The Instructional Subcommittee meeting on January 4, 2024, began with a motion to go out of order, which passed. The first item discussed was the "I Decide" drug education curriculum, presented by Dr. B. This program, a zero-cost alternative to suspension for drug and alcohol infractions, is a four-session educational program for grades 6-12. It was referred to the full committee with a unanimous vote. Discussion also touched on the need for a broader drug awareness curriculum, including elementary prevention programs. Next, the Math Academy, a professional development program for K-7 educators, was discussed. Fifty teachers committed to the program, which will run during February vacation and is funded by a continuation grant. This item was also approved and referred to the full committee with a unanimous vote. The Durfee Program of Studies was then presented, outlining efforts to strengthen student achievement, support MLL students, increase rigor, and expand Early College and CTE pathways, including a popular Criminal Justice pilot. Concerns were raised about alternative education options and the "Adulting 101" elective, suggesting it should be offered earlier to students. This item was referred to the full committee with a unanimous vote. The bulk of the meeting focused on a detailed report on platform usage for instructional purposes, presented by Dr. C. and other staff. Updates were provided on Mathia, ST Math, Illustrative Mathematics, Lexia Core 5, PowerUp, Ignite (a grant-funded virtual tutoring program), Edgenuity, Paper (online tutoring), and Gizmos (science simulations). Positive trends were noted in several platforms, with efforts to correlate usage data with student performance. A significant discussion point was the impact of student attendance on program effectiveness, with a round table planned to address barriers to attendance. The meeting concluded with no new business and a motion to adjourn, which passed unanimously.
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welcome everybody uh today is Thursday January 4th uh 2024 we're here for the instructional subcommittee um TB where's T you take here here here um subject 101 uh one2 salute to the flag iance of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you 103 pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video
0:49recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or are un perceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible happy New Year everybody New Year Deb do we have citizens input we do not thank you um we've decided to go out of order uh
1:19uh Mr agar does have to leave early today so if you'd like to make a motion uh one of you to go out of order can we go out of order 04 02 and then 01 second all in favor hi okay so uh we're going to start with 304 uh discussion to vote and refer uh drug education curriculum intervention diversion and empowerment who's that being presented by uh myself Dr B this
1:55what the only one yes okay I'm in a weird mood it feels like a Friday should be Friday but it's not so you got to work tomorrow all right Dr thank you so um I have been working with secondary uh principals Vice principls um who have we have been working on looking for programs to support our students with drug education as it relates to an alternative to suspension um we have been we've looked
2:30at a couple of programs um and many of the programs were very specific as it relates to particularly alcohol particularly vaping particularly marijuana um but we came across the I decide program which is being sponsored through the department uh dph of Public Health it's a program through Mass General and the brigam uh I've given the you know the evidence in the packet and some of the background on the program
2:56the program itself uh was piloted in in 2020 there were 95 middle schools and high schools across the state who participated since then the program has grown to 305 schools across the state who have partic been participating in the program the piece that we like about the program is that it's a tier 2 Focus so it would support students who have been found in violation of school rules
3:20and the code of conduct uh the program is a for session 60 to 70 minute educational program that can attend to any addiction that students might be experiencing or infraction as it relates to drug and alcohol related school infractions um and so as we think about alternatives to suspension which is part of the news new law and education that we have to attend to multiple um interventions PR prior to
3:51suspending students uh we hope to bring I decide to Fall River it is a zero cost to us as a district so there's no cost for us to participate in the program um and as we've looked at it it it's also a program that can be done oneon-one so students can attend to the program individually or it can be done in a group setting so our support staff um who can work with kids after school
4:17before school Saturday schools um to really hold kids accountable but at the same time educate kids on the harms of addicted substances with which they got caught in school using um so I wanted to be able to bring this to the committee to the subcommittee with a hope to refer to the full committee so that we can adopt the program um and use it for the second half of the school
4:38year is this for middle school I'm sorry is this for Middle School grades uh 6 through 12 I haven't had a chance to read it because it couldn't find it on board Ducks but um okay I guess I'm going to have to read it first so it's really about educating kids as opposed to Jumping to you know punitive measures that suspend kids out of school and them back in the community um where
5:01they found the you know what got them in what would should be doing with adults in our community as well right so I think it's great and the fact it doesn't cost any money is great and the fact that it's produced by reputable people is great so is this we to do to send it to the full committee that would be my that's the request to send it to the full committee
5:22mhm before yeah my only conc sounds like it's a good program we've been Solly lacking a uh drug awareness type of uh program in curriculum across So when you say this is for diversion in the students that have gotten caught doing something whatever it is I think we need to expand this at some point to look at a full curriculum like what are we going to do how are we going to embed it in our
5:44health curriculum and and when I first read this that's what I thought it was so I'm definitely in favor of this but eagly awaiting some sort of uh research that you've done to to figure out what are we going to do for all kids as part of on that right yeah the middle school and the high school we just pilot in a new health program at the middle school where it teaches like
6:08a true backward design where we're teaching addiction what exactly it is so that kids can understand instead of just say no you understand like genetically you are predetermined maybe to be an addict if you start using baap alcohol marijuana all the stuff that's available to them uh give them that education starting in sixth grade and following it through the high school um so that they all have that background
6:32already and then any student rather than just suspend them and say hey you're out for whatever the positive alternative to a suspension would be the program yeah no that totally makes sense I think just maybe a one pager from a superintendent on that to let everybody know what we're doing as we go through this obviously a lot of people are going to support it but if we're already doing things let's
6:53give the staff and yourself some credit for what you're doing so make a motion to refer oh sorry so as in uh Elementary School is what prevention programs are at that level so at the elementary school currently we have the bin program it's it's to me it's a little outdated we're actually working on looking for a new health curriculum um we've been talking about that discussing it at that level
7:24um also with a part of a group with other District administrators from across the state to talk about you know what program is best especially with the new Frameworks that came out a lot of people are kind of like in limbo you don't want to jump on a program right now the program we have at the high school the good how Willcox um that were pilot at the middle school doesn't have
7:46the elementary piece so we're trying to look for something that would connect um you know both of those curriculums what do you think's outdated about botman curriculum it doesn't have vaping in it we got it in 2014 it was a free program yeah it's a good Pro I mean it's a good program free and it's it was okay but obviously you don't think it's good I haven't I taught it and I don't I don't
8:08think it was very effective curriculum it's it's not a lot of materials in it um so every school um I think if you talk to a lot of our teachers they'll tell you the same thing a lot of our like everybody taught something different you kind of almost had like this guideline okay whereas this new program we have is concrete it has the lessons already embedded into it coming term so that everybody's teaching the
8:31same thing rather than right I mean I I hope this happens W and maybe before September um do you do you have any idea about a the middle school I'm talking about elementary elementary yeah we'll get by the end of the year okay we'll have a recommendation okay beautiful I mean I don't want anybody to rush through it but I I mean I've been saying for years I mean I've been in the superintendent here about
9:01prevention in the elementary level um absolutely so thank you I appreciate that anything else we already voted so I vote Yes we have a motion in a second yeah there was a motion in a second so Mr yes Mr ly yes Mr yes okay we are going to move to uh 302 discussion of vote to refer to math academy that's so as you can see from the summary that we gave you around the
9:37Mathies we did a survey that surveyed all K to7 Educators that supported mathematics based on that survey we gave them four options for PD based on that survey we were selecting two we've decided on the addition and subtraction and the decimal sense and operations Any teacher that had selected one of the other two can still opt into the other PDS that would potentially be offered
10:05right now we have commitment from about 50 teachers across the district K to 7 one of the PD sessions allows alignment for grade five six and seventh grade teachers to be trained in the same session we had approximately 64 people complete the survey so we're hoping to run it during February vacation Monday through Thursday it would be a 6-hour PD the money that we receive from the
10:31continuation Grant would cover the cost of the stiens for the teachers and the cost of the PD sessions you have a flyer of the PD sessions and you have the Sur results any questions motion approve second all in favor I I thank you thank you all right you good Deb all right now going to move on to uh 31 uh dery program of studies discussion to vote and refer good evening thanks for having
11:15Uso um we provided you with an executive summary that goes into detail in terms of the courses that are proposed in any changes but I'd just like to highlight the organizing principles on the first page uh where we focused first being strengthening supports around student achievement uh with a focus on accountability um thinking about students that need academic intervention and making it more structural in in a
11:40schedule rather than by way of our win period to expand the offerings in El and math strategies in particular for students that are not over the hurdle of mcast for graduation uh when we look at our MLL students um what we're lacking right now is a s track and and that's something that's mandated by desie um we did not experience a lot of students that have fall into that category but
12:06those numbers are increasing as we see the L numbers increasing everywhere um when we think about the students that have that interrupted schooling or or limited form of schooling um they need something different than students that are coming into the country with Continuum education so that way we can get really personalized we're looking to increase uh the rigor around the level
12:29two offerings for students um as they advance in language acquisition we're looking to in increase um the supports that they get so they can access the ELA curriculum better uh and then when we think about our level four three and four students we were looking at students that kind of stuck at that long-term L status where they haven't emerged yet um and we want to create them create a menu of options around
12:55that so that we can deepen the work especially in the literacy piece um when we talk about expanding uh designated programs that exist already we're looking at uh early college and we're looking at CTE we have a pilot year going on right now for criminal justice so we're looking to expand that the letter of intent for the program is in with the state we have another uh part of the application due in March we're
13:20anticipating that we'll get approval for that program is it popular is is that track popular so we have a teacher that has a full schedule and and in terms of the interest the kids are really taking root he's you know developing High interest with mock trial teams things like that so it I think that that's something that will really really take shape um as we're able to expand those
13:43offerings and then for Early College um looking at Medical pathway medical interpretation and that's a excellent entry point for for language leers um to honor the their Heritage language and show know that this is a pathway to a career as you gain the English um that that I think is going to be very marketable and then also launching the second year of the criminal justice pathway with Bridgewater I have a good
14:11question sure um the number two increase access to internship and co-ops with CT Pathways that can you just speak a little bit about that so we we brought on a co-op coordinator right and so the a lot of the groundwork was making connections uh um you know speaking with potential uh internship sites uh what are the regulations there are some hurdles that we're encountering especially with age the students not 18
14:38a lot of companies don't want to touch it so we're trying to figure out where that works but we do have a couple of students out now and there are several more in semester 2 that are heading out and and I see that the work going on there is going to be a template for for work that we can pull across the entire uh student body not just for CTE think
14:58about intern ships for kids um that not you know that are career bound or college track but you know they want to go out and see what an engineer does what goes on in the lawyer's office so that that's work that's you know it's still embryonic but it's going to it's going to launch for sure good okay and then person you know offering more electives um we have the capacity to add
15:19electives and if you look at um particular in the ARs we're able to expand a number of of Fine Art and and dance offerings um in math we're looking at flexibility within the standards for the desie regs to focus on certain aspects for example Algebra 2 and we can tailor the curriculum to focus on data as opposed to a traditional Algebra 2 course making the course more meaningful students
15:51meaningful for students as they are looking at their career pathway right is that the one that is set up to go into stats yes right yes yes yes um aside from that you know there there are no major proposals to change um you want to get into course by course we can certainly answer questions yeah yeah any questions just uh I didn't look at I looked at most of it but the concern I
16:23have is the same one I had last year about the alternative options that we offer systemwide and um I'm just concerned about what are we offering for kids that are need an alternative program we've had several not complaints about the program but you know J's program that do not offer to freshmen that's always been sort of a sense of Heartache for me um is there anything different being proposed for
16:49that type of other than an expansion of Evol that's one of the things that I a question lingu question for me okay um no there are there are no proposals I mean in terms of the Freshman Academy we strengthen the services in the Freshman Academy the support staff um if you're talking about a standalone program I'm not proposing any at this time I know that through special ed lens we are looking at
17:17um what we can do differently with with students uh and you know uh back RS taking a look at some of the models that exist in the district and then some other schools canos on that I'll just speak for myself I'm going to vote to refer this when we get to the full meeting I will tell you right now if we don't get any clear Direction on how we're going to improve alternative education across the options
17:41then I'm not going to goe for this or anything else related to the high school just you know just being on time good thank you you have anything no I adulting 101 right is how how do you fit in I read the little paragraph there how do you fit all that in in one semester and it and it did say may offer or may I it's a little vague I just have
18:13questions on that because I think that what I mean everything in there is what our kids need right so yeah that's a very good question I mean it's something that it's an elective it's it's run at times it's not highly cribed right now I'd like to talk about a redesign ultimately of the senior year especially but how do we embed the opportunities that are presented in that classroom
18:38across the four years you know when we have we talk about advisor we talk about invention intervention and we build ultimately to the Wind Block I I see that as an opportunity to offer some of the skill development um for students in terms of how to change a tire how to do laundry how to do your taxes how to balance a checkbook right I mean when I when I was reading it it I
19:00mean it's for 12th right elective for 12th I mean in there it it has um you know checking savings filling out applications uh Workforce stuff job Readiness but that they start begging for for this information at 15 16 years old is when they're starting to work so maybe if there's an opportunity to start this maybe uh dery wde freshman sophomore junior senior um just to get them the information by the time they're
19:3116 17 so they're almost ready and I'd like to see it more than an elective I mean that's what I would like to see and again I'm like this sag I'm speaking for myself cuz I think um this course offers information that our kids are in desperate need of and um I just hope uh it can uh be offered to mostly all the the students in dery so I don't know I
19:56me my op I think Mimi makes a great Point you're saying it's not highly subscribed probably because it's being offered senior year where my daughter already had a checking account at 16 she already had a job at 16 and A2 like she already knew how to do that so by the time that rolled around she she not interested in that she's already applying to college doing college resumés she already knows how to write a
20:21check cuz she's almost 18 so I think you might get kids who'd be more at the 15 the 16-year-olds be more apt to be like ooh I do want to know what to open a checkin account or you know in the list of other important information that's provided in that class you may actually have more luck not that I'm saying it's not valuable senior year and probably placed there because it's an elective so
20:44you've done all your stuff if you have time to have an elective this is a good one but I bet those kids that have done all their stuff that's then probably not taking that elective they already probably know that information they're doing something else um maybe if we could find a way to offer it earlier um to kids who maybe had that time in their schedule so I know it's hard to say just
21:05make it a requirement when I know that that's not an easy task um but maybe offering or early I think you get more kids thank you write more kids app right and to take it and I know there's you know the honor seniors history they they touch on some of the the financial stuff correct a there's a financial literacy module that all seniors do it covers savings borrowing interest morgage and
21:33again I I think I'd like to just see it a little younger before they start getting out there and getting those jobs and they spend their first $150 check on sneakers you know maybe budgeting and understanding the starting younger and and I'm I'm a big force on starting younger with everything the prevention the financial all of it so I think you know where I stand on that and just
21:55hopefully we can I can probably take the class yeah sh wants to take it but thank you thank you um roll call T do we tion y second all in favor I I all okay where are we in okay we are going to go to 303 platform usage instructional discussion is that you Dr C it is so um over you know over the course of the this year um and moving forward we would
22:33expect that we have um that there will be questions coming up around the platforms many of them which cost you know tens of thousands of dollars each per year um and you know how we're using them whether or not they're effective you know if they're used as intended across schools and things like that so we wanted to just provide some information um at nearly midy year in terms of where we are with platform
22:55usage um in math Ela and Science and so um there's a list here we'll go in order unless um anyone prefers me take them out of order and so I know a lot of backup was sent a lot of charts perhaps and who's using it and for what and all that and so I um and the rest of the people on my team have just prepared you know a couple of statements about each
23:19one and then we can open it to any questions that have come up so we'll start with Matthew so um matthia is the textbook portion of Carnegie that we use as you can see we've had some slight increases in terms of syllabus completion and their Applause score for the works spaces that they have done the data changed a little bit that report that was pulled for Maia was early in December right now in terms of syllabus
23:48completion we're a little over about 4% over what we did last year we've had an increase of 1 hour and 46 minutes of average useage time an Applause earned which is really like a percentage score that they would get um is close to 2% higher than it was last year so all schools are follow we worked over the summer to do a scope and sequence so it was easier for them to follow all
24:13schools are working and following that what I'm working on in terms of next steps with leads is really diving into the data and looking at it by educator how we can support them so they have opportunities to look at student data and set goals for them so we're doing tiered support and what we're noticing is they really just need support in structuring it in the classroom because
24:36the way that you prepare for that lesson is very different than how you would a textbook lesson for it I'm also working with Carnegie to correlate the data so they're going to help me cross reference mcast data with the Applause scores and then compare both workspace completion and Applause scores from last year to this year as we go through the next one is St Math and as you can see again all schools have increased
25:07since last year we met with 1 a and STM the other day um and a few weeks ago we're projected to hit the 80% Mark or higher by the end of the year we had a few one school that hit over 100% last year so in terms of the state we're um above a lot of the other schools in the state for where are dosage again I'm working with them
25:31where I just communicated a few days ago with one of the leaders from stmath to take our data from here quiz growth data our progress mcast and benchmarks and do a correlation so I can see the impact that it's having and on District benchmarks what I'm focusing on for the remainder of the year is really working on introducing content language after the puzzles are done so we've had PD for
25:56par professionals for teachers but for our mlls there's there's no language in it whatsoever so in order to connect the language that's in illustrative math and the core standards we're going to do a PD it shows them how to do the puzzle and then just bring the language in by doing math problems from the text also to focus on PD for small group and using manipulatives to support puzzles we've
26:22done that with parent professionals and teachers right now with the leads we have to go in and give more feedback and support on how to do some more in the classroom and then the last piece of information that you received was on illustrative mathematics this is different it isn't in terms of how they're scoring on checkpoints it really is the usage of the platform so prior to this year they were
26:50engaging in it but not to the extent that we wanted them to right and again with any new curriculum it takes time there's many different components they have centers that they have to do did you no I fli my pen sorry they have centers that they have to work with they have the text but they also have the opportunity to assign parts of the text through the digital platform so we've worked on that this year doing
27:15checkpoints and the focus for the remainder of the year is how they can use the centers within the platform so for example if they run stations or centers on a day they use the paper copies of it but we'll be working with them so they can actually engage in the digital parts of the centers in the same way they would engage with an st M puzzle but overall we've seen increases in all three of the
27:41digital platforms that we have and I think that um we mentioned here this idea of doing um the dose correlations so a lot of the platform use right now is in the stage of we're still trying to get people to to use them more because we've got our eye on the prize This Promise of if students are Eng engaging effectively in these platforms we're going to see increases in their performance um you
28:09know on our local benchmarks and then also on on state assessments and so we are in the process right now um of getting that kind of data so the company um is working with us so that they can take a look at and show us you know students who participated and completed this this This Is How They F on those State assessments and things like that and also you and doing the same thing
28:32with our local assessments so we'll have um kind of better data in terms of we haven't got like that so we've gotten usage data right and that's what we're working on with the promise of if we do this this will happen for our students and they're working on some correlation data so that we can actually see the impact that it's having um so they're work we have we're what we're asking
28:52them to do is do some initial correlations with current um benchmarking data so that we can see students who are fairing better um or who showed improvement from here to here and that's something that they're working on now but we're waiting until after St maath will probably be about 2 weeks once they get all of um the data from us I just had to work with them I identified what I wanted them to work
29:16with and cross reference once they get the upload of data um and we sign off on it takes about approximately 2 weeks with cardig I haven't gotten a deadline I've identified the sources okay any questions we can share that data we can share that with we sh that data once we get that we'll share it you just you just talked about illustrative math illust illustrative math and then we got to think here it says 2022 you
29:44should have another one the blue one right to your right miss this one it says Imagine Learning yes the they ustri mathematics by Imagine lording yes when I was just looking at it one of the things that just stands out to me is how limited these numbers are of somebody opens up one like it says active teaches count how many teachers have vied at least one lesson I agree with you what is the
30:08expectation that's set to start the year so when we go in and do classroom observations last year being new to it when they gave me the data at the end of the year I'm like well this is just one time they could go in it's misleading a both ends right it shows if you go in one time that you're all set but I also had teachers who I know or in it every
30:28day based on observation when you walk in you can see that all of those slide decks are pulled up and teachers are using them across the district I think what a lot of teachers do is they download the slide decks and they work from there so yes I know that everyone's active in it and they're pulling the lessons but I get more from my classroom observations of them utilizing um the platform
30:50daily so you're saying this is not accurate No it is it is accurate it says that there's like 74 um teachers who have logged in but it really only tells you that they've logged into to view a lesson versus like right and working off of it versus giving me data usage on every time I log in as a teacher for every single unit or lesson there's additional data for I can tell if they
31:17assign a checkpoint which all schools are assigning all checkpoints through there but they don't have that within there so that's a that's more if we were looking at assessment to write that okay but when you look at it it says the um which one the you one the new one it's like page four or five it says all the schools how it adds up to the two something or whatever yep 233 I just
31:41don't we how many teachers do we have what does that you want active teachers by grade level is that what it is by school by school by you have by school like the earlier one said 223 some 200 um in November 233 the next page says by grade level and it shows grades 1 through eight and then a empty list which has other people in it but we have a lot more teachers than these numbers
32:07is my is my thought my first reaction is one of the things I would say and I think it it aligns to um what Mrs Patterson was saying is that it it is possible that on a grade two team one teacher downloads shares and then they are both teachers are working off the same downloaded PowerPoint to personalize it so we go into people's classrooms and we'll see kind of the names have changed
32:33the the practice them right now they're sharing so they are sharing because they're collaborating in their planning but sometimes that's not true sometimes you'll have both teachers download or sometimes they're they someone could go in and have one login and they could download multiple things their neighbor could go in 5 days in a row and download something each day how do you that book
32:57that's what we don't we're not able to track that's why the the data that we get says they' logged in at least once so that's why we have to go into the classrooms to see okay it looks like only one teacher in this school or this grade level or something is using this in in the fifth grade but we need to go into the multiple classrooms to see no all of the teachers are using the
33:19materials and you can really only see it by observation and I think when you look at the numbers where they talk about creating assignments that's what I focus more on that's telling me that they are actually going in there and assigning the lessons through the platform which wasn't a common practice before they all have a text and they can use the text they can use the digital platform it
33:41provides opportunities for kids who have different learning styles to engage better with the technology to do either one that's telling me that they're going in and actually clicking on an assigning like Lesson Four to it where they weren't doing it before but I understand what you're saying when you go back now we go to the assignment page there's only 94 it's even less then we go to the
34:03next page says editing lessons in November there was eight so it it I'm not suggesting that it's not happening but by presenting these things it's begging questions of what has happened that's my only point I would say maybe there's got to be a way to hold the building leader accountable to have them sign off on the fact that they they're aware that their teachers are all using this stuff in the ways like if there a
34:27team like I in my school I know that my second grade team shares all the stuff does exactly what you just said but I could sign a paper to if my boss asked me are they using it because I know that they've shared it because I've been in you know like sort of a secondary way to to follow up follow up to hold them accountable because now you do that then
34:44they're going to that lead is going to go to them and say you better be using it because at every term or whatever unit I'm going to have you sign something that says are you using it or whatever I just think there's got to be a an alternative way I appreciate the data you always asking for data but sometimes if it's making it look like as if you're not using it and you are it's
35:02an unfair uh and the opposite too last year when I got the data there was one that identified um a specific teacher that said that they had not been in within that year where I knew I've been in that classroom multiple times and it was the year before they downloaded the slide decks and they had modified them but they hadn't logged in at that point at the beginning of the year so it goes
35:23both way and my other question was on stmath with the the the calendar tells you how long where they should be and it looked like every school was in the ballp yes uh of the percentages there it's like celebrations of things that go on so we yeah we were provided a calendar for um I I didn't include the calendar this year where they identify by week where everyone should be we celebrate that through Thursday te we
35:48also celebrate that within schools and they have everything posted on the wall what I will ask for this year is they have a new metric it's called Journey progress where it really just shows puzzle progress shows all of the puzzles that were assigned to students Journey progress shows you the grade level puzzles that were assigned so I'm asking for a follow-up calendar so I can track
36:10that they're both important but a more concerned about grade level standards being covered versus because you can assign if you want to do an intervention TI support you can assign a lower grade level puzzle just St I just think that in order to inove improve prove those numbers you have to celebrate within reason you know and and put ggs all over and all that we have ggs everywh every school has it posted
36:35up on the wall at the end of the year the school that um did over 100% we actually had a like a block party to celebrate those students they were the first school and I think you correct me if I'm wrong they had been in it in four four years last year four years and it was the first year they hit 100% so it was a huge celebration we also have
36:54people dressed up in a GG costume who go in and for students to meet um complete their Journey progress in some of the schools they'll pull them up in the hallway by cohort and they get to put their sticker up on Gigi and they do a big celebration for the class gets to celebrate that one child for making that achievement so thank you all right so this is T that there's more there is that's right
37:29um so I'll just talk briefly about sorry I'm going to be real quick go ahead I've learned my L um so my headlines alxia core five um which I gave yeah on the table that I handed you today so it's page three of that um we're seeing a decrease in the number of students that are working below grade level um so those are the kids that in the past I said we need to
37:56get out of the gray and get into the blue so we're seeing a decrease of the students that are falling into that um either working one grade level or more than one grade level below um we saw a 29% decrease in that from February of last year to December of this year um additionally um we are making faster progress than we have in years past so that's a positive trend for us um so in
38:23May of last year 84% of students who met their usage goals Advanced one or more grade levels and right now uh at this point we have 54% of students so if we continue with that same Pace um we're going to have a higher percentage than we did last year um and so actions that I'm taking or that are being taken by the company um is that every meeting that we have with schools will be F
38:49around Lexia will be focused on the progress indicator it's no longer about students meeting their minutes it's about are they for progressing at the rate that they should be progressing um and also um to Mr agar's Point around teacher engagement in the platform there's also going to be doubling down on that to make sure that all teachers are constantly looking at that data um so that students don't get stuck at a
39:12specific level and they're able to progress in the platform um and we have some students who are still in that below grade level um and we're doubling down on those students we're making sure that those students are being seen in small group we're doing some training with par professionals to ensure they feel prepared to um administer the Lexia lessons with students and to look at
39:36that data in a way that makes sense um to help to administer those lessons and um our team has been working on an incentive program so that um we can have like districtwide celebrations of our data so um charl is doing that as well in um in math and we we're incorporating the attendance component so we're trying to bring it all together we're working on it yep and so in February we have PD
40:02happening for Paris and interventionists in Lexia Core 5 and additionally so I'm going to shift over to PowerUp um we have that some professional development with that same Focus happening for our secondary paraprofessionals and interventionists um focused on small group and we're pushing the grammar strand as um a lever to move students their reading comprehension um and so for our PowerUp
40:31program there were some positive shifts in the data um we had a 13% increase in the percent of students working at grade level and a 22% decrease in the kids that were in the gray section for um the word study strand in our grammar strand we saw an increase of 14% in the blue and a decrease of um students working below grade level same percentage and lastly um there was a 16% increase in
41:00the students working at grade level in the comprehension strand um and a decrease in the percent of students working um at the foundational level in that same strand so across the board we're seeing a decrease where we need to and an increase where we need to um the data was disappointing to me in terms of the amount of students that are um actually meeting the usage minutes in Secondary School
41:27um and the but we do understand what's happening there by digging in and kind of talking with people and looking talking with teachers talking with leaders to find out what's happening there and we had anticipated this happening um this up this school year because we have a new Corp program which um we were lucky enough to adopt this year um and that takes a lot of time and energy um because of our block
41:52scheduling schools don't have the 90 minutes that some were able able to extend that block to incorporate more of the um Lexia work and so scheduling has really been a big problem for schools um and understandably um but the good news is we it that we are working to make this a homework requirement for students and so um there's been some communication out to parents around how this is the way that this is what we
42:21want your child doing at home they're going home with devices um for the most part and so with those devices there is this requirement that they engage um and then another piece that impacted the data is that we've worked really hard to build up and prioritize using our interventionists wisely with our most hat students and so because of that if there is time built in for intervention
42:44the students are not just sitting on a computer program instead they're working directly with an interventionist um which also impacted that data any questions about Lexia is is Lexia we've had it for about a year calendar year right how long have we had two years two okay God time's fine years okay so we have to make some big decisions this year about what's happening next year okay I think that's
43:11what I was but it's been two years well so I've already spoken to the company about my concerns at the secondary level um and so those those conversations will continue to happen Okay questions and we use that great through the younger and do you celebrate the same as so we don't have a cute mascot yet but we we have one um and so this we do have celebrations I was at Tanz celebration
43:40the other day they had a glow stick dance party um and so there are things happening within the building and then additionally now we're laying on layering on the incentive of at the district level yes yeah I I think it's a good program too but it um there's so many things for us to figure out but for you all to figure out but I just think it at some point we can't do them all
44:01and we used to spend a lot spend a lot of money anyway but the focus of is it working and then you say like we're making improvements and I'm thinking okay so that means our scores are going to improve our you know that's what we need to see but then when we see it and it doesn't it gets to be like now what we so we can only be told that so many
44:16times before the difference between this program and ST math is that stmath is grade level content and so you should see that dose correlation happening with Lexia it's personalized and so if I'm a fifth grade student and I'm still struggling with a basic early literacy skill that's where I'm going in that program and so when I when a child is struggling to that level and they're
44:40being taught how to decode during that program time you it takes a longer time to see it in in a reading comprehension measure so um but I agree with you I we should see a correlation to what's happening in dibles um or our other measures um faster than we see it on a standardized test do we do anything with after school uh extra tutoring for students that can't read have there are
45:08schools there are schools that have programs that are running after school hours where they um they target specific subgroups of students there isn't anything like at the district level that's happening that way it's just a support from us could we just get something just to I'm curious to see what in the elementary level what they doing after school like combination of probably a bunch of different things uh
45:31yeah appreciate it thank you are you you mentioned I'm sorry you mentioned you um that in conversations with Lex you mentioned a couple of things that you not what are those things I'm not happy with the usage um and but I understand why it's that way um I don't think that it's the fault of a teacher um or a student necessarily it's it's the constraints of a schedule and so um
45:57because the schedule is the way it is and I do want teachers to prioritize the core program um this has been an you know kind of a sad consequence of that gotcha um I still have to talk about ignite do you want me to talk about it okay yes all right um so in the beginning of the year we last year we received the grant for ignite um to have 300 of our students receiving um one:
46:21one um high dosage tutoring um virtu ual 15 minutes a day and so uh we launched in early October at that time all the Baseline data was in and that Baseline data kind of lives within the table that's um in front of you and so um we had a good percentage of these at risk students so the students were flagged at risk on our Universal screener and then they were given di a diagnostic through
46:48the company and then the company categorized students based on the diagnostic and that's the information that you see here um and so in the beginning of of the tutoring program we had about 70% of our kids who were falling at the kindergarten level um the students that were targeted for this program um and now we see a shift in that where we've seen about um an increase of about 25%
47:13of those of our students of the 300 students moving into the um at grade level content which is really really important um and that's why we targeted uh and we gave 95 seats to some of our most atrisk um schools um and so we're collecting our Dibbles data in February and then we'll be able to look to see is what we're seeing here actually translating to the grade level screener that will will
47:41readminister at the middle of the year um and so we were happy to see this and and I've been able to observe actually most of us have been able to observe these tutoring sessions in action um it's just really amazing and it really is exactly what we're doing in class but one-on-one and so kids need that one-on-one attention and corrective um immediate corrective feedback especially
48:04when they're a student who's struggling to learn to read um and so this this is promising for us and we hope that in February we really see a boost uh one of our next steps though is to continue what we're doing as far as progress monitoring meetings which I've been able to attend school progress monitoring meetings on a couple of occasions and then I've also had progress monitoring
48:23meetings with the company um around District level data and teachers are sitting at the table and they're engaging and they're talking about their kids and what their kids are learning and how it's translating to classroom um action and then one other action step that we're taking um is around table discussion with the leaders in these six buildings around attendance um because our students who are continuing to
48:49struggle reading at that beginning of year kindergarten level are also the students who are not who are barely making it to that 75% attendance requirement because if they drop below that they are booted from the program not because of us but because that's the company policy um and so we have to um we have to attack that in a big way and so next week um we're having a virtual Round Table to talk about what's working
49:16in buildings that have kids that are showing up for that tutoring um and then kind of spread that practice throughout the six schools and maybe Beyond based on what comes out of that um what comes out of that conversation they know we're in urban setting right so wait the company we we spend money how much money we have a grant and so it's a study it's a study a study okay so they're saying if the kids
49:40aren participating they're not but but I think it's important to say that if they're not participating it's because they're not in school and we have to hold that to a high expectations absolutely we have to hold that to the high right so I think it's really important that we bring this back to our our attendance monitor piece to step um and so if I can help support and any of that or be
50:01involved yes um I think I did see that now that you say that it was only last night okay um but I I think we have some systems at schools that can really support that work um and it is part of our second half of the year um around gearing up you know getting the next six weeks back in gear people are sick okay but we have to get our kids back in
50:22school we cannot educate Empty Chairs um and as the data shows when our kids come to school across the programs they learn they're learning and they're growing um so I just think it's important to be said that all of this is contingent upon kids coming to school absolutely everything right so I just don't want to miss the opportunity to highlight that all of this will work when our kids come to school regularly
50:46um because just like us as adults when we are in when we are in consistent in our sure your kids come to school regularly come to school just wanted to take that no it's true you can't you beating your head against a wall if you can't get the the students in here and we have the resources it's proven that when they come here and they're they're working they're improving these are
51:09smart kids and we have the resources to break down the barriers of what's what's what's prohibiting our kids from getting to school so what are the barriers um because as a school community and as a district we have the community support we are very fortunate that the resources within our community are plenty um and the network runs really deep so you know it's about learning about the issues
51:30that our families are struggling with and what are those barriers and how can we help support in being um you know Advocates to help break down those barriers and get our kids to school so we're here for families we're here to help we can't we know that you know no no one can do it alone um but attendance is a key piece to all of this work continuing to grow absolutely absolutely
51:50and then just one more last thing um when we got the grant um there was conversation during the school committee meeting around what are we going to do like this is a short could potentially be a short-term spent and so um what are we going to do to build up our staff and so during the February PD day we have um one of the instructional leads and an interventionist running a session with
52:12interventionists and Par professionals focused on K to2 using the resources that ignite uses um so that we probably wouldn't be able to do one-on-one tutoring because we don't have the you know the Manpower for that but we can bring the practice into a small group a smaller group setting um and continue that work interesting um we have just a couple left couple more um one is uity and I
52:39offered today just an updated cover sheet that um just updated numbers as of um Tuesday um because I think the what we had shared previously was you know from November or early December so just wanted to give that update you know UI being used at dery and RPA dery is using it for credit recovery and also as a curriculum resource for um a trigonometry class and then at this point RPA is only using it
53:04for home tutoring so the numbers here identify you know number of students who were using in their course enrollments um and then also dery was able to show you know how many students have been able to um recover credit um in the first two um in the first two quarters so um I you know in a pre in an update and I think in the original backup there's much more detailed information so um there had been
53:31requests made for real usage data um so we could take a look at you know kind of who's logging in and for how long and things like that so all of and and we see a range um of students especially maybe on home tutoring who um you know have a course assigned and some kids are getting right at it and they're keeping up um with where they should be in terms
53:53of progress in the course and other students students um are not making as much progress and so that just um requires U more frequent communication do you do you foresee a bigger tick in usage as we uh slide towards graduation you think that I think that happens I know that right now RPA isn't using it for credit recovery right they I might very well be in the second in the second
54:17half of the year right now they're using uh live teaching for their credit recovery and certainly I think we see a trend um at dery where as we get get closer right kids start to scramble and they're going to the second term yeah the second semester and and then into the summer as well we use it as a resource for Sunday school thank you um and then the the
54:40last piece for me before we do um the science gizmos is um paper so paper is an online tutoring platform so there are Live help sessions students can log in at any time ask questions about math social studies science really anything thing um a big push for us since we started using the um the platform really like two years ago um has been the um review center for written submissions so
55:07that students can write a paragraph or an essay or full paper submit it and within 24 hours they get feedback um we started when we when we started the program we we offered you know samples of that feedback to teachers to say is this the kind of feedback we want our kids getting from these you know Anonymous tutors yes that's going to be that you know that's a game changer for
55:27us um and so students are able to submit first drafts um in some classrooms we'll see students have a choice of a peer editing session or a paper editing session and they can get on um either they can submit or they can get on live and get some feedback so uh we're seeing some success I shared here the numbers from last school year and this school year we did um decrease the number of
55:50subscriptions this year by about 1,500 most of that was a decrease at dery because their focus is in um preap and AP in um all 11th and 12th graders so there aren't they're not using it as much in grades N9 and 10 um mostly because there there wasn't a need at that point so um well a lot of their their Project B too right I don't know yeah I mean I think
56:13that they're finding that the the amount of writing um that's happening in some classes is you know it's all at grade level but some of it is excessive and and it is a you know they're getting kids to get that initial feedback outside before you know um before sub final submissions and things like that so um we're we I have the highlights here even though we reduced subscriptions we're seeing an increase
56:41in in the activity so we're seeing more kids um get the Live help seeing more kids like greater percentage of kids um submitting papers and things like that and um for the most part we've in every school in of itself has increased um the amount of activity on paper from one year to the next do we have student feedback on it we do so in the I want to say that in the slide presentation that
57:04I said there is embedded on some of those slides very positive I mean there was one that stood out um when we did our meeting with them in like early December where you know you know students saying I was on for hours getting help um and and and it's true they there's not a when when students are working productively they will stay on with the student for as long as
57:28necessary and so uh we yeah we've gotten some really positive feedback individual student testimonials about it great it's great I think it's actually on the P yeah there's a couple gizmos is I just want to say it's it's not um progress monitoring platform like we've seen for ELA and ma um we invested in gizmos for grades 3 through 5 uhhuh um to provide simulation based science with the vision
58:00that we needed to find a way to prepare our students and our teachers to help our students for the new mcast the new mcast is simulation based students will run a simulation based on a real world problem have to use the data that they've they've generated than to answer the mcast questions in that in that set in that question set and for elementary with the traditional resources that are available out there
58:30right now that we're not they're not deemed high quality for for um Elementary where we're focusing our efforts for elementary high quality is going to be withad and that's just rolling out so um our high school and our Middle School do not need gizmos even though those simulations exist at those grade levels because the simulations are built in part of the open S units we didn't have
58:58that availability last year nor do we this year for all schools so we continue to invest in these gizmos what we are seeing is all schools with the exception of Doran are using them and Doran is not because they are an open sided field test school grade 3 to five so their Focus right now in science is getting proficient in doing that work so it's it's pleasing when you when you look
59:24doesn't look like the numbers are really high but they really are teacher Lin could look low because these lessons and these experiences are often living with the stem teachers and that's one or two people in a building so um it's it's what applies to the content that's being taught versus what's available in gizmos I do not see long range that we're going to continue to invest year after year
59:50after year in gizmos as open sad comes on board and the simulations are in there where they should be we won't need this anymore um we probably still will need it for one more year as we start to transition schools over to open S as the units become ready for public consumption uhhuh so is Gizmo is that a grant is that gizmos is not we've we've invested that money from the district
1:00:16for that but it it will start to start to dwindle yes beautiful that's good news right yes goodness yes yeah finally a all right so is that it that is all those are our platforms motion motion to a journ new business new business oh new business sorry I got to finish new business people no no business motion motion I second all in favor I thank you thank you