it um we created havoc within our sites because we pulled a bunch of supports out of the sites. Then we were trying to figure out like what can we do to make sure that those you know were helping to fill those gaps and not leave those problems there which we haven't done perfectly but you know it's been a a co-learning process between um you know the site leadership and the district leadership. Um but what we saw over the remaining three quarters is the level of impact that having those positions um provided and the reason that we're increasing the number is because we need to increase that impact. And so ultimately for me um as as we do that the real tell of whether that's effective or not and beneficial AC beneficial throughout the system is are are we making obviously our ultimate goal is are we improving student outcomes by having that in the system.
But the correlary to it and we saw this with some of the feedback data from the um the the training program that we did um with Heidi Ksky and the whisper coaching and all of that is that if we help create additional facility, we will also make teachers quality of life better because we're we're providing them with the tools and the resources so that way every day isn't as hard. So that way when you come back tomorrow you're not completely exhausted because you had a stronger tool set. And so uh you know one of the things that is definitely from AJ um he talks um you know in his work on um restorative practices that are studentled. He talks about you know if the only tool in your bag is a hammer like what you know how are you going to solve a problem right?
And for us, if the only tool that the teacher has is a hammer, then, you know, they're it's they're going to have to bludgeon their way through solving problems in the classroom. As we as we're able to provide better resources, um they become surgeons in the classroom and that's an easier day than having to, you know, deal with the lack of tools to try to bring that forward. So, so we're seeing that in some of the early survey results and with these extra resources, my hope is over time we're both improving student outcomes and retaining and attracting more teachers because our system prefers for making life in the classroom that much better. So, the survey I'm just wondering is that from teachers like that? So, I've heard um from a few people that there are a couple coaches that maybe aren't as effective as some others are.
Have we asked our teachers how they feel about their coaches and and that perception of of what's going on or they feel is happening like at their school? Because we know that perception sometimes is one thing while reality is another thing. And I think both are important. I'll let the team respond to that specifically, but the survey I was referring to was the survey related to the the training and the whisper coaching that Heidi Kosski provided. It wasn't specific to our individual coaches at the site. Um our our coaches um gave a survey twice a year, so like after the first half of the year and the second half of the year, and we meet with them each quarter. So the coordinator and I meet with them and we go over um their coaching log and their coaching survey that gives them feed. And they only gave the survey to the teachers that they're coaching.
Is it anonymous? I don't remember. No, I don't think it is. Leaps. Yeah, it is anonymous. Okay. Yeah, I think it it it does depend on the coach because they we didn't we we provided a template and then because we have different content area coaches, they did they were able to add some of their own pieces. So, I'm thinking about it and most of the ones that I've seen have did not have names on them and uh verbally um the feedback that we got we this last quarter we had coffee with cabinet where we had each principal uh select one teacher to come meet with um the cabinet to share with us uh feedback from out the year and then also share with them our three-year plan for meeting the SOFG goals to get their feedback and they're representing their school and so a lot of the comments um that were captured that day was about how the coaching model was successful on their campus and also that even if they weren't getting coached that if their colleague was getting coached that they could see the difference in their classroom.
So it was very positive about coaching during that session. Have you randomly pulled people? Like I just know from being in education for so long that that we need to also do randoms because I just think like picking and choosing people. You're always probably going to get some good feedback. I would suggest maybe also getting feedback from people that are just you just randomly go and pick I just I don't like the handpicking and maybe that doesn't happen here and I hope it doesn't where they're like picking the best but like I know it happens in other places. Well, yes and that that is fair. I've experienced some of the same things. I will say all of our coaches who when they sent out their surveys, it was to every teacher on their case load in addition to teachers that maybe weren't on their case load but they worked with.
So the only teachers that were not are teachers who they didn't interact with at all. Why would they not interact with a teacher? Capacity. So keep in mind we had four coaches for two subject areas across nine schools. So even though this question say one might be getting coached in math, another one might be getting coached a different teacher might be getting coached in language and so all of they might not have been in contact with the math coach or the language coach depending on who support coach, right? like the and we were careful when designing case loads that a teacher did not was not overwhelmed with more than one coach. Like we were prioritizing needs, right? And that was based on feedback we've had in the past about, you know, if we're if we're providing too much coaching services to a teacher. It's overwhelming to them.
Yeah, it is. Okay. The next question is systemwide reflection. How are we ensuring that inputs such as materials, coaching, professional development are linked directly to changes in adult practice and ultimately student learning and what feedback loops are in place to assess this connection in real time. So um the first part is clear learning objectives for our for our um teachers when they are in professional development. Um, and the coaching initiatives are designed with clear, measurable learning objectives for adult practice that directly, well, we don't know for sure, but directly impact student outcomes um because they're adult outcomes. Um, and then as we described with the consultant, the see it, do it, get feedback. So, they get PD um and coaching and then they have an opportunity to practice in the classroom and then they get whisper coaching and real-time feedback um during that time. Um and then we also are continuously we're doing learning walks and also looking at student data to see and teacher surveys to see if we need to adjust um our professional development or our coaching.
Um and the feedback is obviously classroom walkthrough observations, regular observations by instructional leaders, coaches and our data wise team. um teacher surveys and focus groups. That's more with the specific like well we had the SEI teachers um had specific surveys and um or the focus group with students that Sarah Beth did um to see how their and also with kids congress like those focus groups getting their feedback um student learning data of course formative and summitative coaching logs and then um PLC data. Okay. And those are all looking at the adult behaviors. Um, now I'm going to ask Dr. Burgers to come up with some of the questions um around student support. Yeah, you'll have to because you see split up there. So, I'll have to Thank you. I'm going to toggle between two screens. Um so one of the questions uh that we received was asking about how do we track how are we tracking correlations between low academic performance and increased discipline referrals or suspensions and what are we learning from that data.
Um so I actually just had an opportunity to meet with my my team today for student support services. It was yesterday and today and it was great and I was sharing the questions that were given to us and they're like these are really good questions. I'm like I know so let's dive into them. Um and so we did um and they they we were sharing ideas with each other around it. Um and so when we see both academic challenges and behavioral challenges and elevated suspension rates, it gives us really an opportunity to look more into really in depth at those patterns as well as like are there systems impacting that. Um, and so as a district, we've act actively been building the infrastructure through our multi-tered systems of support or MTSS. And all of the sites are already monitoring students who need more support academically or behaviorally or both.
Um, and this process really helps us ensure that the interventions are targeted to the specific student. Um, and it allows us to monitor the um, the effectiveness over time. However, in order to strengthen MTSS and really systematize it across the entire district, um we're really in the process of developing a system a district systemwide um process using educ being trained in tomorrow. Um and we're currently in the process of developing that system in order to track students and the progress um that students might be ex or the challenges they might be experiencing whether it's academically, behaviorally or both. um in order to track the interventions and the progress of those interventions. Are they working or are they not working and do we need to implement something new in in place? A key part of that is going to be our work tomorrow. We're there from 8 to 5:00 all about educ which I'm really excited for.
um really just that district-wide training for all of us um for on leadership team. And this platform is really going to allow us to effectively track suspensions, referrals, interventions, restorative projects, restorative practices um whether it is academic, behavioral or both all in one place rather than having to pull from multiple different systems. Um, and it's really going to give us that ability to analyze trends over time, compare the data year-toear and what support students really are are needed in order to support a student and be consistent and cohesive across the district. Thank you. I appreciate this question a lot too because I know and I'm not going to go to get too into it because it's probably going off topic and hopefully we can have a deeper conversation about it. But given our reports, I I am seeing a lot of our lower grades being suspended at higher rates than our older students.
And with the third grade proficiency rates that we're having, I mean, I see a correlation also on behaviors. Yet, we're we're overwhelmingly suspending younger kids. And I I I feel like this question directly ties to that we have low performing in third grade yet we're suspending for second and third graders and even kindergarteners. So to me that's something that I hope the team really dives into tomorrow and really is looking into that because just for me personally suspending first, second, third, and kindergarteners is a little it's hard for me to take that in and say I this is a good thing which I don't believe it is. So, um, I'm appreciative of this question, whoever asked this, and I really, really hope that we can dive into that because I think that's something that me personally, I'm going to be looking at that, too, is how our discipline is really affecting the outcomes that we have and what changes we need to make to correct those behaviors in order for them to be able to produce the academics or outcomes that we need.
And Educ really does this because this we have educ like like we I put in those that's awesome to hear into the system and they do correlate and you can pull up tons of different graphs you could see where problems are happening and target like those areas like where are the majorities of problems happening are they having happening in a classroom does that teacher need support there okay so to classroom say okay yes they can they can say oh we're having a lot of behavior issues cafeteria. So what kind of systems are happening in the cafeteria? So it really drills down like with the behavior, but then it also does correlate with their academics as well. So it's very interactive like together. Okay. Awesome. And what's great is tomorrow is we're going to be spending a a a day learning how to run reports, analyze um just run reports and really diving deep into Edgimber um and how to really use that system.
And we're in the process of developing the structures around it. The student support coaches and myself developing the structures around it. So an office referral is the same like how we refer a student for an additional support whether it is behavioral or academic. It's the same process across each campus. And if I could add, I think um you know it's we don't disagree with what you're saying and the evidence that we don't disagree as we came to you and asked for an additional input and she's standing in front of you. Yeah. So um right you know two things that are two things that are important is that we put the supports in place. Right. And so that's that's one of the pieces. The other one is, and I'm embarrassed to say this, and I can I have all sorts of amazingly wonderful excuses for it, but um but the solution is also in front of you.
We're like a year behind in our ruler implementation, too. So, we identified that we were going to bring Ruler and Sanford Harmony in. They're not like the perfect solution to everything, but ruler really is a first step. until we can help our students identify their emotional state, um we're not going to be able to help them improve their executive function. And so, you know, when you say, well, you know, why are we suspending instead of helping them? Again, it comes back to we need the tools, right, in order to be able to do that effectively. And so, we're trying to bring those tools online. Um, a year and a half ago, we were able to identify what tools we needed. We procured those tools. our expectation was this year would be, you know, the implementation of those tools and and we're we're just behind on getting there.
So, um, as you know, as Dr. Burgess actually gets a chance to settle into her new role, as her team gets up to speed, and as we're able to provide resources to to all of our staff and teachers, this isn't just for the teachers in the classroom. This is for our bus drivers, this is for our cafeteria people, right? So, as that begins to permeate the system, we know it will be effective. And and to me, one of the strongest indicators that it will be effective is that uh two of our uh Kraton Kids Congress students from Gateway School when they were given um just a very limited exposure to just the concept of the meta moment um by Miss Wiz who taught it to them at Kids Congress, they went back to their school to teach it to the staff there. So you even the kids know these are the tools that we need and we just need to get them in place.
Now I appreciate that transparency because when I do look at our data and I am seeing the younger kids, it's like we again I always go back to frontal loes and having patience with children. They're just learning and not having those implementations and stalling them because of whatever cases like I think that's the number one. And it's also a guardrail. The social emotional wellness of our students. And for us to be reprimanding students that young to the fact of suspensions to me that's a little there's something going on in the system that we really need to work on. And also I am so happy that we have you because that would that is a missing link. We can't really focus on academics and do all these things and expect for us to do these things. But having you and having these conversations and having board members ask these, I think we are going to get there faster.
But I do appreciate that full transparency and we're we're doing what we can and also I I think obviously we need to do a lot better especially with our younger students and I and I would honestly say it's beyond the system. like we're experiencing a change that started around 2019 in the types of of um I don't even know what they're calling because I don't like calling them behaviors I'm sorry needs needs and manifestations maybe right that that we're seeing in kids and a lot of people have said oh this is the pandemic right or oh this is this other thing but I remember sitting in a room um with some peers at a conference and everybody was like whispering over each other's shoulders are you guys seeing like a crazy increase in the amount of you know sort of outbursts with kindergarteners right so so whatever it is and I couldn't tell you I think it's probably not a single factor it's probably multiple factors but that has been building since 2019 maybe even 2018 it hasn't been helped by the time we spent in the pandemic and the number of ACEs that are out there you know in the community with our young children and so but none of that has any meaning at the end of the day we only have control over what we have control over.
So now we need to get those tool sets into place so that way we we can't we we aren't the problem but we need to be the solution which actually leads us directly into our next question is how is the district ensuring that restorative practices are not just documented but implemented with fidelity reflection and relevance to students lived experiences. And so as a district, as we deepen like our commitment to restorative practices, we're also examining how um our routines, our expectations as the adults um and the systems that we may or may or may not unintentionally serve as barriers rather than supports for student growth. again, whether it's behaviorally or academically or both. Um, we know that behavior is often a mirror of of relationships or systems or lived experiences that surround students and adults quite frankly, whether it's inside the school or outside of the school.