Dear PWCS Families, Employees, and Community,

The Virginia Department of Education has shared the PWCS preliminary on-time graduation and dropout rates for the 2023-24 school year, and I am excited to share the outcomes of the incredible work of our teachers, counselors, administrators, and staff members as they continue to positively impact our students and their futures.

Our preliminary on-time graduation rate is 94.3%, a 2.6% increase over the previous school year, and our English learners’ on-time graduation rate is 80.6%, a 9.6% increase.

Our rise in on-time graduation rates is driven by multiple factors. In addition to significant decreases in dropout rates, chronic absenteeism decreased to 16.2%, a 5.4% reduction. Over the past three years SOL pass rates have continued to increase across multiple core content areas. I invite you to read more about the student achievement being made across PWCS on our website.

As we continue our commitment to academic acceleration and recovery, we are trending in a positive direction which is exciting and encouraging. In October, we will share with all families and community, the full State of the Schools address which will include all final data from VDOE.

The success of this year’s results is attributed to the focus, determination and strategic efforts of our students, teachers, high school teams, families, parents, and community. Thank you for your continued partnership to ensure every student can create a thriving future for themselves and their community.

Throughout the week, our staff has worked diligently to prepare our buses, schools, hallways, and classrooms to welcome students for the first day of school on Monday, August 19. As a reminder, student class and bus schedules are now available in ParentVUE and StudentVUE. Parents/guardians will need to complete the Back to School Packet with important emergency information before accessing class and bus schedules. Please visit the Back to School webpage for more information.

As a reminder, PWCS is piloting a cell phone and wireless device program in middle and high schools this year. This pilot program will help inform the guidelines and protocols to be codified on January 1, 2025, in compliance with the Governor’s Executive Order 33 which requires establishing cell phone-free education in all public schools. To find out more about our pilot program, please visit our website.

In maintaining our commitment to authentic engagement, you can expect frequent communication from the division and schools throughout the school year by emails and texts sent through SchoolStatus. Look for information from your school and teachers regarding their plan to communicate with you. We will share additional communications via The Scoop! newsletter, and on PWCS’ official social media channels (PWCS Facebook, PWCS Instagram, PWCS YouTube).

Have a wonderful weekend and we will see you on the first day of school on Monday.

Sincerely,

LaTanya D. McDade, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Prince William County Public Schools