeks feedback regarding school improvement 52% (Communication)

The results indicate that our large population of parents who do not speak English would like more assistance with receiving help to be a bigger part of the school community. We hope to improve this by increasing family nights, utilizing our school newsletter, participation in Fine Arts shows, Concerts, PTSO Boosters, community partnerships,  and weekly updates from our principal.

Climate and Culture

Provide a description of strategies that address the needs of all children in the school, but particularly the needs of those at risk of not meeting the challenging state academic standards, through activities such as counseling, social-emotional learning and mental health programs, and PBIS implementation.

Make explicit connections to the LCPS Strategic Plan goals of 1.3 Prioritize Care for Students by

ensuring a safe and affirming learning environment for all;  

School-specific narrative: The highest priority for the last three years has been recognizing and identifying student academic and social-emotional needs and putting in place varied strategies and programs to support our students in academic, behavioral, and social-emotional success.

 However, the students with IEPs improved proficiency in Reading by 18% ; our Hispanic population improved by 10%; our EL population improved by 35%. In Mathematics, students with IEPs improved by 11%; our EL population by 7%; and our Hispanic population by 6%, as measured in the 2022 SOL testing. Math and Reading have been targeted instructional focus areas for Tuscarora High School over the last three years.  

Tuscarora continues to embed a culture of leading students to high achievement through the work that takes place in Collaborative Learning Teams (CLTs) or course content teams.  School leadership has empowered CLTS with common planning time to meet weekly and document their ongoing progress in aligning curriculum to essential standards in a common scope and sequence format.  Additionally, CLTs create and deliver common summative/formative assessments, common grading and assessment practices, and are challenged to create norms and respond to the following four questions in each meeting: 1) What Do We Want Students to Know; 2) How Will We Know They Have Learned the Content; 3)  How Will We Help Students Who Have Not Learned the Content?  And 4) How Will We Extend Learning for Students Already Proficient in These Concepts?  

Tuscarora continues to focus on student social-emotional well-being through building a culture of inclusivity.  Advisory classes meet every Wednesday, with two staff members preparing the lessons.  The THS School Counseling group meets weekly as does the United Mental Health Team, to monitor and continuously create opportunities and programs (individual counseling, group counseling), and collaborate with administrators to support students and families through challenging situations.  We have also been fortunate to now have a full-time Psychologist and SAS on staff this year.

The Equity Lead collaborates with school administration and the Student Equity Ambassadors to assist the school leadership team in applying an “equity lens” to ensure the school climate is equitable for all students.

Ongoing and differentiated professional development for staff will drive the implementation and continued improvement in the areas of Teaching for Learning, School Climate, and MTSS.   Targeted topics include: Embedding a Culture of High Functioning CLTs;  Assessment and Grading;  Data Dialogues and Protocols;  Equity; Differentiation; Personalized Learning, and MTSS.

We established math study halls, Reading Workshop Strategies, and 21st Century Literature for more specialized and intentional remediation during school hours for math and reading. Our SSA leads the training for interventions, data analysis, and executive functioning lessons through lunch and learn sessions.

As evidenced through the most recent annual student, staff, and family surveys, stakeholders perceive Tuscarora as a safe learning environment that is welcoming and respectful to all races, cultures, and ethnicities.

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS): PBIS is a systemic approach for establishing a safe and supportive learning environment. Through the implementation of a consistent vision, language, and practices, school staff promote social, behavioral, and academic success for all students.  

Successful implementation of PBIS can lead to a positive school climate, improved classroom management, increased understanding of schoolwide expectations, strengthened relationships, increased positive behaviors, academic achievement and equitable learning experiences, and decreased office referrals and suspensions. To support implementation, the PBIS team meets regularly to evaluate behavioral data, provide behavioral lessons based on identified needs, and share resources.

At Tuscarora High School, our mantra is RISE which stands for Respect, Integrity, Service, and Excellence. All students and staff are taught these expectations and are provided positive feedback through an electronic “Husky Ticket” system when seen displaying RISE behaviors. A copy of the Husky ticket goes to the student and the parent.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL): The social-emotional learning framework provides students with explicit SEL instruction, practice, and reinforcement of skills through academic integration and a supportive environment that cultivates relationships, belonging, safety, and a student-centered approach. The framework is supported by the involvement of all community members, including staff, students, families, and community partners.  

In our school, we support and teach SEL through morning Advisory, PEER practices, UMHT groups, and Sources of Strength.