Good morning. Buenos dias. Nice to see you all. It's May 5th. Welcome, everybody. This is our meeting on Committee on Special Populations. And we are very excited to have this discussion today. This year, our committee
has dedicated itself in enhancing the experience of our special populations in our schools. We recognize that most of these students spend a significant portion of their time in general education classes. And our mission is to understand who our special
populations are and how they navigate their school experience. Our topic for today is identifying and serving gifted and talented students. And before I go on, I would like to give my colleagues a moment on this early Monday morning to identify themselves. I'll start
on my left. Good morning. Rita montoya, board member at large. Thank you so much for being here this morning. Good morning, Laura Stewart. I am board member, district four. Thank you. Next, I would like to ask my colleagues if you, any of you have any questions, concerns,
additions to our March 3rd meeting. Informational summary. No thank you. But I also want to acknowledge our staff that are here this morning. Miss Yolanda Farber and Mr. Juan Ramos Ortega. Thank you. No questions.
Thank you. Okay, well, that that is great. And thanks to having our our wonderful staff that keeps us our sanity every time we have these meetings. Great. If there are no concerns, then we will keep we will keep the show going on. So to get us
started, I'd like to welcome the team to, you know, to our table. And I would like them if you could please introduce yourselves. Yes. Good morning. I'm Niki Hazel chief academic officer. Good morning. I'm Sarah
Jackson, instructional specialist in the Division of Accelerated Enriched Instruction. And good morning. I'm Christy Clark, supervisor and accelerated enriched instruction. Okay. Well, thank you, miss Hazel. Miss Jackson and Miss Clark for being here. We are certainly looking forward to a very lively conversation,
and I'm sure we will have many questions and thoughts about the information you're about to share with us. And with that, I'll give you the floor and we will start our our meeting. All right. Well, thank you so much. And good morning to all of you. We want to thank you for the
opportunity to speak to you about our students who are identified as gifted or highly able or twice exceptional and or twice exceptional. These students certainly bring unique
gifts and strengths, and they also have diverse learning needs. And our job today is to discuss how we meet the needs of the students and ensure that we are challenging them and supporting them through their educational journey. If you go
to the next slide this morning, we're going to talk about several key areas. We're going to take a look at who the students are that are identified, gifted and talented, or highly able or twice exceptional. How they learn, how
they show potential and how they they require a range of supports. We're also going to review expectations from the Maryland State Department of Education for meeting their academic needs. Next, we'll explain how we identify students
for these services, what tools we use and processes we use to ensure that our approach is equitable and inclusive. And from there, we'll highlight the programs and services currently in place to support our students. And we'll also end
with talking about how we provide professional learning to our teachers so that they are providing the best educational experience. So at this time, I'm going to turn it over to Christy Clark, our supervisor in accelerated and Enriched
Instruction. And then Sarah Jackson will talk about twice exceptional. She's an instructional specialist and AEI as well. Thank you. Good morning again. Wanted to start with the
next slide please. Gifted and talented students are those who either perform or show the potential to perform at significantly higher levels than their peers. They come from all racial, cultural, and economic
backgrounds and often need instructional modifications to fully realize their abilities. Some may also have learning or processing differences and inner and or processing that require enrichment and intervention.
It's essential that we provide a range of supports, including academic, social, and emotional, tailored to their evolving needs so they can reach their full potential. Next slide. The
regulation on gifted and talented education requires every school district to identify at least 10% of their student population as GT as early as possible, but at least prior to grade three. Additionally, school districts
should include GT screening at least once between grades three through five and grades six through nine. Comber also states that students that are identified as GT are required to receive a continuum of services
through differentiated curriculum and or programs. GT students also receive support in their social and emotional growth and development. Comer states that parents should be informed and involved in their
student's programing as well. Lastly, all staff that provide services to GT students should receive ongoing professional learning in order to be equipped to teach this student population. On this slide, I
have included links to the full Comber regulation as well as the M.C.P.S. Regulation that provides insight in how MCPs enforces Comber. Next slide. This section of the presentation
will provide insight on the MCPs identification process for GT students. The disaggregated data for our students that are identified as GT, and our plan for increasing the GT identification of underrepresented student groups.
Next slide please. The M.C.P.S. GT identification process is completed in central office as a cross office collaboration between accelerated and enriched instruction, AEI student and data systems. Office of Shared
Accountability. Elementary and secondary math. Elementary and secondary English language. Arts. Department and Department of English. Learner and multilingual education. Lastly, the Department of Special
Education. AEI also partners with schools throughout the entire process. Because of the intricate nature of collaboration. The process begins in October each year and is not over until the end of
May. Our first universal screening, where we consider all students as GT is in grade two. Subsequently, students are screened in grades three, five, and seven. During the screening,
we use multiple data measures, including the Cognitive Abilities Test, measures of academic progress for reading and math, Dibels and Mcap state assessments. We have multiple
pathways for each grade level where we look at different combinations of data, including spring and fall measures of academic progress, and Dibels or Lectora, which is the Spanish language version of Dibels, as well as locally and nationally
normed map data. We also include GT behavioral data from parents, teachers, and other school professional staff as an additional consideration in GT identification. The process includes five steps, which
starts with data collection. Step two includes the grade two student instructional program planning and implementation process, also known as CIP, whereby schools make reading and math instructional recommendations for the
following school year. The instructional recommendations include on grade level, on grade level with support, and on grade level with enrichment. This information is then used in step three to make final articulation
decisions, where school teams use various data points to build their classes. In step four, the decisions are communicated to the families via a letter in U.S. Mail, and it's uploaded in synergy. Finally, school teams
monitor the progress of students in enriched and accelerated courses offering support where needed. Next slide please. This slide shows the most recent
disaggregated GT student data. Since comer states that school districts must identify at least 10% of students as GT. We typically pair our data with the total student population data that you see in the last column.
Looking at the chart, we see that students identified as two or more races fall two percentage points below the 10% goal. The data also show a significant disparity in GT identification across student
groups. Although Hispanic students represent the largest portion of the total student population at 35%, less than 14% are identified as GT. In
contrast, white students make up 24% of the population, but 40% of this subgroup are identified as GT. Similarly, Asian students comprise 14% of the population,
with 25% identified as GT. Black. Students are or make up 22% of the population, with 14% identified as GT. Our total identification of students
throughout grades three through 12 is 18.6%. Next slide please. This data chart shows that all of our historically underserved student groups are below the 10%
threshold. Our Farms subgroup accounts for 44% of our student population, with 7% of these students identified as GT. We have similar disproportions with our economically disadvantaged
subgroup, which makes up 32% of our student population, with 8% identified as GT. Our lowest subgroup are our emergent multilingual learners, who comprise 19% of the population,
with just 0.3% of students identified as GT. Next slide please. From reviewing this data, it is clear that we need
to revisit our GT identification process and consider other data sources that are not currently being used. While we have made small modifications to the process over the years, what I have noticed is that when we add
a new criterion or additional pathway in order to ensure we are not overlooking students in historically underserved subgroups, we find the adjustments benefit all subgroups. This means that while the number of identified
students in each subgroup has increased, the disparity has remained consistent. We will continue our cross office collaborations to develop new criteria specifically for the underrepresented student
populations. We will reexamine the resources used in our primary talent development program that is currently in all title one schools, and we will collaborate with other surrounding school districts to learn more about their processes and determine if there is
something we could consider in our processes. Next slide. I would like to stop here and welcome any questions you may have at this time. Yes. And I
know there be there will be. There'll be many. So I'm going to. Miss Stewart, would you like to go first? I see your light. So I would like to make sure I'm understanding the data
correctly. And how. What the column actually means. Just so I can level set. So I'm talking apples to apples here. We can go to the screen has the data would that would be page seven seven
please. Sorry. The percent of total student population in m.c.p.s. That's easy to understand. If you added these
up I presume you get to 100% right. So the percent gifted students within group. So is that the percent of the whole
pie of the kids in. So will that add up to 100%? I haven't added it up yet, but. Or is that different? No. That's different. Okay. So it's if you look at the total student population. So
let's take Asian since they're close to the top. So they make up 13.7% of the total student population, however, 24.6% of
that 14% are identified as gifted. Because when I add up percent, gifted students within group actually does equal exactly 100. So that would mean that would be the percentage of
kids that in the gifted population. So then 24.6% Asian would be. That's how many of the gifted students in our gifted populations. 24 if or is it just
coincidence that adds up to 100. So this is anyway, it just needs some clarification. Maybe. Maybe it will help if we can actually get some disaggregated data within that chart to make that
clear. More clear. Page seven. Right. So we can get like right. That might bring the actual numbers but not the percent. Like if you gave me so many students of the gifted population. Yeah. Like of the
18%, 24% are correct. Yes. I think Miss Jackson. Yeah, I think that's I think we're on the same issues. It's very confusing. And I just also want to make sure we have, you know, we have a lot of people at home and advocates and so on who are who are watching us. And I just want to, to be clear. But do you
have any. So we'll, we'll so that was just that information from you. Can I clarify that. Yes. So that is correct. That of the 18.6%, 24.6% are Asian, 14%
are Black or African American, 13.7% are Hispanic, and so on. Yes. So that is correct. Okay I apologize. No. No problem. I just because I had that question when I was reading it at home
and then I did a quick math, I'm like, oh, it's probably this. But so it's and again if it was numbers and percentage and a total in the number then okay. Thank you. You're welcome. And
just to formally follow up, just to make the formal request that we would like the actual numbers. So I want to know for American Indian or Alaskan Native 0.1% is that one child or
five? Okay. Do you have a we can go on. I'll have more questions, but I don't want. Yes. And I have a few questions as well. But because we are looking at data I want to go ahead and stick. Stay here. So we all know
that there is not a race or ethnicity or cultural heritage which is smarter than another, right? We're all operating from that. And so then when I see the data and you and you did reference this, right, we see this disproportionality. So for example, for our Latino
students, we see that of the whole student population in M.C.P.S, a little over a third, 35.3%. And yet for students identified as gifted, it's only at 13.7%. And I think that when I first saw that, I said, okay,
well, again, since we know that no one group is smarter than another, then my initial reaction is that perhaps we have either or and outreach challenges. Perhaps lack of or
challenges or barriers to early childhood education and preparation. And as you mentioned, you know, you noticed right when we when M.C.P.S. Adds another criteria or a pathway to try to expand the group to do that outreach, because we want to make sure all of our kids get
this opportunity. We still see this disproportionality. And so that lets me know that, you know, maybe there are some things we could fine tune with our outreach, as always. Right? But generally speaking, it's not predominantly an outreach issue. And so then I come back to the
early childhood education or preparation. And that can include pre-K. It could include toddler years. It could also include K through two. Right. And so. Are there other factors that you think are influencing
that. Or is that maybe where we kind of need to focus in terms of actual preparation that the children are not receiving for a variety of reasons, high class sizes, etc? I think that there are a variety of factors that come into play. I have been
working with the Department of Emergent Multilingual Education, and we've been looking at access data as a potential other data point, and I believe that we would be able to add an
additional criteria for our students that are in that subgroup. But it also because we primarily look at math and reading data, you're correct in the early preparation piece, as
well as making some additional changes to our primary talent development program to make sure that we include different types of enrichment that will better prepare students to possibly
access enrichment later on. So. You know, when we look at our Latino student population, 35.3%, but that doesn't necessarily mean that all of those 35.3% speak a language other than English. Right. Or that that language is you know
what that language is. And when we look at the percentage, we see 19.2% in M.C.P.S. And not all of those children are Latino either. So I just want us to be very careful about not equating those groups as if to say, well, the challenge for Latino students and the reason they're not being identified as gifted
is because they have a language barrier, because that's simply not the case. And a lot of our Latino students may not even speak a language other than English. So, again, you know, I think we really need to understand our groups so that we can figure out how to make sure that they're included in this process. And that's a big
oversight. And I want to make sure that we're not making that. Thank you. I'm going to go next if that's okay. And then we'll go ping pong. Ping pong. Okay. So staying with it with the data, if you could do that for us I'll be great. If you could desegregate the data on the
multi on page eight, the EML learners. You know what populations are. We're talking because that's my colleague Miss Montoya said not all students are Latino. So that is all. That's always been kind of an assumption right. But I would
like to a little bit you were saying that. You would like to change some things on how you identify. You would like to understand some of the barriers. I know you're you're working with the multilingual department and so on. So let me just say
that this is what I have observed and in the past two years that I think, which is why I wanted to have this session. There is a disconnect, an enormous disconnect with the system and the parents in our
communities, especially first generation, give you a quick example. In the last week, although I think there's good intentions, I have a goddaughter
that goes to a local high school who tried to take the AP test last year. She's first generation. She would be the first one to go to college in her in her family. So she tried to take the AP. Something
happened because the last name Mendez is a very popular last name. I think it's like Smith or Brown or Jackson. Right. So something happened in the data, whatever. And when she went to take the test, they didn't have her registered. They probably
think maybe that they had registered the wrong child. So she didn't get to take the test last year. She's in 11th grade this year. So she goes and shows up to go take the test studies for it. They don't have her in the system. The mom writes an
email. Right. And they said, we're going to be looking into this situation. She is again. She goes to take the test. She's not on the roster. So I had to go in as her godmother with a different hat and say, okay, so
this child and I guess what gets to me, because I was that child, I was first generation, and this is even before, you know, where there was, you could count in one hand Latino students in my in my high school. Right. So I was that kid, that kid who got
good grades did not cause trouble, you know, was kind of behind the scenes. So I guess my issue is, what are we doing to foster first generation if we know that they are first generation students and we know
that this student body is going to have more issues, in a sense, navigating because you I have to tell you, I had to do it all on my own to make sure that I did the example for my cousins. Right? The Fafsa, the testing,
the letters. Right. All that is very new. Parents want to help, but they don't know how. So pretty much all you have is the adults in the school system, right? So if we know we have a large population of Latino students and we know the
majority of them, many of them are first generation and we don't identify gifted and talented, right? The kids. So the kids who are born at Shady Grove Hospital, many of them start as AML, many of them stay
as AML, sometimes to second, third and fourth grade. Right. So what is it that our system is doing to identify AML learners early on? Because just because you do not speak English, and I
think I have said this before, that doesn't mean you're not gifted and talented. Right. So what tools what programs are we using knowing that we have a large population and like Miss Montoya said, AML students come,
you know, as Asian, as African, as Ukrainian. Afghanistan, right. Very diverse, just like the Latino community. We're not monolithic. So our AML students, yes, the large population of them are Spanish speaking. So
what is it that we're doing knowing this data that has grown? Because this is not you know, this is nothing like well, we didn't know this population was growing. We have known the trend, we have seen it, and we have known that this is a population that is not getting
something right. We know that this is the case. So what is it that your office is doing to ensure that we're not losing the mark on these kids? So for my goddaughter Alicia has me that I can at least advocate for her to
ensure that she's going to take the AP. But how sad is it if she wasn't that she would not be able. Here's right, this data doesn't look that great, but how bad is it that we're missing other young women like her in our system? Who doesn't have
that person saying, excuse me, this child is trying to take an AP test, and she happens to be Latina, and she wants to go, you know, she wants to go to nursing school. How is it that we can actually support first generation? Right. And maybe
change the paradigm. So I'll let you answer. And then I know my colleague, Miss Stewart has one more question. Thank you. Okay. So I would like to share two things that are currently in place that I believe does
directly affect that population of students. One is the central review process that occurs in grades three and five. So later on in the presentation I will share about our processes for
identifying additional students for enrichment. And that's when we have a larger catchment of students that are participating in the same services as our GT students. And so with that
process, we have been able to expand access. The second thing is we have ongoing professional learning with in elementary schools, we call them GT liaisons. And in middle schools
we call them accelerated enriched instructional support teachers. They are the points of contact within every elementary school and every middle school that is supposed to help facilitate direct support to the
families within those schools. So those are the advocates within those schools. They typically work directly with the counselors and the school administration to support any families that need help. And so
I think those right now are two things that we are doing. But as you know, when we talk about growth mindset, right, we have to make sure that we continue our advocacy and our office as well, and make sure that we
stress the importance of this student population, as well as all students. You know, the importance of making sure that no students are overlooked. Kristy, just a quick just for curiosity, how many of those GT
liaisons we currently have? It's one in every elementary school. So okay. And so that would be 130, 36 3036. Right okay. Thank you. Yes. And I do want to just
add I don't want to overlook the importance of the we to access test that all of our emergent multilingual learners take once a year. We are doing a lot more to train our staff to better understand the assessment, not just our Eld teachers, but all
of our general education teachers to better understand what the test is asking of our students. Because it is a very challenging task. And what we are looking for is growth. And when we see that students are
making adequate or above growth, those are candidates that we are closely looking for to say maybe they could really benefit from additional enrichment or acceleration. So they may not immediately be identified as gifted through our process. But
we do access assessments are telling us that these students need more in terms of enrichment. So that's another process that they're working through. And thank you for sayi that. I you know, it's really interesting because we don't have, I don't think, a really hard time identifying
kids in those populations who are IEP who are special, you know, special Ed. But for some reason, we're having a really hard time identifying the other side of that. So it's just something it's not balanced to me. Now the GT specialist
liaisons, I have to tell you, I didn't even know they existed. In a sense, I, I this is good news to me. Are they actually staff or are they, are they part of a temporary grant. But I think they're staff. Correct. They are staff okay. And I hope
there are diverse group of folks as well because I and my issue is and please, I'm not trying to be like so critical, but I'm just I'm just trying to understand where the barriers are and how we as a, as a
committee, can also support and see how we can, you know, we can make this more equitable because if we look at these numbers, we have a huge equity issue going in a system that prides itself in having equity as a number one
priority. And so I'm trying to understand, because as parents, you know, when you identify a child, you send an email and so on to, to a parent who this education system is absolutely
foreign to them. Right? They doknow what a gifted and talented program is or what it entails or what is. You know what I mean? There has to be a human connection to it, I think. So if I, if I, if I can give any advice, I'm not an educator, but
I have been a community member and I have been an email student. I have been on the other side and I have had a child who who honestly, I didn't even know that the school contacted me and said, we would like to give your daughter, you know, this GT exam and it was
new to me as well. I just think that whoever these teams of folks are, they also need to reflect who we are as a population so they can actually also understand some of it. And
if not, then we need to have training for these folks to be able to approach some of these families who, especially in today's era and time, are probably don't want to be approached by anyone if I'm if you get my point. So I'm going
to go to Miss Stewart. Okay. Sorry. Back to data page eight. So. I'm so this is a different chart, but I'm presuming the percent of gifted students this
is the actual percent in that first column of the number of the 18.6%. This this is the percent of that, right? Correct. Okay. Great. Do you happen to
have the number of students that 18.6% represent? So do we have the number of students? Do you have it with you grades three through 12 that are identified as gifted and talented. Do you have that number I don't have I don't have it with me today. I
can work with OSA to get those numbers again. This is back to the questions my colleagues asked. The reason I asked, well, I just did a quick, you know, knowing how many students we have K through 12. And then I
took out K through two and then quickly. And it looks like to me, I mean, for emergent multilingual learners, we have maybe about at the most 70 kids
in that whole group identified. That is 0.3%. I mean, to me that's emergency fire, fire alarms. What can we do today? I
mean, the other numbers aren't like so much greater than this, but this point, 3% of emergent multilingual learners, I just I can't wrap my head around that number. And imagine how isolated
those kids even feel. Not able to put forward their knowledge in a way that the school system actually understands. So I
there's, there's there needs to be something that we can do about that ASAP. And again, these are we have many different languages. So understanding that that is going to be hard to, you
know, have for instance, for instance, you talked about Dibels and being able to take that in a different language. That's correct. Correct. Okay. So I don't know how many languages we have available. Right? So if you happen to be
speak a language that's not in the dibels, how would you even get that assessment. So that right there like oh nope. That that's we can't serve you. And this is why it's so important to have other factors that you talked about. And I'm not I'm
sure we're not the first school system to have to deal with this. It's just that with our growing population, population, it's we haven't been dealing with it maybe as long, maybe as some school systems. So I would love to see some benchmarking to
other school systems that have the kind of language diversity we have. And again, I always there's so many things that we need to fix, right? We can't do everything tomorrow. We can't
do. But there's certain when I see a number like this, I go into emergency mode in my head. So anyway, if we could just see what we could do, even as far as the outreach and the language
adding languages when the next part is about services, I believe. maybe you can enlighten us when there. One more, one more. That would be great, I know, I guess just to tag on to hers though, I'd like to make the formal request that for slide eight we also receive
the actual numbers. And then I'd also like it disaggregated by race and ethnicity so that we can see, for example, because I feel similarly like the house is on fire for students with IEPs, having an IEP is not indicia of
lack of intellect or ability. In spite of people thinking that at times. So that number also seems very low for me. So I'd like to have that as a formal request for those numbers. Actually, we have all that data disaggregated
during my section, but we are also at 2.4%. We are more than double the national average for identifying gifted kids with IEPs. But I do have all of that disaggregated when we get to. And I think it's fantastic that we're doing better than the nation. But that's not the barometer that I want us to
have. Right. And so to add on to that, I'd also like to know geographically, if we're able to pinpoint maybe I don't know if you do it by cluster or whatever way you think would be helpful, so that we can see if there are challenges to outreach in certain parts of the county. That's something that we hear a lot about from the community. So
we want to make sure that we're serving all parts of the county and follow up to Mr. Rivera Evans prior comment, I just want to make sure I understand correctly, because I've never heard of a gifted and talented liaison at the elementary school level, and I'm pretty in there. I got two kids at elementary and
they probably wish I wasn't there as much as I am. So is that a current staff member with an additional stipend duty? So, for example, the third grade teacher, one of the third grade teachers, is also the gifted and talented liaison. Or is it an additional staff member that
their only job is to be the gifted and talented liaison? It is an out of classroom staff person that is the liaison. So typically it would either be an assistant principal or a reading specialist or staff development
teacher. Okay, an IEP and in some cases a primary talent development coach in the title one schools, okay. And then they get like an additional stipend like we do for restorative justice or something like that. Right now we don't have an additional stipends I see okay
okay. Thank you. And then my question actually is back to professional learning. Because we kind of glazed over that a bit. Oh it's coming back to
that. Yes. Okay. Then I will hold that and then I'll go to this is the last question I have about what you presented. ♪And f you need to follow up with me that's okay. But I'm just wondering whether our process for identifying students is how it compares to others. Is it
comparable to others? You know, you mentioned the national or in terms of the process that we take, is it similar? We're doing better. We hope we're doing better. I know we always hope we're doing better. And I want to acknowledge that we are doing a lot. But I again, will say, as
an elementary parent, sometimes I get like one letter in the mail about something 45 days before I get 50 text messages or messages about other things that arguably may not feel as important. But then I get one letter about this really important thing. And even as
entrenched as I am in the school system, I overlook things because I'm busy and we have all kinds of things going on, right, like most of our parents do. So I'm just wondering how our communication and things measures up as well. My answer
to that now. Is the process. Yes. Yeah. Well, first, I know you asked about the liaisons and the stipend piece. I did want to clarify for the accelerated instruction support teachers in
middle schools. They that is a point for position. And so they do have two periods off. And so they are able to have time dedicated to that. So just so I'm clear, at the middle school level, there's an allocated portion of an FTE and time and
space to do that. But at the elementary school level, it's just included as a job duty. And we hope that someone's going to be able to take care of that. Correct? That's correct. Thank you. Let's continue. Because I
believe your other questions are going to be answered in the presentation. Okay. Please continue. Okay. Slide 11. Yes. In adherence to Comar, after students are identified as GT,
school systems should provide different services beyond those normally provided by the regular school program. In this section of the presentation, I will share the various programs and services available to GT students and M.C.P.S. Next
slide. And M.C.P.S. We refer to our GT and advanced students as highly able learners. Students who fit this profile need very distinct services in order to be successful academically. These
students need appropriately differentiated, evidence based programs and services that accelerate, extend or enrich instructional content, strategies and products to demonstrate and apply learning.
Highly able students often demonstrate advanced intellectual abilities, such as engaging in meaningful conversations with adults. However, their emotional development may be age appropriate or even below their
chronological age. In addition, they have other character traits such as perfectionism, sarcasm, and quick wit. Lastly, some students lack motivation, resilience, and executive functioning skills. For these
reasons, social and emotional support are needed to ensure their success in the classroom. When we think about college and career readiness, regular review of student performance data is necessary to ensure our highly
able learners are progressing in an upward trend. While we do this for all students, it is common for highly able learners to flatline or even digress if services are not consistently being implemented. Therefore,
the data for this particular subgroup should be monitored just as closely as we monitor the data of our other special populations throughout our programing efforts, families should be kept updated with their students academic progress
and provided with information on how they can best support their student at home. And finally, highly able learners thrive in their areas of interest. Therefore, they should be provided opportunities outside of the classroom that will
further develop their creativity. Leadership skills, feed their need to compete and lead them to a pathway to being able to participate in International Baccalaureate programs. Advanced Placement
pathways, early College dual enrollment or career and technical education pathways. Next slide. I wanted to take the time to point out that M.c.p.s provides enriched services to
all students, demonstrating readiness not just the identified students. Title one schools have additional enrichment through our early talent Development programs, which is also known as Primary talent development, as well as
enrichment built into their extended learning opportunity in the summer, which is open to every title one school. No student is turned away. We have multiple ways that students are identified for enrichment. We
have the GT identification process. We have the central review process in grades three and five, and schools are given guidance from the office to identify additional students as they are monitoring their
academic data. Next slide. Enrichment and acceleration are two key strategies used to meet the needs of highly able learners, but they serve two different purposes. Enrichment provides depth and complexity to
the curriculum. It extends learning beyond the content, encouraging creativity, critical thinking, and exploration of topics in greater detail. Enrichment does not change the pace but enhances the experience
within grade level standards. Acceleration involves moving through the curriculum at a faster pace or introducing advanced content earlier than typical. This can include subject specific acceleration,
such as compacted math or full grade advancement. The goal is to match instruction with a student's readiness to summarize, enrichment deepens learning at the current grade level, while acceleration moves
students ahead when they've mastered existing content. Next slide. Title one schools provide enrichment opportunities through the Early Talent Development
Program and Core Curriculum extensions. Two of our title one schools, Roscoe Nix and Arcola, implement Project Lead the Way as part of their early talent development programing in all schools. Literacy enrichment opportunities are available in
grades K to five through the extensions in the core curriculum, AEI provides additional enrichment resources. Beginning in grade three, our grade three students receive additional enrichment during focused instructional time,
which is outside of the English Language Arts block. Our grade four and grade five students will have literacy enrichment within the English Language Arts block, as well as additional enrichment opportunities during focused instructional time. The
Literacy Enrichment seeks to develop communication skills, creative thinking skills, critical thinking skills, and problem solving skills. Eureka math has built in enrichment in
grades K through five. There are four tiers of enriched support students can receive as part of their elementary mathematics experience. Regardless of course enrollment. Teachers enrich instruction beginning at tier
one and moving to successful tiers. If students progress and exhibit a need for increased rigor during daily lessons, the need for enriched instruction is often topic dependent. For this reason, students may receive
tier one enrichment for one topic and tier two for another. For some topics, students may not need enrichment at all. The arrangement allows students to think creatively outside of the box, often coming up with their
own numbers to solve problems. Acceleration is warranted when deepening the learning, and enrichment does not yield student growth. Compacted math is available in grades four and five. Students in these courses
are able to complete three grade levels of math within two years, with successful completion, students are able to be enrolled in an accelerated math course in grades six and complete algebra
one, in grades seven. Next slide. In looking at this data chart, 24% of our elementary students in grades four and five are receiving literacy enrichment. We have an
additional 6% receiving literacy enrichment through the centers for Enriched Studies. I would also like to bring to your attention that 19% of students that are economically disadvantaged, and 22% of students that are receiving
farms participate in literacy enrichment. Both of these percentages surpass the total number of GT identified students throughout the entire school district. Also, our enriched services in these two subgroups
more than meet the 10% threshold of student identification with our emergent multilingual percentage, while our emergent multilingual percentage sits at 5%. That is a significant increase from the point 3% of
students that are identified in grades three through 12. Still, we have work to do in our special education category. We are slightly higher than the overall numbers were, well below
our 10% threshold. Next slide please. This slide shows a similar increase in our economically disadvantaged and farm subgroup. When comparing to our GT identified students in
these subgroups, but I really want to point out that 10% of our emergent multilingual learners are receiving enrichment in math, which is the minimum that we would like to see. Overall, 37% of students in
grades K through five receive mathematics enrichment. Next slide. This last slide with elementary data shows how many students are participating in
compacted math in grades four and grade five. These courses are designed for students that are ready to learn multi grade level standards at a faster pace. We have 30% 32% of students participating in math 4
or 5 and math five six, 18% of our students participate and 16% of our economically disadvantaged students are participating. Our emergent multilingual learners and special education students have
the lowest percentage of participation with 3% and 4%, respectively, from all of the elementary data slides that we have reviewed, the percentage of white student population in enrichment and acceleration
opportunities is almost doubled compared to all other race subgroups. This is work that we will continue to do in order to make sure that we're not overlooking any of our students
to receive enrichment. See? Next slide please. In middle school, the global humanities courses in grades six through eight are a
natural progression for students that are articulating from a centers for Enriched Studies program or in literacy enrichment program at their local school. All three options of the global humanities courses
go beyond the core content, have year long research projects, as well as interdisciplinary assignments and projects with a heavy emphasis on reading from an inquiry lens. There are culminating activities such as
in grade six. The model UN project addresses a global issue, and in grade seven National History Day projects are based on a yearly theme. They have the opportunity to compete at the county, state and
national level. In math, we have on ramps and off ramps for acceleration courses where students that stay on ramp could complete algebra one in either grade seven or grade eight. We have a select few of students
that complete math courses beyond algebra one while in middle school. Finally, every middle school offers elective level high school credit courses for middle school students,
showing readiness or interest. Next slide. I'm sorry, can you go back to the previous slide? Also, every school offers math
courses and some offer text courses. I continues to work and partner with schools to explore
more options. Next slide. This slide shows data for grades six and seven. Students who
receive literacy enrichment in middle school. Overall, 41% of students are enrolled in the global Humanities courses. 32% of farms, and 26% of economically disadvantaged students receive literacy
enrichment, which demonstrates an increase from elementary where the percentages were at 22% and 19%, respectively. The number of special education students that are enrolled in these courses is 8%, which is an
increase from elementary school, where it was 6%. Emergent multilingual learners were at 6% in elementary and are at 8.2% in middle school. And finally, the data chart shows that the
disparity between races narrowed as students articulated to middle school. Next slide please. The numbers are slightly
different for grade eight, but similar to grades six and seven, with 41% overall literacy enrichment participation. Something to note is that participation in all subgroups
lowered by at least 2%, except for white and Asian students, whose literacy participation increased 3% and 2%, respectively, from grades six and seven to grade eight. Next
slide please. This data chart shows grade six students who are enrolled in AMP six plus, which is a course that covers grade six and part of grade seven math standards. Please take note that
Hispanic students have the highest participation percentage compared to non-Hispanic students with 33% enrollment. Our farms and economically disadvantaged students are participating at high rates as well compared to other
subgroups. Next slide. On this data slide, we see that Hispanic farms and economically disadvantaged students are also leading the participation rates in AMP seven plus, which covers
half of grade seven and all of grade eight standards. Next slide please. This slide demonstrates that the participation rates in algebra
one and beyond for Hispanic farms and economically disadvantaged students dropped significantly by grade eight. Further data analysis would have to be conducted to determine which course the students took
after completing AMP seven plus. Next slide. M.C.P.S. Has multiple programs that offer an enriched experience. We have local programs, regional
programs, criteria based programs, and interest based programs. Areas of program focus are Humanities, math and Science, and Computer Science. International Baccalaureate, where the focus is inquiry and
transdisciplinary based performing arts, digital design and development, and aerospace technology and robotic engineering. Next slide. Besides
direct supports to schools, AEI has several curriculum projects that are currently taking place. First, we are collaborating with the Elementary English Language Arts Department to create enrichment resources for grades three through five. The
resources for grade three will be used during focused instructional time, which is outside of the English Language Arts block. Grades four and five will have access to enrichment overlays within the English Language Arts block that will
extend and deepen the learning in the core curriculum. In addition, grades four and five will have enrichment resources available for use during focused instructional time. The resources will be rolled out to
schools in August. Professional learning will be available for teachers and reading specialists. Our work around the Humanities and Communications magnet curriculum has been ongoing since the summer of 2023. This program currently
resides in Eastern Middle School and Martin Luther King Junior Middle School. There have been concerns from the community that the programs operate differently, and gave the appearance of inequitable experiences for the
participating students. Therefore, the goal of this project was to ensure that students had similar experiences when attending these programs. The program consists of three core classes English,
Humanities, and media. When we started this work, we realized that there were six distinct classes. That's three in each school that were vastly different. A major difference is that Martin Luther King is an is
an NYP school, which adds an additional layer of complexity with the realization that these programs could never be exact, but we could work towards them being similar. In the middle of our work, we learned about the new high quality instructional
materials mandate, along with the new middle school English curriculum that will be selected. And finally, Msde will be publishing a new curriculum framework for grades six and seven. Social studies courses.
All of these changes directly affect the work we started. Therefore, I foresee that this work will continue for at least another two years considering the social studies curriculum for grades six and seven will need to be updated. We are doing
similar work with the math, science, computer science magnet program that currently resides at Takoma Park Middle School and Roberto Clemente Middle School, for the most part, both schools were on the same page with delivering the core curriculum
for math and science, with enrichment extensions, projects and interdisciplinary tasks. However, the computer science courses will have to become more aligned to each other, so this is the focus of our work.
Finally, we are collaborating with the science department to add more enrichment to middle school science. So far, we have mostly gathered meta data, collected student voice data to learn more about their
experiences, and talk directly with teachers. Our plan is to add enrichment extensions and provide a guide to help teachers easily infuse enrichment in their lessons. Next slide. In
the near future, I will be collaborating with elementary and Secondary Mathematics to unpack the new policy and determine next steps in our course offerings. With the new English Language Arts curriculum, we will be working
with secondary Ela to learn the curriculum and determine how to incorporate more enrichment, and we will be collaborating with the Social Studies department for our middle school magnet programs and the local local
school global Humanities courses in grades six and seven. And eight. Next slide. I would like to take this time to open the
floor for questions. Thank you. I'm going to start to my left with Miss Montoya. Thank you so much. That was a lot. There's a lot going on. Lots of I hear keep hearing curriculum and new a lot. So I appreciate you for trying to present it. You know
the best you can with as much information as there is. I guess I have two questions. Well, one's a question. The other one probably really is just a comment. But you noted that for our Latino students that the percentage increases
significantly once we start looking at middle school mathematics in terms of AMP six plus, AMP seven plus. That would be slide 22. Thank you. So yes, on slide 22 and perhaps we're
not sure yet but I just I have to wonder when I then look back at these elementary school numbers if it's because we're not identifying these children early enough for a variety of reasons that we've already discussed. And then by the time maybe they get to fifth grade or so, someone's like, hey, wait a minute, actually, you're really
great at this. And then they're helping them get to where they need to be. And then I know our teachers can recommend students who may not have been in accelerated, you know, fourth, fifth, fifth, sixth math to then go into accelerated mathematics and middle school, which is fantastic. I'm glad we have that kind of catch all, because otherwise those students
wouldn't get those opportunities. But then I go back to, we have to figure out how to identify these students, because then we see these numbers here and we see again disproportionate numbers for some of our other groups. Are we then foreclosing opportunities for those students because they
weren't identified early on, and now they're over here trying to play catch up. Right. The question that I have, though, is why are we using social studies enrichment, which is the global humanities course, as a measure
of participation in literacy enrichment? I think I kind of know the answer, but I want to make sure the community understands, because my understanding is also that for sixth grade English language arts, everyone is taking what's
considered and tell me if my vocabulary is wrong, but an honors course or an accelerated enriched course, which is perhaps a whole different topic for us to discuss on another day. Yes. So that is true. And some middle schools, all
students are enrolled in an advanced English course. Within those courses, the teachers do have enrichment resources that can be used so that they can differentiate for the students
that need enrichment. So there are novel studies. There are additional beyond the book opportunities right now within study sync. And then as I mentioned, with the new curriculum that's going to be
rolled out, we are going to be more involved with creating additional resources outside of novel studies. And so with that, there will be more enrichment opportunities within middle school. I think I forgot your
first question. That's okay. And I know I said a lot, but I guess ultimately I'm wondering why we're using participation in social studies enrichment as indicia of participation in literacy enrichment. I understand, you know, there's a lot of reading. They're going deeper into these issues. I have
I have a rising sixth grader. So I'm very familiar with the differences. But that is also a different type of approach and thinking and even interest. Quite frankly, there are some kids who might be like, sounds fun. I don't really want to do a model project at the end of the year. Mom. Right. I'm tapped out
by May. And so we don't necessarily even have a true measure of kids who would be able to take that course content, because perhaps they're just they don't want to add on an extra enrichment course. Right. So I'm just confused as to why we're using a different subject matter to indicate
English language arts. Got it. So the global Humanities course was created originally as a option to provide local school enrichment for the students that were in the lottery pool for the
Humanities and Communications magnet, but were not invited to attend. And so the Global Humanities cou is the course that's comparable to the humanities and community Communications magnet Humanities
course. Within that course, there is a lot of additional literature, a lot of additional writing, and students read several more novels than even in the English classes. And so
that's why we do consider that literacy enrichment, because of the heavy focus of literature and writing in those classes. But how do students qualify for that? Because so when we're looking at these numbers, even if the students like, nope, I don't want to do that this year
for sixth grade, we're still looking at the number of students who qualified to be in that. Is that what the numbers are showing then? So two things happen. Part of it is the central review process that happens in grade five. And the
data points for that process are used to identify students. We also give students schools additional guidance that they can use to identify more students at the local level. So there are two different things
that happen to offer that course to students. Okay, so it could be based on kind of what we think of as traditional academic type data. And then you could have a teacher who says, you know what, maybe their test scores aren't this on the Mesa or whatnot, but I know they would do great in this. They
would really benefit. They have the skill set. Can you allow them? We recommend them. Yes. And then that's where our accelerated instruction support teachers come into play. And so part of their role is to help school teams look at data and identify additional students.
Okay. Great. Thank you, Miss Stewart. Okay. My first question is from page 13. And I know you did go into this a little bit
later, but only with Project Lead the Way. I wanted to find out more about the early talent development that's available in title one schools, because to me, this seems like a key
feature in trying to eliminate some of those discrepancies that we see in economically disadvantaged and farms. Oh, before I ask this, what's the difference between economically advantage and farms? Because they're two separate columns,
but I know there's overlap. Yes. And I have your answer. Okay, Scott, I'll find it in my notes. I can speak. So while she's
getting started, I can, I can she's looking for her note. Do you have your notes? I have it, but you can go ahead. Go ahead okay. Okay. I'm going to read what I got. Okay. From the Office of Shared Accountability.
Thank you. The indication of economic disadvantage by the state analysis includes any student identified as directly certified based on the May 2018 definition approved by the Maryland State Board of
Education. This includes. Confirmed participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or Foster Child. Additionally, participation in the following programs is included.
Experiencing homelessness and being on the local Homeless Liaisons List a migrant youth, A runaway, a non applicant approved by local officials or
Head Start. Okay, I understand now it's because of the two different ways that we identify. Okay. Yes yes yes yes. Okay. Well thank you for explaining that. My next question is again
back to my original question was early talent development. Can we go into that a little more deeply? Because Project Lead the Way is amazing. I love that program. But there's other talents besides an engineering
focus. And so yes. So what what other what other talent and what does that include. Because I think that would help identify kids earlier. Right. So right now the early talent development
program uses uses science based modules that were developed by Msde. And they are usually facilitated with the primary talent development coaches that
are in the title one schools. Typically, it's a co-teaching model with the teacher, but they are science based. They usually complete a lesson at least once a week, and the purpose is to
build some of the behaviors like persistence. I'm going blank thinking, critical thinking, creative thinking, curiosity. Thank you. So it's more building
the skill than the content area. Yes, yes. And so when I mentioned earlier that I wanted our team to start looking at additional resources that could be used in our early talent development program, I would
like for us to look more at math and reading because, truthfully speaking, those are the two areas that we focus on right now for identification. And so we would like to infuse a little
bit more enrichment in those areas. And by the way, math really helps with science and engineering. So this makes sense. Yeah I just feel like that's probably an opportunity for us to move some of those numbers as we move through,
because really, we don't even identify until second grade yet. As you know, when kindergartners come in, a teacher is pretty good at identifying where their interests are, where they would
like to do more using that project based learning. I feel like that's taken advantage of more in the very early grades as well. And so I'm, you know, I would love for us to not, you
know, think about just identifying a second grade because at that point you might have already kind of lost opportunity to build the pipeline. So then the next
question I have was, I think on page 16. Let me go there myself. Okay. Oh yeah. Literacy. Oh, I
guess I was oh, my question on that page was actually about economically disadvantaged. So I can move on from 16 because you already answered that there was a page on the math six plus. So
I think that's page 20. At least that's what I wrote down. There's a lot of slides I know. No, 20 oh 20 literacy was the one that had the math six plus. And it's where you mentioned
that we had oh, it's 22 I'm sorry, 22. That pie graph, you mentioned that we had an increase in our Hispanic and Latino population doing AMP six
plus. But I also notice there's a decrease in the Asian population. And so I think there's a nother story to be told here because this is again a pie of the full group. Right.
So some of these numbers these kids could actually be in a whole a higher level class. And therefore that's why you're seeing this. So I just want to make sure that we're being transparent and real about why this number could have
increased. Like this is why I think it's good to have maybe the number of students to. Yes, and not just percentage, but could you explain what are the other options for grade six besides AMP six plus? Yes. So
right now our grade six students, they could take AMP seven plus or applied investigations into mathematics, which next year will be Pre-Algebra six. We have a very
small small number of students that are taking algebra one in grade six. And so yes, you're correct that there are other courses that grade six students could take. Okay. So I'd like to follow the numbers rather than a
percentage in this particular case, although I do find pie graphs very helpful. But this one didn't really tell the whole story. And I just wanted to say something really fast about the
algebra in grade six. That is a I agree that should be very small. By the way, from what I've talked to, I've talked to elementary school math teachers and middle school math teachers, and what happens sometimes is if you hit calculus in grade ten,
you have two more years of courses, and then sometimes they're even burnt out because their maturity level, social maturity, and then trying to take those very high level and then running out of courses can
be a problem. So I just want to say that that small number I know is probably a good reason for that. So I'm with you on that. And. But as far as yeah, just just see how we what's a
helpful way to see the data. Another one helpful way to see the data for me would be I'm flipping back and forth a lot to see like the movement on these bar graphs through time. So if somehow if I could have a graph
that shows yes three times. So that way I'm not going back and forth through the grade levels for each subject matter, if that makes sense. Yes it does, and I those I, I also show you one
more subject is the eastern versus MLK. So MLK has something like it's called can you explain what's that MLK versus eastern?
MLK has a middle years program which is an IB, right? Yes. Yes. Okay. So there are you comparing apples to apples then? I'm just I'm a little confused. So are
you speaking about when I talked about the curriculum. Yes. That piece. Yeah. So the students I might have just missed it because I have all these graphs. It's okay. It was a lot of information, I apologize. I wanted to get a lot out. The
students in MLK because they have that middle years program, which is transdisciplinary. They have additional projects that possibly eastern does not have.
And so it's just another layer of complexity. When we talk about trying to we want the students to have the same experience, but they won't have the same experience. So I just wanted to point that piece out that because both schools, for
example, aren't NYP or. Yeah, they yeah, it just added an extra layer of complexity when we were trying to bring everything together. I'm sorry I said the wrong thing. I didn't mean cap, that's Blair, but the kids from eastern a lot of times
end up there. That's where my mind was at. But yeah, I think we are having this program analysis right now, the program study. So I hopefully we can take a fuller look at our middle school programs. So we
understand that kids have similar opportunities and they don't always have to be the same equal, but similar opportunities so that they can then move on to the next level in an equitable way. So you're not falling
behind. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay I'm going to go next. I similar to my colleagues who were talking on on graph 22. Ditto to why they this they said
I think there's a lot more to be explained in that graph, because when you go to graph number 24. And if we could do that. You see
a huge disparity with the Latino students. So we went from 33% and suddenly you have this huge drop of almost a 50%, right, 18.6 so you go from yay to like
what's going on here? Right? So there is also a lot, I think, that this graph tells us, right. And in areas of, you know, okay. So yeah, the numbers are the numbers I get it. But there's a
story behind it of, I think that we need to do as a system, a deep dive into the reasons why. What is going on with this population. Right. That now, first of all, you don't see them early on. You see them later,
you see them later. You know, you get excited because you're like, yay, we're on the right track. And then you're like, what happened? Right? So we go like this, like this, like this. So my hope is that we can do a
deeper dive into what is going on with our Latino student population. Right. And how we can maintain it as well. And then we see the same thing with our black students, right? We go from I think it was 22% on graph
20 on page 22, and then boom, we take a dive to 15%. Right? So we kind of have the same impact. So the question again is okay, so what is going on. How we can, you know, maintain. Because I can see if we were like, you
know, a couple percents, you know, you can see that. Right. But when it's significant we need to take a very close look at it. Martin Luther King is one of my schools and I know this program. I have gotten calls about it, about the fact that
the, you know, they don't need to be the same exact, but there needs to be. They need to be comparable. Right? Right. So I appreciate the fact that you're you're taking a look at it. And I, I do have to say that as we
go, you know, top priorities for the board of Ed is math and math and English. Right. So at least we're on the same, same level. But when we look at the data and I'm glad we're going to get some
disaggregated data on the actual numbers, I do have to say it is pretty depressing. When we looked at our black and brown students and then we go deeper and we look our, our M.L. And we
and honestly, we haven't even spoken about our children with disabilities. Right. Where do they fit in this formula? And it's coming. Okay. Right. It's coming. But you know, so this is this is another whole population because that's also very diverse
population where you have all these ingredients in that population. And how are we doing as a system. And look, I know it's been really hard around the country. I know that we're not the only ones that we're seeing a lot of these issues, but we
are one of the most diverse counties in the country. Right. And we have the most diverse cities in the country. We have the most diverse communities in the country, not just locally. We are the most diverse school system in the state and one of
the most diverse in the DMV. So, so we're we're we're doing a lot of these assessments. We have to think of those complexities and how we're also enriching our staff with training with, you know, with a lot of those
things. So with that, can we I want to ask my colleagues, can we move on to the next, the next, the next step. So thank you. Our last step in meeting
our regulations is to provide professional learning to all staff involved with servicing our highly able learners. Next step I mean next slide. We
collaborate with 13 offices within M.c.p.s to identify and serve highly able learners. I inadvertently omitted the Department of Consortia, Choice and Application Programs office, whom we work with very closely
during the review process for grades three and five. Through these offices, we are able to provide professional learning to key leaders in every school. We also invite them to our GBT leader meetings, where they
provide insight into their content areas. Next slide. We provide discrete and embedded professional learning to all of the M.c.p.s. Staff listed on
this slide. We have liaisons in every elementary school who receive professional learning opportunities three times a year. We also have accelerated and enriched instructional support teachers in every middle school that receive professional
learning from AEI three times a year, our Enriched Literacy curriculum teachers received professional learning in the summer, as well as three times throughout the year, and the centers for Enriched Studies teachers receive professional
learning in the summer and one additional time during the school year for new teachers, one on one and group support for teachers, GBT liaisons and AEI is offered throughout the year
through office hours as needed. Our case managers that support students with IEPs also receive professional learning once in the summer and twice during the school year. School visits and direct support is available as
needed. Next slide. Our professional learning is centered around how we identify students for GC services and equipping the teachers and staff in serving the students, we review instructional strategies,
curriculum materials, accommodations, and best practices in serving this student population. Next slide. I would like to stop here and allow you to ask any questions
you may have about professional learning. This time, I'll start to my right. This one Miss Stewart has this professional development, all these these opportunities. Has it been added
in recent years, like, let's just say compared to ten years ago, has there been more opportunities added? I'm trying to get like the historical view, right. Do we know do you happen
to know? So this is my third year. Sorry to know. This is my seventh year okay. In the seven years I was going to say, has there been opportunities added? Absolutely. I would say the biggest opportunities I think that we have added has been within the embedded professional
learning. I made a short list of the professional learning that we've done, specifically around twice exceptional students. But just broadly, as we have gone to develop or to including that professional learning embedded in as many different ways as we can. So they're not isolated
professional learnings. They're ones that are included in regular training that our teachers get. And so those opportunities have been, you know, it might be an hour during a seven hour training, but if we see them multiple times a year, they're getting that across that time. I think there's also been
more opportunities for individual learning that we've made available, and there's also a lot more of that one on one coaching. So it's more intensive in those cases. And it's not it's not as widely dispersed. But when teachers or schools ask for help, we are able to go out and do that, like on the spot
training and on the spot coaching for them in order to make a bigger impact in those specific classrooms. Mr. Can I interject very quickly so that way, can you tell us which are mandatory out of that list that you have, like which are mandatory trainings and which
are optional? So honestly, all of the trainings that I mentioned for the GT liaisons, the Accelerated Enrichment Instructional Support teachers, as well as our teachers that either taught the enriched
Literacy curriculum or the centers for Enriched Studies. Those are all mandatory. And Case Manager one and sorry about that. Yes. And the all of the trainings we do are mandatory. I
do want to add though, since I've been here, we have developed a strong partnership with the English Language Arts department for both elementary and middle. And so we have been invited to the Reading
Specialist office hours several times this school year, so that we can make sure that the leaders within those schools fully understand how the enrichment should be
incorporated within the classroom. And we want the reading specialist for elementary to be well equipped for that. I foresee us partnering with the Secondary English Language Arts department. Similarly with the content specialists, as the
rollout for the new curriculum occurs next school year. So one of the reasons why I ask this question is my kids were in elementary school a long time
ago ish, so. There was what I observed is very few teachers could deal with the outliers. And when I say outliers, I mean,
you know, there's always the kids that are obviously engaged, raising their hands every day, answering all the questions, you know, so those kids usually do pretty well in any environment as long as you give them some
opportunities to be able to lik, stretch their knowledge, their wings, that there are. And now I think it's actually accelerated. There's a lot of kids that are outliers, and they're have those
perfectionist tendencies that you talked about. Also a lot of anxiety. They take on a lot from the world. A lot of them are actually very sensitive individuals. And I don't know if you noticed, but the world has
been kind of crazy lately, right? So we're stressed. So imagine the kid that takes on everything, right? And so then that actually affects their performance in the classroom. If the teacher is not trained to
deal with these kids, that might test very well. Yet they're not showing it in the classroom. They don't feel comfortable. A lot of them don't have peer groups, which is why we still
have these enrichment centers. So to me, those centers are more about peers than even instruction for these kids. So hint I had one of those kids and loved my elementary school. They
could not deal with him. They just couldn't. And I saw that as a parent in third grade. It just it was an emergency situation to me. When your kid comes home and says, oh, my teacher thinks I'm dumb and I'm sure he's not, you
know, I'm using this as an example, but I'm sure this is wasn't an isolated incident. When you don't have the training available on how to deal with these complex issues. So I just wanted to ask the social
emotional part for this group to me is really integral into their being able to thrive in our school system, and we want all of our kids to thrive. So in that and they don't have IEPs
usually, right. So can you talk about some of that training, the social emotional. Sure. So my short list of social emotional related training we did today or did this year, not today. And this is 2425, but not the school year. 2425 I started in January
of last year. So we have done training on asynchronous development and gifted and twice exceptional kids, which is talking about like Christy mentioned earlier, when you have intellectual abilities that are far above your peers, but you have emotional that are far below your own age and how we
can work with that. We've presented that in a number of settings. We've talked about meeting the needs of diverse learners in advanced classrooms. We have talked about we have one called practice versus perfect addressing perfectionism. In the general education classroom. We have one called Beyond Backpacks
and Binders embedding executive functioning instruction in general education classrooms, understanding and addressing social emotional needs of twice exceptional learners and gifted learners in general education classrooms. Differentiating and then strength based instruction and using a new lesson plan
model to support both social, emotional, gifted and other needs within a general education setting. I appreciate that that is sounds like a good list to me, because if we are able to meet these kids more in the
classrooms, we will see those waiting lists and the other parents that are like, my kid needs something different, we need to go somewhere else. And then now you're. But if you don't get accepted, you know, because we have a waiting list.
So if we really work on meeting those needs in the classroom, and it's not just these kids that need that, right? So it helps the whole classroom, there's a lot more I can talk about, but I will move on. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Miss
Montoya. Thank you so much. And thank you for listing the one, the trainings that have been provided. Those all sound fantastic. And so I just want to make sure that I understand correctly that all of our general education teachers have received those trainings. Is that correct? No. All of our
general education teachers who are assigned to teach either within the enriched literacy courses or the centers for Enriched Study courses. I've also not just me, but we've presented also to the GT liaisons. We presented these to
the middle school as and a couple of them. We've gone out and done individual like whole staff trainings. If a principal has asked us to come out and we've also presented most of them in special education, can you just say what I I'm sorry, that was the middle school
accelerated. Enriched. Instruction just for the folks. Yes. Thank you I appreciate that. Okay. And so I think that's fantastic that those staff members have received that and that we also create an opportunity for school general
education, school staff to receive it upon request. I second that we have increasing numbers of kids in our general education who maybe sometimes they have an IEP, or sometimes they have a 504, or sometimes they're identified as gifted and
talented or twice exceptional, or all these various markers that we put on our kids. Or sometimes some adults are like, yeah, there's something going on there. We don't know exactly what, but we're going to help and support our kids, right? And so if our general education
teachers, the ones that are kind of the bulk of our like in classroom staff, right? When we talk about a teacher, that's generally what we're what we're referencing. If they are not receiving these trainings, but our students who live lives in
these ways are in those classrooms. Then how are the staff supposed to support those students, and how are those students supposed to feel supported and included? And I just really want to second and
elevate what Miss Stewart said, because quite frankly, this has been my experience as a parent as well. And you have children who then are bullied and ridiculed and made to feel as if they do not belong in those spaces at very young ages, and it absolutely impacts the rest
of their educational experience. Some children don't even want to go to school, even though they're brilliant and love to learn. And that really hurts me because I love to learn, and I want all of our kids to love to learn, as I know all of you do. I don't ever doubt the
commitment of our staff in that way. So I would really, and I recognize this may be a conversation with someone else that I need to have about this. Right. But the idea that we would send our staff into our classrooms, knowing what challenges our children face,
yet not equip them with the tools, is not only a disservice to our staff, but then also to our children and quite frankly, their parents, who I hear from all the time and have experienced this myself. When we're in there fighting for our kids day after day, and how can
we even blame our staff when they're not even trained to provide what we're asking for them? Right. So I will follow up on this in an elevated way, of course, but I'm just really upset and concerned about this.
I do want to share that when we provide the trainings to the leaders within the schools, we give them turnkey presentations that we expect for them to share
with their teachers and staff. And so right now, that's the model that we have in place for the outliers. Typically, Sarah is invited to the schools to come in and offer direct
support. But right now that's the way we get to our general education teachers. So as I mentioned as well, this year, we've been working very closely with the reading specialists in elementary school so that there are more staff that are
receiving this training and are hopefully equipped to help the teachers in the classrooms. And I just and I appreciate that. And I just want to submit that perhaps that might not be working. Yeah. Thank you, thank you. Okay. That I think is a
topic that we need to dive in. Not today, but certainly in the future. But I would like to move on because I really don't want to shortchange our our two exceptional populations. So if we can please do that. Sure. And we are going to go a little bit
deeper into it because it's what I do living my life. If we go to the next slide. So again, I am Sarah Jackson. I am an instructional specialist. I specialize in working with twice exceptional kids. I also come at this from a lens of being a twice exceptional person who grew up in M.C.P.S. My husband
is a twice exceptional person who grew up in M.C.P.S, and shockingly, we gave birth to a child that is also twice exceptional and M.C.P.S. So we have lived the life here and I am very passionate about the work that I do. So if I get a little excited as I talk through
it, that's what we're doing. So we refer to oursel as twice exceptional services. We encompass a wide variety of services because we support students who are not identified. We support students who have 500 fours. We support students with IEPs. So when we talk about
exceptional services, we are talking about a lot of different kids and a lot of different settings. And I just want you to have that lens as we kind of start to move through this next slide, please. So first I want to talk about how we identify our kids and who are our twice
exceptional children. So on the surface we talk about students who have high cognitive potential. They are often advanced in reading, critical reasoning, critical thinking, or other specific academic talent areas. But they also have either diagnosed or undiagnosed
challenges. Most often you will talk about ADHD, dyslexia, autism, anxiety, other learning differences, but we do have students who can have any number of other noted disabilities which impact their ability to show us that potential. And so
that's when we really start to talk about this idea of masking. Twice. Exceptional students are most noted for their masking. Either they look so gifted that we don't see they have a disability. They look so disabled that we don't see that giftedness, or they look so average and typical that we
don't see either of those needs. And so it's often very difficult. And you need a lot of specific training and support in order to just diagnose or identify who these students are. It also becomes more difficult in a system where we don't have
necessarily a flag, because if you don't have a diagnosis, then you don't have a 504 or an IEP, but you're still twice exceptional. And so we really, truly find our students in every setting available to you in, in M.C.P.S. And really in the world. The number one thing you
can say about every twice exceptional student is that they are consistently inconsistent. You will never have the same day twice. You will never have the same anything twice. And as the saying goes, in our community, if you've met one twice exceptional student, you've met one twice exceptional student.
And so that becomes another challenge in supporting their needs. Our students are most noted by their frustration and anxiety, which is often referred to as a behavior problem. I would say probably 90 plus percent of the calls. I have no
data for that, but 90 plus percent of the calls I get start with I have a kid with a behavior problem, and then I go out and I'm like, oh no, you have one of my friends. And I note that because I was a behavior problem, too, and that was the thing that was most consistent on my report card as
a child. So I feel where our kids are coming from, and I also feel where our parents are coming from, because then the support that goes with that is very complex. These kids need specially designed instruction as we talk about through special education, but they also need specially designed instruction around those areas of both
giftedness and weakness, because they are constantly at odds with themselves. And it's an internal struggle as well as an external struggle. And so when we talk about what that specially designed instruction looks like, a lot of times we're going to talk about it as those soft skills, those things that come
out very much like a behavior, but the instruction they need is something that is not often seen. Next slide please. So when we talk about what these soft skills are, what the specially designed instruction looks like
for our students, and I am sorry, in this case using special education terms, but I do that with the knowledge that these are supports that kids need, whether or not they have IEPs. So I'm kind of blending the two here. And I want to be clear that I know I'm blending
these terms. It looks like having those integrated academic challenges available to them as well as the specialized support, this could look like having a second teacher in an advanced classroom. This could look like having a resource period where they can get direct instruction in those supports. It could look
like pullout services from a school counselor or from somebody doing psych services within a school. It can have a lot of different ways it can look. It can look like a lunch bunch where our kids are learning social skills just to talk to other kids, because often when you have these high
academic abilities, you lack the social skills to talk about things that kids your own age are interested in. And so sometimes it's just teaching them how to talk to kids their own age. When we talk about our specifically our special educators who support in our
twice exceptional service sites, but also one of the things I try to provide to special education across the board is understanding and meeting both that gifted need, because giftedness is a difference in cognition, and then also support those special education needs, because that is also a
difference in cognition. So it's a it's a brain based issue that is at war with itself. And so providing special education teachers with that double lens for these students is very, very important. Having different learning environments and different learning environments can be anything from in our
enriched programs or our magnet programs, all the way to our self-contained programs. We have twice exceptional kids in all of those settings, and so helping the teachers and all of those settings understand these approaches. And understanding what to look for in these students is a big part of it.
And then we have that specialized social emotional instruction, especially in secondary. We specifically focus on the executive functioning, self-advocacy, social, emotional and pragmatic learning. And then also we have our accelerated enriched pieces which I
mentioned above. Next slide please. So this is a handy dandy little graphic that I just really like. And it kind of helps me focus on when we talk about the different areas that we are able to provide support
in the number one area, we really try to support our twice exceptional students in is through that local school programing. And so that really means whatever your homeschool is. That is where we talked about a little bit before, providing the training for our staff who are there leveraging the specialized positions. So
whether it's the accelerated enriched support teacher in the middle school or the GT liaison, or working with our special education staff working with reading specialists, that's why we embed as much of that twice exceptional instruction into their regular instruction from our office, so that we have
those positions in the school who are aware of these students and know how to provide that extra level of support, especially when they're not special education students. We need to lean on our general education partners to support them, making sure that we have that consistent messaging. And that really has been a labor of
love between us and special education. You know, twice exceptional kids, students with IEPs deserve to have access to appropriate levels of instruction, even when it's advanced instruction. And we need to provide the support for them. And that is a consistent message that we have worked on with special education to
deliver strongly and across the board. Whether that plays out, that's a whole different thing. But that is our message that these kids belong here and that we they deserve to be here and we deserve to give them the instruction they require. We've talked about enriched curriculum, and Christy talked a lot about the fit time earlier.
So I'm going to skip over that. Regional services really talk about our specific special education special education services. And so in grades three through five this has looked like a self-contained enriched setting where we have specialized social emotional
learning. And we have done a lot of enhancements on the curriculum so that the students have that in that small setting. Once we get into secondary, these are our students who need more. They need multiple support. Rather they need support in multiple classes. They need a specialized resource
class that focuses very much on those soft skills that executive functioning, the self-advocacy, all those pieces. We actually have designed a curriculum that we rolled out this year, and we're going to be offering broader training on over the summer. That is a framework on how to work with the kids in the
resource class, so that it does look different for twice exceptional kids. Our next piece is our consultative support, which really is me, and going out and working one on one as closely as I can with school teams. A piece of it that's not on here, but is a part of this
is we also teach a three credit CPD course, continuing professional development course that we've had well over 200 teachers take in the last two and a half years. And I really appreciate that, because we have more people in schools who understand twice exceptional.
And so a lot of times it's people who understand what twice exceptional is, who know to reach out to get that help. And so that's where a lot of that consultative support comes from, as well as through a formal process and special education. The last piece we have on here is our Wings Mentor program.
It's not currently running, and there is a long variety of reasons, and I don't want to derail our conversation, but it is something that we would like to relaunch. It was functioning for about 32 years and then the pandemic happened. And like many of our specialty programs, it hasn't really recovered. So I
put it out there because we don't want to forget it, but it is not something that we are currently actively doing. Next slide. So I think before I get into the data, I didn't put a little discussion piece in here, but I also know I have thrown a
whole lot at you guys right now. So I do want to pause and just give you any chance to ask questions before we move into data. So I'm looking, Miss Yolanda, I'm looking at the time that we have and I know we have only five minutes. So I'm going to do something unprecedented. I
like unprecedented, unprecedented that I really want to give the time that this group of students and us, we and us as board members deserve. So I'm going to ask we can ask a couple questions now, but I'm going to ask that our next meeting. I
would like to give at least 15 minutes to come back for them to come back present, and at least for us to be able to ask a few more questions, we can actually send some of those questions ahead of time to this team. So that way you can come back, prepare for it as well, because
I also don't want to I don't want to cut our next, you know, next folks short. But I just feel very strongly that we cannust rush through. And Sarah, you probably will agree with me through this, through this group of students having
have raised a child who we didn't know he was, we know we know this child is exceptional, but not in this context. And it took a lot as a parent to kind of and the advocacy, one of the reasons why I ran for this
office to make the system, see, you know, that this my child, was a phenom in the classroom and incredibly bright. And so I just want to make sure we do that. I know that you have this
data. I would like to ask and be very clear. And all the charts with with all the information that we saw, especially the last three charts, that I don't think we're going to have the time to go through so many that I really would like that data to be broken down. For example, when
you show me the twice exceptional data, I really want to know what grades okay, we're talking about. I want to know geographically what areas we're talking about. And the same will
go for page 37 and 38. And I think that's why I ask, can you guys see the notes in this or do you only have the slide. And I ask because in the notes section there's a little link that says no, no, no, no, just the slide. We can only see the slide because I do actually I put
something in here. It's called Sarah has a data dump and I have all that information broken out into a spreadsheet. So I'll be happy to send that to you. Oh yesase. Please do. I had so many charts they told me, and our and our and our staff will, will will be, you know, willing to do that. But but I also think
especially in this one, that we have this one, at least for the community. I really think it's important for, for us to share absolutely that breakdown of, of the grades and, and so on, just to see if there's a pattern.
Right. Are we identifying them early on. Are we identifying them. Right. Like my child wasn't identified until middle school and I had to take him out of public school and, you know, and get him tested, right. And said, see, I knew, you know,
this was something going on. Thank you. So anyway, with that, I'm going to one question and then one question because we're. Your child is just a behavior
problem. Should we even include that? Are they ever even going to be able to do that? I mean, is there any point. Oh well, I didn't see anything. So I'm sure, you know, your child was just acting up. Right. These are a lot of things that I have heard from other parents, that I have heard myself, quite
frankly. And I want to be clear that I've had great staff and M.C.P.S. Right. I mean, just some stellar ones. Marty Chappelle, Sylvia Leopardi at North Chevy Chase, they meet the kids where they are and take them where they need to go. I don't know if they've had this training, but if they haven't,
then they're doing some stuff on their own to figure it out. They really are. But I've also had very seasoned people tell me things like, well, should we even try to teach them that? I mean, are they ever going to be able to learn it as if there's an intellectual challenge, as if they are unable? And so I just really appreciate all of the
work that you are doing, Miss Jackson, to make sure that everyone in M.c.p.s understands twice exceptional human beings and how multifaceted our students and our parents, because a lot of times our students come from twice
exceptional parents, right? And we may not have known when we were children and we did not get what we needed, but we are going to fight to make sure that our kids do. And I appreciate that you're standing there with us. So I'm glad that we are going to continue this conversation because it is absolutely needed. And I reiterate the need for
training for all of our in school staff directly, because it may be that there is supposed to be some trickle down effect, but we know that things don't always trickle down and it's absolutely necessary. Thank you. And with that, I know that at least for me and Miss Montoya, this is very emotional, right.
Because we walked the walk and. And to say specifically when I'm looking at your numbers for, for our black and Latino kids, and I know that the lack of advocacy
on, on the side of the parents because they don't know, they don't know, they can even advocate for their kids. Right. And it's heartbreaking because. As someone who also runs a nonprofit up county, I see
exceptional children every day, right. And it's and it just breaks my heart that they're being labeled some way when the parents just don't have the tools or the right words or the
advocacy to be able to say, you know, this is what my child needs, or even sometimes to demand that they are listened to. And so then we have situations right where then we finally identify them when we
could have done so much more preventative in their school career right then doing it in middle school, sometimes even high school. So with that, Miss Stewart. So I'm glad that we're going to come back and talk about enrollment, because I
think some of this identifying issue, there's some kind of nexus there, and I want to dig into that. And I wanted to just quickly on you talked about
lunch bunches are those. Typical at all of our schools or is that how is that is that expected? No. And I think lunch bunches is a very colloquial term. It means a lot of different things at a
lot of different schools. Specifically when I work with with teams to talk about a lunch bunch, what I am usually talking about is a social skills infused opportunity where we're pulling together general education and non general education students
who are often in that more curious range. Often when I talk about with our kids is that they need to learn that other people are often right too, or that sometimes they're even a little bit wrong, and teaching them how to hear other people's
interests, especially when they're in the same area, because they like to talk about what they like and they don't need to hear anybody else. And so teaching them those skills of being able to talk to people other than adults, who tend to be a little more patient with our kids. But part of finding their people is teaching them
how to talk to their people. And so that's what I encourage when I talk about lunch bunches. But definitely when you say the word lunch bunch, it will have a different meaning to lots of different people out there. But that's what I talk about in middle school. We're too cool for lunch bunches, so we have social supports or we have
crafted lunch time together. But if I say lunch bunch to my middle school kids, they're like, no, I don't need all that. So we come up with cooler terms as we go. But honestly, I still did it in high school. I just would never call it a lunch bunch in front of my high schoolers either. And then there
could be clubs, right? Exactly. So you can have some of this. Right. So where were you in my life when my kids were in school? Let me just say yes, because it really resonated with
me about how the day is never the same with these kids. I had a kid. I was my roller coaster kid. I called him my roller coaster kid because every quarter could be different. That's so different. So it is important that we understand
these issues, understand it. Earlier, I if I had only known what I know today, I would have identified my kids so much earlier. But you know. And I
think we all have these experiences and this is just three of us that are very interested and wanted to be on the Board of Education, but multiply this by so many. And, you know, we all just want to
make sure that all of our kids are being met where they are and can function well in society, which is sounds basic, but it's not anymore. And so that's why I ask about things like lunch
lunches, because to have that cohort I mentioned that earlier is so important and that so they can be successful later on because our kids are going have to deal with all types of people. Right. And so but then also being able to relate to
other kids is really important in their learning journey. So I can't wait to get back to this because I'm pretty passionate. I think the rest of us are too. So thank you so much for giving your time and just to just to go
back. If we could have all the slides, the segregated I guess would be the best word. That would be great. On this slide, when you say regional services sites, are these the only the
only schools that provide a service to the two population? Yes. But no. So everybody who has twice exceptional students is expected to provide their services or their supports if they have a 500 for these specific sites are where we tend
to cohort our students through that special education process. So this is where they have a dedicated case manager who, when Christy mentioned earlier the training they come to with me a couple times throughout the year, this this is where we have our special education
specialists who are supporting a core group of snts who have multiple needs and multiple areas. And these students can come from all over the county. They come from just that cluster for Barnsley. They come from all over the county for the other sites they come from the cluster or multiple clusters rather. So
for example Odessa, they come from the Northeast Consortium, they come from the DCC, they come from Rockville, they come from. Sure, that's all DC and AC. So that kind of side. And the reason I ask is because we are going to be looking at the programs that we write, and we
need to do a very diligent work and an honest work of, you know, is this the best for the children to be on a bus, you know, for an hour or more to make it right. So we're looking special elementary school. So
we're very diligent about looking at some of the programs, assessing them and seeing if you were to ask me, we should have a cluster school and each school. Right. So we should have an up county. We should have. Right a
down county. Right. And it's also that kind of makes sense because sooner or later, some of these kids are going to split into different clusters. Right. And that socialization, they have it is very crucial. So we need to start thinking also. And
also, you know, does it make sense for us to be taking kids from across Damascus all the way to. So anyway, that's I wanted to ask for clarification. So thank you. So with that, I think we're going to stop here. We're going to send you some of our
questions that my colleagues are also going to put together. And our staff will get in touch with you ladies. And I just want to say and I'll call you by your first names, Nikki, Sarah and
Christy, that your commitment and your passion for our students is very evident. And even though we might ask some tough questions, I think there are questions that need to be asked in order for us to be able to make the system better for
those that we serve who are our children. And if we cannot, do, you know, a job, a good job early on, we lose time, precious time for them to be, you know, to be able and to graduate with
the skills that they need. So there's no doubt in my mind that the passion, the love, the commitment is there. But we need to look at these systems that might be a little bit antiquated, and they're not really with the times and the needs of the population that is very different than from 30
years ago, from 40 years ago, even from 20 years ago, and even from five years ago before the pandemic. So with that, I just want to say thank you so much for being here today for answering our questions. I appreciate you. I appreciate our staff, Yolanda and Juan, for
being here, my colleagues, Miss Montoya and Miss Stewart for being here. And we look forward to seeing you at the next meeting. With that, we're
adjourned. Thank you.