--------- Meeting of the board and curriculum committee to order. The committee would like to welcome the audience. Viewers may watch live board committee meetings online at tcaps.net/board. Recorded meetings may be viewed on demand at the same address. It looks like we do not have any requests for public comment today, so I think we can move on to procedural items. First item up is our our draft committee meeting minutes from 12/02/2025, with no changes to the draft minutes. Okay. Hearing no changes, the minutes will remain as posted.
Next item up is our 2025 to 2026 TCAPS district course catalog, and I will defer to Jesse Hogan for an update. Yeah. Again, that ACL, those are the online classes. Our vendor primarily is Acelus, that we're using for that. So those are courses that we haven't offered online that are in the Acelus catalog that we have students interested in taking. Again, that middle school, I you know, those I expect even more as we roll through the year. We're up to 21 or 22 students, enrolled fully virtually, but we did have quite
a few phone calls this last, week or so about virtual, both at the high school level and the middle school here with the change of semester. And then the other two are NMC classes that are involved with our early college students. So I just had a question about the sculpture. I've seen in the past that we in our course catalog of the high schools that we had sculpture. Do we no longer have a teacher? Nope. We do have sculpture at both high schools. So that's an early college student who is on a pathway. So our rules for dual enrollment, which are defined by the state, we don't have students who dual enroll in courses that we offer on our high school campuses, or
we cannot have students dual enroll in what are considered elective courses, PE, religion courses. However, for early college students, if the courses are within their defined pathway through their early college program, which sometimes some of those courses are, they are able to take those. So that's why probably it hasn't been on the books until this point, but, that's why it's an addition there. Got it. And I I did have a question too about the ACL personal finance. That's at the middle school level, but does that qualify for the state requirement to
take personal finance? Not at the middle school level. It does not. No. Interesting. We've got middle schoolers who are interested in that topic. As an elective course. Yeah. Mhmm. That's right. Okay. As usual, we will put that on the consent calendar unless there are any objections. Okay. Moving on to the sex education advisory board recommendation for the 20,000 co chair Brittany Kaye. Yes. So, in accordance with TCAS Education advisory board bylaws, the c will recommend two co chairs, as you know, from their membership at the last meeting, to lead the following
year. So Carrie Ellerie co chair Carrie Ellerie Smith, excuse me, was, nominated as a cochair and began her service or her time, of January 2025 last year, and she will conclude, that, term in December 2026. And then the SEIB met on 11/20/2025 and nominated Jenna Baker, who's in her second year, in the Sex Education Advisory Board to serve as the other co chair. And so the SEIB is recommending that the Board of Education approve that nomination of
Jenna Baker, at their January 12, twenty twenty six board organizational meeting. Terrific. And, I did learn that, miss Baker is, an ALMA graduate 2021. She's been here for four years. This is her first job post college and she's the director of prevention at the Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center, which I think is a great choice. One of my favorite local organizations, having gone through their prevention training. Just really excited to see that addition to the advisory council.
Absolutely. Alright then. That too will move to consent calendar, unless there are any other objections. Okay. And then moving on to this the, centerpiece of our curriculum committee meetings, our learning series, and this will be an update on CKLA. Dan Teisberg. Yeah. Thanks. I will turn it over to Britney Kinnear, director of curriculum. Excellent. So, we're about halfway through year one of implementation of CKLA, and so we wanted to provide a little bit of an update, on three kind of critical kind of
large scale pieces, in relation to CKLA implementation. And then what we'll share, is some data from our teacher perception survey, which is a key kind of metric of monitoring. Our implementation plan that we administer or provide an opportunity for all staff members to participate in that, six times throughout the course of this year. And right now we have three of the six data points that we'll share as teachers, take this perception survey at our professional learning committees or PLCs.
So the first one we're going to share is just kind of, where we are kind of at a high level with regards implementation plan and just kind of refocusing this notion that year one is really about adult learning and initial implementation. And so we are primarily focused on not only learning the new curriculum but really developing developing familiarity, excuse me, with the materials and resources that come with the curriculum, and really being intentional and about aligning our instruction to that new resource, knowing that we've done some significant work if you look at that Venn diagram at that bottom
right, on calibrating our understanding of explicit instruction, pairing that with building our knowledge and capacity in the science of reading, and really now focusing where that comes together at that intersection of now having access to evidence based, an evidence based high quality instructional resource. And with that really focusing on, building, an intentional implementation plan with regards to change management knowing that, about 70% of change, efforts or change initiatives fail, within the the
first year. And so really ensuring that our implementation plan isn't only built on those six inputs we see for successful change but also using that, model for an opportunity for reflection. So we've had several stakeholder groups use that as a way to say how are we generally feeling across the board. So for example, one of our groups, actually multiple groups lifted up that we're seeing, anxiety as an identifier. And so we were able to then draw back to, okay, what's the input that is impacting that feeling, which is skills, which then allowed us to have more focused
conversation on, the contributing factors to that feeling and then the development of one to two action steps, to help circumvent that, to help mitigate that anxiety and continue to move forward. And so with that, right now at this stage we're really, emphasizing implementation integrity. And the reasoning behind that is recognizing that core instruction is really the key to prevention, and really ensuring that the system we're building with regards to, not only curriculum adoption but also high quality literacy instruction, is focused on prevention rather than intervention.
So intervention is a key piece of our multi tiered systems of support, but we know that prevention is going to be the key to impacting all learners. So with regards to that, here is the first, data point that we'll share with you, in terms of teacher perception and feedback. And so, the question we pose, to all staff is how would you rate the ease of implementation and teacher usability of CKLA? And that's on a scale of one, being difficult to four being easy. And so you'll see on that line plot the percentage of teachers who rated a
three or a four are at that higher end of the scale. And so you'll see in October we had fifty nine point three percent, moved to November at 55.2%, so taking a little bit of a dip, and then increasing in December to 83.5%, rating at that three or the four at the higher level. I'll also share that our goal as a part of our monitoring implementation is to at least get an 80% response rate, just to ensure that we have reliable and accurate data that really represents the whole and being able to adapt, to meet the
needs of all of our staff. And so in October, we had 72 of, staff take the survey. November, that increased to 76%. In December, we had our highest, response rate at 92%. So that December is really, quite indicative with regards to the ease of implementation of the K-five staff. Britney, I just had a question. Between November and December, to what do you attribute that spike? I think familiarity with the resource at that point. You know, by then, they were in, let's say, September, October, November, at least three
months of implementation, with additional supports with regards to trainings, instructional coaching, professional learning communities. So I think it's just, an increase in confidence and just familiarity with that resource. And on this slide, I just I was also curious about, like, the breakout of the one, two, three, four just to see, like, you know, are there a lot of ones? Are there a few ones and more twos and threes? Like, more people clustered kind of in the middle in terms of their their comfort with the implementation? Yeah. So, you know, looking at kind of that difference of, you know, the reverse with
83.5%, you know, being at a three or four. Right? Then the flip of that or the differences, you know, the ones or the twos. I will say the majority, from what I remember, and I can get you exact numbers, at the the conclusion of this meeting as we move through each of, the questions. The bulk of the remaining of the percentages lived in that that number too. I I I'm fine with your the portal description. That's okay. Just was curious about that. Absolutely. So kind of, thinking about what's next with regards to our implementation plan. So we view, especially at the leadership level, both district leadership and building leadership, that
our job is to adapt, to the feedback we get in terms of those large scale patterns and trends across our system. And so really being intentional about ensuring that we are lifting up celebrations, because we recognize that what gets recognized gets repeated. And more oftentimes than not, when we think about implementation science, people aren't very intentional about lifting up those celebrations, while also being able to address the challenges that arise, and really acknowledging the fact that the work feels messy because it's supposed to, especially
when we are engaging in quite, a high level of complex change, in a large organization. So I'm gonna turn it over to Kelly O'Brienovic who's our District DLA Instructional Coach, and she's gonna talk a little bit more in-depth, in what we've done to address, and sell not only celebrate, but also address some of the challenges that are arising. Yeah. So as a district ELA team, we got together and looked at that data, and we were able to kind of determine, one and or about two, celebrations and challenges from the data. And we, together as a group, went through a protocol where we really kinda determined
what our next steps would be to support that. And so for our celebrations, one of the things that we noticed is that there were, there was data that supported that teachers felt like the skills portion strongly supported foundational skills for students. So, they were feeling like the instruction that was available to them was able to move students forward with those foundational skills. Additionally, they also felt like the knowledge units were supporting students' language comprehension skills. So overall, that was really nice data to see because we were able to be
like, oh, wow. You're you're thinking the curriculum is working because those are the two main components of it. So being able to make those connections was, really was really great. And one of the things that we decided to do to celebrate that is, we have the these celebrations in the newsletter for the district staff. We also have them going out on, the school Facebook sites to parents as well as to other staff. And we've really generated these, posts based off of the connections we can make to the reading league as well as the celebrations that teachers are sharing with us through
photos and narratives and things like that. So that's been great to just kind of keep that morale up and keep people, just keep recognizing the great work that they're doing and the connections that it makes to what we know is best practice. And then in terms of challenges, one of the things that came up primarily was pacing. So just having difficulty making sure that they're getting through a lesson a day. CKLA is really very rigorous. There's a lot of content and so, it's a shift for everybody. It's a shift for students. It's a shift for teachers in a very positive way, but it's just something to
get used to. And so one of the things that we did as an ELA district team with the, pilot early adopters was to kind of develop, by grade level what they would recommend for pacing. And then we took all of those recommendations, and we put it together into, like, a a guidance document, so to speak, about what trim don't cut actually means. So how teachers can look at a lesson and decide what they would trim but not cut from that lesson because all those components are are very crucial. But, one example is instead of doing ten ten examples of a phonemic awareness activity,
they might do five instead. Instead of doing all essential questions, they might do three that relate relate back to the primary focus objectives versus all eight or 10 of them. So just kind of some guidance and what that looks like. The instructional coaches also went through that process of, viewing that document so that they can support teachers with that. And then the last part is just instructional coaches went through the process of actually planning a unit, so that we had an awareness of what goes into that and
what components we can pull from that unit in order to support teachers, when they're doing their planning. Great. Thanks for elaborating on that. I was wondering about trimming but not cutting, so good distinction. Thank you. I have a question. Obviously, with teachers accepting CKLA and finding that it's working in the classroom, eventually, we need to figure out whether students are also performing better or performing differently. When do we get to that point where we know what student performance is translating
into? Yeah. Absolutely. So right now, we are our student assessment data we're primarily reviewing is those are those local assessments. So those unit assessments and domain assessments that are administered at the conclusion of a unit, to show that our students essentially mastering or progressing on standards and skills that have been explicitly taught. And then if they haven't, what are we going to do within our core instruction to remediate? In terms of high stakes assessments such as NWE or AimStep, we typically wouldn't see,
that translate, in a way that's stable, so to speak, probably around year two if not year three when we look at the research tied specifically to implementation science. Part of part of that, Scott, is also filling holes from previous curriculum. So in year one, you know, as as Britney has gone through this with implementation science, right, this is our goal that any classroom you're going right now in TCAPS and elementary or ELA, they're doing CKLA. So that's a a big step and they're all within probably, I would say, three to four lessons, if if not even closer in that pacing wise.
So as far as looking at year out, as far as m step or NWA spring twenty twenty seven, that also would be a goal for me to see where this is impacting kids in the classroom. Because now they had it for two years. We've we've done some work filling in holes, but even those third and fourth graders, right, who had k two, they may have missed some some foundational skills. We're still working on that. So in year one, we we probably won't, but definitely, hopefully, in year two. So we don't necessarily need to wait three years to assess whether CKLA is working.
We'll have some intermediate steps to be able to evaluate. Absolutely. Yep. Okay. Mostly, it's the first time I heard teachers say they were a little sad not to have NWEA this winter. Just excited to see that grow. I Right? Exactly. Interesting. Interesting. I know. It was a little shocking. There was a lot of conversation about that last year. Yes. It was. Yes. I'm just thinking that much to hold. Yeah. And no one's doing a swing by it. Curiosity. Yes. Yeah. And and I, you know, just recognizing that a lot of us weren't here ten plus years ago when Journeys was introduced to our district.
Sarah, you're probably the exception here, like, you know, having experienced what the introduction of a new ELA curriculum looked like. It'd be interesting, but I'm not suggesting anybody has to, you know, dig into the archives just to see, like, you know, if there were any statistics, of adoption and, you know, the challenges and and so forth. But I know I when I moved here, my kids were entering kindergarten, third grade with Journeys. Mhmm. And so, you know, I'm feeling very good about this new curriculum.
Definitely saw firsthand as a parent. Like Yeah. That was my first year at Westwood's as a principal. So I think Journey struggled right off the get go because of this. Right? And all the work that Britney's put into this year and the ELA team was just the implementation part of it. Yeah. We we didn't I don't believe in you can we didn't have that with your with, Journeys, and it never got off the ground to the point where I don't think at any point, we saw journeys in every elementary classroom throughout its implementation. People started to supplement right away because we didn't know what materials went where.
Right. Yeah. I also just think it's important for us to recognize that teaching and learning is really complex. We aren't, like, in an industry that I can just look at profit margins and where I need to charge more, and it it's not black and white, which I would say, Scott, it's hard for me as a math person. Right? I wish it was. But our kids change every year. So when you ask that question to Britney about like, okay, so when are we going to see improvement in student achievement? I'm always like, well, like every cohort of kids comes to the table with a different set of skills.
And so part of our job is to ensure that we've laid the strongest foundation possible for their success. And I would say not only does this curriculum have tons of great research behind it, but the implementation that Kelly and Britney have done has been more robust, intentional, and really kind of said what are the big pieces and how do we ensure those big pieces are in place and we're monitoring and getting feedback. So I don't I I think we are giving our kids a better opportunity to develop those foundational literacy skills. And and I would say too that the the unit test that they're taking, each
unit, teachers are really excited to look at them because they've been so intentional about the teaching that they've been doing, and they've seen how they can make connections to best practice in the curriculum they're giving. So they give that unit test and they're like, okay. I wanna see how they did. You know? And I've never seen that kind of excitement before. So that's really cool for them to be able to see how students progress throughout the year on those assessments within the curriculum, in order to really reflect on their own teaching and what they need to adjust for that next unit. So that's been that's been really cool to see.
Kelly, those are on computer. Right? Yeah. So for third through fifth grade, the knowledge ones are on the computer. Okay, actually first through fifth grade. Yeah, and then the skills are all paper pencil. Yeah, and kindergarten doesn't start any computer testing until they are in their domain six, domain five or six, So it takes a while to introduce the technology component for those those little ones. Mhmm. That data that's collected through that is really helpful for teachers to look at as a, team and collaborate on and then for us to be able to look at as a building and as a district.
So Terrific. Thank you. So we'll zoom in a little bit more specifically to professional development and professional learning and really anchoring it around, you know, John Hattie's work with regards to not only recognizing that the greatest influence on student learning is the professional expertise of teachers, but also how that expertise grows through deliberate practice and feedback. And so really bucketing our supports are within kind of those two categories. And so as you can see up until this point, we've really been mindful about
how we've been developing professional expertise not only through those initial trainings that you see in August that elementary principals went through and all of our junior kindergarten through fifth grade teachers, but then also those ongoing, developing a professional expertise of our instructional coaches as well as elementary principals on a monthly basis. So knowing in order, you know, to Scott's point in terms of, wanting to see that impact on students ultimately, how are we ensuring that we're continuously building the capacity
and knowledge of those folks who are actually going to help sustain that change and ultimately impact those students. And then the one way or the multiple ways that we've really been intentional about the deliberate practice and feedback is, in October we did our first round of CKLA district visits where, I went out to our elementary sites and partnered with, the building's instructional coach and building leader, to provide non evaluative feedback with our look for document and help kind of calibrate us as a system of what are the patterns and trends we're seeing in implementation and how does that partner with our perception data.
Sometimes when we see perception data, that is very different than what's actually happening, implementation wise and vice versa, and so making sure that that data is collected as well. Our instructional coaches and building leaders also each, participated in a half day Amplify visit with an embedded coach from Amplify, to also support them within the context of their buildings as well. And then as I mentioned earlier, CKLA assessments are a big, component of our professional learning communities and utilizing that data, to create action plans, within each of the grade
level teams. And then our instructional coaches, one of their major priorities this year is to be a thought partner with teachers, in terms of CKLA implementation. And then, as you know, moving into next year, really honing in on, deliberate that deliberate practice and feedback with the the purchase of an Amplify embedded coach utilizing 35 ms funds where they will be in our district, the same person throughout the course of the year four out of five days a week. So really being able to leverage that area of expertise, to help differentiate the needs,
in a way that's a little bit more fluid versus bringing everyone together to receive the same training, moving into year two. So then looking at the feedback we received from teachers thus far with regards to professional development, there are two key questions that we look at, as parts of feedback related to this topic. You'll see on the left how effective have the supports provided for CKLA implementation been, from not effective to highly effective. And you'll see a little bit of that dip. Right? So 59.3% in October moved up to 74% and back down to 63.8%.
And Dan, Kelly, and I have talked talked a little bit about this. What was that contributing factor from November to December? And although I don't think we can specifically pinpoint it, November was the last day where we collectively brought all K-five, staff together at RSDD Day and we have not had that since. And through, our narrative feedbacks we've received, teachers are wanting more collaboration time, not only with their grade level, teachers at their sites, but also grade level teachers across, other schools as well.
So really taking that feedback and exploring, an opportunity to create a virtual collaboration time pending an interest survey that will be sent out later this week to staff, as an opportunity to provide that time because that is that's a pattern that's happening across the district thus far. And I will just say that pattern of teachers requesting time, not just in building or with, their grade level at their site, but across the district is also mirrored at secondary. We've had more and more secondary teachers who have expressed both to to myself and
to our building lead principals, gosh, I wish there was another district day like our August kickoff, like our RSDD. Although the early releases are great, the reality is all of our buildings get out at different times, so it does make it hard for middle school and high school teachers to collaborate and it has to be virtually. And so they really have we've heard a which is an interesting change of face this year that they really want more time like that. So as we look at future planning, this is a little bit of a tangent, sorry, Britney, of our calendar and how we're doing that, that is a piece that
Connie and Dan and I have been talking about too. So, is there a medium? I mean, where where you guys saw our attendance for RSDD day this last year was Mark was really good. Yeah. Yeah. And so we're hearing that from our staff. They value that time together and, they would like more of it. So figuring out how to meet that need. So Yep. Those calendar negotiations, I know those those take months, but, yeah, thank you. And then you'll see that additional data piece is that measure of confidence. So how confident do you feel in implementing CKLA on a on a scale of
not confident to confident and that has, also increased from October now until December with 83.5 of teachers saying that they're rating themselves at that higher end of the scale of feeling confident in implementing, which is a key metric in terms of, adults, you know, not only understanding those practices of implementation science, but also feeling increasingly capable of applying those, on a consistent and effective basis. I have a quick question. Given the rigor of CKLA and the implementation you're going through, is there a remediation
component to CKLA? There yeah. There are several remediation and components. One, the one that is most, often, often, I think utilized is what they refer to as the Assessment Remediation Guide or the ARG, if you will, and that is kindergarten through second grade and then third grade third through fifth grade has the Decoding and Encoding Remediation Guide. It's a pretty meaty resource. Some teachers are starting to dig into that. They also have an intervention toolkit that is available and then they have, because in
third grade it shifts into what they call more of an integrated approach where it's not separate on knowledge and skills. It's where they first kind of come together. Third grade has a foundational skills kit to help remediate some of those word recognition skills that might be lagging and then they're adding fourth and fifth grade, which was also a part of our 35 ms purchase, moving into next school year. So there are several components that we haven't specifically dug into as a system yet that's gonna be more of our focus in year two once teachers feel confident within
kind of the core instructional materials that are a part of CKLA. It's interesting that, you know, on the one graph, you had that little bit of a decline from November to December for the supports, and then, conversely, they felt more confident. Mhmm. How do you reconcile that? Maybe the need for supports. A lot of this data mirrors what we see last year with early adopters. That early adopters we did last year that we're now doing currently second semester with math was, just so eye opening. It's outside of a pilot. Right? There's they're distinctly different and that those groups that represented every school and every grade
level and almost the exact flow of when we're when we got in front of them last year in fall and winter and spring and the, you know, the the issues they had, the challenges they had that we see now mirror our entire district really helped us. So we saw a lot of this too moving in, actually, and it helped us, I think, a ton as far as planning for this year. Absolutely. So the last piece we wanna highlight is just that impact on students, which we've spoken a little bit, thus far in terms of the achievement side, of things and
utilizing those local assessment datas as a way to show how our students progressing on those standards and skills explicitly taught. But for the sake of this slide is really talking about the impact on student engagement, and really leveraging the student engagement data right now as that key metric just because through the research of implementation science it really is utilized as an early indicator of implementation integrity, which is our year one priority for this year, just because of
the need, to circumvent that that performance data might be a little bit more unstable through the ebbs and flows of year one of implementation. And I think that's why many times with, curriculum adoption processes and looking at the efficacy studies with, curricular resources, they're usually a multi year efficacy study, so that that data becomes a little bit more stabilized over time. But if you look at the impact specifically on student engagement, and we really ask teachers to think about the comparison to previous years of engagement within literacy instruction, and
really seeing that uptick, from October with 68.6% to December in 81.6%, in terms of being engaged or highly engaged. And then we'll end, kind of our CKLA update with regards to our connection to our TCAP strategic plan, and really focusing in on tying that to goal number one of improving student achievement and really thinking about that through the lens of providing equitable instruction for all students. And one of the greatest ways we can do that is being very intentional about building the background knowledge of, of kids just because we know that background knowledge is
such a critical component in terms of making meaning while they read, which is the ultimate goal of reading. And so CKLA is a program that is intentionally built on the science of reading. And so what you're looking at, and giving and providing exposure, to kids in rich content and knowledge. And so the image you're looking at at that right hand side, is a compilation of the top 10 content categories of passages that students engage in in high stakes assessments. And so they took, I believe it's a culmination of a 100 passages across multiple
high stakes assessments, across our nation and these are those top 10 categories which we see, consistently throughout the CKLA scope and sequence, not only within grade levels but across grade levels. So for example with astronomy and space that comes up in our first grade and third grade. If you look at US history, that comes up with the War of eighteen twelve in second grade and American Revolution in fourth grade, and then we also have, those contemporary realistic fictions coming through in our novel studies, which we see in third, fourth,
and fifth grade. And just wanting to highlight that not only because, it will directly impact those high stakes assessments that our students are taking as a part of our metrics of success for the strategic plan, but also better preparing our K-five students for that increasing demand, of course work at the secondary level. I had a colleague I talked to, last year who was helping, I told Jesse this, helping her, son study for world history up at one of our high schools and, said, you know, it would have just been so great if he had the
exposure in elementary school and the groundwork on many of the, topics and, components that make up world history. So really hoping that we kind of see that impact over time as kids continue to move through, their their educational experience. We've had several, including Kelly, has worked through the social studies and science to make connections to CKLA, especially with that state admission, and now we curriculum has come through. So I know the social studies team has gone through that curriculum and tried to
embed lessons starting this year with a couple, but really kind of expanding it next year, to use CKLA as kind of the the keystone. And then also our science, Aaron Sorensen has worked with our science group also to try to find connections to CKLA. And and then I know Britney also worked with, Patty Tibaldi and Pina to do some nutrition connections also. So it just lends itself so much to be able to include other curriculum, which Beth was here because of the social studies Liberty Bell, but she would have appreciated it so much.
Yeah. And I do think why we're that's why we're seeing such an increase in student engagement too is just because of the topics that kids are being exposed to. They're excited to talk about their learning. I mean, after parent teacher conferences, the number of teachers and building leaders that shared how much, how much parents talked about that their kids are excited to come home and talk about and share their learning about their day. So that's a really excellent thing to see. I think that hopefully we continue to build momentum with that. And so, knowing that background knowledge is the scaffold or considered a scaffold for memory,
I'm gonna Pass it over to Jesse for a moment to talk about how we build, addressing goal number five with regards to science of learning. I just wanna ask one thing on that Yeah. Absolutely. Slide. And and I wanted to note too. I mean, I would be excited to see unicorn and wizard hat like that, so I can just imagine how the kids are. But that that phrase spiral background knowledge in the first bullet, could you just briefly describe what that means? Yeah, absolutely. So, it goes within the grade level and so CKLA is very intentional about when
they introduce a specific, knowledge topic to then be able to build throughout the course of the year. So, for example, in kindergarten they learn about plants before they then go into talking about Native American cultures and how plants and farming were a key component in terms of their life site, their lifestyle, throughout that time. And then it also goes across grade levels. So in first grade, like I spoke earlier, first grade is the first time where their students are being, bless you, introduced to space.
That is critical to have that foundation for when it cycles back into third grade and so at the beginning of the unit, teacher guides, it'll have a little bit of a blurb for teachers to know when students have been previously exposed throughout their CKLA, journey, if you will, so that they can leverage that knowledge when they introduce it for the first time within their grade level. So being really explicit about making those connections across those grade levels as well. So we're not going to be quite there yet because this is our first year,
but that will kind of be circumvented over time. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, and then as Brittany and I were talking about this presentation and that last slide, I just was like, oh my gosh. This connects so much to the work we've been doing with our building leaders around, developing their knowledge around the science of learning. Right? There's a lot of literature out there, on how humans learn and what type of intentional moves we can make to ensure that they are learning as much and as effectively as possible. And so we have a series running this year both with our building administrators, so
the thirty thirty building principals come together, and then also our instructional coaches, which span I look at Kelly because she loves part of the learning series right now. I do. That's what I do. From elementary all the way up to our high schools. Right? So we've got instructional coaches at all level, and we mirror the PD, Britney and I do for both groups. And we've been using this book here, which is a cognitive scientist, who has phenomenal research. Actually, linked in on that word cognitive load if you want to read it all, the little section that, both the building principals read, then the instructional coaches read, at
a different meeting, but they're really close together. And we do some activities. And this last month, we talked a lot about cognitive load and cognitive load, when you read through the science of learning, is made up of two pieces. It's both how hard and how complex is the content that a student is learning and then how are we presenting that content, what does that external, load look like and the intern, intrinsic load, which is how complicated the complex or content is, sometimes we can't adjust that. Right? Sometimes we are learning about stoichiometry in AP chemistry and it's really, really complex.
So what can we do as instructors on the on that other side to ensure that when it's really high comp, complex text, our instruction is very focused. It's very precise, so that we don't overload our students. And when we were talking about laying the groundwork for background knowledge, I thought, oh my gosh. This is great. Because every time we do that with students, we are actually lessening what that complex load looks like for the material, right? I've already learned a little bit about plants, right? I already have some reference points.
Now I'm learning more and adding to that. So this connected great with with the learning that we're doing with our staff and thinking about how our programming and our learning through that connects with the professional development. So just wanted to at least share that and give you some information on what our building leaders are learning. Then a lot of times what happens is our principals after they've done the session and our instructional coaches will kind of come together and go, oh, that was really great information. How could we bring that to our staff and through a staff meeting? And so we've seen, that happen quite a few times.
We did retrieval practice in the fall and so there are building principals and our instructional coaches then kind of came together and said, okay, we did this activity. Could we modify it? How could we expose and ensure that our teachers are aware of these practices too? So I just thought it was a great tie and and to show that connection to goal number five, which is developing our meaningful professional development learning for our adults. Jesse, does that all imply retention then, Student retention? I mean, that's sort of what you Mastery is built by repeat exposure over time. Right? So some of it is you want that distance in learning.
You do want a little bit of that forgetting so that then you have to work to retrieve that knowledge because then that's what helps it transfer from short term to long term memory. Yeah. So it's really flipping that narrative. We're really we've so historically been focused on getting information into students' brains, but really flipping it and saying, okay. How are we intentionally getting information out so we know this is what they held on to and here's how I can build on that versus assuming that they retained that from the onset. And when they do that then that performance and getting the information out that helps
with that retention, right? As I'm recalling it, as I'm practicing those skills, that's how building that retention for them. So providing this exposure to these content areas, I'm actually the secondary teachers, they were the history and the English and our science teachers were like, oh, This is gonna be so cool when these kids get to us because they've had these exposure points that they're hoping that now when that when the content gets pretty complex, kids will already come in with something for it to stick to. Right? Like, oh, this is just where we go with plants or where we go with
astronomy and stars. So We call it mental Velcro. Right? It works on, like it increases the likelihood that that information is gonna stick long term to Jesse's point and transfer from that working memory to long term memory. Sorry. I was just gonna say just connecting all those fifth grade teachers this year have really, like, they have a hard job because they have kids that haven't been exposed to all these different, like, core content areas. And so they're having to fill in a lot of gaps. But when we think about fifth grade next year and the next year and the next year, they will have all that background knowledge built, and so then that role
gets significantly easier in terms of seeing student achievement. Yeah. And when you go back to that last slide with that cool diagram that Britney had, so, like, the SAT, I mean, I'll just go all the way up there. Right? Eleventh graders all take it. It's very high stakes. They have to read passages, and those passages are typically some of these. And if a kid goes to read a passage about, pick one of these topics, right, and and they know nothing about that, like, it's really hard for them to then answer questions about the passage when they're reading about something that they're like, what even is this? Right? It's it's really cod complex.
And so laying the groundwork with all of this, I think I think is really gonna pay dividends in the long game for our kids, and I think our teachers are gonna see that at the secondary level as these kids move up. So. In closing on that, I I just wanna say thank you, you know, to the whole team. But, Britney, I think your your role here is very clear, And I want to just say I think we all appreciate the role that you have here, like really being very intentional about the implementation because if we don't get this right at the beginning, it's a disservice to it and we've invested a lot as a district into
this new curriculum. So thank you all collectively for your efforts, and I really appreciate what you put together for us today with this presentation. Thank you. Yeah. I'm just a DH here, so but What is a DH designation? So I appreciate all you guys have done on this, and it's nice to to know that you we assume it's working and it's going to I I just makes me nervous that I don't wanna wait three years to know whether we're on the right track because I'm a veteran of journeys when we made that transition.
And Mhmm. There there were a lot of curricular changes there Mhmm. That we decided twelve or eighteen months in that weren't working. And that's just that's some poor kid's academic school year who's just been not wasted, but not as good as it could have been. Absolutely. I'm gonna repeat that. Yeah. I would say, like, our two big, which is English and math, we have a really solid curriculum k 12 in both of those now, and I think that we've done a lot of work around, okay, so how do we monitor that?
How do we support teachers with that? How do we continue to assess whether it's working and our kids are learning the skills they need to? It's like a constant job of ours. Absolutely. Maybe that was one of the shortcomings of Journeys is that you didn't have those unit assessments. I mean, was that is that part of the story? They had the unit assessments. They had weekly tasks. Yeah. Yeah. Is that right? I think Journeys, a big part was the writing component. People just didn't feel as strong. And then I think, you know, it it was more of a whole language versus phonics Correct. Curriculum, which is Yep. Shown to be a fault at this point.
So And then the district at one point had to, like, supplement with additional consumables. Oh, yeah. Even when I first got here, we started a a grant program that brought a writing, you know, thing in and, and, you know, because it was just so glaring, you know, in some of those gaps. And, you know, that kinda that was during a time too. The district didn't have a lot of money for any additional resources, so it ended up people just grab things from wherever, the Internet, here, there, everywhere, you know, and that's not a a, you know, a a curriculum with fidelity.
And so that's exactly what we're trying to really you know, we're we're trying to think, you know, be I think the the team is doing a great job with talking to teachers and making sure they're supported, but making sure that that fidelity component, I think, is something that I've heard Dan, the team say multiple times, like, we're staying on track here. Like, we're, you know, we're not deviating so we can ensure that fidelity to know that this is this is working. I think to doctor Van Wagner's point, we've had, one thing we weren't able to share is we've had 227 CKLA look for visits across our 11 elementary schools to
actually be able to monitor that implementation integrity, and we look at that data quite frequently with our our elementary building, principals, with our district ELA team, within our curriculum and instruction team just to continue to to monitor how are we doing as a system, in terms of implementation as well. Great. Alright. So it sounds like we're ready to turn to our celebrations and successes district wide. And Jesse, we'll leave some of that. Dan's got the first one. Yeah. So starting off, Michigan Literacy Summer Summit.
So, governor Whitmer had her first Michigan Literacy Summit, through Teach Michigan. We did have an invite. We're able to send, Emily Woody. She's our coach at Blair. As you can see her there with her her picture with with our governor. I think it's, it's the idea that the state is continuing to focus on literacy, provide money behind it with their different grants that they've given us. 35 j and 35 Emily both come to the board, with it's now probably over probably over $2,000,000 that the state provided to ensure that we have curriculum that's grounded
in the science of learning. So, great opportunity for Emily and and, always nice to have that connection with with Teach Michigan. The next one is just to highlight, West Senior High. So Model UN runs as a extracurricular activity at both of our high schools. Students pick countries, right, and then they, get roles within those countries and they go to two different competitions, statewide competitions. There's one that's in, December and then there's the big one, which is in March down in Kalamazoo. And I know both of our advisors, Amy Cole and Bryn Lynch, do a phenomenal
job. The kids have to submit papers and write. They do debates. It's pretty cool to hear them like, oh, we're France and we're Germany and they have to sort of think about what are the views of that country and how would I represent them. But obviously some standouts here from West Senior High. Amy Cole does a phenomenal job with her students ensuring that they're ready to speak in their written work too. So then you can see like in parentheses there the countries that those students got to study and represent. So this is a club, it's not a course our students take, it's a co curricular, they meet outside of the of the scheduled school day.
Some of our students do elect to earn credit for that, like, elective credit, a half a credit for that for the club because it does have, obviously, strong academic ties. But the big competition is in March for our kids. So super cool. Sofia's got a work done out for her. Yeah. I wonder how the March competition's gonna go. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Registration campaign. So, communications and also, Kelly Walters done a ton of work with, getting a word out about our talented gifted program. We met with our current, our current, families.
We also did meeting for our incoming third grade families virtually, and there's also several things listed there. What are we up to, Kelly, is what was it for yesterday? 103. So currently a 100 registered to direct to tickets. Currently registered. And it doesn't close till the twenty first. How does that compare to prior years? Last year, we did one thirty three, I believe. So we definitely get a a push coming up here in the in the next few weeks, and we do another push with the campaign also. I know that testing dates have already been selected by every individual elementary, and then,
Kelly is also doing two. We used to have non TCAPS students go to their whatever elementary they would be. We found last year with doing so many makeups, individual makeups are are tough. So we're doing two two right designated evenings here at Glen Loomis to test those non TCAPS kids also. Is there a cap on enrollment? There is a well, I mean, this you may how many sections we wanna run. Right? The the magic number is, obviously, we're talking about 56 if you do 28 a section. So 56 would be nice.
Now the the the deal is is that do you look at, like, a number like 40? Right? So that when I used to run sections, we used to do scheduling at the middle school. We used to do honors or AT. Right? We go to 40, and then we think, well, 20 a section, not really fiscally responsible. And so you gotta kinda balance it as far as opportunity and being physic physically, fiscally responsible. So it's rather than do you then move the bar, right, and move kids into the program, or do you go the other way to to get to a number that you'd like?
Comparing it to past years, like, if we compare that bar, like, we have a cutoff that we use a rubric, for the tags. So if that if we use that rubric and we find that we have, you know, a 100 and it would be a big number. It'd be 28, you know, 75 ish, 78 that we need another section. We could look at that. But that 56 to 60 is usually that number where we settle in them. So statistically speaking, we wouldn't necessarily have 75. Right? We would not. We've never actually as far as hitting, we've always gone through our first phase of
acceptance. And in the last two years, we've used everyone on the wait list. So as far as actually going any further to create an additional section, we've never been even close. Right. Of course, the the additional challenge this next year is gonna be, you know, which side of town are the student are the qualifying students coming from and trying to balance that, which is an added piece of complexity for you. Yeah. And we've talked with doctor Van Wagner and Cavanagh is that we're using the same criteria that score gets you into the into the program. Mhmm.
Alright. So that's gonna be it'll be interesting when we're faced with the challenges of maybe several Westside students compared to East or vice versa, and offering some of those Westside kids, some of those Eastern spots, right, with the idea that it's a cut score that gets you into the program, not your location in the in the district, just as it has been with Central Grade. Right? Right. Right. Well, thank you for your extra efforts this year to publicize the the COVID test. Yep. And then we also have the positions posted.
So we have three currently three tag positions posted. Yes. Right. For teachers. Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. Great. Thank you so much. So recently, Central High School had an article and was recognized as a bold innovator from the state. And so this is a group, from the state that's not part of MDE. They're part of the Michigan Growth Office. They came up, last spring and we did a tour of the Innovation Center and Mr. Berger was our tour guide. And they just they really are looking at what are people and what are regions
doing differently with education across the state. They're trying to highlight, Michigan, Michigan's potential, Michigan's success, really going after retaining talent in the state of Michigan and getting people to move here. And so they wrote a great article. I think doctor Van Wagner sent it to the board to highlight, some of the work that not only Central High School, that that was the school they happened to tour. They toured Central and then they were NMC. It was a paired visit, but also is mirrored over at West Senior High as well. But, Ben did a great job with the interview there.
Had some great quotes in that. This they had such a great visit. They actually, are hosting 50 of our high school students down in Grand Rapids, Michigan here in February. We're taking two busloads down there to tour local businesses in Grand Rapids. The idea really is for it's really targeted towards seniors, our kids who are getting ready to graduate, and our academic community advisors that are the global studies teachers and counselor from each high school are going to with the kids. The whole trip is paid for by this, Michigan growth office.
And they're they're showing students like what potential employment opportunities reside within Michigan, what are some really thriving Michigan businesses, as opposed to moving to Chicago or New York or some type of a large city out of Michigan. Look at Grand Rapids, look what they have to offer both with with careers and with post secondary and that type of stuff. So it's been a cool partnership with with that office and and ensuring that our kids and our families know everything that's available regionally for for our kids. National board cert so, again, this is Sue, our Teach Michigan program.
This is, Blair teacher Sarah Mooney. I received a national board certification, extremely rigorous program over a three year period. Several teachers, I think there's up to four, that are going through this process between, currently Blair and Traverse Heights. And then I don't know if anyone at TC High has started, but they've also, joined our Teach Michigan team. So, hats off to ceremonies as a, a challenging challenging certification, and, she's done a great job. Is that something that the district gets professional development funding for to sponsor teachers, or
is this something that she We actually get money. So, so they've been supported through the Teach Michigan, Teach for America program that we've had with it. And then when they achieve it, they actually get a state stipend that's significant for being a state, a national board certified teacher, and I believe there's an additional sum if you're in a school wide title one building. Mhmm. Okay. And so, you know, one of the things that's awesome about this program, all of it, Teach for America, all of it is there was a time where, you know, like, we struggled to get teachers in our in our school wide title one buildings.
It, you know, it's it's a tougher job. I mean, it's reality. And I think what's been awesome is the support that these folks in these buildings have been able to get through this program. It's brought an enormous amount of support. And so this is just one of the things that's really, really cool. Yeah. Teach Michigan, I'm part of the, system leader cohort this year. They're gonna bring some stuff to board curriculum, but their goals is in they haven't got to student achievement yet. They're they're working in that direction, but their goals are professional development and, employee retention.
Right? And we look back at Blair and Heights before Teach Michigan, and how they had somewhat of that Mhmm. Roller coaster of of of people going in and out of those buildings. And now with Teach Michigan, those teachers receive a stipend that are part of this, you know, for a three year stay. And they've seen how that retention helps, obviously, build those the building then builds a culture in the building. It's a phenomenal program. Yeah. What are we? Three or four years into Teach Michigan in our district now, or is it longer than that? Only four. Yeah. I thought. It's been an awesome program. Yeah. I mean, it has been and, you know, in the last budget, they they got
supported with $30,000,000 to continue and and expand. So, we were able to add TC High this year. And, you know, there's only ourselves, Benzie, Kalkaska, and the Sioux Mhmm. I think are the only required. Pretty pretty much, you know, North Of US 10 that are in the program. And so There's a lot of opportunity downstate too. Right? Yeah. So that's interesting. It is. Yeah. There's lots of Downstate Detroit. Detroit Public is is actually the original Kentwood, Grand Rapids, Flint. There's a few Flint schools I've seen.
But to be have the opportunity, it's been awesome. Little shout out here to our West Middle School robotics team. We are in entering now robotics season. I know the high school teams got their competition released, couple a week ago. It's gonna be Saturday. Oh, it's this Saturday. I was gonna say I hadn't heard it yet. I feel like But then I was like, haven't heard what it is either. Yeah. It's coming out. I know both the high school teams do watch parties and are really excited about that. But this is our middle school team. Joan O'Neil does a great job as, the coaching that and and putting that together. At our middle schools, they also receive some VEX robotics instruction during the school days
as well. Nate Brush and Dan Harbaugh, both provide that to our students and but this is the West Middle School extracurricular, robotics team. So congrats to them. And shout out to Tom Cooper. I don't know if you saw online or on the news, outstanding educator for touched on the teacher's program recognized by our Detroit Lions, was able to go down to a game and and be on the field. I don't know if that was a good thing or not. So he's responsible. Yeah. He's he didn't go to Minnesota, so we can't blame him for that. And then lastly here is, just a great photo from our East Middle School.
They're working on some cross curricular both with the Spanish and math, and translating those back and forth. So, shout out to our staff there for making that happen and and working together across the disciplines to make those connections for our kids. So pretty cool. Alright. Terrific. Well, thank you for all those, highlights across our district. It's always exciting to see those. So just as a preview for our next meeting on January 27, The learning series for that is scheduled to be our tier two supports at every level elementary through
high school. And I know Jesse and Dan have have lined up several guest speakers for that. I know that I have to leave that particular meeting between 09:30 and ten to run to the airport. I would just wanted to propose if, trustee Bajares is okay with it, that maybe we start that meeting a little bit earlier, like 08:15. Would that be okay on That will be yours. Tuesday, January 27? Oh, yeah. Your your It started at 07:30. Thanks, Dan. Oh, boy. Okay. Well, then Hold on. Never mind. You're not gonna I'm not gonna Teach Michigan. Alright.
No. We'll still okay. So, Sarah will will not be able to join us till 08:30. So we'll just start at our regular appointed time, in that case, 08:30AM. And, thank you all for coming today, and our next board meeting will be here at Glenn Loomis, Tuesday, January 27 at 08:30AM. Thank you. Part: 2
Meeting of the board of curriculum committee to order. The committee would like to welcome the audience. Viewers may watch live board committee meetings online at tcaps.net/board. Recorded meetings may be viewed on demand at the same address. It looks like we do not have any requests for
public comment today. So, I think we can move on to procedural items. First item up are our draft committee meeting minutes from December 2nd, 2025. Uh, any changes to the draft minutes? Okay. Hearing no changes, the minutes
will remain as posted. Um, next item up is our 2025 to 2026 TCAPS district course catalog. And I will defer to Jesse Hogan for an update. >> Yeah. Uh again that ACL those are the online classes uh our vendor primarily
is Aselis uh that we're using for that. So those are courses that we haven't offered online that are in the aselis catalog that we have students interested in taking again that middle school I you know those I expect even more as we roll through the year. Um we're up to uh 21 or 22 students um enrolled fully
virtually, but we did have quite a few phone calls this last uh week or so about virtual both at the high school level and the middle school here with the change of semester. And then the other two are NMC classes that are involved with our early college students. So >> I also had a question about the
sculpture. Um I I've seen in the past that we in our course catalog at the high schools that we had sculpture. Do we no longer have a teacher who's >> No, we do have sculpture at both high schools. So, that's an early college student who is on a pathway. So, our rules for dual enrollment, which are defined by the state. Um, we don't have
students who dual enroll in courses that we offer on our high school campuses or we cannot have students dual enroll in what are considered elective courses, PE religion courses. Um, however, for early college students, if the courses are within their defined pathway through
their early college program, um, which sometimes some of those courses are, um, they are able to take those. So, that's why probably it hasn't been on the books until this point. Um, but, um, that's why it's an addition there. >> And then I did have a question, too,
about the ACL personal finance. That's at the middle school level, but does that qualify for the state requirement to take personal finance? >> Not at the middle school level. It does not. No. >> Interesting. We've got middle schoolers who are interested in that topic >> as an elective course. Yeah. >> That's cool.
>> Okay. Um, as usual, we will put that on the consent calendar unless there are any objections. >> Okay. Moving on to the sex education advisory board recommendation for co-chair for the UK.
>> Yes. So, um in accordance with TCAP sex education um advisory board bylaws, um the se will recommend two co-chairs as you know from membership at the last meeting um to lead the following year. So Carrie Ellery co-chair Carrie Ellery Smith, excuse me, um was um nominated as
a co-chair and began her service or her time um of January of 2025 last year and she will conclude um that uh term in December of 2026. And then the seed met on November 20th of 2025 and nominated Jenna Baker who's in her second year um
in uh the sex education advisory board to serve as the other co-chair. Um, and so the SEB uh is recommending that the board of education approve that nomination of Jenna Baker um at their January 12th uh 2026 board organizational meeting.
>> Terrific. And um I did learn that uh Miss Baker is um an ALMA graduate 2021. She's been here for four years. This is her first job post college. And she's the director of prevention at the Travers Bay Children's Advocacy Center, which I think is a great choice. one of
my favorite local organizations um having gone through their prevention training. Um just really excited to see that addition to the advisory council. Absolutely. All right then. Um that too will move to consent calendar. Um unless there are
any other objections. Okay. And then moving on to this the uh centerpiece of our curriculum committee meetings, our learning series. and this will be an update on CKLA. Dan Tisworth. >> Yeah, thanks. And I'll defer over to
Britney K, our director of curriculum. >> Excellent. So, um, we're about halfway through year one of implementation of CKLA. And so, we wanted to provide a little bit of an update, um, on three kind of critical kind of largecale pieces, um, in relation to CKLA implementation. And then what we'll
share um is uh some data from our teacher perception survey which is a key kind of metric of monitoring our implementation plan um that we administer uh or provide an opportunity for all staff members to participate in that um six times throughout the course
of this year. Um and right now we have three of the six data points um that we'll share um as teachers um take this uh perception survey at our uh professional learning committees or PLC's. So the first one we're going to share is just kind of um where we are
kind of at a high level with regards to our implementation plan and just kind of refocusing this notion that year one is really about adult learning and initial implementation. Um, and so we are primarily focused on not only learning the new curriculum, but really developing developing familiarity,
excuse me, um, with the materials and resources that come with the curriculum um, and really being an intentional and about aligning our instruction to that new resource. um knowing that we've done some significant work if you look at that ven diagram at that bottom right um on calibrating our understanding of
explicit instruction um pairing that with building our knowledge and capacity in the science of reading and really now focusing where that comes together at that intersection of now having access to evidence-based um an evidence-based highquality instructional resource. Um
and with that really focusing on um building um an intentional implementation plan with regards to change management knowing that um about 70% of change um efforts or change initiatives fail um within the the first year. Um and so really ensuring that our
implementation plan isn't only built on those six inputs we see for successful change but also using that um model for an opportunity for reflection. So we've had several stakeholder groups use that as a way to say how are we generally feeling across the board. Um so for
example one of our groups um actually multiple groups lifted up that we're seeing um anxiety as a as an identifier. And so we were able to then draw back to okay what's the input that is impacting that feeling which is skills which then allowed us to have more focused
conversation on um the contributing factors to that feeling and then the development of one to two action steps um to help circumvent that um to help mitigate that anxiety and continue to move forward. Um and so with that right now at this stage we're really um
emphasizing implementation integrity. Um and the reasoning behind that is recognizing that core instruction is really the key to prevention. Um and really ensuring that the system we're building with regards to um not only curriculum adoption but also highquality literacy instruction um is focused on
prevention rather than intervention. So intervention is a key piece of our multi-tered systems of support. But we know that prevention is going to be the key to impacting all learners. So with regards to that, here is the first um data point that we'll share
with you um in terms of teacher perception and feedback. And so um the question we pose, um to all staff is how would you rate the ease of implementation and teacher usability of CKLA? And that's on a scale of one um being difficult to four being easy. Um
and so you'll see on that line plot the percentage of teachers who rated a three or a four are at that higher end of the scale. Um, and so you'll see in October we had 59.3% move to November and 55.2%. So taking a little bit of a dip and then increasing
in December to 83.5%. Um, rating at that three or the four at the higher level. Um, I'll also share that our goal as a part of our monitoring implementation is to at least get an 80% response rate. um just to ensure that we have reliable and
accurate data that really represents the whole and being able to adapt um to meet the needs of all of our staff. Um and so in October we had 72% of um staff take the survey. November that increased to 76%. In December we had our highest um
response rate at 92%. Um so that December is really um quite indicative with regards to the ease of implementation of the K5 staff. >> Britney, I just had a question. Between November and December to what do you attribute that spike?
>> I think familiarity with the resource at that point. Um you know by then they were in let's say September, October, November at least three months of implementation um with additional supports with regards to trainings, instructional coaching, professional learning communities. So I think it's
just um an increase in confidence and just familiarity with that resource. >> And on this side I just I was also curious about like the breakout of the one, two, three, four just to see like you know are there a lot of ones or
there are few ones and more twos and threes like more people clustered kind of in the middle in terms of their their comfort with the implementation. >> Yeah. So um you know looking at kind of that difference of you know the reverse with 83.5% you know being at a three or four right
then the flip of that or the differences you know the ones or the twos I will say the majority um from what I remember and I can get you exact numbers um at the conclusion of this meeting as we move through each of um the questions um uh the bulk of the remaining of the percentages lived in that that number
too >> I'm fine with your oral description that's okay just was curious about that. >> Absolutely. So, kind of um thinking about what's next with regards to our implementation plan. So, we view especially at the leadership level, both district leadership and building leadership, that
our job is to adapt um to the feedback we get in terms of those largecale patterns and trends across our system. Um and so really being intentional about ensuring that we are lifting up celebrations um because we recognize that what gets recognized gets repeated. Um, and more oftentimes than not when we
think about implementation science, um, people aren't very intentional about lifting up those celebrations. Um, while also being able to address the challenges that arise, um, and really acknowledging the fact that the work feels messy because it's supposed to, um, especially when we are engaging in
quite, um, a high level of complex change, um, in a large organization. So, I'm going to turn it over to Kelly O'Brienovic, who's our district ELA instructional coach, and she's going to talk a little bit more in depth um and what we've done to address um and c not only celebrate, but also address some of
the challenges that are arising. >> Yeah. So, as a district ELA team, we got together and looked at that data and we were able to kind of determine um one and about two um celebrations and challenges from the data and we together as a group went through a protocol where
we really kind of determined what our next steps would be to support that. And so for our celebrations, one of the things that we noticed is that there were um there was data that supported that teachers felt like the skills portion strongly supported foundational
skills for students. So, um, they were feeling like the instruction that was available to them was able to move students forward with those foundational skills. Additionally, they also felt like the knowledge units were supporting students language comprehension skills. So, overall, that was really nice data
to see because we were able to be like, "Oh, wow. You you're thinking the curriculum is working because those are the two main components of it." So, being able to make those connections was um really was really great. And one of the things that we decided to do to celebrate that is um we have the these
celebrations in the newsletter for the district staff. We also have them going out on um the school Facebook sites to parents as well as to other staff. And we've really generated these um posts based off of the connections we can make to the reading league as well as the
celebrations that teachers are sharing with us through photos and narratives and things like that. So, that's been great to just kind of keep that morale up and keep people um just keep recognizing the great work that they're doing and the connections that it makes to what we know is best practice. And
then in terms of challenges, one of the things that came up primarily was pacing. So, just having difficulty making sure that they're getting through a lesson a day. CLA is really very rigorous. There's a lot of content. And so, um it's a shift for everybody. It's a shift for students. It's a shift for
teachers in a very positive way, but it's just something to get used to. And so, one of the things that we did as an ELA district team with the um pilot early adopters was to kind of develop um by grade level what they would recommend for pacing. And then we took all of
those recommendations and we put it together into like a a guidance document, so to speak, um about what trim don't cut actually means. So how teachers can look at a lesson and decide what they would trim but not cut from that lesson because all those components
are are very crucial. But um one example is instead of doing 10 um 10 examples of a phmic awareness activity, they might do five instead. Um instead of doing all essential questions, they might do three that re
relate back to the primary focus objectives versus all eight or 10 of them. Um so just kind of some guidance and what that looks like. Um the instructional coaches also went through that process of um viewing that document so that they can support teachers with
that. And then the last part is just instructional coaches went through the process of actually planning a unit um so that we had an awareness of what goes into that and what components we can pull from that unit in order to support teachers um when they're doing their
planning. Great. Thanks for elaborating on that. I was wondering about trimming but not cutting. So, good distinction. Thank you. >> I have a question. OB obviously with teachers accepting CKLA and finding that
it's working in the classroom. Eventually, we need to figure out whether students are also performing better or performing differently. Uh when do we get to that point where we know what student performance is translating into? Yeah, absolutely. So, right now, uh we are our student
assessment data we're primarily reviewing is those are those local assessments. So, those unit assessments and domain assessments that are administered at the conclusion of a unit um to show that um our students um essentially mastering or progressing on standards and skills that have been
explicitly taught and then if they haven't, what are we going to do within our core instruction to remediate in terms of high stakes assessments such as NWA or AIMEP? we typically wouldn't see um that translate um in a way that's stable so to speak probably around year
two if not year three when we look at the research tied specifically to implementation science >> part of that is also filling holes from from previous curriculum >> so in year one you know as as Britney has gone through this with implementation science right this is our
goal that any classroom you go in right now in TCAPS and elementary or ELA they're doing CLA Okay. So, that's a a big step and they're all within probably I would say three to four lessons if if not even closer in that pacing wise. So,
as far as looking at year out as far as MSTEP or NWA spring 2027, that also would be a goal for mine to see where this is impacting kids in the classroom because now they had it for two years. So, we've we've done some work filling in holes, but even those
third and fourth graders, right, who had K2, they may have missed some some foundational skills. We're still working on that. So, in year one, we we probably won't, but definitely hopefully year two. >> So, we don't necessarily need to wait three years to assess whether CLA is
working. We'll have some intermediate steps to be able to evaluate. >> Absolutely. >> Yep. >> Okay. I say it's the first time I heard teachers say they were a little sad not to have NWA this winter. Just excited to see that grow. >> Right. Right. Exactly. >> Interesting.
>> Interesting. I know. >> It was a little shocking. >> There was a lot of conversation about that last year. Yes, it was. >> Yes. >> I'm using it that much. Don't worry. But >> yeah, pendulums do swing >> just a little curiosity of >> Yes. Absolutely.
>> Yeah. and and I, you know, just recognizing that a lot of us weren't here 10 plus years ago when Journeys was introduced to our district. Um Sarah, you're probably the exception here, like you know, um having experienced what the
introduction of a new ELA curriculum looked like. Um, it'd be interesting, but I'm not suggesting anybody has to, you know, dig into the archives just to see like, you know, if there were any statistics, uh, of adoption and, you know, the challenges and and so forth.
Um, but I know I when I moved here, my kids were entering kindergarten and third grade with journeys >> and so, you know, I'm feeling very good about this new curriculum. definitely saw firsthand as a parent like >> yeah that was my first year at Westwoods
as a principal so I think journeys struggled right off the get-go because of this right and all the work that Britney's put into this year and the ELA team was just the implementation part of it >> that we didn't h I don't believe in you can we didn't have that with jour with
journeys and it never got off the ground to the point where I don't think at any point we saw journeys in every elementary classroom throughout its implementation people started as a supplement right away because >> we didn't know what materials went where, >> right? >> I also just think it's important for us
to recognize that teaching and learning is really complex. We aren't like in an industry that I can just look at profit margins and where I need to charge more and it it it's not black and white, which I would say um Scott is hard for me as a math person, right? I wish it
was. Um but our kids change every year. So when you ask that question to Britney about like okay so when are we going to see improvement in student achievement I I'm always like well like every cohort of kids comes to the table with a different set of skills and so part of our job is to ensure that we've laid the
strongest foundation possible for their success. Um, and I would say not only does this curriculum have tons of great research behind it, but the implementation that Kelly and Britney have done has been more robust, intentional, and really kind of said,
what are the big pieces and how do we ensure those big pieces are in place and we're monitoring and getting feedback. Um, so I don't I think we are giving our kids a better opportunity to develop those foundational literacy skills and
>> and I would say too that the the unit tests that they're taking each unit teachers are really excited to look at them because they've been so intentional about the teaching that they've been doing and they've seen how they can make connections to best practice in the curriculum they're giving. So they give that unit test and they're like, "Okay,
I want to see how they did." You know, and I've never seen that kind of excitement before. So, that's really cool for them to be able to see how students progress throughout the year on those assessments within the curriculum um in order to really reflect on their own teaching and what they need to adjust for that next unit. So, that's
been that's been really cool to see. >> Kelly, those are on computer, right? >> Yes. So, for third through fifth grade, the knowledge ones are on the computer. Okay. Actually, first through fifth grade. Okay. Yeah. >> And then the skills are all paper pencil. >> Yep. And kindergarten doesn't start any
computer testing until they are in their domain six, domain five or six. So it takes a while to introduce the technology component for those those little ones. >> That data that's collected through that is really helpful for teachers to look at as a um team and collaborate on and
then for us to be able to look at as a building and as a district. So >> terrific. Thank you. So we'll zoom in a little bit more specifically to professional development and professional learning and really anchoring it around, you know, John Hattie's work with regards to not only
recognizing that the greatest influence on student learning is the professional expertise of teachers, but also how that expertise grows through deliberate practice and feedback. And so really bucketing our supports are within kind of those two categories. Um and so as
you can see up until this point um we've really been um mindful about how we've been developing professional expertise not only through those initial trainings that you see in August that elementary principles went through and all of our junior kindergarten through fifth grade um teachers but then also those ongoing
um developing a professional expertise of our instructional coaches as well as elementary principles on a monthly basis. So knowing in order um you know to uh uh Scott's point in terms of um wanting to see that impact on students
ultimately, how are we ensuring that we're continuously um building the capacity um and knowledge of those folks who are actually going to help sustain that change um and ultimately impact those students. Um and then the one way or the multiple ways that we've really been
intentional about the deliberate practice and feedback is um in October we did our first round of CKLA district visits where um I went out to our elementary sites and partnered with um the building's instructional coach and building leader um to provide non-evaluative feedback with our look
for document and help kind of calibrate us as a system of what are the patterns and trends we're seeing in implementation and how does that partner with our perception data. Um sometimes when we see perception data that is very different than what's actually happening um implementation wise and vice versa.
Um and so making sure that that data is collected as well. Um our instructional coaches and building leaders also each uh participated in a halfday amplify visit with an embedded coach from amplify um to also support them within the context of their buildings as well.
Um and then as I mentioned earlier, CKA assessments are a big um component of our professional learning communities and utilizing that data um to create action plans um within each of the grade level teams. And then our instructional coaches, one of their um major
priorities this year is to be a thought partner with teachers um in terms of CKA implementation. And then as you know moving into next year really honing in on um deliberate that deliberate practice and feedback with the purchase of an amplify embedded coach utilizing
35mm funds where they will be in our district um the same person throughout the course of the year four out of five days a week. Um, so really being able to leverage that area of expertise um to help differentiate the needs um in a way that's a little bit more fluid versus
bringing everyone together to receive the same training um moving into year two. So then looking at the feedback we received from teachers thus far with regards to professional development, there are two key questions that we look at um as parts of feedback related to
this topic. Um you'll see on the left how effective have the supports provided for CQLA implementation been um from not effective to highly effective and you'll see a little bit of that dip right so 59.3% in October moved up to 74% and back down to 63.8% 8%. Um, and Dan,
Kelly, and I have talked a little bit about this, what was that contributing factor from November to December. And although I don't think we can specifically pinpoint it, um, November was the last day where we collectively brought all K5, um, staff together at RSD day, and we have not had that since.
Um and through um our narrative feedbacks we've received, teachers are wanting more collaboration time um not only with their grade level um teachers at their sites but also grade level teachers across um other schools as well. So really taking that feedback and
exploring um an opportunity to create a virtual collaboration time pending an interest survey that will be sent out later this week to staff um as an opportunity to provide that time because that is that's a pattern that's happening across the district thus far. >> And I will just say that pattern of
teachers requesting time not just in building or with um their grade level at their site but across the district is also mirrored at secondary. Um, we've had more and more secondary teachers who have expressed both to to myself and to our building lead principles, gosh, I
wish there was another district day like our August kickoff, like our RSDD. Um, although the early releases are great. Um, the reality is all of our buildings get out at different times. So, it does make it hard for middle school and high school teachers to collaborate and it
has to be virtually. Um, and so they really have, we've heard a which is an interesting change of face this year that they really want more time like that. So, as we look at future planning, this is a little bit of a tangent, sorry, Britney. Um, of our calendar and how we're doing that, that is a piece
that Connie and Dan and I have been talking about, too. So, um, is there a medium? I mean, you guys saw our attendance for RSDD day this last year was >> really well. Yeah. Yeah. And so, we're hearing that from our staff. they value that time together and um they would
like more of it. So figuring out how to meet that need. So >> yeah, those calendar negotiations, I know that those take months, but yeah, thank you. Um and then you'll see that additional data piece is that measure of confidence. So how confident do you feel
in implementing CKA on a on a scale of not confident to confident? And that has um also increased from October now until December with 83.5% of teachers saying that they're rating themselves at that higher end of the scale of feeling confident in implementing um which is um
a key metric in terms of um uh adults you know not only understanding those practices of implementation science but also feeling increasingly capable of applying those um on uh a consistent and effective basis.
I have a quick question and given the rigor of CQLA and the implementation you're going through, is there a remediation component to CKLA >> there? Yeah, there are several remediation components. One um the one that is most um often um I think
utilized is what they refer to as the assessment remediation guide or the ARG if you will. um and that is kindergarten through 2 grade and then third grade ha third through fifth grade has the decoding and encoding remediation guide. Um it's a pretty meaty resource. Um some
teachers are starting to dig into that. Um they also have an intervention toolkit that is available and then they have um because in third grade it shifts into what they call more of an integrated approach where it's not separate on knowledge and skills. It's where they first kind of come together.
Um, third grade has a foundational skills kit to help remediate some of those word recognition skills that might be lagging. And then they're adding fourth and fifth grade, which was also a part of our 35mm purchase um, moving into next school year. So, there are several components that we haven't
specifically dug into as a system yet. That's going to be more of our focus in year two once teachers feel confident within kind of the core instructional materials that are a part of CKLA. It's interesting that you know on the one graph you had that little bit of a decline from November to December for
the supports and then conversely they felt more confident. >> How do you reconcile that >> but >> maybe the need for supports? A lot of this data mirrors what we see last year with early adopters that early adopters we did last year that we're now doing
currently second semester with math >> was um just so eye opening. It's outside of a pilot, right? There's they're distinctly different. And that those groups that represented every school in every grade level and almost the exact flow of when we're when we got in front
of them last year in fall and winter and spring and the you know the the issues they had, the challenges they had that we see now mirror our entire district really helped us. So we saw a lot of this too moving in next year and it helped us I think a ton as far as
planning for this year. >> Absolutely. So the last piece we want to highlight is just that impact on students which we've spoken a little bit um thus far in terms of the achievement side um of things and utilizing those local assessment datas as a way to show how
are students progressing on those standards and skills explicitly taught. Um but for the sake of this slide is really talking about the um impact on student engagement. Um and really leveraging the student engagement data right now as that key metric just
because um through the research of implementation science it really is utilized as an early indicator of implementation integrity which is our year one priority um for this year. um just because of the need um to uh
circumvent that that performance data might be a little bit more unstable through the es and flows of year one of implementation. Um and I think that's why many times with uh curriculum adoption processes and looking at the efficacy studies with uh curricular resources, they're usually a multi-year
efficacy study. Um so that that data becomes a little bit more stabilized over time. Um but if you look at the impact specifically on student engagement um and we really asked teachers to think about the comparison to previous years of engagement within literacy instruction um and really
seeing that uptick um from October with 68.6% to December and 81.6% um in terms of being engaged or highly engaged. And then we'll end um kind of our CKA update with regards to our connection to
our TCAP strategic plan. Um and really focusing in on tying that to goal number one of improving student achievement and really thinking about that through the lens of providing equitable instruction for all students. And one of the greatest ways we can do that is being very intentional about building the
background knowledge of of kids just because we know that background knowledge is such a critical component in terms of making meaning while they read which is the ultimate goal of reading. Um and so CKLA is a program that is intentionally built on the science of reading. Um and so what
you're looking at um and giving and providing exposure um to kids in rich content and knowledge. And so the image you're looking at at that right hand side um is a compilation of the top 10 content categories of passages that students engage in in high stakes
assessments. Um and so they took I believe it's a a culmination of a hundred passages across multiple high stakes assessments um across our nation. And these are those top 10 categories which we see um consistently throughout the CKLA scope and sequence not only
within grade levels but across grade levels. Um so for example with astronomy and space that comes up in our first grade and third grade. Um if you look at US history um that comes up with the war of 1812 in second grade and American
Revolution in fourth grade. Um and then we also have uh those um contemporary realistic fictions coming through in our novel studies which we see in third, fourth and fifth grade. Um and just wanting to highlight that not only
because um it will directly impact those high stakes assessments that our students are taking as a part of our metrics of success for the strategic plan, but also better preparing our K5 students for that increasing demand. um of course work at the secondary level.
Um I had a co a colleague I talked to um last year who was helping I told Jesse this helping her um son study for world history up at one of our high schools and um said you know it would have just been so great if he had the exposure in
elementary school and the groundwork on many of the um topics and um components that make up world history. So really hoping that we kind of see that impact over time as kids continue to move through um their their educational
experience. >> We've had several including Kelly has worked through the social studies and science to make connections to CKLA um especially with that state in addition curriculum has come through. So, I know the social studies team has gone through
that curriculum and tried to embed lessons starting this year with a couple, but really kind of expanding it next year um to use Cala as kind of that that keystone. And then also our science, Aaron Sorenson has worked with our science group also to try to find connections to Cali and then and then I
know Britney also worked with Patty Tibbaldi and Peanut to do some nutrition connections also. So it just lends itself so much to be able to include other curriculum which Beth was here because of the social studies Liberty Bell, but >> she would have appreciated it so much.
>> Yeah. >> And I do think why we're that's why we're seeing such an increase in student engagement too is just because of the topics that kids are being exposed to. They're excited to talk about their learning. I mean, after parent teacher conferences, the number of teachers and
building leaders that shared how much um how much parents talked about that their kids are excited to come home and talk about and share their learning about their day. Um so that's a really excellent thing to see. I think that hopefully we continue to build momentum with that. Um, and so, uh, knowing that
background knowledge is the scaffold or considered a scaffold for memory, I'm going to pass it over to Jesse for a moment to talk about how we've been, um, addressing goal number five with regards to science of learning. >> I just want to add one thing on that slide. Um, and and I wanted to note too,
I mean, >> I would be excited to see unicorn and wizard hat like that. So, I can just imagine how the kids are. Um but that that phrase spiraled background knowledge in the first bullet, could you just briefly describe what that means? >> Yeah, absolutely. So um it goes within
the grade level and so CKA is very intentional about when they introduce a a specific uh uh knowledge topic to then be able to build throughout the course of the year. So, for example, um, in kindergarten, they learn about plants
before they then go into talking about, uh, Native American cultures and how plants and farming were a key component in terms of their life site, uh, their lifestyle, um, throughout that time. And then it also goes across grade levels. So, in first grade, like I spoke
earlier, first grade is the first time where their students are being, plus you introduced to space. that is critical to have that foundation for when it cycles back into third grade. And so at the beginning of the uh unit uh teacher guides, it'll have a little bit of a
blurb for teachers to know when students have been previously exposed throughout their CKLA um journey, if you will, um so that they can leverage that knowledge when they introduce it for the first time within their grade level. Um so being really um explicit about making
those connections across those grade levels as well. So, we're not going to be quite there yet because this is our first year, but that will kind of be circumvented over time. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And then as Britney and I were talking about this presentation in that
last slide, I just was like, "Oh my gosh, this connects so much to the work we've been doing with our building leaders around um developing their knowledge around the science of learning." Right? There's a lot of literature out there um on how humans
learn and what type of intentional moves we can make to ensure that they are learning as much and as effectively as possible. And so we have a series running this year both with our building administrators. So the 30 30 building principles come together um and then
also our instructional coaches which span I look at Kelly because she loves part of the learning series right >> um from elementary all the way up to our high schools right so we've got instructional coaches at all level and we mirror the PD Britney and I do for both groups and we've been using this
book here um which is a cognitive scientist um who has phenomenal research actually linked in on that word cognitive load if you want to read at all the little section that um both the building principles read, then the instructional coaches read um at a different meeting, but they're really
close together. Um and we do some activities. And this last uh month, we talked a lot about cognitive load. And cognitive load, when you read through the science of learning is made up of two pieces. It's both how hard and how complex is the content that a student is learning and then how are we presenting
that content? What is that external um load look like? and the inter uh intrinsic load which is how complicated the complex or content is sometimes we can't adjust that right sometimes we are learning about stochometry in AP chemistry and it's really really complex
so what can we do as instructors on the on that other side to ensure that when it's really high comp uh complex text our instruction is very focused it's very precise um so that we don't overload our students um and when we we're talking about laying the
groundwork work for background knowledge. I thought, "Oh my gosh, this is great because every time we do that with students, we are actually lessening what that complex load looks like for the material, right? I've already learned a little bit about plants, right? I already have some reference points. Now I'm learning more and adding
to that." Um, so this connected great with with the learning that we're doing with our staff and thinking about how our programming and our learning through that connects with the professional development. So, just wanted to at least share that and give you some information on what our building leaders are
learning. Um, then a lot of times what happens is our principles after they've done the session and our instructional coaches will kind of come together and go, "Oh, that was really great information. How could we bring that to our staff and through a staff meeting?" And so, we've seen um that happen quite a few times. We did retrieval practice
in the fall. And so, our building principles and our instructional coaches then kind of came together and said, "Okay, we did this activity. Could we modify it? how could we expose and ensure that our teachers are aware of these practices too. So, I just thought it was a great tie in and to show that connection to goal number five, which is
developing our meaningful professional development learning for our adults. >> Jesse, does that all imply retention then student retention? I mean, that's sort of what you >> Mastery is built by repeat exposure over time, right? So, some of it is you want that distance in learning. You do want a
little bit of that forgetting so that then you have to work to retrieve that knowledge because then that's what helps it transfer from short-term to long-term memory. >> Yeah. So, it's really flipping that narrative of we're really we've so historically been focused on getting information into students brains, but
really flipping it and saying, "Okay, how are we intentionally getting information out so that we know this is what they held on to and here's how I can build on that versus assuming that they retained that from the onset." And when they do that then that performance and getting the information out that
helps with that retention right as I'm recalling it as I'm practicing those skills that's help building that retention for them. Um, so providing this exposure to these content areas, I'm actually the secondary teachers, they were the history and the English and our science teachers were like,
"Whoa, this is going to be so cool when these kids get to us because they've had these exposure points that they're hoping that now when that when the content gets pretty complex, kids will already come in with something for it to stick to, right? Like, oh, this is just
where we go with plants or where we go with >> astronomy and stars." So, we call it mental velcro, right? It works on like increases the likelihood that that information is going to stick long term to Jesse's point and transfer from that working memory to long-term memory. I'm sorry. >> I was just going to say just connecting
all those fifth grade teachers this year have a really like they have a hard job because they have kids that haven't been exposed to all these different um like core content areas. And so, they're having to fill in a lot of gaps. But when we think about fifth grade next
year and the next year and the next year, they will have all that background knowledge build. And so then that role gets significantly easier in terms of seeing student achievement. >> Yeah. And when you go back to that last slide with that cool diagram that Britney had. So like the SAT, I mean, I'll just go all the way up there,
right? 11th graders all take at very high stake. They have to read passages and those passages are typically some of these. And if a kid goes to read a passage about pick one of these topics, right, and and they know nothing about that, like it's really hard for them to
then answer questions about the passage when they're reading about something that they're like, "What even is this?" Right? Um it's it's really comp complex. Um and so laying the groundwork with all of this, I think I think is really going to pay dividends in the long game for our kids. And I think our teachers are
going to see that at the secondary level as these kids move up. So, in closing on that, I I just want to say thank you um you know to the whole team, but Britney, I think your your role here is very clear and I want to just say I
think we all appreciate the role that you do have here like really being very intentional about the implementation because if we don't get this right at the beginning, you know, it's a disservice to it and we've invested a lot as a district into this new curriculum. So, thank you all collectively for your efforts and I
really appreciate what you put together for us today with this presentation. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I'm just a DH here. So, but um >> wait, what isated? So, I appreciate all you guys have done on this and it's nice to to know that
you we assume it's working and it's going to I it just makes me nervous that I don't want to wait >> three years to know whether we're on the right track cuz I'm a veteran of journeys when we made that transition and there there were a lot of curricular changes there
>> that we decided 12 or 18 months in that weren't working. And that's just that's some poor kid's >> academic school year who's just been >> not wasted but >> not as good as it could have been. >> Absolutely. >> I don't get to repeat that. Yeah. I would say like our two big which is
English and math. We have a really solid curriculum K12 and both of those now. Um and I think that we've done a lot of work around okay so how do we monitor that? How do we support teachers with that? How do we continue to assess whether it's working and our kids are learning the skills they need to is like
a constant job of ours. >> Absolutely. >> Maybe that was one of the shortcomings of Journeys is that you didn't have those unit assessments. I mean was that is that part of the story? >> They had weekly tests, >> right? I think journey is a big part was the writing component people just didn't
feel as strong >> and then I think you know it it was more of a whole language versus phonics >> correct >> curriculum which has >> shown >> to be a fault at this point. So >> and then the district at one point had to like supplement with additional
consumable >> Oh yeah. Even when I first got here, we started a a grant program that brought a writing, you know, thing in and uh and you know, because it was just so glaring, you know, in some of those gaps. Um, and you know, that kind of that was during a time too, the district
didn't have a lot of money for any additional resources. So, it ended up people just grab things from wherever, the internet, here, there, everywhere, you know, and that's not a a, you know, a curriculum with fidelity. And so that's exactly what we're trying to
really, you know, we're we're trying to think, you know, be I think the team's doing a great job with talking to teachers and making sure they're supported, but making sure that that fidelity component I think is something that I've heard Dan the team say multiple times like we're staying on
track here, like we're, you know, we're not deviating so we can ensure that fidelity to know that this is this is working. >> I think to Dr. Van Wagner's point, we've had um one thing we weren't able to share is we've had 227 CKA look for
visits across our 11 elementary schools to actually be able to monitor that implementation integrity. Um and we look at that data quite frequently with our elementary building uh principles, with our district ELA team, within our curriculum and instruction team just to
continue to to monitor how are we doing as a system um in terms of implementation as well. Great. All right. So, it sounds like we're ready to turn to our celebrations and successes districtwide. And Jesse,
Dan's got the first one. >> Yeah. So, starting off uh Michigan literacy s uh summit. So, um Governor Whitmer had her first Michigan literacy summit uh through Teach Michigan. We did have an invite. We're able to send uh Emily Whitty. She's our uh coach at
Blair as you can see her there with her her picture with with our governor. Um I think it's it's the idea that the state is continuing to focus on literacy uh provide money behind it with their different grants that they given us 35J and 35M. We both come to the board uh
with it's now probably over probably over $2 million that the state's provided to ensure that we have curriculum that's grounded in the science of learning. So, um, great opportunity for Emily and and, uh, always nice to have that connection with with Teach Michigan.
>> Uh, the next one is just to highlight West Senior High. So, Model UN runs as a extracurricular activity at both of our high schools. Uh, students pick countries, right? And then they um get rolls within those countries and they go to two different competitions, statewide
competitions. There's one that's in uh December and then there's the big one which is in March down in Kazoo. Um and I know both of our adviserss Amy Cole and Bin Lynch uh do a phenomenal job. The kids have to submit papers and write. They do debates. Um it's pretty
cool to hear them like oh we're France and we're Germany and they have to sort of think about what are the views of that country and how would I represent them. Um but obviously some standouts here from West Senior High. Amy Cole does a phenomenal job with her students ensuring that they're ready to speak and
their written um work too. So then you can see like in parenthesis there are the countries that those students got to study um and represent. So this is a club. It's not a course our students take. It's a co-curricular. They meet outside of the of the scheduled school day. Some of our students do elect to
earn credit for the like elective credit, a half a credit for the for the club because it does have obviously strong academic ties. But the big competition is in March for our kids. So, super cool. >> Awesome. >> Sophia's got her work done for her.
>> Yeah. I wonder how the March competition's going to go. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Go get registration campaign. So, um, communications and also, uh, Kelly Walter's done a ton of work with, uh, getting a word out about our talent,
gifted program. We met with our current uh co our current uh families. We also did uh meeting for our incoming third grade families virtually. Um and there's also several things listed there. What are we up to, Kelly? Is what was
>> we're at 103. >> So currently >> who have registered doesn't close till the 21st. >> How does that compare to prior years? >> Last year we did 133. So, we definitely get a a push coming up
here in the next few weeks and we do another push with the campaign. Also, I know that testing dates have already been selected by every individual elementary and then um Kelly is also doing two. We used to have non-Tap students go to their whatever elementary they would be. Uh we found last year
with doing so many makeups, individual makeups are are tough. So we're doing two two right designated evenings here at Glen Lumis that test those noncaps kids. Also, >> is there a cap on Roman? >> There is a Well, I mean it's many how
many sections we want to run, right? The the magic number is obviously we're talking about 56 if you do 28 a section. So 56 would be nice. Now the the the deal is is that you look at like a number like 40, right? So when I used to
run sections or used to do scheduling at the middle school, we used to do honors or at right we'd go to 40 and then we think well 20th section uh not really fiscally responsible and so you got to kind of balance it as far as opportunity and being physic physically fiscally
responsible. So it's rather than do you then move the bar right and move kids into the program or do you go the other way to to get to a number that you'd like. um comparing it to past year like if we compare that bar like we have a cutoff that we use a rubric uh for the
tag. So if that if we use that rubric and we find that we have you knowund it would be a big number it'd be 28 you know 75ish 78 that we need another section we could look at that. Um but that 56 to 60 is usually that number
where we settle in then. >> And statistically speaking, we wouldn't necessarily have 75, right? >> We would not. We've never actually as far as hitting, we've always gone through our first phase of acceptance. And in the last two years, we've used
everyone on the wait list. >> So as far as actually going any further to create an additional section, we've never been even close. Right. >> Of course, the the additional challenge this next year is going to be, you know, which side of town are the stu are the qualifying students coming from and
trying to balance that, which >> it's an added piece of complexity for you. >> Yeah. And we've talked with Dr. Van Wagner and cabinet is that we're using the same criteria that score gets you into the to into the program. >> All right. So that's going to be it'll be interesting when we're faced with the
challenges of maybe several westside students compared to east or vice versa. Um and offering some of those westside kids some of those eastern spots. Right. With the idea that it's a cut score that gets you into the program, not your location in the in the district, just as
it has been with Central grade. Right. >> Right. Right. Well, thank you for your extra efforts this year to publicize the the KAT test. >> Yep. And then we also have the positions posted. So, we have three currently
three tag positions posted. >> Yes. Right. Teachers. Yeah. >> Yeah. Great. Thank you so much. >> Um, so recently Central High School had an article and was recognized as a bold innovator from the state. And so this is
a group um from the state that's not part of MDE. They're part of the Michigan growth office. Uh they came up uh last spring and we did a tour of the innovation center and Mr. Burgerer was our tour guide. Um and they just they really are looking at what are people
and what are regions doing differently with education across the state. They're trying to highlight um Michigan, Michigan's potential, Michigan's success. um really going after retaining uh talent in the state of Michigan and getting people to move here. Um and so
they wrote a great article. Um I think Dr. Van Wagner sent it to the board to highlight um some of the work that not only Central High School, they that was the school they happened to tour. They toured Central and then they were NMC. It was a paired visit. Um but also mirrored over at West Senior High as
well. Um but uh Ben did a great job with the interview there. Had some great quotes in that. Um this they had such a great visit they actually um are hosting 50 of our high school students down in Grand Rapids, Michigan here in February. Um we're taking two bus loads down there
to tour local businesses in Grand Rapids. The idea really is for it's really targeted towards seniors, our kids who are getting ready to graduate and our academic community adviserss that are the global studies teachers and counselor counselor from each high school are going to with the kids. whole
trip is paid for by this uh Michigan growth office. Um, and they're they're showing students like what potential employment opportunities reside within Michigan. What are some really thriving Michigan businesses um as opposed to moving to Chicago or New York or some
type of a large city out of Michigan, look at Grand Rapids, look what they have to offer both with um with careers and with postsecary and that type of stuff. So, it's been a cool partnership with with that office and and ensuring that our kids and our families know everything that's available regionally
for for our kids. >> Uh, national board. So, again, this is s our teach Michigan program. This is a Blair teacher ceremony. I received a national board certification. Extremely rigorous program over a three-year period. um several teachers. I think
there was up to four that are going through this process between uh currently Blair and Traverse Heights. And then I don't know if anyone at TC High has started, but they've also u joined our Teach Michigan team. So uh hats off to Sarah Monius is a
a challenging challenging certification and um she's done a great job. Is that something that the district gets professional development funding for to sponsor teachers or is this something that she >> We actually get money. So um so they've been supported through the Teach
Michigan Teach for America program that we've had with it and then when they achieve it they actually get a state stipen that's significant for being a state a national board certified teacher and I believe there's an additional sum if you're in a schoolwide title one building.
>> Okay. And so, you know, one of the things that's awesome about this program, all of it, Teach for America, all of it, is there was a time where, you know, like we struggled to get teachers in our in our schoolwide title one buildings. Um, it, you know, it's it's a tougher job. I mean, it's
reality. And I think what's been awesome is the support that these folks in these buildings have been able to get through this program. It's brought an enormous amount of support. Um, and so this is just one of the things that's really, really cool. >> Yeah, Teach Michigan, I'm part of the
system leader cohort this year. We're going to bring some stuff to board curriculum, but their goals is in they haven't got to student achievement yet. They're they're working in that direction, but their goals are professional development and um employee retention, right? And we look back at
Blair and Heights before Teach Michigan um and how they had somewhat of that >> uh roller coaster of of of people going in and out of those buildings and now with Teach Michigan, those teachers receive a stipen that are part of this, you know, for a three-year stay. And they've seen how that retention helps
obviously build those the buildings and builds a culture in the building. It's a phenomenal program. >> Yeah. Hey, what are we three or four years into Teach Michigan in our district now? Or is it longer than that? >> Four.
>> It's been an awesome program. I mean, it has been. And you know, in the last budget, they they got supported with $30 million to continue and and expand. So, um, we were able to add TC High this year. Um, and you know, there's only ourselves, Benzy, Kasca, and the Sue,
>> I think, are the only pretty much north of US 10 that are in the program. And so >> there's a lot of opportunity downstate too, right? So that's interesting. >> Yeah, there's lots of downstate. Detroit, Detroit public is is actually the original >> Kwood, Grand Rapids,
um >> Flint, there's a few Flint schools. >> But to be have that opportunity, it's been awesome. >> Uh a little shout out here to our West Middle School robotics team. Um we are in entering now robotics season. I know the high school teams got their
competition released uh couple a week ago. >> It's going to be Saturday. >> Oh, it's this Saturday. I was going to say I had heard of January, but then I was like, I haven't heard what is either. Yeah, it's coming out. Um I know both the high school teams do watch parties and are really excited about that. Um but this is our middle school
team. Um Joan O'Neal does a great job as uh the coaching that and and putting that together. At our middle schools, um they also receive some VEX robotics instruction during the school days as well. Nate Brush and Dian Harbaugh um both provide that to our students and but this is the West Middle School
extracurricular uh robotics team. So, congrats to them. >> And shout out to Tom Cooper. I don't know if you saw online or on the news. Uh outstanding educator for touchdown to teachers program recognized by our Detroit Lions. Um was able to go down to
a game and and be on the field. I don't know if that was a good thing or not. >> So, he's responsible. >> Yes, he is. He didn't go to Minnesota, so we can't blame him for that. >> And then lastly, here is just a great photo from our East Middle School.
They're working on some crosscurricular both with the Spanish and um math um and translating those back and forth. So, uh shout out to our staff there for making that happen and and working together across the disciplines to make those connections for our kids. So, pretty
cool. All right, terrific. Well, thank you for all those um highlights across our district. It's always exciting to see those. Um so, just as a preview for our next meeting on January 27th, the learning series for that is scheduled to
be our tier 2 supports at every level, elementary through high school. Um I know Jesse and Dan have have lined up several guest speakers for that. I know that I have to leave that particular meeting between 9:30 and 10 to run to the airport. I would just wanted to
propose if uh Trusty Veraris is okay with it. Um that maybe we start that meeting a little bit earlier like 8:15. Would that be okay on >> I will be here. >> Tuesday, January 27th. Oh yeah, you're >> started at 7:30.
>> Thanks, Dan. Okay. Well, then >> you do not hear >> Michigan. All right. No, we'll still Okay. So, um Sarah will will not be able to join us till 8:30. So, we'll just start at our regular appointed time. That in that case, 8:30 a.m. And um
thank you all for coming today. And our next board meeting will be here at Glen Lumis, Tuesday, January 27th at 8:30 a.m. Thank you.