Winman Stands Out Among Promising Test Results

WARWICK, RI – Warwick Public Schools’ End of the Year (EOY) Data Presentation showed promising results for the district’s schools, shared at Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, with Winman Middle School # 1 in reading improvement.

The meeting was held at Warwick Veterans Middle School, 2401 W Shore Rd, Warwick, RI, the usual venue for Warwick School Committee meetings.

There has been an upward trend for the last three years in ELA and Math EOY Diagnostic Scores, according to Lisa Schultz, Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Schultz credited the hiring of full-time interventionists for the growth in test scores.

For the 2022-2023 year, 61 percent of students were at or above grade level for English Language Arts and 57 percent were at or above grade level for mathematics.

The leaders were:

• Park School – #1 in math scores, #3 in reading, #1 in math growth, #2 in reading growth
• Scott School – #2 in math scores and #2 in reading
• Warwick Neck – #3 in math scores, #1 in reading scores, #3 in math growth, #2 in reading growth
• Norwood – #3 in math scores and #2 in math growth, #4 in reading growth
• Greenwood – #2 in reading scores, #3 in math growth, #2 in reading growth
• Cedar Hill – #3 in math scores
• Winman Middle School – #2 in math growth and #1 in reading growth – 140% of students met their yearly goal.

Winman Middle School was a standout among the positive news. “They were number one in reading growth and number two in math growth for the district,” Schultz said of Winman. “This is phenomenal and we haven’t seen movement like this in our middle schools in a long time. “We’re going to continue to grow. We have amazing teachers. It’s time to change the narrative to something positive.”

The PSAT results remained steady from the previous school year. 69 percent of 11^th grade students met the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score.

“Writing is always something students have struggled in, so for us to have that high score is really something to celebrate,” Schultz noted.

For SAT scores, Toll Gate High School went up by 53 points and Pilgrim High School went up by 45 points. Overall, Pilgrim is ahead by 7 points, Schultz added.

“We’re certainly trending in the right direction,” School Committee Vice-Chairman Shaun Galligan said.

“We have outstanding students in this district and outstanding teachers,” said Darlene Netcoh, President of the Warwick Teachers Union.

The results have been posted on the school district website, warwickschools.org.

DEI Presentation

There was also a presentation regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

A teacher asked earlier in the year if the district had a DEI policy.

• The Policy Committee was started to research what other districts in Rhode Island and around the United States were doing.
• Found many districts in and around Rhode Island engaged in conversations and work
• Discovered that a parent at one of our elementary schools had started a DEI committee to talk about equity issues specific to the school and community.

‘There’s no one size fits all to this work,” said DEI policy committee member Anne Siesel, also the Director of the Language Instruction Program. “It’s probably going to be more than just a policy.”

“We don’t teach diversity, we don’t teach equity, we don’t teach inclusion, we don’t teach critical race theory,” Netcoh added. “Let’s just approach this process calmly and not buy into inflammatory accusations about what we might be doing. We want to value everybody. We are a public school system, we accept everybody, we educate everybody. We want to work together and embrace diversity.”

“We hope to achieve a culturally relevant curriculum,” said committee member Karen Bachus. “Something that’s relevant for everyone, that makes sense, that people are comfortable with.”

Therapy Dog Policy Approved

The School Committee also approved a first read of a new therapy dog policy.

The policy reads in part:

“The Warwick School Committee supports the use of therapy dogs for the benefit of its students’ subject to the conditions of this policy. Benefits from visiting with a therapy dog include reduced stress, improved physical and emotional well-being, lower blood pressure, decreased anxiety, and improved self-esteem leading to increased academic achievement. Examples of activities that students may engage in with a therapy dog include petting the dog, speaking to the dog, giving the dog simple commands that the dog is trained to respond to and reading to the dog.

 Request: A therapy dog handler who wishes to bring a therapy dog to school district property shall submit a completed written request form to the Superintendent or the Superintendent’s designee, for approval. (The request form is attached to this policy.) Prior approval must be secured before the animal may be present on school premises. The request shall be submitted for approval each school year and/or whenever the handler wishes to use a different therapy dog.

 Such approval may be rescinded at any time at the sole discretion of the superintendent or designee. Once the Superintendent or the Superintendent’s designee approves the request, a plan for dog visits shall be developed with the Principal or the Principal’s designee.

 The meeting can be viewed on the Warwick School Committee’s You Tube channel.

Supporting documents for the meeting, including the agenda and a copy of the service animal policy, can be found at the district’s Google Drive file.