Um to all the teachers, admin, everyone. I've just been able to go to several events um whether they're athletic or music or academic and just been so impressed um by by what our students are accomplishing. So, it's a congratulations on uh end of year and and everything that people have accomplished. Thank you, Dr. Robersonson. I don't have anything for the audit committee tonight, but I want to echo uh the comments by Dr. Robersonson. Um, congratulations to all of our students and staff on another successful year. Over the past few weeks, I've been able to attend a number of of our elementary schools A+ awards, and those were fantastic. So proud of all the everything that that goes into uh to making our schools A+ schools. Um as well as some sporting events and the school spirit here in GPS is just unbelievable. So, thank you very much for everybody um including would be uh a shame to not mention all of our parents and caregivers um at home or wherever they may be.
So we could look at those survey scores and if they go down take a deeper look at some of the things listed underneath it to see okay so which of these things might be responsible for absolutely absolutely that might be a part of the accountability right so like if scores dropped okay well why why oh oh well bullying is up or this is what happened and this is what happened and then we can start to understand the why because I in my perspective and this is for discussion then we would when they come and say this is our propos those path forward path forward to resolve those issues. they would probably relate to these sub and that they don't mean they're less than just their kind of subset yes kind of goals to be able to say okay if our issue is you know extracurricular participation rates we're going to on advertising we're going to try to get kids out there we're going to do whatever we do and and see if that starts to push the number up right okay yes I was going to ask and you said it a couple times but I want to make Sure.
So one of the major uh important aspects of this particular project is is the use of uh blueprints for each student will have their own blueprint. Each student is going to be expected to work from a blueprint uh which as you know is one of the key skills that is so critically important when they go to work for a contractor like yourself to be able to read print and understand pull material off that print. So that's one of the one of the uh advantages in this particular project is we're going to have every student has their own print. will be working from a a print desk consistent both for electricians, plumbers, and they'll be able to see their own symbols and how that applies to their own career area, their own uh trade. Okay. What grade level will the house be for? Uh 11th through 12th.
and um she has taught in Mexico, but she um is not certified here yet. She's an emergency s. Um when I begun my work with her, um we really were just you I because of my content knowledge in math, I've taught fourth through 9th grade mathematics for I think 12 years. Um we really were diving mostly into like strate different strategies for conceptual understanding of content um explicit instruction of vocabulary and because it's was in a dual language classroom that other layer of like getting students to produce the language. Um so that's where our work started and then it was pretty quick that I identified that like classroom management was a challenge for this person and they said that you know there which I've heard from many people who also have taught in other places that it is just a different experience as far as systems and the students mentalities and um so and and all the standards.
Thank you for your support as well. I know that uh we appreciate it and absolutely uh your kiddos and teachers do as well. So, thank you very much. Gilbert Education Foundation uh Mr. Brainer, nothing to report. Thank you very much. City of Mesa liaison, Miss Shada Murray. Nothing to report there, but same sentiment as the two of you. Well done, you guys. Thank you very much. And last but not least, legislative representative and employee benefit trust, Miss Humphre. Well, uh, the employee benefit trust met and prepared the item that we approved this evening on the consent agenda. And then um just a little bit on the legislature is that there is a renewal of Prop 123 in the works. But um I would encourage everyone to uh educate themselves on that um because it there as far as I know there may be some changes which you may or may not um think appropriate.
Um, but while you said that these are kind of your recommendations, this is your recommendations based on the support of the DCC and any of the other subcommittees that have participated in this process. Yes. DCC district leaders subcommittees. Yes. Yep. And actually, as I'm going to show you, so I'm sure there are other questions, but I think it might be clarified by showing you the actual smart goals that we've started drafting. Um and these smart goals, you know, we took a first draft based on historical trends in data and kind of national and state norms. But then we brought those to we first brought them to district leaders like kind of worked with district leaders and said like, hey, let's adjust based on your kind of context of the district. And we brought to the DCC and we got really really good feedback from the DCC on why are these metrics good?
Okay. So, will that replace the house building program offsite in the future? Yeah. Yeah. So, the house building off site, which we do with the great large resolve loan fund, uh is looking to close shop. They want to build house. They don't want to do that partnership anymore. Uh the bankers and the people that are on that committee. Uh so, we'll still be building houses for the Andover Community Trust. So when we have uh when they have a lot we have house build that's where we'll be doing our actual offsite house construction. Okay. Yeah. They had pretty high standards I recall. Yes. Y thank you. Anybody else? Good. Uh graduation update Mr. So you heard the graduation update from the students earlier. The only thing I want to uh uh bring to mind on that is that everyone's invited to the uh four wins for a lunchon at 5:00 for an hour before graduation.
Um, so I saw a need there and we really started working on behavior management at that point and um, I kind of created like a model for her that she could replicate. And so we started with a dismissal procedure. Again, this was very early in the year and um, it was like okay I went into the class and we talked about with the students this is what we expect from students. This is what the teacher will be doing at dismissal. this is our goal within two minutes all these things are accomplished and it was visible for them. We pra we we we tried it first time um and then we come back and have them reflect what you know worked and didn't work and um then just worked on refining the process right and then that teacher was able to take that model and use it with other procedures and expectations which then really changed the dynamic in her classroom and reduced some like somewhat disruptive behaviors.
Um, I attended the toy box celebration at Camp Overdie High School and um, watching those uh, preschool students uh, graduate. And I will say um, working with 20 preschool students, that is a pretty hefty lift. And uh, they did a great program and the high school students help them. the fact that the teacher in charge deals with high school students and preschool students and makes it all work. I think that's pretty remarkable. And then also today I was able to attend Ashlin Ranch did a special recognition of students that had gone to their school um and were graduating and they came back and shared with the students. Um, I was in I went into a fourth grade classroom and so the students were asking two of the seniors about their experience in elementary school and high school and and they were sharing words of wisdom.
What might be a challenge about using this metric? you know, why might this goal be really aggressive? Why might this goal be really achievable? And actually made some real adjustments that you're going to see in just a minute. Um, so yes, these goals have been reviewed and discussed um at that level, district leader level, and um at subcommittees. Before I jump in, just like four, it's not caveats, that's not the right word, but just things I want to note about data as we look at it or about kind of uh goals as we look at it. And the last one is the most important one, which is that as you are as a board are looking at data and you're looking at it um on a semester by semester basis that yes, you're tracking progress towards specific targets, but more importantly is if we take our glasses off and all we can see is the fuzzy lines, is the line moving in the direction that we believe it should be moving?
I just want to remind everybody that I don't think it was in your invite, but Susan's going to send out an invitation to everybody for something to drink like we do every year. uh perform guest speaker and I guess your wives or your husbands are invited to come as well or if you want to bring a friend. Thank you. Skills USA. We also invite for that lunch and we invite guest speakers. I mean, the guests that are on the stage here, the mayor, some of our representatives, anyone who says they'll be coming, they're also invited to the lunch. I'm sorry. Skills update. So, you got a skills update from the students. Again, another thing I I uh I do want to uh emphasize that the success from Skills USA uh really starts with the instructors uh into the program first encouraging students to participate because the more students you have, more likely put you're going to have your best student participating and then working with them once uh the student that they've selected to represent their shop.
Um then after that I really like focused my work on like overt student engagement because there was some passive and disruptive things that had been prior I did some focus student focus groups I guess with some of her students. Um and we tried some like strategies around student support because we didn't have a student support coach at our school. Um and so we worked through that and then we were able to um move more into again that overengagement that I mentioned and that's when we really saw a lot of change there with students using whiteboards and formative assessment and a lot more dialogue and deep discussion. Um some of the data that um was a result of our work together and of her very very strong effort, right? like she was working hard the entire year and you know there were challenges but um in with her fast bridge which is like fluency in math um 35% of her students increased by one or more levels um and that ended with 42% of them having their fluency with their math um facts and then um so and then in on our from our benchmark pre-to post test.
It was very very nice. And then um I want to just give one shout out. I went to the Gilbert High School choir. Dr. Marcy Spencer is retiring after 24 years and I had daughters in that program for seven years. So, I just want to give a shout out to Gilbert High and their great choir program. And Jesse knows that cuz he was in it, too. So, that's the end of my report. Thank you very much, Miss Humphre. Uh, meeting dates. Dr. McCordon, Mr. President, governing board members, we will meet again June 9th for a board policy committee meeting at 4:30. And then June 10th is our board work study and brief board business meeting. And June 24th is our board business meeting. And then in July, we will have one meeting towards the end of the month. So we take a bit of a break after June 24th till the end of July.
And so, you know, a one point like, hey, our target was 74 and we hit 72 this year. We shouldn't be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Yes, maybe there should be some tweaks so that we can hit 76 next year, but are we moving in the right direction or hey, we've regressed this year? Like, let's really like when we take our glasses off, the trend is moving the wrong way. We need to make significant and substantial changes. The other three things to note are just kind of uh like data science item. So the first is that when you implement something new often we see a check mark in data. So a check mark meaning hey we have a little dip because everyone's everyone's struggling in learning in the classroom. We're struggling in learning the material we're teaching. We're you know it's awkward. We're trying something new.
uh then has to do month a couple months of preparation working at uh being with their teacher working at school also doing some work during uh school time. The one thing we emphasize is that Skills USA uh doesn't replace curriculum. So they they still focus on their regular curriculum. So any preparation for Skills USA for the most part happens after school. saw those teachers work with the students. We had a a really successful uh showing this year. Um and a lot of that contributed to that that factoriness and students that are trying to get our best students to participate. One of the challenges a lot of times the seniors who are your best students, they're out on call and they don't really want to get involved. also encouraging kids and getting them involved at a young age keeps them active and interested throughout their career here.
Um her growth was 17.8% um which was third in the district for third grade. Well, that's that's exciting to hear. My family's been a TCA for about five years and I know those third and fourth graders are no joke and like so you know my my son was in fourth grade last year and so everything that you just said about what you coached this teacher on and and the changes that were made I can like visualize that and like see that being such a a benefit. So hopefully that's something that you know can be shared and passed on to to to more of those teachers because it is you know behavior is always kind of an issue and it does affect their their learning. So thank you. You're welcome. Okay. Um so I wanted to talk about a team I worked with. Um at the beginning of the year their students scored 93% were minimally proficient but then by the post test they were down to 71% proficient and with half of those being either proficient I'm sorry I said that wrong 72% were minimally proficient and over half of them were of that 21 three were um proficient or highly proficient.
All right. Thank you very much. And our last agenda item, adjournment. Is there a motion to adjourn tonight's meeting? So moved. Thank you, Miss Humphre. And I will second that. And all those in favor of adjourning tonight's board meeting do so by saying I. I. I.
So we might see a little dip and then we see a check. We see it go from above where we first were. And we know based on all the conversations that I'm sure you all have had that new curricula is being adopted and uh new materials are being adopted. And so we might see in ELA uh in elementary and middle schools there might be that little bit of a check mark. Um and then the second and third is stuff that's out of our control. um but is that um national and state organizations change tests and it's the most frustrating thing as someone who looks at trends over time to have spent a lot of time looking at a trend and have it be completely changed um but MAP is overhauling their assessment. So as NWA comes out and says hey this is actually the new norm then maybe you want to revisit the targets that are set and say is this aligned to the new norm and ACT is brand new this year as an accountability metric.
So, and then uh last Friday we had a uh we had a superintendent lunch and for all the medal winners and their teachers in the four points just to for thank you and uh also to honor their accomplishments. Okay, superintendent's goals. We have a handout. So, I'm just going to give you the handouts for my goals. You can read through them. Uh, and then we can talk about it next week. I mean, our next meeting. And I'm also going to send you packet. That's right. That's just what I gave you last time. These are the reports. Here you go. You want to touch on this real quick? Uh, I just broke it down.
And uh what I really enjoyed with working with the team is that I was able to meet with them all individually and they selected goals that they wanted to work on. So one of them was uh working with small group in um she wanted to why her students um she wanted to help her struggling students the ones that didn't quite get it after the first instruction. So we did some street level data. I conducted interviews and we talked to those students said like what what what is your struggle? What's going on? And so it was interesting to get their input. And from that um she decided to make some arrangements in her classroom. So she had them up closer to the front. She had them working with certain students that they worked well with. And then she also started pulling uh small group instruction. Another teacher in that grade level, they wanted to work on number sense fluency.