##VIDEO ID:https://vimeo.com/1053914706## Curriculum, and instruction meeting to order. My name is Lauren chernoff. I'm the chair of this committee, and I am joined tonight, by my colleague, Dr. Rashid and we are going to cover 2 topics tonight. But before we do that is there, there's no public comment There's no public comment so we will skip to um approving the minutes. So uh, we need to approve the minutes from our January meeting. Is there a motion to approve the minutes motion to approve the minutes chair. Second, I second the motion, all those in favor I I any opposed, no. All righty. We will move right along tonight. We have 2 information items. The first 1 is an update on Lexia Core 5. And the presenters tonight are, uh, Miss Katherine Neil, who's a supervisor of early literacy Elementary reading and writing and Dr. Michelle Picard, who's a supervisor of secondary English and reading and Mr. Jeff brownley, the director of teaching and learning so I will pass it off to you. Um, thank you for being here. All right. Thank you. We're excited to talk about some, um, some successes that we've had with Lexia uh, Core 5 and power up, which is our middle school program, our secondary program. So I'm going to let Miss Neil talked a little bit about Core 5 and, um, some details around that program. And then we'll also have the opportunity to share some, um, of our data that we've collected thus far this year and have any questions from the committee. All right. Um so Lexia Core, 5 is an approved intervention um under the Virginia literacy act. Um it is approved for all uh 5 pillars of literacy. Um, so when you look at the student reading plans under the Virginia literacy act, there's certain categories in which students should receive intervention. Um, there's 5 of them, fennec awareness, phonics vocabulary, comprehension and fluency and um Lexia Core 5 is 1 of the programs. That had been approved to meet all. Um 5 pillars, it actually was 1 of only 3 programs that had been approved in all of those areas, um, in all grade levels. We had uh, Lexia Core 5 last year with all in tutoring and we were able to we had some licenses that had not been consumed yet and so this year we are using the licenses from all-in tutoring, um that kind of carried over into this year, um for um, to meet the requirements of the VA and to have an intervention that's approved. Um, So in taking a look, um, the the sheet, the overview sheet that is um, attached on board. Docks kind of gives a lot more detail around Lexia Core 5. Um, what we um are using it for currently, is for our students that, um, are, um, under the mtss structure. Um, a needing a tier 3 intervention. Um, so for students that have taken the vows and our high risk on vows, they would, um, they could be receiving Corps 5, um, for students that are, um, maybe not, um, taking the vows like their third grade or above. Um, and they took the map, they are in that tier 3 range and they are in need of an intervention. They could be receiving Corps, 5 as well. um, In taking a look. Um towards the end of that document we did share some data around what we're seeing from Core 5 so far. Um, really intervention plans got started in about october- so we're talking maybe 3 months, almost 4 months, um, of usage with um, Lexia Core 5. And you can see there that we have had some movement um with students. Um, they are moving into, um, you know, we had some students that started even as high as sixth grade levels below and now they're moving into like 4, um, grade levels or even 2, grade levels below. And then we've had quite a significant increase in the 1 grade level below region. So, we are seeing some movement in that right direction. Um, currently we're in the middle of our midyear vows testing, um, so we don't have all of the vow scores ready to share. However, um, As of last week, we were able to look at the data and we had 1,348 students. Who at the fall um testing window for vows they were um in in that high-risk band. And so they're reading teachers, worked with them and um, you know, set their plan up and they decided that CFI would be the intervention that would best meet their needs. And so looking at the data now, for mid-year, um, out of these um 1,3 148 students. 69% of them are still in that high-risk band but we've had 22% move into moderate risk and then 9% move into low-risk. So that is definitely some good movement. Um, about 31% have moved into that moderate or low risk band. So the way that we have worked with our reading teachers with Core 5, it is a blended learning model. So part of the time they are using a digital component. Um, they are on um, you know, their devices um, with some intentional student practice. Um, not every student is doing the same practice, it is targeted to meet their needs based off of the testing or the, um, Um, the assessments that they were given, um, and then reading teachers are, um, providing intervention face-to-face with them, um, 5 days a week. So, the, um, digital component is in addition to, um, the max amount of minutes for Uh, for uh, fourth or fifth grader, would be um, the talks about um, them having about 80 minutes per week. Um, really we have told um reading teachers that only about 50% 50% of that is what they need to meet in order to be able to make instructional decisions, which ends up being, you know, 40 minutes a week, less than 10 minutes, a day that they would be on their device. Um, and with that. I'll hand it over to. Yeah, I just want to um, Thank the board for the support for Lexia in the school board budget and we recognize that there are significant questions around Lexia and its implementation and, um, concerns from teachers. So we welcome the time for a discussion and to also hear more about um, this specifically talking about Lexia Core 5, but also that in the middle school, we are implementing Lexia power up and um, Dr. Kard can answer any questions you might have about that as well. Thank you so much for the overview, Dr. Rasheed, did you have any questions? Just a main question is have you guys heard of any um concerns on the negative for uh this use from teachers? That in the document too, that there is definitely some challenges to work around with um Core 5 um finding time for usage during the class. That I mean in in finding time for everything that um, you know, that is uh Poe a possibility for elementary students is really difficult and so to be able to, you know, to find some time during their classroom instruction where they could be, you know, doing some of this intentional practice is definitely. Um, you know, something that we've had to kind of problem solve. Um, some of the things that I've seen um, teachers have, um, as they're doing some literacy stations during their lit, Mercy block. So students are working independently during this time as they maybe the teachers meeting with a small group of students. Um, I know that a lot of the students are using that independent time to take that, you know, 8 to 10 minutes to get on core 5 and do some of their practice. Um, On the flip side, teachers have said that they appreciate that because it does give them some targeted practice during that time. But finding the time can also, you know, be a challenge for that too. Um, Core 5 has a lot to offer and regards to learning what the different. Um, Reports are understanding what the information that we're getting and it's so it's definitely a learning curve. Um, we have not um, we work we meet with reading Specialists once a month and our meetings. Are monthly meetings have been around understanding Core 5 and that platform and what the information, we can glean from it, and then how we can, um, adapt our interventions to meet student needs. Thanks so much for that. I mean, I do like the percentages. They do look, um, promising. So it's the that good forecasts that we see that we can, um, kind of predict hopefully that continues that Trend. Thank you. I just wanted to add um, um, Katherine the the challenges that she mentioned are absolutely the challenges that we've also experienced in middle and to some degree High School which is it's an incredibly robust platform. Um, we're actually using it in Middle School, not only for an intervention but also for supplementation. So there is a really steep learning curve and we've been very grateful for the support Um, both of the offices and of the the product owners to do that time is always going to be an enormous issue and then um, its implementation, anything that is new is going to come with with some um, The pros and cons the happies and, uh, and the not so I do want to just add, not only, um, to underscore those things. But I also want to add that I've never seen a program. Um, not really a program person. Um, I've never seen a program that kids liked so much. I middle school children. Do not like programs they do. They it's just not something that that that they're interested in. And we've just had extraordinary anecdotal evidence, that kids are enjoying the program and they're also setting goals and taking ownership. I met with our subject area lead teachers yesterday and they were talking about how kids know where they are and that they have literally reached out for help when they're stuck and that's the beauty to the program. It's not all 1 or the other, you're not completely on a program lcps. Is calling me. There you go. Sorry about that. Um, Right. So there's it's not only practice but it's it's tutorial and it's very targeted. So it's differentiated and and then finally, I would just add another and I know you wanted the negatives, but another real positive is, there's a democratization of information. All teachers are not reading teachers, not even third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers. We cannot ascribe to them. The Deep knowledge that you have from becoming a reading specialist. But with Lexia, it will tag what you don't understand. And then provide a vetted lesson plan, you don't understand schwa. Let me show you what it is. You don't understand how um to infer in this particular type of writing, let me give you a lesson so there are really a lot of unexpected benefits. Um, Joy was not 1 that I expected and I think that there is a lot of Joy with kids. Um, we're also getting a lot of Buy in with with teachers and um, we also have we have data but I I won't go on about that. It is making a difference. It's closing gaps. Thank you and uh, Dr. Picard, I know we had a long conversation about, I mean, I have the elementary lens in my background but we had a long conversation about how you know, not every especially with these gaps that are trickling up, you know, especially postco and because of, you know, the signs of reading and implementing all of that, we're seeing those kids now are sitting in the middle school. Classroom needing intervention at The level that we've never seen before and so these teachers are tackling that. Um and a lot of them don't they teach in English 7 curl, right? So that's not necessarily knowing how to teach word study or all of those things and that's where Lexia can support my concerns. I, I voiced this from the full board and we've had lots of conversations and I'm so grateful. I, I do want to mention that I've had multiple meetings about this platform, just because I happen to have a middle schooler who doesn't love it. Um, I'm just gonna with that out there, um, and just trying to she's on or trying to she's on or above grade level and really struggling with like, why do I have to be on this program? I just want to read books. Um, and so, that's where kind of this conversation sort of came from my mom hat to now, you know, thinking about curriculum and instruction, and then it being a budget item, I will Echo what you said about time. I put out for some feedback and the number 1 thread is time and I think reading Specialists and teachers and um um I heard from a couple of parents, but mostly reading Specialists, say it's a good program. Like they don't really have a problem with the program as a tool. What is the implementation? And I think that's where we always struggle, especially a division, this large, um, with lots with lots of of different needs. And um, so I just I I know you talked about the literacy centers. I think there is an ongoing feeling of like Is it worth my time to sit and babysit a kid on a computer? Because I am hearing that? That is something that they feel like they have to do because you need 40. Valuable minutes is my understanding on a week which is half of what is recommended. Um, to get the reports that would be valuable enough to drive instruction and if you want to get those valuable minutes, sometimes people feel in their win time or their power up time that they which is their intervention block. They have to sit and watch the child on the device when they are the highest leverage person with the most reading knowledge in the building. So, how would how would you advise that? How do we get around that? Because if they don't have the time to do the minutes, And then that infringes on their time to teach face to face it, I think it puts them in a difficult situation, at least that's what they've expressed to me at the elementary level. You know, I think part of it is just um like um Dr. Bard was saying like the implementation, you know, we're really in this implementation phase of trying to understand the program, um, the constraints that the program, um, has and our understanding of it. Um, so that being said, we have not asked reading Specialists to sit down and watch them do it on a computer. Now, part of Lexia Core 5, that is also a positive, is that there's progress monitoring involved. Old with the program. So part of that 10 minutes that they're on during the day also helps to progress monitor them so it would be the same as when a reading teacher, like on a Friday, might fast Bridge, a student that time on Lexia Core 5 is helping to progress monitor. So we just able to with the student reading plans have Lexia Core 5 sync with those student reading plans, which is a positive for teachers because they don't have to go into every plan and enter the progress monitoring but if students haven't gone through, like, if they haven't been on the program and they haven't gone through some of the Cycles or the different levels, it's not going to progress monitor them and so they're not seeing the data in their plan. So I think that some of kind of just a realization that really just Friday when we met with them and the sink has just taken place, like, within the last week that we've started to realize, you know, we we do have to try to work with classroom teachers and try to find some time. Maybe in lie of some of the other programs that students are on such as epic or BrainPOP. Maybe we're choosing to do Core 5 instead and I think part of that is just some education with teachers so that they understand why it's important that they get on for the 8 to 10 minutes so that they have that practice and so that they can be progress. Monitored. yeah, I definitely have heard that they feel like That if they don't do it enough, that they're then they fastbridge to progress monitor, right? Because they don't don't have enough information. So I think that that's the rub. I was wondering too, I did get a question about how people are collaborate, how you guys are collaborating across departments, so some concerns about English language. Learners also needing to meet a quota of quota of minutes on Imagine Learning a quota of minutes on DreamBox a quota of minutes on Lexia like with that being the focus, like our Are there collaborative conversations around those things. What is the guidance there? Like, I mean, I don't think any of us want to just stack the deck with a whole day's worth of getting on a device. Um, so we still meet us a core literacy team with Al and sped every other week and so we do talk about this. They were um, collaborators on our division literacy plan. Um, Imagine Learning is a program that um, is approved in some areas for supplemental and so, L students are on that program, um, but it's not approved as an intervention. So we have also have to take into account. What is, um, what the students need? Um, and so with, they are tier 3 and in that high risk span, they need to have an approved intervention being delivered. And I, and I think like, I don't want to get away from that fact, either because Are are approved programs for interventions are very limited limited. Um, and so our other options would be to piecemeal a bunch of different programs together in order to make sure that we're meeting student needs and I think we can provide a lot of research around how that might not be the best next step for students, or our most struggling students is to have multiple programs. You know, to help support them So we do collaborate with Ellen sped. Um some we do have some special education students that have IEPs, that are also Encore 5 and using that as an intervention, in lieu of spire. So there is some back and forth that way. So it really is a conversation around what best meets the needs of those students. And um, we're definitely happy to have those conversations. Yeah, I think that's important because we want to make sure they're not just doing program after program after program um, 1 of the questions, um, that someone asked was about the guidance between uh is it Focus phonics? What is the difference between Focus phonics and Lexia Core 5 and what are their different uses and are their students doing both? Or is it 1 tracks? So it's 1 track or the other Focus phonics is um only approved for phonics and kindergarten first and second grade okay and it was provided um to literacy tutors. Those Those are a new pal tutors um formerly known as Wright formerly known as pairs. Um it was provided to them this year because they needed to have a very explicit program, that was on the approved list. Um, this program really, we, we did some training with the literacy tutors at the beginning of the year. Um, we made sure that they had all of the materials that they needed to implement the program. And so, that is really students that are on focused phonics are students, that are in that high-risk band. But our meeting with the literacy tutor, so that they have some more, um, directive and scripted lessons for them to be able to do Okay and then this was a new 1 to me that I hadn't heard about was about sort of where it is. There like an initial assessment, that drops them into a track. And then are they in that till they finish it or not? Because the question was with some of their goals. They're supposed to be able to master grade level. Skills. But the track that they're in will never get to those grade level skills. And so, how is that an issue? I I really didn't you. Probably understand the question better than I do because I haven't seen that piece. I'm not sure that we would know at this point in the year that they wouldn't be able to get to that grade level goal. I'm not quite sure where that part is coming at from. However, there has been some discussion around, um, with student reading plans and um, following the guidance from the state the, the intervention plan you have to set a grade level goal that students will meet because You know, we're never going to close the gap unless we see where students need to be. Alright, so there's that grade level goal and then there's a multiple objectives in that student plan that you can think of as like stepping stones, these are our Stepping Stones of how we're going to get our students there, right? So we've talked with reading teachers and been very explicit that we we understand that there may be a grade level goal where, you know, it's um, you know, you have a first ah, a fourth grader and they're performing on a first grade level. So we're setting a goal at a fourth grade goal. Um, At the end of the year, they're at, you know, mid-second grade, you know, they've made some growth, we're starting to close that Gap but we still have some work to do, it's not about. Um, and and so, I think that it's just a different approach to thinking about intervention plans, and it's not about meeting every single goal. But it's starting to Target what we need to do to help students to move them forward. I think. That makes sense. I it's hard to have to set a goal that feels impossible to reach. I I don't want to say anything is impossible. Kids are doing amazing things every day, but I know that the upper grade teachers did say that that feels like a little defeatist. Um, So that that 1 is, that is a challenge. Um, The other thing I wanted to ask. um, oh, we had a great conversation about OG as an Orton Gillingham as a full lot teaching method, that is approved. So if you could just like recap that because I thought that that was a really important conversation that we had that showed because I know some of the concerns are around the Lexi lessons, feel a little tight scripted. Um, maybe not as much Variety in terms of the different levels of sensory and tactile things that some of the other methods such as OG would accomplish. So you really gave a great example to me in our meeting. So if you could Expand upon that. I I think it's important for people to understand how that fits into this. Sure. So Lexi lessons are very scripted and um for good reason, right? Um, however we've talked a lot with reading teachers because, you know, since our, you know, we want to prioritize those face-to-face interventions and it over the course of 5 like a 5 day week, those core 5 lessons are only going to get us so far, and we really need to lean into the expertise of our reading teachers, to be able to bring in things that we know are evidence-based. Um, and that can that they know work with students right to help kind of supplement and to to um really improve on some of the things that they're experiencing with Core 5. So with that, we've talked about um options to bring in to those daily lessons, 1 of them being OG. Um the majority, if not all of our reading teachers have been trained in the past with MZ, um, which is an OG training that the state had, you know, you know, supported us with and so forth. And so I think we had um, We had hoped and we had thought that this would be 1 of the interventions that we could use on the improved list and it was not on the approved list. Um so the state has been very clear that OG is an approach and we can use that approach and that methodology within our interventions and that we should um the OG professional learning is actually 1 of the approved professional learning for the VA um you know so that that is something that we have been told that we can bring in to our lesson um into our supports with students so we can make those core 5 lessons, more multi-sensory we can bring in those, um, you know, the the work cards or the letter cards, or the manipulatives, and those kinds of things that we know have worked with students, um, in the past. And so that is definitely something that um, we have been talking with reading teachers about about how they can incorporate some of those things. I appreciate that. I I struggle when I hear teacher, I teachers are rule followers. I think we've talked about that in committee before I was 1. Um, and when you get a directive, you want to do what you're told. But you also have all these tools in your tool kit that you bring to the table that, you know, work with kids. And most of the people that work in our schools have worked with those populations or students for a long time and and they're really invested in especially our reading Specialists. They're super invested in. What's best practice for reading and writing and so My pause on all of this is when I hear teachers say well I can't do what's best for my kids because I have to put them on Lexia. Now I know that's a generalization statement and I have come a long way in my understanding, but I wonder if you could speak to, that sort of that teacher autonomy that teacher trust balanced with following what the VA says. And the VA says. And what we know to be right in terms of best practice of what the research says, which we definitely want to follow. And I don't want to say versus because I think we need to find a way to help our teachers, understand how those things work together and how we do honor those components. So I don't know, even middle school or anybody, if anybody wants its kind of more of a philosophical question but I just want to make sure teachers hear us that we we are not trying to put them in a situation where they can't do what's best for their students. And I I know you agree with that and I'm going to let you speak to it, but I don't think that that's our stance. you know, programs don't teach teachers do and that is something that you know, we said, you know, even with the the textbook adoption uh with anything that we've um um come across like we just really want to emphasize that teachers have to bring in. Like we we're having these same conversations with the hmh into reading Platt, uh, implementation. Um, we we know what's best for our students because a program is not going to be able to script, you know, to make scripted lessons for every single student and all they're varying needs. and so, um, We have to um we are more than willing to work with teachers and reading teachers to see how they can feel less. Like the program is making the choices for them. Um, I had a conversation with the reading teacher about, you know, can I bring in some of the books from my book room, you know, instead of using, you know, um maybe some of the materials that Core 5 provides. Can I bring in some of those decodables? Yes. Absolutely, let's do that. So, all of these things, we we talked about some of the recipes for for reading. Um, materials that we have we we have a lot of tools like you said, Tools in our tool, um, about that, we we should feel empowered to bring in based off of, um, you know what the students need. And I think it's about that rationale. Like we have to really look at the data. What is what, what where are the gaps for students when we're thinking about intervention and then what's going to best meet their needs? And um, We can do it. It's it's it's going to take some time to get there, but we can do it. So I I would just jump in at a higher level than speaking about elementary literacy or middle school. Even um, just thinking about our curriculum audit, for example, and some of the feedback we received just about the amount of choices that our teachers need to make and that's a balanced too. Um, we have so many things at the disposal of our teachers that when we focus on a particular resource that mind, you, we're investing a lot of of, of funds in, um, We're going to consistently get this feedback about being too directive. Um I think that's going to happen. Um next year when it comes to math we were in the middle of a math adoption and we currently have 3 or 4 choices when it comes to math, digital content, and that that adoption process may may narrow that and I'm I'm anticipating um, that we're we're going to get a lot of feedback from teachers about taking away choices, um, just like we did when they had 5 choices. Um, so we recognize that's a balance but we also have consistently gotten feedback. There's there's too much out there for our teachers to make choices for um, And so, we need to remember that implementation dip like when something's new there's frustration and then hopefully people start seeing the the impact of that. So, more broadly, not so much about Alexia and I don't know, Mr. Rounds, if you You made that connection when you're thinking about the curriculum audit. Yeah I actually um the group that did our curriculum audits really shared that with us that they've been asked to do these curriculum audits all over the country because of laws like the VA that have been passed in other states and that they saw every time in the first year of implementation, teachers, feeling like autonomy was being taken away, or, or limited. Um, and that in time, teachers, really grew to appreciate the idea that they did have a resource that they could turn to consistently. That have been bedded, that was supported, um, that that we were, that we were helping people move towards. So, it's always, it's always that balance of, of course, that teacher in the classroom knows that student and that students needs better than someone sitting here in this building. Um, and so we want to make sure we're giving teachers, really good quality resources that they can turn to and use, but also enough flexibility to know that they, they're the person who knows that child best and can make the most informed decisions about how to support. And it's always a line that we're walking a balance, we're trying to find between those 2 things. To do what you said, Miss Neil is to have those conversations. And for people to feel safe to say, like, in a real pinch here, this isn't working. Here's my scenario. Um, a lot of the feedback that I got was like well with this group of kids and then with this group of kids I have this issue and then this and so it is speaks to to the level of teaching that these teachers are doing which is highly individualized but also each sort of round if you will comes with its own challenges. So um, all right, on to the parent piece, I have some questions about how parents know how their students are doing in Lexia, how the report, Ing works. And how you're using those? This 3 Parts, how you're using that to report out to parents and then also how are the reports in driving the instruction. So, I know you spoke about the progress monitoring a little bit, but maybe at the middle school level too. I curious about that's sort of a new mentality, I think of like using involving parents in that way. No, not parents, but like, looking at the data and having maybe small group work for intervention and those kinds of things. At at the grade level level of curriculum, content might not. So I would build on the theme that you're hearing tonight, which is that, um, implementation takes time, I, I was thinking about messaging and you and I had conversations about messaging what we message and what is heard is not always the same. Um, it's rarely the same like the word guideline means it a guy. So for example a guideline on time doesn't mean if you miss 10 minutes someone's going to come and pick you up, right? So um, I say that because the the parent reports teachers are learning all of these different reports and how to use the reports to drive instructions. So for the parent reports, they have wonderful parent reports. They do not have wonderful technology that uploads them in batches to our parent view. So Katherine and I have been working with DDI and the company to see if we can get that to happen on a quarterly basis, because the data is really rich, um, what's happening at the middle schools right now is we're in the messy middle. So some schools are literally printing them out and having them during um, conferences or they're sending them home. We also had a professional video made so that they could send that along to to show exactly how it works. It um, the the parent reports are a little bit different at the elementary school and the middle school, so it has to be differentiated. So, for example, at the middle school, there are 3, different levels and there are 3 different categories so you can be at 3 different spaces and places. Whereas at the elementary school they're they're still talking a lot about grade level. So we're in the messy middle. We absolutely want to to strengthen the bridge with parents and sharing what um what what the data means and how they can support us at home. I know the second part of your question was different than parents, but I'm going to let Katherine talk about parents first. I just would add, um, that For elementary since right now, it is just students. Receiving intervention, they have, um, a module plan or the student reading plan. Um, and our mtss department has worked really hard to, um, you know, part under the Virginia literacy act. It's about parents, being able to be involved in that plan and that have that communication. So, it's all documented parent, communication is documented within that plan and then any time like when they're about, they're going into the Process of making, um, kind of mid-year updates to those. Then there's they are sent to parents as well. So that's where they'll see some of that progress monitoring and those charts. And they can have some conversations with teachers as well, um, about their child. Um, and the other piece to it is, which is really exciting. Is that those plans are being translated into all the, you know, into the languages that they need. And so that's been a big, big lift that was a big plus too that I heard from teachers it was that it's translated into a lot of languages and that sometimes they can rely on that. So that's awesome. um 1 thing I had a parent reach out to me about the reporting and this is like, sort of goes back to why I students success talks are important and that whole idea of like educating parents because when you look at the fir and I'm speaking mostly for middle school. Now, this is a Middle School Parent. When you look at the Report you see the different levels and then below, you start to see how they're achieving on the different units. And so if they're If they have gaps, I'm going to say not below grade level. But if they have gaps, let's say in word study, but in each lesson that they've had so far, it says hi. You know, High average or average and high. It's as you go down the skills, it starts to rank, how they're doing in those individual units. But then, if you go into the grade level standards report, where it breaks it down by grade level, you could go all the way back to like, second grade and start to see that in the standard accuracy, you're actually low. Even though the parent report says that it's high, it's talking about 2 different things. So I think that that's an important distinction, I hadn't caught that myself, um, at first and we can talk about that offline if you want. But it I think it could be a little bit deceiving if parents see that like their High achieving and all the units that they're on. But if you're a seventh grader at a second grade unit, you're still you still have big gaps that may need to be addressed. Does that make sense? We can look at it together too if you want. Yeah. I think um that's a very detailed question that we would want to look at a little more closely. For example, the standards the standards report doesn't go to parents it's only the skills. What we look at more is like you said the moderate to high or slow and accurate. That's just letting us know how they were behaving in a unit behavior, is different than Mastery. We look much more closely at. We look at that, but we also look at the score and they need to have a 75 or higher to be considered Mastery. So for parents we're really conveying where they're having success and where they're feeling gaps. So you'll see a student go through Multiple units. They'll get a 100 100 900 75. Well 75 is passing but they were having a lot of success. So I'm either going to reteach there, or I'm going to alert the parent that this is a place where they need additional support. I think all those are important things for us to try and convey to parents because I think it's a lot of information. I know it's hard, but it is a little bit confusing in terms of, we want them to have success where they are. That's why they're where they're they are but we also want to make sure that, you know, we're continuing to move through that and what does that mean? And look like, so maybe some education around what the tool does and you know why why it moves you through the units that it does that is definitely on our implementation plan. Awesome. Sounds good. All right. I've drilled you with questions and comments. Um I am going to send on some general feedback that I got just so that you you have it. Um, 1 thing that really I found the most valuable and I'll send it on, it was a sort of a, like a case study scenario. Like this is my scenario. And here's why these things are, the things that I'm struggling with and, um, I think work like that really helpful for teachers to be able to kind of just problem solve and not saying they haven't done that. But um But um it kind of highlighted the different issues in terms of being able to bring in that face-to-face OG learning and making sure that they do that time during literacy centers. But that they also have support in small group work with some other strategies around. Vocabulary and things like that. So, um, I really appreciate your time. I'm going to probably keep asking questions along the way. Um, I know we're in the beginning is phases and, and that our options are limited. And um, if you fly ever gets on the intervention list, I know you're going to have a lot of people that would be very happy. So if the state's listening, we want that. Anything else, Dr. Rashi I said quite a lot. All righty. Thank you guys so much for being here. Um, the next item is 5.02, we are going to talk about credit through testing, uh, tonight. And I want to thank Miss supervisor of world languages and cultures, uh, for being here to present to us, along with um, Mr. Rousey director of teaching and learning. Floor. And in addition to miss James, we have Louisa Quinto over here. Who is 1 of our world language Specialists who has done a, a lot of work with our credit, through testing program, a big supporter at all of the testing nights and and everything that happened. So I think, um, Lisa for being here as well. So we have a lot to celebrate about credit through testing. We want to kind of give you an update on um, how our current year of credit through testing has gone with a lot of really good news and with that good news and a lot of success comes some pressures and um, some beliefs that we have that we might have perhaps outgrown our current process and that we have some new ideas. We want to explore with you around some benefits and opportunities that we see to help continue to grow this program. And bring a lot of really good success to students in lcps. So I'm going to turn it over to miss, James to share some of those details. The purpose of credit through testing, as well as some historical data. Um, so the purpose of credit through testing is twofold, um, is to allow high school students, the opportunity to earn credits, they've, uh, for a language that they've acquired at home or through other experiences, like study abroad or a course outside of lcps. Um, the exam measures student proficiency and can award up award up to 3 high school credits which fulfills the vosges vosges minimum requirement for an advanced studies diploma? Um, the second purpose is for students who are currently, um, earning or learning a world language in lcps, um, who demonstrate the required proficiency level, which is an intermediate mid to earn, the Virginia Department of Education, seal of biliteracy at graduation which, uh, is evidenced to higher education in future employees that are employers that they are um by literate in both English and another language. Um and those 2 purposes are not mutually exclusive. So if the student for example were taking the credit through testing in ter, Turkish they could get uh up to 3 credits as well as the Seal of bi literacy in Turkish. Um we have a lot of students who take the seal uh the credit through testing exam in Spanish and they're in Spanish 5 for example, they don't need the credits but they can earn the Seal of bi literacy but it is possible to do both. Um, the next slide, um, shows some historical data. We began credit through testing in lcps in 2016. Um and it we have an internally developed assessment in which students have to write out to um, essays. Um, and you can see that from 2016 through 2024. We have experienced significant growth. This year was a record number in both student registration or and, as well as the number of tests that were administered. Um, and we, we share both of the information because, um, each student, who registers we prepare an assessment for them. Um, and then so the fact that we had a record number of registrations as well as a record number of turnout. Um is significant and we anticipate that that will continue to grow. Uh since this uh is also for the Seal of bi literacy. Um the number for the past 3 years has also grown um we're really proud of this so that we have increased the numbers in the Seal of bi literacy. Um and we also have the number of students who are earning that seal of bi literacy through our uh credit through testing exam as evidence, there are other assessments that are Approved by the Virginia Department of Education as um, evidence for the Seal of bi literacy and our assessment is 1 of them that we have internally developed. Um, but um, we're looking to expand that. The next slide is the current languages that are available for credit through testing through our internally developed assessment. Um we added Sanskrit last year, we're very excited to have added that um upping the number to 28. And while this list is extensive, it is not representative of all of the languages that are, um, spoken and read in Loudoun County. Um, And so that leads us to um navigating our continued growth uh for the credit through testing exam. So some of our current challenges that we are experiencing are the limitations in the languages that are offered um and part of the limitations are the recruiting and hiring of language Assessors for a in an internally developed assessment. If um it's difficult, it was difficult to find an assessor for Sanskrit. For example, we're really excited to have offer that but it's something that's difficult to um find someone to assess the tests. Um, additionally a challenge is the development and the translation of our prompts to ensure accurate and valid assessment results. Um, we also have a relatively narrow assessment window. So the um testing registration opens on the first day of school and is open through about mid October. Um, our testing window is November um and then we start assessing and we usually notify families around mid-February so we'll be notifying families soon. We're still finishing. Um, grading the assessments assessments um, which leads us to another challenge? Is that that's pretty significant because they are develop, they are assessed by. Um, Our language proficiency assessors who we bring in as well. Can I add something to that? I would just say in in monitoring the, let's talk submissions that we get around, um, issues in teaching and learning. It's very common right now to have students and families, reaching out and asking where are my assessment results? And again that's a test that was delivered in November and through. No fault of the World Language office. It's just finding people who are willing to give their time to grade and assess these results that does slow, down the process for the students, who are waiting for those results. And also because of our narrow assessment window. Um, we often get students who transfer to lcps after October. And a lot of times those counselors, if they are students, who are English language learners, for example, who are maybe, um, by literate in Spanish because they've missed that window, they're not provided the opportunity to earn credits in Spanish. Um, so we're looking for is a way to expand that opportunity to those students. so, um, what we're looking to um is to expand to a third-party testing, service is to move away from our internally developed assessment, which offers a lengthy list of limitations, um, to something that would be a standards based measurement of proficiency. That would be a mostly online test to, um, measure. Uh, the student's language proficiency, and with that would, um, be expedited results. We would get our results much more quickly. Um, it would still offer language credit, uh, evidence for the Seal of bi literacy. But an additional benefit would be to give us some, um, results and insight into, especially the languages that we do offer in lcps. How are we doing in terms of proficiency as well? In terms of teaching proficiency? Um, this is also aligned with what our neighboring school districts are doing Fairfax Arlington. Prince William have already moved towards this model for credit through testing. Um, an additional huge opportunity um towards moving towards a third-party testing service, would be the additional languages that are available to students. I've had requests for Hungarian Italian, Portuguese, Mongolian and those are naat tests that we offer. Um but those are tests that we could offer in the future um as well as data collection and test history. I would like to have this become something that is available for students and families to see in their see in their test history um specific results and the um, feedback on the assessment, as well as an expedited notification of results. Um, instead of it, taking 3 months, it might take only take up to like 3 weeks, which could lead to the potential for offering 2 rounds of testing each year, both of fall and a spring window, which would give our students who come in later in the school year and opportunity to assess for credit. Um, especially as they get close to graduation where that might be their last chance to earn the Seal of bi literacy before they graduate. And that concludes my presentation. so I would just add the, the intent of bringing this to the committee is to Just inform you on the work related to credit through testing and the expansion of opportunities for World languages. Um, we are appreciative of the support for, um, a different model for ASL. Next year, in the budget, as well as the, um, Global linguistic Studies Academy but by looking at our credit through testing, this is another opportunity to really expand what students are able to access in lcps. So I think I cut you off, Mr. Rousey I think it's great. I think this is an area where we've seen a lot of interest from families and students and we're excited to expand our opportunities to offer, um, languages to students, and to, hopefully continue to build on the success that we've had in our local process. And we're happy to take any questions you might have. Thank you so much. This is fascinating. Uh Dr. Rashid Being bilingual myself. It's a lot of this stuff is really important. Um, but yeah, great, great data I was just wondering if um, I know you said there were 2 rounds of what if they is that if they don't fit, if they don't pass, when they attempt to take the test or when they attempt attempt to do the assessment. So, Offer 1 round of testing per year. It's the fall window. Okay? So it's in but what my hope is yes that if they don't um meet the Intermediate, mid level level of proficiency in the fall. They have the opportunity again in the spring. And then also. Um, so once they, I don't know if this, if you had any data about this, once they received the seal Is there any data as to where these students then go on to become or where they utilize? It is, is or if not if we don't have that data, is there a way that we can provide that data, perhaps a survey of some sort just to see? I mean, the use of it out of curiosity. And I don't have any data about once they leave lcps. However, more and more. Universities are providing college credit for students who have, uh, the Seal of bi literacy from their state. Um, so what we're looking at is students who once they provide, they have that seal. They go on to um, for example, William and Mary offers credit as does VCU um in a world language so that you're they're walking into University potentially having already fulfilled. The general education World Language, requirement and the that list is only growing um more and more uh colleges and universities are um awarding. Credit for the Seal of bi literacy. I'm not aware of any specific data. We have on that either, but I think it's a great question. So we can work with our school, counseling office to see, um, what might be possible to gather. Yeah, I'm just curious as to what, like, you know, once they have this, do they go on to become teachers or professors in this? Is it something that they? What else do they do? Develop on it. That's, that's what I was curious about. And then uh, there was a slide with um, all the languages that that you had that we offer. I was wondering, is that ranked in order as to demand No, I think that's just alphabetical order. Okay, and so what? What determines um, I mean uh I guess what is the process of bringing that forward? Let's say like you had mentioned a couple of languages. You said someone had asked you about uh, Mongolian and a couple of other languages. How can constituents bring that forward if they, if they want to bring that as a language for the seal? so, Currently, um we have a, an internal practice of 50 students. 50 families, speaking that language before it's offered. Now that's a very arbitrary number and that's 1 of the advantages of moving forward, is that there's, um, you know, some of these testing services have maybe 50 languages that they offer. We could almost double what we're offering because we don't have to have internal assessors. Um, they have ways to assess the tests themselves. So uh, it would we would greatly expand. The languages that we offer if we went with a third-party educational testing service because they have those resources, is readily available to assess and other languages that we do, not Thank you. And also, it'd be great to get, um, data on those. Uh, languages that get the seal that, that get a percentage of the students from lcps. I get, that's you know what language? To see if that coincides with the data of demand. Yeah, I think we can get that for you. Yeah, that would. That would be great. Just out of curiosity. Thank you. Thank you. Um, my I had hoped to go 1 hole 24-hour cycle without talking about money, but here we are, um, I'm wondering what, how does it work with the assessors now? Do you pay them like part-time, hourly funds to come in and sit and assess. They're actually, there's a process where they're hired through HRT for that, um, for that position and are paid. Um, so, so, in addition to just the, the Manpower preparing the test, there's a whole other process around identifying interviewing hiring. Yeah. Um and the Manpower involved in doing that work as well. And and I want to say that the people who do that are, there's great people and have a really strong Community there. So it's not necessarily an easy thing to maybe pivot away from that uh and take a lot of pride in assessing their language and students who take the test. But I think it's it's really for the benefit of our students and the opportunities to be able to provide to kind of move in a different direction. You certainly have the data to support the interests and I cannot Even imagine the lift that this is on, you all like this seems impossible. I I commend you for your work. Um, it seems like a logical step to move to a third party. Of course, we're going to have to talk about how much that would cost but in terms of what you're paying now I think that that would be a good comparison and also just the opportunity cost of giving up all those hours that you're putting in yourselves. Um, I would love to see that, uh, moving forward. But this is 1 of those things that just seems obvious to me that this lift cannot continue. Yeah, we believe this would be a budget neutral or relatively budget neutral cost. When you factor in the cost of the test versus all of those other factors that you just mentioned. Yeah, I wanted to say that Mr. Owsley, I knew that I knew that maybe mure was asking that budget neutral. Is something that I do love. But um, so yes this is a lot of credit to these 2 for Thinking deeply about this as an opportunity um and to rethink some practice that is a good practice um but ultimately this move will help us reach more students. Yeah, I I'm just really Blown Away by these numbers. I really had no idea and this is astounding and it's so amazing that we have so many kids that have this ability and to give them access to this and what a celebration of who they are, and the skills that they have and and what being biliterate means in in America, I love this. Um, so thank you so much. Um, at first glance I was like, what does this mean? Um and just listening to you talk about it. It's it's very impressive lift and it's serving so many of our kids so I really really appreciate that. Anything else? Well, thank you guys so much. We will move to new business. Is there any new business tonight? Me either. So with that with that, we are adjourned. Be safe in the ice.