001couple minutes. >> We'll talk fast. >> Thank you. Oh, and it's my son's birthday today. >> Is it? >> Roman is 17. >> And Isabella graduates in June. >> All right. I not called Call the governing board workshop and study session to order at 8:58 p.m. Roll call, please. >> Trusty Hodes, >> present. >> Trusty Fox, >> present. >> Trusty Young, >> present. >> Vice President Flores, >> present. President Amboy >> present. All right. Um, may I have a motion in the second to approve the workshop and study session agenda? I make a motion that >> God approve the agenda. >> I can't see it. >> Approve the agenda. >> Adoption of the workshop and steady session agenda. >> Do I have a second? >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Hodgeges. Hi, >> Trusty Fox.
002>> I >> Trusty Young. >> Yeah. >> Vice President Flores. >> I >> and President Amboy. >> I motion passes. >> All right. Item 15, governing board workshop and study session. Superintendent Rio will facilit will facilitate our study session focusing on VCUSD academic progress and programmatic implementation. >> Turn it over assistant. So turn it over to the assistant soup, Heather Topasio. >> Thank you. Um good evening, President Amboy, Vice President Flores, Trusty Dr. young Trusty Fox, Trustee Hajes, Superintendent Aurelio, Executive Cabinet, and my amazing team who came here and stayed late tonight. I just want to before we get started, I want to appreciate them for their effort and for sticking it out tonight. Um, we have a lot of great information to share with you. Um, I'd like to take a moment to introduce
003the team. Joining me tonight, our director of professional learning, curriculum instruction, Dr. Dr. Amy Pingan, director of secondary programs. Rosalyn Hines, director of elementary programs, Julie Robbins, college and career program manager, Lily Beth Mora, and our instructional coordinators, Danielle Brever and Christine Lucero. Um, I want to also share that you have a packet of materials that will be um supportive of our conversations this evening. You have our instructional priorities, our social emotional learning priorities, our um a copy of the presentation to take some notes um if you have questions along the way. um as well as um items for um our portrait of a graduate and our professional learning plan. So those items will be supportive of our conversations as we go through the evening. Um we will try to um have some pause moments
004for for brief questions. Um but please feel free to stop if you need me to repeat something. What am I pointing at? >> You might just have to tell me next. >> Oh, next slide. >> Okay, so tonight uh we will review the progress on some of our key instructional initiatives and some academic progress data. There are some programs and activities that we won't have time to focus on tonight, but we are committed to ongoing communication with the governing board and community. We are providing you with the slides and some of the artifacts that will support our learning throughout the presentation. Please feel free to make note of questions that you have as we proceed and we will prov provide time for questions um throughout and at the end of the presentation. Um I want
005to be clear that this is not the entirety of our work but just a few key aspects that we wanted to um provide an update on today. program um able to deliver. >> So tonight we will not present like on special education for instance that would require a longer presentation or its own presentation as an example. Um and we won't be this isn't a presentation on student services programs but specifically academic programs and the items in the agenda are the items that we'll be presenting on tonight. >> Thank you. Next slide please. So, BCUSD has maintained a focus on using data as part of our continuous improvement efforts. We are building a culture where we approach data with honesty and curiosity by basing conversations around data through the lens of continuous improvement. We are building
006capacity of our school leaders and teachers to respond to data with actions that address the needs of our students. As you'll see, our data guides are next steps instructionally and in professional learning for our students and for our staff, excuse me. Next slide. Thank you. Tonight, we will focus our academic data review on the common district-wide assessments. Students are completing statewide testing over the next two weeks. The results of those assessments will be formally published along with the California dashboard in October. When the data is available, I will present those outcomes using common assessments ensure that we are consistent in our approach to student improvement and we are able to better gauge the efficacy and effectiveness of our implementation. I will turn it over to Christine Lucero to share more about the work in early
007literacy. >> Yes. Okay. Thank you so much, Heather. Um, and good evening to the board. I am Christine Lucero. I'm a coordinator over ELA, social studies, world languages, and whatever else you want me to do. So, um, >> don't do that. >> I'm just kidding. Just kidding. Dr. Next slide, please. All right. So, with early literacy, um, I want to focus on what we've been doing this year specifically. Um, our early literacy program focuses on mastering foundational skills for our TK through second grade students. This year, we have worked hard to ensure that our curriculum is tightly aligned with our assessment data cycles and professional learning. Our goal is for teachers to focus on tier one inclusive instruction while leveraging tools like the core phonics survey, multitude screener, and NWEA MAP um assessments to identify
008learning gaps guided by our MTSS framework and site care teams. Teachers can then administer targeted and tiered interventions. I do want to highlight the district-wide implementation of UFly in grades K through two this year. UFly Foundations is um a reading program out of the University of Florida Literacy Institute and again it's been implemented districtwide this year. It is an explicit structured reading program that gives teachers clear systematic lessons to help all students build strong foundational literacy skills including phonics, fluency, word reading, and writing. Next slide, please. So, when it comes to early literacy, these are our target goals. We have beginning of year m um and midyear goals as well, but we do want to highlight what our target goals are for the end of the year. So students by the end of the year
009we are looking for 100% of our kindergarten students to score proficient on core A throughD which is knowing all of their letters uppercase and lowercase and all of their sounds. And then at the end of the year we want at least 80% of our kindergarten students to be proficient on core E which is being able to sound out CVC words. So things like B A T BAT, C A T CAT, that's CBC reading. In first grade, the next step by the end of the year, we would like 80% of our first graders to meet the fluency target of 60 correct words per minute. So that's reading um quickly, fluently, and sounding like they're talking when they're reading. Um and in second grade, 80% of students reading um at 100 correct words per minute by the
010end of the year. Next slide, please. All right. So, those were our targets and I want to share with you where we are um and our progress from beginning of year to midyear. And again, as we've said, our end of year assessments are currently underway. And we're really looking forward to the completion of these assessments because we really believe that the work we've done, we are going to see great progress. So core A and core B are identifying letters and this these are our kindergarten goals. So at our midyear assessment point in January, 55% of our kindergarten students were proficient in letter recognition and letter sounds. 35% were proficient in reading CVC words. We're looking forward to reviewing and celebrating our end ofear data knowing that at the end of last year 58% of our
011students scored 100% on core A throughD and 55% scored proficient on core E. So we are on our way towards hopefully meeting and exceeding last year's goals. All right, looking at first grade targets at the beginning of the year, our first graders with core E, again, that's the CVC word reading, 23% of our first graders were proficient in reading CVC words. By mid year, which is January, 61% of our first graders were blending their CVC words. Our target, again, 100% by the end of the year. Mid-year fluency of 29 correct words per minute was 44.8% and our end of year goal is going to be 80% of students >> question. >> Yes. >> What happened to your beginning in the years? >> So first graders do not um test fluency at the start of the
012year because they're just coming in right out of kindergarten. So they tested CVC words at the beginning of the year was so we were checking to see how much they retained of those that CVC reading after kindergarten and then in winter that's when we first test fluency. >> So you're saying they didn't have the CBC fluency they had it. >> Say can you repeat that? >> Okay. I'm looking at core E. >> Yes. >> 23 great improvement 61. >> Yes. those students they had it and then they what? >> So midyear fluency they didn't do it's so it's a different test. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Got it. >> Yes. So we at the beginning of the year the first graders are just reading single words off of a page and then mid year we
013hand them a paragraph and they read a paragraph. All right so moving on to second and third grade fluency. Again our endofear target is 80% of students reaching that target correct words per minute. And I do want to just call out that the the number of correct words per minute changes from beginning to middle of and end of year. So it's a moving target in terms of proficiency. So at the start of the year, second graders, the goal number is 50 correct words per minute and almost half of our second graders were meeting that target. Midy year that number jumps to 84 correct words per minute and we were about 43.89% 89% there. In the third grade, um the proficiency is 34% and then midyear we jumped to 40.77%. And so again, these are all
014tests that will continue um that are being assessed now and we'll report on these spring numbers at another time. >> In the second grade, the midyear, you said it was at what percentage? 43.89. Oh, >> okay. Because I I should even say 80% or something in there or something. >> The goal is 80% of students. >> Got it. Thank you. >> By the end of the year. Yeah. >> So, are these percentage accumulation of all of all elementary school kids? >> Yes. So, it's an average of all elementary school kids. And so, there is a range. Some schools scoring a little bit lower, some schools scoring higher, but this is the district average. >> So, this is the districts. >> Yes. You know what I'd like to see is individual schools. >> Okay. And we
015do have that information. >> Provide. Okay. All right. So, we're going to transition out of early literacy and we're going to move to our next measure, which is the NWA measure of academic progress. And we are looking at our growth reading scores. So, here we're looking at our median percentiles for grades 1 through 12 on the MAP reading test. So, you can see the percentage. The median percentage for fall is on the left side. And then the median percentage for each grade level, this is the district average, is on the right side for winter. Our goal was to increase the median percentage by 5 percentage points at each grade. So you can see the numbers highlighted in green. Uh those are grade levels that achieved that 5 percentage point growth. I do want to call
016out that all of our grade levels did grow, either stay the same or grow, but the ones in green met or exceeded that 5 percentage point um goal. Um I also want to call out in fifth and sixth grade there are stars next to those grade bands because those grade levels jumped a band in NWA. And so our NWA achievement ratings are red, orange, yellow, green, and blue. So blue being highest achieving, red being our lowest achieving. And in grades five and six, the growth was so much that students jumped out of the orange band and jumped up into the yellow band. And so we wanted to highlight and showcase that for you tonight. and I will pass it to Danielle for math. >> Hello. Um, so we are continuing with our MAP assessment for
017math. Grades 1 through 12 were assessed in both fall and winter. The grades same as Christine's listed in green for winter have met their goal of increasing the median percentile by at least 5%. the ones with asterisk jumped a band and also were a small sample size because what we instituted this year for grades um 9, 10, and 11, they take a different math test if they're in integrated math 1, two, or three. And we're going to look at that on the next slide. Yes. What happened with third grade making zero growth? staying 37 37 actually going down in fourth grade staying the same stagnant in fifth grade going down in sixth grade going up one in seventh grade going up two in eighth grade >> this is the first year of a new math
018adoption and that often happens when teachers are getting used to the curriculum and the students are getting used to it so we'll see what happens when we get the CASP scores if it matches what's happening on MAP or if we get to make that progress that we made last So are we using thinking classrooms within our other than the curriculum are we also doing thinking classrooms >> BTC? Yes, some of our teachers are trained in that. >> I don't understand how a new curriculum I mean you have computation and you have math. If you know how to teach math, I don't care what curriculum you use. Yes, there's stumbling how to find, but you still teach fractions. You still teach multiplication. You still teach at longer journey. You still teach everything you teach. So I'm
019really concerned with the backward or the flat. That that's very concerning. >> Well, hopefully the grades one through two and some of our high school students are taking it again right now. So we'll have more data to report for spring in addition to the CASP scores once those are released. But they've only taken the test twice. So, this is from winter. >> That's still difficult to handle. >> Oh, it's not great. I I don't disagree with you. >> That doesn't hopefully Okay. >> Is it mandatory? >> Yeah. The expectation is that all students who are supposed to be testing are tested. >> So, how do you ones that are not taking it seriously? Oh, she needs a microphone. >> Can you hear me? >> I can, but they need it for the recording. >> Take
020my outside voice. >> I want >> I said, okay. How are you recouping the ones that don't take it seriously? That's what's affecting your score. >> Um, I think that for sure most of the kids are taking it seriously. They get their scores and it's tracked. I don't think >> the ones that how are you rec they're important too the ones that are not taking it and they taking it seriously how do you recoup them to take the test um I guess the teachers are going to have to retest them if they feel like they didn't do what they were supposed to do >> that's not the question how what's your percentage of of attendance on things like this >> the completion rates >> yes >> so our expectation is 95% which is the same
021as >> expect what is your completion Right. >> It varies by grade level, but it's pretty close. >> Okay. I'd like to see that data. >> So, the data the data is tracked. >> Huh. >> The data is tracked on completion and any school and or grade level that is not meeting our 95% expectation receives outreach and support to get it done. >> Well, that's what I wanted to hear. You should have said that. >> So, it is tracked every time. And in fact, currently the data is being tracked um on completion for our current assessments as well as our CASP assessments. We monitor it very closely and as um do director Hines and director Robbins know like it is the very not just the very strong suggestion but the very strong expectation that it
022be completed. >> You repeat that. You say you track. >> Yes, ma'am. remember what you said because I'm people gonna ask that question. They're gonna ask that question. So, it's best to be in good company to get it asked. >> And >> we are a team for sure. >> Yeah, I know. I want them to be on just trying to keep it. >> I want you guys to be sharp to being able to do that. I'm not trying to, you know, put you on the spot. I just want you to be sharp and be able to answer these questions and not rely upon her. >> Rely on them every day. We >> I didn't ask you that. >> I know you didn't. >> Can I just I want to clarify because I've been in school
023districts where we do fall, winter, and spring or end of year for both math and ELA. My understanding and you can correct me if I'm wrong is that the grade levels that are doing the calf's tests are not required to do a spring end of year on the map. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. I also have heard in the school presentations that we do have some schools who are opting in to do the end of the year. >> That is correct. >> Great. >> They opt in. >> Yes. >> In or out? It's not a requirement, but some are choosing to give another assessment. So, so our students who are taking CASP in grades 3 through 8 and 11 have a final summitive assessment through the state. So, those students are not required
024to take this MAP assessment also at that same time because it's a double assessment, right? But some teachers are choosing to give it so that they have a full year of information right away. >> Yes. This is the first year that we're doing it like that. >> Yes. Yes. >> Um so so you're saying we have new curriculum from grades to what grades? >> K through eight. >> Okay. K through 8 is new curriculum. What professional development and how often has been given to those grades to help with this new curriculum? >> I actually have that on the slide after the next one. >> Okay. Because I too am in a district that have new curriculum and we've had multiple days as grade levels release to discuss and and I know my third grade scores
025are just as good and I don't think the new curriculum is rigorous. Mine are just as good if not better than last year. I would never but I'm a seasoned teacher base. Anyways, let me get back to Okay, another point. So, benchmarks. I'm confused. >> I have to do I Renaissance Star reading and Renaissance Star math three times a year regardless that I do also I do CASP. So you're telling me because certain grade levels do CASP, they don't have to do benchmarks at throughout the to finish the year to see how students are doing. Is that the answer? Because like last year before we did Renaissance Star three times a year, we did I Ready three times a year, reading, math. So as a teacher, I've always done benchmarks, separate state testing, that's a
026whole new ball game. I know benchmarks throughout the year. I use it for my assessments. I use it for my report cards. I don't see CASP. I'm a teacher. I don't get it. I never get the results. The next year I might get the results. It doesn't drive my instruction. I mean, it does because I want good test results, but my benchmarks is what drives my instructions and the essential quest uh standards for the report cards. So, I guess I got a few things going on here. I hope there's professional development with this new curriculum because I'm hearing that's why there's flatline and no results. But second, I'm not hearing much benchmarks to help me get a teacher get further. Please clarify. Thank you. Yes. So they are taking fall and winter. They're taking two
027and some of them are taking a third right now. First and second are right now and then so are high school students who are not taking CASP. >> Why is it some I don't understand this? >> Because the students who are taking CASP that's our summitive data for those students. >> You don't get that until later on after the school year. >> They come they're being released in serves at the end of this month. How does that help the teacher with the current school year kids? >> So, it's similar to the way if they would give that benchmark assessment now between the end of May. They only have a couple weeks of school left after that. >> I'm still having some big trouble with this. >> Yeah, sure. Um so this is uh you these
028assessments as we know these are given periodically as far as formative assessments that um really drive instruction. The curriculum includes embedded assessments like I don't know exactly what they're called but they're chapter assessments. Um there's also um assessments that provide information about small groupoup instruction. So these are just snapshots throughout the time but that our teachers are learning about um you know these different forms of assessments through professional learning. Um we provided professional learning throughout the district on the big PL days but also um on the first Wednesdays of every month. The teachers come together across the district by grade level looking at data um examining um you know next steps making sure that they can navigate through the curriculum and also understand the resources. some of the feedback that we got in terms of
029um why there may be a flatline is that because it is a new program and so at the beginning of the year, you know, it was basic not not that it wasn't rigorous, but it was a lot of review and basic skills. And with this new curriculum, there were some gaps in the way that the um curriculum was um laid out in in terms of sequencing. But as the teachers are beginning to become more familiar with the curriculum and more of the resources, they are becoming more comfortable and um you know they're looking deeper into the the resources to move their students. The other part too is that um we are working with um we got a grant through Unbound Ed and they're actually working with us with a group of um with a group
030of teacher leaders and teachers and administrators where we're going into classrooms observing what's happening in in terms of implementation and making some decisions as far as the needs of what our teachers um need in terms of professional learning. coaching so that we don't see these um um these scores level off. So it's it's not just one training, it's that ongoing training, it's that ongoing coaching and we are also engaging our principles in this process. >> Thank you. Last point to me having a benchmark that gives you the teacher the data to look at who needs tier 2 instruction and if you dommies or you rotate that tells you which kids need what where if you do not do the benchmarks of course I do the unit assessments of course I do the chapter test different
031ball different thing but if you do a benchmark with the whole grade level the principal and the staff sees that information three times a or whatever you do it. Then they can use that information to say, "Mr. Fox, why isn't Susie in tier 2 intervention or what are you doing? Mr. Fox, how come Jose is not in tier 2 intervention and what are you doing?" >> If you don't have those benchmarks that you can pull up on your teachers, you can't pull their grade book and say, "Oh, what did you do on that that unit test?" That doesn't help an administrator. But administrator that has access to benchmarks through a system that they can see their whole staff and they can print it out by who needs tier 2 and question their staff. That is
032powerful and that's when you're going to move students and that's when you're going to get results. I'm done. Next page please. >> All right. These are the integrated math one, two, and three courses which typically hold 9th, 10th, and 11th graders. Uh you can see that we had a big jump in our IM3 class which is great. 39th percentile from the winter to 60th. Um it has the two stars on it, the two asterisks because it's a smaller sample size group. That group is typically 11th graders. And so since those 11th graders were taking CASP SATs, AP tests, they um did not have to take that final assessment. And that's that window just closed. So that's accurate for right now. Uh next slide. All right. So, in addition to student data, we also collect data
033to monitor, excuse me, what's happening in our classrooms, specifically with our VCUSD instructional priorities, which you have a copy of and we also call them our VIPs. So, in the next few slides, I'll be sharing a summary of our district learning walks process with a focus on the tasks that are listed on the right side of this slide. Next slide, please. So, this chart compares depth of knowledge levels across our three observation cycles during the school year. With our strong focus on early literacy, DOK1 tasks remain the most common throughout all of our cycles. DOK2 and three increased in the winter observations but declined by the spring while DOK4 remains at around the 2% of our observations. For our cycle three this year, we made a significant shift in the learning walk process by transitioning
034the facilitation to our site leaders who used our district protocol. This sitebased facilitation model builds leadership capacity across the system and creates opportunities for classroom teachers to participate in peer observations and collaborative learning. Next slide. So this chart highlights the trends in the student tasks. Most of these categories declined during the winter but showed overall growth in the spring. You can see that structured student talk remained the most frequently observed practice and reached its highest level by the end of the year. This is an area that we have been focusing on because research shows that structured academic discourse improves student engagement, comprehension, critical thinking, language development, and collaborative problem solving. Classrooms that intentionally incorporate student talk and discussion promote deeper learning and more equitable participation for all of our students, including our English learners. Overall,
035the data reflects shifts in classroom engagement and instructional focus throughout the year. So our so we are increasing in tasks but we're being very intentional about providing and creating opportunities for students to demonstrate um their knowledge in dos 1 through 4 >> how as far can you clarify how >> are they going around in groups? are they presenting to other students? How are they presenting their knowledge in three and four? >> Oh yeah. So um so a lot of it it's based on those student tasks here. So we have it's really important that our students are engaging with grade level complex text and they're processing and through through their writing al also through structured student talk. So those are some ways that they're demonstrating their knowledge. Um and also even in um foundational literacy and
036math skills, it's really important that the application is there. So not only are they familiar and skilled, but it's really important that they they apply their knowledge when they're given a passage in front of them. So it's a it's it's an ongoing process and we our job has been to really provide professional learning and in collaboration so that teachers are creating those opportunities for students to critically apply their critical thinking skills. Just a quick question on uh the slide that we're on. Um I noticed that in all the categories come spring cycle it dips. Is it is there is there a reason why in just for every single one is it are there less walks or are there more walks and that's why percentage- wise it drops or what what causes that lack of uh
037consistency? >> Can I speak to that? Yeah. I'm sorry. Um so in the spring there were actually probably more classrooms visited as well. Uh because the school teams um took responsibility for the walks. We were able to um some of them were able to do you know more classrooms in a in a visit um than maybe in the winter when it we were facilitating it from the district level. So if I was facilitating a school and we did five and then everyone here was facilitating at a school and did five classrooms that would produce a certain number of tasks this time because we transitioned the um to having the principles lead um so for instance Patterson did two cycles in which they um were able to observe a total of about 10 classrooms at one
038school. So they could the the number of tasks that you see could also reflect just we visited more classrooms and did more levels of observation. So this is a pure number of tasks that we observed in these different areas. >> What who who was running in the fall then? >> Who was what >> who was running it in the fall? >> In the fall it was the district office staff facilitating as well. So it did have a dip. Yes. So that that's kind of the question like is is there >> any data indicating what the drop could have been? >> So we the number of overall student tasks and then how those tasks play out in terms of the six elements that we're looking for. Um I can't say spec I can't give you a
039piece of information that would say this attributes to seeing fewer things in higher order thinking. the date we we remain as I started to say at the beginning we remain curious about what are we observing in classrooms when we see the data is showing us that we're seeing less higher order thinking skills then we bring that back to our district leadership team and say we want to see more that this is the data we're experiencing and we want to see it imple you know further implemented >> because and and if I'm wrong in in my line of thinking please correct me but it's just one of those where So, how accurate is this? If you're saying that in the first two >> bars, it's because you visited less classrooms and in the other bar you
040visited more classrooms. So, that that's not is that a real apples to apples comparison or >> it it it may not be and because you're seeing and you're seeing different lessons at different times of the year, right? You're seeing lessons at different times of the day. So these aren't intended to tell you that we've, you know, that these are apple-to-apple comparisons, but trends as far as implementation of what we want to see happening in classrooms, right? Where and where we don't see it, we want to um coach and discuss how we're going to improve that e both at the site administrator level, at the teach at the classroom teacher level, and with our instructional coaches. So they're not in it's not it's not like when students take an assessment the the items don't change right
041the this is a moving target. If I observe in a classroom and I'm and I'm observing um early literacy um then that's going to be a level one. It's it's just that's a DK1 no matter what. It might be structured student talk or it might not be. But I can't I can't exactly say um what I'm going to observe and if I'm going to have an apples to apples observation between times that I visited. If they're doing a if they're if they're re doing something independently, the students are doing independent work, I'm going to have to just assess the level of that independent work. Um so it's it's it's it's not as scientific as saying it's getting worse or better. It's not it's it's this is our snapshot in time. What did we observe on
042these walks and where are we building capacity for our site leaders and our teachers to um to both observe highquality instruction and to collaborate on improving instruction. That's the goal of this. Not necessarily to say we are better or worse, but to what degree do we see implementation of the instructional priorities? >> Okay. How does the information out get to the district so far as you're saying when district at the district level was going to do the walkthroughs? Um you you could then correct or or or help where where help is needed. How does that get to the district now or is it >> we're still there? We what we were attempting to do in this third cycle was to release the um the facilitation to the site leader to build their capacity but we
043were still present in support. >> Okay. >> The data is collected on district um uh res um owned spreadsheets. So that's why we were able to sign numbers because we collect each individual piece of data and support the facilitation of discussion around why are we saying this is what we saw. Are we being critical about what we observed? Um and and then using the data to determine what will we now do in district leadership team meeting to and what will we now do in professional learning? What will we now do in coaching based on what we observed? >> Thank you. My question is um I'm looking at using academic language and um in the what is this the spring of uh 26 it was 107 but the correlation the coalation of evidence-based writing if you
044can use academic language you should ever be able to write. So why aren't they level pretty level? >> So you should be able to write, but that doesn't mean we observed writing. If we didn't see kids doing a writing assignment, then we can't say they were using evidence-based writing at that time. >> So how are you >> based on what we observe? >> So how are you going to um translate language into writing? How is that done? >> Through writing instruction. This data just talks about a snapshot in time of districtwide observations. These are walkthrough. >> It says walkthrough. Sorry. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Can I just quickly ask when we do these learning walks, teachers know in advance that they're going to be observed. They might not know exact timing, right? But they know
045this day roughly between this time and this time I'm going to be observed. Our teachers obviously know what we're looking for specifically, what types of behaviors we're looking to see in the classroom, what do levels we're trying to see. So theoretically, when we do these walks, we know timing is an issue. We should be seeing the majority of these things when we visit. Um, so when I look at this data specifically, I I view these and I think, well, what are our are teachers prioritizing in the classroom? And it seems like, and from what I've heard, we've said student talk is a priority. So, it's it doesn't surprise me that that's the highest of these indicators because we've said we prioritize student talk. So an and it's the easiest sort of entry point as well
046for the instructors I would say ensuring student talk. So what is our goal as we move into next year around these priorities? Is it still student talk or are we going to elevate some of these other areas? >> so these are just all random. You don't know what's being taught. when you go in. >> You're right. So, we're >> Is there a thing? That's all I needed. Yes or no? Um, but I wanted to take follow that up with in an elementary. Um, is there ever one done where principles have the staff put this is my block for my ELA time, this is my block for my math time, this is when I'm doing writing, afternoon, this is when I'm social, whatever. And then so my principal, we as a staff, we do that at
047my school. My principal has it all colorcoded. I'm part of the IoT math team. We do walkthroughs. So we know when we're to go see a classroom for math. We're not going to walk in during something else unless it's something happened that day. So it's a geared tiered. It's an objective observation because we're watching math. So, if I'm looking for thinking classroom stata strategies or I'm looking for engagement or I'm looking for strategies or whatever, it's all just math, math, math, math. Is there anything like that with walkthroughs for just ELA or just math? >> Yes, that's where I'll be going. >> Okay, then I'm preempting it. Sorry. Go ahead. >> No, it's okay. You're setting me up for success. >> So, I I just want to make sure that um we're able to we're
048able to get to all those things with you. So the the >> next slide please. Um so the learning walks that Dr. Pangan just spoke about are six days a year where we're all going out and we're observing what students are doing. Um but as you're saying there there's more to that process of monitoring classroom instruction. Um, we know that providing direct actionable feedback to teachers is recognized as one of the most effective strategies for improving student outcomes. When the quality of instruction improves across our classrooms, every part of our system benefits. So, over the last two school years, we've intentionally focused on clearly defining what highquality instruction looks like in BCUSD. Next slide, please. uh some milestones that we have hit in this process for the 2526 school year. Um Dr. Pangan spoke about
049our foundation which is our instructional priorities. Um, but as you've seen from reviewing that document, that's at a pretty high level. And so, one of the things that we have taken on this year, which is also in your packet. I think that's what Miss Tasio is showing you. Um, is moving from instructional priorities to adding an additional layer of instructional expectations. Um, we've strengthened the rigor and detail surrounding these priorities, providing teachers with clear guidance, um, and aligning our professional learning opportunities to focus on what these priorities should look like and sound like in all of our classrooms. Um, that's what we've rolled out with those instructional expectations. Um, and we have also, um, increased the focus of our classroom walkthroughs. So classroom walkthroughs are completed by principles and teacher leaders, vice principles um as
050well as our district teacher leaders. And I think um Mr. Fox, that's more of what you're you're speaking about is those targeted specific observations in classrooms. So during our first year of implementation with the VCUSD walkthrough process, our primary goal was to ensure that school leaders were consistently visiting classrooms, utilizing the common observation tool, and establishing baseline data. This year, we've advanced to a more focused phase of implementation where we monitor the walkthrough data monthly and share it out with all of our partners at our DT, our district leadership team meeting, excuse me. Um, we use these district-wide trends to guide our professional learning opportunities and we are regularly examining not only the quantity of feedback provided to teachers but also the quality and alignment of that feedback. Um, and you have the classroom walkthrough
051goals and expectations as part of your packet where each month there is a specific skill and theme that we're looking for as well as a minimum number of visits that are required for every teacher. Another significant milestone that we've achieved um which is evidenced through our classroom walkthrough data um is that we have 95% um implementation of our UFly curriculum in all of our K2 classrooms across the district. Um and this is our first year of of full systemwide implementation. And our next milestone will be with Ross Okay. So, as we continue to um look at districtwide milestones, it would be important to note the work we have accomplished with our eighth graders. We currently have two college and career counselors and their roles have been impactful with providing early exposure with academic planning and
052goal setting and providing early student interventions, encouraging self-awareness and preparation for high school readiness and postsecary options. Our college and career counselors ensure that all of our eighth grade students understand our high school requirements as well as A throughG um requirements as well preparedness for college. I'd like to add that our college and career counselors also share information around high school all of our pathways andmies and these 101 and or small group student meetings provide more confident eighth graders and it has increased their engagement as they transition to from middle to high school. this is a special um support that we just haven't had and so we're seeing a big difference already with our our eighth graders. >> Thank you. Next slide, please. >> Oh, quick question though. >> Sure. Would it be should we
053do something regarding the elementary to to middle school the same kind of transition um from the fifth graders to to sixth? >> Our college and career counselor uh Ria King who spoke earlier this evening does that with our fifth and sixth graders that are transitioning to middle school. Okay. And >> and do they have the same same type of academic plans? And >> no, not as it's different because when you go to the middle school, there's a six classes and then in that fifth to six depending on where they're going, it might still be self-contained or team teaching. So, it really depends, but they're still going through the same process of learning about uh graduation requirements, A3G eligibility, and learning about the system that the state created uh the California colleges.edu. that support them in
054that uh career planning and like learning about their interests to help them guide the their high school career. >> Thank you. >> Next slide please. So um in our district leadership team meetings um we are maintaining a strong focus on instructional practice and student data. Each month, the school teams come together to review their classroom walkthrough data, monitor each site's progress towards the district-wide goals, and collaboratively plan their next steps in student achievement. Next slide, please. So, across our TK12 system, more than 5,000 classroom walkthroughs with direct teacher feedback have been conducted this school year. In addition, nearly 400 one-on-one coaching sessions have taken place between teachers and our site and district teacher leaders. Analysis of these walkthroughs and coaching sessions demonstrates strong alignment with VCUSD's instructional expectations. Observational data shows increased implementation of student
055talk strategies as well as growth in the level of cognitive rigor reflected in classroom instruction, including an increase in the depth of knowledge most commonly observed. teacher coaching sessions documented. So what is that equivalent to? How many teachers did you coach? Those are sessions, >> correct? Um, so I don't I can't tell you the exact number per teacher. >> Wrong answer. >> Um, sorry. But what I can tell you is the majority of those coaching sessions are in support of our new teachers. And so while we're monitoring everybody, um, our teacher leaders do focus a good portion of their attention on our new teachers who are really requiring that higher level of individual attention to be successful in their classrooms. >> Okay, that's wonderful. But you have teachers in the classroom that need that too.
056Mhm. >> So, what are we gonna That's the That's the problem. >> So, all of those 5,000 >> walk veteran teachers >> that need that coaching, too. >> So, our our our babies, yes, we know we're going to wrap our arms around them, >> but there's some out there. >> Yes. >> Need coaching. So, those 5,000 walkthroughs um represent every teacher in the district getting direct feedback um from either a teacher leader or an administrator. >> I don't think that's happening. >> I'm sorry to say that. >> Well, we have the data to show that it is >> okay. I'd like to see the data because some people say that they never get any feedback. Well, and I can tell you um data is an area of growth for me and I have worked on
057the spreadsheet with all 5,000 of those entries um and utilize some of Mr. Aurelio's tech tools to analyze those numbers. Um and each site has access to their own walkthrough feedback. And so a principal can look and see here's the 300 walkthroughs that have been completed at my site by myself and my teacher leader over the course of this year where we can look and see how many walkthroughs by individual administrator and teacher leader. We can look by individual teacher. Um, and so we can we can review and part of my job in monitoring the principles um is that I review their feedback to their staff on a regular basis as well. >> Thank you. >> That way >> u just a quick question for clarity. Um, this slide says DOK2 is the most commonly
058observed level of complexity, but >> I wondered if you were going to ask me that. Um, >> yeah, like yeah, DK1 was the most common observed in our learning walks. And I think that that kind of speaks to um what Mr. Fox was saying. Um, when we go in on the learning walks, we see whatever is happening in that moment. Um, and so when principles and teacher leaders go in to do these walkthroughs, they're specifically saying, "I'm going to come in to see your reading instruction this morning. I'm going to come in to see your writing time this afternoon." Um, and so because of that intentionality, you're less likely to pop in at a time when maybe they were transitioning or maybe they were taking a test. Um, and so we do see that throughout
059our daytoday work when we're really going in with a specific focus, we're seeing a higher level of rigor. >> One more thing I would add to that is because of our implementation of UFly, right? EUFly is always going to be DK1. It's phonics instruction. And because of our implementation of EUFI during learning walks, we're often wanting to see how well that's being implemented. So that's going to skew the early um literacy foundational skills work is going to skew towards DK1 automatically. Um and so that's one other factor. I don't know that it explains everything, but it's that's why it's so hard to say this is this is the number we have to look at the the holistic view of all the things that we're observing at different times. Does the new math curriculum have um
060the do okay like with each lesson or with the assessments to show which question is which? I know my new math does the SAS it it shows me like on my assessment of 15 questions. This is D1 question DO3. So I I it it the teacher gives me that does does our curriculum have that? I know we've had presentations from schools that they're that the teachers are trying to address and I remember Sher Summers was always DK3. Everything should be DK3 is your goal. Um and that was drilled into me a long time ago from her. So, um I'm hoping the curriculum helps because otherwise and I'm hoping teachers aren't using like teacher pay teacher say >> or stuff that's not based on standard or that is not rigorous. >> So, um anyways, I just
061hope it's more DK3 or there's a way to gear to get the lesson to the higher >> whatever possible way. That's all. >> I hope that um in that teacher coach uh coaching session documentation that we can extend it out or you think about extending it out to the core. And that means the the the the teachers that are in the classroom that are that are servicing the kids that are taking the test and not so much on you're going to focus on the newbies. Yes. And we have to put our arms around the newbies in order for them to succeed. But we have those teachers out there that are comfortable and they need to be uh given an awakening call because their lack of delivery of instruction is affecting the kids. Mhm. >> So,
062I would like to see um us focus on more of pinpointing or narrowing down or evaluating some type of tool >> that can target that. It's not a target. It's a helpful constructive criticism. Some of them won't like it because they're old school. But that's too bad. If you don't like it, then well, >> so Oh, that Just have a quick question that maybe it's kind of related to what Dr. Young's asking. So the teacher coaching sessions are triggered based on observations. So would that be where we're capturing not just the new but also the longtime uh teachers? >> Yes. That's that's exactly right. So it to be to be fair about 30% of our teachers are entering our system without being fully credentialed. So we do have to pay attention to those new teachers.
063Absolutely. But the um the trusty Flores must been reading my mind because the walkthroughs then trigger how we should be um adding that coaching to those teachers who maybe aren't implementing at the level we intend. So fewer coaching sessions would be um available to those teachers who are implementing, more coaching sessions for those teachers who are not and they're identified based on the walkthrough data. But the we do reserve a lot of our support and time for that 30% of teachers in our system that are um coming to us non-credentialed or fully not fully credentialed and the other um half um okay I'm going to be transparent. You should be targeting the veterans that think they're veterans. You should be targeting them because they should be singled out by evaluation tools. They should have a
064if they get a non or unsatisfactory or something in some area, they should be coached >> in that area. >> And all of this is outside of the evaluation process. So there are also observations and feedback at a much more detailed level that are given to teachers by their administrator as part of their evaluation cycle. Um and so that feedback um and and that also the UNSAT does trigger um assignment of a coach who meets with those teachers weekly um and a and a whole other layer of processes um which are separate from the learning walks, the classroom walkthroughs and then that that top layer of the evaluation process. So in that process, what are the the the the key points that they have to succeed in in order to get off that checklist? I
065mean, there has to be a criteria that you're using >> the standards for the teaching profession. >> Yeah, it has to be. Yeah. >> And and so as part of that contractual process, um the teachers have a role in determining what their objectives are for their evaluation. >> Understand that. I know that. I know that. >> Yeah. But we also have a role too that we can select an objective >> and usually correct objective I select focuses on what they didn't do. >> Yes. >> So you know Yeah. The contract says one thing I let them do what they want to do and then I >> sure that you can agree on one or you can each pick one. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So we need to do more of that. >> Okay. >> Please.
066>> Next slide please. Um so across our TK8 sites and I think this speaks to Mr. Aurelia what you were saying earlier is where are we going after student talk. Um two particularly strong trends emerged in our walkthrough data. Um first that teachers across grades three through eight are consistently implementing the race strategy and you can see up there that that's restate answer site and explain. Um this is writing strategy helps students craft thoughtful well ststructured responses to textbased questions. Um we provided district-wide training for all teachers on this strategy followed by ongoing support for our teacher from our teacher leaders and as a result this strategy is now being used in nearly every classroom across our system um as evidenced by that walkthrough feedback. Um second, the feedback to our teachers is highly aligned
067to our district priorities and instructional expectations. Um administrators are maintaining the focus on the highest leverage instructional practices and are consistently providing teachers with both celebrations and very clear next steps to guide their continuous improvement. And so we've gotten some really detailed feedback from our teacher leaders who are instructional coaches about where we're going to go next with focusing on being able to respond to textbased questions in writing. And I'm going to hand it off to Ros. >> Is this me? Where's my slide? Secondary highlight yearong coaching cover. I don't think Okay, it's 10 o'clock. Okay. So, this year um all the work Christine is, you know, the team is leading. Okay. All right. So this year our sixth grade our particular our um ELA teachers um conducted some training and then um from their
068training they went back and really did some focus on um working with their LTELs and the focuses on expository reading and writing. Um, I can speak to Hogan's sixth grade ELA that that was a a need um and an opportunity for them to be really laser focused and going back to um Trusty Fox about, you know, going further than structure student talk and really um going deeper in helping especially our long-term English learners. So, that's happening. I'm excited to know that they're going to continue that um into next year as well as high school. Um we're doing um that's amazing to see the co-e collaboration for general ed and our special ed. Um I had an opportunity to observe that at Val High School. Um but that's amazing to see how that general ed teacher
069and sped teachers co- um leading um teaching and learning in classes. Um that's it's we're going to see some some great growth in that area. Who's next? >> This is my favorite mic. >> All right. So this first slide is about our new math program. So you were asking earlier about training. All of our staff received um in our first year of implementation with this rollout. We continued our partnership with Unbound Ed. As Dr. Pangan mentioned earlier through that grant uh to track progress and use data to plan next steps including professional learning. The teachers all received training throughout the year from both the publishers themselves from Amplify um and our teacher leaders and myself created the district-led Wednesday PLS by grade level. So they had an opportunity to receive specific training on the program
070and then have an opportunity to collaborate with other teachers from every single school. So like all the third grade teachers would be together in one room. Uh, additionally, I was able to visit all the K8 math classrooms over the course of several months, and we noted that a 100% of teachers were implementing the program, which is something to celebrate, while some are still struggling with it because it's new and very different. Um, to have every single person doing it is really great in the first year. Um, our continued walkthrough is focused on the level of implementation at three focus sites where we will a we were able to determine uh needs and then plan next steps for our upcoming PL this next school year. Next slide. For high school, they were able to pilot this
071year. They were not able to pilot last year because there were not curricula available for high school. There were not very many options. So uh this year they were able to review a lot of publishers and they selected two to pilot. They just wrapped up and they selected amplify. So we are going to be unified all the way through high school which is great for vertical articulation throughout all the grades. Um so I'll be bringing that proposal to you next month once the notice of public hearing has been completed. Okay, next slide. And then we also have a first year implementation for our high school science classes. So, this just shows uh the different courses. We have biochem, physics, and then a variety of AP courses. Um, our biochem and physics teachers receive publisher training
072from HMH throughout the school year. Uh, we continue to debrief with them regularly to determine additional training needs and support as we move into the second year of implementation. Uh, right now we've got 121 students enrolled in various AP science courses between the high schools, and we hope to see that number increase the next year. for world languages. >> Can we go back to that next slide? How are these stu how are these how are these students um uh recruited into those >> in the AP classes? >> Um that's something that they work on with their counselors. >> Huh? >> Something they work on with their counselors. >> I'll have a private conversation about that. So, when they do their course request cards or surveys, that's when they would decide if they're going to take
073an AP course or not. We'll go to the next slide. >> I have an update for you on our world languages. This year is the first year of Mandarin 1 at both of our high schools. We have two periods of Mandarin one at Valo High School and two periods of Mandarin one at Jesse Bethl High School. Next year we do plan to expand to Mandarin 2 and in 2728 we'll have the full roll out of Mandarin 3. Um very exciting this year is that with Mandarin came professional learning from Carnegie which is the textbook that we use and that professional learning was able to apply to all of our world language teachers which they were very grateful for because it's been a while since they've had some comprehensive um training for world language um professional
074development. The other highlight I want to share is an increased focus on our state seal of biiteracy pathway. Um again in high school students with four years of ELA and four years of a language other than English with a 3.0 GPA or above um qualify for the state seal of biiteracy. There are other pathways to achieve this through passage of an AP exam um or other locally approved exams. Um but the most common way that we approve students for the state seal is through the four years of language and four years of ELA. We are also launching this year our home language development program which supports biliteracy in the K through8 space encouraging families to um continue to develop home language through stories and talking and language um at home and parents can certify this
075biliteracy practice at home and students in K2 through five um and six through eight can receive certificates at each of those touch points um certifying just their path towards bi literacy >> how is the interest at VHS and just bethl for the man how full were the classes how what's the demand there's the demand getting more >> so currently the demand is um the counselors are working on recruiting to fill the two sections they we offered two sections they were not full to 34 four, but we did offer two sections, >> but there was interest. Um, and currently counselors are working to fill one section of Mandarin 2 at each high school. Um, which is kind of normal attrition for language programs um, as you rise through the levels. >> How is Mandarin selected? >>
076I can answer that. I can I can answer that one. >> So, how is Mandarin? >> They don't go to American >> because that's where people were selecting to leave our district because American Canyon offered Mandarin. >> That's American Canyon. >> Yes. >> It was a competing program. >> I don't even understand that. >> So, so >> we're gonna offer They checked off. So we can counteract that. Is that the plan? >> Keep them here. >> We can deny. >> And while it may not be the most popular of the languages that we offer, it is important that we expand the the choice that kids have. There are a number of kids who consider Mandarin and um languages from other parts of the world an opportunity. And so we will we will see how many
077students ultimately select this and we will have to make a determination going forward, you know, how many more languages we add if we do. But it it's it's a good opportunity to offer something outside of what is typically available to our students. >> I can't think of other things besides that outside the box, but Okay, go ahead. Uh there's currently >> My next question is to uh Mr. Esquire Chamberlain. Where you going to get a Mandarin teacher? >> We have one. >> In fact, Dr. Young, we have about 80 students enrolled in four different sections, two at each school. >> Where you going to get the teacher? >> We have that teacher that's split between the two schools. And that teacher is being well received by the students. And that's why there's >> how well
078received they are. How the teacher did the We got a teacher. >> Yes. >> Okay. class welldeser he's teaching. >> We conducted a district walkthrough in the Mandarin class at Valo High School. Um and it was actually very exciting to see because students are participating in language including character writing. And most recently, the Mandarin teacher took their um the class on a field trip to Ranch 99 to order food, um look at vegetables, like everything they're learning in a a level one language class. >> Yeah. >> What other language do are we offering? also offer Spanish heritage Spanish um Filipino and French >> and and just to note I mean Mandarin started because we looked at the data of who was leaving our district and what they were offering in our neighboring districts. That goalpost
079keeps changing. So now we're seeing the next round of folks saying, "Well, we want to go to this other program." So we're always sort of chasing that. >> Next slide, please. >> Culinary. I think this works. >> Okay. College and career readiness. My voice is about to go out. College and career readiness. Dr. Young, can we can we continue on college college and career readiness? So, we want to um share some high school data. This is our 20 2025. This is last year's data um with our overall um graduate at um 79 um percent, Val High School is 72.3, Jesse Beth at 88.3, and John Finny at 75.3. We know that this is not where we want to be. And um and so to answer the board, I know you have some questions on what
080are we doing to change that data, right? Am I right? So um so I'm getting ahead of that. So, I first want to say that our new key site leaders at our both our comprehensive high schools have been amazing but intentional this year with really looking at their data, their their school data and really being intentional about how to change uh the data that we see. Um, our school teams in secondary secondary have been examining their data again very intentionally and determining really two parts. Who's on track and who is not? And our students that are not on track, what are we doing to change that data? And so I'm pleased to share that our our our school teams are really being in intentional about early interventions early and not waiting until third quarter, but
081really looking at that first progress report and really diving in and providing the support early. And examples of that, our early tutorial, um our SST has been um pivotable and really looking at um you know interventions for our high schoolers. And so I want to go back to um our eighth grade transition. When I took this role on, I was really uh passionate about that transition from our eighth graders and transition to ninth grade and making sure that our ninth grade is strong and tight and it's rigorous, it's engaging, and our kids really want to stay with us from 9th through 12th. That's key. And that they have a great experience and that they are clear with with their path. And so I'm confident that that what we see here in in terms of our
082data in 2025, we will see improved data. And I I I believe that um again our key um determination this year was our key site leaders. um both of our leaders um are leading their campuses with um some passion and some vision and um and so that's going to trinkle down and impact student outcomes. Okay, on the other side, students eligible for guaranteed admission. We are super excited about this data. This is Cal State um East Bay and Sonoma State. So we have 129 students from Jesse Bethl guaranteed admission, 76 for Valo High School and four for our independent study. Great news. Awesome. Um and then total um so far for our UC and Cal State University um sites, we have applications submitted from our own VCUSD students, 417. That's amazing. Amazing. Does that include
083historically black colleges? >> Not that number. But Dr. Young, we can gather that data for you. I'll make sure that you get that data. Okay. >> Can I just flag to um the state board of education just updated the college and career indicator. I know this because I sit on the CPAG and we made recommendations to the board. So, there's going to be different factors added into the indicator. So, something we'll want to examine as we move into next year. um like the ASVAB counting towards the college like there just other ways for kids to show that they've met those requirements. >> Was this the first year you looked at kids on track versus kids not on track? Is this the first year you've done that or is the reason I'm asking is just if
084this is the first year obviously there's no comparison but if if it's been done in prior years what is it looking like right now? I mean it is it are the numbers so >> so I'll I'll we can we can tag each other. Okay. So we started some work um Trusty Flores with probably about a couple of years ago we started a cohort under Cowed Partners. So we started this work at 8th grade with our um partnership with um with uh Jesse Bethl and we were looking specifically at kids who were on track and off track looking at the DNF list. So, we've been doing this work for a good period of time and so we've been seeing some traction and so we've started it. We're continuing the same kind of structures and support and
085it's working really well and we're happy to say that um this past year we started a new cohort with Val High School and Slot Weedman. So, we are doing that work um and starting as early as 8th grade, but we now know what to do. And so, we're really looking at who's on track and who's not. But our biggest key is starting early, like early, like when we received that first progress report, we're really looking at who needs support. And another uh big um structure that we've put in place is who needs the support. So really looking at like our hot list um and and really making sure that our kids who need maybe that first 90day 60 or 90day support when they move into high school transition to high school that we have a
086plan for them. So early that's the main key is early interventions. And what's new at the state level is uh their implementation of a platform that shows kids visually if they're on track and it's really colorcoded. It's like green. If it's all green, you're on track. If there's yellow, there's there's areas that you need to talk to your counselor about. If it's red, that means you need to redo that class. So, that's a new system that uh Valleo was an early adopter to utilize that platform to integrate with Aries, our our plat, you know, our SIS. So, that's something that's supporting our students in being able to check themselves um and to advocate, but know that our counselors are starting that process of getting kids familiar with the program as early as seventh grade. We're
087getting them in the system so they can get used to it. They can start playing with the all the features and the platform because it's not just about grades. It's about career interests and looking at colleges all over the the nation. So that that's something that's very new and that and that's part of the need of our college career counselors at the middle school level is to help that work. >> I had I feel that uh we lose a lot of our students making the transition from a 8th to 9th grade. They mentally are not ready for high school. We should personally go back to the middle school concept where you have seven, 8, ninth and then they graduate into 10, 11, 12. That's school that I mean I was ready in 10th grade and
088I know she was mentally they're not mentally ready to go to high school in ninth grade. They're just not ready. And that's where we're losing them. We lose them in ninth grade. Pull up the uh progress reports the first semester. Most of your ninth graders are getting D's and there. >> Am I right? >> Oh, that's that's part of that that program. It's to really uh have the time to have intentional conversations about data. And at at every grade mark, it's all those players, the admin, counselors, ASPs in the room talking about who are the kids are getting those D's and Fs. We need to target those kids. And we we have spreadsheets that identify interventions and that's something that's going to follow our students because we want to be able to support the ninth
089grader, the incoming ninth graders and their staff to be able to, hey, this is what's worked for them at the eighth grade level. And that that's a that's a really big function that we're really trying to build a muscle in our district. >> And that's the responsibility of the counselors to make sure that they look at that first progress report because that first progress report starts the the ball rolling. If you don't check them, you lose them. I wanted to quickly ask um I know slide 36 has protrive graduate that we worked so hard on a few years ago to develop um it's on page it's on 36 though we're on 28 um >> is that going to be addressed later because I just wondering how that might affect these rates because if it starts
090in TK the purch and and goes all the way up I'm wondering is it working is it not working how do we beef that up anyways maybe we have to wait till slide 36 but I just wanted to make sure that that was my question wondering with these rates will that how is it helping or not helping or will it help? Thank you. >> May we proceed >> so I can get to 36. Perfect. Um on that next on slide 29 uh so in your uh in your folder from our team at the very back of the right side you'll see the it's a portrait of a graduate packet. Um because I want to walk through the opportunities that are offered to all our high school students. And so this packet was given to every
091eighth grader who attended the empower youth summit at Six Flags a few weeks ago, but it's also offered to any of our families that attend events like the reclassification and any showcase event. We have me make sure this information is available both in English and Spanish. Um the fourth and fifth pages of this packet is going to show you what's happening specifically at the comprehensive sites. And what's noteworthy um is that Jesse Bethl at Jesse Bethl we reinstated multimedia after hiring a teacher that started this school year and for the next school year 2627 the biomedical pathway which which which has been a really long-standing popular science course sequence will now count for CTE because that teacher got the credential for that field. >> So that's huge. >> That has been a work in progress.
092>> Yeah. So I I didn't know I was going to be alive when that happened. Um so but I also want to report on the right side about uh the students who took the school day PSAT and SAT exams. Um that's an that's an initiative specifically that was birthed here in this governing group. Uh Jesse Bethl in the fall had 268 juniors take the PSAT and 99 students take the spring SAT just a few weeks ago. Valo High School had 67 juniors take the fall PSAT and 26 students that took the spring SAT. Uh on the next slide, uh this is a slide to show you the different the three different ways that students can earn college credit while at our district. On the left, the first method is the one that's pro probably the
093most common. Um taking an AP course and passing the exam with a three or better will allow them to get college credit. Um something that's new, we've added AP pre-calculus uh to our list. And next school year, we are going to be offering AP African-American studies. That's new. in the Yeah, thank you. Uh in the middle is articulation. Uh this articulated courses is an agreement between a high school teacher and a community college instructor. If a student earns a C or better in the final exam and the overall grade, the student will earn college credit. If they don't do well, it doesn't affect their college transcript. It just becomes a grade on their high school transcript. Now, the last method is dual enrollment. Uh now we know we have students who are very uh self-initiating
094and can take courses and will do well in college courses even if you don't help them. Uh know that that's a thing that's been happening. I know that some of us here have done that in the past. Um so whether they are self-directing this experience by obtaining consent from their admin and a counselor to take a college course that's something they can do. We do have one program at Jesse Bethl that is programd directed, meaning they've assigned specific classes that our high school students can take. So, the law academy, the seniors can either take the class on campus at at Bethl or opt for the college version of it on the Valo campus down the street. Uh, if they fail that course though, it will stay on their college transcript. So, we want to make
095sure that those kids are serious because it will follow them if they don't do well. So that's why there's an option for either of them. Um we are collaborating with Solano Community College to increase the number of dual enrollment courses offered by identifying VCSD staff that meet minimum minimum qualifications to become college instructors because it helps both systems. Um so all these efforts support our district dashboard in increasing the number of students being marked as college and career ready. And just like Aurelia said, there are going to be new ways to earn and we are going to be tracking ways to tr to to be able to monitor students on an individual level and we are going to receive training from the county office to do that work and it's my turn. All right. So,
096um you you've heard a lot and it's it's really all about understanding the comprehensive way that we're approaching our work. And while we do that, we have to keep in mind our multi-tered systems of support. The governing board will recall that in the summer when we had our study session um uh just with cabinet um I spent time talking about MTSS, our multi-tered systems of support. So I just want to reflect on that now before you hear a little bit about our care team process and the ways we're approaching that. Um the MTSS framework. Oh, wrong slide. Sorry. The multi-tered systems of support frameworks are driven by student data in the areas of academics, student social emotional needs and behavior and attendance. The focus is on providing supplemental support and intervention in the areas of
097need for each student. School leaders are being provided tools to help identify student needs including data tools through student analytics lab. Um there is a specific dashboard called our early warning system um and that I that identifies students at most at risk so that they can provide those interventions immediately and resources to support student needs in the areas of instructional support, social, emotional and counseling support and attendance support. The mental health and child welfare attendance liaison are some examples of supports available. Site allocations are used to fund initiatives outlined in the SIPA to drive site level focus while the LCAP provides for our district-wide implementation based on the needs of the students as identified in the data. Next slide please. This is just an overview of the elements of an MTSS framework. Um the MTS
098spring provides that all students shall access grade level support and instruction in the universal supports for all students. The universal supports are based on our common instructional practices that you've learned about tonight. Our common SEAL and PBIS priorities which are also available in your packet with an emphasis on the school sites consistent implementation. So implementation of the universal supports is key. Examples of universal implementation might include the use of the adopted curriculum, the implement implementation of our key instructional priorities, the implementation of our common schoolwide procedures that are consistently taught and retaught um by all staff on campus. The supplemental and intensive supports are implemented when individual groups of students require extra support to meet their instructional or social emotional needs or attendance needs. These supports are often individualized um through student success teams, 504s,
099IEPs, and are often developed to provide for these supports and document their effectiveness and their impact on the student outcomes. broader supports, excuse me, broader support opportunities like participation in tutoring services of bilingual tutors, enhanced access to wellness spaces, participation in expanded learning programs are all examples of supplemental supports that allow students to meet their goals in a specialized way. Next slide. So, we talked about having conversations about students and specific needs and making sure that there's a plan for them. Um, and so what we did this year was in order to establish more consistency and coherence um when having these conversations, we wanted to make sure that we had um a care team framework. So, we developed a care team task force last year and we came up with these seven essential elements. They
100may seem very basic, but we wanted to make sure that every time we come together to talk about students needs. There has to be a purpose. It has to be clear who's going to be in those conversations. We have to have norms so that we're our conversations are focused on students. It needs to be driven by data. Um there's actually a flowchart. So there's an if and then flowchart that informs how the conversation is going to be. common tools which includes an agenda and spreadsheets which we have access to and finally meeting agreements how often we're going to meet. So all of this um came about and we also developed a care team handbook. So you know that idea of consistency across the district to make sure that even if each school site has has
101their own unique way we have to make sure that in all of these meetings that these are these um essential elements are being followed. >> Next slide please. >> All right. So, we spoke at length about our instructional priorities, but BCUSD also prioritizes social emotional learning. And it's through our commitment and we strive for our students to be able to demonstrate the five SEAL competencies listed here. While our instructional priorities and SEAL competencies guide the daily work in our schools, they also connect to a larger vision for every student. Our portrait of a graduate brings these academic and social emotional goals together by defining the skills and dispositions we want all VCOSD students to develop by graduation graduate. Um, next slide please. Thank you. The VCUSC portrait of a graduate is an integral part of
102our vision for instruction and student outcomes. The portrait elements have been aligned to our instructional and SEAL priorities, ensuring that our programs are coherent and integrated into our vision for students and the community. Um, Miss Mora has been a key partner in leading this work since its inception is going to speak to the work so far and our vision for next steps. >> Thank you. On that next slide, as we recap what's happened in the past few years, we have a core team at the district office that supports this work by creating and following a logic model for implementation and aligning the graduate portrait with exist existing initiatives as Heather mentioned as instructional priorities and priorities. Each August, we offer um workshop sessions to aid teachers in lesson design. And each year, we also increase
103visibility at our schools, specifically in all our classrooms. Uh last year we've collect we collected K12 samples from all sites that serve as examples of how the graduate portrait can live and breathe at every grade level and in every content area. Currently on the next slide at the elementary level uh two of our K8s serve as pilots by aligning the graduate portrait with their learning models. Saladam Weedman with leader in me and Valo charter with expeditionary learning which both employ studentled conferences in the very middle at for eighth grade. Every eighth grader in our district is they are they've created a graduate portrait showcase presentation that exemplifies their progress in in in those selected areas and they will also continue to build on they also decide what they want to build on when they go
104to high school. Um, we are capturing some of those student presentations to provide future eighth graders with videos to support their process and just to help ease the anxiety. They have been so nervous. Um, and so this year uh they at the very least they've already done it in small groups and in their classrooms. And then the next level is this for this year um at for Hogan High School because it's so big uh select student two to three students from each class period will have it recorded so that we can have models for the future at the high school level. On the very right each of our CT programs for every grade level are presenting capstone projects and are testing the presentation rubrics our team created uh for the 20 26 27 school year.
105We will pilot the senior on the next slide. We will pilot the senior showcase in our ELA classes. There you go. Thank you. To scaffold that experience, we are collaborating with all our schools to provide many showcases throughout the 6th through 12th grade experience to build on communication skills and to build confidence in public speaking. Thank you. >> This is the last stretch of the evening and also the last stretch of, believe it or not, our three-year professional learning plan. Um, so I wanted to provide some updates on where we are and our next steps. But it was important that we understood that professional learning needed to be aligned with the quality professional learning standards that were um that are available on CDE. And you can see here on the left side or on the
106right side what those um professional learning standards are. So similar to engaging our students in their own learning, it's really important that we ga engage our employees. Those days of sit and get PL no longer exist. Next slide please. All right. So over the past three years, the were these were the four key domains and major topics of our current three-year plan. Together, these areas provided a comprehensive approach to strength strengthening student outcomes and organizational effectiveness. So, we're not just talking about certificated, we're also talking about classified management and all employees districtwide. So, high stakes and local assessments, as you saw, show improvement. However, continued professional learning is essential and there's still significant room for growth in both student learning and district-wide coherence of effective practices. Next slide, please. Um, so this is PL was
107provided through so many delivery systems from inservice days to that ongoing coaching to collaboration. Um, so our staff participated in many ex many opportunities and at this time I really want to extend my sincerest gratitude to our coordinators, our directors, our site and district administrators, our teacher leaders, our teachers, our classified staff and so many individuals who actually participated in not only the PL but they planned, they led, they facilitated um this plan over the past three years. So this is a huge team effort. So we are proud to say that this work has not only strengthened our individual skills but it has also built systemwide capacity to mo move our collective efforts for student success forward. Next slide please. So our system for continuous improvement has been non-stop. After every single PL session we
108gather feedback from our employees. so that we can adjust our training that meets the needs of our staff while remaining student focused. So, it was really important to understand the impact of our current three-year plan. And so, we worked with SCO, our county partners, to take all of our survey data and provide this summary. So, as you can see, a vast majority of participants expressed high satisfaction and would recommend training to their colleagues. The training objectives objectives were communicated and the resources provided were highly applicable to the attendees and their specific requirements. So furthermore, the sessions encourage active participation and practical application. The expectation is you learn something, you implement it the next day. So this impact analysis confirms that professional learning excelled in de deliver delivering clear, relevant and engaging educational experiences for our
109employees. >> Your professional um development, how is it structured? Do you do K um five or do you do K six? Do you separate? Because high school has a totally different need >> and for them to be sitting up in a professional development thing that's geared toward um elementary is a waste of their time. >> Absolutely. So >> So do you have them separated? >> We do. Yes, we do that during the big professional learning days by grade levels, by subject area. Um, we even have specific employees that attend professional learning. For example, our office office managers or site safety. So, it really is we try to align it so that it's relevant to their work. But absolutely and that that is really important because um you know we're talking about resources which is time
110also and we want to ensure that this time this is time well spent because it does take a lot of time >> soliciting their input on what's relevant to them or are you initiating what's relevant what you think is relevant. >> So the input that um well it's two things I think it's both. So what's relevant to us is to make sure that professional learning gleans positive student outcomes. That is the goal. It needs to be student focused. However, how we deliver that and how our employees access that is the part that we need feedback on. Do they need more time for planning? Do they need more time for collaboration? Do they need more time for sit and get? Do they need coaching? So it really does depend on the employee. we have some basic
111you know um structures to provide but really we gather this feedback so it's so the training we provide is better informed >> so my question to um Miss Hines is have you put out a survey knowing what your people need >> in order to do >> yeah I was actually going to go to the next yeah the next slide >> I'm gonna Yeah, it's >> a word. >> So my next um I'm going to be talking about that um in the next few slides. So we are wrapping up that five that that part of the plan. So it is also important that we gather data for um this next five years. So there were two mechanisms for that aside from the constant feedback. We sent a staff survey um but we also connect uh conducted
112focus group interviews with employees to help identify key areas for growth. It's really what's going to be helpful for them. So what this slide captures is the major trends from both data collection methods and so we know that several topics we still need to focus on and prioritize specifically literacy, math, student engagement and high quality instruction. But what this does is it highlights and helps guide the adjustments we're making to ensure that our new five-year plan meaningfully supports both our educators and our students. Next slide, please. So, these are the major themes and phases of our five-year plan. But, um, you'll notice that there are some words that are bold there because our main objective throughout this entire five-year process is to ensure that student centered learning remains the core foundation. Each phase is intentionally
113grounded in accelerating student achievement and growth, making the student experience central to every strategic step from year 1 to year five. Next slide is the last slide. So as we conclude, we look ahead to the professional learning and continuous improvement plan for 2631. This ambitious but achievable five-year strategy will guide all future efforts structured around the four core domains outlined here in your copy the last domain organizational support. We actually um change that to systemwide development. This framework ensures that every part of the organization is aligned. It's data driven focused on our ultimate goal which is sustaining and scaling equitable student outcomes. So, thank you so much for reviewing the progress of our academic updates tonight. We truly appreciate your support and your partnership in this critical work. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank
114you. I >> trusty Fox. >> Um, first I'd like to thank you very much. It was very difficult, I'll speak for me, um, to come from a meeting where you first laid off 85 people. um that just alone the pain there. So to it's kind of was hard for me to even open up to want to listen to you. Not that I don't want I want to listen to you but just telling you where the place I'm coming from that was very hard and painful to transition. So maybe I know you want to do one meeting a month but for this I would have suggested another time instead of starting at 9:00 to almost 11. I mean, maybe think rethink that. But I do appreciate you and I think you're wonderful and I love the
115feedback and the information. The only thing that's that I'm leaving that's troubling me. So, I'm going to reiterate. Um, I feel for elementary there has to be a benchmark and I don't want to know about CASP yet. I want to keep them separate. Personally, I'm talking about me. I feel there has to be a benchmark three times a year period and that that benchmark goes to every principal and to you and then that data from those benchmarks drive your tier 2 instruction and if you don't have that data from your three times of year to quickly see where the things are not working and they they match the three benchmarks you they're apples to apples to apples and who's getting getting or not not Not not it's not the consistency to be able to have
116either I don't know some people call themmies when we had the schools come present they called them something else I forgot what they were but I feel as an educator with me trying to do tier 2 all the time if I don't have that data and I keep seeing if it's growing or not growing in ELA and math I can't be effective and I don't want to know about the CASP I mean I do and I won't but my day-to-day is the data from I'm just and again I'm using Renaissance star reading Renaissance star math I did I already reading I read math for years anyways whatever it is that's that's I feel there needs to be a tool and I feel that that's missing here if we're truly going to be looking at tier
1172 instruction to catch them where they need it anyways that's my two cents thank you and I appreciate you >> I want to thank each and every one of you for being part of our dream team. You did a wonderful job in the circumstances that you were put. Um, as everybody knows me, I'm very straight and transparent. I don't mean any, it's not personal, but I've been in the district long enough in order to see through the trees. Um, so when we have something like this, we need to have it so we can be very transparent and where we can have more time. There was a lot of questions and he kept looking at me and I just said, "Forget it." So, there was a lot of questions that I had that haven't been answered.
118But, you know, that's okay, too, because I'm going to rely upon you to make sure that our kids are are educated and and they progress in this district. I'm going to hold you accountable for that. Um, the other thing is that I can't understand, we saw a program in um at our CASA um conference, Mississippi. Um, >> yes. Anybody heard of that? So, how can they bring kids that are way down there, way below we are up to where above where we are right now? How can they do that? You guys want to trip back there to find out? Because we need to find a solution. We can't continue to do this. We cannot continue to do this. This is ridiculous. Um, our kids are smart, but it's going to take something. Delivery instruction, the
119type of way you deliver it, who's delivering it, and how it's being given. So, you know, thank you for all you do. You are appreciated. And thank you for the time that you have spent afterwards. My little puppy dog is wondering where is his mommy? He's probably done everything. Tow up everything in my house. Okay, but anyway, have a good evening. you know, your presentation today, I can't thank you enough. Um, it was literally like the Super Bowl of of what we actually do here and your efforts do not go unnoticed. I there's so much from from my professional life I don't I don't understand when it comes to comes to education like this. This this is all brand new for me. But what makes it easier is that I can I can trust each
120one of you to make the best decisions for for our kids and that I I appreciate all your hard work and it it means so much to me. I know that this district and our kids um are in good hands and again I I can't thank you enough. So and and Vice President Flores, my apologies. I was being a little rude. Um I do want to thank you all for sticking it out with us. I mean um I think you all had a pretty early day like most of us did and you are still here. um based on some of the uh observations or I'm thinking about something that uh Trusty Fox says periodically about, you know, he's been here a long time and he hasn't seen the numbers move. So, all of this is
121great. Thank you for presenting it, but at the end of the day, >> let's let let's let's Let's get them numbers to move because all all of this for the parents in our district. They they're not awake right now. They're they're they've gone to bed, gotten their kids ready. You know, some of us need to still go. Exactly. So um so you know when I look at all that it okay great so let's let's get the numbers move. So >> thank you >> need to go visit those programs if they're doing something we're not doing. They have a more diverse community that we have and they're pulling their scores up. And I know it's late. Um, thank you all for doing all this all this all this work. And I'm going to say, can I
122echo what Trusty Vice President Flores says? All this does to me is prove the urgency we have, which is we can't wait. We need to get in there. We need to do more. We need to do better. Period. And that's what we all all try to do. And again, however we can support, you know, please lean on us. And with that said, uh let's wrap up our agenda. We will make announcements for upcoming meetings. Um any future agenda items can be discussed with superintendent by telephone or email. Uh, Thursday, May 28th, 2026, VCUSD City of Valo 2 by 2 committee meeting at 4:30 in Valo City Hall. Wednesday, June 17, 2026, regular governing board meeting at 6 p.m. uh here at the district office as well as uh my anniversary Wednesday, June 24th, 2026. Um
123yeah, I've been married for 26 years at that day. Um um regular governing board meeting at 6 pm. Um and that'll be yeah the last meeting of the year. And then to my son, I apologize for missing your 17th birthday. It's all right. It's not midnight yet. I get to wake him up. Um but >> it's midnight where I am. >> Good night, Dean. It's almost 1:00. >> Um, having completed all items on tonight's agenda, this meeting is officially adjourned at 10:54 p.m. >> Good night, everybody. >> Good night, Trusty. Thank you for staying.