Strategic Plan

	Perform a thorough review of current practices for gathering and evaluating student, staff, family, and community voice.
	Create a Comprehensive Communications Plan to provide a clear and concise framework for communicating with internal and external stakeholders to increase knowledge and interest in the division.
	Conduct comprehensive needs assessment at every school to identify areas, which could benefit from community partnerships, volunteers and organized family programs.
	Develop partnership criteria and expectations.
	Create a work group to develop a matrix outlining student, staff and family roles and expectations to support student success.

	Increase use of all communication channels to serve as the primary source of information for students, families and community members.
	Create positive experiences for all students, families and community members by providing exemplary customer service.
	Identify opportunities to expand participation in school and division committee membership using FY23 shared decision-making baseline data.
	Increase stakeholder's awareness of volunteering opportunities for families and community members to support student success.

Complete a comprehensive website redesign to create a responsive, user-friendly platform to improve accessibility and engagement.

Expand efforts to promote partnership and volunteer opportunities for family and community members to support student success.

Revitalize advisory councils to ensure families, students, staff, and community members have a meaningful voice in decisions and a better understanding of the division's operations.

In 2021, YCSD adopted Let's Talk! - AskYCSD to streamline communications and ensure we, as a division, are responsive, available and service-oriented. This platform connects families, community members, and staff with division team members best suited to address their questions and concerns based on identified topics.

This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated on the first business day of each month and can be filtered by date, category or topic.

Customer Service Dashboard

Research shows one of the most effective ways to increase student achievement is for schools and families to work together to support children's learning and development. YCSD has selected six research-based family engagement concepts for reporting family engagement programs.

The division and all 19 schools hold events throughout each school year to enhance our families' knowledge of K-12 education while empowering them to be active participants in meaningful school-home relationships. The division monitors the purposes of events held, the target audience(s) and when and where events are held.

This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated quarterly and can be filtered by school or department, year, time of day, and location.

Note: Schools and departments hold numerous events and activities for family and community members beyond those reported here.

Family Engagement Dashboard

Engaging families, community members, team members and students in the decision-making process is crucial to the success of the school division. Implementing an intentional approach to ensure all voices are heard allows for stakeholders to believe their feedback, input and participation is both purposeful and valued, school-home relationships are strengthened by building mutual trust and understanding.

The division tracks division-level committees, number of participants, and stakeholder representation by school, department, and demographics.

This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated annually and can be filtered by year, committee, stakeholder role and program representation.

Note: The total number of participants across multiple years may differ from individual years. This total counts all unique individuals, so someone serving on a committee each year is counted once in the combined total.

Shared Decision-Making Dashboard

The division uses multiple platforms and tools to communicate with families, staff and community members. Social media is a high-profile, high-potential communication channel to share division and school news, expand our audience, and facilitate two-way engagement. The division monitors the number of posts shared to the primary division Facebook and Instagram accounts, the number of followers, as well as the engagement and reach of the accounts.

This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated on the first business day of each month and can be filtered by platform, month and year.

Social Media Dashboard

	Identify components of Working Conditions survey and School Climate survey best suited to gauge student and staff perception of their environments and develop plan to survey students and staff annually.
	Explore a transition towards an integrated VTSS framework that supports behavior, wellbeing, and instruction.
	Perform a review of current student connections to schools as evidenced by enrollment in clubs, athletic teams, music and drama groups, student government and any other school activities or experiences which inform next steps to increase student connections.
	Develop a checklist to assess the current state of the internal and external physical learning environments and implement audits of all division schools and worksites.
	Perform a thorough review of existing staff mentorship/coaching programs and gain staff feedback to identify successes and areas for improvement across programs and departments.

	Lead school-based efforts to address chronic absenteeism rates by reducing the number of students with 5 or more unexcused absences.
	Implement VTSS Tier II and Tier III processes related to integrated tiers of support for students with fidelity.
	Improve learning environments utilizing FY23 student climate survey data.
	Create and enact a plan to improve the internal and external physical learning environments of each division school.
	Develop targeted, site-based plans which improve employee satisfaction and commitment using FY23 working conditions data and employee feedback.

Identify trends within annual student climate and staff working conditions surveys; Collaborate with school and department leaders to implement responsive actions.

Continue efforts to improve interior and exterior learning and working environments of each division school.

Provide direct support to schools on student attendance, behavior, and mental wellness structures.

In conjunction with the Virginia Department of Education, the division offers students in grades 4-12 the opportunity to participate in the Virginia School Survey. The survey is designed to support school and division administrators in monitoring student access to a healthy and positive environment in which they can learn, work, interact, and grow.

State administration of the survey alternates annually between middle and high school students. The division has identified 10 questions from the state survey to administer at all grade levels.

This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated annually after the division receives survey results from state agencies and can be filtered by school year, school level, and school.

Note: 2023-24 data for state administered high school surveys is not currently available.

School Climate Dashboard

Participation in school organizations, clubs and teams can benefit students in key areas such as academic performance, behavior and attendance. Extracurricular activities provide students opportunities, beyond the classroom, to apply knowledge, skills, habits and traits necessary for success in future experiences.

As activities can include year-long or seasonal participation, this Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated quarterly during the school year and can be filtered by school year, school and grade level.

Student Connections: Elementary Schools Dashboard

Participation in school organizations, clubs and teams benefit students in key areas such as academic performance, behavior and attendance. Extracurricular activities provide students opportunities beyond the classroom to apply knowledge, skills, habits and traits necessary for future success. All middle schools and high schools offer opportunities for students in co-curricular, extracurricular and athletic/scholastic organizations.

Co-Curricular: Activities which are an extension of the formal learning experiences in a course or academic program

Extracurricular: Activities not explicitly connected to the academic learning

Athletics/Scholastic: High school activities associated with the Virginia High School League (VHSL) and middle school sports

Multiple Connections: Students involved in two or more school programs

As activities can include year-long or seasonal participation, this Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated quarterly during the school year and can be filtered by school year, school and grade level.

Student Connections: Middle & High Schools Dashboard

Regular attendance in school improves children's success while those with irregular attendance may fall behind. The York County School Division must comply with the Code of Virginia requirements for truancy and chronic absenteeism.

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) defines chronic absenteeism as a student having 10% or more absences during an academic school year, regardless of whether the absence is excused or unexcused. Unexcused absences include student absences for which the school has not received notification from the family and/or the absence does not meet criteria in the YCSD Student Handbook and Conduct Code. Truancy is defined as the act of accruing one or more unexcused absences.

The division monitors student absenteeism to develop supports and interventions for those students with five or more absences. This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated on the first business day of each month and can be sorted by date, year, school and type of absence.

Student Attendance Dashboard

Creating a positive school environment requires collaboration between students, families and school staff. Student behavior violations and resulting disciplinary measures are governed by the YCSD Student Conduct Code. The Conduct Code is intended to ensure students learn in a safe and disruption-free environment.

Disciplinary measures include removal from class or being given detention, receiving alternative sanctions (e.g. denial of bus privileges), in-school suspension and out-of-school suspension. For more information, please review the Student Handbook and Conduct Code.

The division monitors the most common behavior violations and the resulting disciplinary measure. This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated quarterly and can be filtered by school year, level, and demographics.

The following student behavior categories, as defined by the VDOE, were designed to assist in recognizing the impact the behavior has on the school learning environment and to encourage responses that promote social-emotional learning competencies.

Behaviors that Impede Academic Progress (BAP):

These behaviors impede the academic progress of the student or of students. They are typically indicative of the student's lack of self-management or self-awareness. Sometimes, the student may need help in understanding how the behavior impacts others. Therefore, as a result, training in social awareness may also be indicated.

Behaviors Related to School Operations (BSO):

These behaviors interfere with the daily operation of school procedures. Students exhibiting these behaviors may need to develop self-management, self-awareness, or social awareness skills.

Relationship Behaviors (RB):

These behaviors create a negative relationship between two or more people that does not result in physical harm. Relationship behaviors affect the whole school community in that the school climate is often a reflection of how people treat one another. Students who exhibit difficulty with relationship behaviors may also have difficulty with the other social- emotional competencies.

Behaviors that Present a Safety Concern (BSC):

These behaviors create unsafe conditions for students, staff, and visitors to the school. The underlying reasons for this type of behavior may lie in any of the social-emotional competencies, so the administrator should investigate the underlying motivation for the student's behavior. Training in social awareness and decision-making is usually indicated in any behavior that creates a safety concern.

Behaviors that Endanger Self or Others (BESO):

These behaviors endanger the health, safety, or welfare of either the student or others in the school community. Behaviors that rise to this level of severity are often complex. While they are indicative of poor decision-making skills, students who exhibit these behaviors may also have developmental needs in the other social-emotional competencies.

Persistently Dangerous Behaviors (PDB):

These behaviors are described in the Virginia's Unsafe School Choice Option Policy required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015.

Student Behavior Dashboard

	Convene a workgroup to review the staff compensation package, to include health, dental, and fringe benefits, across the comparator market and make recommendations.
	YCSD will enhance its recruitment program to effectively staff schools and departments. This will include the implementation of a comprehensive Human Resource Management System (HRMS) that will improve the efficacy of hiring managers to recruit and hire highly skilled and diverse staff.
	Use the Working Conditions Survey results and the Personnel Exit Collection data to develop site-based and targeted plans designed to improve employee satisfaction and commitment.
	Establish a stakeholder process to define and develop professional growth strategies for each employee work group.

	Improve recruiting and hiring processes through effective use of the comprehensive HR management system.
	Develop a comprehensive recruiting plan, to include a marketing video, website presence, and marketing materials.
	Expand employees’ growth opportunities and fill vacancies through intentional Professional Development opportunities targeting staff advancement.

Identify and implement actionable steps for improving workplace satisfaction and performance.

Implement targeted methods to hire highly-qualified candidates for hard-to-fill vacancies across all departments.

Educate employees on the comprehensive compensation package, including salary determination processes and all available benefits.

Improve benefits enrollment and change processes to reduce potential errors.

Provide employees with intentional and strategic high-quality professional development opportunities.

Enhance retention, morale, engagement, productivity, and employee attendance by developing effective employee relations.

Employee retention refers to the division's ability to prevent employee turnover. Stability in our workforce fosters a collaborative environment in which team members work together to advance student achievement. Recruiting and filling a vacant position requires significant time, money and effort. Research shows it can take one to two years for a new hire to match the productivity of the employee who left.

The division monitors overall and new hire retention rates, as well as the reasons employees separate from the division. These Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are updated annually and can be filtered by fiscal year, separation type and 3-year retention rates.

Employment Retention and Vacancies Dashboard

Recruiting and retaining highly effective teachers is directly linked to student success. Over the past decade, data demonstrates the number of teacher applicants entering the field of education has declined significantly, while there has been an increase in teachers moving from one school system to another.

The division takes an intentional approach to attracting qualified applicants, selecting the candidate best fit for the position, offering them employment, and onboarding the new employee. The division monitors the number of employees on the Teacher Salary Schedule hired annually and their average years of experience when hired, as well as regional employment trends.

These Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are updated annually and can be filtered by fiscal year, years of experience, and school division.

Licensed New Hires and Lateral Moves Dashboard

In conjunction with the Virginia Department of Education, the division offers all employees the opportunity to participate in a Staff Working Conditions Survey annually. The survey measures teacher/staff perceptions of school rules and discipline, teacher-student relationships, student engagement in school and the extent of bullying and teasing at school. The division has identified 10 questions from the state survey to use to evaluate school and office environments.

This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated annually and can be filtered by school year, school/level, department and years of service.

Staff Working Conditions: School-Based Dashboard

Staff Working Conditions: Non School-Based Dashboard

	Create a YCSD College and Career website that provides valuable academic and career planning resources for students and families.
	Expand the YCSD curriculum framework to include additional resources that promote student engagement, character education traits, effective technology integration and differentiation.
	Audit the current K-12 writing instructional program and curriculum documents.
	Audit the alignment and rigor of the YCSD middle school math curriculum.
	Update the YCSD Literacy Model to include integration of Science of Reading instructional practices.
	Develop a continuum outlining expectations for K-12 academic and career planning.
	Identify and implement instruction resources to support improved PSAT/SAT outcomes and increased enrollment in advanced coursework.

	Implement strategies to prepare students to meet or exceed state and federal benchmarks in English, math, science, and on-time graduation.
	Create engaging educational experiences by having every teacher integrate 3 or more thinking-based classroom characteristics in at least one lesson or unit of study.
	Develop processes to support all students in grade 5 and 8 reaching proficiency on the Integrated Reading and Writing (IRW) Mastery Connect assessments.
	Evaluate and increase opportunities for high schools to meet state and federal benchmarks for College, Career, and Civic Readiness.

Identify and implement processes which prepare students to earn a 3 or higher on an AP test, 4 or higher on an HL IB exam, or a 5 on an IB SL exam.

Develop a method for monitoring students' progress towards earning an Early College Scholar certificate.

Identify opportunities to expand options for CTE completers to earn a state-approved industry recognized credential.

Maximize opportunities for middle school students to take advanced math courses.

Explore options for including advanced middle school science and social studies courses within the Program of Studies.

Develop a multi-year improvement plan for student writing performance.

Implement data-driven approaches which support students' ability to achieve the advanced performance level on the reading, math, and science SOL tests.

Establish a system to monitor and support student growth in reading and math.

Apply the Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System (VALLSS) in grades K-3 to ensure all students receive foundational reading skills supported by the Science of Reading.

The Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System (VALLSS) is an informal screening inventory required by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). It is administered to all students in kindergarten through second grade in the fall and spring of each school year.

VALLSS results help determine individual students' learning goals, support the planning of targeted instruction, monitor student progress, and identify students who may need additional support in foundational reading skills.

The screener uses a combination of subtest scores to create a composite scaled score using a state-determined algorithm. Students may score within three bands of reading difficulty risk: high risk, moderate risk, or low risk, based on their scaled score. For more information on the Virginia literacy screener, please access this Literacy Screening Information Sheet.

This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated semi-annually and can be filtered by school year and grade level.

Academic Assessments: Early Literacy Screening VALLSS Mid-Year Dashboard

Academic Assessments: Early Literacy Screening PALS Dashboard (2022-24)

The York County School Division offers free College Board assessments to students in grades 9 and 11. Schools use data from the PSAT 8/9 and PSAT/NMSQT to guide curriculum development, course planning, and to help close the achievement gap.

The PSAT 8/9 provides an early measure of college and career readiness as students enter high school. It also provides students and families valuable information for academic and career planning.

The PSAT/NMSQT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test/National Merit scholarship Qualifying Test) provides feedback in mathematics, writing and verbal skills. Students who achieve strong scores on this exam during their junior year are eligible for the National Merit Scholarship Program, which provides college-bound students.

This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated annually once the College Board releases school and division level data and can be filtered by year and school.

Academic Assessments: PSAT 8/9 Dashboard

Academic Assessments: PSAT/NSMQT Dashboard

The Standards of Learning (SOL) guides instruction in Virginia's public schools, outlining expectations for student learning and achievements in grades K-12. SOL annual student assessments are administered to students at the conclusion of specific courses in grades 3-11.

Reading SOL: Grades 3-8 and once in high school

Writing SOL: English 11 courses

Math SOL: Grades 3-8 and specific secondary courses (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II) as needed to meet graduation requirements

Science SOL: Grades 5-8 and specific high school credit-bearing courses (Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry) based on graduation requirements

History SOL: Once in elementary school (Virginia Studies), once in middle school (Civics and Economics) and specific high school credit-bearing courses (Geography, World History I, World History II, Virginia, United States history) based on graduation requirements

This Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is updated annually once the Virginia Department of Education has released school and division level data and can be filtered by school year, assessment and demographics.

Academic Assessments: SOLs Dashboard

The York County School Division (YCSD) offers Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses which provide opportunities for middle and high school students to explore careers, develop occupational knowledge and skills, and earn industry recognized credentials.

CTE curriculum integrates employability skills, is competency-based, and aligns with Virginia's core subject Standards of Learning. The YCSD program of study includes sequential CTE courses designed to provide foundational knowledge with opportunities for advanced learning. CTE sequential courses offer pathways for students to earn one or more postsecondary credential, college credit through dual enrollment, and extended learning experiences such as work-based learning.

Both the Finance career cluster and the Education and Training career cluster encompass courses that all students are required to take resulting in larger course enrollments in those areas. Visit the Virginia's Career Clusters website for more information.

Career and Technical Education Indicators Dashboard

College, Career and Civic Readiness Index (CCCRI) is an index that measures, for the graduating cohort, student preparation for college and careers while in high school. Credit is given for advanced coursework, CTE courses and credentials, JROTC coursework and credentials, work-based learning, and service learning. This is an unduplicated count. Students may meet more than one qualifying criteria, however, they are only counted once.

Note: The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) no longer tracks or reports this data due to changes in school accountability beginning with the 2024-25 school year. No updates will be made to this KPI.

College, Career and Civic Readiness Index Dashboard