Today, June 19th 2020, the Virginia Board of Education released a list of the 2020 Exemplar Performance Awards.  

The entire division earned one of the Board’s Innovative Practice Awards. This is the first year the board has issued the award, which recognizes innovationative practices implemented over the course of two academic years that improve student outcomes. One school and six other school divisions earned this award. Greene County Public Schools received this honor for implementing “division-wide innovative practices to retain high-quality teachers.” Division-wide efforts that contributed to this recognition include an overall redesigned professional learning model, an addition of a Teacher Support and Mentorship Coordinator position, and an overall shift in our culture of teaching and learning through project based learning and performance assessments. Additionally, the division just completed the first year of the Lead Innovator program. Through this program, over 50 model classrooms were developed around our five pillars of innovation which include: Integration of Technology, Personalized Learning, Communication and Collaboration, Knowledge and Creativity, and Social-Emotional Learning

William Monroe High School earned the 2020 Board of Education Continuous Improvement Award. Schools that were recognized in this category earned accreditation and met at least one of the following criteria:

• A 10-point increase in the combined rate in reading and math, and in the pass rate in science;
• A 10-point increase in the combined rate in reading and math for two or more student groups across three years;
• A decrease in the chronic absenteeism rate for three years; or
• For schools with a graduating class, an increase in the Graduation and Completion Index and a decrease in the dropout rate for three years.

In the Board’s release Dr. James Lane says,  “I believe the success of these schools and school divisions will inspire learning communities across the commonwealth as they plan for the reopening of school and prepare to meet the instructional and social-emotional needs of students — especially students most impacted by the closure this spring.”