2026–2027 District Action Plan

Weston Public Schools puts its five-year Strategic Plan into action through an annual District Action Plan, which defines specific steps for the current school year. Each school’s School Improvement Plan then outlines related actions for that building.

This page presents the 2026–2027 District Action Plan. It begins with highlights for families and then sets out the year’s action steps organized by the Strategic Plan’s three focus areas and nine objectives.

Highlights for Families

Elements of this year’s District Action Plan that families are most likely to see or take part in include:

  • Social emotional screening in every grade. Students in grades K-12 will be screened for social, emotional, and behavioral needs in November, January, and May, helping staff more accurately identify students who need support.
  • Student-led belonging pulse checks. At Field School, Weston Middle School, and Weston High School, student leaders will survey their peers about school climate and lead forums to share results. A report and School Committee presentation for each school will share the data and next steps by June 2027.
  • Family workshops on anti-hate work. With the PTO and the Belonging, Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (BIDE) Committee, the district will offer at least two workshops or presentations for families and community members.
  • A new electronic device policy. The district’s new policy on electronic devices is being implemented in every school, with lockers assigned to middle and high school students for storing devices.
  • A new Technology Advisory Council (TAC). The district will establish this group of at least 8 parents and guardians from all school levels, along with faculty and staff, to meet at least 10 times this year and give feedback on district technology use, AI integration, and digital guardrails.
  • Next steps for the middle and high school buildings. The district will seek funding and approval for a feasibility study exploring whether to renovate the current middle and high school buildings or construct a new secondary school.
  • A redesigned district website. Work is underway to redesign westonschools.org so it aligns with district priorities and makes information more accessible, with the new site scheduled to launch in August 2027.

Our Work This Year, by Strategic Plan Focus Area

The District Action Plan follows the Strategic Plan’s three focus areas and nine strategic objectives, defining the specific work that will occur in each area this academic year.

1. Cultivate Academic Excellence and Foster Innovation

Goal: Provide a rigorous, inclusive, and cohesive educational experience by aligning the Pre-K through 12 curriculum with Portrait of a Learner outcomes, expanding diverse learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom, and strengthening multi-tiered systems of support to ensure every student reaches their full potential.

1.1 Examine and improve Weston’s curriculum, Pre-K through 12, so that it is more aligned, inclusive, supported by high quality instructional materials, and connected to Portrait of a Learner outcomes.

This year we will:

  • Continue rollouts of high-quality instructional materials at the elementary level, first in literacy and then in content areas. This includes:
    • K-5: Continuing year 2 roll-out of EL Education (2026–2027 school year).
    • K-5: Engaging in professional learning opportunities to support teacher implementation (2026–2027 school year).
    • K-5: Beginning to examine current science and social studies curriculum to evaluate alignment with literacy curriculum content (2026–2027 and 2027–2028 school years).
  • Audit curriculum for inclusivity and incorporate Portrait of a Learner outcomes. This includes:
    • Conducting a “visibility audit” of current curriculum maps in all subjects to identify gaps in non-Eurocentric and LGBTQ+ representation. Publishing these maps to allow community visibility into where diverse identities are taught: 
      • Ensuring that at least one core English/literacy text carries a strong anti-hate theme in every grade, K-12 (starting fall 2026).
      • Comparing demographics of students in advanced courses against the district’s overall profile (by October 2027). 
      • Auditing D and F rates among students, by subgroups and classes (by October 2027). 
      • Checking participation rates in art, music, and other electives (by October 2027).
      • Auditing STEM curriculum for Eurocentric bias, false neutrality, and socioeconomic assumptions to ensure inclusive, globally representative content (starting fall 2026).
      • Auditing music repertoire and the art “canon” (starting fall 2026).
      • Auditing P.E. and wellness curriculum for ableism or body-shaming (starting fall 2026).
    • Creating Portrait of a Learner rubrics for each of the 10 portrait-of-a-learner attributes (We are resilient, motivated, innovative, empathetic, collaborative, critical thinkers, civically engaged, emotionally intelligent, effective communicators, and act with integrity) (by June 2027).
  • Incorporate more research-based, high-quality instructional materials in secondary courses. This includes:
    • Researching options for high-quality instructional materials at the middle school beginning with math (by June 2027).
    • Defining the standards of high-quality instructional materials for teacher-created curriculum across all content areas 6-12 (by February 2027).
    • Explicitly matching curricular mastery outcomes to standards and practices outlined in the state frameworks. Uncovering curricular gaps where standards are not being addressed and adjusting curriculum accordingly (by September 2028).

1.2 Explore and develop educational opportunities for students within and beyond the classroom.

This year we will:

  • Expand community service and internship opportunities for all students. This includes:
    • Considering stipending a community service coordinator for FY28 (fall 2026).
    • Enhancing guest speaker opportunities to enhance student learning (2026–2027 school year).
  • Continue to develop and enhance enrichment opportunities within and outside the school day. This includes:
    • Successfully completing the new stipend allocation cycle for all after-school clubs and activities (by September 2026).
    • K-5: Developing EL Education end-of-module performance tasks to expand student learning opportunities out to the broader community (2026–2027 school year).
    • Preschool-5: Aligning field trips and supplementary programs to current curriculum content (2026–2027 school year).

1.3 Continue to develop and augment multi-tiered academic supports for all students.

This year we will:

  • Continue to develop data teams, identification practices, and progress monitoring systems (elementary). This includes:
    • Refining intervention entrance and exit criteria (2026–2027 school year).
    • Implementing new data platform to better support data-driven instruction including progress monitoring and sharing student progress with families (2026–2027 school year).
  • Continue to develop data teams, identification practices, and progress monitoring systems (secondary). This includes:

In departments:

  • Continuing to expand or refine baseline, formative, and summative assessments to identify students needing content-area support, and areas of instructional practice that need to be adjusted to serve the needs of all students (2026–2027 school year).
  • Continuing to match department-based accommodations, interventions and extensions for students who are struggling and for students who need a challenge (2026–2027 school year).
  • Developing departmental progress monitoring systems that track students’ progress (by June 2027).

At the middle school:

  • Continuing to refine data analysis, identification practices, and progress monitoring at both the weekly grade-level student academic support meetings and at the weekly school-level student (social-emotional/behavioral) support meetings (by June 2027).

At the high school:

  • Continuing to refine data analysis, identification practices, and progress monitoring at the weekly Instructional Support Team (IST) meetings (by June 2027).

Overall:

  • Evaluating LinkIt! as an effective data dashboard (winter 2027).
  • If LinkIt! is determined to be unhelpful, exploring other data dashboards that may be more useful (spring 2027).
  • Assess and/or improve digital data platforms that support data team identification, progress monitoring, and sharing student progress with families. This includes:
    • K-5: Implementing new data platform to better support data-driven instruction including progress monitoring and sharing student progress with families (2026–2027 school year).
  • Incorporate accommodations from the new District Curriculum Accommodation Plan (DCAP) into instruction. This includes:
    • Finalizing the new DCAP and publishing it in a format that is readily usable for educators (by August 2026).
    • Training all educators on the use of the DCAP (August and September 2026).
    • Making incorporating DCAP accommodations into instruction an area of focus for supervision and evaluation:
      • Supervisors calibrating proficient and exemplary practices on incorporating DCAP accommodations into instruction (August and September 2026).
      • Supervisors collecting data on incorporating DCAP accommodations into instruction on visit of practice forms.
      • 80% of teachers successfully incorporating DCAP accommodations in their lessons in 2026–2027.
  • Broaden the range of tiered interventions in General Education and Special Education to provide a more standards-aligned continuum of support. This includes:
    • Ensuring teachers are referring to DCAP to support students in the classroom (2026–2027 school year).
    • Examining elementary schedules to maximize intervention time (2026–2027 school year).