By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(Aug. 27, 2026) The Worcester County Board of Education last week received an overview of the school system’s new strategic plan that will guide Worcester County Public Schools’ priorities through 2030.

The 2026-2030 plan, entitled “Learn, Lead and Succeed,” ensures every student is “known, supported, challenged and prepared for the future,” said WCPS Coordinator of Public Relations Carrie Sterrs.

As part of the new strategic framework, the school board adopted a new mission and vision. The mission states, “In Worcester County, we know every student by name, strength and need.” The vision reads, “WCPS is a school community where every student is empowered to learn, lead and succeed.”

The board also adopted five core values — community, respect, excellence, growth, and creativity — based on feedback from over 1,100 school system stakeholders. Officials said the values reflect the culture the community wants to build throughout its classrooms and schools.

Matthew Record, chief safety and academic officer, said school safety is a foundational component of the entire strategic plan rather than a goal limited to one area.

“Safety is foundational and is all encompassing in all areas of our strategic direction,” Record said.

He added that responsibility falls to all members of the school system, including administrators, teachers, parents, and outside agencies.

The plan establishes four overarching goals: student success and future readiness; belonging and well-being; staff and organizational excellence; and communication and collaboration.

Under the student success and future readiness goal, WCPS will focus on academic growth while preparing students for a variety of paths after graduation, including higher education, military service, and careers.

Key performance indicators include increasing the percentage of students demonstrating readiness on the kindergarten readiness assessment and increasing the percentage of third-grade students demonstrating reading proficiency on the Maryland State Assessment. Additional measures will track mathematics achievement in third and eighth grades as well as college and career readiness at the high school level.

Record said the measures are intended to serve as milestones rather than the sole definition of student success.

The second goal, belonging and well-being, focuses on ensuring students feel safe, supported, and connected to their schools.

Under the new plan, WCPS will seek to decrease chronic absenteeism, ensure the risk ratio for exclusionary discipline remains below the state’s threshold for disproportionality, and increase the percentage of students who report favorable opinions of school safety through the Maryland School Survey.

According to Jennifer Sills, interim chief academic officer, the third goal, staff and organizational excellence, recognizes that student success depends on having strong employees and systems in place to support them.

The goal includes attracting, developing, and retaining high-quality staff while guaranteeing the school system operates efficiently and responsibly.

Among the indicators are increasing the percentage of teachers and administrators trained in the science of reading, increasing staff attendance, increasing the percentage of teachers of color hired into teaching and leadership positions, and increasing the percentage of professional staff with a master’s degree or higher.

The plan also calls for maintaining or increasing the number of schools earning a satisfactory grade on the WCPS Health and Wellness Action Plan Assessment and ensuring the annual financial statement audit is completed in a timely manner with an unqualified opinion.

The final goal focuses on communication and collaboration between the school system, families, and the broader Worcester County community.

Sills said strong relationships and trust were consistent themes in feedback gathered during the strategic planning process.

“This goal emphasizes transparent, meaningful communication and opportunities for our stakeholders and community partners to remain actively connected to our work in our schools,” she said.

WCPS will measure progress by tracking satisfaction with district and school communications through its annual family survey. The plan also requires each school to maintain a crisis communication plan as part of its annual emergency planning documents, aligned with the school system’s Standard Response Protocol.

Sills said the strategic plan was also developed to align with the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The four local goals connect across all five of the Blueprint’s pillars, she said.