Good afternoon, everybody.
I'd like to call today's Curriculum Council meeting to order
and we will begin
with an acknowledgment of
a new attendee today.
We have Lindsey Cope sitting in for Cathy Sicker,
serving that role as a voting board member
today at Curriculum Council as opposed to a parent representative
as she will now going forward be a member of our board.
So congratulations and welcome.
We will start today with just a review of the summary notes.
They are posted there.
We generally don't go over the notes, but they're there for anyone's reference.
And we have a pretty lengthy agenda today.
So I think we're going to jump right into the informational items.
But first, I should probably take attendance and then we'll do that.
So let's just start with the people in the room.
We can just go around the room with our our representatives who are here
just say your name and your row, and then we'll go on to virtual so I can start.
I'm Dr. Shuman.
I'm assistant to the superintendent for curriculum.
So that works.
I don't know how to turn it on, but Lindsey Cook School Board,
Donna Cronin School Board.
Erica Schmidt School Board.
Robert Bennett School Board.
Tracy Landry Director of Professional Learning.
Jenna Funk Elementary Principal.
Stacy Winslow, Superintendent.
Okay.
And then we'll do attendance virtually.
Let's start with Laura Alexander.
Hi. Laura Alexander, third grade teacher,
Lauren Doyle.
Hi, This is Lauren Doyle, a school counselor at the high school.
Chelsea Gavin.
And a gobble.
And a gomer.
Hi, this is Hannah.
Go, Mom, As do Representative.
Christine Hicks,
Jessica and Jerry.
Greg Knowles.
Greg Knowles, Spanish Middle School.
Geraldine Roar.
Lisa miller
son Mullins.
Son Mullins Parent Adviser.
Erica Schmidt Oh, I'm sorry, Erica already.
I'm just going down my list.
Check that one up.
Lindsay Schmidt.
Lindsay Schmidt, High School Principal.
Heidi Stein,
Sherri Stuckey,
Eric Valentine.
Eric and Middle School principal.
Lisa Wang
and Jordan Yeagley.
Jordan Yeagley Citizen Advisor.
Okay, thank you, everybody.
So that will move us on to our information items.
And next step we have a presentation on math pilot at the elementary school
next year with our math coach Mindy Smith and elementary
principal Jennifer.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I'm Jennifer and I'm the elementary principal.
Mindy Smith is here with me today, too.
She's our elementary math instructional coach
and we wanted to take a few minutes to talk with curriculum counsel
about some math work that we've been doing over the past couple of years and a
pilot that we would like to move forward with next year in exploring
a math program.
So just to give a little bit of background in the past few years,
we have been doing some more math work with our teachers through professional
learning communities and really looking at our current math program
and aligning that with the state standards in our district curriculum.
And through that work, we've we've identified some areas of need
that we've been working over the past couple of years and also started
having some discussions this year about the different programs out there.
So just to give you a little bit of history,
we currently have everyday math.
It is our current program and we've had that for almost the past 20 years.
Give or take.
And like I shared,
one of the benefits of of working through the pandemic
is we really spent a lot of time with our teachers
looking at our curriculum, the state skills and standards,
and really making sure that was aligned and prioritized for our students
through that work.
We have identified some areas with the current everyday math program
that needed some work and some some supplementing,
especially based on what our student data was, was showing us.
And therefore we started this year
just to explore some other programs and see what was out there
that was comparable to start making some comparisons to everyday math.
So some of the things
that we determined as a need as we started this work
were really in alignment with the standard.
So currently everyday math, our teachers have found
lots of areas that are showing us gaps
or that are addressed that shouldn't be addressed
or that are not addressed that should be addressed.
So we've been working over the past couple of years to really supplement
and make sure we're hitting all of the state standards,
having starting to have some more vertical, articulate and conversations.
Meaning is the instruction and the skills that we're hitting
in kindergarten flowing up through fifth grade, or are there areas
where things are being skipped over or missed or addressed?
That should not be.
Also, we've been spending some time looking at best instructional practices
and really working on professional learning with our teachers and that
then looking at our current math program to see
does that resource best support those best instructional practices.
And so these are some of the things that we noted as needs
that then helped drive our conversations and what we were looking at as we explored
different math programs.
So I'm going to ask Mrs.
Smith to come up and just tell a little bit about the process we took
and some of the information that we found with the program
that we are looking to pilot.
Hi, my name's Mindy Smith.
I'm the instructional coach for math at the elementary school.
So to start the process, we first analyze,
we use ED reports to analyze some of the programs that are out there.
Ed Reports is a group of people made up of math experts,
data analysis experts, multilingual experts.
So it's a bunch of people that analyze
all of the programs that are not all of them,
but a lot of the programs that are out there.
So I start we started there and we took the top 6 to 7.
I think it ended up being seven programs.
And then we delve deeper into each of those programs.
We contacted representatives from the companies and we talked a little bit
about what their programs looked like, what their goals were for their programs,
and how their programs would support our students.
We watched some videos
on the programs to see a little bit more of what they had to offer
and requested samples be sent to us so that we could further explore them.
With that said, we started to eliminate
the programs that we knew weren't going to be a good fit for our students.
You know, we want our students to be taught to mastery
so that they are successful as they build on the next standard.
And some of them spiraled so quickly that we didn't
we thought a lot of our students would fall off.
Some of them weren't
did not teach to the depth that we want to teach
to ensure that our students are successful.
So we ended up with one program that we thought would be a great fit
for us to continue exploring in that program is called Eureka Squared.
Eureka actually has been out for a long time,
but the Square does an updated version.
So Eureka Squared has it is standards based.
And actually if you go back for a second, sorry,
we put together a selection committee of two teachers,
actually one teacher I'm sorry, from each grade level K through five.
We also included our interventionists and a special ed teacher
and through that all of them individually and independently
and compared this program, Eureka squared to the Pennsylvania State Standards
to make sure that everything we need to cover was covered
and they all submitted all of this paperwork
so that we could look in and analyze it and compare it.
Go ahead.
Thank you so what we found Eureka has to offer is it is standards based.
The instruction is very explicit for our kids.
It's very hands on use of lots of use of manipulatives.
It lays out the levels of proficiency.
So we thought this was really great for ensuring that teachers know
what students should be able to do before they leave their grade level.
There I can statements which tell the kids what they should be able to do.
We thought this was a great guide for teachers and students.
The CRT model is when we teach concretely, then represented representational
and then abstract, and it also supports that model
which we found students to be very successful with.
It differentiates instruction.
This includes enrichment.
That was one thing that we really wanted to make sure
because we have high level learners and we wanted to make sure
we were able to provide that enrichment for our students.
So it does that and it also supports the yellow components.
It has common informative and benchmark assessments, which supports
all of the work that we've
been doing in places looking at data to make our instructional decisions.
So we were happy with that.
So we would like to move forward and have two teachers
from each grade level K to five do a yearlong pilot with this program.
The company provides professional development
I put every two weeks, but we've actually changed that to monthly.
And then the second one would be as needed, and then they would
also have professional development and check ins with me weekly.
They are going to collect feedback.
We're going to collect feedback from the teachers
so that if we ended up voting that this is the way they want to go.
We already know going into it what worked, what didn't work,
we'd be able to make a good informed decision.
And then we're also going to collect data to show
if you know how our students have grown with the use of this program.
So just
to wrap things up and wanted to give the committee a timeline, our plan
is then to start piloting beginning of the school year in August next year,
and then in order to get things in place, if we if we decided that
this was something we recommended, we would present it back to Curriculum
Council in February of 23 for the first read.
And then again, if it was recommended, the final read would be in March of 2023,
so that we would be able to make a final decision prior to the budget
planning and ordering for the fine for the next school year.
So that is our timeline plan
there.
Any questions
I know you talked about at the beginning about
but can you just kind of say what your expectation
will be with
this versus what we have been using the everyday math?
Sure.
So we're going to have two teachers from each grade level piloting.
The reason we chose to is so that they would have somebody to collaborate with
as they were working through it.
The rest of the teachers will still be using the everyday math program.
The big difference between the two programs, they both hit
the state standards.
They both follow our district curriculum.
But the big difference
is going to be everyday Math is a program that has a pretty tight spiral.
So what that means is kids are introduced to topics and lessons
and then it moves on rather quickly to something new, to something new,
and then it will come back to what they had learned and
that's kind of what how every day mass
the program is structured, Eureka Squared is taught more to a mastery approach.
So it's broken down into units based on the main
areas of mathematics and kids are taught.
So for for example, everyday math might teach one
or two lessons and Eureka squared might have 20.
So it's just different structures and and the way that it's taught.
However, by the end of the school year, every student in is still going
to be taught all of the state standards that just might be in a different order.
It will be in a different order.
Okay.
Donna Cronin, just us
basically jumping off of what.
Eric. Asked.
So does that necessarily mean that
it has the less spiraling philosophy and more like the mastery?
I assume as you stick with Division two, you learn it using division rather than
here's a little bit of division.
We'll come back and we do geometry or we did dividing sides or shapes
or something like that.
So it's really focused on. Discrete
learnings or, you know.
Functions or something.
Yeah, Yes, it's, it's taught to mastery.
Now, that's not to say that the skills don't come back up as a review later.
They still do that as well, but it is taught it's intended to be taught
so that students master the skill before moving on to the next concept.
Since prior to every day math, I think we had something that was more like this.
And then.
Then the spiraling. Seem to be in vogue.
So we're just kind of
going back to kind of
where I was.
We had
that just messed with my memories or whatever the was.
Was the whole.
Big thing was welcome to Spiral.
I was yeah, I was going to kind of ask a question with that, but
now I forgot.
My question is why?
So do I have to interrupt people?
Because I just remember.
All right.
Oh, I remember.
So with the spiraling and I think
and I'm not sure if that was part of it, but
will be discussed like the everyday math was kind of introducing
different ways because everybody learns a little differently.
Does this incorporate that at all?
Are we just going back to the straight kind of one way to learn know it.
There's many different ways to solve math problems.
And so your two square shows different components in different ways
as well.
It's just the amount of time spent on a concept is definitely more
more in the year at the squared program
versus everyday math.
And this is just a silly question.
This was this was one of my pet peeves.
When my kids are in elementary school, you're learning multiplication and division.
The concept.
Is what is important, not necessarily the I mean, the process is part of it,
but there are multiple processes because I remember when they were doing Lattice
and I'm looking at it and.
What, what?
No, this is how you do long division.
And I'm like, I was useless to them.
Are you is this more of a be more focused on
learning a methodology that works for you in terms of understanding the concept?
Or maybe no, you have to do it this way.
You have to connect the dots.
A-B-C, You can't go. ACB.
My understanding and actually went to a district that used it
for a morning and was able to go into the different classrooms and see it.
And even in that lesson that we observed
that kids had multiple strategies that they could pick for, and even
just the language from the program and the teachers was.
You could do.
This or you could do this, or, you know, the ultimate goal was
you understand the foundation of why you're doing something.
You're not just memorizing a algorithm to solve a problem in school.
And then the component that is for more challenging.
I know we have a lot of interventions in place for students
who need a little bit more guidance, but for students who are flying through,
they it sounds like
they have other steps or maybe more complex problems.
I just want to make sure we that we're getting away from here's
a pack of do this, do this more advanced work.
Go sit in. The corner.
That that students that are advanced will
feel like part of the class and just have more.
More. Complex, you know three part
division problems that.
Are two part or something.
But yeah there's a lot more hands on problem solving.
Those are the kind of things for the enrichment student.
So yeah, there's a lot more hands on.
What would you do in this situation?
Multiple ways to figure this out.
I have a question.
This is Lindsay.
Is there any concern for not next school year then, but the school year after that?
So 23, 24 when you have some students, you had one particular program
and some students
who were in these pilot programs, and then they're mixed into a new class
and like a lack of continuity between what they had the year before,
I don't I don't think so. So
programs are based on the state skills and standards.
And then our elementary report card is standard space as well.
So our program is a tool and a resource, but it is not our written curriculum.
So even with everyday math,
as we found over the years, there are pieces
that we're needing to supplement and we're meeting to like actually
do something outside of the program to make sure we're hitting the standards.
So the goal and and what will happen at the end of next year is
those discussions whole grade level are going to continue with the teachers.
As far as the skills and what the kids are learning,
that at the end of the year, every child is going to have been taught
the grade level standard for the state standards
so that when we do make a decision, whether it's continuous everyday math
or whether it's, you know, we're going to move forward with your go squared,
the kids will still have that.
They will have met their grade level standards before they're going on to
the next level. Thank you.
Thank you, Jenna and Mindy.
And now we'll move on to the next item on our agenda.
And that is oh, that's Meet
Graduation Pathways presentation with Ms..
Schmidt and myself. So we're going to try to do this with Ms..
Schmidt on virtual and me here.
So we'll see how that goes. And Dr.
Winslow's going to take over the presentation,
and actually Ms..
Schmidt is going to start.
So Lindsey, if you're ready, you can begin.
Okay,
So good afternoon, everybody.
Dr. Shuman And I just wanted to take a few minutes
to update the board, as well as all of the curriculum Council
attendees on Act 158, which was passed in 2018
but recently has had some changes with continued changes pending,
however, is something that at this point in time
is effective for the graduating class of 2023.
Therefore, we felt it was important to share this
with you guys so that we can also continue to talk about it with our students over.
So these are
the topics that we will be covering, which I'll just go into more detail
throughout the slides with a focus on helping you to better understand
the pathways that make up Act 158
as well as identifying our graduation requirements
and more importantly, how we plan to track the graduation
requirements in order to meet the state expectations.
So what is Act 158 might be a question.
As I had previously said, this was an act that was passed in 2018
that really started from the basis of having students attain proficiency
on our Keystone exams, which are Algebra one,
Keystone, our literature, Keystone in our biology, Keystone.
However, the state has modified that act to provide students
with opportunities to demonstrate that preparedness for post-secondary education
through additional pathways other than the proficiency.
As the State has recognized that students have
multiple avenues to demonstrate the knowledge that they have learned,
and that these tests, while important
and federal requirements, should not be a limit
in a student's ability to graduate.
So the big question that I know our students have is
with the changes to Act 158, two students still need to take the Keystone exam.
And the answer is yes.
They do need to continue to plan on taking all three Keystone assessments
in order to meet that federal accountability guidelines.
And the next question that will go into more detail in is
do they need to pass the Keystone or show proficiency
on those Keystone exams in order to meet the graduation requirements?
And that answer is now no.
If they do not receive a passing score through being proficient
or advanced on the Keystone, they can still meet requirements
through these alternate pathways that we will be discussing.
And we
just wanted to list our current graduation requirements.
These have not changed in a while, but it is important just to note
the credits that are required through Derry Township
in order to graduate, which are the four credits in English,
the three credits in the science, three credits in math,
three credits in social studies, one and a half credits in health,
physical education, and highway safety.
And that is broken down for you to see.
And then two credits in a combination of arts, humanities, music and world
language, and then eight and a half credits and electives from any department.
Okay.
So I'm going to take over now
and just talk a little bit about the different pathways.
And I would just say upfront that I think this is a good thing
because it gives our kids a lot of options other than just being proficient
on all three Keystone assessments, assessments
which historically our kids do very well on.
But for certain students to assessments, standardized assessments
may not be their thing or may be focused
in other areas like career and technical education, things of that nature.
This gives them some other options to meet requirements
to to to make the mark for those state graduation requirements.
So the first pathway
is really just the keystone pathway, and that is to be proficient
on all three assessments.
So that's where
we would start the tricky part about all of
this is after you get into the pathways three, four and five is how you track it.
And that's going to be something that that we will continue to work on
as we go through this process next year.
The state has a tool which I'll talk a little bit about later,
but the first pathway has been there really for a while
and that is just to pass all three of those tests
with a score of precision or advanced.
So to answer the next one is what they call the composite pathway.
That's pathway number two.
So if you don't score proficient in advanced score on
all three of the Keystone assessments,
you can meet what's called a composite score, which basically
you have to have
one Keystone score that is proficient or advanced.
You can't have any that are below basic and it has if you add up
all of the scaled scores, it has to add up to four, four
or 5 to 4452 or greater.
So that means that the students didn't do really poorly on any assessment.
They passed one of the three
and their scores add it together hits that mark that the state said.
Now that when Lindsey said that they're still talking about making changes,
this is one of the things that they're currently debating
with the state legislature.
They're looking to make that possibly instead of a composite of all three
Keystone assessments, two just requiring two and basically
hitting one third of that 4452.
But that's being debated right now.
And that's one of the reasons why we've kind of put off bringing this
information to curriculum council because it keeps changing.
This is something that continues to be worked through politically.
And like I said, initially it was just the Keystone exams.
Now it's the Keystone exams and the graduation pathways
and now we're kind of talking about changing one of those pathways.
So there's a lot of movement here.
So Anderson, to clarify that one little piece that the
composite of two scores is a COVID relief measure.
That.
Would be for the classes of 2023 and 2024 if that.
Piece of legislation passes.
But that is.
Still in debate, and it's hard to say where it's going to come out on the.
Other side.
But just so you're. Aware of where this.
Originated, it's the one that the one that the.
One that Erin mentioned that is currently being.
Debated with a composite. Of two instead of three.
Thank you, Dr.
Winslow.
So now we get into pathways three,
four and five, and pathway three.
You'll notice as we go through three, four and five, the first criteria is that
the students are in a passing grade and of course is associated
with the content areas of the Keystone exam, which they were not proficient on,
and then meet the other requirements of the pathway.
So if a student doesn't pass the test, the Keystone exam in pathways three,
four and five, the first requirement is that they pass the course.
So according to our local requirements, they successfully completed
algebra, biology or literature
may not have passed the test, but successfully completed the course.
So students can't fail the course.
So then in pathway three, this really applies
to our students that will go to Dawson County Technical School,
where they would work towards an industry based competency certification
or the likelihood of that
success or the readiness to continue work in that area.
So that is something for our students who are in that category that's going to
most likely be exclusively handled through the vocational technical school.
So here's where it gets a little bit tricky for us.
So pathway number four is the alternate assessment pathway.
So again, the first piece there, the first criteria is
you have to have passed the Keystone related course.
That's criteria number one.
Then you have to meet one of the following other stipulations
outlined
by APD, which is
different assessments that you can use
in place of the Keystone score that you didn't actually pass.
So and they're listed there,
S.A.T.
1010 on or on that the PSA,
PSAT 970, Act 21 as a
minimum score to gain access currently a 31.
But that changes from year to year
and a couple of other items that are listed
like successful completion of the enrollment
or post-secondary course and the associated Keystone area
that was less than proficient accepted to an accredited
four year institution of higher education for college level coursework.
So there's lots of questions still being worked out with this.
So one of them is when I talked to other directors
or people in my position in other districts
and our curriculum council meeting is is accepted to a four year
college, the criteria we're trying to hit are do kids actually have to go?
And, you know, so and then how do we track that after they graduate
from us like so there's some questions around some of these
pieces that still have to be worked out.
But those are the criteria.
You have to pass the Keystone related course
and then hit one of those following alternate assessment criteria.
And then we will go on to pathway
five, which
gets a little bit more complex, even than that one,
earn a passing grade in the course associated with the Keystone exam.
And then you have to demonstrate one of the following
listed their attainment of 630 on any S.A.T.
subject.
Specific tests attest to attainment of three
on any AP exam, not one specifically tied to the Keystone test
that you didn't pass any AP exam at all.
Successful completion of a current enrollment course
or post-secondary course or
industry recognized credential.
And that could be something through
the CE Career Technical center.
It could also be another type of
recognized credential.
Whether that relates to like something in the technology field
or it might not necessarily be from the technical school
accepted into an accredited four year nonprofit institution and evidence
of the ability to enroll in college level credit bearing coursework.
So again, the acceptance the college thesis is one of the criteria
that kids can meet.
And then so you have to do
pass the course, the keystone course, then you have to hit one of those marks.
And then there's a part two to this one.
You you may have up to
two items from this list, an additional one from category one.
So you technically you have to hit three pieces of evidence in pathway five,
one or two from category one and up to two of these attainment
of proficient or advanced score on a Keystone exam.
So if you got a proficient or advanced on one of the three
Keystone set checks, one of these boxes,
successful completion of a
pre approved two service learning project
letter guaranteeing full time employment or military enlistment
completion of an internship
in compliance with NCAA Division two academic requirements.
So again, there's questions related to some of these.
I had an uncle who owned a landscaping business
when I was in high school and I could very easily have gotten the letter saying
I was going to be employed upon graduation.
So there's questions about like, would that check a box for us?
How do we actually verify that the kid then worked?
I don't know.
I guess the point that I would make is we still have some things to work out
with this as a state and as an educational system in general.
But this is what we're going to be tracking starting next year.
I do think
that having pathways three, four and five
gives us some alternatives for our kids who may struggle on a Keystone exam.
And like I said, our kids tend to do really well on the Keystone,
but this just gives them another pathway to meet the requirements of the law.
And then if you would go one,
there are a couple other alternate pathways to the pathways.
One would be graduation based on academic IEP goals, and that would be goals.
Meeting the goals in an IEP
and the special education IEP team would determine that.
And then Dr.
Winslow can waiver
a small percentage of the student population who didn't meet
any one of these requirements for extenuating circumstances.
So what might that look like?
That would be a case like, let's say we have a student who moves in
from Alabama in the spring of their senior year,
so there's no state assessments in Alabama.
So we can't even transfer state assessments into our system.
They are not here long enough to have a chance to meet
any of the requirements of the system.
So that's a kid that could be wavered,
things like that.
So if we are higher than 5% of our graduating class
wavered in two consecutive years, it
will cause an audit from the state.
That's part of how it's written. So
and then PD just released a tracking tool.
I haven't had a chance to use it yet.
I have seen it.
I think it will be very good.
This is a lot of pieces for us to track, but basically it takes each kid
through the pathways that you load their Keystone scores
and if they hit that mark, it turns green and they've met the requirement.
Okay, If it didn't,
then you go down to the next piece where it looks at the composite elements.
If they hit the composite scores, it turns green and they've hit the mark.
And then you just work through the other three pathways
and fill in the information until you have a student meeting.
One of the pathways for graduation. So
so that's one of the things that we will be working through next year.
But like I said, I think it is a good option.
It gives our kids flexibility with meeting graduation requirements
if they don't do well on the Keystone exams.
But that's not a huge population for us.
But still, it doesn't mean that we repeatedly
have to remediate and reassess and remediate and reassess.
So we have other options.
So does anybody have any questions for Lindsay?
I sure. So.
Erica Schmidt So what happens like if you have a freshman
who passes the course, but
does poorly, you know, below
basic on to the keystones,
will you make them retake it
like they are supposed to do it now?
Or you know what?
If they keep doing that all the way through
and I know you've got other options you can say about the senior year.
Oh, no, can do A, B and C, but how are you going to do that?
I mean, we could do remediation and have them retake the assessment.
I don't think like you have to do some sort of remediation,
but then there's regulations about what you can pull kids out of to do that.
So probably and you can speak to this stuff
on my face, but I don't know that I think doing
remediation and trying the test again is a reasonable option.
But once you do that once, then I think you should start looking
at some of the other options that you have rather than just repeatedly doing that.
So like
I think there were a lot of kids that did not do well in the Keystone's.
Obviously during the COVID time.
So I think they were retaking tests this year.
Is that correct?
Yeah, we had some kids do re assessments.
We. Had kids do re assessments and we also had a lot of students choose
not to take it last. Year.
And so we had a larger.
Than normal amount taking them this year because they.
Just didn't last year.
Okay so it.
It was kind of a combination.
But I think to Dr.
Schumann's point with certainly.
Retaking the test would be an option.
And students I think, can retake it, I think up to three.
Times
and. It's fine to do that.
But what we don't want to do is pull out like,
I don't want kids missing health class.
And one of them is in grade class
and, you know, music and different things like that for that remediation piece.
So we would want to. Get creative.
About how to support. Them or mediate them.
But currently you would have them retake it.
With currently we would.
Have a retake with remediation.
Now the remediation is no longer required by law the way it used to be,
but we do still have an algebra one remediation course.
That is twice. A week, I believe
every other cycle day.
Thank you.
I couldn't remember how it was.
Schedule it now. Appreciate that. Lindsay.
That's the only one that we continue to have a.
Remediation course for.
Yeah,
I have a quick questions.
Don Cronan So this is already approved moving forward.
Yes, this is a requirement.
It could slightly be changed, like we said earlier, based on kind of COVID
relief with the composite score shifting to two tests,
which would alleviate some of those kids that you were just asking about
needing to to reassessment or do the reassessment piece of it.
So we'll see.
To be continued.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you, Lindsay.
I'm going to run back to my seat because we still have a full agenda.
Okay.
I just have a couple of more informational items
on here before we get into new business.
The first one is I just wanted to make the committee aware
that on April 14th, Re, we re
we received a request for review of materials.
So effectively a book challenge was initiated
for the book Seeing Gender, which is in our middle school library,
and the memo that's attached there just dictates
who is on that committee, what the book is, who the author is,
and that process that we're now engaged in. So
more information should be coming out, I believe, to the whole board
as a whole once we go through that process
and finalize the report that gets forwarded to Dr.
Winslow.
So that's just to let you guys know that that's going on.
I think everybody was aware, though, because
we had asked for a member of the board to participate on that committee.
That's part of our process.
So and then I have just an update
quickly from PD about data.
And this is just something that that we received last week.
It just is notifying us that growth data is now released on
PaaS future ready
page for districts.
There are some
basically some cautions here to consider
when you review the data, it's just outlining things
like how long the assessment window was extended last year
that participate in was down on average 25% on students
completing the test.
Just disruptions
related to testing and actual administering of the assessment
went up in many cases and that we should consider all data points.
So that's just a little cautionary statement from PD about
interpreting the data and comparing schools.
And then the other the last paragraph there just as that
next year for the
assessments, the kids are taking rate now for the 2122 school year.
There will be no exceptions made to the attending
or the participation rates and things of that nature.
If students,
if we don't have kids participate at 95% or more will be penalized
when the data is reported for that next year.
So this is basically outlining what they just released with some cautions
in terms of how to interpret it and just saying that
they're no longer going to be giving a break for participation.
So I just thought that was important for everybody to be aware of.
Before we move on to new business, does anybody have any questions
about the book challenge process or that memo on academic data reporting?
Okay.
So we have several items on for new business.
We have one book from middle school social studies that I believe Mrs.
Smith is going to present
just to take it through the approval process.
It's a
it's a book
that they read in social studies class, and then we have several for
seventh grade ELA. So I think we'll let Mrs.
Smith go and and then we will bring and do all the English ones at the same time,
just in the interest of time, so we can keep moving with our agenda.
So, Sarah, it's all yours. All right. Thank you, Dr. Shuman.
My name is Sarah
Smith, and I teach sixth grade social studies at the middle school.
And our department is proposing that
we adopt a read aloud novel called Coming Hour.
And it's by Schuyler Brown.
And we're incorporate we'd like to incorporate this
into our Latin American unit that we study the different countries,
the physical features, and this we're proposing as a read aloud
to do in conjunction with our study of Latin America.
The novel uses poetry to tell the story of a boy named Carlos
from Guatemala, and it takes place
during the country's civil war in 1981.
It is a work of fiction, but some of the details are historic.
It is recommended for ages 10 to 14,
and it has won several awards.
And I've never done this before,
so I don't know how detailed you want this,
am I? Okay. Okay.
So it uses poetry
and the students really we did a test run of it this past spring,
and the students really enjoyed the read aloud concept
that uses Spanish.
There's lots of Spanish words woven throughout the novel.
The kids did questions
and did reflections after the read aloud,
and our ELA department was very thankful that we were doing this because
we're combining reading and listening skills in another subject matter,
because we do reading not just in social studies or in ILA, but in science as.
Well, so.
That's fine.
Copy of the book here.
So, Mrs.
Smith, does anybody have any questions for Mrs.
Smith about this novel?
I should note that
you'll see several of these novels going through the approval process.
We just felt like that with novels being read in class,
that all students are going to be receiving that information,
that those books should probably go through the approval process, even though
it's not actually a textbook or a book we're sending home with kids.
So you're going to see a couple of those throughout the next couple of weeks.
So that's
and when I was talking with the English department
about making sure that we get through that process, Mrs.
Smith said, Well, we do one of those in social studies and I do mind.
So so that's and that you did find this
if you have questions for Sarah about pet book.
Okay.
If there's no no questions, could I get a motion to move coming here
to the first read step in the process, which will keep it on the agenda
and on public display for review for 30 days.
So move Donna Cronan. To.
Second Robert Bennett all in favor.
I, I, I think.
Any opposed.
Okay so coming our we'll move on
to the second step in the process and I think we will do seventh grade
ELA approvals all at once so ask them to
to present the four texts
that they have for us tonight and then we will vote on them all at one time
if we get a motion,
unless somebody wants to discuss
one further and pull it out for for a separate consideration.
So, ladies, it's all yours.
All right, Awesome.
This is is Caroline here? And.
And I'm Miss Kate Fronts.
They teach seventh grade English language arts,
and we have been incorporating read aloud into our classes for a few years now.
And as we talked about getting all of them approved and the approval process
really a read aloud is meant to be responsive to kids needs.
So that's why we have a few so that each year, depending on the kids
in front of us, we can have a choice of what makes the most sense.
So one of the first well, the first one on our list after there is refugee,
this is refugee by Alan Gratz and Alan
is a prolific writer of historical fiction.
It follows the tales of three different families
and what's most important is during the rewind,
during the first marking period, we focus on
fiction analysis
with our Literary Elements unit.
So we've used read aloud to tie in from our focus skills,
from our gradual release model, to then applying to a larger text.
So that has been really helpful in past years.
So it follows the three perspectives of.
A. Jewish family during World War Two escaping Germany,
a family escaping Cuba in the nineties and a family escaping Syria in 2013.
These stories of refugees move together as excellent examples
of how conflict is developed,
which is one of the things we're studying with stories
in story structure and furthered in historical fiction.
All these stories also remind students of universal themes
and how we're all connected and how important it is to help others in need.
While it is at
the 800 level exile, it is complex because of those three different stories
intertwining and my use of this with students it is engaging.
Each chapter leaves at the end of a cliffhanger.
They have lots of great questions about the time period,
about the story structure in general, and it really is
an engaging experience.
So Scholastic recommends Refugee for grade
six through nine based on reading level and content complexity.
It's also recommended for as young as eight years old and out
based on its accessibility and the way tough topics
are presented in an approachable manner.
At the summary of that.
So we go on.
Yeah, I think we'll move on through all four of them
and then we'll go back and take questions.
I think that'll be easier and try to get us done in time for a finance committee.
The second
text that we are proposing is called the Wednesday Wars.
It's a 27 historical fiction novel by Gary Schmitt.
This story tells the story of a young boy
who learns about himself and his family, his community,
through lessons with his English teacher focusing on Shakespeare.
It also takes place during the Vietnam War,
so students are able to build background and understand a time period in history
that they don't necessarily have a lot of background knowledge with to begin with.
This novel is intended for the ages of six through eighth grade,
and it has themes that students often can relate to and they relate to.
The protagonists of Hollywood hide it very well.
All right,
Go a little bit out of order and drums.
Yeah, that's one of our real. And on this thing we do. Yes.
And then the last the last read aloud, we're proposing for the fall.
Read aloud is a book called Drums Girls and Dangerous Pi.
That book focuses on a family with Steven Alper is the protagonist,
and he experiences his younger brother actually developing leukemia.
And it's about his learning through his eighth grade year
how to deal with
that conflict, learning about himself, how to deal with his family,
and ultimately understanding the, you know, the world around him.
We find that our students are very interested in this topic
because of our community ties to the medical center
and all of the work that we do as a building towards Médecine.
So they bring great questions and curiosity to this topic as well.
All right.
And finally, we wanted to incorporate a spring real
oud into our nonfiction analysis unit.
So some of our standards in seventh grade are one of them is comparing and looking
at how primary and secondary sources actually get used
in fiction. So what?
And in addition, our students are highly engaged
with graphic novels, and graphic novels
have really come out in the last few years as being really complex texts.
That can take kind of a complex topic or historical topic and present it
in a way that's really accessible in our consideration
of a historical fiction graphic novel.
We looked at a few different ones and we settled on it.
They called us Anime by George Takei, among other award winning artists
and authors, because it specifically looks through the eyes of a younger person.
And we felt like that was a key feature
in Young Adult, that it not just be an adult looking back,
which it's so it has pieces of that, but for the most part it follows
through the eyes of a young child as they experience of the historical event
during World War Two of Japanese internment camps.
So this is an award winning graphic novel.
It was released in 2019.
So it is one of our one of the newer ones.
And this graphic novel format allowed us to play around.
We used document cameras, we
document cameras as well as using our iPads, projecting to our screens.
So the idea of a read aloud and then reading aloud a graphic novel
was something that was engaging for students
and then being able to zoom in on different panels
and being able to engage in that language, not just of nonfiction
and being able to look at primary sources, looking at letters,
looking at articles from that time, and then to be able
to go into story and look how that's interpreted in story
and specifically how words and images are used together to create that impact.
We had done this last spring with students and students
really were engaged, have lots of good questions, really love it.
The format of a graphic novel which also opened the door to learning
and being open to exploring more primary and secondary texts.
Yeah.
I think so. All right.
Okay. Thank you, ladies.
Does anybody have any questions for them about those read aloud options
they're proposing?
Okay.
See, Thank you.
So I.
Just want to clarify. That.
You would not be looking read all four of these in one year,
be choosing based on the interest of the students.
And I just want to clarify that.
Yeah, I think they have one in the fall and one in the spring.
The way I understand it.
So there's choices to pick from.
So so if it's okay
with everyone here, I'd like to try to get a motion to move
all four of those on to the first three stage in the process.
So could I get a motion from the floor to do that?
So move Donna Cronan.
Second, Erica Schmidt.
All in favor.
I think I see any opposed.
Okay.
So all four of those ila read aloud will move on to the first read stage
of the process and they will be on display here at district office for 30 days
and then back on our agenda next time for a second review.
So moving on, just in the interest of time,
we have several items of old business.
We had three textbook recommendation
items on there that were at the first read level of the process.
So I think we'll do these and two different motions.
Also, we'll do the textbook pieces and then the course revisions.
They are second read.
So could I get a motion from the floor to move the textbook
recommendation items from old business to a secondary level?
And that would mean they will go to the board for review at an upcoming meeting.
Erica Schmidt.
Second, Robert Bennett, all in favor.
I am.
Sorry.
Any opposed?
Okay, so that passes.
So those items will
go into the board briefs and then ultimately on an upcoming agenda
and then the last piece here of all business, we had
several course revisions for the middle school involving the Koko
Course, Digital Literacy, Family and Consumer science.
So does anyone have any further questions
or discussion about any of those pieces.
Before.
Hearing? None.
Could I get a motion to move the middle school course?
Revisions are on to the second read part of the process
and ultimately on to the full board for review.
So moved Erica schmidt.
And Lindsay Cook.
All in favor. I.
Any opposed.
All right so that was move
on in the process which brings us to item seven public comment.
I don't think we have any public here for comment and.
None. Virtual.
So we will move on.
Our next meeting will be June 13th.
That's hard to believe, but it will be summer then. And
so could I get a motion to adjourn.
So moved on to CRONAN.
Seconded Robert Bennett.
All right. Thank you, everybody.
That was a long one.