Good afternoon. My name is Lauren Shernoff and I'm calling this October 1st, 2025 Curriculum and Instruction Committee to order. I am joined by my esteemed colleagues, Dr. Rashid and Dr. Deans, and we will begin with public comment. Today we have, do I need to mention that we have an adjustment to the agenda? We were going to have board docs. Has it listed that we were going to have remote participation? Yes, but Dr. Deans has joined us in person. Welcome back, and we're glad you're here. So we're gonna skip 1.01 since everyone is present and we will move to item 2.01,
which is procedures for public comment. Today we have one public speaker, and that is Casey Akula. And so you can come on up and you have three minutes. So go ahead and, um, start when you're ready. Hello, my name is Casey and I'm an eighth grader and a student of one of lcp S'S best programs. Virtual Loudin VDL gave me so much extra time to study college level math and science on my own. I passed official state approved exams that VDOE recognizes as valid substitutes for high school SOLs.
As a result, I've already earned about 15 transferable college credits. Mind you, that's a semester in seventh grade. I asked to take the pre-calculus class in eighth since I was actually already working through that material, though the school didn't accept my college level exam results, my request, my parent recommendation, or my portfolio. And after months and months of effort, I had to take an 11th grade IO exam, which was basically algebra one level questions. I crushed the exam and was placed in trig and advanced algebra as the highest course that could be offered, but the material
isn't challenging enough. Virginia's house Bill 26 86 A three, says that schools must offer multiple pathways into advanced math. This includes student or parent requests, which is what it, which is what my family followed over the summer. I also passed A-V-D-O-E approved biology exam scoring over Virginia's pasted bench benchmark, while also earning college credit. Yet when we asked about placement, the immediate answer was no. LCPS doesn't allow middle school students to earn high school science credit, even with the exams endorsed by video e. I believe that when a student demonstrates mastery,
especially through assessments that the VOE already accepts, they should be able to move ahead. That's why we need a policy for merit-based pathways. As a proud virtual loud, and Avi, I believe every student should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Casey. Alright. We do not have any other public commenters tonight, so we will move on to item 3.01, which is the approval of the draft minutes for September 3rd, 2025. Are there any changes to the minutes or I will also entertain a motion.
So moved. I have a motion to approve the draft minutes. Do I have a second? Second. All right. All those in favor of approving the minutes, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nope, that passes unanimously. Alright. Tonight we have one action item. This is 4.01. This is a new policy policy 54 40, the Divisionwide Literacy Plan. We had previously discussed this policy, it did make its way to the full board where it was then brought back to committee, um, at the request of Chair Mansfield and a vote by the board. So we will kick this over, I believe to Mr.
Neil Slevin, um, the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning to give an overview. And Ms. Catherine, Neil is also here to speak on it and answer questions. Oh, and Mr. Rounds Lee's also listed. Yes, so well, thank you Mr. Schoff. I'll let, uh, Ms. Neil speak through some comparisons from the, um, previously past policy to what the committee has in front of it now, um, high level, um, some of the interest was incorporating more of the direct language from, um, the VOE code as well as guidance related to the, um, division-wide literacy plan
that LA's required to complete. Um, and so while there is more language, the spirit of the policy in terms of what should be in it still remains. So I'll ask Ms. Neil to kind of do a high level walkthrough of, of the updates, um, prior to the board's consideration. Thank you. Um, for, as far as the key changes, um, like Mr. Slevin said, um, we really wanted to update some of the language, um, and really it kind of boils down to providing some more intentional detail, um, details that, um, connect to what is listed in code already,
but also, um, some of the details come from the, the guidance that the state has provided in addition to the the code. So, um, as far as like the required components, we did add a little bit more language to explain which each, which each of the components mean. Um, we also added in, um, for example, for instructional materials, we added in, um, uh, we referenced the VVOE approved lists, um, for core supplemental and interventions. So we put those guides in there. Um, we talked about, um, under assessment
and intervention, we did include language around the student, um, intervention plans and reference that, um, along with the, the vows assessment. Um, and then with, um, we really wanted to, with family and community engagement, we added some language around that collaboration between to, to really kind of emphasize that partnership. Um, there were some other minor changes, um, and again, some details that were added. Um, and then at the very end, under the public access and compliance, we did talk about, um, uh,
adding the job descriptions. We explained the buy-in BI-annual submission for the division literacy plan, but also that we added a statement in there about it being based on the VDOE guidance because they're constantly updating their guidance on what we should be putting in those plans. So we just wanted to make sure that that was clear here as well. Thank you so much, Ms. Neal. Um, I do not have any questions or concerns about the updates. I am supportive of bringing in more clarity and definitions. Um, I had spoken to Chair Mansfield about, uh, wanting it
to reflect code and be more flexible towards those changes from VDOE. So I'm supportive. So I don't have any updates or amendments my colleagues. Did you have any questions or comments before we vote? Just a comment. Sure. That, thank you. Just a comment, I'm very pleased that you went back and incorporated, um, VDO E'S language in different places. I read it, I read through it, and, um, just know that that might not be the last time you have to add in additional comments based on BDOs guidance.
Um, but, um, just to, to take away the, the, the questions I'm pleased that you added in the, the VVOE language, And I'll add, I think that was the intent of Chair Mansfield, Ms. Mansfield's, um, interest in visit, revisiting this policy. Um, comments were made about, there's a lot of the, the Virginia Literacy Act guidance lives in many different documents at the state level, code, guidance, budget documents, and so an interest in making sure parents fully understand, um, what divisions are being asked.
She had an interest in bringing more of that language into the policy, which staff agreed with. And that's what we have in front of us tonight. So with that, I will, if there's no other comments, I will make a motion to move the new policy 54 40 division-wide literacy plan as to the full board as an information item. Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. That passes unanimously. So that will go to the full board. Thank you so much for being here, and thank you for your work, alrightyy. We will now move on to our information items.
We are starting at 5.01 with school support updates, and we have a whole bunch of friends who are joining us. Um, thank you so much for being here, uh, tonight. Our presenters are Miss a ane I'm gonna get it eventually, our new Director of teaching and learning, professional Growth and innovation. We have Mr. Rounds, director of Teaching and Learning. We have K 12, um, she's K 12. Then we have Megan Godi, our math resource teacher from Richard and Mildred Loving Elementary. And Sheila Steen, instructional coach
for the division from Smarts Mill Middle School. We are always so grateful to have our school based staff here at our committee meeting, so we welcome you and we are excited to hear what you have to present. The floor is yours. All right. So thank you for giving us the opportunity to share some updates with you about our supports that we provide to schools, um, in the Department of Teaching and Learning. We have a number of school supports that, um, we deploy out, and we're excited to highlight some of that work and the great work that's done in our schools. Um, we have started this program and started the instructional coaching
and the math Resource Teacher program, and is involved in many ways, but we've heard feedback that it's really important that there's embedded professional learning for our teachers in the schools as well as a one-to-one focus. So these roles are focused, um, directly in schools supporting our teachers. And when we think about all of these roles, the goal is really to build our teachers' capacity, um, again, with that embedded professional learning and coaching cycles. Um, and that really is what drives our student success. So I wanted to share, start by sharing some data with you. So when you look at this, um, information that's on the left, these are our current division supports
that we have and the instructional coaches, um, and the math resource teachers are listed there. Um, and those are the numbers by level, um, of the schools that we support. And then on the right hand side, you'll see that there are a number of additional, um, supports. So additional positions in this, um, role. So we have school-based instructional coaches and school-based math resource teachers. And these are all funded through either Title one funding, differentiated staffing, flexible, um, funding. And so there's a, a need and a request. Our schools are regularly asking for additional, um,
supports of these roles. And so we have, um, those requests coming in. We have additional requests coming in for reading as well as for stem. And those come in the same way. So we wanna highlight, um, some of the great work happening at our schools and, uh, share a few spotlights and data and hear from those practitioners who are doing this great work every day. So we're gonna start with Richard and Mildred Loving Elementary School. And on the next slide, you'll see some of their data. Um, this, this data follows the same group of students over a three year trend from third grade to fifth grade, um, to look at
how they have grown in their time and due to the practices having their school. So on the left, you'll see the math overall pass rate on a three year trend from 2023 to 2025. And in that 2022, 2023 school year, when students were in third grade, uh, Richard and Mildred Loving Elementary had a 51% pass rate. And then if you look, uh, just a couple of years later, three years years later, you'll see that rose to a 68% pass rate, um, for EL proficiency. And in this particular school, we're gonna focus on el, we'll show some, um, numbers for students with disabilities a little bit later.
But again, in that same three year time span, you see a large growth rate, uh, in students be, uh, tracking their proficiency, um, from 23% to 34% over that same three year time period in reading. Um, you'll see also some growth. The reading overall pass rate for our third graders at Richard and Mildred Loving went from 51% to 63% in their fifth grade year. And some growth in el proficiency in reading at that same time too. Rising from rising to 22% from 20%.
And finally, we have some staff survey data that we wanna share on the next slide. So these are questions that are asked every year of teachers. And, uh, this I think, really shows the value that some of our teachers have, um, for the work that's happening every day. So that first question, I have learned things from other staff members at this school that have improved my job performance. 100% of the teachers in the school agreed with that. And we included there some additional, um, some additional data point that that compares to about 93% across all LCPS elementary schools. And focus on the school level professional development
that enhances staff members' ability to better meet students' needs. These are the support positions that we're talking about here tonight. Our coaches and our math resource teachers, 94% of the staff thought that they, uh, had grown as a professional based on the work happening. And again, that compares to 89, does that say 89 i 86? 86? We made it too small now, 86%, um, across all LCPS elementary schools. So we want, uh, Megan Goyish, who's here is our math resource teacher, um, to talk a little bit about how some of that data came to be and all of the amazing work happening at that school
to support good teaching and learning practices. Good afternoon. Uh, my name is Megan Goch and I am in my fourth year at Richard and Mildred Loving Elementary. I started as an instructional facilitator of math, um, in my first two years. And then I, the position transitioned into a math resource teacher position where I could be there full-time at Richard and Mildred Loving Elementary. And so I can coach and actually support math intervention. Um, I worked closely with our division instructional coach, Kayla Los, as you see up there. She is also full-time at Richard and Mildred Loving for the last two years
with me, which has been great. Um, she does a lot of support in reading and science, but also supports me when, you know, need an extra coach also in math as well. Um, and so also we have some amazing instructional staff that support us at that school. And we have three reading specialists at, as you'll see up there. Um, Chelsea Durenberger, Carmen Taylor, and Brianna Daisy. And then we do have division supports that when we have questions about EL support or another more specifics about ELA. We do have Ashley Beret who has supported our school. And Kelly Scher Next slide.
Um, so in this, uh, slide, you'll notice that a kind of a look at our supports over this last year and how, um, our supports as a division instructional coach of Kayla and as a math resource teacher, um, supporting the goal of the school and our instructional collaborative team, consisting of me and the rest of our staff, has really supported the growth around, um, math. And so this alignment is reflected in our school improvement plan, which focuses on math
and science, um, specifically vocabulary that was a need that we saw a lot in our school over the last few years. Um, the instructional coaches, facilitators, and I engage teachers in professional learning directly tied to classroom practice. And with a focus on student discourse around number sense routines, co-teaching models and scaffolds to support all learners. These efforts have led to meaningful shifts in both teacher practice and student learning. Um, so you can take a moment and just see the support that was given to the teachers and the in, uh, specific needs of teachers, and then the specific needs of students that were met.
Next slide. Uh, having embedded full-time support has allowed for real-time data collection, instructional adjustments, and sustained professional development. Kayla, Los and I collaborate to model lessons planning, support and walkthrough feedback, all aligned to our school improvement plan goals. This isn't kind of just a one-off professional development that we do. It's ongoing. It's integrated support that builds teacher capacity and drive student outcomes. Um, loving elementary is a powerful example of what happens when instructional priorities, professional learning and embedded support come
together with purpose. The growth we seen in our teachers and students is a direct result of this alignment, and we're excited to keep building on that momentum. Thank you, Megan. So our next school that we'd like to highlight is Smart Mill, um, middle school. And I'm gonna share some data the same way that, um, Mr. Ronsley just shared data with you. So you look here, um, at this data, it's the same thing, a three year trend. And we look at our math overall, um, performance data. There's an extreme dump there from the 28% to 54. Um, and then we looked at students with disabilities. So this was a little bit of different focus, um,
in this data than the EL focus. The EL focus was also, um, good as well. We just chose to highlight the special education, um, data there. So it went from 27 to 31. And then for reading, we had some growth there as well for our students with reading, um, from 70 present to 73. And again, looking at our students with disabilities from 37 to 41. And also looking again at that annual, um, staff survey, that was important to think about how the teachers are feeling and how they feel supported by the staff that are in their building.
And so when we think about how that, I've learned things from other staff members that have really helped my job and performance, that was at a 94% for their staff. Um, and it's important to know that the secondary average for middle school and high schools was at an 89%. So they are, are well above that. And then thinking about the school level professional development that is provided to them by these supports and how it enhances their learning, um, and their ability to meet the students' needs. That was at an 83%, which is above our average for secondary schools at 76%.
And so what I'd like to do now is let Dr. Sheila Steen, um, share with us how that work happened. Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Sheila Steen, and this is my second year as instructional coach at Smarts Mill Middle School. Since the start of our journey to greater outcomes, our school leadership team and I have focused our efforts in building a culture that embraces change for the sake of addressing the needs of our scholars. Recognizing the need to leverage the expertise and skillset of staff assigned to Smarts Middle Middle School, I created our school's instructional support team that includes myself as the instructional coach,
our math resource teacher, our instructional technology facilitator, and our specialized instruction facilitator. Next slide, please. Our instructional support team has a clear focus with a clear ended mind supporting teachers and CLTs and implementing high yield practices to deepen student learning and to progress student outcomes. We therefore align our work with district level expectations and initiatives and work continually to build teacher and team efficacy. We recognize the complexity of this work
required at our school and have fully invested our time in supporting and leading student-centered practices alongside our leadership in a variety of ways, which are noted here on this slide. Our one-to-one collaboration with members within this team is just as powerful as our team collaboration. For example, our math resource teacher, Danielle Boish and I collaborate often around coaching individual teachers and teams, conducting data dialogues and identifying necessary action steps and developing and co-facilitating relevant and differentiated professional learning.
Our partnership has been key in honoring the hard work of our staff, while also stretching their practices in ways that facilitate our students' growth. Lastly, I would like to share that our school support roles play an integral role in creating a culture of belonging. It's the critical mission that Dr. Spence has spoken about. At Lead Loudoun as a school's instructional coach, I'm intentional about creating an atmosphere where staff feel safe to be reflective of their practices and vulnerable with their opportunities of growth. At Smarts Mill Middle School, we are holding the necessary conversations
to help move our school forward. And after I engage in those coaching collaborative conversations, one of the things that I do is ask staff to share a picture of something that brings them joy. I have a wall dedicated to these framed photos, and I anticipate that number of those photos to grow throughout the year. It's a visual for me and for the staff to show the value of coaching, collaboration, and how such conversations can influence how we think, and therefore how we go about doing the necessary work. Doing so helps build greater interdependence and a greater sense of belonging as we center our work
around a common purpose dev, sorry, delivering challenging, responsive, equitable, and empowering learning experiences. Thank you. So I think Sheila just, uh, set this up very well in the importance of this. And I can speak to, uh, Sheila was the division coach with, when I was the principal of Willard Middle School, and really speak so highly of the relationships that she does form with teachers. And the thing that we know is just placing a person in a role like this at a school is not what's effective. It is that person in conjunction with really good practices
and really solid work that's already happening. And when those two things happen, what we, what we learned so far is that great progress happens. So it's sort of like a tree that at the bottom of it are the roots that nourish and feed, um, and keep everything moving. And so the, the roots of that tree, um, are things like goal setting and having really clear visions for where we're going and what we're trying to achieve at a school. It's the instructional framework and having a common language and a common way that we speak about teaching and learning across our schools. And it's also a really effective implementation of our instructional materials and having experts in the best ways
to use those materials effectively so that the quality of the teaching and learning and the implementation of the materials match and can help support students. Um, the trunk of that tree is what gives us strength and stability. And so those are the relationships that Sheila was just talking about. That sort of trust, having teachers who are able to collaborate and having solid CLT structures, uh, that enable and support open dialogues and conversations and coaching conversations about how we grow and how we improve. And then finally, those, those leaves are the signs of a thriving life of things, really, um, taking hold and,
and growing and offering some shade and protection from all the work. So that's a highlight to our principles. I see Mr. Waldman back there, I believe the principal of Smarts Mill Middle School. Um, and that's having principals who are focused on continuous growth and modeling, um, continuous growth among their school, and also having our CLTs that are high functioning and talking about what our students learn, um, how we're gonna measure what students are learning and being reflective enough to kind of model that back and, and continue that growth alongside really high quality and knowledgeable professionals who are guiding the work along with them.
And so when we think about our next steps, some important work that we're doing is really thinking about aligning our professional learning for all teachers, and specifically those that are supported by these roles with our instructional framework as well as our school improvement plans. That's really important that our professional learning is there and the roles give us the opportunity to have that embedded professional learning as well. And then a consideration is adding additional school based support roles, um, from teaching and learning to take that off of our schools that are requesting them on their own. Um, so the instructional coaches
and resource teachers consider adding additional ones of those. That is it. So we'll open up if you guys have any questions, and thank you for giving us the opportunity to share. Thank you so much. I'll open it up to my colleagues. First. Dr. D, Are there any schools who don't need the, the central the division supports in math or reading out of the 62 elementary schools, are there any schools that don't need the division level? Is that a trick question Or don't ask? Oh, no. Oh no. Who don't ask for, I can't wait
to hear a field that they need. So we, we, we, we believe in coaching and professional learning, and more importantly, we believe in job embedded, um, professional learning and coaching. Um, so our aspirational goal is to have a coach in every one of our a hundred schools, our 60 62 elementary schools. Um, but we, we, we do not have that right now. Um, I think every school has a school improvement plan. Um, everyone, um, has students that we have learning needs that we want to address in a better way. Um, whether that's from, um, a, a need
for acceleration or a need for enrichment. Um, so the short answer is yes, there's a need. Um, I would point I think this slide when the team brought this to me to, to review is really telling, um, as a, as a leader in the division, I think we really need to pay attention to how our schools are using flexible and differentiated staffing. In particular, that's really telling us where the priorities are. 'cause our principals and leaders in our buildings know what's happening. Um, a few years ago we probably, um, we had a lot of urgency
around reading specialists, for example, and we were able with some additional funding and prioritization 'cause of the coming Virginia Literacy Act to enhance the staffing around reading specialist. Um, we've moved on now to coaches and resource teachers, particularly for math. Um, to see that we have 14 funded centrally and 26 total out in the field means that schools know we need someone that's able to help with intervention as well as supporting our, our, our teachers. Um, so this is what often when I visit principals, this is what they wanna talk about if they don't have a coach,
especially if they had one taken away. Um, 'cause we do move them from time to time. Um, so, um, I'm not sure if that answers your questions, but it is, it is a position in demand and principals understand how it can make an impact. It does answer my question, and it was not meant to be a trick question. Just interest. Um, I was looking at, um, the secondary average or secondary on one of the slides. You talked about the secondary average of the staff's response. Is that, is that notably, um,
different from the elementary response of staff members? Um, I think when you gave 83%, that was el, that was elementary. Right. And then down in the little square you said secondary average is 76%. Our secondary, our secondary average is somewhat lower, um, than elementary. Um, uh, perception perceptual data. Yes, that's a correct observation. Is there any testing done, done, um, other than the test that give you the, you know,
the final test in April, I think it was, are there any interim assessments done to focus down or focus in on a particular skill in math and or reading? Are you talking about for staff or for students? Student? So, so Test for students. Yes. There, we, we have a number of assessments for math. We have the NWAE map that's fall, winter, and spring administration. Um, as well as, uh, our vows assessment, um, earlier in the earlier grades for all students. And then as it goes up less
frequently, um, yeah. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Dr. Sheen, Not really a question. More of a comment. So in the bar graph that's there, the results are, well, the difference in the results are quite remarkable, I think. I don't think it was this one. I think it was, uh, the difference in the same year 22, all the way to 25 or 24 was it, and the difference was quite remarkable. I just wanted, yeah, that's it. That's it. Yeah. And I just wanted to say, did you guys set a benchmark? I didn't know if there was benchmark set or just, or did the numbers just fall the way they did? I can't speak to generally, specifically
to the school improvement plan at this particular school. And I'm not gonna put Megan on the spot. Um, but generally curious, generally schools, um, with the sport of Dr. Tyler and his team, um, build, um, reasonable attainable goals. But we do focus on, on growth. Did you wanna add anything? I don't wanna put you on the spot. Um, our focus was around math, um, and especially with our EL learners. And so what we found, obviously, what, um, our grade scaffolds for our EL learners, our grade scaffold for all of our students.
So, Well, I really appreciate this. And, um, my heart leans in this direction as a former coach myself for literacy. So I, and I, you know, working at former FHR, um, I know how collaborative the staff is and how hungry they are to learn and grow and be reflective. And so you can see that reflected here. And I was a big proponent of having, switching to the school-based model because I was someone that supported many schools across the year. And that was challenging to keep the accountability,
to build the trust, the relationships. So I think it's amazing. And I know, um, Mr. Waldman and I have had lots of chats about his staff as well and, and how they take on the new initiatives and the curriculum and things like that. I may have to come see this joy wall though, because that sounds amazing. Um, so I'm appreciative of that. And I will echo, I hear the same thing when I'm in schools. People that have coaches say, please, please don't take them. And people that don't have one say, please give me one now. So I think that we're in a good place, um, to be reflective of that as we make budget decisions and think about a phased approach
and trying to get everybody up to speed to coaches, because I wholeheartedly agree that it's not just intervention, it has to also be meeting and extending the needs of our tier one students. And so, um, I'm hearing that a lot from our schools that don't have coaches because those were the ones that didn't have as much need, um, which is understandable. But, um, and very interesting to see the chart about flexible and differentiated staffing and, and how they're, they're using that staffing to fill that role. So, um, I really believe in this model and I'm so, so grateful for both of you being here today
and for all the coaches that we have that, that pour into, you know, their entire building and really moving the needle for our kids. So thank you so much. And, um, do you have anything else, Mr. Slevin? I wholly appreciate the opportunity to spotlight the schools, but I do want to also just give a shout out to the math office, the professional learning and school support team. 'cause these positions are supported centrally with Jenny Miller, Courtney Williams, Juliet Kenny, our new math supervisor. Um, yeah. And so, um, I think that's part of the, it's a great, the position is also a great bridge between what we're trying to accomplish centrally
and what's happening at the school level. And that couldn't happen without good leadership in those offices. So just wanna acknowledge them being here. Awesome. And thanks for bringing in those Leesburg schools. I appreciate it. I'm a little biased, but, well, thank you guys. Was there anything else? Alrighty. Thank you guys so much for being here. And now we will move on to item 5.02, which is a program of study changes update for the 26 27 school year. And that will be presented by Mr Rounds. I'm gonna start, is it, and just continue. Sorry. And Mr. Slevin, I just wanna give a big shout out to Mr.
Rounds. I know, let's start, let's start adding me in there. So, Mr. Um, when Mr. Rounds started in this position, teaching and learning took a more hands-on role in the development of the program of studies. And he has done a great job with his team in building out a process around the development of the program of studies and making it a little bit more transparent and public. Um, and so we haven't always brought changes, um, forward to the program of studies to talk about publicly. Um, and because of some of the, um, processes he's implemented, we're able to do that now. And I think that really is a good thing for the board
and public to know kind of where we're headed when it comes to course offering. So just want to, uh, start with a note of appreciation for Mr. Rounds. Thank you, Mr. Slevin. Um, okay. So this is, we hope an annual part of, um, what we do of informing our CNI committee of the changes that we are making in the, uh, program of studies. And this would be for the 26th, 27 school year, for next school year. Um, and so what, the three things I'd like to accomplish here is first to just give you an overview
and the process that we follow in order to do that. And really three big themes that emerged from the kinds of changes that our content offices and schools have proposed for next year. And then there is included with the presentation tonight, an appendix of all of the changes. And I won't go change by change, but happy to speak to any of the ones that you might have noticed or wanna talk about. But I'll highlight a few that fit into the big themes for tonight. Um, so first an overview of how we make changes to the, um, program studies. And we have a standard operating procedure that kind of guides this.
And from February through July, our teachers, our school leaders, our content offices collaborate on ideas. Um, oftentimes this happens when a school reaches out to one of our content offices and says, we need a class here, or We're running into a challenge with this prerequisite. Or, um, this title is not really grabbing students' attention and making them wanna take this class. So there's a long kind of dialogue back and forth between our schools and our content offices to decide on proposals. Um, and ultimately, our content supervisors are the ones who make a proposal. So by August 1st, they submit all proposals
for changes to the program of studies. And then by September 15th, we meet with a team of, um, school leaders and directors of school counseling at both the middle and high school level to discuss the changes and to either approve or deny them or seek additional input. And those people are really important to bring to the table. So we have our content offices, but our, our school leaders bring a different mindset around staffing and space and student interest and what's gonna really appeal to students. So their voice being a part of this process is really key. And ultimately, they are the ones that help guide us over what changes to make and which ones
that we might wanna hold off on, or which ones we might seek more information. So based on their responses, uh, we send all of those approved cl courses over to, um, DDI who creates those courses and puts them in our student information system. And then in October through November, our schools start opting in. So the courses that will appear for students as they make choices for their classes for next year, we do run data to kind of highlight the courses that are taught at most schools. And those are kind of forced, um, added so that all schools are offering those. But then our schools have some discretion over other
additional courses that might be based, again, on their staffing needs, their trend data, community interest, um, but they make some decisions over additional courses to offer as well. And all of the courses that I'm gonna talk about here tonight that are new for the most part, would be courses that a, a school would elect to teach, um, if they, if they wanted to, or they believed they would have the interest to do that, or they wanted to offer them to students. So our course review committee was composed of six middle school leaders, five high school leaders, and four directors of school counseling. Uh, and really for each proposal, we are talking about three things, creating a new course,
modifying an existing course, which could be anything from changing the name to changing the prerequisite to changing the description, or retiring courses that are no longer, um, of interest. Or maybe we have a different course that has taken the place of that course in our course catalog. And here are three big themes that emerged, um, from all of this. The first one is looking at, um, changes based on authenticity. So these are courses that reflect real world applications and workforce needs. And I'm gonna just highlight a few of the changes here. Um, and the first one is a new course that we've approved called Spanish for Healthcare.
Uh, uh, this is a course that is designed to be specifically offered at our sai um, sites at Briarwood High School and Tus Aurora High School. These were questions that came from those schools specifically. Um, and I would tie the, the work they're doing in SAI into world language exploration and, and building professional, um, language skills that they might apply in a workforce setting. This is also, we believe a course that could be offered, uh, for students who are in our Spanish for fluent speakers courses at other schools. But right now, the target for this course is making this an option for our students who are in the Ham SAI program.
Um, another one is social media marketing. This is a new course that was approved, and again, this highlights so closely to trends in business, trends in workforce skills that students may need, um, as they graduate. And finally, we, we have a redesign at the middle school level, um, to three courses that are designed to each last a quarter. So those courses would be designed and modeling automation, robotics, app creators, they all use a, a curriculum called Project Lead the Way. And this would give students or schools a little bit more flexibility in how they schedule, uh,
technology education in seventh grade, that they could pick two of these modules. I've heard of schools that have had, um, votes for students of which of these modules they're, they're most interested in. Uh, and just a great way to connect student interests and student needs to what's happening in our classroom. So one of the proposals is to allow school, rather than teach Tech Ed seven, to choose two of these modules to teach in its place, um, and then pair that with, uh, family consumer sciences, which would remain a, a course as well. So those are some examples of ways that we're trying to tie the curriculum to really authentic experiences
to student interests and needs. Uh, the second one is alignment. And so these are courses that connect to coherent pathways and state standards. So some examples here are, we added Arabic two last year. We added Arabic one as a course. So just continuing that pathway. Um, you'll also see another expansion of world language with a proposal to teach Korean one. Um, and that happens because you, you may remember we received a grant, a national security language grant, um, that would allow us to teach certain languages and give us grant funding to teach certain languages. One that is of high interest to our families
and also available for grant funding is Korean. And so we are looking at, this is not definite yet. There's a lot of work that involved to make that happen and, and, but, and interest from schools to do this as well, but to make that a potential offering that a school could have a Korean one course. Um, some other examples are, are retitling of courses. So, uh, teacher cadet has been retitled as teachers for tomorrow, that aligns with the VDUE language. Um, strategic marketing replaces advanced marketing again. Um, the Virginia Department of Education has retired co-op as an opportunity in marketing education.
This aligns more closely with the idea of internships, the three E model. So aligning around the BDOE language and environmental science. Um, dual enrollment is another new course that we have added, uh, as an option for schools. And again, there's a lot on schools to have these de dual enrollment opportunities based on the, the three E framework for school accountability. So all of these are, are putting us in alignment with the Virginia Department of Education, with their naming, with their titling, and with the pathways that we've already created to continue those for students as well. And finally, accessibility.
This is about maximizing student participation, um, and success. So we have added a exploratory language course for middle school. Um, we know that some of our students, we, we make them make these choices around a world language in seventh grade. And that is potentially a, a language that's gonna follow them for the next six years. So, and it's a high school credit bearing course. Um, we wanted to create an opportunity for students to just explore what those options are, to learn more about the various cultures available to them without the pressures of a high school credit. And so, um, to open up the opportunity for our schools,
our middle schools, to teach these exploratory languages and give students a chance to learn more about these choices before they make them, um, in a high school credit bearing course. This also goes to the presentation that we gave last month around adding a little more stability in our middle schools for some of our world language teachers who may not have enough sections to teach a full section, but this could give them a, a pathway to, um, to be at the school and to be a support for students who are enrolled in programs. Uh, we also added a, uh, culinary arts one. And so that again, is expanding a pathway for students, um,
so that they might take, uh, gourmet foods, which was Retitled, nutrition and Wellness, and then introduction to Culinary Arts. And then culinary Arts one, again, just giving a pathway to students and a high interest for students to make that more accessible and to allow more students to participate. So there's lots of examples of other that I could highlight in here as well. I just wanted to highlight what we were talking about when I use these three big themes, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you have about other courses, um, that have been changed, modified, or retired as well. Thank you colleagues, Dr. Deans.
I was just excited when you talked about the, um, Spanish for healthcare. Um, in my recent evaluations, I actually called my daughter at work because there was a person at the counter who wasn't understanding what the, the therapist was saying. I actually called my daughter at work and made her interpret over the phone what the lady was saying. 'cause my daughter took six years of Spanish. But, um, I, I, I, so I see that as, as, as just enhancing the, the livelihood of,
of people in the community. And as time goes on, you're gonna have some other language for healthcare, because healthcare is one of those areas that, that, um, uh, the citizens are going to interact with. So, um, they're gonna need it. Dr. She, I just wanna say that Oh, yeah, yeah, please. This is a great example of this collaboration between our schools and our content offices as well. So that idea came from our schools saying that there's a need in their community. I think specifically came from a, um, a, a school
that was teaching Spanish for fluent speakers and saying that students had conversational skills, but they were lacking some of those marketable professional language skills that they might use in a healthcare setting. And is there anything we could do, um, for students who have a lot of experience with Spanish to build some of those marketable job force ready skills, um, in the healthcare field as well. So this is really a collaborative process of making sure we're listening to what schools and school leaders are asking for and reflecting that back in the curriculum and the materials and resources we provide. Thank you, Dr. Rashid. Yes, Thank you. And
thank you for that great presentation. Very exciting too. Um, also, just to piggyback what, um, Dr. Deans had mentioned about the different languages. Is this somehow could be, or could it be tied in with the, I think there were surveys that went out, uh, for what demands, what language demands that people had, the community. Could there be a tie in or a link with that, with the rankings? I remember we had a presentation on the rankings of the languages, and I know this is science, but could there be a link with that, with the demands in the future as to what languages we could provide in hci?
There could be the, we, we did a survey specifically around world languages a number of years ago. And as, as you, um, know through the special programs committee, we are doing, we're in the middle of a survey now. Are we still in the middle? Right. So please fill out the survey, um, because we, I think the last survey was 2022. Yes. Yeah. And so we are, we are have a survey now looking at broad programs. And most of the language conversations do focus on, um, dual language immersion. Um, but much like our special programs, there are, um,
interests, student interests, family interest is very important, but there's also a, um, our ability to make it successful. And so part of the reason that Mr. Mosey w mentioned, Mr. Rousey mentioned around Korean is we have grant funding available and knowing the, um, you know, every year we have to make decisions around budgeting, if there is an opportunity to get external funding, we that and expand languages. We we're gonna try to take, go down that path, obviously with board guidance. Um, but we definitely continue to look at surveys,
we look at course interest, um, so that, that remains part of the decision making. Thank you for that. I just, one more, uh, I guess I just need clarification on the appendix that was sent out for the IB computer science or any of the ib, um, uh, offerings that there are in the 12th grade level. Is that something that current students, current IB students will have that, um, will have that opportunity when they become seniors in the IB program? They they had that opportunity? Or is this to come? Yeah, this would be for next year. Okay.
So all of this on this last senior page around special, so seniors, yes. Oh, great. So even the SCI courses, those courses are new to build out for year three of sci. And then these are to build out for our, um, our current students will be moving into their senior year next year for ib. Thank you. Thank you. I, um, I really think our program of studies is quite innovative. I think it's reflective of the times I, I think some of these things are just so exciting. Um, we touched on this a little bit and I'm, I'm just going to slide four in your process, uh,
I don't see the community component listed in this process. So I heard you mention different surveys and things. Are those things that happen in different departments and then these stakeholders bring that community feedback to you in this February July portion? Like how is the community solicited on this? That timeline? Yeah. Yeah. So that, that really would be part of that February through July. That could be, um, information that's coming from the school up to the content offices. It could be surveys that have been given. Um, that, but that's a good point that
that is clearly a big part of it. We don't wanna develop classes that don't fit community needs or community input. Um, so there's a lot of looking at trend data of enrollment. There's also any survey that might be distributed as well and how we might wanna respond to that. But that's all part of that kind of ongoing collaborative process, listening to schools and, and looking at the information that we've gathered. So you're kind of counting on those stakeholders then, and then the different content offices that have done that research to bring that into us part of their proposal. Yes. Okay. Yep, that makes sense. Yep. And that is often part of the, the proposal as well
as some sort of feedback from a school or survey that we've conducted or enrollment data trends where we might need to add a second level of a class. But those are all the things that, that content supervisors are looking at as they develop these proposals each year. Awesome. I love seeing in the appendix the different options for middle school. I feel like that's a direct reflection of the conversations that we've been having here to offer some more flexibility. I think middle schools are looking for that. I think middle schoolers need that. Um, so I'm, I'm happy to see that. Uh, one of the things that I wanted to ask about, I know
for special programs, and I mean we have, it's almost hard to keep track now of everything that students have available to them. Um, and I know we're doing a lot more on the front end with CON communications and making sure parents know and, um, are informed about the decisions ahead of them. And we have course plan and all of these things. My question is really about if there is a course that they don't have access to in their base school, what is the process then? Because if you do look at a light ridge list versus an LCHS list of programs, I mean, just the sheer space
between those two buildings is limiting for programs and enrollment, um, and specific courses. And I have heard that from my Loudoun County high school community, uh, that they wish they could have more. Uh, there's just, there's no space. So how do we, how do we deal with that and how do we make that equitable for our students across the division? It's a little outside of this conversation, but related. So it it is, it's a, it is a great question. Um, and so what we have done so far is to define what we call our standard course offering. And these are the courses that, um,
are taught at a certain number of our high schools. I believe it's 15 right now. And there is a very long list of that that covers fine arts courses, health and PE courses, CTE courses in lots of different career clusters. Like the list of where we have agreement is very robust. And that becomes our standard course offering. So that means that every school, uh, we do that on the back end, so every student at every school can see those courses and choose to select those courses. And then there is a lot of, um, discretion there that's almost necessary. There are space constraints, uh, there are community,
you know, where you see a school that has, say a very strong theater program that is going to affect the number of other programs that they might be able to offer as well. So we do rely a lot on our schools to, um, to look at student trends and to look at where student interest lies in making decisions about what courses to offer. So just to an, I I don't think this is a perfect answer to this question. Um, and there are opportunities for students to attend another school for a particular class or something like that, that is of interest to them. But where we are right now is we do have a pretty broad consensus around what I think is, is a really good offering
of courses to students. And then there are schools that have other opportunities or other abilities to offer other programs. And in those cases, we do wanna leave those options open as well. I appreciate that answer. I wasn't looking for a perfect answer. I know there isn't one with the amount of schools and programs that we have, but I appreciate that. I, I think that's good information for people to know. And then one, can I ask one more question and then I'll pass, or is this about this one? I just have one more question about is there any barriers in terms of staffing some of these, are there unique certifications? I mean sports medicine and all that.
I mean, that's so awesome and I'm sure kids are gonna wanna take it, but do we end up having struggles filling those spots with different certifications and that holds us back from having those programs at times? I know it's an aspirational list. So is that a barrier or are we usually able to find the people? So one that I highlighted here, um, today is environmental science de if you look at any of those de courses, there are special certifications required there, um, for a teacher to be able to do that and across our school division, I think you would see some differentiation between the, the number of de courses that are taught in each school.
And just so much of that has to do with the certification of, um, of particular teachers. And, um, and so there are sometimes barriers to that and there are sometimes credential barriers to that. We do a lot of work to try and, and, and fix that and support schools being able to have other teachers and get those credentials that they need to teach some of these courses. But there are times where a school is not teaching a class because they don't have a teacher on their staff with the credential to teach a dual enrollment course as an example. And we do have programs where with support from the VDOE
as well as local funding to, um, support teachers moving towards getting that, uh, I wouldn't call it a credential, but the ability, the ability to teach a dual enrollment course, right? That is a, that is a strategic priority for our department, um, especially with the new accountability system and the importance of access to AP de and IB courses is, is on the minds of our high school principals. Um, so we are putting effort into helping teachers get the ability to teach that de course. And it's my understanding there's some legislative work around that as well that is in the works from
my LA MP committee. So I appreciate that. Dr. Deans No, I was gonna reference the survey courses in middle school of the languages. Um, we have a lot of retired state department people, so is there a way to have maybe that division support to oversee that State department person who speaks that language, uh, you know, to, to do those surveys since they're not getting academic? I mean, um, credit, they're not getting high school credit
and I thought that that might be another avenue and volunteerism. Um, uh, even some of the people who are still working, they have x number of hours per pay period that they can volunteer in the community. And so I'm just wondering if my, some of those individuals be tapped. Yeah, I think those are all good suggestions. I, um, honestly, this is something that we've heard a lot from our middle schools and when we had our course review committee, I was not sure how this was gonna be received by some of our middle schools, but there was such enthusiasm
for this course among our middle school principals who participated. And so I was just actually talking with, uh, Kelly James, our world language supervisor today to say we need to start meeting with those, um, principals to talk about what this is gonna look like, how we might be able to tap into community interests. Um, obviously these languages will have a, a, a lot to do with, um, teaching culture as well of these different languages. So how are we gonna bring in some, some outside people to help and support with that? Uh, to your point, Dr. Dean. So we don't have that all mapped out yet. Uh, but I think this is gonna be a real collaboration
between our middle school principals to, to offer something new and that I hope is really helpful and supportive, uh, to students, communities, and teachers as well. Alright, well that is very exciting. I think we'll probably have some kind of middle school update eventually. Um, so that's exciting. I really appreciate these updates. And, um, I guess that's it for this item. So we will move on to is there any new business with no new business? I will adjourn this October 1st curriculum and instruction meeting. Have a good evening.