47. You can call in or click on the link. Um, and the meeting ID is 9123162986. Um, member Rouso, if you could please call the role. >> Member Graham >> here. >> Member Merbone >> here.
>> Member Olady is almost here. Uh, member Parks >> here. >> Member Rinfeld >> present. >> Member Russo present. Mayor Langok >> present. Um, six present, one on their way. Okay, if you all could please rise to salute our flag. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Um, next up, executive session pursuant to general laws 30A
section A2 to discuss strategy and preparation for negotiations with non-UN personnel or contract negotiations with non-UN personnel, our superintendent of schools. Memphis school committee will reconvene in public session immediately following the conclusion of executive session at appro approximately 6 p.m. Is
there a motion on the floor? >> Motion executive session. Seconded by >> um all those in favor? >> Roll call. >> Member Graham. >> Yes. >> Member Master Bony. >> Yes.
>> Member is absent. Member Parks. >> Member Rinfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rouso. Yes. Marilyn Goer. >> Yes. Six in the affirmative. Zero. One absent. We motion to go into executive session has been approved. Will we be be back?
Good evening. We're going to just run through our consent agenda real quick and then we'll go into our Mustang moment. Um consent agenda, approval of bills and payrolls, approval of capital purchases, approval of donations. We have a PTO donation of
$2,000 to MHS, MVTHS for athletic mats, approval of grants, approval of field trips, approval of meeting minutes um from our regular meeting February 2nd, 2026. Is there a motion on the floor >> for approval by member, seconded by
member Master Bony? Thank you. All those in favor? >> All those opposed consent agenda is approved. We do not have any reports of subcommittee and we have three reports of our superintendent. I'm going to turn it over to you Dr. Gusy to introduce our
students for Mustang moment. Thank you. Thank you. This is the highlight um of our school committee meetings is the Mustang moment. So, it is my pleasure and honor to introduce the middle school select band. We are going to have director Emma Baptist come up. She's
going to talk a little bit about the middle school select band. the what you are going to listen to this evening and introduce some student speakers. >> We'll just wait until it turns red. >> Okay, there you go. It's good. Yes. >> Am I on? Oh, hello. Um, hi everyone. My
name is Emma Baptist. I am the director of the middle school band. Um, so tonight I brought with me u members of the select band, which is a group I started um maybe about three years ago. Um, I just kind of noticed there were a
lot of um, school events that were happening after school or in the evenings and I felt like they could use a little bit of music for them. So, I kind of started this group and it's really for students that um, really embody what it means to be a band student in Medford. So, they're
exceptional musicians. They work really hard. Um, great social skills and um, they're really good kids. So, some of them have been in this group with me for um, one year, two years, three years. Um, and actually I just want to draw some attention to to Charles and Grace.
Can you guys just raise your hands for a second? So, Charles and Grace actually started the band program. Um, five years ago. They're both in eighth grade now. Uh, five years ago is when we started the fourth grade band program. Um, so it was our first year with that program, brand new to fourth grade, and they were
two of the original students that um, joined in fourth grade. They're on the same instruments that they played five years ago. And um so it just, you know, just goes to show um all the hard work that we put into this program and to give really great experiences to these students. Um so I'm going to stop
talking. They're going to play for us. Um they're going to play three pieces. Um Living on a Prayer, uh Twist and Shout, and Enter Sandman by Metallica. Um that piece was actually um requested by one of the saxophone players, Ben. Um Ben has been with me for four years, and
this was a song that he has asked for literally for four years. So I I thought, okay, now's the time. He's in eighth grade, so we'll play this one. And um we hope you enjoy. And then at the end, three of them are just going to kind of speak to their experience in band. So thank you so much for having us, too.
>> Thank you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Everloo. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Where are you?
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. very Um, so the three students that are going to be speaking tonight are um all eighth graders. So we have Noah and then Liliana and Ben. >> Hi everyone. My name is Noah. Uh I'm in
eighth grade and I've been in the bang program since fifth grade. I play both the alto and the baritone saxophones. Uh, I probably picked the saxophone because it sounded cool and looked funky. Um, all my teachers and directors have been phenomenal and they've always helped me and others improve our skills.
The band program means a lot to me. Out of all the years I've been in it, I've had nothing but great experiences and I've met some really awesome and cool people through it. Hello, my name is Liliana and I'm in eighth grade. I've played the clarinet since sixth grade, but I've been in band since fifth. I originally played the
bell kit, but after I found out that my mom used to play clarinet in high school, I promptly switched over. I never thought I'd actually stay in band, but after sixth grade, I found myself loving it and the people who did it with me. Now band is one of the most important things in my life with me doing middle school band, select band,
and high school marching band. I'm so glad that I pushed myself and went to band camp when I was 11. Uh, hi. My name is Ben. Uh, I play alto and tener saxophone. Uh, I've been part of the band program since fifth grade. Uh, I first joined because my dad said it would be a great opportunity to get
better acquainted with music and, uh, boy was he right. Uh, though that didn't stop me from complaining about it every second I could. Um, once I started playing, I was hooked. I re I'm really glad I stuck with it because I've learned so much and enjoyed it every step of the way. Uh, my first year was
amazing. I was the only student to sign up, so I pretty much got private lessons, which was awesome. Uh, I even got an epic solo on It's a Small World. Um, since then, the band program has grown a lot. For starters, I'm not alone anymore. Um, I even got a chance to see what the uh, new fifth grade classes
were like, and it was huge. Uh, I felt amazing looking back and seeing how much it had changed. Um, band is one of the only classes I actually look forward to in the school day. It sure beats doing algebra. Um, all in all, the band program is amazing and it's a wonderful opportunity that is available for
everyone. >> Miss Baptiste, we're just going to do a quick picture. If you and the students could come in the middle, please. Thank you. That was wonderful. Um, next up we have MCCAST results and accountability. Um, I'll invite Dr. Kim Talbot, our assistant superintendent of
academics and instruction up along with Dr. Nicole Kaza, director of humanities. Roco Sieri, director of science, Dr. Fisa Khan, director of mathematics, and Chelsea McNiff, director of English learners services. Welcome everybody.
>> And I'm going to pass it over first to Dr. Galooi. >> Thank you very much. Um, so as Madame Mayor just said, uh, Dr. Kim Talbett, our assistant superintendent for academics and instruction, and her team are here this evening to present on our
accountability data. This is an important presentation in where they will review the components of DESI's accountability uh rating using the MCCAST results as well as the access or English language profic proficiency.
Accountability data serves as a diagnostic tool for us to identify where students are thriving and where additional resources or instructional shifts are needed. As you know, for the past two years, we have really been focusing a lot of our work on
strengthening our instructional planning and practices. This continued work is pivotal and has provided us with insights to inform our upcoming strategic planning process. Capturing this data is critical and will serve as
a foundation for us for our long-term goals. This evening, Dr. Talbot and her team are going to go through the framing of the presentation and the specific department results. We do ask if you
could hold your questions until the end. The slide deck is numbered by pages and would just be helpful for you to see like the arc of the presentation from the beginning to the end. Without further ado, turn it over. There you go.
>> This is the academic version of Metallica that you just heard. That's what our team is. So, we hope you enjoy our presentation as much as Enter Sandman that you just heard. So, as Dr. Galooi said today, we're going to report on the state academic testing results
and accountability from last spring. So in our agenda which is a little lengthy but it's important um we are going to talk about why the MCCAST matters and framing for state accountability the Medford accountability data from last spring and then district MCCAST
achievement and growth result by department. I'll be joined by Dr. Kesa, Dr. Khan, uh Mr. Sier and Miss Mcniff to present the findings from their department. Uh, Miss McDuff will talk about the access outcomes with a little bit of framing. This might be the first time
you've heard this presentation, so we want to make sure you understand what access looks like and we'll talk about some district trends um, and next steps. And as always, the appendix that follows this has all the data that you could possibly want along with the Desi website. So, accountability and why MCCAST still
matters even though it's not a graduation requirement anymore. So the MCAST supports our instructional vision by helping us stay data informed and work toward high quality instructional practices. These are two critical components of our instructional
vision. The MCCAST is one measure of data that we use to inform our instruction from the student level through the classroom, school, and department level. The information in MCCAST provides us
Whoops, a little dark here. Provides us to help serve our students. It should be noted also that even though it's not a graduation requirement, a passing score on the grade 10 ELA MCCAST is a requirement for students earning the seal of biiteracy. So the MCCAST, though not a graduation requirement, still
matters. So we're fortunate to be to be paired with the new teacher project TNTP. So any slides you see with this logo in the bottom left were graciously loan to us by them. TNTP is a vast research and advocacy group and they've been working on
answering the question, how can young people's experiences become true engines of economic and social mobility. Their 2018 report, The Opportunity Myth, demonstrated that most students, and especially students of color, those of
low-income families, those with mild to moderate disabilities, and English learners, spend the vast majority of their school days missing out on four crucial resources: great appropriate assignments, strong instruction, deep engagement, and teachers with high
expectations. This is national data. In 2024, Paths of Opportunity, their next um publication, shared the five factors that all young people need to create widespread access to economic and
social mobility, which we'll discuss in our next slide. TNTP's new research center of excellence is currently researching each of the factors um that I'll mention on the next slide of mobility and critically exploring the connection between them.
So these five factors for economic and social mobility include academics, a strong academic foundation, career connected learning, social capital, personal support,
civic engagement, all with a strong foundation of belonging with the student at the center. Today, we're going to highlight some of TNTP's research on the importance of providing a strong academic foundation for all students and how that intersects
with our work in Medford and the role that MCCAST can play in helping us measure it. This slide is of national data. This national data reflects the real life impact of strong academic outcomes on the economic and social mobility in
adulthood, namely the ability to earn a living wage by the age of 30. The bottom row represents that high school students experiencing poverty, excuse me, the bottom line is that high school students
um sorry the bottom row is of of is of high school students of not lowinccome background regardless of their academic um engagements, academic experience.
And the row, second row up there is students of low income background who experience strong academic outcomes. You can see the impact of a strong academic outcome on low-income students in closing the gap for them to earn um a
living wage by the age of 30. This matters to Medford because currently nearly a third of our students are reported as lowincome. The chart on the bottom shows the percent of students enrolled in honors or AP courses at Medford High School
over the past three years with the most recent year on the left. Like the others above, the black bars represent non-low-income students while the red bar represents low-income students. We're happy to report that there has
been a slight increase in the percent of all students enrolled in honors and AP courses over the last three years, but the gaps between the percent of low-income and non-lowome lowincome students is closing only slightly, but the gap still remains persistent.
To be clear, this chart is a lagging indicator that represents that says as much about the K8 student experience as our high school experience. High school teachers have clear entrance criterias for these rigorous courses and it's our job to make sure our students are ready
to engage. This next slide represents national data again from TNTP. Part of TNTP's nationwide research involved collecting samples of classroom assignments and student work. When they graded the assignments, they
asked if kids met the demands of the assignments. And the answer was yes, 71% of the time. But then they graded those same assignments and they asked the question if students met the demands of the grade level standard. and they were only to a able
to answer yes 17% of the time nationwide. This is nationwide data. That 54 percentage point gap is full of assignments that did not give kids a chance to meet the demands of the standards. And that means that kids are
getting good grades and succeeding on content that's not building a ladder of success for them throughout the grades. So given that nationwide data, it is reasonable to assume that something similar might also be happening in our
community. And this chart represents students in grades 6 through 10 and the percent of students that ended last year with a grade of an A or B in any MCCAST tested subject.
And it shows the percent of students who those same students who in the spring of last year earned a meets or an exceeds on the MCCAST. And this makes total sense because our teachers love our students. The care that our teachers have for our
students is clear every time you visit a classroom or enter the school doors. Our teachers want our students to be happy and feel confident and feel successful and know that they are loved. And often that translates into asking students to
do work that is below their grade level so that they don't struggle and so they're not upset. Teachers are working hard to create a sense of belonging for students. And let's be clear, without that sense of belonging, students would not be able to access any learning.
In every classroom visit, it is clear how much Melrose teachers love their students and how hard they are working to create a climate of community and belonging. Medford, what did I say? Oh my goodness,
I meant Medford. I am so sorry. And success on grade level standards also matters. And for our lowincome students, it matters a lot. And so the state checks like an audit to
help remind Medford and every other district of how important it is in addition to belonging that students achieve at grade level so that they have an opportunity to thrive and experience social and economic independence.
And that is why the MCCAST still matters even though it's not a graduation requirement any longer. So the MCCAST also those outcomes are also part of the state framework for accountability, but they're not the only part because the MCCAST matters, but it's not the only thing that matters.
The state's framework for district accountability and assistance is a coherent structure for linking the state's accountability and assistance activities with district based on their level of need and provide schools and district leaders with common indicators and tools for assessing assessing
systems and practices, diagnosing challenges and identifying appropriate interventions. The purpose of the accountability system is to provide clear, actionable information to families, community members, and the public about district
and school performance. Additionally, the accountability system helps the state to direct resources and assistance. I have lots of details about how this is calculated, but I know you've heard it before. I'm going to read the room
and answer them in questions if you have them at the end of the presentation. Great. So, uh, Bedford's accountability from last year. So, this is a chart of all of the schools and the district, uh, accountability is at the top with red.
As a district, you can see we made moderate progress toward the state target. and generally do not need overall assistance. However, our accountability rating decreased five percentage points as indicated by the red downward-facing
arrow next to 45. As a result of our accountability ratings, one of our schools does qualify for targeted assistance and we are thrilled to have been paired with TNTP, who I mentioned earlier, in a learning acceleration network for the next
several years as a state funded effort to help improve outcomes for our students. So, I'm about to turn it over to my colleagues, my esteemed colleagues to present their discipline specific um results from the MCCAST. But before I do
that, I wanted to provide a highle view of outcomes to illustrate some symbols to make it easier to read um later on in the presentation and also to set a broader context. This high-level data does not provide
actional actionable data, but rather it's directional data. What you are looking at is the average of all of the MCCASTs taken of all of the students of all of the grades at all of the levels as represented on the chart. Big picture
high elevation. The overall district outcomes are in the first row. The arrows indicate the relationship between this year and the prior year. So this year 41% of students met or exceeded expectations
as an aggregate. This was an increase from the previous year is illustrated by the upward- facing green arrow. Generally, we look to see a high number and green arrows facing upwards showing an increase in the percent of students
scoring meets or exceeds. The second column shows that 19% of students were not meeting expectations. This was the same number as last year as indicated by the dash next to the number 19.
In this column, what we want to see is as low a number as possible and arrows facing down. Ideally, the column on the left, arrows facing up, high number in the middle, arrows facing down, low number, like what's illustrated here. That's the
direction we want to see. The third column indicates the scaled score. The scaled score represents a student's outcome on the assessment. These scale scores are divided into quartiles that signal proficiency ratings for each test. We know these as
exceeds meets needs improvement not meeting. In Medford last year the scaled score was 494. This is the same as the prior year. Looking at the scaled score is helpful
for two reasons. First, it helps to show improvement in achievement that may not be captured by movement in quartortiles. For example, if a student who had been scoring 450 and now scores 469, we'll see an increase in scaled score, but
it's not enough to move out of their category. Looking at scaled scores can help us um can help us notice my contacts are not settling for me. I'm sorry. can help us notice and celebrate any change in
outcomes in a more nuanced way, much more actionable. Secondly, the scaled score is what is associated with the RIIT score that students receive on our benchmark data from the NWEA MAP testing.
This helps directors and principles, many of whom are on the call and in the audience right now, and teachers set and track their interim proficiency targets in that data-informed way that is part of our instructional vision. I wanted to leave you with this last
slide which is the highle data. One last view of that high-level chart shows the gap between non-l low-income students and low-income students in our district overall. Closing these gaps is our commitment to
this community. I'm going to step aside for Dr. Kesa to present the ELA, the civics, and results. Thank you, Dr. Talbot. Good evening, everybody. Is that okay? All right.
I'm going to start with the civics MCCAST. Um, as a reminder, civics is taken by our eighth grade students and civics um, MCCAST exam has been piloted over the past few years. So, this is the
first year where we have hard data and therefore you won't see a comparison in the documents that were provided to you for years past because it wouldn't be um a a solid comparison. Just as a basic reminder, the civics
MCCAST um has two components to it. It has what we call a state level performance task. That's where the students are given one of the seven topics that you see listed there and they are asked to create constructed and
also respond selected questions um on one of those topics in depth. The second component of the exam is asking students the entire breadth of the grade 8 civics curriculum. Um for
this one there's 32 selected questions. So this year our eighth grade students took the civics MCCAST and we have a few I think the next slide is yes once again I don't have my glasses with me but I do have my slides.
So what you will see is um you will see that in this slide is giving you um how we did as a district and then where we um needed some improvements. The following slide is going to
thank you differentiate for you the different categories of how the state looks at the how the state structures civic. So you'll see three main categories and from there you can see where Medford how Medford fared in
comparison to the state. You can see for foundations of government and for government structures we were on par with the state and for rights and responsibilities we dipped two percentage points below the state. So in analyzing this and again we have
one grade that takes social studies MCCAST so I can't compare it to other grades as well um nor do I have past data but what I could do was pull out some celebrations some opportunities for growth and I wanted to share with you
some action steps that we are taking and that we have been undergoing throughout this school year. So, our celebrations are essentially on par with the state other than the rights and responsibilities. We were um very close to meeting the state for exceeding and
meeting expectations and we performed well um on two out of the three domains. We'd like to see it get above the state um but we were happy we were on par with two out of those three opportunities for growth. I did a significant deep dive and I did this
with the eighth grade civics teachers um for two different professional development days as well where we really saw some discrepancies were between subgroups um and we saw a need for more targeted instruction for those particular subgroups. We also need to
consider with civics we have students that you know um have never been are new to Massachusetts. So a lot of that foundational pieces that they maybe got in fifth grade um here in math in Medford they wouldn't have. So there's some catching up to do with that. And so
we have been working on finding ways in which to bridge some gaps with prior knowledge and um there's certainly some work to be done in the rights and responsibilities um domain overall um beyond just the subgroups.
In terms of action steps, we were able to partner with the center for civic education this year. They have provided two valuable professional development opportunities to the teachers and um we specifically looked at certain topics
within there um and looked at to see what implication of that topic had on our MCCAST results. This year the state the state will be testing on topic three which is the institutions of United States government
as the one in which they'll delve more deeply into. So we've been working um to prepare a little bit more intensely now that we have the topic ahead of time in that specific category. We've worked closely with the teachers to ensure cohesivity across the eighth grade
social studies classrooms. they've really appreciated having some professional development specific to them. Um, and we will continue data analysis with teachers to better un continue to better understand student needs, see where those gaps lie and how
we can support them all. That concludes the civics. Does anyone have any questions for me on civics? Oh, we're doing questions. I'm sorry. All right. So, we'll move to ELA. So, this year we had some
celebrations and we also found a lot of areas of growth. A reminder that this year the grade 10 um MCCAST was no longer a graduation requirement. So we expected we may see a little bit of a dip compared to previous years. This
basically spells out for you where we saw growth and where we saw decline. The next slide really pulls that out for you or I think the next slide is actually growth. So let's look at the growth for a moment. Overall, um although we fell below the state in
several grades, we did experience typical growth um for each grade um with two schools falling a little bit below typical growth. Take a look at that.
When we go over to the summary, we have some celebrations. One of the celebrations is that we did all demonstrate growth in the typical range. So while we fell under the state in some grades, we do know that the students continued to experience growth.
Grade three and five significantly exceeded state averages in the exceeding meeting expectations category, which we were very pleased about, particularly with all the hard work that has been done at the elementary level and with the new program. Um, thanks to your generosity that we were able to
purchase. And we see that over 2024 when we compare to 2024 we do see an increase in each grade in the percentage in which they um achieved exceeding and meeting. This year also offers us um opportunities for growth. We have
several grades that did fall below state performance levels which usually does not happen in in ELA. So we are digging deep to see where that is lying and we've been doing a considerable amount of work looking at the domains the standards um and at times the questions
to see where um we need to dig a little deeper. We've also closely analyzed the subgroups to see if there is a particular um subgroup that may need some additional um reinforcement as we
um continue to um push forward with reading, writing, and grammar. Um the decline in grade four is a little bit confusing to me because it negates the when they were third graders their success. So been digging very deeply and to see what
happened there. Um but that is certainly an opportunity for growth and we have two schools that fell below the typical growth range. So what are we doing about this? Um this year on the action steps we are applying intentional targeted placement and analysis for our literacy
intervention classes at the middle school. We currently have one literacy interventionist. This is tier 2 support not not tier three. We have one specialist at each school and we worked hard over the summer to
um resequence the way in which students could enter that class. That's a class that not all students take, but the students that have been identified with um different data points will take that class in lie of a challenge class perhaps um or something like that. Um,
so we did make sure that we had a solid scope and sequence, a solid plan that was cohesive across both schools. Um, and that targeted placement plan has played out this year. I'm also working very closely with special education and the English learner department along with each
principal as we look at the targeted interventions and we look at where um we have some um additional supports um that are needed um for those for different schools as well as um the different departments at the middle school level at the
secondary level really um I've also begun a PLC to look at the curriculum um and potentially be asking you all um for some support in purchasing um either a writing program,
a comprehensive literacy program, grammar program, something to that effect. That's what's being decided now and explored um at the middle at the secondary level. And I think we can see that when we look at our scores and we see the decline over the past few years that that is a level that needs a little
bit um more support with high quality instructional materials. And the last action step which I think are kind of already alluded to was looking closely at the subgroups also the domain analysis on where the declines were. We've also used MAP considerably to see
um where we need some additional support. For example, just last week grade 10 was looking at the most recent MAP scores. Uh we saw a big lag informational text for the students um in terms of their ability to answer multiple choice questions reading comp
withformational text. So, we've made um multiple changes actually over the course of this year to insert even moreformational pieces within each unit. I think that's my last slide. Yes, I think I'm turning it over to Dr. Khan.
>> Thank you very much for your time >> and questions at the end, right? >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you for having me here. Um so I'm here today to present the MCCAST results for um grades uh three
through 10. Um and next. Yes, thank you so much. So um as we are looking at this first slide um I was I I I was expecting this year's results
to be um on on the same trend as last year's. Um uh however um I saw certain places where we took um a dip sometimes of even 1% and that's one thing that or
2% and that's one thing that Dr. Talbot uh mentioned is that with these downwards arrow or upwards arrows it's difficult to show the exact dip. Um what we see is a is a dip. Um I'm hopeful
that um we will be through our action steps these um downwards going arrows will uh be hopefully turning into upwards going arrows um for next year. Uh but for this year we noticed that um
the exceeding and and meeting uh in grade seven um went up. Um, grade seven has um held in in both schools held their their upward swing and then the the not meeting for the seventh grade
actually went down this year as compared to last year and it was almost on par with the with the with the state. Um, and so when we go on to the next slide, uh, that's where you see the student
growth percentile for the for for the grades. Um we saw a couple of high growths uh which was at the McGlin 7th grade uh 61% and McGlin at the fifth grade also 61%.
Um two of them uh two of the schools at at fourth grade level um were not um in in the um typical growth. um everyone else kind of fell all the other
grades at the other schools fell in the typical growth. So two high growth um two low growth and um other than that uh pretty much most of them all of them um are at the typical growth level. Thank
you. Right. So celebrations um I mentioned the first one that all grades except grade four at the two schools um they showed growth in the typical range um and uh two were at the at the higher um range. Grade three and seven
significantly uh exceeded last year's averages and they were on par with the state averages in the exceeding and meeting expectations. um not meeting expectations. I thought I should highlight it because um as we saw
the downwards arrow uh doesn't indicate much was within 3% point of the state for grades three through six and grade 8 and also not too far from from last year's grade seven SGP for both schools grew such that um the overall grade
seven SGP was seven points higher than the last year's and of course we saw the higher growth um of 61% We are always looking for opportunities for growth. So while we improved over
2025 um and experienced typical growths in in most of the grades, several grades were below the state performance level when it came to uh meeting or exceeding. Uh that's where we saw see the opportunity for growth. grades four and
eight experience the largest meeting and exceeding expectations district to state differential and um and that that is on our radar. Um so grade four last year also uh was on our radar. We have
continued our work uh with the with the with that team. So twice a year uh we have been um reviewing student work at the elementary level with all classrooms classroom teachers during common planning time. So
I did that round earlier in nove in October and November where we asked teachers to bring a set of student work to see how they are performing um what's what's going on in the individual classrooms. We had a great discussion using a particular template um that I um
I um used from achieve the core. So this year um I will uh be continuing the work with the new um with with the fourth grade team. Uh a couple of members are new around the district as as they always are. And I'll have
another touch point um discussion uh meeting. Um we already had the December one. I'm planning on having one in February and March. Um I look at the work that needs to be done to address the lowcoring domain and standards. We
have started work um at the high school level. We started uh in our October meeting in the middle schools. We started in our November meeting. Um it's important to look at where the foundations are. Uh a lot of foundations
uh for the proportions and ratios that happens at the middle school happens at the fourth grade level. uh in mathematics when it comes to fractions and and uh doing the basic operations on fractions. So we have looked at those scores um and we have done a vertical um
um alignment on on how how that has impacted our work on equations and expressions in in upper grades. We have been having discussions with teachers during department meeting times at the secondary level to understand the challenges within the particular domain.
As I mentioned, fractions, equations, and expressions, they're the foundations for pre-alggebra and algebra. And um that's where uh we see a lot of um room for improvement. Um we have been providing resources to guide Saturday
academy and extended day teachers at the high school level. Um we have offered SDM math intervention and extension PLA platforms for grades K through five. two of the schools are um using a particular grant um and um we hope that that the
data as I'm looking at it from in in at those two school levels is showing um that students are completing STM math and I'm I'm am hopeful that next year we'll see improvement um in those um areas is a very puzzle-based fun um
online platform reviewing the map data with teachers on the particular dom domains. Um we have been doing that um alongside MCCAST. Ever since MCCAST results came out, we looked at those. We have been trying to align that with the MCCAST data. And sure enough, in most of
the cases, we do see alignment. Um we see that wherever students have shown low growth on M on MAP, it's indicative of their scores on MCCAST. As Dr. Talbbert mentioned that the scale scores
um are are indicative of um how they are doing on MAP and vice versa. So um planning professional development to extend the knowledge of K through veteran elementary teachers. Um we did that we have uh had the Turk um team
come up and train our K through2 teachers in academic discourse. uh and they emphasized on particular domains that happened at the November PD um and that uh we uh at the beginning of each year for our new teachers we provide um
a short training on how to use Turk and what the pedagogy is behind this explorations based program so that um when they understand the pedagogy that's that's what what they will implement in the classroom. We have been working on subgroups data uh during department
meetings and even uh and and during PD uh for example in the January PD one of um our uh middle school teachers um offered uh two and a half hour PD to our all of our secondary teachers on how to use data, how to make student uh how to
make uh students feel a s get a sense of belonging and how to keep it engaging at the same time that we are um you know delivering grade level instruction. So we have been thinking a lot about task that the teachers are providing for the students u as compared to the product
that they're getting back from the students. So again looking at student work is very important essential for our work in math and we have been setting benchmark and targets using map and crossing it over to MCCAST as in what
what's the score in MAP and um what will it translate into when our students current students will take MCCAST and we have set some targets uh based on that and um that concludes my uh presentation and off to Mr.
for science. >> Good evening everyone. Um, so we're going to take a look at the science data. Uh, let me just my computer up just so that I can see where. >> If you all want to sit down, like please
feel free. Yes, please relax. Seems like we're going to be here for a while. There aren't as many slides for science, but I'll start quickly. There are less tests, so uh there's less to to discuss.
Um so last year, uh the fifth grade and the eighth grade science MCCAST are were pilot exams. Um this included new question formats, which we went over last year, so I'm not going to review those again. Um this is the second year
of the pilot. This year all of the communities in Massachusetts participated. Um the test is administered over two days typically like a like an MCCAST exam. The first day is the um traditional exam and the next day is
something called a performance task where they have multiple questions based on a more interactive type of um format. So, uh, based on the testing, uh, the grade five exam, uh,
demonstrated some growth. Um, the grade eight exam also demonstrated some growth and the grade nine exam demonstrated some growth. um as you can see in the chart just to I did have to write the numbers down because arrows for me again
are a little um it's less data data informed so it's difficult to see but in 2004 grade five scored at the exceeds and meets at 40% so they're up six percentage points. Um, grade 8 was at 32%, they're at 35%, three percentage
points there. And, uh, grade uh, high school was at 51%, they're at 58%. Um, at for those levels. Um in grade uh in grade five for the not meeting they
were at 25% they went down six percentage points um went down five percentage points in grade eight and went up three percentage points in grades nine and 10. Um you can also see oops we went quickly. Uh you can also
see that the the scaled scores are they're kind of commenurate with the other um tests you've seen so far. Maybe the exception to the rule right now is the grade eight uh sorry grade nine and 10 exam where we're up above
500. Um which is good to have. It's good news. Um we'd like to continue that growth in the high school. It's been year-over-year growing. Um, you know, we we kind of have a couple of conjectures as to why that might be happening. We've got a pretty stable
group of teachers that are teaching the biology course. Um, the biology course teaches in a storyline fashion. So, they're recurring themes and strategies that they have to use throughout the year. So, we think these types of adjustments over the course of the last
three to four years have really um allowed students to really comprehend what they were learning in biology. So, we hope to continue that. We haven't changed it. Um, we don't want to change what's working. So, um, in terms of last year, what we tried
to do, we noticed a little bit of a weakness with the grade eight. So, we, um, we took the curriculum and we really broke it down in the grade nine to support the learners early on. It seems that we've had a little success in that.
Um there was some challenges at the schedule within the schedule at the elementary school that was sort of um brought into the conversation when the uh when the new negotiating uh contract came through. So there it's a new
schedule and um at grades K to2 we've been using some of that PD time on November 4th and January to work on some of these ideas around what each unit is supposed to be covering um for uh the grade levels.
Um at the middle school I think you know we still have to look more deeply at the program uh just given that we're a little bit stagnant there. Um but we have introduced a challenge course um which has shown a lot of um sort of
energy with the kids. You've heard of it earlier in the year. Uh we're going to continue that and then start to look a little look very deliberately at what's going on in middle school in terms of a program. We have some good ideas. Uh we've seen what works with the high school students. We think there are some
opportunities to be able to do that with um and I don't I don't anticipate a a significant cost on that because some of these things are available for um for free. You just buy materials and so it will be it will be a good a good
addition for us moving forward. I did put this um domain score in because oftentimes we never really see what is going on in the different domains of the sciences. In fifth grade,
kids take the the four sciences. Um in ninth and tth, they only take one. They only take the life sciences. So, how are we doing with trying to um teach kids about all of the different sciences? And it's been fairly steady over the course
of the last four years, but in particular, you can see that across all four grades, uh, sorry, across all four domains, um, there's pretty consistent data. The gray bar is the state data and the blue bar is, uh, the district data. So, we are in line with the state and
also seeing that all of the different domains are being covered pretty well, uh, by FOS right now. Um initially I I suspected something was going on in tech tech engineering because we don't really um you know foss is heavy on the other three domains but it seems to be holding
its own for uh for reasons at at this point some of it probably comes from the technology department but also uh some pieces coming out from um the foss that's done some of the creative parts that are put in so that's where I think that is coming from but we'll have to
explore that as well seems like a strength as well which is unusual. And finally this year um again five grades five and eight were looking really good. We see that they have a broad knowledge base at grade five. Um the 910 scores continue to show a
positive trend. Um one of the things that I do want to discuss is that we've been adding these data tools such as the graphs that you've seen uh this evening. um they've been really helpful in helping us understand the relationship between a MAP score and a MCCAST score
and we've done some analysis on that showing some positive correlations. Why that is important in science is because we're giving MCCAST tests over the course of years like you you take it in fifth grade, you take it in eighth grade with no understanding of what's
going on in between those years. um and having map data track with MCCAST data, we can use the annual data that we get on a buy, you know, twice a year to be able to say what we're what we're what we're trying to get at and set some targets with
that. So, I'm really excited about the prospect of how we're going to use that data and uh working with grade level CPT meetings to support that. Again, I've already discussed the middle school as we review curriculum programs and then the high school program is going to
continue to expand offerings in new areas. Um you'll probably hear about them later on um in the school year as budgets become thing um more important, but they'll be introduced incrementally and available to all students. I'm excited about them, but I don't want to
talk about them tonight. Um I'm going to introduce my colleague, uh Miss McNiff. talk about EL and access. >> Thank you. So, um we're going to switch gears a little bit and shift to a
different part of the district's accountability um and look at access results. Access is the state's annual assessment for English learners and it plays a different um but equally important role in the our accountability.
While MCCAST measures content mastery, access measures students ability to access that content through academic language. So, it's measuring their English language development. Together, these assessments, I think, give us a fuller picture of opportunity, of
access, and of progress um for the EL population in Medford. And I want to just look at this slide and um start broadly and give a brief overview of the test. Access is is administered annually to English learners in grades K through 12 in
January and February. We're almost done with 2026 testing. Um and it measures proficiency across four domains, listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Um it these domains align directly to how students engage in classrooms. We received the results in
late May and these results are used for instructional planning, program placement, and determining when students are ready to exit EL services. So, in Medford, we currently serve 522 English learners, representing about 13%
of our student body. Um and if you include former English learners, students who have exited um EL services, that number is 879. Access data matters because it informs our instructional decisions in accountability. And for accountability
purposes, only the percentage of students meeting their annual progress target is counted, not their overall proficiency. This means that it's fundamentally a growthbased measure. So before we look at the actual data, I
did just want to define these terms a little bit with a little bit more detail. Um Massachusetts defines English proficiency using both a composite score and a literacy score. Um they're called the exit criteria and students are considered English proficient according
to Massachusetts when they have achieved an overall of 4.2 and a literacy score of 3.9. But like I said, the accountability focuses on progress. So with the exception of newcomer students and kindergarteners, every student receives
an individualized progress target based on where they're starting and how long they've been enrolled in Massachusetts schools. The state also assigns a difficulty index which helps us understand how ambitious the target is for a given student. And for our data, I
think that this context is really important when interpreting the results because students who arrive in the United States at older ages have fewer years to reach proficiency. So, they are expected to make larger gains each year. This gives them a higher difficulty
index, meaning it's objectively harder for them to meet their progress targets even when they are improving. So students who enter in grades K through five have more time to learn English and usually have lower um difficulty targets. So with that in
mind, this slide shows the percentage of students meeting their access progress targets by grade level compared to the states. And in previous slides, the red and green arrows reflect changes from last year's results, not the comparison
to the state. Um, we see particularly strong performance in grades 6 through 12, most notably 7, 8, and nine, where Medford not only outperforms the state, but also shows year-over-year increase in the percentage of students meeting
their progress targets. So, given that difficulty index, which accounts for how challenging their targets are, these secondary results are especially impressive. At the same time, the K to5 results um
are are less impressive. They're highlighting an area of concern. Most elementary grades trail the state and fewer students are meeting their progress targets overall. When students do not meet their progress targets at earlier grades, this is more
concerning as it it may signal early instructional gaps that can compound over time. We can go to the next one. It's a lot of numbers here, but I have illustrations. So, breaking access down
by domain, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, helps us identify instructional priorities and see exactly where students are struggling to make progress. So, this domain level data highlights reading as the key challenge in grades one through five. Compared to
this year's state results and to last year's MPS data, elementary students student students are less likely to score um at a level four in reading on access. Um so to me, this signals a need for earlier, more explicit alignment between
their language development and their core literacy instruction. But in contrast, we see strong outcomes at the secondary level. Students in grades 9 through 12 are outperforming the state and in reading and writing is
a clear strength in grades 7 through 11. Speaking remains the weakest domain across K to 12. Um this pattern is typical statewide but the data does indicate that MPS is struggling more than the state overall. um reinforcing the need for more intentional and
structured opportunities for oral language development as we build on those literacy strengths and skills. So to summarize, there are some really important celebrations here. Like I said, grades six through 12 exceed the state exceed the state averages. Um
grades seven through nine are standing out. Grade one also deserves recognition as it had the highest percentage points, the highest percentage of students meeting their targets districtwide. At the same time, like I said, the majority of students K through 12 are
not meeting their targets and K through 5 is struggling across all four domains. The data points us towards areas for growth. At the elementary level, students need stronger, more consistent access to language development with
their core literacy instruction. At the middle school level, we see an opportunity to connect strong writing instruction to improved reading outcomes. And across all grades, speaking stands out as an area requiring
explicit structured support. So in response, we've identified several action steps at K to5. The newcomer programs are strengthening their alignment with core literacy curricula. We've had targeted professional development on this and we are
continuing our partnership with Hill. Districtwide, we're expanding intentional opportunities for academic discourse and speaking at the middle school. Targeted literacy intervention is taking place during challenge blocks with a dedicated EL coach. And at the
secondary level, we're re revising scopes and sequences to increase access to grade level texts. And we're reviewing the curricula. We're reviewing some curricula aligned to both Common Core and WEDA standards. Finally, we're building educator
capacity to use access data more effectively and introducing student goal setting earlier to support their ownership of language growth. Um, so I'm thankful for my team, my new team, um, our educators, our leaders, and the students for their support of
our English learners across the district. Thank you. So, I'm going to bring it home with the end of um some overall action steps that we've been engaging in this year and beyond. I hope you're as impressed with our team
as I am and the way that they've leveraged this data to make informed decisions throughout the course of this year and then also looking forward. This is one of our prime instructional vision components. Um, and I'm really proud of
the presentation that you heard tonight. So, these are the priorities for Medford Public School that have been in action throughout the course of this year. As you can probably tell, our leadership team, including the other directors and building leaders, has been acting on the
data throughout the 2526 school year. While this list here is not exclusive, these actions fall broadly into the categories of focusing on academic discourse and grade level task, highquality instructional professional
development, student centered data analysis in planning, learning walks, and continued and expanded partnerships for academic uh instructional vision of
the district. So more specifically within those categories, we are really focusing on academic discourse and grade level tasks, but broadly we are empowering educators
through highquality instructional professional development. We've had small groupoup training from our partners Hill for Literacy for teachers in grades three through five in both November and in January. Unbound Ed continues to provide strong
instructional guidance for our 6 through 12 educators in ELA and math through their standards institute and all teachers in grades 9 through 12 through their modules. As Fisa mentioned, uh Turk has come in to also provide professional development
um to empower teachers in K to2 for math. We are recommitting to action planning with data. We've revised our templates to be very specific in using data, naming data, and creating action plans
that are well actionable. I should have brought my computer like Roco did. It is so small. Is it smart? Thank you. And the last part is bringing open architect, which is a data platform that Rocco mentioned to help equip all
of our educators and having data at our fingertips that's dynamic, that lets us dig deep where we need to and look at broad pictures where we also need to. We also are working hard to equip our instructional leaders. Learning walks have taken place exhaustively throughout
um all of the schools this year. And it's not just walk, it's walk and action. And these walks are done in partnership with our coaches from Lynch, with our consultants from Hill, with Dr. Galooi and myself, building leaders, directors, directors, and building
leaders. And they all result in not just looking at what's happening, but providing direct um feedback for our teachers who are working so so hard for our students to ensure that they feel happy and loved in their spaces. Yep. So looking ahead, we know
Yep. So looking ahead, we know that trajectory, changing districts, which is what we want to be here in Medford, are focused on belonging, consistency, and coherence. And this is our plan in looking ahead for 25,26 and
then 26, 27, and beyond. We know that students are experiencing belonging here in our schools when they say things like, "I feel like they make every effort to know who I am as a student and as a person."
In this framework, we'll know that we are being consistent. We are being consistent because we hear things like, "We practice writing every day, and I like that. Each lesson, each day matters." and we'll know that we've hit the mark
in coherence in this framework when we hear young people say things like in math intervention you see lessons and topics a little before your math class. It always helps me with the lessons that I have coming up. We are very grateful with our partnership with TNTP to help
us through these next few years as we build a sense of belonging, consistency, and coherence. So in closing, we will continue to focus on belonging and supporting academic discourse through grade level tasks to
ensure that we build an academic foundation that is strong enough for all of Medford's students and particularly for the students who need us the most so that they can thrive in their careers, in life, and in democracy.
Thank you. So there's a lot of us here to present and if you have questions I don't know Dr. Galissio might it be helpful for people to talk about what area they have questions in so we can invite that leader to come forward. Um thank you for the presentation and thank you all for being here. I think it
was um 60 or so page presentation so we we really appreciate I don't know if the committee has any questions or just a thank you to our panel. Member Master Bony briefly and I think I think Dr. Cha, this is for you. How do we balance
year-over-year data? Right. It's it's easy to get lost in the most recent data. How do we balance that with the long-term trajectory that we've set for oursel? um thinking asking this in this in in anticipation of how we approach strategic planning going forward.
>> I know that's such a great question because what really matters to us are the students in in front of us. We really want them to have a great experience. So I think that's where the strategic plan comes in. We need to set long-term five-year goals that include lots of elements about how students thrive, including academics, so that we
can keep our eye on the long-term goal and still make gains along the way. um that'll help us to weather. Um you heard Dr. Kesa talk about there's some unexpected fluctuations up and down, but having a long-term vision helps us uh maintain that trajectory over a number
of years. Is that your question? >> Member Rouso, >> thank you for the presentation. Um it's hard to have only one or two questions for such a long presentation. Um, one of the earliest slides you, um, brought up
was the discrepancy between students that um, how well they're doing on their assignments versus how well they are meeting expect grade level expectations. Um, and um, you know, one of the things that's
been on my priority list is for us to really dig into equitable grading practices, not dinging kids because their home life isn't perfect. um or they don't have as much support at home. Um and I know there's a lot of
that already happening. My own daughter, for instance, like you can retake your test and you can you can do all kinds of things that when I grew up were literally not a thing. I'm like at first I was like you can just do it over. Um, but of course that makes sense from an
equitable grading perspective is if we're going to grade students on what they know and what they can do rather than their home life or whatever else is going on in their lives. Um, and not give them extra credit because they're
quiet in class. Um, which I'm sure are things that are still happening very much district-wide. Um, but when I look at that slide that says 71% of students are getting A's and B's in six through 10,
um, and then only 38% are meeting or exceeding expectations when I I feel like some of the I get a little nervous because um, would the 71% go up or would it go down or would it go
down for some kids and up for other kids. Um, and uh, I'm wondering if you have parsed that by subgroups. And I don't not looking for you to present it, but this this uh, percent of students
that are getting A's and B's versus meeting expectations or exceeding expectations. Um, have you broken that out by subgroups to try and identify whether equitable grading is uh, something that should be a higher priority? That's such a great question and I want to talk about that slide in
conjunction with the slide before it which talks about the national data. And so the purpose of those two slides is maybe less about grading and more about task. We really need to focus to make sure that students our students will do
whatever med teachers ask them to do. What we need to make sure of is that med for teachers are asking them to do grade level tasks. Even before we talk about equitable grading, even before we talk about test corrections or reds, it is absolutely critical that Medford stand
apart from the rest of the nation and break the trend and ensure that students have grade level tasks in front of them to engage with, to challenge, to grapple with because we know we have the Medford educators there to support them as they grapple. So rather than equitable
grading practices, focusing on the task was the purpose of those slides. >> Thank thank you member Olady. >> Oh okay. Go ahead. >> Member Rouso. Thank you. Um thank you.
That actually does help me understand it. Um and I you also I don't remember who said it. Maybe it was you. Um Dr. But, um, having happy students in your class is obviously a great thing. Um, but as a
parent, I can tell you that when your child comes home and they're struggling and it's really hard, um, they're less joyful to be around. Um, and, um, but that doesn't mean that that isn't a really good thing. Um and um is some of
that what that is also getting at is like having a bunch of students that are all really happy to be there. Um like if you're not struggling ever then you're probably I mean unless you're bored um you're going to be uh in a good mood. Um
but that's not producing the student that the outcomes that we want. Is that >> part of that? This slide just feels to me like it could be a whole presentation, that one data point. >> Yeah. And I'd love to dig in more about that. Um, I haven't taught and designed
a class post pandemic, but we've just experienced a really hard time for a lot of our kids, and you can't be human and not feel that when you look at our students in front of you. You want children to to thrive and not just to be happy, but to feel confident and to feel
like they're part of a community because we didn't have that for a really long time. And I think that's what teachers are grappling with. Wanting to feel students energy and joy and love for each other, respect for each other in the community, which is very very important. It's the most important thing.
And now we need to do the next thing. And can I just just to extend that a little bit because I've mentioned it briefly, but it just aligns right now at this very moment. Just to draw the parallel to some of the things I've said before about you've heard data around
how the majority of our students feel like they have a trusted adult that they can go to. We've talked a lot about belonging, but part of that belonging is not just feeling like there's a trusted adult you can go to. It's also a sense of their academic identity in
classrooms. I feel like a mathematician. I'm recognized as a writer, as a as a scientist. Those are the pieces of belonging that we're trying to now push because those are the pieces where students feel that love and support from
teachers. Now, they need to feel that love and support through the academic rigor of grade level standards. >> Thank you. Um, member Le Pate, >> thank you for this. This is wonderful. Um, I want to go back to the earlier
portion of the slide deck. Um, the five factors of economic and social mobility that TNTP uses as a kind of framing discussion. Um, we talk a ton in education about supporting students in the classroom, but obviously many of those factors also discuss how to support students outside the classroom
as well. Um, understanding that this is how students are thriving. And as we're learning that a lot of the time the curriculum that we're teaching today is not preparing students or students don't feel like they're prepared for college level work or even post post high school um experiences both in professional
development and careers um and in academic life. So, has there been internal discussions about how we're supporting students and then by extension parents and caregivers just the out our community um in engaging students outside the classroom um in those other I guess four um factors
other than just academic foundation. Obviously, that's our main priority in this in this conversation, but I do think that um many parents I've interacted with or people in the community wonder how can we continue to support our students so they feel like they're actually ready for um the day after graduation. Yeah, that's such a
great that is such a great question. I will say that even though we focused on academic foundation, um part of the Gleam framework that Unbound Ed has brought to the high school that we're using in in 6 through 12 talks about making sure that there is an authentic purpose for learning academics. So I
just like want to be clear that it can be through academics that we learn about civic engagement. You just heard Dr. Kesa talk about the grade eight civics work that the grade eight students are doing. We know um that the high school students and their social studies classes are also deeply engaged in civics. We have a student representative
right here who's walking the walk about being engaged in civics. Um so >> and and two online two of our student I just want to make sure that people know Christine and Jaden are online. >> Great. Um
social capital is >> I'm sorry. Social capital is built through those morning meetings through that like that is what teachers are doing day in and day out. They're building that social capital um with their students and uh providing that personal support. That's what Dr. Case was talking about with the intervention
tier one and tier two. So all of this can be found within our curriculum. We need to name it and be really explicit about it um so that we know what to do next for caregivers. >> Yeah. Thank you so much for highlighting that. Member Graham,
>> thank you. Um, as I was listening to the presentation, it seems like the tools that you're using to aggregate the data are becoming more and more important because there's so much data that you have to be able to digest it and parse it. And I think that's all great. Um I
am interested as we go forward in talking about using this kind of data in a in a more evaluative way when we talk about investments that we're making. So for example, we bought a new math curriculum. We did a bunch of things. We
invested in professional development. Did we do it in the same way that they recommended? Yes or no? I whatever that answer is. And now what does that mean? And did that make did that move like a needle in some way? Or like Medford
Academy like last year we um talked about funding Medford Academy at the high school for students who needed additional support which is great like but does it work I think is the other question. And I just in general we don't ever really talk about like that piece
of it. Did it work um in a data driven way? we we tend to get data when we talk about MCCAST and I think MCCAST is a piece of data but it's not necessarily the measure of all of all things data. So, I just think like as we go forward
and we're doing things like academy and some of our like um summer programming that's targeted for students who may be struggling like can we look at those students and say did it work and if it did or it didn't why do we think that is
do we have to make a course correction etc so that we can start to understand like what is moving the needle um because I think like The pro I know we have to have an MCcast presentation. Um, but like the problem with that is it's
completely disconnected from like cause and effect that's happening along the way. And then we get tired of hearing about MCCAST and then move on to the other things. But really there's like if if you're working on improvement, you
should be able to see change happen over time. And I don't think we have in the past done a great job of helping the community understand like what those investments are and and why they matter. Um and I think that's just like
something to think about especially this presentation for MCCAST is like way more cohesive than I've seen. Um it was actually quite short which thank you all very much but I it was it was more guiding through the
data. there was more um there was like a lot more like context and storytelling which makes the difference between like understanding that like I have this pile of data and it's good and it's bad or it's something in the middle versus like here's here's some here's a journey that
we're on and this is how the data is telling us about that that plan or that path. So I think there's just opportunities to to do that when we talk about some of the particular programming like we think we need to get a new curriculum once we get the new curriculum what did that do and can we
see that change over time I think maybe to to Mike's point about seeing change over time versus like I always struggle like what are we comparing like comparing to the state like oh okay like good but also like that doesn't help us
assess our investments quite as directly. So just some thoughts for the future after seeing a completely different presentation than we've seen in the past here. So thank you for that. >> You're welcome. I would like to just respond quickly to say that the people on this team are quite brilliant and I
am glad that we have a data platform that was able to unlock that in a way that you that landed in that way for you. So the open architects platform that we have lets us um access the data systems that were already in existence but in a much more userfriendly and
dynamic way. It lets us be curious and figure out like what happened and what we're going to do next. And it gives us it draws data from a variety of different sources including MCCAST um to help us make those decisions in the moment which I think is what you're getting at. That's going to be critical for us as we continue to use data to
inform our instructional practices. So, thanks for that >> and thanks. Thank you, member Reinfeld. >> Thank you. I echo the thanks and member Graham actually kind of did the big big picture version of some of the littleer questions I wanted to ask. I am really
excited to have tools that allow the data to be actually not just evaluative but formative and so we spend less time waiting through parsing the data and more time saying this is what it means and this is what we can do. Um, and we
could get into a lot of this. I'm really excited to see this reflected in the strategic planning and also as we rethink our elementary and middle school transitions, I think we saw some of those those points being not quite being quite flex in flux. Um, and so as we
rethink what the middle school experience is and what it looks like um, moving from school to school, that'll be really helpful. Um, so the piece I wanted to ask about, uh, so I went back and I did look at last year's presentation which had a lot of these
strategies for action embedded in it and some of them were the same and some of them were different. And so I was curious what looking back at those strategies, not just the investments we've made, but the strategies that we chose, um, which ones we were continuing and which ones we weren't. Um but really
the question I wanted to home in on there there are a lot of strategies of action for um intervening in these places where things went in the direction we didn't want them to go but I'm curious what kind of action how we looked at those the things that made a
positive jump. Um do we know why those positive things happened? Was was there something was there a strategy that we employed a year or two ago that really did pay off and making sure that we're not just focusing on fixing but really understanding where things went well.
>> Can I like have a sidebar for a second? Yeah. >> So I'd like to invite Dr. Khan to talk about um the phenomenon that is seventh grade math outcomes. So um seventh grade uh team is where I have seen um the their collaborative
work. They they spend a lot of time together. both uh teachers at the Andrews and the two teachers at the Miglin have um have taken their own time and collaborate a lot and um they come up with resources um and and um you know
they they plan together and they share resources together that they find. So um I believe the success that we have seen at the seventh grade level is a result of those collaborative efforts. Sometimes I have given provided time
during the department meeting um and at times they have just taken an extra step and done that. So um I'm really proud of their work um and one of the members of the team has been stepping up and providing professional development and
discussing more of the the strategies that the team uses so that that can be mimicked and and used um you know at at other grade levels as well. But I have seen giving teachers more collaborative time, having some strong leaders in the
team um has has made a difference. >> Great. And are there then strategies for baking that into other levels and not just relying on the ability and time of people to step up and do that? I know Dr. Galooi in her um interim report
talked about more teacher leadership opportunities. So I would love to see that baked into more of these areas. >> Yes. And and so so do I. I would love to see it baked as well. Um but I do think that you know it's it's a it's a
combination of mindset and skill set both and um and so we are working on it as as um the teachers the these seventh grade leaders are getting an opportunity in department meetings to share their strategies. what are they using and how
they collaborate together and how they have taken the the newer um hires at the seventh grade level under their wing and so I I I I feel that the whole department is benefiting from it but definitely um you know the the sixth
grade and the eighth grade team um is there's much opportunity for them to to learn and um use it from their from their colleagues because there's nothing rather than observing the peers and um using it and applying it in their
classrooms. So we have used that strategy in math at the middle school level at least. >> Great. Yeah, that's that's always something that I want to see is teachers leading from practice, but also making sure that we're keeping the latest research and best practices that are out
in the field and finding authentic ways, not just learning about them in theory. And I think this data does can provide a bridge for some of that. >> I agree. I agree. One of the seventh grade uh team members who uh provided uh PD for us, Megan Wagner, she has truly
been a trailblazer. She also presented at a conference in October u along with one of her colleagues and she was invited out of um um you know many proposals that were there. So we do see some some some results coming out.
>> Thank you member Russo. Thank you. Um just to kind of um add on to what uh member Graham had said earlier. Um, and I I'm surprised we hadn't thought about this before, but when we purchase a program, it would be good, and I
realize that making promises ahead of time of when you're buying a program is a pretty dicey endeavor, but if you were to say purchase a new program, um, there should be some whether the program says it or we say
it, like we would expect a certain percent increase in year two or three of whatever grade level. Um, and then we can literally put that on a timeline and then I guess part of what I'm also wondering is like
the assumption is that when we buy a new program things will get better, but I think that assumption is not necessarily always true and um so having a literal timeline that shows here were the scores in this grade level. We purchased a
program that year. Implementation year is always, you know, challenging. Um, and then not only did things not get better, they got worse or they got better, a lot better. Um, or nothing changed at all and we just spent a million dollars. Um, so, you know, I
think doing that across the district as we're making some of these purchases and even if they're not costing us anything, as uh Mr. already mentioned um I think would be helpful because um the tale is so long
and the students are changing and the teachers are changing and hopefully you all aren't changing but you know you could change too and having some kind of like way to see that like look three years ago we adopted FS and and in these grades everything got better and in
these grades it didn't get better. So was that FS? Was it implementation, professional development? So um you know I I know that it's just one more thing to keep track of but I think it would be a really important thing to keep track of and also when
we're present when we're presented with other purchases. I think that would be good. >> Yes. Yes. I I just wanted to mention um that um uh all the purchases that we have made the middle school didn't cost
us much because we were using open resources and still doesn't for illustrative mathematics. We have Turk at the elementary level that has cost us money. And at the high school level, we just did the pathway change. Uh we did
not invest heavily in it. Just some online resources and the books. Um and and and all three of them are high quality instructional materials. All all three of them. U they are state-of-the-art. You know what what we are you what we
are using and we were purposeful in selecting them. they were done with with a collaborative effort. Um there have been many many factors and um and and whenever we um adopt a program um the
one thing that has uh that has shown uh results and one thing that does not one thing that we should be careful about is providing teachers a one-time PD and thinking that we are going to expect results from it unless and until we
commit to providing ongoing PD um that that adopting a curriculum is is is is a great thing but it ties into instruction and that's a matter of again mindset and skill set. So I believe that that one
piece if um we can keep that in mind that you know um as the budget is here I will appreciate it. Thank you. I had to I had to do that bit. Sorry Dr. I just wanted to add one thing to both
of your questions which is if we look at um the teachers ability to better understand their data and to spend time on their data really speaks to building the capacity for them to get comfortable with these numbers whether it's the results of a program whether it's a
dibble score whether it's map whether it's mcast so open architects is going to allow us to do some of that which is wonderful but in addition to that it's like building the ability to do that. And I say that as an English and social studies person, not a math person. Um
I've seen a lot of growth um at the elementary level with getting comfortable with data and what do we what does this say? What does this mean? How can I tweak my instruction um to better support the students no matter what the program is? And I've done a lot of that the middle school as well with
the data. Um, and I think that speaks to some of the capacity that you're speaking of is how can we use these numbers not just tonight but regularly and and feel comfortable having those conversations and digging deeper. So, I
just want to add Thank you. >> I just want to add one comment on that. Um, I mean, if just looking at the open architect's website, it's like it it's a very uh revealing um I mean obviously I'm not seeing the actual data for our students or our district. I mean, I am in some reports
you've given us, but it's like here are the students and you know, that's always been my biggest beef with MCCAST is like, oh, 8th grade science is not doing great or is doing great, but those students are gone. They're not being tested again. And I guess we say
whoop-dedoo. Too bad for them. It just seems really wrong. Um and you know that's the other thing about that map data from especially for science where it's like if you find out in eighth grade this isn't going well. Was it in second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth?
Like what a mystery to try to unpack. Um the students in eighth grade went through all kinds of different teachers and schools and curriculums and um having that access on a regular basis through the map data I think is is the
only way to to target interventions. Um so that I'm very excited by this. Um it's a beautiful dashboard. I don't usually say that because I'm pretty particular about these things. It's very nice. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much for the
presentation. >> Yes, member Graham. >> Thank you. Um, I just wanted to say that I agree with Dr. Khan that you cannot do a one-time PD and expect results, but I want to make sure that you all know that
in my six years on this committee, we have never asked you to do that. So I say that because I think it's been really impressive that this committee over the course of my tenure here has repeatedly asked what do you need in
order to do this well. So I would just encourage you all to tell us what you need, not what you think we might or might not like. I I don't want to spend any money that is not money worth spending. So instead, I want to spend
all the money that is worth spending for the results that we are setting forward as goals. So I just want to reiterate that particularly if there are people listening um who are used to seeing like committees pushing and squeezing administrators to do like things that
are unreasonable. Like that is not my experience here and I just want to be be really clear about that. that like I think this committee's tries to be very supportive and make sure that particularly when we're investing in curriculum, we're doing it right so that students actually benefit from that
instead of just being thrown into like a change chaos for for no actual benefit. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Member Graham. Um, moving on to number three, MAP MAPS April vacation camp approval. I'll turn
it over to you, Dr. Galooi. Um, thank you very much. So, I do have this this will be brief um unless there's any questions. I do have director um Fiddler Kerry on the call if
there are any specific questions, but we would like to try to offer a vacation camp. This one would be targeted for April. It would run the Tuesday through Friday. Um the only school really available to us in April due to some
ongoing facility work would be the Brook School, which is why the location would be the Brook School. Um very similar to the uh presentation and asked last year for the summer program, it we would start
with uh a fee of $60 a day, but also have the sliding scale in place. And this would be a camp that is over the people that are uh offering administrative oversight would be the two full-time site coordinators. That is
the one from the Brooks, the one from the Missatuck. And it would be staffed by our own after school um lead and assistant group facilitators as well as some city year core members from both the McGlin and
the Missatuck. and happy to answer any questions, but just looking for approval to run this in April. Is there a motion on the floor or any questions? Member Reinfeld, seconded by >> member Graham. All those in favor?
>> All those opposed. Motion passes. >> Thank you very much. >> Good luck with the camp. Um, we do not have any presentations before us tonight, nor continued business, but but we do have new business. 2026-6 offered by member Rouso. Be it resolved
that all members shall submit the recommend recommended amendments to the rules of the school committee to the secretary of the school committee no later than February 23rd, 2026. The secretary shall compile these submissions and prepare number one, a
summary of all proposed changes. Number two, a draft revised set of rules incorporating the suggested amendments. Both items shall be presented for review and discussion at the school committee meeting on March 2nd, 2026, where the committee shall consider each rule in order, deliberate on the proposed
changes, and vote on amendments as appropriate with the goal of adopting a complete and updated set of rules at the meeting on March 16, 2026. Member Russo. >> Thank you, mayor. Um, so I had sent all the members um their own copy of the
rules in a Google doc um so that a while ago so they could get going because it's a very large document. So I'm hoping that this uh timeline is not too tight. Um I do want to just reiterate that um in my own copy where I'm making changes there's significant changes to the
structure like the order of the rules because the first set of rules we adopted a few years ago um were you know it was sort of like as we thought of them they kind of came out um and in hindsight they weren't the most struct properly structured but anyways um so
I'm hoping everybody can get this done and send their suggestions to me and then I will present and hopefully a brief summary of changes. I don't anticipate it being like it was the first time we did the rules where we were looking at 86 rules for the first
time and that's all. >> Thank you. Is that also a motion for approval member? >> Yes. >> Seconded by >> member Graham. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed. Paper passes. Um no reports requested. We do have two
two condolences. Um the members of the member school committee expressed their sincerest condolences to the family of Linda C. Megaldi Ayakona who was a graduate of Medford High School, worked for the Medford Chamber of Commerce and was a school crossing guard at the corner of George and Winthr
Street in Medford crossing students going to the Dame School. And also the members of the Memphis school committee has expressed their sincerest condolences to the family of Maryanne Cerrone Mahoney. Maryannne worked in the cafeteria at Medford High School for close to 40 years before retiring in her
early 80s. If we all may um rise for a moment of silence, please thank you. Our next regular meeting is March 2nd here in the Alden Memorial Chambers. Meet City Hall in addition to Zoom. >> Motion to adjurnn by member Graham,
seconded by member Parks. All those in favor.