##VIDEO ID:JLLaN8P109k## e this is the January 27th wetta school board work session this is the Yetta school board work session from January 27th 2025 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good afternoon the time is now 4:01 the WIA Public Schools Board of Education work session for Monday January 27th 2025 will please come to order let's go around the table for introductions we'll begin with with my right Heidi ker Sheila prior Dan Jan estra Baris B Valentina ears Sarah Johansson Chase Anderson Milan Sone and thank you and thank you and welcome everyone I have some good news to share for those who who may not know about it congratulations to the vataa high school team one winner of the 2025 minute Minnesota Statewide High School science bow they will represent Minnesota in the National Science bow in Washington DC this spring we had three teams and team three came in second place and team two got third place and also thank you to and congratulations to their Coach Amanda leaden all right as a reminder the board does not vote on any item at the work session this afternoon we have one item on the agenda we have the teaching and learning report executive director Dana Miller will make the introduction Dana yes sorry about that we closing out um at this time I'm going to turn it over to director Salve heray with our reac group and she will start a us out tonight thank you thank you Dana and thank you board our we're very excited to be here this afternoon um as Dana shared my name is SV her our director of equity and inclusion and here with me for our weak vot of concurrence presentation is Renee Munoz who is a parent in our district and the chairperson for our wetta indigenous advisory committee so to share a little bit of context for you about the wetta indigenous advisory committee or oftenly referred to as our weak this is something that is tied to what is referred to by the state as our American Indian education Aid and programming this is a specific set of funds that the state provides to districts based on the number of students whose families have identified on their state or local race code that they end identify as American Indian or indigenous Native American These funds in order to access them you have to have an advisory committee with parents ours also includes high school students and that was something that was determined when it was formed under the name weak um a few years ago and over the last few years we have had some wonderful chair folks um that are part of that work and each of them have been parents of high school students and so we've had both wonderful and amazing programming that they've helped direct and build up at our high school um over the last few years one of the amazing things that has happened for us this year is that we have been able to have Renee join us as an elementary parent which also means we have this beautiful potential for a longer term Connection in building and growing our programming so in the past that program programming like I said really had a focus on high school with some high school programming College visits and now we're really looking at how do we expand and grow our opportunities at the elementary and middle school um and some more connected opportunities through K12 for our students and really actually early learning through transition um and so one of the requirements with this is that every single year our weak has to take an actual vote and say yes or no are we in concurr with what the requirements are from the state and the programming that we are providing at our district and this year our weak voted yes we are in concurrence and we are required to inform you of that and so that's what we are doing this evening um afternoon really and I'm going to turn it over to Renee to add if there's anything else that you would like to share with the board about some of the opportunities that you're excited to see happening and and collaborate with us on with our reak yep yes especially the um expansion for the um elementary students um they also get to learn early on the culture and you know their their selves basically you know and also to be part of a community that you guys you know that you guys are part of as well so and watching it grow so thank you yes sorry no that is perfect because that is exactly what the funding is specifically about out that bringing in cultural identity because it's such a strong and important part and Foundation to be able to be successful and Thrive and so to get a chance to expand that in for our younger Learners as well is something that we're very excited about and also increasing our participation one of those things over the years like we said with kind of the growing of this and the shifting of it is really making sure that it's regularly accessible and we're getting more and more families to be able to regularly and so over the last few years we've continued to adjust um when and how we are engaging um in those opportunities and that's something that we're also excited about growing and expanding so that that consistency is really there and with that that's really all that we have for you other than answering any questions that you might have for us about this um the weak or programming and the vote of concurrence thank you both of you appreciate that um any questions all the comments colleagues here um would you be able to give us a little bit more background on what kind of programs and do they differ by Elementary versus middle school high school so just just to know more about them yeah so as we talked about with the high school level a lot more of the high school programming does tend to focus on that like career and college readiness and that link with identity pieces um every fall now there's a Native American college fair that occurs and so that's one of the things of um programming there uh it's also very traditional to have um gifts when you reach graduation um and that's a part of the program funding and is a something that is actually stipulated in the guidelines um from the state in regards to it um at the middle school and Elementary level um we're looking at even more of those activities that are that deep cultural um knowledge experiences and one of the things that's required of uh the funding stream is to be able to offer it during the school day if that's something that the students and parents are requesting which has been requested and so we have um indigenous um Consultants that are able to be supported through this funding to come in and provide some of that programming including even language programming learning jibway language is some of the access that is offered through that um we utilize right now some uh online programming that all supports that but those that's a variety of what the things are and we have a roughly monthly um during the day opportunities in regards to that right now the middle and high school um our elementary offerings mostly are connected presently through our larger events that we have every other month that are in the evening because our students are so spread out but that's part of what we're looking at updating and adapting and our hope this spring is to have um a field trip day that would have all of our students um be able to participate during that day um to connect with each other and again build that both the community and and link to these programming and opportunities that awareness piece okay makes sense and then it is available to broader audience too right they not this particular funding this particular funding is very specific and stipulated by the state to be for our indigenous students in fact it's um so specific that if a family has identified that they ferally their Federal race code um identifies as indigenous but they haven't listed it as state that doesn't count in the funding okay um so it is very very specific um to our indigenous families okay that have identified State yes got thank you so you mentioned that um you've been able to engage High School age students um so just you know to kind of um you know when they talk about their experiences you know it can be with program it can be talking about um their family their ancestry you know so what are some of the things that they might share the biggest thing that I have heard from our high school students so far and I don't PR I'm not present in those spaces but I have heard from our students in the past um who have had their parents that were uh our weak chair folks those high school students shared with us um the biggest thing is that sense of being themselves and just having a space to be fully who they are and embrace that and the gift of that um many of them have talked about how they've had summer experiences that their families have been able to connect them with and how powerful that was to be able to have that be part of their school day um and that it's it's empowering for them I just want to say a great big thank you it was so exciting to see our high schoolers and they also were pretty involved in helping us to build this and and their leadership and it's so exciting to see them move down to the elementary um and the more focused effort and and Renee thank you for leading this I it takes a a strong really capable person and and we're just so grateful that you're willing to do that and we can't wait to hear um and see all the wonderful things that you do um as we move forward just want to Echo what Sarah just said a big thank you um at the elementary school level I know just how critically important it is for kids in their in their very youngest formative ages to really feel that sense of belonging and so thank you for doing this and taking it on thank you both again um I have a couple of questions you said uh that some some parents do not identify as indigenous on the state level but they they have identified themselves is there a specific reason for that I you know I mean it's everybody's personal choice opinion right absolutely it is because we are losing funding right based on that yeah well one of the things that we've been talking about is that we want to make that clear for parents so that they're able to make an informed choice in regards to that um for some it may be an a specific reason that they're choosing it that we don't necessarily know but for others it might have to do with identifying with more than one race code one of the things that I have learned is is that on the Federal Form you can select more than one and on the state you have to select one only and so that might be a reason why people are selecting in that particular way but we are going to be working on how do we get the messaging out so that families know that this is direct by making that selection if they were to choose it these funds are directly impacting opportunities for their specific children okay thank you and then the second question uh this is this is all state funding right yep and about how much is that for you right now I believe that our total budget for this year is around $58,000 they did update that uh a few year year I want to say year or two ago they changed the basine so the Baseline for districts used to be $20,000 plus a certain amount per student I believe the new Baseline is $40,000 plus a certain amount per student okay thank you um there are no more questions thank you so thank you Renee you appreciate that and we will see you either you or somebody else in your place next year yes well hopefully Renee again next year and you will also hopefully next year be able to see uh Becky kson who I should name she is works with me um within equian inclusion and she is our primary point of contact for our weak program but was not able to be here with us tonight thank you anyway thank you Rene okay is going to introduce you oh there she except there thank you go ahead Dan you bet I'm causing all kinds of trouble tonight aren't I Dr C um yes tonight we are here um members of the board Dr Anderson to present our third installment um in reporting on the world's best Workforce and now tonight is the AI plan report if you recall we had decided to chunk this down into three different presentations because it is so much to absorb um and tonight for the most part um director hard will be leading this discussion as this is the area of work that she directly oversees in collaboration with teaching and learning um as well as many other departments say this is our work across the district and so with that I'm going to turn it over to her and then we do have Dr lachner here as well to help answer any questions at the end regarding some of the data so thank you Dr her thank you very much again members of the board Dr Anderson um this afternoon's a Ani plan annual report is something that we would be presenting on annually previously this was something that was fully Under the Umbrella of teaching and learning um but is something that we do in collaboration now and this is the um reporting specifically on the first year of a three-year plan that um is a newer approach to our achievement and integration work and is something that we've been spending time talking about in the committee of the board over the last year understanding and unpacking this and one of the things that I think is worth noting is that our board members are able to be regularly connecting with community members and hearing what their questions and wonderments are about this work and so this particular presentation while it is the annual report is specifically attempting to address as many of those questions as possible so there's more and other things that we could also be talking about in it but our focus is very much on answering those Community questions and another um request that came through our committee of the board is that we be able to have the slides be followable and understandable so that community members could go back and reference if need so you're going to see a lot more content in these slides than I normally would have in a presentation um and as we go through I won't read everything verbatim um but want to have that there for folks to be able to go back and reference thank you all right there we go so this afternoon we have a few General themes um it is nice when trying to hear a long presentation to be able to understand and compartmentalize a little bit um some of those big themes and ideas we have what is the work why the work how are we doing the work the data connected to the work and a bit of information on our ad hoc Committee of the board that being said the work is highly interconnected so we've done our best to create these specific themes and yet there's going to be a lot of weaving of information throughout and to support that you'll occasionally see these sort of teal banners referencing other portions of the presentation where some of that interconnectedness is going to exist so again trying to make this is accessible for folks whether they're watching right now or taking a look at the slides later on what is this work we are WIS out of public schools it is important to remember that that is at the core of all of this so collaboration is a key part of what this work is research based Innovation is a big part of what this work is and each and every because we have said that we are here for each and every one of our students in wisett public schools talking about this tonight we're going to be primarily focusing on then achievement and integration which is the critical funding stream right now provided by the state that is supporting this work and these Innovations and it is in collaboration with staff and departments all across the district some mentions will be made specifically in this presentation to make reference to things that you've heard previously this year such as from Sunset Hill or teaching and learning with the world's best Workforce um and some of those things then are explicitly noted but that is not the extent of the collaborations they go far beyond what you're going to be able to see in the time that we have this afternoon together now achievement and integration as a particular funding stream from the state does have specificity it has requirements and that is not new to us we have all encountered funding streams from the state that have specific requirements to address very particular things this particular funding stream and programming is about uh racial and economic disparities now that being said in this District we have many focuses this is one of them and to the afternoon talking about it and the programming that we're doing engaged in it doesn't dismiss any of the other areas of priority that we are also working on so just like you might have a presentation on math doesn't mean that people aren't also working on literacy or if people are presenting and focusing on literacy doesn't mean there's not folks working on math this is just like that we have folks that are working specifically on racial and economic disparities but we also are working on a wide array of things and at the core of it is fulfilling our district mission for each and every one of our students this goes further to reiterate the each and every one of our students you see on our Equity commitment the statement that we will find ways to create more Equitable systems that honor each person's unique mix of overlapping identities again every single one of our students that's what we are working toward so while you will see references and spefic specific things in this presentation talking about racial and economic disparities because that is what we are guided and directed to do by the state with this the approaches that we are taking are working to fulfill our mission for each and every one of our students in this District now mde has specific requirements the first requirement is that we are working to reduce disparities in academic achievement the second is that we are increasing racial and economic integration and the third is reducing disparities in Equitable access to effective and more diverse teachers we have to have goals in our plan that are addressing each of those three requirements we are going to be revisiting a little bit later in the Y section some understanding around what is meant by integration because that is a question that comes up now another question though that I wanted to address right away because of the way it's stated there is that the AI requirements have this language saying excluding categories of gender disability and English Learners now mde on their guidance doesn't explicitly State their why for putting that language in but as we were processing earlier there are many different specialized focuses that have happened throughout Decades of work as well as even right now we have specialized ized funding to support students with disabilities we have specialized funding to support our English Learners and there has been very specific emphasis and work over many decades to address gender disparities so potentially that might be why but mde hasn't explicitly told us why that language is in there but we work to work be in compliance um with all of all of those and yet as you see there the strategies that we are taking support all of our Learners and you're going to continue to hear more about that this afternoon now how do we do that how can you have something that has such a specific focus on a particular group of students and yet help everybody well as roughly demonstrated by this graphic here particular strategies can raise the outcomes and success of every student while also closing a gap and those are the kinds of strategies that we are leaning into growth for all reducing disparities we will be revisiting this in our how so then what are the actual goals that we have listed well our goals are just smart goals that are highlighting the very specific and most extreme of those disparities that are spoken of in the mde requirements so what you see in the specific goals here about reducing um assessment local assessment disparities and reducing um disparities in representation in various programming and access to culturally responsive strategies through our teachers those are all things that are some of the measurable data but as you'll see in the data section of this presentation we have a wide array of Kips key indicators of progress that we monitor to be looking at progress well beyond what's just listed in these smart goals but the smart goal is something that does have to be very specific and name exactly where our biggest issues are and so that's part of what you see um listed in these particular goals now that being said how are we tackling that and what are the highlights of of that you can see here that there are things that are beneficial for all of our students collabor ations with teaching and learning and our mtss to build and and embed culturally responsive practices we have uh learning opportunities that are for our students to build up their leadership and sense of self that really H like we were talking about earlier that positive sense of who I am that helps Inspire and motivate me in my education um as well as building the capacity within our teachers to to lean in to lead and support each other you've heard in the past things like Collective efficacy and how critical excuse me that is for making gains and improvement in our system these are all the things that we are doing and highlighting in this work though those goals are listed the way they are per the requirements that we have challenges however do persist and we will be talking about that um later as well but we have such limited time for the professional learning around that and limitations on what staff can do in the hours that they have to be able to build some of these programs so we are inching forward and yet have a long way to go as well our why we kind of already said that earlier a little bit each and every student it's why we're here we have two very significant guiding documents here in Yetta our strategic road map as well as our Equity commitment and both of these guide all of this work and clearly are anchored in our mission to ensure a worldclass education that prepares each and every student to thrive today and Excel tomorrow in an Ever Changing Global society that is not a small task that is what guides our work you've been hearing about efforts towards that work from all across the district teaching and learning in the world's best Workforce presentation as well as our schools in the school Spotlight we're all working connected and committed to trying to achieve that mission this funding stream is one more way that we are working toward that outcome in delivering on that mission and the reality is is that disparities exist and persist they have existed for a long time they have persisted for a long time in the earlier world's best Workforce presentations you got to hear and see data specific to both reading and Mathematics that are speaking to these disparities disparities that are impacting multiple groups so again while our smart goals in the plan data speak to where our disparities are the greatest we are addressing all of this and monitoring all of this data and our mission tells us that this data isn't who we really want to be this is not what we want for the experiences or outcomes for even one student so how do we try and find a way forward to change that that's what this work is about this work is about looking at what are the things that are within our control because there are things that aren't what's within our control to start shifting this and changing this reality and part of that is thinking about this successful student equation this is something you've heard about and has been a focus area for our early learning school and community ed for a little while now and it's about reframing our thinking to think about us being ready for the students that are coming to us and one of the beautiful things about being in public education is that we get any student that comes to us that is a gift and what are we doing with that gift so how do we look at what is in our control there are a lot of things that our students and our families navigate outside of our school system that are things that can impact A Student Success and yet we can't control those things so what can we do how can we be ready to make the most of this opportunity that we do have in front of us that is again what this achievement and integration funding really is about there's a quote that some of you may have heard before that says every system is perfectly designed to get the results that it does and we have gotten some very good results for some of our students and that is something to be proud of but that has not been the real reality for absolutely all of our students yet so there's still work to be done and we can do that without having to remove positives for the students that are benefiting in the system you started hearing then about what is some of this work how are we going about it with that Sunset Hill presentation starting to play a little bit of a some understanding into what does integration mean it is that sense of belonging a true authentic sense of I can be here I can show up I can be myself because that's necessary if you want students to take academic risks and we want them to take academic risks that's how they grow by stretching themselves if they just came in knowing it already there wouldn't really be a whole lot of reason for them to be present so how do we support that and belonging is a critical part of that and ways that we can support that belonging are through an understanding of culture and culturally responsive practices and that is also critical for delivering on our everchanging Global society and that is critical for addressing both experience and achievement for our students and we'll talk a little bit more again in the how section on this but in question that integration piece and true belonging there is some historical context to that many folks know about Brown V Board of Education and the desegregation efforts that emerge from it but what not everybody necessarily knows is while there is an effort to desegregate it didn't create true integration and that's one of the things that this funding stream is tasking us to dig into and none of that is a question of shame or blame about the past it's saying where are we today and is where we are today where we want to be tomorrow and if not we have some choices that we can make and this funding stream and this plan is about tackling that this history does inform us but it does not have to Define us we get to make choices every single day decisions every single day and that Collective combination of those choices and decisions those are the things that communicate who we are and who do we want to be as Wisa and do we want that true belonging for each and every one of our students I think we do and personally I take pride not shame in trying to find ways to empower the maximum potential in others and again I would hope that that's something that we could all lean into as an educational institution here for each and every one of our students and yet let's look at our today context are our programming and our outcomes data predictable by things such as race and class right now they are yes and like our high school reminds us we want each and every student to graduate from out of high school prepared for postsecondary Success regardless of race class or gender ability so what are we doing differently to address that now we've talked a tiny bit about integration and its link to belonging and how frankly belonging is important just for belonging like I don't think anybody really I've not encountered somebody that thinks it doesn't feel good to belong somewhere and have that experience but even though it's good in and of itself it has an added benefit in learning for maximizing achievement and there's a lot of uh Neuroscience brain science that helps us understand the link between that belonging and integration and achievement so here is a rough graphic of a brain breaking down some of the systems in our brain we have our brain stem which is really key for our survival behaviors there's the liic Center system excuse me which is the emotion Center and then there's also the cortex which is responsible for that higher thinking and most of the work that we're doing in schools is trying to access that cortex well there is a progression for how information is processed in our brain it starts through the brain stem then goes up to the lyic system and finally to the cortex that progression is key so if we aren't getting first through the defenses or barriers perhaps that could emerge emerge in the brain stem or the lyic system we're not going to be able to access and dig in in the way that we could with learning that requires the cortex higher thinking there's a Doctor Who's written a number of books that some folks may have heard of named Dr Bruce Perry and he refers to this progression through these three Rs regulate relate reason and that there is this flow and so when we are talking about belonging belonging is one of the things that is critical to address that regulate relate space and create that psychological safety so that our students can fully access that reasoning part that cortext portion of their brain that we need them to be able to for the learning so our classroom practices are really key in creating that environment we don't get to control how a student is walking into our classroom but we can influence them when they're in there how we are creating space for that regulate relate and then reason another thing to understand in regards to then the achievement it's not just this question of the belonging part and getting through the relate it's also what the reasoning part is how is the cortex operating now I have a very rough and perhaps oversimplified way to connect a little understanding on this but I think many of us can think of an experience where maybe we had once operated on a Mac and then trans transition to Windows or then went from Windows to Mac and experienced what that might have been like that different operating system they can do some similar things some different things but just figuring out the operating system takes some time and maybe slows down some of the things that we were trying to accomplish in that transition how we learn in culture can be like our operating system what are the things that are intuitive to us or not intuitive to us how we've learn how to function and process information now in an everchanging Global Society it is beneficial for every single one of our students to have a little practice in being able to navigate multiple operating systems those of us that have figured out how to manage both Windows and Mac are able to transition seamlessly with the tasks and the opportunities that are in front of us and we would want that for every single one of our students so that's one of the ways in which having culturally responsive practices that have students experiencing multiple operating systems benefits every single one of our students but for those that have spent most of their educational career operating in a system that does not make sense to them we are slowing down their processing we're creating a barrier that doesn't need to be there because we've never transitioned into one that feels more intuitive and natural to them and so there's a sweet spot a balance here of every student being able to have some fluidity between systems and it's more than two but to not constantly have a barrier where your cortex is spending all of its time trying to figure out the pro operating system and not the task or content you're trying to engage in and again that's what our culturally responsive practices are about and so when we talk about achievement and integration this is the kind of work that we are targeting and when we're leaning into effective strategies we're doing things that are addressing the brain science the research-based classroom practices and doing it in a way that can be benefiting all while still reducing disparities because if we want the outcomes of our system to be better there are some things that are going to have to shift not everything but some things and as good as things are in wi Zetta for many students I really do believe that we can do better and I am committed to that and the people I work with are committed to that so how do we do it that is a very complex question and so we look at um systems understanding to help us figure out a different way forward as uh many folks perhaps know Einstein saying that piece about trying the same thing saying over and over again and not in expecting different results we're trying to do different things in order to get different results not everything different but some things different and part of that is thinking about how do we even perceive the change do we see change as technical or do we see change as adaptive and truly it's often a combination of both of those things the examples on the screen are from MD's mtss um some of their training and resources that talk about Technical and adaptive change and you can see the example that's listed there if somebody is navigating high blood pressure there are some technical things that can be done like medication for it but there are also sometimes some adaptive things that might be a support changing diet or life excuse me or lifestyle and it's not to say that it's all one or the other the combination for different people might have a different balance of those things but are we looking at that Nuance to form our next steps and so when we think about this the type of challenge is it technical is it a technical and adaptive or is it adaptive and this graphic also shared by Minnesota mtss from mde helps us understand of based on what kind of challenge then how do we Define the problem and how do we look at the solution and if we're only looking at a challenge through that technical lens then we're perceiving that the problem is very clear and the solution is very clear and that sometimes is the case on things and when that's the case you can Implement that solution and the problem and challenge are addressed beautiful move forward there are times though that that does not work and that requires us to start leaning more in the realm of adaptive where perhaps the problem might be clear or it might require some learning but the solution defitely requires learning and that is part of the challenge that we are faced with because of the learning even for the solutions so one example in education that helps us understand this on this particular issue that we are tasked with with achievement and integration and the disparities that we continue to see is that a very frequent go-to is remediation oh if a student is not successful let's just spend a little bit more time in the basics but that doesn't seem to be working always it works sometimes and so that's not to dismiss it as ever working but it does not work as often as we lean into it and so we have to start transitioning into that adaptive realm and looking at gosh what's going on for a particular student is it actually an enrichment level exploration that might be needed to create the on-ramp for them or is the remedial skill practice what they needed or something else what is the root of the problem and then how do we address that and all of that does require some additional learning and understanding and this particular funding and planning support is about that kind of adaptive Innovation it creates space for us to do this without having to lean into general fund dollars and the reality is is that we need this kind of innovation because no one has yet found a singular approach to entirely address this now there is a beautiful set of research-based practices that are out there that show promise but no one alone has addressed this particular problem so we have to be tackling it in a variety of different ways and thankfully that research does provide us with some directions and how to explore it much of that research uh has been examined by someone named John Hattie who does meta analyses where he is taking a look at many research experiments and studies that are addressing classroom practices and then he looks at them as a collective for a particular area like discussion classroom discussion what is all this research saying about the impact of different types of classroom discussion and then he quantifies that with something called an effect size and the effect size of 0.4 or 410 is the effect size that speaks to one year's growth in one year's time when a student completes third grade they have successfully completed all the things that you would have wanted them to learn in third grade that would be things that are that 0.4 but when you have gaps you don't want one year's growth in one year's time only you want to be able to accelerate that so what does research tell us or indicate the practices that are most likely to help us address that and that's really what we are leaning into so on this slide there's a collection of just four of the things and we tackle more than is just what's here but there are four things that I'll be speaking about even more in the coming slides that are in that high impact area that accelerate growth area when you look at that those numbers you're looking at things that can have two to three years of potential growth occurring in one year's time that's what those numbers are meaning now it's important to note that in the research studies they have that intensive hyperfocus on that particular strategy and have engaged in learning with their staff about how to implement it um and so that's part of what we are working on and working through and I will speak to but we are leaning into these types of approaches now we started this journey even before having complete Direction with our achievement and integration being fully linked to this approach back in 2019 and all of the things that are up there which you'll hear a little bit more about here in a few slides are things that are about those kinds of culturally responsive practices that are doing that integrate with prior knowledge when you're able to connect to something you already know you go oh okay that makes sense like earlier when I was talking about Mac operating systems and window operating systems that was something that for many of us oh that made sense and you were able to access that Concept in a better way because there was something already in your brain to be able to hook into that kind of integrating with prior knowledge and cultural ways of being that link into also that brain science of regulate relate reason that's what all of these things are ultimately about there are different ways and access points for being able to engage in that in our classroom rooms so a few examples of what some of these culturally responsive practices are we have a set of culturally responsive protocols um distinct things that teachers can do in their classrooms things that are within their control that they can bring in and movement is something that a variety of cultures have very different Norms around some cultures are more stationary some more High movement traditional classrooms in the US tend to be more on the stationary side hence that phrase sit and get learning so what we're trying to work on is how do we find our way a little bit more towards the middle not pendulum swing this is not about saying everything that has been is wrong it's about how do we find another bit of balance here and incorporate more movement into learning not between learning but into learning so not just movement breaks and I would wager that many of us have encountered and heard about research that supports the need for movement you hear walking desks um the various movement things that are sometimes underneath tables how many of you have been in meetings where you have colleagues standing around the back of the room standing desks we as adults even know the importance of this how do we bring this in for our students and some of the ways that this can benefit learning in a classroom rooms is well frankly it can reduce some of the conflict that emerges over sitting still all day it also has some of the physical and cognitive benefits that we've all been kind of leaning into recently with some of these new things like I said standing desks walking desks Etc and there is some indication that there might be extra benefit particularly for our male students nowhere in achievement and integration does it say that we're supposed to be focusing specifically on something that would be benefiting our male students and yet this approach of culturally responsive protocols and practices can have that kind of benefit but again it's about balance we're not doing a big pendulum swing how do we find our way more towards that middle similarly this concept of people bonds is how you prefer to engage in your learning and in a particular task how valuable is it for you to be able to really focus on the task alone and by yourself or engage with the task in a more social connected with other folks way again traditional in US schools has been more that autonomous end and there is a place for that and how do we find our way a bit more towards that middle that Center that balance and more student to- student talk again in the research shows a very high effect size again point4 is one year growth in one year's time that 082 is more than two years growth in one year's time and that is truly defined as the students actively connecting and questioning and discussing together not just a discussion where it's teacher to a group of students one at a time these are the types of things that we are leaning into additionally wise feedback this is something that is especially optimistic in the potential for being a gap closing protocol and practice it Blends two research-based components where the teacher this idea of teacher estimates of achievement so teacher working to truly believe in what that student can do having high expectations and belief in what the student can accomplish as well as then feedback that is queuing next steps so feedback that is more nuanced than good job or I love how you dot dot dot but instead something that says oh what might happen if you experience exped with this what might happen if you tried something that's helping cue that next piece with that very intense belief and what they can accomplish and you see very high effect sizes for each of those two things well in one particular study where they did look to see what would be the impact between white students and black students who experience that it had a 40% gain for white students and a 320% gain for the black students in that particular research study that's positive for all but can be Gap closing and is easier said than done there is a lot of work that goes into supporting teachers through these practices because none of this is how we experience school and very little of it was in our teacher prep programs and it's not been the norm yet in schools so there's a lot of learning for all of us to be engaging in so that goes back to this adaptive change in all the required learning that are is a part of this for each of us in this system now we've started tackling this in some ways like bringing in questions like these learner driven questions for all and I just going to pause and even read one here of how will I encourage Empower and ensure that every learner incorporates their voice in the learning process wouldn't we want that for every single one of our students and that's an example of how we're trying to support our staff in constantly thinking and questioning in a way that builds new neural Pathways for us so that we're building new habits different from what we experienced in all the initial training not to say that there's nothing good in that initial training but this piece wasn't present there's there's more that's needed and that asset framing that piece of believing what is possible that is not Rose tinted glasses it is not dismissing challenges that are very real but it's being able to take another perspective to see how do we see strengths that are going to help us address those challenges in a different way and that language of the basic needs is one way that we have common language that is accessible to students staff parents alike to be able to support some of that work in the classroom and Beyond so this is some of the things that we're doing around again Technical and adaptive combinations it is a technical thing to start using the language of belonging success Freedom fun and yet it can start to become adaptive when you pause and you go so as you were engaging in that what needs were getting met and how might that inform how you engage with this next piece of learning that can be very transformative for students in being empowered to make decisions about what's going to be helpful for their learning now persistent challenges in this time time is very real we have limited professional development time and a wide array of priorities like we spoke to before an example of another Focus area is the read act in the last year we have spent more for our elementary teachers in particular dedicated hours on the react in one year than we have on dedicated hours on any of this total in all the years since 2019 and it's still going to take time to see the impacts because for the react because it takes time for staff to learn and time for staff to implement but that also speaks to how much time it is really going to take for us to be seeing all of the amazing outcomes that research is telling us are possible with these approaches because there's mindset and skill set work and like I said earlier it's not how most of us taught or were trained our neural Pathways and habits take a lot of time to shift one sort of good example I'm going to ask if your arms are not crossed would you be willing to cross your arms for a moment now try and cross them in the opposite way does not feel great it's really weird and I could do it partially because I've had some practice so I could do it a little bit faster because I've done this a few times and have had other people ask me but even that like that's a really simplistic shift and it still feels weird and unnatural we're trying to ask people to make shifts that are not as simple as that and again there's research to show us that uh it takes over 50 hours on just one practice to really be a ble to make that shift so given those challenges it is going to likely take us longer to see some of the outcomes that we would like but we are persistent in that effort and we keep looking for ways to be able to embed it because right now we can't perfectly change the number of hours separate available to us for professional learning so how do we embed it um but also how do we then better adjust what we're looking for in our data and what data can help us really monitor this progress knowing how incremental it is going to be and so that's some of the things that we're continuing to be working on and looking at and how do we embed it well that's some of what you were seeing from Sunset Hill as you were seeing the way teachers are leaning into trying some of these practices the way we have the Family Partnership lead role in as many buildings as we can to be able to be side by side with teachers in order to do that to be connecting with families and help bring that insight as they then partner with teachers to be able to embed this learning as best we can in the day because we don't have a lot of other separate hours for the learning you also see these sites across our district trying to find ways to build this in to their site plans to try and create that support in ongoing practice for all of this work wherever they can but again it takes so much time but all of this is supported by powerful research nothing that we are taking a step forward in is a whim it is all very connected to what can have the greatest potential impact on both the specifics listed out in our goals but also for every single one of our students and so then what does our data show right now you saw earlier a bit about the smart goals that are listed in it but again that is only a smattering of what we're really looking at in terms of the data and so you're about to see some additional Kips that are listed in the port in the report um but beyond that we are looking at enormous data that goes beyond this so for example in our Kips you're not necessarily going to right now be seeing any data around science but is that data being collected and examined absolutely it is so one of the things though with that that we are looking at is how do we again maybe adjust some of our Kips so in this first year one of the things that we learned right away was you know as we set out and we thought this is going to be a really good Kip to help us monitor things well it's something that's good for us to see long term but maybe there's something that's a little bit more close to what we're specifically doing that we need to lean into and I'll explain that in a moment but I do want to make one further point the Kips have a variety of different kinds of data some of them are percentage points themselves um or percentages some are percentage points and then some of them are raw numbers so if in one of them you go wow that's a really high percent or how are you gonna make that big well that might actually be a raw number rather than a percent so in our first goal we're looking a lot at local assessment data which we specifically lean into our fastbridge and with that as you saw in the world's best Workforce presentations in September and October you saw the full disaggregated data the report piece that we submit to mde is specifically aligned to what those goals are but we're monitoring all of it internally and Reporting on it as part of our world's best Workforce but you're seeing here the specifics of the gaps in our Baseline data and as you can see in a lot of the areas after one year we're still looking to see a lot of growth now the plan thankfully is a three-year plan um and so this is just the first year um of that plan and in some of these our data has changed so up there where it talks about the MCA um excuse me the map data and its MCA prediction we actually shifted this last year from using the map data and transitioned our middle schools to also using fastbridge so we had to set new Baseline data because it was a new type of assessment we also look in goal one at the intervention disparities and trying to see if those are reduced that's very connected to with our second goal um but we monitor it here as well and you can see still a lot of work to be done our family engagement survey that is one area where we were going to be planning on doing a survey but many of the families that we haven't been as connected to in our district aren't necessarily responding to our surveys so it was one of those oh yeah we need to find a different and better way to examine that data and so some of the staff like our Family Partnership leads and family Liaisons are looking at different ways of gathering data like how many families are we doing that connection to are we successfully building that bridge to the school building to the classroom teacher rather than having one person be the owner of that relationship and that one and only point of contact and so we're working at um updating and Gathering Baseline data for this school year based off of that so we'll be updating that in our Kips in goal two continuing to expand on those disproportionate areas uh not just intervention but also enrichment are students seeing themselves as capable and possible and so wanting those students students that matching percentage so when students are a particular percentage of our population are they also then matching up in that way in our participation in our enrichment programming you will note though there was some reduction at the middle school um in that disproportionality in our enrichment programming but still quite a ways to go in regards to many of the other areas and even increasing in participation numbers for students in some of the those leadership activities did mention earlier a challenge around that is the staff time piece and so balancing that and creating more creative opportunities to support that and then goal three which is both about yes expanding the number of diverse teachers we have but it's also about supporting the practices of our teachers um and so that is why we've really leaned in because because we still do have a very high percentage of teachers who are white rather than a um our teacher percentage does not match up with our student body percentage so knowing we have the teachers that we have we are doing work on Recruitment and Retention to support a diverse um teaching body but how are we also supporting the teachers that we have in these goals and that's where that Innovation configuration map um tool we started dabbling in that this year with leaning in through our peer coach survey to empower our staff to start thinking through those lenses um and so the data is up there in regards to that and finally ad hoc Committee of the board has been a key partner in being able to go okay what are the questions that people have in regards to understanding this work and so we've been having two main purposes is that that committee a is able to continue and learn about the work that's happening here in collaboration with so many departments that is also part of why that committee has remained in that ad hoc meeting fewer times because this work is so deeply embedded in so many of our other departments that it does come up naturally in other spaces so we don't necessarily need monthly um ways to separate this out because of the way it's connected and then with learning about that sharing questions from the community and those things are both very important and so we have continued with that and has been critical in informing this presentation this afternoon and that is a lot of talking for me I do not like to sit and talk at people for that long but I'm doing my best to deliver on the requests so with that I thank you for the time and would like to open it up for questions thank you Solway yes we did the board did approve in the January board meeting they did approve the adoc committee so I was fortunate enough to be on the committee two years I decided to step away and then I think there are new members now some of them are I don't know if all of are not but uh uh a different makeup kind of um so thank you for the presentation any questions comments colleagues yeah well uh thank you very much for presentation I would like to have several clarifications one of them is um I asked today via email about um Dei and I I got a clarification this is about achievement and integration but I'm a little bit uh mixed here uh you are presenting the same Pages like equity pages so um are you so are you so to speak wearing two hats at the same time or how I mean can you help me out to separate these two things uh Di and um achievement and integration I'm going to share this answer with director Miller as well um but to get us started most people have very very specific ideas about what Dei work is that does not perfectly align with all of the pieces of what our achievement and integration work is um and so it's what we are really focusing on here in that achievement and integration piece is truly the each and every part that is benefiting all of our students and so when we say Dei a lot of and it isn't designated as a side note in the state's work as Dei work that isn't at all the way that they describe it they describe it as the work of achievement and integration and this department before it was connected to achievement and integration was designated as equity and inclusion because we have that Equity commitment which was built on what our District's definition of equity was and is which is about each and every one of our students and so one of the things that we're just trying to do here is be very clear that achievement and integration work while there are very specific parameters for the state is the work of delivering on our mission for each and every one of our students and is not necessarily the work that other folks might be have a preconceived notion about in regards to what the work is would you like to add something to that yeah I think you did a great job on that um I think it's just really important that we separate terminology and that um and try to remember um that we're delivering on our mission of each and every and so when we talk about equity and inclusion we don't have a Dei Department in wetta um this is achievement and integration work which means that we are trying to deliver on that mission to make sure that we close our gaps so this is about our achievement gaps and that each and every student is well prepared for an everchanging Global Society so this really is that very specific work that um we've all come to believe in and work tirelessly towards so um the while the name of the department was named equity and inclusion that's for all right and that we want all students each and every student to be successful um and to Aspire and to be that wi Zetta profile or portrait of a graduate so that's really what um the department is all about in working with teaching and learning is delivering on each and every and this work is achievement and integration and um yeah it's required by our state you can go out to the MD website and just put in achievement and integration and it will list out state laws required to this um and that's really also part of the desegregation work um and laws in the state so um that work from the state is 70% funded through the state and 30% funded through a local Levy so it is not part of the federal government at all and therefore um just really wanting to make sure we don't mix our terms and are real clear on the work here um in delivering Mission I'm so sorry I still have some trouble uh understanding um because we received uh in we received on Sixth of December of the explanation of um de department and it was stating that Abra how many people are working under this department and all so does it mean that uh the same people are doing uh achievement and integration part or I mean how how to separate them then or do you mean I also heard that we don't have any more uh Dei then so we have a department that is referred to internally as equity and inclusion that collaborates on all of our efforts with our teaching and learning department and this particular funding stream and the approach that we are taking does have staff that are supporting that work but they are supporting that work that is truly for all of our students the entirety of each and every um and that's the distinction that we're trying to make is that we do have very specific things that the state is asking us to do and we are doing work to deliver on that and to deliver it on deliver on it in a way that is beneficial for all of our students so when you're talking about the staff in that department um like our Family Partnership leads and the family Liaisons um as well as myself and Becky kson who is our inclusion coordinator we're providing support and services that are available to all of our students which is different than earlier when we were talking about the weak funding and how that was very specific to only being allowed to be benefiting certain students um because of the nature of that funding that funding is only for our indigenous students the achievement and integration funding while it is supposed to address racial disparities and economic disparities we can't use it specifically only for certain racial groups or certain um socioeconomic groups we have to use it in a way that every student is benefiting and so that's why we make this distinction about not calling it Dei work our department is equity and inclusion but the funding stream in the work that supports it is achievement and integration which does have to be utilized for the benefit of all of our students while addressing those gaps racially and socioeconomically and maybe the confusion is we've never referred to any of work as diversity Equity inclusion or Dei as you might be hearing most recently at a federal level so maybe the confusion is it is referred to as the department of equity and inclusion so I don't know if if that's but it we don't use Dei language here because again this is for each and every one of our students so when sve was or director heray was describing our practices um knowing whether a student how a student learns and making sure that I'm delivering in a way that maybe some learn to be need to be more movable and more active and others need to be more stationary or some um need to be more vocal and some need to be more independent those benefit each and every and that's the work that we are doing and so when we talk about equity and inclusion we're not talking about race only we're not talking about gender only we're talking about what does each individual student need to learn best and to make sure that the practices that we have um are are getting at that maybe another way of putting it which will show my age but when I was teaching we talked about um the multiple brain strategies right and some you make sure you have a kinesthetic and make sure you have a music I don't know Chase maybe this is Reon not to say you're in that category with me but yeah right I mean those the multiple intelligences was a piece that we were deeply trained in so that we made sure we met the needs of each and every and this is that work right this is really the work of multiple intelligence multiple ways of engaging in learning um and you've seen that in practice when we brought our um when Kimberly Lane I think it was here that had you moving all around with the sunset that moved all around with the um math strategies those are different strategies to get at different Learners that's equity and inclusion and that's why there's such a t strong connection between the department of equity and inclusion and the department of teaching and learning because the best way we can ensure each and every student is learning is that we have strategies and approaches for all and having an equity and inclusion Department allows us to really be leaning into making sure that we're not forgetting those directives of making sure that we're addressing that for each and every student it's very easy to go it's working great for 80% of our students and forget that well hold on what's happening with our 20% and how can we do work that supports the 20% that would also support 100% and so it just creates that specialized Focus but not in a way that is focusing only on one particular racial group or socioeconomic group so that's our distinction of terms to help make sure that that is becoming more clear for folks so we don't have Dei even in we've never explicitly had work that was referred to as Dei in our we received an email uh state in D the department it didn't refer to as Dei it was referred to as the equity and inclusion Department which is what this work is in collaboration with our teaching and learning Department I will leave it alone um no I let others to in no I will let others well I just want to say thank you so much I mean um you know for all the density that was in that presentation I think we really learned a lot um and uh you know certainly um you know a lot of personal connections I think we're all kind of reflecting our own learning and how this kind of maybe reconciles or maybe not reconciles with that so I'm I'm really grateful to you guys for all the research you're doing and um you know I think I'll be doing a lot of reflecting you know tonight in the next few days over you know the kind of education I received and then you know kind of what I'm seeing here I'm glad there's a lot of nuance and it's never to um go negative or to be um you know poor about something but really just to say thank you about um you know looking at this research and making sure that we're all continuing to still think and be lifelong Learners absolutely thank you yes yeah sure um as somebody who you know was in in the Dei or sorry the committee um the equity committee we yeah we went through this you know together and I know how you have to pull in so much and I I just wanted to thank you for the effort to get so much ped into this one presentation um I it was very informative and also somebody who has children who learn in very different ways um it just makes sense that you know this is going to help so many kids and and it will be a benefit to our district so thank you thank you very much um I heard the comment like uh that we I mean as the department you're doing as um desegregate what are you dis desegregating no desegregation was the work that was done in regards to the brown B Board of Education which was back in the 50s and this funding stream is tied to um lawsuits actually that specifically said that school districts did not do a good job of integrating so desegregating was the process of taking schools that were separated by race and bringing students all into the same building but when they're in the same building do they have that true integration and experience of belonging proportionate access to all of the opportunities and outcomes and when we look at the data and we see those disparities in it that's the piece that has been persistent and shown that there hasn't been true integration so they might be in the same building but from an outcomes and programming are their experiences matching up and that's the work that this is telling us we need to improve on and also in the same slide I saw that um you were saying that outcomes um are predictable based on race class gender or ability when you're talking about gender are you talking about predict predictability for which gender no so that particular slot that portion of it what um there were two parts on it one that was talking um and it probably because there's updates from what you saw up here and we'll make sure that gets updated on the board book as well but in our current piece where we're seeing great discrep discrepancies are in race and class also actually in disability which there's special services funding that we collaborate with to address but we don't see those huge significant disparities in regards to gender although that data does get pulled um when we are pulling our reports um with our research and evaluation the part that does specifically talk about it is in our um high school they talk about making sure that all of those areas are areas where it wouldn't be predictable so we don't currently have that necessarily for gender we want to keep it so that it is not predictable in that way but we also want to have those other areas not be predictable and they are right now okay so I uploaded uh this slides earlier so gender was included very will be correcting and updating that piece on board book with with Amy guys my question would be I have to agree to be honest nowadays boys uh been um following uh Jonathan height and very interesting investig I mean uh very factual uh information from um uh the book it gives that actually uh boys had been um long time forgotten and for some reason boys became a um we throwing boys under the bus so to speak and I would like um also in future to think about uh boys and boys uh for boys having possibility of uh having Hands-On practice not all boys are very um we didn't they they are not coming to school to police students they're coming they're different gender they behave differently uh they learn differently um that would be nice to be included uh that's why I'm asking um so um and uh another one was class what classes do we have class is the states and many terms for referring to so socioeconomic status and so when we're looking at our data the one way that we're able to specifically look at that most of the time is through the numbers um that are traditionally referred to as F FRP or free and reduced price lunch but that actually goes beyond free and reduced price lunch and as you know now the state provides free lunch and free breakfast for um all students we have something different called the educational benefits form which is actually what that form was always called it's just that most families filled it out for that particular purpose of the free or reduced price lunch and so the number of families that access those kinds of um supports and resources is a set of data that we're able to engage with when we're looking at the outcomes data and so families that are experiencing additional Financial challenges as reflected through that resource um is what we're able to look at in our data and to see if there are discrepancies along that and I do want to go back to your point about the benefit for boys um one of the things that we specifically talked about um in an example here in regards to movement and it's not just movement but also that engaged Hands-On experiential learning those are the kinds of things that are a part part of culturally responsive practices that do benefit boys so I completely agree with you that that piece is something that is important and thankfully it is very much a part of the work that we are doing which goes back to when we talk about achievement and integration yes there are very specific requirements from the state to be doing things that would be beneficial to reduce any disparities that are based on racial or socioeconomic status and the approaches that we're taking also have benefits for other groups of students specifically our our boys as well in the system and we very much plan to continue doing that work and are believing in experiential learning in fact that's some of the ongoing collaboration that I often have with our teaching and learning staff is processing with them how to create more experiential learning opportunities and was something that I was working on as a mathematics teacher before I entered into this role and so I would say that's a great example of equity inclusion right on how do we provide instructional strategies for all and so if we look at boys girls gender we do know that there are some predictable needs and so for example I was in an Elementary classroom today where they were learning about multiplication right and so I'm going to get the wrong number but it was like 3 times 36 or something like that and this was a first grade classroom and the students were working on white um like chart paper but they could get up and figure out how to make that work any way they wanted to so they could go cut out and so we had students taking circles and cutting circles and making 27 groups of of that we had students that were drwing it on the board we did have students who were very meticulously sitting at their desk by writing it and the point being that any of those strategies that the teacher was employing was a way for those students to show their learning in the Equitable way that would get them to that result and how their brain operated so for students who needed to manipulate little circles and build Little Snowmen and I mean they had great stories of how they had gotten to 67 whatever the multiplication was it was 67 great stories of how they had gotten there that's a great example of that teacher and employing an equitable teaching strategy or protocol that we've taught which is allowing them to get to that thinking in the answer in a way that that fits their needs um and as I you were asking that question I was sitting here and trying to reflect it see more boys up and running that and more girls and I don't know that I did but that would be another example of some of our work yes sir thank you so much this was an AI presentation like we've never had before so um but I I really as a as a board right we're called to align with our road map and and with our with our mission um and vision and um our district commitment to each and every student in all way and always and there's as you identified today and and as we know there's not one pathway um and really to get on that um it really has to be done with a lot of intention and with a lot of commitment and and what um I think we heard today and thank you and and thank you to the entire team and what is integrated right it's it's it's your department it's it's director Miller's department and and it's everyone that's sitting at the table right from Finance to HR to Communications to all of those things thank you for the immense Det um and um for for the ways that you have been leaning into this work in the timeline shows as also as the ways that you express it you'll continue to lean in so that we do realize the Excellence that we and the people that we want to be thank you it has to be quick if you can please um in seeing that we would like to reduce Gap uh between uh black and Asian uh regarding to that how come Asians are performing much more better even than uh White and for some reason whites are being um accused of having White Privilege so what what Asians have better in their lives that they're performing so well and related to that uh to close the gap between which is would be wonderful um but seeing the data which um soney provided to us a while ago as board members I looked through uh data it is not it's persist I mean um when are you going to take responsibility that if it is not happening by what a year we should hold accountable that it didn't happen that is a great question in regards to trying to figure out what is that time frame um achievement integration is a funding stream that the district has had for I want to say around 15 years um and the past approaches weren't changing um things so to that point we did make adjustments and this is the first year of that plan because it felt like to us that 15 years and not seeing any shifts we should be trying something a bit different and so this is the first year of having this particular funding stream fully dedicated to these different approaches we had been dabbling in it in different ways through other funding and resources and collaboration previously um so that's why speaking to some of the what we've referred to as soil tilling that's happened since 2019 to start supporting the system to be ready for planting these seeds to see them grow um so this is really our first year in that um and that is part of what we have to be figuring out with the data and when we don't on any one year see um a meeting of the goal the request and the expectation from mde is that we would make an adjustment or an improvement to try and be figuring out A Better Way um or a shift um so I can tell you we have committed to yeah 15 years is too long um to be continuing to do something that's not quite yet working and yet we are trying to figure out what is exactly the right amount of time but we are committed to making adjustments and improvements every year that we are not um hitting those marks um as far as your first part of that question it is bigger than what we could answer in this evening but is something that we continue to commit to addressing and making sure that we are supporting all of our students whatever that takes and the culturally responsive Protocols are something that show benefit for all of our students I might just add to if I may in thinking in terms of an what an achievement and integration plan and goals and objectives are it's really about exactly what it's saying focusing on student achievement helping to ensure that we're moving forward and implementing our strategic road map being responsive to the unique needs of each and every student and creating systems and creating schools and engagement strategies uh instructional strategies from teachers and others in the building that are responsive to the uniqueness of students and uh really trying our best to drive that achievement higher trying new things being Innovative and creative uh with some approaches that perhaps we haven't tried before I think the Ani uh program and uh initiative helps school districts that are part of that program take a look at and develop instructional strategies and uh also with the integration efforts um I believe also an aspect that that maybe we didn't hit on too much is Just ensuring that we have systems for uh ensuring access of all of our student groups to ensure that they understand the pathways and the uh I don't know in some cases prerequisites if there are any for different types of programming that are helpful to channel students into early so that they're in the best possible position to take advantage of and to be part of those programs that they may have an interest in whether it's in high school or middle school or whatever it might be um also I would like to draw the parallel between uh the AI program and the work we've been doing with C and the built teams and uh either Sol or Dana may have more to share on this uh after my uh Preamble on this but uh really each one of our our schools has a a built team a building instructional leadership team that meets regularly I think about monthly in some cases maybe twice monthly um many of our District staff myself included svi and Dana as well uh and Stacy uh make trips to um the built meetings on a regular basis and all or most of us uh are present at those to hear the inputs from the principal and those staff members that are on the the built uh groups within each school and this is where you can maybe correct me if I'm a little bit off on this one but uh each School establishes an achievement goal or achievement goals they also establish I think I've heard it two different ways a belonging goal or an experience goal one and the same really from my perspective and in some buildings maybe all of them they also just focus on General Building climate and how can we ensure that we're as welcoming as we can be ensuring that there's good communication and connection with families partnering uh with families and just really trying to break down the walls or the barriers between these different component parts and getting them to be uh functioning uh collectively and together in a way that maximizes student achievement so I would say the C and the built work that we've been doing is among those Innovations and we've uh pumped a lot of resources into professional development to help our principles our teacher leaders or peer coaches instructional coaches Etc to really gain a deeper and greater perspective about what are those strategies maybe some in line with the Hatty work that you shared before how do we strengthen those and how do we bring those forward to help uh continuing to elevate uh the work that we're doing so I appreciate Sol's Outreach uh with building principles and engaging directly with them and the teacher leaders some members on your team that I know engage with are peer coaches and our literacy coaches and those that are helping to deliver on the read act and and it's just really hard to draw a or put a fence between any of these because they're so horizontally uh connected and integrated with each other and supporting the work of each of the teams that I just want to say thanks to both of you and to Stacy and and all others that are um focusing on um how do we maximize achievement and create an outstanding experience for our students which I think is really an important part on our strategic road map as well as our Equity commitment okay um I'm going to ask you a couple of questions one is the followup of valentina's last question about goals and achieving them accountability so I'm assuming this is not happening in isolation right all of the districts all other schools are following this Orono is our partner there are other districts that are probably required to do this right by State Statute so is there data that is available to show that we are not the only ones to to not be being able to achieve the goals that we set out for right yes there's actually a complete report um as director Miller referred to if you would uh search achievement and integration and mde it will take you to their web page and they have a legislative report specific to both the hopes and the purposes of all of this as well as the challenges um that are faced by many districts and being able to accomplish those goals in the as quickly as we would like to I'm not in any way implying if rest of the districts are failing that we should all fail with them I hope we out better but it does it's that whole adaptive technical challenge piece right it is and as we've said there isn't one perfect recipe if there was a recipe out there that we could go to that another District had that was experiencing significant success we would be leaning into that so no we are not alone in this and that's why there are funding streams to allow that kind of innovation that is building on what research base is telling us but in what combination to support what is needed here for our students thank you for that you recall the data that we showed back it won't work if you recall that data that was from our um earlier presentations in world's best Workforce too we show you that state data and we show you why z a data too so that's reflective of an ongoing problem across the state of Minnesota as well um as well as nationally so um I'm right with you director SS that I would love to be able to say we can solve this in a year or two and find the magic button um you know and I know I could get into Scott and Dr Anderson's favorite topic too on where our funding goes and the commitment that our legislators make to education and um all of that because that all plays in to being able to do this work work very well um and get at those those answers I one more question this coming back to terminology a and I right achievement and integration these are not independent right they are interdependent yes so I know AI is the buzzword these days artificial intelligence everybody talks about it AI you know may be a popular way to say this but correct me if I'm wrong integration leads to the achievement that we want right so it should actually be IIA not AI right I think you make a very good point that is beyond my control right now but yes that does make sense to me in terms of achievement flows out from that integration piece and that is a bit of what I was indicating even in the flow of my presentation starting with that belonging component with integration and then speaking to the brain science and those other parallels that I made yeah okay uh one one quick last question um as you as you go you know do the threeyear you know project and then you report every year does MD work with you proactively on the results and say okay this is what maybe you should do or you should not do no yes you're left on your own right now they don't have the Staffing to be able to to provide that kind of guidance but they do what they can where with the staff that they have where they'll occasionally host um opportunities where we can sit and hear from others who are leaning in into that and see what are the things that they're trying what are the results um and so they support us in networking and then also yes the Minnesota mtss process that we've been deeply immersed in they speak very clearly in that about how do we brid together all of these efforts and so that also has had a networking and there's been some support and guidance in that way through it um but there isn't a just specific to the achievement and integration that kind of piece because they haven't been able to to have the staff numbers to support that okay thank you both of you thank you Dr lner for your work behind the scenes I guess but uh thank you all for for the great work and uh you know reporting on this so we'll probably hear this again next year right you will thank you so much have a good evening all right this completes our work session for this evening um this will be followed by another special work session and we'll probably take about a 10minute break and then meet in the room next door in the instruction room or whatever that is called I think it's called instruction room training room sorry training room in about 10 minutes the time is now 5:37 the WIA Public Schools Board of Education work session for Monday January 27th 2025 is adjourned