Strengths

Wicomico County works well with private providers to help students experiencing homelessness, a disability or those who are learning English.

The district plans to improve teacher diversity by partnering with higher education institutions including Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Wicomico will also create a mentorship program for paraprofessionals.

The district plans to diversify its teacher recruiting team in a way that could be a model for other districts.

Particularly in low-performing schools, the district outlined plans to identify areas of growth early on in students’ academic careers in order to improve performance in later grades. Math and reading professional development coaches will provide teachers with consistent feedback to improve teaching methods.

Wicomico has strong relationships with higher education institutions and employers to support post-college and career readiness.

Needs improvement

The county needs to focus more on understanding families’ needs to provide targeted support during the pre-K registration process.

Wicomico needs to increase training for National Board Certification facilitators beyond the required virtual training course. Certification facilitators recruit potential teacher candidates seeking the most respected professional certification available in education.

Like most districts, Wicomico needs to develop a career path to encourage the importance of improving teaching and learning rather than focusing on National Board Certification or salary incentives.

The district needs to follow through on its idea of building a dashboard to monitor attendance and course credit data related to high school graduation to support students who aren’t on track to graduate on time.