11.5.2025 FRPS Instructional Subcommittee

Thank you. Hello everybody. Uh everybody, today is Wednesday, November 5th, 2025. We're at the administration building for an instructional subcommittee meeting. Deb, can I please get a call? Uh a roll.

Mr. Das here.

Mr.

Here. M here.

Uh to the flag, please.

I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

13 open meeting law. Uh pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of 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 unpersceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible.

Um we are on to citizens input. I'm aware that there is one tonight. Uh Mr. Misha, would you like to do it from here? What?

Whatever you prefer. You want to go over there? What? Whatever you want.

Just want to speak. I don't have a preference.

Hi, I'm Keith Michon, president of the Florida River Educators Association, and I'd like to speak to you tonight um about something you'll discuss, the uh competency determinations for graduation in response to the MCCAST, no longer being used as a highstakes testing requirement.

I don't know yet what will what the administration will propose, but I share the concern expressed by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees that districts are feeling pressure to implement a new standardized end of course assessment exam as a graduation requirement. That would directly conflict with the overwhelming will of the Massachusetts voters who rejected high stakes testing as a

graduation requirement. A major factor in that vote was recognition that standardized tests are flawed and that students deserve multiple authentic ways to demonstrate their learning. State regulations clearly outline three pathways for evidence of mastery. A final assessment for a course or a capstone or portfolio project or another equivalent measure identified in the district's competency determination

policy. I urge you to reject any graduation determination based on standardized tests and instead allow students true choice and multiple avenues to demonstrate competency.

I also want to address a broader issue.

Opponents of the ballot initiative to remove the high stakes testing requirement publicly claimed MCCAST would disappear, that it would be there would be no standards and no accountability. Those claims were misleading and created unnecessary fear.

I attended school during an era of standards without high stakes testing.

There were clear expectations and accountability. But there was also flexibility, creativity, and trust in educators. Over our time, our system has shifted towards excessive focus on test scores and away from student experiences, curiosity, and authentic learning. We have become too reliant on commercial curricula and outside vendors and not reliant enough on the expertise of our own educators. Some may have lost

faith in teachers ability to determine competency and mastery. I have not. This transition is a pivotal opportunity to reaffirm trust in educators, to center student learning over test performance, and to design a competency determination system that reflects our values, not a test prep culture. I ask that you choose a path that honors student voice, professional expertise, and the

democratic mandated delivered by the voters. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.

Mishan. Mr. D, just a quick question to the administration. Um, because do do we send did we send out the um backup to um Mr. Mishan's team that has the what the proposal was?

I I don't know. No, no, I did not.

Did we only do that at the full committee level?

Yes.

I think um we should consider maybe implementing that subcommittee level as well. So, we share that.

Okay. Uh we're on to 31 discussion and vote to refer. Thank you, Mishan. Uh compet uh competency determination. Uh what was that?

Yeah. So I can start and then folks will jump in. So I appreciate um a lot of our secondary folks are here. So as you know, we were tasked with um determining as Mr. Mushan just referenced as well how the district will um you know has to create a policy to how kids will demonstrate competency, right? And so what we're proposing here um we this is due by the end of December. So just to

be clear around sort of what our deadline is. And so our thought was to really bring this here for some feedback with the um potential to refer you know to the full committee um for for approval or maybe additional feedback but still have plenty of time in order to meet our deadline as required by Desi at the end of December. Um, and so I can have Beth jump in in a moment, but just

to orient you to this, um, we've separated this by content area. So you'll notice that, um, in ELA, what's in black is basically the language that's in the template already. What's in blue is what we are proposing. Okay.

Um, and that's the same across all content areas. The other pieces that are in here are also um what an appeals process will look like. Um considerations for students with disabilities and and English learners and then um considerations for late in the morning students. So those are like the major sections. Um so we can go through content by content if you all would like. I don't know what what's the easiest way to

Well, yeah, because I mean um Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um I feel very nebulous now since the mandate was passed in the vote. Okay. Is this a step this is a step toward trying to um figure out what our new path is going to be in mastery moving forward curriculum wise. Right. So I think it's important for you to go at least briefly content areas.

So what we did was really try to provide um a vast array of options for kids to demonstrate for students to demonstrate mastery. And so if you'll look at the first one, first page in ELA, you can see that um the student must satisfactorily complete ELA 1 and ELA 2 or equivalent coursework as identified in the program of studies and then one of the following and you'll see several ors listed there intentionally. We

wanted to provide multiple opportunities for kids to demonstrate competency, right? So we didn't want to just have keep this isolated to sort of one path, right? like just an end of course exam.

So you'll notice in ELA as an example um earn an average of meeting or exceeding on a district argument expository and narrative benchmark. Many of these benchmarks are already um in the ELA courses that kids would be taking.

Right.

Can I just say one thing about that one in particular because the ELA department when we were talking about it felt very strongly that the kids should have mastery in those three areas. Um what that what's we know that we didn't exactly write in there is that those assessments are given every year. So they would essentially have four times throughout their career if they start as a freshman to pass each one of those.

Okay. Because there's four years of English.

Correct.

So they'd have multiple the English the state recognizes all of them as the competence.

Okay. The competency. So you'll see in the second bullet and many of these are you'll see some similarities content to content right. So um pass specifi specified cumulative credit recovery exam. So an opportunity for kids that might be on a credit recovery path to to demonstrate competency. Um there is an option for some uh selected performance tasks right um aligned to uh certain standards.

What does that mean selected performance? So maybe I don't know if Jess if you want to talk a little bit about what a performance task in ELA could potentially look like. uh perhaps a debate, a speech. I'm trying to think what's really called out in the standards, but just off the top of my head, that's what comes to mind.

Pretty much not a standardized test that so a project um a participation in debate, different, you know, different types of tasks like that. We would obviously select what those were that the student had to demonstrate. But again, another opportunity for a student who might not demonstrate mastery through a benchmark or through this particular writing. here's another avenue where that child might demonstrate some

success, right? Um we want to recognize that students who are maybe um taking AP exam and if they attain a three or higher that should uh satisfy, you know, the competency.

What's the three be?

Uh I don't recognize colleges.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Um same thing with SAT or PSAT. We have groups of students who are doing that, right? And so um you know, we're proposing earning a 450, right? So who selects that number? What is that? Where because they're different when I went through their they're different numbers. I just we did I believe Drew right in ter 450.

Yeah, we kind of looked at um so we looked at um some different states who have been using SAT as one of the options. Colorado is example that we had like a deep dive of like SATs and proficiency level. Um and also um looked at Rhode Island I believe um which has it as an option for English. um and then kind of um thought that this was based

on what we could find um uh a score that would demonstrate mastery in ELA.

Right. I was just wondering why they were different. Why math was 460, English was was 450.

I think typically on average across the US scores are higher in math SAT than English.

We looked at trend.

Okay. Yeah, it was just that. Yeah.

Thank you.

Um the other one is you know passing an end of course final exam again as an or right. So for some students maybe that is the piece that is is is helpful for them.

Um we want to recognize you know the dual enrollment early college courses and so we're proposing a minimum 2.0 GPA in one of those uh courses if a child's dy enrolled right now um at the college level in a course.

Um satisfactory completion of a capstone project or portfolio and then earn an average of meeting or exceeding on two TLE final projects. Specifically, we have students in Evolve program where their curriculum is based on these TLEs and so this provides them an opportunity as well to demonstrate competency.

I also just wanted to mention that we had to even though we don't have end of course assessments right now. We may have students transferring in that have them so or who are in You mean like midterms and finals? Is that what you mean? like yeah there are some districts that are going to go with that end of course assessment um okay as um was mentioned they may transfer into our district. We our

intention is not to make a senior who's already passed their 10th grade exam somewhere else redo that. So we um and also we have students who we have paid to be placed in um private settings who may need to use that and they hopefully can fit into one of these categories.

Categories.

So we think about all the students that we have with all the different needs including students that transfer in. We want to have lots of opportunities to say oh you've already maybe passed an exam in the district that you were in and that was how they were recognizing competency. Can we just say that you've also met competency right?

Right. So I mean what I'm seeing now it I do you think there are any obstacles with offering this many I guess opportunities and managing that in the district?

Yep.

I so yes so that is Go ahead. I was just going to say I think that the the expectation is that you know during 9th 10th grade when everybody is taking um doing this district argument expository and narrative benchmark you're going to get a whole of kids so we meet the competency determination that way and then for students who don't do that then I I think a um some of these options will happen naturally Mhm.

Um some kids will, you know, they'll do it even though they've already passed the comp, they've already met the competency determination, they're still going to have this experience which doesn't have an impact and so on and so on. And so that we'll there'll be fewer and fewer kids, you know, coming out of nth grade or 11, right? That's the intention is to funnel so that there are smaller groups where

we're saying, okay, I now have 50 kids that I need to think about what a performance test would be.

And who is that? Who's thinking about the high school? the high school team would be saying we have these students who um maybe demonstrated through uh right hey Jess so they may be saying you know to Dr.

Purley's point they completed this writing you know they they successfully did this other another group of students might be like hey they got you know they got a three in the AP exam or the SAT right the PSAT so that number of students is going to be small which is all reflected on on a a report card I guess is that what we still call them report cards uh updates is that

where the faculty the admin is going to get their information from the teachers then the guidance counselors then the we definitely need to is I think we have to build something that's what I'm asking tool so that if we the easiest thing would be to build something for a student because we might have a student who is um you know who leaves our district and we're going to want to

be able to identify for um for the receiving school how the student met the competency determination in Fall River.

Um but certainly we just need we just need to build a tool so that we can capture it with all of the options and be able to say no that this student has it this way.

Okay. You Mr. Cory.

So um u m proposal um who determines this criteria for you know the all the alternative competencies all of these who deter is it district by district or is it a uniform thing from no this is districts have to determine this. It needs to be approve approved by the local school committee and then we send we submit our policy to them uh to desi and then it becomes publicly posted. So you're telling

if if let's say we were uh Newton having this we could have said we want all kids to pass an end of course final we're choosing not to say that right we feel that there should be multiple opportunities for kids to demonstrate competency so we didn't want to just say sure that could have been an easy thing to say do an of course final but really we wanted to have these multiple opportunities for kids can

but not every district will have the same thing if that's what you're asking right uh taton may have some we looked some stuff they're proposing other districts. So, we also looked at some similar urbans, but it may not be that every district lands in the same place.

It's just that each district has to have this approved by the local school, right? And I'm under the impression I we had a conversation. This isn't submitted for approval. They just file it. Desi committee approves it.

File and they reserve the right to audit at any point. Obviously, if they said, "Oh, I want to see you know what this what the implementation looks like."

Obviously, can I ask the two uh can I ask Dr.

Monette and Dr. Jay, how do you guys feel about such criteria, you know, for the kids? Do you think this might be advantageous for some of the kids in your school?

Well, for my my kids, I think it's there. I'm glad there's choices that I feel like looking at that and reading through it, I can picture students completing one one of the options. So, I'm glad there's options. Um, I think the portfolio, the capstone probably makes more sense for our students. But yeah.

Yeah.

Dr. J, you you have a different Yeah. No, theoretically, I love it. And do I think um us I think we'll get to a point where we talk about time span kind of thing, what it looks like over the next few years and how you scaffold it to eventually become this this uh robust thing.

It's you know we are going to have to assess a lot about how we do business I think and it well it's going to be a beautiful thing and I think creating opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning through all these different means also creates an awesome opportunity for us to make learning more meaningful and relevant and personal and for them uh that's super exciting. might it mean a

realignment of some teachers to to work in certain competencies or or some will all teachers have access to all of these choices in their respective disciplines?

I I think I mean obviously there's still lots of planning to happen but I think the the way that I envision it coming to life is to Dr. Curley's point a lot of these opportunities are going to be built into their experience. So there will be conventional organic ways to attain competency determination. And as you, you know, navigate 9th and 10th and 11th grade funnels to this point where

in an ideal sense, the majority are going to have done it because through all these different options. And as they get older and they progress to kind of later in the high school journey where we're assessing who's done it and who hasn't, that's when the experience is probably going to have to become more personalized. So, so I'm I'm I'm extremely concerned about the social studies aspect of it because I really

think that MCCAST buried social studies.

It's it's here now.

It's going to be for 2027. So, that's actually on the Yeah, just to make that that um that distinction.

English, math, and science.

These are in effect for our current seniors, which is why we're like really hoping we can get a definitive answer so that we can get those kids, you know, um, through the door, you know, out the door, I should say.

And all the more reason we need multiple options because some of their opportunities may have passed theoretically, right? So, it's like we need multiple options for kids to be able to um meet that. So one more question begs. So who determined uh this particular criteria? Was it your team with in collaboration with the high school the directors um connecting with the deans you know and the department

heads? Um I know that I believe Dr. Jay um also had a couple sessions you know just more broadly around purpose determination teachers as well for some feedback at the high school. So you know multiple layers of good Mr. Das. Thank you. Um, first question.

So, do we have any conversations about splitting this up per school, per district, because this is a policy that's going to cover the entire district?

And obviously some of these um I think would be very beneficial at like the alternative high school than I think it would at Dery. Um, we each time we met, we actually met as a group. Uh, Miss Shaw, the principal of Stone, Dr. Dr. Monette, Dr. J as a group. And that's the reason you'll see several different or options as we were calling them as we were iterating around this because we wanted to make sure that

we were capturing all of our students, right? And so we made sure that, you know, they were at the table and had input on this policy so that we had multiple options.

Sure. No, I I agree with that. But I I personally believe this policy should be split up per school and an option.

I feel like it's for the district.

district.

I don't think you can by school to my knowledge. I'm not sure though. Yeah.

Yeah. That that's been my understanding and that's not to say maybe there because kids also move.

Right. Right. Right. But you can have it in one policy but like a section for dery section for stone section for RPA with different requirements. I but if you're saying it has to be um so are there particular elements of say the ELA one that you would say these might be appropriate for one school but not another?

Oh definitely. Um I was just going to get into that. Um well I just have a few questions. So SAT it's been a couple years since I've taken one in PSAT. What's the the the number that usually most colleges would like to see? Like obviously the higher the better, but what's usually the just think it it depends and it's optional. Most schools now are test optional. You don't actually have to share your SAT scores

or take of some kind of right. Um 450 just at first glance and I would have to go to look back looks a little too low.

Mhm.

Um and there's PSATs as well. I just like to see first what's the implementation if um we're going to have a competency determination. any student can now just take a PSAT or an SAT and if they get this certain number they meet all the competency for for English ELA but they have to take the course to take the course and they have to pass the course we we have local graduation requirements that say you have to

successfully complete English 1 2 3 and four or the equivalent you might be coming from you you have to pass four years of English yes um and in addition to that you have to do one of these other.

So, you'll see that for each of the content areas, there's going to be some requirement around passing coursework and one of these other selected options.

Okay.

But you bring up an excellent um point in that competency determination does it's the graduation requirements are still graduation requirements. This is sort of in addition to so I I'm glad you brought that up because I think sometimes people get confused. No, I remember we had I remember we had a robust discussion on graduation requirements. So that's why it was um so could you just remind me what the TLE

final project the last one is? So um at in our uh in students in our evolved program they have um these TLES transformative learning experiences which are all sort of project based learning and so students have to uh create final projects as part of those and so we wanted to just acknowledge the fact that their curriculum their resources are different and so we wanted to make sure that they were also

included here um as this is the curriculum that they utilize.

Okay. Um, I guess I don't know, some of these in general just feel a little too easy and I just want to make sure as one member we um we set high expectations for our students when they come into our schools and but it just make me feel better knowing that, you know, this isn't just it and there's more to the course pass the course work as well. Um, so for that I'll support it. However,

I'd love to I hope hopefully we're update if this passes the committee we're updated on the implementation because again I I do believe we need to really have a serious conversation when we talk about raising our numbers across the district and the data that we have um higher expectations. So um like to see how that goes but I yield for now.

Mr. Cory, I share my colleagues concern about the higher expectations and I hope that in I'm really pleased to see that we're trying to work these issues out. I I like this. This is But to me, it still represents a work in progress. And so I would like to know, are we planning to revisit this again at the end of the year to see and then check the data on it and see, you know, where the

expectations, you know, uh how they filtered out at the end of the year with especially some of our uh challenged learners and to see how they adapt to this program. Is there a way that we could revisit this next year? Have this discussion again? That's my concern. I'm worried about um I'm worried about um you know high expect higher expectations being lowered. That's what I'm worried about.

Yeah, I think um you know we can certainly revisit. I think what will be most helpful is for us to see how many students are um meeting competency with which specific bullet. Right. So once we have that data, we can say well the majority students demonstrated in this way, right? And then we were left with this filter of students in this filter.

So I think that would be the most helpful thing is for us to be able to look at the numbers and say this many students met competency through this path, others through this path. Right?

And I think there's nothing that says that we couldn't potentially next year as we implement this or the year after come back to the table and say actually we want to revise this a little bit.

Yeah. Um I I don't think that's something that's impossible down the road. Right. That's good. School committee has to approve this yearly or is it I'm not sure yet. We don't know. Um all we know is this deadline right now. I don't know what will happen if it's a if it's an annual thing or not.

I think what gets tricky and we're up against it this year is that when you change if the policy changes, you're changing that competency determination, that graduation requirement for students. So it's like there it's it's always there's always going to be this like 12th grade class that's about to graduate and it's like can you change the requirement midstream for those students who maybe met a

competency determination when they were in 10th grade using the policy at that time and then what are the implications?

So it it's almost this idea that like potentially we would need to have policy changes that say it'll take effect for the class of right and maybe it's like the current freshman class.

I'll entertain a motion to motion to refer to the full committee.

Second, Deb Mr. D.

Yes.

Mr. Cor.

Yes.

Yes.

Um before we move on, did did Brian did you want to go through the other subjects or is it much the same?

I mean, I think it's similar. Um again, this is coming back to the full committee, so you know, we can we can discuss again, but I think it's similar.

The only other sections as I mentioned were considerations for student some language there around students with disabilities, English learners and then um the appeals process and late enrollments. So those quick question if I may question review um on I was going through the appeals process the review team if someone appeals their determination. What what does that team look like? Who's involved?

Uh I don't know if we put it uh let me look but there's actually team members in there. I think who it would be. Let me just go back and look at that section. Sorry.

Thank you.

So, I know that we already voted for moving on, but I wanted to ask uh Mr.

Mishan uh how do you feel about this in general in your gut? Is this like a a step in the right direction?

Definitely, I feel good about it. I think um this is along the lines of what I had in mind, a lot of different options. I think it's a great first meeting and then I look forward to the full meet committee discussing it. I did have one thing I wanted to ask if a option could be can the CD of the sending district be one of the competency if you had a transferring student

could one of the competencies be or the sending district so if Ton has another competency that they met but we don't have that competency could that be included and then could all the districts in the states do that help each other that's a good idea so competency certified by district, right?

I I do know that from being um at meetings with superintendent that that might not be the case, right?

I think it makes sense.

We can add language specific language here, but it is not necessarily the appetite in every district across the across the state.

And why why is that lack of trust, right?

Yeah. or just of specificity in in in how they you know maybe they have a smaller list of things that they want to make available to their students and they're going to require people to meet that standard.

We good with CD?

Thank you.

We're on to 32 uh discussion and vote to refer uh a draft of the former public school middle schools CTE exploration policy.

True. Sure. So, thank you for having me here today. Um and before I I dive into the middle school exploration policy, if it's okay, I just want to share some general information about where these policies are coming for. It's also connected directly to the CTE admissions policy which is also on the agenda uh today.

Um so this is really coming from a change of state law um from uh spring of 2025. So DESIE is really requiring um that all chapter 74 approved CTE programs uh shift the way that they're admitting students. And one portion of that instead of using a weighted scoring systems uh which we use in our CTE program Diamond uses Bristol we had used in the past um it's shifting to a lotterybased admissions process and uh

school districts can choose a weighted lottery um where students can get more entries into the lottery pool or just a straight lottery where every student who applies gets one entry. The other piece of the state law that changed uh was the middle school exploration policy that all schools all school districts uh are now required to have a policy approved by the local school committee that shows

how students beginning in six uh grade participate in structured career exploration uh that are connected to high school pathway options that their students have. Um and then the expectation is that this this exploration is documented through what the state calls my cap, a career and academic plan through a digital portfolio uh that goes with the student as they progress from sixth grade all

the way uh through 12th grade.

Um so that's those are just like a highle general kind of components of the new new state law uh that passed recently and it's going to u go into effect um for u our current eighth graders who are are applying for dime and bristot programming.

So again when we when we uh sat down and and met about the the local middle school exploration policy uh we just wanted to align our goals to uh the state requirements. Um so you'll see a statement of goals uh written into uh the policy. Um we also wanted to detail our middle school career exploration.

I'll say um after you know after some other districts um we are very detailed in what we're putting into the policy uh where some of the other districts are very general one sentence or two sentence but we really felt it was uh important uh to showcase uh the different career readiness activities that our students are going through and helping them make choices uh and uh get exposure to high school options. Uh so

we now have um a middle school college and career readiness kind of uh comprehensive program.

What sheet are we on Drew?

Uh looks like page two under middle school career exploration activities.

This one uh that middle school exploration.

Um so just as part of um raising students awareness, we have structured lessons that are led by the school counselors.

We go in between two and four times per school year in grades six, seven, and eight. And some of those lessons are specifically tied to high school pathway options available at, you know, Derby or others like Diamond. And others are related to career opportunities and learning about themselves and how they operate and how their personalities or their strengths may be connected to

future career options. We also um have all of our eighth grade students um attend a field trip to Dery where they explore um all the CTE programs at Dery as well as other important pieces like athletics and arts uh and academic opportunities at Dery so they that they can visualize it and see it. We provide opportunities uh for students to explore uh other high schools as well such as

Diamond and Bristol Aggie. Uh one of the big changes to the law uh that we wanted to write and you'll see in the middle school board policy section is that um now um we are required and we had already done this uh but it wasn't the case in in all districts across the state. We are now required to allow students to take tours at regional vocational schools or agricultural schools during a school day um without

penalty to the student. So we can't give them an unexcused absence or penalty for their grade. Um, so we want to specify that. And the other piece of the law that changed was that these sending schools now have to pay for transportation. So now if our students want to go on a tour uh for uh at Diamond, Diamond has to pay for a school bus to take them uh during the school

day. So that's written into the law as well, that financial obligation uh for CTE schools. Um just just some other opportunities uh that we put into the policy. We have um some enrichment opportunities uh including uh our summer enrichment camps which aligns with CTE for younger students to be exposed uh things like culinary and cosmetology. Uh we have infographics and videos on our

website uh where students and families can explore different pathways. Um we also have several um middle schools who are um kind of running pre-CTTE programs um construction, culinary arts, criminal justice, and project legal way engineering.

Can we pause there for one second? Sure.

Those four you just mentioned that there's one in each. They're not in all middles. All of those are not in all middle, right? And that's how we're staying for a while, right? Cuz we just started the criminal justice except some of the schools do have PLTW.

A couple of them. We have medical detectives at all three.

All three. Okay. Okay.

Computer science at two and engineering this year.

At two.

All right. Can we just get a list maybe just a little update of where we are in the middle schools for CTE for Monday. Thank you.

Thank so I don't know if you want to wait till questions for the end but um so if we're just on the middle I have a lot of questions on the um on the high school admissions but just for the middle school here um first question I would have we don't have um currently an agricultural program that's not being considered um cuz we're going to be giving tours and and I have mixed feelings on this. We're

going to be giving tours to other high schools that offer different um different programs for CT. That's something we should consider building within Dery or within the Farber public schools specifically and I've advocated for this in the past. We should have an agricultural program.

However, if there's some of these programs either at Diamond that we don't have here, something that we should consider building up.

Um, that's one.

Um, that's all my question really on the middle school. I do have more questions on the um on the high school mission.

So, I'll save it for there.

You can't replicate.

Yeah, you're not supposed to replicate the program that another school has. You have to go through a long process with an you have to show the demand and the need. Uh so um the state discourages replicating a program that is already available to students at a regional school.

Well, I'm a little conf little confused because we have for example a culinary program at Dery. There's a culinary program at Diamond that's replication. I and and we would we would have had to go through a process to make that happen.

There are other programs that you wouldn't be able to because of you know lack of demand, lack of um you know lack of demand in the community, lack of demand maybe from student in terms of student interest and things like that.

But I don't believe we've ever um pursued an agricultural program.

I don't think so.

I also may I You're thinking about a feeder at the middle school. Was that your question?

like to add something at the middle level around that or that's what I was going to get to. I think what you're speaking of is different than what we're covering right now. So, we're not discussing what CTE programs are being offered at Dery right now. We're talking about exploratory for the middle school kids to get a feel for what's out there in the area. Bristol um right you know so we're going over that

policy right now not what Dery offers right no I agree with you but I get the point so I think that's a whole different meeting like a course of studies for CTE at Dery if you you know if you want to move forward and say hey we want to do this agricultural we'd have to bring that to another you know meeting I guess you have you good I I thank you yes Mr. Cory.

So, um, this is singing to me because, uh, ever since I took a seat on the school board, I was inspired by the late Joe Martins, the former superintendent at Diamond Regional Vote High School. uh and uh the dirt of CTE programming in the for public schools many years ago.

We've improved the situation greatly since then and it was easy to become an advocate for enhanced CTE programming.

I'm happy to see that we're going to try to extend this profiling down into the middle school levels. Um, what might that mean for a child in 8th grade uh that that wants to take the CTE path when it comes to programming courses at the high school?

Sure. So, by by 8th grade hopefully um an eighth grade student has learned about the different program options uh at Derby specifically, but also available at Diamond and Bristo. Um we also invite uh Derpy comes to the middle schools during open houses and parent teacher conferences as well as Diamond and Bristol A are invited to uh to either have table or give a more formalized presentation to parents and

families about what they offer um at their schools and then opportunities u for students which I think is very important to visualize and see the programs in action. It's why we added I think three years ago that all eighth grade students uh would come to the new Dery and get to see some of the state-of-the-art uh work that's going on within CTE there and see all the program how many how many course work how much

in within their coursework can they choose let's say they finally decide on on one of the great CTE programs then how does it get added to their dery schedule?

Sure. So going into ninth grade, students apply to be a part of the CTE program and then they go through an exploratory during their ninth grade year. Uh so there's right now we have 18 uh exploratory mini courses. They're about like seven or eight days each. So they go through all of the uh the 10 CTE programs that we have. Um in addition uh there's some specific uh courses like they all the students get OSHA 10

certified uh which is like a entry level certification and safety um so that's part of the exploratory I just gave that I just gave that test last month at Diamond. Yeah, I know I know the test well.

Yeah. So they um um so they explore and then in the spring of their freshman year after they've been exposed to all of the CTE programs and understand what's involved with CTE then they apply to spec specific programs and they rank their top three choices and so let's say they they take construction craft.

Okay. So then uh the guidance counselors are going to work out their academic schedule is and and CTE is going to become part of that whole entire academic schedule.

Correct. Is that how that works?

Yeah. So, once they're admitted um in the sophomore year, they have one full period of that CTE program. Uh then in their junior year, they have two full periods um of that CTE program. And then in their senior year, they have three full periods of either the CTE program or now that we have a growing co-op uh program, students are going outside of of Dery.

So, will there be active internships available for the for the kids at the senior level?

Yeah. So there's co-op opportunities which are paid kind of like paid internships minimum of 15 hours per week where they're placed at um companies around Fall River where students uh gain you know the exper the hands-on experience.

Yeah. So will you will you have to hire a coordinator in order to determine that type of stuff?

We do have a a co-op coordinator thanks um to Yeah. through the process. Yeah.

Mr. St. Pierre has done a great job exploring different opportunities.

That's great. Yeah.

Melissa.

And so, um, let's say now they graduate from Dery with with all of this programming in place. Um, they don't have the same qualifications as a kid coming out of a vocational school, however, but what what does it qualify them for?

So, they earn so the state requirement is 9 minimum of 900 hours. Um and at Dery typically students have like a,50100 hours a little bit above the state minimum. There are vocational schools who go above that and have like 1500 or 1,800 hours through their you know their scope and sequence. Um but our students will graduate they have um they leave with the required with required hours and micro

certificate. So pending you know what pathway they're in the health assisting uh pathway they all leave with a CNA.

Um, for example, as as one of their certificates, the um, as long as they pass the exam, the cosmetology uh, students pass, you know, or they take that state cosmetology board exam.

Uh, so they would leave with that credential, you know, assuming that they meet their requirements because it it's still not the same as a vocational school. There's clearly a difference between the comprehensive high school and the vocational school, but I like the expansion of CTE. the I think it reaches a far wider swap than our demographics, you know, especially when kids are like some kids are really

hands-on oriented and so I think this is going to appeal to that type of student very very well. Uh that's what I'm hoping for anyway. I think this is all really good ideas that you guys are are bringing up. I've been pressing for these ideas for a long long time. It's good to see that we're talking about it like this. I yield.

Do you guys have anything else on the policy?

Motion to refer the middle school exploration policy to full committee.

Second.

Zip. Mr.

Guy.

Yes.

Mr. Clark.

Yes.

M.

Yes.

On to discussion. Vote to refer drafty high school CTE policy.

Thank you. So, I'll be overviewing uh this. Uh CTA director cannot uh be here today. Um so um if it's helpful to the committee I can uh go through either the full policy or I can um highlight the key changes from last from last year.

Yeah.

Okay. Um so the so the key changes one of the major changes I want.

So where are you? What what page I am on he's on his cliff notes.

We don't have but uh it's on the u the CTE admissions policy 2627 document.

Okay. this one.

Um, and I I can start with um I would like to start with a the admissions criteria lottery uh because that is brand new um for all school districts across the street, including ours. Um so, as I kind of talked about in um my kind of overview, we had two options. Uh we could do a straight lottery into CTE for any student who applied. Every student would get kind of one ticket.

And the way that the state is framing it is that you have a public lottery where each student uh has like a number or some sort of identifier and you're kind of pulling tickets out of the hat and this person gets in, this person gets in until you reach your capacity. Then you start a weight list and you continue pulling until every number has been drawn. So that's kind of the state

framework. And as I kind of mentioned before, the opportunities are to do a straight lottery where every student who applies gets one or you can do a weighted lottery where students can get extra entries based on specific criteria. And there's three specific criteria that the state allows you to use if you want to and that's uh at the decision of the school district. Um so the weighted uh weighted lottery

criteria that some uh districts are using and what's allowed by the state is one is attendance and there's specific uh criteria of if you had less than 27 unexcused absences in the last 270 school days you would get an extra kind of entry into um into the lottery uh and if that was the choice. There is one on suspensions as well. If you were not suspended under 37H and 37H and a half over the past

school year, which is long really long-term suspensions, um you get an extra um ticket into the lottery. Um and then the third one is uh interest. And um so you can require students um to show some sort of interest outside of the application. could be attending a tour, could be submitting a personal statement, a personal video, uh could be uh a letter of recommendation from a non-family member. Um but that could

also qualify as an exert entry for a school district who chooses to use that.

Is there discretion?

Is there discretion for There is discretion for the last one you said.

Yes, there's discretion. There has to be multiple opportunities for interest. Uh and the state um does um I think say that let me see I think there's specific pieces that you must offer and then there's discretion for additional opportunities as well on the interest um interest one um so um we decided we're proposing a straight we yeah I just wanted to give some context we're proposing a strict

straight lottery um and we're doing it for um you know a couple reasons one is you need to go to a lottery uh uh if your capac if your enrollies uh kind of outmatch your capacity. And for the uh past year, we're predicting for next school year as well. We're going to give a seat to every student who applies uh to CTE. So, so the lottery only happens if the number of if there's a weight list.

If there's a weight list Yes. Um the second second piece is we want to really focus on uh increasing u opportunities and access to some of our um struggling students, our more vulnerable students because we know that who students are necessarily in eighth grade isn't this the student that they'll be in 10th grade or 11th grade. We want to give students opportunities to connect with

hands-on uh meaningful opportunities that align with their interests. um don't want to leave any students out because of lack of um not hitting one or more criteria. So we feel by um doing a straight lottery, everyone has an equal opportunity to be involved in the CTE uh discovery program once they go through the CTE discovery program. There is um there is weighted scoring to get into

specific uh CTE programs. So once you end you know your ninth grade year and you apply to cosmetology let's say engineering and visual design there's a recommendation from the discovery teacher there's attendance there's academics and there's conduct that goes into who goes into that program if let's say 30 people who want cosmetology and they have space for 12 and then there's a weight list in that but to just enter

into the discovery program which is uh what these uh criteria period are four and we felt the straight lottery was the best.

What happens if too many kids want one program and it leaves another program a little bit short? the so it's two two two filters two layers right so the the first if there's um an excess of seats in the ninth grade in the discovery there's no lottery right once kids are in the discovery if they're in because there was not an excess of seats or through a lottery then they're going to

make choices so kids will pick you know top three or four or five after they've experienced the different opportunities kids will pick you know their top choices and And the team at Dery looks at what the students choices are as well as what seats are available and has to make decisions to give kids either their first choice or their second choice or their third choice.

Once they've experienced the exploratory once they've experienced Yeah. So there are some students who uh and that's the process now.

That's the process now. Yeah. may get admitted to their third choice. Um, or they may get admitted to another program and at that point they can choose to opt out of CTE if they're no longer interested or go into that third.

So there's an opt out clause.

Yes. cuz I I I see some of the disadvantages of this program in my work uh at the other school and um I know that some kids are just left out, you know, and and feel like, oh, I didn't I didn't want this shop, you know, and so I'm not happy. And and they give a half-hearted effort to their overall education, you know, as a result of that. So it seems

like you guys are are co trying to cover all those angles and then there is an opt out policy if if they're not happy.

So that's that's pretty cool. You Mr. D.

Thank you. Um I I agree with my colleague. I fully support the CTA program and I fully support its expansion.

um not a fan of lotteryies whatsoever and I think um and I personally won't support a straight lottery for this specifically right before this this subject came up we just approved a middle school exploration policy with a straight when a straight lottery if um a middle school student puts in the time and effort into attending a program like this going to tours to to different programs

um that basically means nothing. It's possible they could be left out. So, one question on the lottery system, I understand it kicks in after if there's an excess of students that apply for a program. So, let's just say there's 30 seats in a program. The 30 get 30 um kids fill apply for that position.

They're approved and we say there's a five extra. Those five extra who apply for a program going into the lottery or how how does that work? It's the lottery is only to get into the ninth grade exploratory. It's not a lottery to get into the specific program.

So once the lottery is just for admission and to say you're going to be part of the CTE and exploratory, but once you're in the exploratory, there's no lottery to get into let's say construction versus culinary versus something else. It's just that kids are making their choices and then they're going to get placed in a program.

So the lottery is to get into the Is that make sense?

That makes sense.

Yeah. So the lottery is to get into that ninth grade.

So you're asking if there's like even one more. So let's say there's I don't know how many spots. Five 400 right now. I want to say there's not that many but close to like I thought it was like 80 or something.

Yeah. Just under. Yeah. So let's say that there was 380 spots and 400 kids expressed interest. My understanding is that then the lottery would have to take effect because there's 400 kids that want to get into the exploratory and there's only 300 kids.

You you answered that question. I appreciate it. But going back to my previous concern, this exploration, if student takes part in this, it's basically useless. And I think we need to have some basic merit to go into a program.

Take part of the exploration though.

That's that's all eighth graders. That's all middle school students.

Yeah. All so all students whether or not they end up uh applying into a CTE program are going they're getting classroom workshops, there's advisory lessons, they're going every little school to Dery for a for a tour. So they're all getting this experience also um to just understand what they like and what they don't like. So maybe they understand that they don't want a specific program or they don't want to

apply into CTE. But it's really about exposing students to different career opportunities uh and as they're progressing towards high school graduation so that they can make informed choices about their next step.

It sounds like what you're saying is that we do this work. Let's say you you you have students who are uh demonstrating all this interest and then you don't necessarily have the number of spots, right? It sounds like that's what you're saying, right? But I think um if we have if we're one I if for a lot I'd like to see the backup in the change of the law um

just from just the review. Um if this goes to the full committee um but I believe there just needs to be some basic merit to go into a CTE program.

And I think the the third specifically the third one you mentioned with um like if there's a tour or something like if there's interest like there I think that needs to be considered that should go there just should be a priority there.

So that's my position there. Um last question on um transfer students. So do we have data on how many students transfer in to the high school from a boat? like do we have data on what what school they come from if there's a vocational? So my question would be if a student transfers from some random vocational high school across the state to come into fall public schools they go to Dery is there anything that can be

done for them to be considered if there's openings into a similar program that they might have been a part of?

Yeah, transfer student. Um, so in the policy there's a there's the policy that uh on C which is on page right that's what I was reading.

Yeah reading. Yeah. So we do have a lot of students who transfer in from diamond specifically uh but also uh from comprehensive schools ado ton etc who may be in a CTE uh program. So if there's available spots and the student is interested we encourage them uh to apply and they're either admitted or placed on the waiting list at that point if that program is full.

Okay, I yield for now.

So, just so I understand, so you're you're um kind of, you know, inquiring about the weighted versus nonweighted.

That's my position. That's what I would support. Yes.

I do want to point out that for students who who want to be part of the unweed lottery, they have to apply.

So, there is an expression of interest in that application. So, they do everybody does the visits. um they do they they're participating through advisory activities. They're learning about the program. Students do have to express interest beyond that by applying and then they get um then they're considered one one follow-up question. Could we make the position that interest could be

um something extra that shows specific interest in a specific trade? either may be I mean they're coming from middle school so it's not really much they could have in terms of experience however maybe if it's something that's um like if runs in the family like there's like lines like years worth of like grandfather grandfather was in a specific trade is that something that can be I'm wondering what I don't have the

application for I'm almost wondering if if some of the application could just be a question around tell us why you're interested. That might already be on there. It's not in front of me, but um you know, it sounds like that could just be melded into the application process because as the superintendent said, the student still has to demonstrate interest, but I'm curious about are we

capturing right now. Tell me why. I'm sure there's probably something on there, but I don't know. I don't know what and some of the criteria that the state so the state uses a couple criteria like um either a virtual or an inerson tour at a program. Um, so visiting Dery, which all of our eighth graders do unless they're absent that school day.

Um, they also allow for a video submission or personal statement of interest. Um, a letter of recommendation uh from a non-family member to show interest. Um, and then it says each school district can also determine additional measures to demonstrate. So to your point, we could we could list other specific criteria if we went if we went that way.

Are you are you Uh I'm just going to end with this. Um just with I know cuz Diamond switched their system to the lottery and I've heard over the last few months from many parents who um have children attend Diamond how much they aren't happy with that lottery system.

So I think we might get some push back here as well. But I yield with that.

Thank you.

I have to echo those comments. Uh I know the lottery is supposed to uh lean toward more equity. I think I think that's where the states coming from in their mandate in in mandating the lottery, but I know that um I just hear some of the the other side, the oppositional side. Um I I've run into a few students who are like really disheartened. So, let's say, Drew, we

got a we have a young lady at the eighth grade level who's exploring especially uh cosmetology because her mom or her aunt or something like that is a hair stylist and this is what she wants to maybe pursue at the high school level.

Is she subject to that lottery or can she be affirmed into that program?

So, she would have to go through the lottery system into ninth grade the exploratory. So, she would still have and she had a let's say a stated interest in cosmetology only um she would still go through the exploratory program that's fine yeah the exploratory is mandatory I get it mandatory so then she would rank cosmetology as her first choice and at that point it goes would and so my question is would she be

assured of her first choice it it would go on four criteria uh for uh admissions uh into the specific program so it's it's it's grades and core classes it's attendance it its conduct and its um recommendations.

Okay. So, it's incentivized to all of those that that's good criteria. At least that helps. So, the guidance council is not the middle school thing are going to really tip these kids off as to what they need to look forward to, you know, as they keep going up the ladder. I I would hope that the guidance councils apprise them of everything they need to know moving up so that this young lady whose mother or

aunt or sister is a hair stylist can maybe have a dream a similar type of dream at the high school level.

Can I just Yes.

I just want to say this, but what if my mother, my aunt, my cousin isn't a hair stylist, but it's something I really aspire to do?

Yeah.

Shouldn't I have the same chance as somebody else? Because I feel like sometimes, not sometimes, often we set up systems for kids that there's this element of like where you come from and who you know will open doors for you.

And we are trying to implement a policy that will open doors for everybody.

Everybody.

I think the fourth I think the fourth criteria I mean is such a specific and important piece is that exploratory teacher, right? So, they're the ones that are going to be hands-on with these these students and a recommendation should I think kind of outweigh the other three. A recommendation from the exploratory teacher. They're the I mean, what is it a 7-day? You said 7day exploratory.

Yeah. 7 to 8 days.

Yeah. I mean, it's not a lot of time, but you never know what these teachers can see in that amount of time. But I I think that fourth criteria is I I think a big piece of of how we get these kids that are really really interested.

Um I don't know. I I see kind of both sides, you know. It's just trying to explore.

I'm going to make a motion to refer this to the full committee with the recommendation that we that the administration develop a weighted lottery system.

All right. I don't hear a second.

Okay. Well, before before there can be a second, can I ask ask a question?

Yep. Yep.

Can What's the difference between a weighted lottery and a straight lottery that you conjured up?

So, you know, as Mr. Woodward mentioned, I think one of the pieces that we were considering was the fact that a student's middle school experience, let's say, should not define um whether they have access to another potentially powerful learning experience in high school. Right? So, if we were to say that it's weighted, we would essentially potentially be saying that, hey, your attendance record um for the last year

and a half um has now prevented you from this opportunity when maybe that's the very thing that child needed to feel like they're part of a community or to be successful in school. or we're saying that this mistake you made as a seventh grader um and where you received, you know, particular disciplinary offense um we're now saying that that is now going to follow you for the next four or five

years because um you know, we've determined that that disciplinary infraction will prevent access. You know, those are some of the examples around why that what the conversation was like.

Can that be discretionary attendance?

Can that be a case by case in a policy if we if we use weighted for attendance? So the state is pretty specific on I think they provide actually the number of days I believe maybe 27used out of 27 the previous 270 school year.

So looking at your seventh grade your full seventh grade year and then your first half the eighth grade did you have 27 I'm on excused absences is the criteria that you can use. putting on my principal hat for a minute if I can as a middle school principal at Talet.

Um there, you know, it can take a student a while to figure out and for us to figure out what is it that makes them feel like they're part of something.

And so I just, you know, I just have to say that out loud. I think that that is our uh biggest driving force for feeling somewhat passionately about the um about the type of lottery that we're advocating for because um while there's definitely something to be said for how young people develop and there has to be merit involved in you know outcomes at some point and ninth grade is very young

to put that type of stipulation or that type of cap or even that type of limitation on because that's what it becomes. I mean, I don't want to be too dramatic or too fluffy, but CTE changes kids lives. It doesn't just change high school. It doesn't just change, you know, this menial or incremental or trivial period. It changes the whole trajectory of how they see themselves in the as a function of the world. And

because of that, it feels like at a very young age to put such a limit. What if I mean, Dr. really brought up a good point I thought just about you know what if you don't have a a an aunt or a parent or a sister who is in a certain profession and so you know you don't have that going what if you don't even have somebody who's ever graduated from

you know high school or or which is a big part of our population and so I think when we think about young people who are trying to condition to dream and to aspire and to even the ability to dream and aspire is a skill. It's something that has to be instilled. It's something that has to be conditioned and as people who genuinely believe in in not only the rights of all

young people, but the potential of all young people and what they can be and how they can contribute to our community and to the world at large. It's like it feels like we owe them more than to ask that at 13 years old, you know.

Yep.

Yes.

Thank you. And I'm totally agree with that what you just said. Of course, we want to provide opportunities for everyone. However, why don't you come up, Dr. Steven? So, we're not Come on up.

Thank you.

I can barely see you. I can only hear you.

However, what we're what we're discussing right now is not we're not denying like students based off of those things.

It's just we're talking about a weighted system which gives opportunities a little bit of an extra opportunity to students who may have some certain merit and again it's not denying students who don't have some of those merit curriculum. However, it's providing as we said extra slots to be able to get in and prioritizing those students. So, however, there's still opportunities for those students you

just mentioned to easily get into the system as well. But like we said, it's a lottery. So, but again, just having a straight lottery, I think as Mr. Cory mentioned, could leave some students out that may really qualify, but having some safeguards, I think, is um just a prudent thing to do in my opinion. I you I have a question. What how long has the weight list been? average like the past what three years four years

for the program or for CTE in general?

It hasn't. So, so we're not talking a lot of numbers here, right?

No. So, we for the last two years I believe we've accepted everybody into the uh discovery program who has applied.

Okay.

Um and that's our intention to expose as many people to these different pathways as possible. So, not deny anyone access.

Um for specific programs there are weight lists like specifically you know cosmetology is probably our number one most sought after program and that's where it takes into account some of the um you know the weighted criteria academics attendance conduct and there's a list of like 1 through 30 the first 16 get in the next ones are on a wait list and placed in their second choice essentially. So that's how that's how

the system kind of currently works and you guys are fine with that. It's working right Mr. Cor?

So Drew, so now kids in CTE, this kid's a junior now, right? And um the criteria to remain in the program is still attendance and behavior, all that kind of stuff. Yes or no?

Uh students typically are able to continue on in the program as long as they pass that specific pathway and are promoted to the next grade level. if there is so they have to maintain their academics as well to a certain standard and uh if if a kid is a behavioral pro you know issue uh do people work with them to try to keep that child involved in in growing in the program you know all that

kind of stuff right so but but is is that does that affect the merit base not laughing at you I'm laughing at Dr.

Yeah. No, I just want to make sure that you know I I think is there any data on on uh graduation rates for kids involved in CTE. Is it proven that most kids that are in CTE programming uh generally graduate from high school?

So I don't want to speak specifically to numbers that we don't have in front of us.

I'm just talking students. Yes.

Yeah. It's basic. Yeah. It's it's a motivational thing I would think.

Good. Okay. and yeah, they leave with a diploma plus credentials that they can take to acce so much. It's so important. I wish we could grow it even more, but I've been told that we can only grow it incrementally because we can't compete with vocational schools, you know. So, but I think it's great. This this work is great. Thank you.

Can I get a motion? Well, we never got a second. So that So I mean I I don't know about I I'm going to go with the administration's motion make a motion to adopt this to the full committee uh based on our discussions here.

I'll second Mr. D.

No.

Mr. Cor.

Yes.

M.

Yes.

Uh finally an update. for timely business for uh the instructional priorities.

So this yep.

So each year um this we are required to submit um a district sort of improvement plan or prioritization plan um around the work that we're doing. Uh specifically tied to um we have a district instructional leadership team that has um folks on it that represent you know elementary, middle and high school. And so um this is really a summary of what that work is. We we partner with um the statewide

system of support. So we have a couple of folks from DESIE that work closely with with myself and my office and this team and actually come on site um you know at least once a month, sometimes twice a month um and participate and engage in these meetings. Um and so we are really um required to identify a pretty narrow priority. So you'll see at the bottom of page one um that we have a

um a description of the priority there.

Last year we had um a priority that was um also related to um development of language you know specifically in mathematics. This year what we're calling out specifically is uh our work with students with disabilities and multilingual learners. Uh so we've really tried this year to elevate as you know we have this concurrent thing um work happening uh in special education around inclusive practices right and so

we've partnered closely with special education department around offering um professional development and training to a lot of the cluster coordinators and supervisors in the special education department around content you know and curriculum so that they can work to scaffold what the curriculum is for students with disabilities right and support teachers in that way. Um and so really this document captures you know

um what that priority looks like, how it will be implemented and then I want to just bring you to um the so page five really outlines there's a section on role clarity. Um so this is really important to us. The team spent a lot of work thinking about what is it how do we hold each other accountable for this work right and so that's really what the section is about is really around in

everyone's role. So myself uh you know the superintendent assistant superintendent right to building principles um and content directors um what what is everyone's responsibility in order to execute this priority right and and to actually move student achievement as aligned to the priority so I think that's an important section to look at in pages five and six that outline each of those responsibilities

and then um on page eight is really what our benchmarks are around monitoring so you'll notice that um we have benchmarks in there, you know, either by November or January, um some different, you know, work that we'll be doing as a team uh to monitor implementation um of the priority. And then the last thing I just want to call out is on page nine um which continues on is what the targeted

support is for schools. Um and so we have schools that um are have really been identified as um you know places that we provide some targeted support and you'll see that on those you know next few pages what that support looks like. Um last year and it's really I think just deepened this year. Uh we have some district level directors. Um really we've been strategic around putting schools and in learning pods and

really pushing central office support into schools to work alongside building leaders and teams. And so um you'll see some of that really coming through in in what the support to schools look like.

You know, as an example for myself, I have several schools where I'm either there weekly or bi-weekly with the principal and their leadership team actually engaged in planning. you know, we might be looking at student work, we might be walking in classrooms, we might be looking at data and action planning, but I'm really alongside the team with them engaged in that work. Um, and so we've really been intentional about

trying to push as much of our support to the sites to be able to support um schools with instruction. So, any questions, Mr. Corey?

Um, I'm I'm really happy that you're you're doing that. That that's great because it keeps everybody's eyes on the targets that we need to hit.

and and it keeps all it keeps all the teams together and that's really good.

I'm going to take you back to the first item today on um competency determination and in the mathematics competency determination um I'm seeing calculus algebra geometry but I'm not seeing business math or accounting as an option and I don't know how much of that is in our control as a district or is Is that in the state's control through the department of education?

I know there are certain courses. So you're referring to what courses would when MCCAST was instituted.

One of the worst memories I have was the disassembly of the business department at Derby High School. There was an entire department dedicated toward business, math and and accounting and life skills, budgets, all that kind of stuff that's practical to the everyday child in school. Whereas, um, calculus, geometry, and algebra just aren't. And I know our math scores are hurting in Fall

River. I realize that they have been forever.

They hurt. They hurt. When I was in high school, I was a terrible mathematics student. I got by because I was good in ELA in social studies cuz math I was just buried. Um, yes, but I brownnosed my teacher to give me a passing grade.

That's not on the competence. That's not one of the options here just to get into CT.

Uh, if we go back to competency for a minute on page two is the math. I just want to call out because I know this was referenced earlier around maintaining high expectations. Right? So in the math you'll notice that on page two of competency students have to complete algebra 1 and geometry or equivalent course work. They have to successfully complete those courses right and demonstrate competency in

different ways. So the required courses that students will have to complete as we're proposing competency is algebra 1 and geometry. Um, so you know, I'm not off the top of my head, I don't know what other courses are offered necessarily. So I would just add that when we're talking about competency specifically, it's based on 10th up through 10th grade um is what the state is looking at. So that's why they

specifically identify algebra and geometry as the courses for competency determination in particular. Then schools have local graduation requirements in addition to competency.

Um, so it used to be MCAST was a competency. Now it's course work and mastery of 10th grade up the 10th grade standards. Um so locally we've said that all students u need to take four years of math mathematics four years of English but um that's our part of our local graduation requirements but on the competency determination we're only allowed to go through 10th grade which is why you see algebra and geometry.

Yeah. So it it could never be replaced with just practical business math. Is that what you're telling me it can't be?

Huh? would have to be it because it's algebra and geometry or or equivalent coursework. You'd have to design a business math class that attends to all of the algebra one standards. If it were if it were to um meet that requirement of algebra one of the algebra one requirement, what um Mr. Woodward was saying is that that's the minimum requirement from the state. But then once you've passed algebra one,

geometry, there are opportunities to take that kind of course to fulfill a graduation requirement, but not to meet competency determination.

Sure.

But it still becomes part of what kids can um participate in as part of their, you know, high school journey in getting that diploma.

Okay. Thank you. I yield.

Mr. D.

Thank you. And I and I went through this um before the meeting today and um I think overall it looks good. like I'm happy we have like some like goals and what we want to do like a plan on paper in terms of um accountability and holding um our peers accountable as well and going down um I think something as comprehensive as this should my opinion should be presented to the committee or at least

provided in a Friday memo.

Sure.

Sure. Yeah, happy to.

Just so all the committee members can give feedback. That's all I have on that. Thank you.

Any other questions? No motion to new business. Is there any new business?

Are we going to mo move this to the bigger committee?

No, it's a it's just an update. I can be sure to include it in on Friday.

Yeah. Let everybody get some eyes on it.

Uh any new business today?

Make a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Second.

All in favor? I There you go, Dad.