will now um call to order. The work session of the Northern Bronze County Regional School District is hereby called to order. This meeting is called in conformance with the Open Public Meetings Act with adequate notice provided as follows.
Notice to the Burlington County Times and Times of Trenton on September 16, 2025. Notice filed with the township clerks of Chesterfield, Mansfield, North Hanover, and Springfield townships on September 16, 2025.
And notice of the annual meetings advertised in the Burlington County Times and Times of Trenton on January 7th, 2025. We'll now call roll. Mr. Figs, >> present. >> Mrs. Bond, >> present. >> Mrs. Applegate, >> present. >> Mr. Mr. Armente
>> present. >> Mr. Bucks >> present. >> Mr. Norwood >> here. >> Miss Janice >> here. >> Mr. Zimmer >> here. >> Mr. Dagley is not here. We will now do the um pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of
silence. Has any board of education member received schoolboard related emails and/or correspondences that have not yet been shared with the superintendent? >> Uh Dr. Zuckermanman, if you'd like to go over anything on your superintendent report. >> Absolutely. So on Friday, October 3rd,
we unveiled the the um synthetic turf field with a football game against Allentown, and our team did extremely well. Since then, we've had two boys soccer games. Uh, and both of those have have done extremely well, including a three to2 victory today over Delray,
which was their first time in 12 years. Uh, so that that certainly uh thank you Dr. McCann uh for that as well. We have a packed schedule for the remainder of the fall season um allowing all of our other teams to also share in the excitement um of the of the field as
well. We originally had the the baseball team scheduled uh to attend the football game last week as well as next week's regular meeting. However, um the team has asked if we can reschedule this until January. Um so then the students who recently graduated can also attend
as well. So we will certainly accommodate them um there as well. Although there'll be no football game, we're going to try to get them to a basketball game um to be recognized. Um in midepptember I attended the 2025 fall Napus conference. I was joined by
Jamie Williams and Michael Figs. During the conference I attended the MISA executive board meeting and also the Napis state chair meeting. Both of these meetings provided me with a great deal of behind-the-scenes information that was very helpful uh when preparing our visits to the Hill. During conference, I
attended the um I also attended the Loisa and the Misa subgroup meetings, keynotes, keynote sessions, a number of different workshops. The subgroups allow similar groups of um educators and similar groups of people who fall under the same NAFUS umbrella
to get together to learn from one another to better support our students and advocate for additional support. I don't believe that I I shared this previously, but one of our seniors from the class of 2025 received a Misa scholarship last year. I believe this is our first recipient of the Misa
scholarship, and we certainly look forward to having this continue in in future years as well. On Tuesday morning, we conducted our bianual Hill visits. As a state chair, I was responsible for scheduling the Hill visits, which I learned was certainly not an easy task. It's kind of like
hurting cats to get them to to respond to you. Uh we ended up meeting with representatives from both Senator Kim and Senator Booker Booker's office as well as uh representatives from seven of the congressional offices as well. Each of our meetings was extremely wellreceived and not only allowed us to
advocate for continued support of federal impact funding, but we also discussed that the discuss a variety of things that would benefit our districts in education in general. While there is still much uncertainty about the federal funding that will be
available, we made a point to infuse how the funding is vital to the financial status of our districts. They are predict they're predicting a continuing resolution which which will provide the same funding as it has in previous years. Should this happen,
we'll actually receive less funding than we did in previous years. This is because of the distribution of of the the allocation of of the funds. While we're hoping that our advocacy will encourage them to increase the funding rather than a continuing resolation resolution, time will certainly tell in
that matter. Couple of additional things. Um, this year during the homecoming football game, uh, it was moved to Friday night. The game was moved for several reasons. With the ga with the game on Saturday, the players as well as the cheerleaders
did not have a lot of time to get home, get ready for the homecoming dance that is held on later in the evening on Saturday. Friday night typically brings a bigger crowd and with a little bit more of an exciting environment by moving the game. It also makes the carnival a standalone event. Um, as a
result, we will not be having the homecoming carnival this year. Uh, we're looking to connect with the community in other ways in throughout uh throughout the year. Recently, I sent emails, and I shared this in in an email update, but I just wanted to make sure everybody knew.
Recently, we we sh sent emails to the township administrators for each of our sending districts. The scheduled time to them for them to meet with Jamie and myself. The purpose of these meetings is to introduce them to to Mrs. Williams as well as make sure that we have open lines of communication with our
townships of our sending districts. I'm pleased to tell you that right now we have three meetings scheduled for this week and we're hopeful that we can schedule the fourth in the in the near future as well. Over the past several years, we've had an increase to the number of girls who have participated in our wrestling
program because the numbers were low initially. The girls practiced uh and one of the boys coaches would take them to the to the um tour to their tournaments that typically took place on Sunday. This year it's anticipated that we have 10 to 14 girls participate in
wrestling. Uh with the increase in numbers we'll be starting our separate program for the girls. On this agenda you will see the approval of a girls wrestling head coach who will oversee the program. The funds for this were obtained um by unused coaching
positions. We're excited uh to start and to watch the program continue to grow. And lastly, uh during tonight's uh assessment presentation, Dr. Poente Irvin will record her portion of the presentation this evening uh for a
course that she is currently taking. This video will only be used for instructional purposes that are connected to her course. That concludes my report. >> Oh, sure. Any questions? So the the cancellation of the carnival
was that was that decision made with uh student input and discussion from students? >> Student uh students were involved with with the process although obviously with an administrative decision. Um we have had a a decrease in the
school age student participation in the event over over the past couple years that that I've been here as well. So the our students are more there working it than they're there participating in it. >> I have a question on the field or will it be officially done after the lines
are painted? Nothing nothing else. And when can they use the track? >> So they can theoretically use it right now. Last week they just finished on Wednesday of last week. So, we're trying to be very cautious obviously for the weekend and this week uh that they
they're going to we're going to be much more um uh much less restricting on the who can walk on the track. Um but the lines will be painted on the 13th and 14th of this month and after that then then we are ready to go.
>> So, I just have uh two comments. Uh number one, thanks for the hill visits and especially uh I want to you know thank uh Mr. figs because I know you know you have to take off work to do that and it's uh time consuming it's an ownorish type thing. Uh the second thing
um I think it's great with the girls wrestling. Has there been any requests at all about a girls flag football team? >> It has. We've had discussions about it. We actually had discussions whether or not if you recall whether or not we wanted to put the lines on the field um
when when we were going through that process. The challenge is they're going to probably come from another sport. So then and um that doesn't mean no. We want to do a little more homework to see what impacts that would have on our other on the other sports if we're going
to also add um the flag football as well. >> I had two questions. Uh first was related to the wrestling team uh girls wrestling. So will they be competing against other girl team girls teams from
the county? And is that now I guess I want to call it sanctioned but is it official uh within within the county? >> Absolutely. We the girls that we had um participate over the past several years, one of them actually participated in a
state tournament. Um and she I mean she's a heck of a wrestler. Okay. >> Um that and so they participate not only against other schools but also they're eligible for the state compet state tournament as well. >> Okay. And then my other question was um to the enrollment summary it and I'll
make sure that I understand this correctly. It looks like the numbers that are in parentheses were from September and then the ones that are not in parentheses are current. So there seems to be I'll call it mildly significant decrease in those numbers.
Um do we have a good understanding as to why and if we do could we kind of talk about that and then is this also I guess is this a trend? I know we've talked about potential for a uh a demographic study. Maybe that comes into it. >> So when we run when I run the report on
September 1st, we still have students that have not disenrolled from the school. If a student is enrolled in the school and does not show up for 10 days, then then we take them off the off the roles. So and obviously with some of our students that may move, whether military or a variety of other reasons, they were
included in that number before we remove them from the roles. Can we um potentially take a look I guess then see what it looks like October over October you know comparison to last October to see if we've got an upwards or a downwards trend and maybe they'll start looking at this historically. >> We can however the transiency of our
military population throws that into a whole curveball into that because then that that could >> we could be up or down from a given month or or so on. What we find is the first several months of the school year and the the last several months of the school year are more transient. Okay.
Um, but then it's we can certainly I'm happy to compare it year-over-year. I don't know if that's going to really give us the information because of the transiency of our military population. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Just I'm looking for some sort of a >> however, we can 100% look to see the number of students are going to private schools, the number of student because
we have those in the we have we have that data. Okay. Um, so I mean it really depends probably more on the crux of of what we're looking to see. >> Um, and then anything else. Yeah, I would just be looking for trends to see are we trending upwards, are we trending downwards in terms of enrollment, and then if we can ascertain why we're
trending one way or another, >> right, >> that's all. Yep. Thank you. >> So, I just have one more question about the girls wrestling. Um, for the guys wrestling, they would typically have like the JV match before the varsity match. Is there any coordination between
the them having matches together or No, >> on site. Yeah. Well, like I mean, yeah, >> typically it would be like a Friday night wrestling and JV would start at six o'clock and then the varsity would be at 7 o'clock or something. >> I'm going to first admit my own uh lack
of knowledge. So, I mean, there's a whole lot of information probably that that I don't know, so I don't want to misspeak. However, we do the girls will be wrestling against other girls programs. In years past, the girls were wrestling boys um if if there wasn't somebody on on the team. Um, so I I think it would be great to have like a
dual match kind of a thing where where we have both teams wrestling at the same time. I mean, something like that. It also depends on if the schools that are in the boys um schedule also have girls, >> right? >> They're they're not they're not typically the same schools. Like you'll find that you actually have to travel a
little bit further for the girls schools because I was I was talking to Wayne about this last year. He knew that we were going to have enough for this year based on upon last year. They don't always match up like just because you know, um, somebody from South Jersey has a great boys wrestling team. It
doesn't always the same and they typically don't have they're typically not on the same nights because of that. If it if it does happen, I think that was their aspiration to try to do that. But I don't know. And it is NJ sanctioned now. So, girls wrestling, I think, has been for probably eight
years. Um, yeah, they've been it's been like that for for quite a while. Um, they had it mixed now. I think the threshold is almost um at the point where even when they do seating matches and stuff like that at the tournaments there's there's enough to get close to
like what the boys tournaments have. I think they're at 32 now instead of like 64 when the boys have. So it's getting close pretty it's pretty big. And the girl I think that was for us she made she's uh qualifying for the Olympics as well.
>> Thank you everyone. Um, I would like to commend Dr. Zuckermanman on putting together the meetings that we had on the hill. Um, it's the first time in my years of going that we've been able to meet with Senator Brooker's office. So, that was a good change of pace. Um, and we made it to seven of the the Congress
um, staffers and even stopped by the other five to make sure we were dropping off information. Um, you know, the NASA is important as ever. I know Dr. Zuckermanman mentioned the the flat funding is actually a decrease. you know, last year's flat funding gave us 90 96% of our impact aid. This year
they're estimating at 90%. So, um it's one and a half times the cut we had last last time. So, those visits are are critical. Um you know, we get as many as we can in. I know a lot of other states that are there are always impressed with the number number we're able to attend. So, again, kudos to Dr. Zuckermanman on
getting us that many. Um and the team that was there between us and north can north handover and pertton and what's Craig's district kit kit. >> So we were able to divide where we needed to where the the meetings over overlapped um and make sure we made made our presence known in each of the
offices. So it was productive and it's ever important. >> Can I ask a question about the funding? >> What's driving our decreases just the states or the the formula or is it our population? federal funding is because it's being flat funded. The way that the
re the allocation comes through it actually a flat funding is a loss of funding >> because of that believe it's additional districts realignments different you know there's a very complicated formula and the impact aid office does an amazing job of dispersing those funds but unfortunately no increases basically
is a de decrease because of the the way it changes. So couple and just to add two things in there. One, the federal funding we have to um advocate for each year because it is not a reoccurring funding. So depending upon how they allocate their funds in the federal
government could impact the amount of money that is provided to the to the impact. Um at the same time it is not forward funding. So we don't get that for the current year. We typically get that in the rear. So then we can't use that really in our operating budget either. >> Gotcha. So you mean flat funding because
our costs are rising and we're getting the same basically. >> It's actually le it's less money coming. >> It's actually less money. So you're getting double hit because >> Yeah. Yeah. Cost. It's actually less money coming in. I mean and we have it light you know uh North North handover last year lost
almost 900,000 on theirs and this year they'll lose one and a half times that with another 6% cut. >> You know what percent we're losing? >> So it was so it was it's funded at 96%. So 4% of the money we got was last year's. This year we don't know yet, but they're estimating 6%. So we get a
>> on top of the four. >> Yeah. On top of the four. So it would be a full 10. We get is it >> three? I was supposed to get >> I don't know it off the top of my head. I have to look at the formula. We get a portion of what we should be getting because we are not um because of the
students coming to our school. We don't have the school on date stuff. Um, so then and I'm happy to sit down with you, but I need not know. I don't know that off the top of my head. >> The the whole Yeah, since the entire program isn't fully funded by the government, they prorrate it. You know, the schools that are most impacted get
get all their money and then as it goes down, there's a proration formula. So, yeah, we get somewhere in the three millions and we should be getting close to seven. Um, and there are schools that, you know, kit nanny, who's a federal lands property, gets $80,000, they should be getting, you know, $4
million. So, it's >> I I will also share with the board the handout that we put together for for the um the the various offices because it does show on there that what we get now versus what we would get if we were fully funded and just so it could just be helpful information to to understand
this as well. >> That'd be helpful. >> Is there any offset with the um the change in the base status, the compassionate base? >> Go and take that. So, we can apply for um reimbursement from special education as well. Last year was the first year
that we really qualified for that. However, it is based on the prior year's numbers. So, it was so for the application that we're going to put in this year for reimbursement for some of that, it's based on the numbers we had last year. So, we have had an increase, as you'll hear later in the assessment
presentation, we have had an increase in the number of special needs students with that are more significant of need. So that would be how best we would be eligible for additional funding re uh reimbursement because of that. >> I would just caution that the to qualify
for that funding the need is high. So the rate was maybe like $80,000 they needed to have in services. So um I think we had two students qualify in the last application but it's it's a high bar to reach that application.
>> So we end up putting the bill unless the bill is really high. Is that >> Yeah. kind of translation of that. >> Wow. Love that. >> I have a question. Did you get a chance to meet with um Senator Andy Kim as well
or just Okay. >> Marshall uh is Andy Kim's education staffer and he's he's fantastic to meet with um he'll he knows impact a well. He'll talk to us and then he'll stop and say, "Tell me what else is going on in your district. What else is going on in
your school?" So, uh, I don't think they've ever not met with us. We've actually met with Senator, well, he was Congressman Kim at the time. Um, but their office is always incredibly, uh, open to meeting. >> Cool. >> Because of that relationship, he um, Marshall and and the staffers often
reach out if they need feedback, if they need somebody to participate in a panel or something. So, I mean, it's a really good relationship. They actually um, sent us a really nice certificate for uh, Dr. Hogs as being county teacher of the year. So, I mean, so we it's certainly a special relationship that we have.
>> Cool. >> All right. Yeah. >> Um, Mrs. Williams is going to give her BA report uh during next week's regular um meeting um agend 2.03 and 2.04 or consent agenda items. Um, knowing that
Mr. Mr. Bucks has a timeline. I'm going to uh push my policy committee report till next week as well as the legislative NJSBA and BCBCA so we can get to the presentation. >> Yeah, go ahead. I was going to say though I do have some questions for Miss Williams at some point. So I don't know
you want me to just email you or >> whatever you want to do. You can ask me now if you want. >> Um so first observation and I'm assuming it's because it's not done yet. Uh 507 the budgetary major account fund status isn't posted. I'm assuming you guys haven't run that yet if or unless it was
potentially missed, but um that's not up there. >> Nope, it was potentially missed. So, I'll make that correction. >> All right, awesome. And then um in the bills list, I try to group these. There was uh there were some items in there like the benefit uh Benard
um and then Horizon Blue Cross and then school health insurance and there were multiple lines in the bills list for each one of those. Is that a breakout to the accounts programs? Yes. >> To programs. Okay. >> So, currently they charge the health benefits um for the teachers and staff
to the program that they're budgeted in. Yes. >> All right. So, yeah, I think there was somewhere north of 10 at least. >> Way more than that. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um and then I guess kind of related to that, the descriptions on the checks seem to be code numbers. Is there any
way for us to kind of decode that back or is that >> um I'll take a look. It should be the invoice number which is on the check. So >> yeah, I I can definitely take a look at that, but it's it's pulling the invoice number. Um if something doesn't have an
invoice number, it probably has a reference to whatever's on whatever the payment's for, but it's the invoice number. >> All right. So the best way to kind of trace that back then would be to the account number that it referenced or that >> or the PO. I would say the PO number. >> All right. And then um two I guess I
could probably group together. There were um some checks there for Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders and for Drexler University. When you get a chance, if you can just kind of give me the detail what those were. They would seem to be kind of odd. I know what our relationship is with either one of
those. >> Okay. >> Thanks. All right. Uh with that then we can move on to the presentation. The student assessment data please. All right. Good evening everyone. So, back in August, we showed you the we
reviewed the class of 2025 graduation assessment and we also looked at the NJGPA data. And so, at this point in the year, we're moving into the rest of the administration test administrations that were done last spring. And so, I'm pleased to have with us this evening uh two of our directors
of instruction, Miss Stro for mathematics and science, Dr. Poente Irvin for uh the humanities specifically tonight for English language arts and Miss Peters our director of special education and so this time of the year we give you know an overview uh from my perspective and then they'll dive into
their specific content areas of that assessment is just one piece of the teaching and learning cycle. It enables us to monitor our students progress. It enables us to evaluate our curriculum. It enables us to move forward in terms of where the district needs to improve and and grow and how we're doing. And uh
as it's somewhat difficult sometimes to see the information on the slides, the act the resolution has in the administrative content uh this presentation for you to access while we go through it this evening. So New Jersey's assessment system is uh
multifaceted. We uh spend u a lot of time, you know, monitoring our students progress all the way from our access test for uh students that are multilingual learners to our uh dynamic learning maps, DLM for our students uh with significant special needs and then
measuring progress towards the New Jersey student learning standards as well as graduation proficiency. And one thing to note about the difference in what state assessments are compared to some of the other types of assessments we give is the difference just to review
between a norm referenced test and a criterion one. Um and so the assessments that we administer to students where they are compared or scored relative to all of the students taking an assessment at the same time. those are norm referenced versus what we're talking
about this evening is students measured relative to a standard. So whether it's proficiency standards or grade level standards that is what our focus is for this presentation. And New Jersey's assessment system is in a state of fluctuation which you'll hear about
later uh in the presentation. But for each test there is a certain um number of proficiency levels. Uh so for the student learning assessment there are five performance levels. For the science test there happened to be four and for the GPA the graduation proficiency which
we learned about in August or reported on in August there are only two meaning graduation ready or not graduation ready. And so that bears some significance in terms of you know how the data is collated and what we're showing you this evening. We do have a fairly comprehensive uh communication
plan relative to all of this information. As soon as the data is obtained in the district, the administrative team works to unpack it. We then share the data with the teachers that feel the most connected to it in terms of uh the the results and that's the um teachers of the content areas
that are directly assessed and then we move into sharing it with the you know faculty as a whole which we will be doing in some portions of our upcoming professional development day as well as the curriculum committee this evening and now the board. We disseminate the information to parents in an individual
student report. We share with them what resources are available to them for them to understand their students performance and we explain all of that in the states uh by relaying the state's uh parent portal. Each student at this point uh or each uh
family should have received their students individual report which gives the progress relative to the performance levels and the components of each of the assessments and then it also explains again the
access to the portal and what parents can do to better understand uh their students performance. What we do with the data internally and how we use it is certainly to help students understand uh where they are relative to um you know their peers as
well as their own progress. having their their counselors involved in how um how they're doing, helping parents understand again encouraging that collaboration between uh you know teachers and administrators on how to best allocate our resources and with this group. You've been very supportive
in years past in understanding where we have some challenges and how we can allocate resources most effectively to support our students, continuing to assess our curriculum and then identifying our professional development needs. And so again, we now move into
hearing from each of our content experts. And so, first, I'm proud to introduce Miss Debbie Dro. I think it works. Yeah. Um, first I want to thank you for not only your interest, but also your support in our students academic growth. Um, I'm Debbie and I'm
going to talk to you a little bit about math and science and how our students did this past spring. Um, so as far as mathematics, this is our story. Data is supposed to tell a story. And so I just want to point your attention to our math 7. Um, I want to reiterate that in math
7, we actually have two math classes. We have an advanced math class and we have a math 7 class. Both of those classes take the same assessment. So this is how we fared compared to the state. NB's performance is blue. Gray is what the
state performance is. So the state scored at a 39% with all of their math seven students. We scored at a 62. Now from that we shave off about 125 kids from that math 7 who decide that they want to challenge themselves and take
algebra as a middle school student. Whatever is left from that 350 that we have, that's who our math 8 students are. So, our math 8 students were able to be 38% proficient compared to the state of New Jersey, which was 21%. So, again, we were better. Algebra is a
little tricky. Algebra 1 is taken across the state in the middle school as well as the high school. The state number is comparing all of those middle school students in North Jersey that are taking algebra 1 as well as the third-year student who's a 12th grade who's taking
algebra for the third time. So that number is very vast. They do not delineate between who takes it at the middle school and who takes it at the high school. So when I combine Northern Burlington scores, we still are doing better than the state in algebra 1. Same thing in geometry, but I want to be a
little bit transparent with algebra 1. So, I wanted to break it down for you. And what this slide basically tells us is that our students who are confident in mathematics are also competent in mathematics in middle school. Our students who are not so confident in mathematics are not so competent when
they get to the high school. So, it seems as though it's it's significantly lower, but I want you to keep in mind the state number does not change. So that 38% is a combination of all of the middle school and high school students who took algebra 1 in the
state. So I wanted to delve a little bit deeper and so I wanted to see how much our students grew. I understand that the proficiency may not be where we want it to be but that proficiency number is contingent on whatever the state feels
is a passing score. I wanted to see if our students grew. So, I took all of our algebra 1 students, as you can see there, the 14% that did pass, and I looked to see how many of those kids did we have scores for in seventh grade and eighth grade. A significant number we
did not, which also paints the picture of how transient our district is, but there was still a signific significant number who have been with us since seventh grade. And what I discovered is that in grade seven, 49% of our students were proficient. I do not have a green
growth score there because those scores would have come from our sending districts. But if you look at our eighth grade, when I took all of the eighth grade kids and I compared their score this past year to their prior year, 35%
of those grade eight kids in 23 24 were actually actually grow. And then again in algebra 1, this is the same cohort of kids. So you're seeing apples to apples. These are the same kids that were in seventh grade, 8th grade, and now they're in algebra 1. And even though
there were only 14% at that proficient score, 54% of them either met or increased their score from the prior grade. So this basically tells us it's an inverse operation. Even though our less and less kids are proficient, this
just tells us the difficulty of the test and that our kids are still growing. So, even though they may not get that 750 score, they're still growing compared to the year before. This is not um this is apples to oranges. This is not apples to apples,
but this is just kind of to compare our grade eight scores. And the reason why I delved into this is because I don't know if you remember, but last year we proposed that we wanted to um get rid of the geometry and probability class and incorporate that into our math 8 class.
And so the 23 24 school year was the co grade 8 cohort that did had the two separate classes. And as you can see the proficiency was 24% their growth was 35. But when we made that change this past spring we have a 38% uh proficiency rate
as well as a 52% growth rate. So although I'm not going to hang my hat on one year of data, it is very encouraging that the change we made at the middle school is making a significant difference. This is what the state tells us we have to share with you. This is the demographic information. Um there isn't
anything that's surprising that we haven't seen over the past few years. Um we are happy to see that the gap between males and females is starting to close. Um most of the demographic groups we have struggled with in the past and we also want to point out our IEP students,
but it's important to understand who those IEP students are. um in order to have an IEP, you have to be um relatively below grade level. And yet, these kids are still expected to take the same test as their peers that are at
grade level. Only 1% of our special ed population is allowed to take an alternate assessment. I hope that this changes with the um proposed changes from the state to have more of an adaptive test as opposed to this type of a test because then maybe we'll finally
start to see what kids really know and not measure what they don't know. So I am very hopeful about those numbers in the future. For now, one of the things we are doing is we are using our federal funds to um purchase Alex accounts which if you don't know what Alex is, it sets you on an individualized learning path
for mathematics. gives you knowledge checks along the way and we're hoping it will close the gaps for our students. It's also a program we use in the middle school. So, we're hoping that between using it at the middle school and then bringing it again to the high school is going to make mathematics a little bit
more consistent for our students. >> Can I ask you a question on that slide? >> Absolutely. Is there um in I guess your analysis the disparity between math 7, math 8 um on the percentage that are actually meeting
expectations? It seems to be quite the disparity there when you start to look especially I guess in the in the race categories or >> Sure. >> economic stat I'm assuming that's economic status. >> Sure. So keep in mind the difference between math 7 and math 8. In math seven
you have all of your advanced math seven students as well as your math >> translates here. Yes, that translates here as well, just like in the original graph. Um, it looks like a significant difference, but remember, you're shaving 125 of those kids off when you get to grade eight. >> Okay, thank you.
>> And those kids are taking geometry, right? Like >> the only kids that are taking geometry would be um >> kids that you shaved off. >> No, the kids that we shaved off would be taking algebra 1 and eighth grade. So those algebra 1 and eighth grade kids would then be taking geometry in ninth
grade as well as our 10th grade >> who were previously in in math 8. >> Right. So our our math eight I think maybe the way you're looking at it is our math eight kids will be taking geometry later on when they get to 10th grade.
But didn't they so I so Joe's question is like math 7 has multiple kids they have the they have the kids that are taking advance in seven right but then there's a drop off in the number of students in math eight I thought those
kids were going to the geometry assessment or they going to algebra >> the algebra 1 kids in eighth grade go on to the geometry assessment but the kids in math 8 still have two more years before they get to geometry, >> but the the difference of the kids that
like there's a significant drop in the students in math. >> So, could remember the slide that showed the middle school algebra 1 kids? Yeah. >> The middle school algebra 1 kids are the advanced math 7, >> right? >> So, that's where that portion of the algebra 1 are the those kids that take
the middle school versus and then there's the high school percentage. So, that other table that kind of split the middle school and high school algebra one is basically where the math sevens kind of split a year apart. Good. >> Thank you.
>> Could I ask a couple questions? >> Sure. >> I'm over here. >> Sorry. >> It's okay. Um, thank you for the presentation. Um, I'm curious about a couple things. The first is what are the expectations that we want from a district at for these for
these school levels? What what is do we set goals at the beginning of the year of what we want to be at? >> Well, sure. I mean, we would love to have all of the kids be proficient. Um, but what I'm hanging my hat on is the fact that there was growth. Um, I think
any of us want to make sure that we have growth in the students. Um, yes, proficiency would be nice, but as long as they're growing, I think is our expectation. I I do want to point out, too, that the math 7 and the math 8 tests are significantly different than
the algebra 1 test. The algebra 1 test is I know it sounds like it's algebra 1. We all had algebra 1, but it is not the algebra 1 that we all had in school. Um, pretty much 8th grade math is really the algebra 1 that we're used to. This
particular algebra test because of the standards, it starts with quadratics and um, sorry, exponential functions versus when we were all used to just the linear. So, our specific goals are that we want to
see growth. >> Okay. Um, maybe I'll change my questioning a little bit differently. So, what's the incentive for the child to score well on the test? >> Yeah, that brings us to probably why ours our middle school and high school
looks the way that it does as far as algebra. Um, I'm not going to lie to you, there really isn't a whole lot of an incentive in nth grade algebra and we do fight an awful lot of apathy. Um, we want to encourage kids as much as possible. Our teachers do. They continue
to have individual conferences with students. They set goals as far as standards and we try to motivate them as much as we can. But as far as other than doing well internally, I don't know that we have a whole lot of motivation for them. Right now, the NJPPA is a
graduation requirement. Um, but that isn't until 11th grade. >> Meaning you have to be proficient or you just have to take the test. >> You have to be proficient. But I will tell you that see these 14% kids that were not proficient on the algebra one, they would be considered proficient on
the NJ GPA. Their their average score was a 725. >> So if I could be um share my own personal perspective, >> sure. >> When I see one of my children getting straight A's in math and then when they take this test, I I I lose my mind
because I'm like, what's going on here? and he looks me in the eye and I'm like, "So, how do we change the trajectory of this if these students have absolutely no incentive to take this test when we're struggling with these numbers and looking at them and saying, "What are we doing wrong or whatnot?"
>> Have we approached the state or even internally here from school incentivize the kids because I don't know about you, when someone incentivizes me at work, >> I usually perform very well. So, how do we is there is there anything we can do? So that's one of the reasons why we've
decided to implement the Alex program because there is an incentive to that and the teachers can provide that incentive for them to continue to work on their individualized learning path. Um that's one of the reasons why we are bringing that in. As far as the state testing, the state does what it wants to
do. Um the only incentive is to get them to that NJGPA. >> And we know that we're moving into a period of a shift now which you'll hear about in a few minutes about an adaptive version of this test moving forward. And so, you know, then they're the student measuring growth against themselves versus their their peers or the
standards. We hope. >> Have we ever been in a situation where our district for anything in from a district standpoint is like 80% or above? Does that ever happen? I mean, I'm I'm I'm get just ballpark like have we ever seen it? Because otherwise it seems like we're fighting an endless
battle here to to to get good scores, but yet these kids don't care. I'll be honest with you. If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't care either. I'd be like, what's the incentive for me? >> Not all. I think that's exactly what you're describing is exactly why I chose to show this slide to separate between
our middle school kids and our high school kids. Our middle school kids are very motivated. And that's why we have an 88% proficiency rate. You're right. At the high school level, they're not so motivated, but that's why I was excited to see the growth in that same cohort,
the fact that they were at least growing even though they were not making that proficiency. Can I make a controversial comment? >> Sure. >> Why don't we link it to their overall grades that that it's literally linked to their final grade scores in in in their overall like math. >> Is there is there anything that prevents
us from doing that? >> I mean, we receive the scores long after the end of the school year and so to tie it, you know, where and uh >> I see what you're saying. Yeah. Because it's the year after, right? >> Right. We don't get them. It's not something that we can I mean our teachers at least our ninth grade
teachers at the algebra one level they are very focused on the standards they do sit down they have conversations with the kids but the honest truth is the way that the test questions are answered it's not your basic tell me what the answer is here's the problem you know a lot of it is readability and I just
don't feel that we can say that that's truly what kids know I'm not sure that the test actually measures what the kids truly know more so than what the teacher and the student in the classroom do know. >> Okay, thank you for indulging me. >> No, you know what? I encourage you
please um go ahead. They have like practice assessments. You can actually see the way that the algebra questions are worded. Please go on the state website and take a look at what your children are expecting. >> Oh, you don't want me to do that? I'm trying to help my seventh grader with his math. >> Even better. Even better, this new assessment, take the seventh grade
assessment. I know I did and it's it's a lot. It's a lot. I I I just think it's frustrating because I know how much energy and effort that you guys put into this. I can see the great scores that people have and then when we look at this it's like >> like what are we doing, right? There's no correlation to it because the kids
don't give a damn, >> right? >> And I think we have to change our vernacular and the way that you know we approach our community and we approach the kids because oftenimes you'll hear the kids say, "Well, it doesn't matter." It does matter. We spend a lot of time we we make curricular decisions based on
how well they do. So when we tell our students it's okay, don't worry about it, it doesn't matter, they're listening. I also think, you know, mathematics is the only subject area in all of school that we actually separate kids between advanced and regular. We don't do that in any other subject area.
So what does that say to kids? >> Yeah. >> You know, and if we continue to make it I I wish that I if I had a dime for every person who has come to me in over my 30-year career and said, "Well, I'm not a math person." I bet you I wouldn't have as much money if they came to me
and said I can't read. So, you know, that matters and and that's exactly what we're seeing in our students. >> I mean, my questioning is to only um inquire on help, right? I don't look at it as a negative. I just it's frustrating to see how hard we work and then >> Absolutely. There's nobody more
frustrated than me. >> Yeah, I know. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And sorry, one more one more quick one just so we're all clear. growth is an actual increase in score from prior year. Correct. >> From the prior year it was >> for that individual student. Yes. But um anonymous
>> just not proficient which proficiency changes from year to year which again is why I think Dr. Stella was mentioning we're hopeful. I'm going to use hopeful loosely that this new assessment because it's adaptive is going to tell us a little bit more about what our students
do know. >> So then is it let me ask that followup then. Is it an just an increase in the score or is it an increase in the grouping of a score? I think there's f the five levels, right? Right. Is is it a movement in the level or just a movement in the score?
>> So, this particular growth was movement in the score, not necessarily movement in the level. Okay. >> We don't know what this new adaptive test is going to give us. >> So, the state's going to change the tests again. >> Yes. Oh, yes. >> So, are we ever going to get a consistent set of assessments from them?
Because I mean since I've been on the board I think we've been this is probably the third or fourth type of assessment right >> that we give to kids >> like how does that question do the the purchasing agreement and how long they have the contract with that organization >> and then they switch it and then all of
a sudden get another >> we've got no way to look at a cohort through the course of theiru their their career students like >> that's insane to me >> as you'll see as you'll see in depth couple slides you'll see the comparison of a cohort data from the same students
taking the same taking a the the same course assessment in from four years apart. We're going to now lose that again when they switch tests. Yeah. Because we're going to start all over again with a baseline of assessment. >> So take a good look because that's not going to be there next year.
>> Only way to see the scores change. It has to be some sort of there has to be some sort of incentive. I mean it's just >> agreed >> like even if it's it doesn't have to be monetarily but what if you were to say um you know the school who had the best scores you know gets some sort of
recognition or whatnot like beyond normal I I just think that that's the struggle that we have here and then to your point Joe it's like well if the assessment criteria changes every other day I mean look I do data for a living and I'm that I would be like this is pointless right if it's every three
years >> it is a waste of taxpayer It's a waste of a lot of money. >> So, I have a real quick question and I think you probably hit on it and I missed it, but what's an adaptive test? What does what did that mean? >> Right. So, what an adaptive test will do
is um a student will be presented with a question and depending on how they answer that question, it will either push them forward to like the next level or it will reverse back to see like okay well exactly where are you? What grade level you know are you at this particular skill? So what that means for
the test is that every student has a different question. So the state likes that because of testing security. Um but we still have no idea what that means. A lot of your adaptive tests if any of you are from I believe Mansfield is still using I Ready. That's an adaptive test.
>> And the MAP assessment is also adaptive. >> NWA MAP assessment, >> right? MAP is also adaptive. And I I don't know if anybody uses MAP, but I do know that they use I Ready. Um so yeah, so those are examples of adaptive assessments. So I just want one last question. If a
student is not proficient, >> so when if they're in elementary school, if you're not proficient, you go to basic skills or extra help. Do we do that here at all? Like I think it goes to Frank's kind of question around like what are we doing to intervene so the students do better on the test? If it's oh, I just don't really care. There's
probably nothing we can do. But comparing to the state, like you have that dynamic across the scores. So it's not it's cons like every the only consistency is is that right how you compare to other schools and we're still underperforming in that algebra 1 8th
grade and I know the data set's different because they have a mix of seventh and eighth graders but we're 14% versus eight 38% proficient >> that's I and I understand that again remember the 54% growth so even though they're not getting the proficiency they're still doing better than
>> they're still doing better but we're still behind >> I wouldn't I wouldn't say that were behind across the district. I know when I go to my math county supervisors meetings, everybody is in the same boat as far as eighth grade versus high school. You know, a high ninth grade
algebra 1 is is a beast. I mean, it is the beast that we fight. And again, I think we need to change our vernacular. I know my teachers are working very hard to set goals with kids. Um, but the reality is that, you know, the graduation requirement is the NJ GPA.
Christa that 38% though remember it's not just the high school >> I know I know that but like they could be they could be eight remember we're 88% on the on the middle school which is really good so like but you have to remember those kids in the rest of the state that are really good in middle school are bringing that 30% back up so like you never know the high school
level on the state could be six for all we know like there's just no information >> so how I lay my head down at night is that 14% of the kids as I said and I know this sounds a little funny they didn't hit the 750 mark for algebra 1 but they hit the 725s which means that
they're proficient in the NJGPA. So again that there again the state can't be consistent with what is >> also changes the um score that is needed for for proficient based on the scores that are received that year.
>> So it's a constant moving target that that we're going for. So it's not like our goal is to get them to 725. So when we're saying did they advance a level that level that that number can change the the following year they may have been proficient last year but this year they're not. >> And the majority of our kids were at the
approaching level which is like just one step below meeting proficiency. Um but Dr. Stella wants me to remind um you as well that we do um have a middle school math and ELA interventionist that we're looking at the data very closely and that brings us to that star universal
screener. We're trying to catch kids early in seventh grade so that we can we can help them before they get to that level. >> So So if they do poorly in this but they get straight A's in algebra 1, there's no impact on them. >> They move on to geometry. >> So then there's no there's no incentive
and they pass the NJA at the end of year. So >> in geometry there might be a little bit a little bit of an incentive because I know the geometry teachers are reinforcing the algebra skills with the daily math drills and the kids hate those. So that might be a little bit of an incentive to do better.
>> And these scores don't drive any funding or anything. >> Okay. Any more questions about math? Oh, I can't wait to hear your questions about science. >> Okay, so as far as science, um this is where I really struggle with the state and I struggle with the validity of any
of this. Um because if you look, science 8 measures the grade 6th through 8th grade band standards. The state level, less than one out of five kids is actually proficient on this test across the state. And yet 29% of our kids are.
Um at the grade at the science 11, they're measuring the grade band standards of grades 9 through 12 in 11th grade. and still less than one out of three kids in the state is proficient.
So our kids are doing significantly better than that. This is a multi-year state comparison. Again, this is um this is not the same cohort of kids. It's the same test over the last three years, but it is not the
same cohort. But as you can see, our eighth graders that the state continues to stay at 19% in three years. our kids have gotten better over those three years. For grade 11, perhaps it's maturity. We're not really sure. Um, but
if you look at the three cohorts, again, the state stays around that 30%, but our kids are significantly making increases. We are lucky. We do have a middle school teacher who is actually on the state assessment committee. Um, so she's kind of like our informant of of what kind of
changes are being made. So, this is the first time that I can present to you, and don't get used to it, but this is the first time that I can present to you the same cohort of kids. So, in the spring of 2022, our eighth graders at the time were only 20%
proficient, which was what the state was. Um, but now you can see as grade 11, which is the first time we had to wait for them to get old enough, now we can see that they've increased to 47%. So, they are making progress in science.
This is the demographic um information that we need to share with you. Again, very similar to the math. I'm glad to see that the gap is is getting smaller between the males and females. We struggle with the same demographic groups. And again, we talked already
about um our special needs students, the students with IEPs. Science will not be an adaptive test, so maybe we have a little bit of a chance of being able to show you some more cohorts um next year. Uh but it will not be an adaptive test.
So any questions about science. >> Okay. >> Really quick. >> Sure. >> So what's our requirement in terms of number of science classes they must take? It is three. >> Three. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. The the grade band is four
years. >> Okay. >> But they're only required by the state to take three. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening. I'm going to stand here so I could be closer to the recording. Thank you for allowing me to record my
portion of the presentation. So, we begin with a uh overview an overview of the um three uh testing grades, seventh, eighth, and ninth. And um uh northern Burlington is the blue
and the yellow is the state. And so we see just very uh you know we can see that the that the that ELA7 is performing marginally better than the state performing um marginally um above the state while 8th and 9th grade are
performing below the state. And so um if we take a look at each grade level in isolation, we see that here um so here we see there's the multi-year comparison. Um these are like Deb said
um apples to oranges. So this is not the same cohort but we can see that the um seventh graders who are the current eighth graders while they performed marginally better than the state they performed um slightly below um the the
uh grade seven uh cohort of last year of the year before for eighth grade. While the eighth grade performed below the state, they performed slightly better than the eighth grade the year before. So to me,
this is promising. We're trending in the right direction. Um so um if we look at ninth grade, however, ninth grade they performed below the state and also
performed below the uh uh grade nine uh cohort the year before. So when I looked at this data, I decided to delve deeper in looking at nth grade and taking a look at why why why are we trending this this um in this direction. Um, and what
the data showed me was that we we could use some more supports in writing and still we're we're struggling with um supports in technical and science texts which is theformational um uh text of uh that that the students
need to to the students um the the technical the science and the technical parts of the assessment. So then if well if we look at the uh 10th grade cohort we see that the trend is going the opposite direction. And so
what this tells me is that we really need to focus more on supports for grade 10. Um there's so many different possible reasons for this. Um one of the reasons could be what I just said that they could use some more supports in
writing and some more supports in readingformational text. primarily science and technical and the uh technical subjects. Um we've been having conversations about interdisciplinary literacy in uh across the across you
know across disciplines. We've been um we've had some success in some subjects uh where they have integrated literacy um but we're looking about we're looking into being more intentional um in uh uh integrating making it more of a district
goal of um integrating literacy. Any questions so far about these trends? Wow. >> Dev answered all the hard questions. If I can just kind of add in I mean clearly a a decline is not what we want to see.
>> Sure. >> I mean that that is not the direction that we want to go. I think that um something that's important to know also is that as uh as Miss Drog encouraged you to go online to uh to take the the math assessment. Language arts is is not
a whole lot different. I mean it it is challenging. I mean, they're they're learning how to take excerpts from texts, use that into their from the from the literature and use that into the writing and infuse that and it's essentially like the cross integration of all all of those things. And they're
also not necessarily reading a a classic novel. They're reading like a a a really challenging piece of of literature and often infusing in there from other subjects as well. So they're getting the the crossd disciplinary um strategies
and skills that they need, not just your traditional vocabulary test or something like that. >> So I would add to that that the that the differences in grade levels is just the complexity of text, right? So you know uh they you know they have the research simulation grades K K K K K K K K K K K
K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K K to 12, but again the text that they have to analyze and they have to synthesize it becomes more complex as uh you know they uh go from grade to grade. So um the the skills I like to describe them as cyclical, right? Versus in math, right? They're
very specific skills that build on one another. In ELA it's not so much that, right? you you need to um you know infer in kindergarten as you're inferring in in 12th grade, right? You do research in kindergarten as as as well as 12th
grade, right? So um the uh the the domains are the same. Um but again, it's just the the complexity of text. And so to Dr. Zuckermanman's point, it does become um you know, they they they do have to analyze text. They do have to write um several different writing uh
types genres of of of um essays. Um they have to write uh constructive responses. Um they have to like I said they do a research simulation where they are given three pieces of text and they have to synthesize the text and and find common
themes. And so um so yeah the the ELA um assessment is um uh challenging. However, you know, uh middle school has undergone several um uh changes just like in math, we had um the the
partnership to the geo improv was the composition course. I don't know if you guys remember um that from last year that we discussed eliminating both and integrating um composition into ELA7. And you know, just seeing the trend
going in seventh grade going um upward, that shows me that, you know, again, we're we're trending in the right direction and possibly that change um is showing um that it's working, that it was an effective and a timely um
adjustment. So, can I ask what is there support we can help with and or what are we going to is there any plans to change the curriculum? Because when I look at this data, we're below the state and we're trending downward for the
grade 10 cohort. So to me it feels like something's not working. These students aren't and I know it's I know it's one test but we're compared against the state which is a similar kind of dynamic and we're if we were above the state and our you know it would be a little bit different but it it feels like we're a
bit behind given our comparison and and the trend. So we've had quite a bit of turnover in staffing at the high school. Um, so we have a lot of new teachers, especially in uh my and uh Miss Peter's departments. Um, so I'm I'm I'm
optimistic that that yes, that once we we establish a little bit more consistency with our personnel, with our teachers, and um they become more comfortable with the curriculum that we will see um those shifts change in a different direction. >> And you can't see data based on like
what classes the students are enrolled in, right? like you can't see the honor versus the AP versus the >> you can uh the state doesn't provide that but we we can certainly do that internally. >> Yeah, I like where you're going there
because where my brain goes is it's like it's almost like you're starting off with bad data because it's corrupted in the sense that the kids aren't putting their their utmost effort. So, I'm curious, have we ever taken uh like a cross analysis where we take SAT scores
and compare it to these scores or average grade scores? Because that matters, right? And and if you can because like everything that you see here says like shit's bad like like we have problems but if you look at the scores that actually matter which would
be their grades or SATs or PSATs and you compare that to what we're doing with this you'll get a like almost a control group versus a rand versus like randomized study from that standpoint. and then you can actually make empirical decisions on what we're doing because if
you're using this to make decisions on curriculum and the data is already corrupted from the standpoint of that the kids may or may not be giving a damn right and okay so in northern maybe in English our kids give less of a damn about English as opposed to the state giving a bit more like I don't know I just feel like we're making this
>> feels like that that like dynamic of the kids not giving a damn exists at the state level too so I do like that we should look at like what is the SAT or what are their grades or what students are we not having success with? Because I do think that dynamic at least I mean
I think math a little bit different because there's so many different levels and when kids take certain things but the dynamic of like the k how the kids feel about the test is consistent in the data set. At least it it feels like it is for ELA. It probably is for math too.
It's just there's so many other dynamics happening in math that it's hard to tell. But it would be interesting to see if it's is the AP are the AP students doing really well. >> Well, maybe what you're seeing the difference between math and English is the fact that kids don't read as much anymore because they're on their phones
and they're consuming media in a different way. >> Could be AI. We talked about that, right? >> AI, whatever. >> Could be AI. >> But but you're you're going on the right in the right direction is that is that if we you don't have any choice, right? You have to do this because the state forces you and I get it. But if we really want to know how effective we're
doing, we should be looking at the things that are measurable that are based off of real evidence as opposed to a singular test that I don't know >> in a in every year in in each subject we provide benchmark assessments in the beginning of the year and the end of the year to be able to monitor the growth of
students make in that assessment. Those to me are vital. That information to us is should be our measuring stick, right? Um because then it gives us the anal the information from how the student did in the beginning of the year to the end of the year of that course >> right so from so you give a benchmark
right in the beginning of the year >> and you're comparing that those students to if they grew throughout the year >> correct and if they met the goals of that course as well because then those assessments are are strategically designed to be able to measure have specific um skills in them and and so
on. So what do we see? Do we see that benchmark data ever like as a board or >> we can we can >> is that data better than >> I think it depends on the course. I think it depends on the I think it depends on the course depends on the subject. Some of the gaps are are still similar. Yeah.
>> Um so going back to kind of what we do just because I want to keep this kind of in that in that direction as well. >> I mean as I as I said before >> this is not this is not what we want to see. We're we're getting ready to embark on on developing a strategic plan and one of the the primary goals of the
strategic plan will be an instructional goal which will have several different like kind of branches and and so on. Um as Dr. Fonte Irvin uh mentioned and I want the process to be able to drive where we're going with strategic planning gathering information. I foresee something like some sort of
literacy or some sort of um uh writing across the curriculum. And what that means is that every teacher would be working on analyzing text. Every teacher would be working on the same skills that that the teachers need regardless or that the students need regardless of the
subject that they're in. So they would be working to analyze a text in ma in in science and to be able to use that to infuse into their writing the same skills that students would be demonstrating on these assessments instead of just saying that oh I only do that in language art. So then when they
get a passage in the in the on the assessment that may be in in a science-based assessment, then they actually have experience that and then they're also we're reinforcing the skills that they need. Again, I'm not saying that's going to be the exact goal in strategic plan, but that's where we want to go and to set benchmarks each
year as far as how we're going to go to achieve that. >> Yeah. And I think that's what's important, right? The point somewhat of these tests is to see how our curriculum is working and how we're doing. And so I think we should take this data and to your point implement it in our goals.
How how are we going to choose a different curriculum or do things different because you know it it feels like these these test scores are are going in the wrong direction. I mean, I'd like to see us, if we're doing a beginning and end of year assessment, you know, take that data,
overlay it with the grade data, right? And then tempered this these results with those, right? Because that's going to be if it's a better measure, right? We would use that, I think, to inform more than what the state is giving us, especially knowing the state's going to throw this away and we're going to have
a new one. So, I mean, if we're consistent in our assessments, you know, at that beginning and end of year, and we're doing that and can actually have cohort data around that, I mean, I think that would be a a spot-on way to kind of really assess what's going on with our programs.
>> And and you'd pinpoint the students that are really struggling with >> Exactly. Right. Because again, if you temper it with what you said, like who's taking what classes, right? honor versus AP versus, you know, non- honors that you can really kind of get into it.
>> And I would add um just how much of the apathy that was discussed earlier um is attributed to efficacy, right? Like just me as a student, do I feel confident in taking this assessment? And so some of the things that we've integrated into
the ELA um not curriculum but that we've been encouraging the teachers to do is independent reading which um has proven to be uh an intrinsic motivator for reading and the more they do that the more they increase their fluency. Um that doesn't really translate entirely
to the uh state assessment because as Dr. Zuckermanman said the state assessment the text um is a lot more technical and um again uh moreformational based and so we we really again have been having these conversations about how we can increase
literacy across disciplines um and and I as I mentioned before we've we've been successful in some areas so like in the technical areas the career technical areas um that are uh that's overseen by uh Mr. Conowitz. Um that's part of their uh Perkins grant that they have to
incorporate um um in their in their a um I believe it's a science but right a science they have he he's been uh intentionally paying a stipen to an ELA teacher and a math teacher to help those teachers incorporate math and science
skills into their curriculum. So um I think what Dr. Zuckermanman is is is really um talking about is a more intensified way, right? A more more more intentional way to increase those efforts in all disciplines across the district.
>> If is this going to an adaptive >> Yes. >> as well. I think in in a way that'll be helpful because at least it pinpoints the skills that kids are strugg I mean I know it's changing year-over-year but at least you can pinpoint the areas where kids are
struggling. >> Yeah. And and and it warrants repeating um that we are uh rolling out uh the universal screener both in math and ELA so we can um intervene early in the seventh grade. >> Yeah. And I just had a quick question.
Do you work with the teachers on Lexile levels and that because that when if we're talking about text complexity, you know, understanding where a ninth grader should be within the Lexile range versus like a 12th grader versus a seventh grader because I think that that becomes
a vehicle to understand text complexity and then have discussions amongst colleagues about, you know, the text that they're choosing. >> Absolutely. Uh well the short answer is no not officially but they are having some
level of conversations in terms of you know um you know what what students what skills students are deficient in. And so, uh, part of the conversation I think is important for us to have as a as an admin team is to discuss what could be
the equivalent of Alex and ELA. Um, because we don't have anything, we don't have a platform currently that, um, gives that the teachers that data. So, um, although the universal screener, we're going to start with that. That's going to be um, a starter. That's that's at least an initiative that's going to
yield um, Lexile results um, at least in the seventh grade. And so again, we're still having those conversations, but not officially. I mean, teachers use um platforms like uh Newella, Common Lit, those those uh uh platforms do uh
provide Lexile scores. Um but again, it's not across all of the ELA classes. >> Good question. >> Oh, I'll jump in with an easy one though really quick. the um the trend here is this consistent across
all the cohorts. >> So I did not >> because I know we didn't get there yet. That's why >> yeah so no great question. I did I I did not provide as thorough thorough detail as Deb did as Miss Dro did. Um I focused on the cohort um 10 only because I
noticed that they were trending um already I saw that they were trending the the wrong direction um in comparison to to to their peers. >> So um the other the other two grades are going up and so I again I'm I'm confident that the changes that we made
in at the middle school um are working. And I asked that because I'm I'm wondering are we still kind of suffering at some COVID learning loss here that >> that's a great point. >> Probably try to quantify. >> Yeah, we talked about this like the the current grade 10 they were in fourth grade
>> and ninth grade they were in um they were actually in third grade. So very important years for foundational reading skills. If you can't read by third grade, right, then you're already behind, right? So so that's a very um observant point. >> I talk about that. I think that's an
interesting point because in the math it goes the other way with co >> right but it's different skills >> it's different skills for sure there's foundational I guess my other question is do we have a large population where English is not first language >> no >> no okay so it's not
>> great and then finally um I'm also providing you with the subgroup data um very consistent uh to math um like very consistent in years past. We have um
females uh traditionally uh you know um performed better than than than male students in ELA. Um and then we also have um I don't have the comparative data from year to year but you can see that the Hispanics and the and the and
the African-American students are still performing uh you know really low. So, um, definitely, you know, this data just again shows us where we need to target our efforts. Any additional questions for me.
All right, I'm going to pass it over to Miss Peters. Thank you. >> Good evening. Thank you. So, I'm going to talk for a minute about Can you go for it? No, it is just okay. Um, I'm going to
talk about the dynamic learning maps. So, which is the alternate assessment that is given to the students in our district and out of district, those who attend out of district placements um with most significant disabilities. It's given just like in the other um tests in
the seventh grade, eighth grade, and 11th grade. So, this just talks a little bit about it. Again, as Deb had said earlier, only 1% of our students who are classified can take the DLM. If we're over that
percentage, we have to apply for a waiver to the state for them to take it. Um, we did have to do that last year because of the increase in numbers of special education students with significant disabilities. Um our our data when reporting looks a
little different because if there's not 10 students in one sub subject for a grade level, we cannot report specific data because that would reveal if students who a student is. Also, the test is administered by the classroom
teacher over a period of weeks. It's not given in one day. Um, and it's given via an iPad, so the students have access to a touch screen and things like that as needed. Okay, go back. Did you hit that, Steve?
Okay. Um, the results are given um they're they're categorized as emerging, approaching the target, at target, and advanced. So I just last year there were some questions about what each of those things mean. So I just gave some information here um from the state the
definitions of each um level for the students and then these were our results. So again we can't be very specific. If you look though at um ELA for instance um
most of our students both um are at target or advanced the students who are at the emerging level were all out of district students. So we don't have control over giving those students that that exam that test. Um but the majority
of our students are at target are advanced in each grade level and in each subject area. Seventh graders are not given the science test just so they aren't here. So um that's why that number is lower um in the science total
category. Now the students test is based not on the regular curriculum standards. Um so it is based off of the essential elements for students with disabilities. So when a student is using those um
standards in their learning and they're also part of their IEP in their goals and objectives that is what allows them to be able to take part of what allows them to be able to take the DM. There's a whole checklist that has to go through at an IEP meeting and you have the
student has to be eligible to take the DLF and your percentages are significantly higher than the other assessments that they looked at right of of being at target
and compare it >> a lot yes the majority of our students are passing um again it's different assessment and very um hands-on. It's one-on-one with a teacher and a student and it's based off the
students goals and objectives that they're learning specifically through their IEP. >> They're also bene they're also incentivized because part of their goals and what they're learning. >> Well, it is. Yeah. These Yeah. And these students are all um they're part of our
multiple disabled program or again they're out of district um so they're in very specialized programs. Um, so it is a little different and but yes, they they do always want to do well and please so it is I I will give you that.
>> I'm not sure. I'm just saying great. That's that's awesome that it is great that we're doing that well in this and it just shows that when they have a reason, >> we're very successful as a district. So kudos. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, any other
questions from anybody else? Thank you. Okay. So, we tried to weave into the presentation. Mr. Lee, can you help me advance? Thank you. We tried to weave into the presentation how we were addressing the data. We appreciate the
comments and the feedback on what would be, you know, helpful as we move forward to unpack this. Uh we've talked about we're being in year two of a schedule change. We've got intervention as a focus in the middle school. This year we're introducing um a grade seven
screener to um establish baselines for the students in terms of that are skill-based rather than standardsbased so we can ear intervene early. Uh Miss Dro talked about the Alex accounts for the algebra 1. We've had a reading specialist now in the middle school for
a few years based on students um IEPs that uh prescribe some Wilson uh reading intervention as well as read 180. We're training additional staff members in um in that program so we can expand our population of you know teachers who are able to assist there and we continually
talk about professional development as well as helping teachers unpack uh the information to close gaps. Dr. Zuckermanman referenced the upcoming strategic planning a number of times and as we've learned through this process in years past the willingness of this group
to support what the resource allocation that we need in order to help our students be successful. So whether that's personnel or programs, we certainly appreciate and we continually analyze, you know, where we can best put our resources, whether it was the schedule changes to combine the courses
in the middle school and now hopefully seeing additional um improvements. Mrs. Bond, >> yes, thank you. um the Wilson uh training cohort. Um, is that how many teachers and what grade levels is there a sort of like a a goal to expand that
to the high school level or is that strictly to the >> We currently have one staff member that's shared between the building travels each day has a case load of approximately I want to guess 20 less than 20 students not quite 20 students
uh but between and those students are grouped by levels um and administered uh on a prescribed program of some are 40 minutes a day some are longer uh as per in prescribed in the IEP and we have one high school teacher who's going through the training process.
>> So it's just one additional teacher that's getting trained. >> Correct. A self-identified person that wished to um expand their repertoire >> and are they going to be shared between the high school and the middle school? >> Again, it's flexible based on the needs of the students and where um you know where the program is.
>> Is it IEP driven? >> Yes. >> Okay. And the the training isn't just as simple as asking somebody to go to a training. I mean, they have to spend a significant amount of time on their own to be able to go through and to be able to actually get certified by the company as well.
>> Yeah. >> Okay. And I know we've gone, you know, quite lengthy here, but we also just wanted to put in perspective all of the varied assessments and how much time we are are needing to to dedicate to this this process. Um, so we mentioned benchmarks as well as the screeners.
That's happening in the early stage of the year. But then coming up this week, actually the end of this week, our 12th graders who are not graduation ready are reassessing with the NJGPA. Uh, October 24th, we give all students in grade 10
and 11 the PSAT as well as some 12th graders based on if the state provides that secondary pathway. when I met with you in August and we talked about the NJGPA, the state has not yet I told told you that by this time we hoped their board of ed meeting is Wednesday this
week. So, while those students are already reassessing, we think they're going to announce and approve the secondary pathway, but that has not yet occurred. And then we we've mentioned adaptive tests a number of times. So, we are required to field test the adaptive
test uh this fall for both the NJGPA and the NJSLA. we have not had to assess our students for the state in the fall um in in forever. Uh that we're not a block schedule school by semester, so we don't do that. So now we're taking two days of
instruction uh in each building upcoming um in November. Uh we're still working on the details and the dates for those adaptive field tests which then will be implemented and fully operational in the spring for both the GPA and the um SLA.
We also have the regular repertoire of our students needing the access for L's, our DM windows, the AP window, and then our students that grade 12 that will need the portfolio appeal. Um, so it's a it's an awful lot of coordination for a lot awful lot of assessments that again,
you know, we talk about what's the bottom line for our students, you know, and how can we best support them in growth and we've had questions throughout, but we're happy to, you know, address any others or, you know, revisit this at at a later date as well. I just had a question. Okay, >> go ahead, Frankie.
>> Um, so two of the slides you didn't show were the AP percentages >> and we're at 88% with a three plus rated. >> Absolutely. >> So that means when the child actually um >> takes a national test related to the content and the curriculum.
>> So could do you have any context of how that compares to state on average? >> Dr. Quente might be able to share state relative to AP scores, but it's a national test. It's not really provided by state scores. >> That's okay. How do we compare to state?
>> We can unpack that in the coming months. Yeah, don't drive yourself crazy, but if if there's any if we're at an 88% having some sort of a relevance of like how do we compare to the state, the nation, whatever, it might be very compelling evidence to say how well we're doing
with the students that and and and the curriculum that's helping them prepare for something that has an influence on them beyond high school. >> Absolutely. And we did choose not to focus on that this evening in the interest of time, but we did want to revisit that. And you know that's the
that's the positive that that our students you know when there's a personal implication there for potential college you know credit and um you know being u skipping over levels at the at the next um stage. We're AP scholars. We have students graduating with you know
all of the accolades of um >> but that's a testament to our teachers because they're not doing that without that help. It's not just them by themselves. It's being given the right curriculum that will allow them to succeed at the highest level. So if if you find the time and you can find out
how we're doing in relative comparison, it would be great to hear sometime down the line how we compare to others because we'd like to celebrate that if it's good. >> Frank, I think what you're bringing up is that there are so many different measures for a school to, you know, to
look at success and these state tests are only like one small piece of it, especially when it doesn't count for anything. But when our kids know it counts and it's important for their future, they really do succeed. And the information about the AP testing can be found easily within subject ranges. So
any of those teachers can pull up their data. >> Spoken like a true AP teacher. >> Thank you. >> I just I I just think >> and 88% >> I also think that's why it would be interesting to see the other tests for the AP students. >> Yeah. To see if there's like if the a if
the AP students in the state testing are not doing well then Yeah. Okay, there's a there's defin I mean I think it'd be nice to have a correlation because I think the AP scores are fantastic. Like kudos to the school and to the teacher for the for the AP scores because of that almost 90% pass rate on those tests
is amazing. >> That's that's we have to be like top of the league those scores. Um but >> mine's mine's really easy. Um, you said there were potentially you could go online and take the math seven test or
whatever. You have the link for that or can you email that link? That's all >> I will email it out to everybody right now. >> Thanks. You sure you want to do that, Kevin? >> I want to see how deficient I really am. >> All right. Very good. Thank you very much. >> I've got I've got one question comment
before we wrap this up, though. Um I I think at the at the beginning of this we talked about that we don't necessarily have the visibility um into the students scores prior to them arriving within district right I guess that's a function of us being a regional district if we were a K to K to2 district I'm assuming
we'd have access to that data right >> we do receive the data it's just a um a function of all of the various components of the the scores we get the student score we get their performance but but we don't have all of the details that we would have if they were our own.
And we also can't roll over in our data warehouse to follow. We'd have to we don't tra you're able to build a cohort. >> Yes. >> Typically >> prior to seventh grade data we don't get the data from 3, four, five to kind of
see that. >> So kind of where I'm going with this again is this idea of learning loss and and again if we were a kid to 12, I'd imagine we would have all that data. We'd actually be able to do that analysis. So, I'm curious what is actually blocking us from getting that
data and being able to do that analysis so that we can either inform, you know, because several of us here have served on our local um boards, right? Local elementary boards. And I know that was always a question from an elementary board. How are our students doing? How are we preparing them properly for
middle school and high school? It'd be nice to have that done. Whether it requires you guys to collaborate with the elementaryaries to get that data or if we petition the state to say listen in a normal circumstance with a kid as well we would have this data why can't
you release it to us in the way that we need it in order to inform our decisions. >> You bring up a great point Joe when I was on Mansfield I pushed for this because I'm like how are you preparing Dr. Karns and his teachers if you're not giving them the data coming out of Mansfield to see what's going good or
bad and I got eye rolls and whatnot and I'm like well why are we not it's not like it's not like we can't pull the datas and have a a way to correlate that to >> right anonymized ID right >> so I think that's where we could go back to our descending districts and ask them to do a better job at that or at least
think about it because it's not fair to kids when they >> the one one thing that I would um just again that has to be part of this discussion is that it's not same assessment from year after year. Um, and also we don't know the instructional strategies that we use in third grade.
I'm not saying that it wouldn't be valid to be able to go through that process, but we're not it it's it's continues to get more complex and so on each year that the assessment is provided. Well, and and I say that because when I look at some of those those graphs, right, and I look at where it it would almost
look like stu, this is not going to come out the right way, students were um achieving at a higher level at seventh grade and then declined. That would almost indicate that maybe elementary schools were preparing and then somehow
something's lost here, whatever that may be. And and of course that's me making a correlation that I don't have the data to actually substantiate, but it'd be nice to have that data to be able to tell that >> historically from previously living in a pre-K12 world, um it is the the English
language arts scores coming from the elementary level are typically higher than the math and then it reverses. So then I mean it's that's that's a that's the typical trend in that you'd see trends like co I'm sorry.
>> Yeah. I mean it just it would be nice to see that. So, and again, so we could also go back and inform them if they need to adjust, vice versa. >> I meet monthly with the with the regional soups and I will certainly add that to our next um our next agenda.
>> I mean, you can also see what programs are working at the younger that drive through that may drive through to high school, right? So, there's a certain cohort of students that that are performing better as they get the high school, not just on the test, but probably in general, you probably assume that there's a curriculum, right? better
curriculum at one of the >> or if one elementary school is doing something better than another one vice versa, right? But we can all we can prepare all these students across the entirety of the region. >> Our team of academics does collaborate. We meet every every other month or month with the curriculum directors. Uh Dr.
Irvin coordinates that and uh we often talk about programs and interventions, you know, as well as that. >> Great job with the presentations. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. No other questions. Yeah.
>> Uh item 4.02 is a presentation to be given next week during the regular business meeting. Um Mr. Lee, do we have any public comment on agenda items? All right. Um I will go through the consent agenda items by header. If anyone has any specific items within those sections
they'd like to discuss or ask questions about, please let me know. So section five is routine matters reports to the board. Are there any questions or comments for section five? >> Uh my only comment is I noticed there's a little bit more meat on the bones for the uh meeting minutes and that's good. Thank you. >> Okay, great. Thank you. I'm glad you
noticed that. Um for section five, just to address Mr. Buck's question, I apologize. 5.07 typically doesn't have an attachment. I thought you were referencing 506 which is the budgetary transfers. 507 is just us um approving that there's no accounts overdrawn.
>> Okay. >> Okay. >> I'll Yeah, I'll sync up with you after. >> Okay. And then the um Drexel payment is for the Wilson language learning training for that teacher that we were just discussing. and Burlington County Freeholders is for recycling of
pallets and also um hazardous waste for the lights that were replaced by the LEDs this summer. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Section six, approval of bills. Any questions or comments on
section six? I know those are the ones that I believe Mrs. Williams just answered for you, Mr. Mr. Bucks. All right. Section seven, business and financial. Any questions or comments for section seven? All right. Section eight, students. Any
questions or comments for section 8? All right. Section 9, personnel appointments. Any questions or comments for section 9? We have no items in section 10 this evening. Section 11, leaves of absence. Any questions or comments for section 11?
Section 12, separation of employment. Any comments or questions on section 12? Section 13, miscellaneous personnel. Any questions or comments for section 13? I'm sorry. Can we go back to section um
the agenda item approving the resignation or if that is that one of the Wilson teachers? Is that something? >> Section 12. a long separation. >> Um, Miss Warren, it that is she is
relocating um because of a a military uh well her husband's in um in being relocated for the military. She is not one of our Wilson teachers. She was actually a high school teacher. Um and I think we talked about that in personnel. She was a high school teacher resigned because of transfer orders from her
husband. Um and then that was then revoked. Um not revoked, it was uh change the military changed it. We then we had an opening and then she was able to fill that opening. >> Okay. >> Can I ask a question on the uh on the
grant >> which sorry 705 rolling back again. Sorry I my authentication failed and or timed out and I had to log back in got lost. Um, >> did we apply for that or is that
something this was the Lockhee Martin award for the STEM program for robotics and uh and the A mechanization? >> We apply for we apply for this annually and and we're very fortunate to have been frequent recipients of this. >> Right. This is great. Thanks.
>> And I think it's doubled this year. I think it's um it was 10,000 last year and it's double. Yes. >> I I just think that's something we should maybe celebrate, right? that we're we got a a robotics program and our a program is you know is is receiving funds from Lockheed and I know
I've heard a lot of good about the A program what they do so and and robotics as well. All right. Um and we'll resume with section 13. I think that's where we left off. So miscellaneous personnel um any questions or comments for section 13?
All right. section 14's programs. Any questions or comments for section 14? Right. We have no items in section 15 for policy. Um we have no items in section 16 for transportation. Um I will make a note for policy. Um
last month we approved the regulation, but it actually goes in as the first reading the regulation. Um we caught it I caught it last night. So, we're going to put it on the November agenda for the second reading of that regulation to actually be voted upon. So, it's not in this month's consent agenda, but it'll
be there for November's uh section 17, use of facilities. Any questions or comments for section 17? All right, Mr. Lee, we don't have any public comment, right? As you all know, we have regular board meeting next Tuesday, October
14th. Uh there's a community relations meeting prior to that board meeting. Again, just for reiterating, it is Tuesday, not Monday. Um >> I was going to ask for that emphasis. >> Yeah. >> Um and then we do not have executive
session tonight. We obviously have executive session next week, uh which will deal with the Chesterfield seat as well as the military seat. um as well as updates I believe from Dr. Zuckerman. So with that uh if I can have a motion for adjournment. >> Motion for adjournment. >> Second.
>> All those in favor? I. All opposed.