001That was a good one to use as an example. But let's say in one year, year one, you were going to get try to get to 65. They will also then talk in the plan about what are some action steps to get there. And those action steps are things like um provide support for um taking whatever classes they need. Um so they'll give you what they're doing. Now the important part about then reporting to the board is that if those action plans, those goals need to be adjusted, you will know well before the end of the five years. That is the goal of quarterly reporting. And the reason why I push for milestones, goals, different things like that is because a lot of people when they evaluate, they think when they reach a goal that's
002exceptional or they reach the goal ahead of time, that's exceptional. It's not. Exceeding goals are exceptional. But we need to talk to people beforehand so when they're evaluated, they know what they're going to be, how they're going to be evaluated. If the goal is to reach 80% or 90% in 5 years and you do it in four, is that acceptable? No. You reached the goal before the 5 years was up. That's was the goal. And if you exceed that goal, now we talk about what's exceptional because some people they do their daily routine and what we staff teachers or whoever. Hey, I met my goal. I'm exceptional. The thing is that those conversation need to take place before the evaluation. And then it cut down on a lot of confusion. It cut down on a
003lot of hardship and cut down on a lot of personal feelings that somebody is not treating me fairly. So that's why I'm very consistent because when I did my graduate studies at University of Richmond management, you have to have all these things up front to make that team feel like everyone on that team is being treated fairly. And if you don't have them things spelt out, a lot of people feel like, I did all of this and I didn't get anything for it. Because there it's a misunderstanding of what we assume is exceptional >> and what's um and and what's satisfactory. And so the thing is that you set you set a goal, you work towards it, you achieve that goal. That's that's what the goal was. That's what the standard was. Okay, then move
004on beyond that. That's exception. >> Exactly. If you could take us back to slide 10. I believe it's slide 10. It has the uh I don't they're not numbered online. Back more all the way to the one where it says the importance of strategic alignment at the beginning there. One more there. Um Mr. Miles, that is what I was talking about in this slide where every person in your organization should find themselves in this strategic plan. See the individual goals at the bottom. So I my goals if I'm a teacher and the goal is to have 80% fully licensed and I'm not fully licensed. My goal has to align with that strategic priority or that that objective and my goal will reflect that need to get that full lensure. So that is where um that
005alignment you're you're speaking the same language >> the same language and and the reason why I said that because when we set those rules and it's not some people when when the discussion doesn't take place they get one point of view we have another point of view and I it cut down on a lot of disappointment when we get to that point where um Mr. need to talk to someone about job performance or go over there and they their review is different from what we might have. You understand? But at the same time, if it was discussed beforehand in the previous review, then we everybody be on board. They know what they expect. That's all. >> And I will point out um Miss Brown when she put together the timeline for implementation, she is giving
006plenty of time. Action plans are developed and goals specific percentage goals are set and the expected implementation for that communication to take place so that everyone can find themselves within the strategic plan and what their personal goals are. The department goals, the school goals, those should all be conversations between February and June. And she's given plenty of time for that to happen. So that's I that um I was very glad That that was the timeline. Well, again, thank you. Thank you to the members of the steering committee who are here. Thank you to all the staff, Dr. Gay for helping us along the way. It has truly been a pleasure to be here, and we look forward to coming back. Thank you. Move next to be our last item for the night. >> Thank you,
007board chair, school board members. Um, tonight we are coming bringing to our school board and our community. Um, this is going to be our eat this evening. As you all may remember, just recently the Virginia Department of Education just released the new Virginia school performance and support framework and accreditation system. This is a new system that has been implemented this this year and it um it changes the way we look at both performance and accreditation in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Of course, as a part of that, the state released um for the entire public to see how schools across Virginia fared in this new system. I wanted to bring tonight to the board an opportunity for us to dive deep as a team into the data. I shared some of the data with you all,
008but this is an opportunity for us to work together um at a board meeting work session so that we can better understand where we are as a school division and what we're doing as a part of our plans to move Petersburg forward. Please know that we clearly understand and know that we have um challenges that we have been facing historically. And so we are now level setting so we can reset the bar for everyone in Petersburg. It starts with understanding where we are at this moment and understanding our data and understand what we're putting in place um the infrastructure so that we can move forward so that we can see improvements in student mastery, student growth and student readiness across our school division. So with that I'm going to turn it over today tonight to
009Dr. Decard Jackson Deard Jackson, excuse me, the director of data assessment and accountability um who will bring um forward our work around the data. And then we'll bring forward Mr. Paul Brown, Miss Evie Massie, and Miss Joy Lowry, who is our our academics team to talk about what we're doing in the school division, what our plans are moving forward, and how do we work together to improve again content mastery, readiness, and I mean content mastery, growth, and readiness across our school division. Dr. Jackson, thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening, Chair Pritchette, Vice Chair Pierce, and school board members, Miss Brown, everyone's here, and whoever's watching online. I am excited to be able to present this data for you all and have this data dive along with my colleagues so we can actually talk about
010the actions we're going to take next moving forward. Next slide please. So the agenda is provided for you. We're going to first just provide a foundational understanding and overview of the new Virginia accountability and performance support framework and we're also going to take a historical look as how has changed over time Virginia education accredititation and accountability system. We'll take an in-depth liber public schools 2025 school performance and support framework accreditation data. We have a data discussion and then we'll transition to the team where we're going to review Pittsburgh City public schools academic plans. Next slide please. So this slide kind of level sets and kind of defines accountability versus accredititation. So this is reference to the new system. So I know um you hear me say a lot the new system because a lot of
011things have changed. So if you look at it overall accountability is measuring performance. It provides a clear transparent view of how well students are learning. It uses a mastery index to measure those academic growth readiness and decides different levels based on that. Accreditation is more measuring of compliance. It ensures that the schools are meeting the state required foundational standards. Next Please. >> So what you have in front of you right here, this shows you the previous it should be accreditation the previous accreditation system from 2018 to 2024. When this system first came out, I worked in a neighboring division um similar to this and we had the same dial, the same conversations because the system was new. So it's important that we all like Miss Brown say have a true understanding of how the system
012has evolved over time. So if you look at this model, it shows previously where the Virginia accountability system and the Virginia accredititation system uses the same data, but they was trying to measure different outcomes. It was a little confusing and convoluted. Whereas the accreditation system, as you recall, gave us a measurement of either accredited accreditable conditions or accreditation denied that was based on not just reading and um and math proficiencies, but also growth. combined rates and chronic absenteeism as well as dropouts. The Virginia accreditation system also measures similar things but it's based on the federal accountability system when it and that's how the schools were identified federally. Next slide please. So as we look at the systems and compare them to um in the past we thought about the previous system you thought about where
013it measures your so pass rates the structure was um combining their accreditation and accountability again schools ratings were either accredited or accreditation with accredititions and there were proficiency thresholds. The new framework has a master index for growth. It has two distinct separated systems and you have the distinctions of being distin um distinguished on track off track these intens of support or these intens of support and individual student growth and readiness and just a little background. The reason why the state of Virginia chose to make these systems separate is because they noticed there was a lot of school divisions who were able to mass some of their proficiencies who were doing well but there was still a small substitute sub subset group of students who were not performing well. So they did make some adjustments so
014therefore we can sure all students are um being measured. Next slide please. So this is our new um accountability accreditation system. So we look at our new student performance I mean school performance and um support framework. You have um one for elementary and middle which measures growth readiness and mastery and the high school components measures graduation readiness and mastery. And then they kind of use that they put those categories together and you come up with your performance level and your federally identified. This is all underneath the office of school improvement. There's also a different system. What? Okay. I'm just gonna let the board know there's no more office of school quality. Yes. Office of cool quality who work with the MU division. It's now the office of school improvement OSI, but it could very well
015change given some of the changes in leadership that might be coming. >> Well, thank you. Yes. So now I kind of put both in parenthesis because you know the county still is the office where they have depth of chances office school improvement and that's what they were previously. So they kind of went back to that. So we look at the um the school accreditation system. This is again measured on eight components of compliance and again those um ratings are fully accredited um conditionally accredited accreditation denied and again um that's based on the state standards. So, I'll go through each of our schools um accreditation and stuff in a moment. So, next slide. Just want to make sure I emphasize this as we're still kind of wrapping our mind and grappling with the new system. You
016want to keep in mind to be distinguished, you have to have a score of 90 or above. For a school to be listed as on track, you have to have a score of 80 or above. And so, Dr. Jackson, as I told the board before, in Virginia, the new bar is 80 is passing. If you're not 80, you are off track, right? >> That is correct. >> Is that correct? So, you have to have a B at every school in order to be considered in the state of Virginia on track. So, 80 is now the bar. So schools are expected to be at a B in order to be considered on track and that is different work for um most states um but definitely I guess different for the common law and that is correct.
017So if you have 79 you're considered off track. So anything between 79 and 65 is considered off track. Anything below 64 needs intense of support. So those are the distinctions. Next slide please. So this kind of goes into a little bit more detail as to what do those mean to what does it mean to be in those categories. So of course distinguish is the um highest um the schools are exceeding the state's expectations and achievement graduation growth and readiness. These schools serves as models across the state for the best practices for which others will learn. on track. These schools are meeting the state expectation. They have a score between 80 and 89 points. 80 and 89 points. And again, the expectation is for achievement, graduation growth, and readiness. Schools who have a score between 79
018and 65, those schools have not met the state expectation for achievement, graduation readiness. And these schools will also have access to additional supports from the state. and they also receive supports for um student groups. Need intensive support is anything that's below 65. So these schools are significantly not meeting the state's expectations for achievement, graduation, growth, and readiness. Schools may receive intensive support from the state or support for those particular student groups. Next slide, please. And I know this is a lot of information. So again, I know like somebody mentioned we'll be back again to make sure we can still have a true understanding. And I know I've kind of presented this prior too, but it's much different when you actually look at it with our own data. So we want to look at how elementary
019schools are being measured. The index shows that for mastery that's 65%. Growth is 25% and readiness is 10%. That 25% is made up of reading SOS which is 22.5%. math which is 22.5 science 10%. And then the access test which is called WEDA it's the progress in achievement for our English language students that's also measured at 10%. Those numbers give us that 65%. Growth is measured separately 12.5% for growth in expected growth in math and 12.5% for expected growth in reading. and readiness on an elementary level that's 10% is directly aligned with chronic absenteeism. Next slide please. For middle school is a little different. So middle school is actually 60% for mastery, 20% for growth and 20% for readiness. that additional 20% in readiness um 10% is for chronic pathism and the other 10% is
020for advanced programs advanced course work. Next slide please. So high school is a little different where the other ones measure all grade levels. The high school measure is cohort meaning the group that's graduating that year. So mastery is 50% and that's based on the reading at 15%. Mathematics 15%, science 10%. And the um read access um assessment 10%. Efficiency. For readiness is also a little different. Chronic absenteeism is 5%. Then you also have your six year um extended year graduation rate at 5%. And this is different. So your three E is 25%. So that's a huge part of that readiness and graduation for within a four-year cohort that's 15%. So that's how those scores are comprised. All right. So now let's look at our data a little closer. So this is what you'll see if
021you go on Virginia Department of Education. Cool Springs currently has 63.6% 6%. So their performance levels need intensive support. Their accreditation standard is fully accredited. Lake Elementary 62.4% need intensive support and they're accredited with conditions. Pleasant Lane Elementary 61.5% need intensive support with conditions. Walia Elementary 73.9% need intensive support and then fully accredited Bernie John's Middle School 65.4% off track and accredited with conditions. Petersburg High School 78.9% off track and accredited with conditions. I'm going to pause here for a moment to make sure you all have opportunity to digest the data. be quite honest. There's a lot of information. So, I'll ask this one question on this particular screen because I'm curious to know what that intensive support can be would be for reason because we have two elementary schools that are fully accredited elementary
022schools are missing by 3% I mean just right at the So if I would do anything else, of course I would challenge that one. You know, I'm not Google, but anytime you have an elementary school that's missing it by some percentage points, it would be some question. So um I'm very curious as to what >> that's a very good question. I just want to remind the board and it's going to take us some time to digest this because we've been used to think of accreditation dealing with mastery and performance but it's not. So it's not the way that we used to think of accreditation right now. It's just basic based on compliance. So I'm going to dig deep into that now. So it's not so much on like like you said listening by few points
023that's our new accountability system. So they kind of play um they're using two different systems to weigh them. So it's going to take us a while to make sure truly understand because we say, "Okay, well, why is this school fully accredited, but this one is not?" So, I'm going to dig deeper into why the wise is around accreditation. >> And and just going back over and reading it as we're going through it, talking about compliancy for accreditation, you know, uh that would, you know, just in the back of my mind, what what portion of compliance are we missing? >> Yes, that's a good question. And I wish I should. >> So, that would be that would be the wider question mark in my mind. Yes. >> Thank you. And I'm hoping that we do dig
024just to find out because >> and I share. Yes, sir. If we if we got if we're sitting that close, you know, and and if we don't check it and check the state because because you know, we've been working through this for a long time and yeah, I would I would challenge thatbody sitting up there. So, >> I would challenge. >> Okay. And at the end I'll share about things that we are working on just that same thing. >> All right. So we look at the next slide. This kind of deal. Sorry I did comment. I was totally impressed by the system in so far as what if we've had two schools that were accredited it was like a victory. And you know that's that's awful. And here we're saying that all of those schools
025are Yes, there are conditions etc. But it gives you a feeling like there's hope, right? Am I am I not reading this correctly? >> So So you are reading correctly. We just want to make sure like I said in the past we thought about accreditation. We thought about student performance, right? >> It's different now. So now the way they measure accreditation is more about compliance. So now the way that we measure student performance and mastery is underneath the um performance levels. So it's changing. And so we want our schools to be either distinguished and on track. So the accreditation is a whole separate system now from the performance. >> At least it's not a slap in the face. >> So we both want So we definitely want both. So we we're celebrating we're celebrating all
026the victories and we want both. So we want them to both both be fully accredited and um doing well in the performance category. So you are correct. So we're going to celebrate our wins and we want all of us all the schools to be fully credited. Right. So, um, and I don't want to skip ahead because I know we have a lot of questions. I will probably go over this one, but then I'm going go into how we understand how accreditation actually works and I think that will kind of unearthed a little more things too. But if you just look at this next slide, this just kind of gives you an overview or breakdown of how those scores were actually compiled. So, I won't read that to you, but you know that the first slide
027just gave you the overall score, but this slide kind of tells you exactly how they got points in each of the categories. and Dr. Jackson, thank you. I think what's what's important is the way that the new system works, you earn points. There's a maximum number of points that you can earn for the three categories. If you're elementary school, you're looking at master on the SOS. We're looking at growth and progress and then looking at readiness, which is chronic absenteeism. You earn points for mastery. So, Dr. I don't know. I can't remember if there's a slide that shows what's possible. >> For example, mastery cool spring will earn 42.04 points >> out of 65. >> Out of that's it. Out of 65, >> right? And growth 14.18 out of 25 and readiness 7.44 out of
02810. And so what what we said is we don't leave points on the table. How do we um continue to show, you know, growth? We should be growing kids. And so, we want to earn more points out of what's possible each time for us to get better and better. And so, what we're doing is making sure that as we look at as for leaders, how many points did you get? Were you far away from it? How close were you to the bar? And so um there are you know it's a little bit different if you're getting you know if you look at some of the comparisons look AC across our elementary schools look at the trends if you see our elementary school mastery scores they look pretty much they've earned about the same amount of
029points give or take one or two 42 41 43 >> and and I would like to first of all I'd like to u commend uh superintendent on challenging and appealing for each school because that's the way we going to get to the particulars of each school. What I said and what what I would like to suggest in your in in your appeal process to get to find out exactly how this thing going to be working, how we can get the most of it, make sure our principles are involved in that appeal process because when things are pointing out, it going to be different to them because they're actually doing the job. So in that appeal process, make sure our principles are involved so they can get that information firsthand and ask questions that the central
030office might ask in general they could be more specific. So the thing is is that and the more people get involved then that one thing I met with um executive with the um BOE at my Charlottville meeting last week and she told me that they don't get enough response from Peace School Board where that we they want to work with us to get these schools accredited and and we've been for 21 years and and as a board, not an individual, as a board. We're not um doing a lot of communicate, not probably any communication as a board. Maybe as a chair, but not as a board. and she said, "In order for the board to get you where we can actually help you and follow your leadership, we need to be on top of our
031duty, too." Because one of their goals this year is Peace Creek City Public Schools almost at the top to get us off that MOU and that's a fact. I was at the meeting. So, the thing is what you're doing is exactly what need to be done. But we need to as a board we need to get on board find out what we can do because the involvement especially the principles and the central office everybody on one page it's going to be a we going to see it but this should be the benchmark >> this should be the benchmark here that this is where we are benchmarks going to tell you where you going going to go showing you where you are. So this is where we are. So everybody, we going to be next time
032we see this, every last one of those going to be a little bit higher. >> Hey, look, I might need to excuse myself, but I got to talk call, but um I commend you and keep up the good work. >> And and just like Mr. said, we have already started this conversation with principles. So he's right on spot on principles and the team working collaborative. So that was good. Fantry Christmas. >> I just want to turn your mic off right there, Mr. Mouse. >> So, yes. So, again, this is baseline. So, this is baseline for every >> turn. Thank you. I'll be looking for that. >> Merry Christmas. So again, this is baseline data and so it allow again it aligns it shows I think for the first time Mr. Brown will speak to um
033our leaders clearly understanding exactly the system and how we earn points how you know points are you know taken away. Um, but I do want to like highlight that readiness score. You know, we want to see movement. We want to see want to embrace progress a step at a time. Losing readiness readiness at the elementary and middle school is nothing but chronic absenteeism. If we improve chronic absenteeism, we should earn more points in readiness score, which will help us lift our framework score >> and for middle school children work. >> That's right. and advanced coursework. And so we talked about advanced kind of acceleration in our strategic plan draft that we want to focus on that. So we're building a plan that helps us points. We understand we're talking about kids, but the state is
034talking about earning points for the work that's being put in. So this year we should be seeing this readiness score improve as we improve chronic absenteeism rates because that's how you earn the points for that. Is that correct? >> That's correct. >> That's how you earn it. So schools that we want to see grow, we want them to grow academically in growing kids because going from zero going from in mastery is a lot different than showing progress and you want to earn points for showing progress. Um because you know we know realistically a student doesn't go from zero to 100. that is building each year the student getting better and better and what the instruction that they're receiving and the support that they're receiving. But like I said, there are there are areas that we
035can attack to say we want to get 10 out of 10 for chronic absenteeism and that will change the score. Is that correct? >> So we don't want to lose something for attendance that we can have out the gate. Um, so that's that's the point. If we noticed like even with one of the schools, they had gotten all those 10 points, they would have moved to the other category. So you are correct. We don't want to leave any points on that table. All right. in plain language. If you're at schools, you're not only are you excelling in readiness, but you're there to learn what is being taught and therefore your mastery points will increase. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Exactly. and your growth because you're there next >> your growth because we want them to
036because if they are at a certain level and they need to get here and they're here if they don't get here you may not get those points because that doesn't happen overnight but if they get here we get points for growth if they grow is it 12.5 is that correct >> percentage a percentage oh sorry so growth we want them to show progress and the next slide is going to probably help us understand a little bit better about the new um accreditation system. So this answers maybe the question why certain schools were um listed as um conditionally um conditionally accredited or fully accredited. So this was based on last year. So last year um not on this slide but last year Walder Hill and Cool Springs were all both listed as um a targeted support
037school. So if you were a TSI school then and you met all the other qualifications then you're listed as fully accredited. So that's why those schools are listed as fully accredited. Whereas Bernie John's Lake and Pleasant Wayne were all comprehensive reports um in improvement schools which you see right here meaning they were in a lower 5% for title one schools. So that's the only reason why they have that distinction. So if you so it wasn't because the students didn't perform or outperform the other ones. It was because they're identified as a lower 5%. And just a reminder it takes three years to come out being the lower 5%. So, and I'm pretty sure the superintendent already shared with you all, we do choose, we are going to go ahead and appeal that because we haven't
038following a plan and put everything in place. So, if we're following a plan, we're doing everything we should be doing, then we are complying with what's being asked and it takes three years before we evaluate them to say, okay, they move out of the status. So, for those reasons is why those those elementary schools are in listed as well as school. And I think we've kind of started conversations with the fact that there may be an opportunity as we're still learning that because you know if you're fedally identified as a CSI school again that three-year cycle it you should be we want them to show the expectation is that schools continue to show growth but if you're CSI in 2025 right >> that means for the next three years right 26 27 28 is the
039first time that you can be reviewed and considered for if you've made enough growth over time to be able to no longer be identified. So that's the first and I know the board is already aware of that but I just want to that but we still are expecting within that three years that schools are still growing but once you're in for CSI you're in for those three years and if they're basing your accreditation on that you know that you're going to be conditionally accredited for three years until they can take another look because it's that cycle. Okay. And so um it automatically puts you in that category. And so we are trying to ask you know about that um because again the you know accreditation is around our SOQS and the expectations from um Virginia
040that should be in place in schools. And then just to update you in reference to the high school because you question might say well then why is a high school also conditionally accredited? And that one is that was solely based on us offering um certificate of completion which we we did not it's in our policy but however it was not in our um programs of study. So we're going to also submit that appeal because it is in our policy. So it's in our policy then complying because again remember now a condition just based on compliance. So, it's definitely one we will submit as an appeal. And just as a reminder, and not to compare us to anyone else, but a lot of our neighboring schools, high schools, if you look at some of them, they're
041all conditionally accredited for that same reason because of that um diploma um type that was not offered. >> And again, for our CSI schools, it is focused on all the students. Yes. and their performance um growth and performance of our all the students at the school and the TSI school is whatever they identify students with disabilities ESOL or ELLL students that group of students the other students um are performing at a rate that's um expected but their student group is where the challenge is. So for Walnut Hill, their identified piece is the students with disabilities that we have to continue to work on supporting um so that you know Walnut Hill can move out of um federal identification because TSI is one group of students. CSI is all students. Is that correct? >> Yes. And
042then again CSI every three years but TSI is evaluated each year each year. So each year at the TSI school, Walnut Hill has the opportunity to be reviewed as to is that subgroup population of students performing or showing growth the expected level of growth, right? But at the same time, they're still also looking at all the other population of students, but that's the identified area of challenge for um Walman Hill. And keep in mind, the student group used to be 30. They have reduced that number to 15 just because a lot of schools kind of mass that. So you notice a lot of schools who are fully accredited and doing well. You've seen in the news not doing as well because that number has shrked. So now the targeted number for the minimum size of
043a group is 15. It's no longer 30. That's exactly right. So if you had right if you had you know um you had to have at least 30. Is that correct? If you have a population of 12, they didn't even they didn't review the student population. It didn't even count it. But now if you have 15, it counts and it changes. Um because I think the state is talking about looking at all groups. I think they felt like the number was 30. It felt like you miss kids because people probably were at 28 kids, 29 kids who were in a subgroup population for the tested areas, right? only for the testing areas then they counted but anything below that never counted. So you might have missed kids. You might have missed the 25 kids that
044you had and they might not have been growing but they didn't look at your performance because you didn't meet the threshold of the 30 kids. Now it's 15. And so now it's a different um expectation that as like you said um probably and I don't want to speak for other school divisions but I'm sure that that subgroup number has changed the level of expectancy um for all kids. And I do want to go back because I feel like I missed um one thing on the slide. We don't have to go all the way back. So if you notice that Walden Hill was um reduced because you they are accredited with their TSI school. So any school that's TSI performance level is lowered one. So if you look at that actual point the one appeal they
045actually accumulated um 73.9 >> 73.9 you have it. >> Okay. Thank you. 73.9 but they al but they're listed as a school needs intens of support. And you might say, "Well, those number you said 65 or higher." But if you're TSI school, they lower you a category. So, it should have been listed as um off track, but because they're TSI school, the states lower them by category. So, you notice there's an aster by that. The same thing if you're a school that's distinguished, but you're a CSI school, they don't allow you to hold that highest distinction. So, they still lower you by category. So, that's something new. So just in case you kind of look at those numbers say well hey this doesn't add up that's the reason why walnut here is this need intens
046of support. So a lot of folks going to ask well how can the school be fully accredited but need intens of support how could that happen and because accreditation is based on one standard and um in one measurement whereas master is used for the accountability system. So one is more compliance and other one is mastery. So we still grab >> mastery growth and graduation. >> So I just mastering both growth and readiness and graduation. >> Graduation. That's what I say. It's different now. It's not just mastery. The old system was just mastery. Is that right? >> Okay. Gotcha. >> And you get um support um and you already know theou is a certain percentage of schools that are CSI. If your school division has more than 40% of your of your schools identified as CSI,
047>> then you automatically are in that in that category of support through anou 40%. And so you may have school schools divisions that have lots of schools that are CSI, but if it does equal 40% then that's a different threshold. Okay. So, I'm gonna transition to the team. I just want to give some highlights before I transition to the academic team. We do already. Next slide, please. As we already mentioned, we know that we definitely want to focus more on our students with um disabilities across um the reading and math. Also, that growth is um they have been growing. I want to make sure we say that our students with disabilities have grown but just not at a rate where it closed the achievement gap yet but they have been showing growth. So I want
048to make sure I reiterate that. We also want to make sure we focus on chronic absenteeism and um our ill growth as well as our students with economic disadvantage. So our students with disabilities have high chronic absenteeism rates. Yes. And our e progress rates remain inconsistent. So, we're working at the elementary grades. >> And next slide, please. And we also kind of look at this overall by race. So, um, of course, we have black students represent the largest portion of our group at PE public schools. The performance in reading and math is considerably below the division average and they have higher chronic abetism rates. Our Hispanic students vary across the division, various schools, drilling their um outcomes in science and growth are a lot um stronger. And again, we want to make sure they progress
049on that assessment. That would be key to give us additional points. And also their attendance rates are a little lower than other student subgroups. And again, our white students um have been outperforming our other students. they have high proficiency and growth outcome and high achievement um within this current system but it is a small IT is a small portion of our group size. So any discussions I just I just have a question our students continuously have to flip through reading series all the time. the series of flipping all the time. And then the same areas that our students live in makes a total difference also and we we sometimes are not subject subjected to that. But how we have to realize that that is a part of it. So here we are again. We go
050and get another series and we go get another series. And all of this takes uh it's is heavy on the situation we're trying to make better. It doesn't just work that easy. And so we we sometimes really need to put other people within our classroom to give us that support that we used to have. long time ago that kept kids. They began to be very uh their their motives were better. They were more ready than before because you had more than one person in that class, more than two people in that class and sometimes you were able to move forward faster. >> Any additional questions for our discussion? things you want to discuss and I'm going to turn over to um the academic team in a moment and I'll make sure I clear up any
051questions I need to have or >> no questions just want to make a statement to board members just want to let you know I submitted probably about 15 questions I gave it to Miss Bram to send to the school um what's it called um yeah office of school improvement s the performance because the question one of the main questions I had was if you have schools identified as needing anticipate support. How are they going to support us? I mean, you released all of this data, but you're not giving us any answers on on how you plan to support us. And I even heard a superintendent interviewed and said the exact same thing. You know, they want to know how you going to help us move forward. You you've released the data, but you don't have
052anything in writing to show how you plan to support us so we can move to the next level. I mean, It's it's ridiculous. And and also on behalf of what Mr. M said, you all know, of course, yes, we have been on for 21 years, but the Department of Ed also has changed as many superintendents as we have changed superintendent because every time we go, every superintendent comes aboard the Department of Ed and tells us that they're going to work with us to change our next month, the superintendent is gone. And the next superintendent comes and said, "We're going to work with you on theou and we're still waiting for them to come down now to work with us on with the new individual that's in place." I'm not sure her name as a black
053female that's in place. I looked at the video and she said she was coming to Petersburg and I think they came to meet with you all. Did they give a date on when we're going to move forward with? >> So, no, they are um they have not. They mentioned just briefly in the meeting Dr. Booker um tiara bookwire she's deputy superintendent um over you know the departments are shifting but I know school improvement is one of the departments that's under her and basically it was highlevel information they're first looking at the data determining which school division will continue inou and if you're in a currentou there will be um I think high level the possibility of having some adjustments done to theou um but it'll be based upon feedback from the state board of education.
054I know that it's a board-to-board agreement. Um, but based on what you know what they can what they'll be what they'll be offering, they'll start making tweaks. But a part of theou process as I understand is that there will be uh a review of the school division. And so as I understand in the lastou that was performed I guess they came in a team came in and looked at all the different aspects of the school division and then determine and this is information because I wasn't >> I guess historically as I'm understanding and they will then then go from there to figure out what um changes and adjustments will be made. Now, what I'm understanding is that, you know, as um the leadership in the governor's office changes, governor's mansion changes, I understand that in
055Virginia that shifts as well. So, I don't know what that means, but I think you can speak to it because you've been here knowing that um you know, I don't know what that next process. All I know is that there is the plan to update the but it'll be in alignment with this new system and it'll be in alignment after um I guess a a division review and I don't know who's doing that review if it's internal external um I think they're working with the board of education to determine next steps for divisions if they will who will remain who will stay but if you have a current I understand that it will be amendments made to it from what the hype is what all I've got I got this >> yes perhaps considering to
056Mr. London's statement which I think we've experienced if we've served any time on the board there's been change in I'll say the reading and even the mathematics programs and does that come from the um superintendent of education are those changes brought by that or is that are those brought by superintendent >> so typically I guess a superintendent would come in and um look at I guess the curriculum to determine you know what's in place and they can work to um adopt you know uh adopt select put in place a curricular resource to support the teaching and learning process of the standards of learning and so um it can change that's not unusual for when a superintendent goes into a school division they may have a there's a resource that they may um have had experience
057with or understanding that it works for students. Um I'll be very honest when when I came into the division last year and Mr. Brown came on board um Petersburg had um you all had already before I even came to Petersburg you had already adopted a new um K to 5 reading um English language arts reading curricular resource amplifier. I was extremely thrilled coming from a state um where I was very familiar with some of the amplified and it was it was just nice to see that the school divisions had looked at it and it's a rigorous um program. I mean that program is a rigorous resource that you all already had put in place that was aligned to the standards. Very honestly there were other resources that we had in place that were not necessarily
058aligned to what kids are going to be assessed on and what they should know and understand and be able to do. And so that's where that shift came where we have to provide kids in in education. Now, one of the the research talks about kids having access to high quality curricular resources or high quality uh high quality um HQIM instructional materials. That's one of the the biggest pieces is that if kids don't have access to those high quality curricular resources that are aligned to whatever your state standards are, then we are putting them at a disadvantage. And so the superintendent to answer your question can typically shift but what typically when you adopt you adopting for three years in order to be able to have something that's consistent um and I think you all have
059adopted amplify for already you all have voted. So that's going to be the you know that's the curricular resource that's in place for three years. Am I correct? Any other questions about this data? Next, we're going to have the instruction team come talk a little bit more about what's in place. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Dr. Jackson for um that data document. Thank you and the data team for your and so Mr. Brown will transition now that we've had a chance to look at the um data assess assessment data and Mr. Brown and we and team will talk about exactly what we've instituted in place as infrastructure for the teaching and learning process in Petersburg so that we can support continuous improvement in our schools. So, good evening um school board, superintendent, community members. Just
060want to take an opportunity to kind of recap our academic plan. And this plan actually started last year focusing on mastery and growth. Just want to remind you of last year we kind of rolled out an instructional framework that created what learning should look like in our classrooms. And then we also started the adoption process. And so the curricular resources that we have at Petersburg City Public Schools were first they were vetted by the state and then our community had an opportunity to participate in the selection of of those resources. And so specific and I know this math specifically math we adopted last year but previously we adopted amplify and we also went through that process as well. When we went through the process of selection that process involved community members had a chance to
061participate teachers as well as uh anyone in the community could participate in that process. We wanted to make sure that those resources will align with the Virginia so and so today we want to kind of walk you through our plan but I want you to think about two things we've already put in place in our division. One we have a current instructional framework of what learning looks like in Petersburg city public schools. And two, we have adopted high quality material to ensure that our students are getting grade level material each and every day. And I always try to remind um coming as a former teacher and a former principal is the curriculum is not for the adults. The curriculum is meant for students and it makes and and it's a it's it creates a structure
062ensuring that students are getting high quality materials. So a key pillar of our plan is ensuring all students have access to high quality instructional material. We have adopted new curriculum and those curriculums are listed above. I'm not going to go over them because we've seen them. Um this is what we're using now. So, our parents should be seeing those resources at home. In our curricular resources, we include um a paper version as well as a online version. So, our students have both versions that support. So, parents should see students bringing home consumables where they are writing in them and you and using them in the classroom. They also can access them online as well. Mr. Brown, can you speak to the fact of what we didn't have in place? Because I know that the question
063about I know that we've changed, but in many of these category, I mean many of these content areas, we didn't have a curricular resource in place. So, it wasn't, you know, necessarily shifting or changing um all of the curricular resources. There was some there was nothing in place. Is that so if you could speak to >> Yes. So, we had so last year we had amplify. Amplify was our K5 curricular resource for ELA. For mathematics, we were using the U Hampton curriculum and that and we were we were not we were using parts of it. So, we were picking choosing what parts were done and it was not done with Fidelity. When we looked at our math curriculum and we did our math adoption, we wanted to make sure that we had high quality materials
064that was vetted by the state. And so the state had their adoption and I think that's what Mr. um London was referred to around the state adoption and typically adoption does take place three to five years every 3 to five years because as you know um the world changed quickly now it wasn't the same when I was in school where I had the textbook my brother used when he was in school and and so the world has changed so much and our kids are asked to do more than what I was asked to do as a third grader or as a seventh grader and so we want to make sure that our particular resource represents what other students have access to as well. And so we went through an adoption process. Um, and that process
065started with what did the state endorse? And that endorsement is more important because that endorsement says that the state says this curricular resource is aligned to our so aligned to what our standards are for Virginia and it ensures that kids will be exposed to grade level content. When you think about the three things that impact students, there are three groups that impact students outside of the family. The first one is the teacher. Having a teacher that stands in front of the students, who's willing to do the work for whatever kid walks in that classroom. The other piece is having the principal. The principal is the instructional leader of that building and drives what happens in that building each and every day. And then that third piece is having high quality material. Making sure that every
066kid whether they are special ed, regular ed, gifted starts off with tier one instruction with grade level material. We in Petersburg, we have all three. We have great teachers. We have principles in place and we have high quality materials. And so the team um you'll have here we have Miss Massie who works with our curriculum department and then we have Miss Lowry who works with the school department. We work closely together to make sure that we are ensuring that our principles play a role in the implementation and roll out of our curricular resource. This year we we have held tightly to the expectation that we use our adopted curriculum resources because that once it's it ensures that students are getting grade level material across schools across the division that there's no let me go pull
067from here um and so it makes sure that students are getting exposed to grade level content. We also know that in our division um our students sometimes travel from school to school and so by having a consistent uh curriculum. It ensures that our kids if they transfer from Cool Springs to Wanda Hill, they are getting the same curriculum and and kids are still on the same pace. So, we have that in place. But the biggest piece um that I think that once that last part, all of our resources align with and they are grade level appropriate for our kids. Next slide, please. in the curriculum department. Um again I've introduced Miss Massie who is over um over curriculum uh Miss Lowry support schools but for for our division we have six members and their responsibility
068is supporting all schools and I know they are still here and I do want them to come up because I know they've been waiting patiently. I just want to say thank you to um our curriculum team, our division curriculum team. And they are responsible for supporting teachers. They're responsible for implementing the curriculum. They're responsible for modeling for schools. They're responsible for helping with PL. They do all this work. It's six of them. This year we when we rolled out new curricular because we want to make sure that our specialists are content strong and they are aware of our new curricula resource. We partnered with the vendor and so for for each vendor for each curricular resource that we adopted we partner with the vendor and they have sent a specialist with us for one year
069only to help support the implementation of our curricular resource. They will go away at the end of the year, but they are here helping us with our new implementation of our curriculum. I do want uh Miss Jackson, who is our reading specialist, uh please come forward. Miss Austin, who is our elementary math specialist, she supports all of our elementary schools with the math rollout. Um Dr. Gates is K is um secondary English. Please come forward. Miss Evans was our um our secondary math. She has transitioned out of the division, but I do want to recognize her because she worked tirelessly to make sure that our teachers and our schools got what they did for math. And I always want to acknowledge whether you are, you know, she's no longer here, but she did the work
070on behalf of children. And so I do want to acknowledge that. And then we have Miss Charity, Miss K12 science. We have one person that supports the implementation of science across our career, across our division. And then we have Miss March who does K12 uh social studies. So when you think about our accountability system, our accountability system is measuring us around mastery and growth. Those are two pieces that are academic piece. These are the the team missing one that really are the boots on the ground in schools supporting and training our instructional coaches. They are also supporting teachers. They are going into schools um making observations, providing feedback. One of the requirements for this team is that when they go in schools, they email the principal or if they don't have a chance to have
071a conversation, they email the principal. They tell the principal what they saw in the classroom, what are the grows, what are the glows, and what are the next steps. It is this team that drives it. I just want to publicly say to them, thank you as a team. And that's the One thing that I want to say to our school board and to our community, we have some great adults in our our schools and in our central office that truly want our kids to do well. And this is just one example of that group. And I just want to say next slide please. >> Okay. So this is our division. Yes sir. >> Yes. I want to say something. You said that they go to all schools, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. So I just
072want to say something on your behalf. If they go to all schools, I know they need some help. one person cannot cover all of those schools. We need to put some more boots on the ground to assist them. There is no way that one person can cover all those schools and expect for our kids to excel. So when we look at this budget, we need to look at making sure point taken. And I would say they work tirelessly and they not only go to schools to support schools, but they are part of the development of our casing guides, anything our instructional framework um and they do it without fussing. They just and they just do it and and and because they believe in children. So, I want the community to know that we have staff
073at our curriculum team that love what they do, but they love Petersburg City Public School and they want our kids to do well. And so, part of our call to action to the board kind of off track is going to be we need your help. We need your help in supporting the implementation of our curricular resources. we need your help um be a cheerleader for saying that we need to stick to our strategy in order to move our students forward. Um and so when we talk about our division support, one of the shifts we're making in our division is we're trying to move our leaders, school leaders from being um operational leaders into instructional leaders. Really owning instruction in the classroom and owning instruction in their building. And so when you look at the support
074what's happening at the school at the bottom of this triangle that's the curriculum team you just saw here that's us the next level um so it will be me this is the first the bottom is this three these three right here meas the next level is our district curriculum specialist the team of five that you saw here and then we have at the school level. There are others who are supporting the principal with monitoring and supporting teachers in the classroom. We have um instructional coaches, we have our TRTs, we have interventionists and some schools have specialists as well in their buildings. And then we have the teacher knowing that the teacher is the one that makes a difference in the classroom. Um I've had the opportunity to visit and as we talk about mastery and
075growth and we talk about this new accountability system we have this team we have been to every building in our um division and we've conducted instructional walks with the principal on my individual walks of the building. I've had the opportunity to visit some classrooms and here's the here's what I'm here's what I'm learning about our um teachers that I'm so proud of. I was in a seventh grade classroom at Vernon John's middle school and I was observing the classroom. There were two teachers being taught by a regular ed teacher and a special ed teacher, the co top class. I did not know which teacher was which because the special education teacher was actually leading the class and what I noticed she was using our curricular resource using a consumable and she had one in hand.
076She anticipated what kids didn't know. She provided support. So when I met with them after the meeting, I I I said, "Whose book is that?" And she said, "Miss Ry, that's my book." I said, "What do you do with it, Mr. R? I do all the problems myself before the kids do it." >> That's what we call true lesson internalization. >> She has worked out every one of those problems. So now she understands what it's like for a kid that may be on level, but she also can anticipate what it may be like for a kid that's not on level and really support. And so those are some of the examples we're finding in our school buildings um where teachers have said, you know what, I am here for children. I'm going to own the
077curricular resource and I'm going to make it work on behalf of children. And so we have lots of examples of that. I was at a football game, our home football game, the last football game we had, and a teacher walked up to me and said, "Mr. Brown," and I don't know why they picked the home game for that, but Mr. Brown, I finally understand. And I'm great. I'm glad to hear that, sir. And I said, "What made what made the difference?" I had to do the work myself. So I know for a fact the first couple of months it was it's it's a struggle for our teachers but again it is giving our kids if we're going to increase mastery and we're going to increase growth for kids. We have to make sure that students
078are exposed to grade level material and our teachers have to internalize it. And a part of supporting teachers at the top level is the principal. So one of the things I do we do we have um and that's one of the that's one of the areas kind of talk about it is we conduct quarterly uh walkthroughs and we uh and we'll we'll go in details about that but we're trying to build we want principles to understand at the top of the pyramid what's you are responsible what's happening in the building and so that's what that pyramid shows there. Next slide please. Good evening everyone. Um I'm going to talk a little bit about professional development and some of the things that we are doing in the buildings with our specialist team. So for professional development
079during this first semester we actually um have a really really great and strong team and during our professional development it it really centered around the curriculum implementation. So thinking about our curriculum implementation, part of the professional development for ELA, elementary ELA was focused on Amplify and that digital experience for our teachers because during that first year, we did focus heavily in on the consumables and making sure students and teachers understood how to use the print tools. We also focus in on our intervention supports that are um complimementaryary of the curriculum so that students are getting practice and getting that additional support or that acceleration with the curriculum through those intervention tools. So we looked at booths, we had um mclass intervention and we also wanted to just take note that during that first semester and
080as you know during one of our schoolboard meetings we celebrated the 50 teachers that did complete those canvas reading courses that were centered around the science of reading. So we also have a really um much stronger network of our teachers who understand how to teach reading. For math, we had a focus on our new curriculum for KDUM. And so when the team goes in, they really focus in on those instructional routines found in the curriculum as well as question stems and they attend the weekly PLC plannings to help teachers with that internalization. Next slide, please. For secondary, during the first semester, we also um focus in again on our curriculum adoption. So for English, we really focused in on having an over our curriculum, helping our teachers understand the units and the um lessons and
081having a deep dive in those areas as well as having support for our diverse learners through the English program. In math, which we use in vision, we had training around the three-step teaching model, which is the model they use to help support the teaching of mathematics lessons. And we also um had conversations around academic discourse in math classrooms. Next slide please. In terms of the support that is our division level support. So that happened during the summer that happened early August and that also happened during our teacher level professional development when teachers came back in the buildings. But then during the school year our team also goes out and they provide professional development embedded in the schools and they do things such as providing those demonstration lessons Mr. Brown spoke of also having opportunities to
082facilitate those PLC's as well as going in and helping teachers with the internalization. Um, another piece that has been a really big robust part of our program is providing that feedback directly to principles and being able to offer that support and conversation and dialogue with them. Go to the next slide. When we continue to think about our curriculum specialists as well as the vendor coaches, we want to also think about the that not only are they attending the PLC's, not only are they modeling lessons, they also meet individually with principles, they meet individually with coaches and teachers to provide individualized support based on the questions and the needs that they have. And finally, Mr. Brown talked about the dedication of the team. They help to organize classrooms, get material. He talked about the science labs
083that every school has and we're now doing inventories there. And finally, any other that school needs. If we lose power, our team's there to help out to make sure that the schools have the support that they need um by that way. So, they are always willing and will willing and able to support and the schools they have a really good relationship with the schools. Next slide, please. Okay. And then we talked about um and we have different types of walks and so I wanted to just take a moment to speak on curriculum implementation walks because we also have walks. Miss Lowry is going to the walks that she does specifically with principles on a regular basis. But for our divisionwide curriculum walks, it's really around helping principles and coaches and our team understand how instruction
084should look across the district and being able to have an opportunity to calibrate um with that information. When we did that, we identified um four key areas. If you go to the next slide, please. those walks, we identified the four key areas, but we did that in partnership with the CNI team principles and coaches so that they could get that immediate feedback. And we also use that information to determine our upcoming PD that we're going to have in January. So, the four key areas that we identified were really that blended model Mr. Brown spoke of using those consumables along with the digital materials. That would be a blended model. Also that lesson internalization, going from compliance to teachers truly understanding the lesson, feeling really comfortable with it so that they can support our students and
085also looking at student work and rigor um making sure that we are focusing in on academic discourse along with um high level questioning and then scaffolding students up. So Mr. Brown spoke about the fact that all of our students have access to grade level material but also helping teachers understand how access that material. Um so that they can also understand the material. So based on the results of our walkthrough for first semester, we are planning um professional development on um the first day teachers are back and that professional development will be around um using data to inform instruction. And so we know that part of that is we use math for our division to measure growth. And so we're going to have conversations around because we just finished schools are taking math now for their
086winter. And so we should have an idea of our students growth from August to December, how much our students have grown based on our instruction in the classroom. And so we are going to be having conversations with teachers and principles around what do we do with that data and how do we use that data to inform our instructions for second semester. The next piece is around how to leverage questions and academic discourse. During our walks we discovered that a lot of it was still because teachers are still learning the curriculum. Some of them are doing a lot of teacher talk. And we know that if kids can articulate what they're learning, that means they actually got it. And so we want to do more of giving kids opportunity to have discourse in the classroom. And
087so we're going to be providing our teachers with some strategies to uh address increasing student discourse in the classroom. And then we're also revising our instructional framework. The team of five, we have been working on uh revising our instructional framework. reflect our new curriculum resources. And so we we're we're not throwing anything away. We're always enhancing what we do and we try to make sure that everything is connected. So one of the things we always want to make sure that we do is that we don't want to throw something away. So we starting back over. We want to build on what we have. And that's what the team is doing, adjusting our instructional framework to reflect our adoption of our new curriculum resources. And so those are the big buckets of the that's going to
088happen on January the 5th when we come back for our PL day. We will also have a conversation with our team with all of our teams. We'll be meeting here at Petersburg High School. And at that meeting we're going to have a conversation with our entire um faculty uh about where we are as a division as it relates to the new accountability system and how we are not leaving points on the table. I will say that we've already started this conversation with principles and we've talked about growth and for some schools the growth was 7% and they left three points on the table instead got 10. So we're talking about how do you make sure that kids are growing every day in the classroom. And I've said to um our principles and I and I
089it was one thing I used to say as a principal. If kids walk in our door and they stay with us for 120 days, shame on us if they have not grown academically. >> That means we did not address their learning needs. And so we are going to be having conversations around how do we put some strategies in place to support academic growth in the classroom. Next slide. Okay, next slide. >> Go back one for me, please. So, under growth, yes, we're going to be using that data to I kind of talked about how we're using the data, but also we have tutors in the building as well as how are we doing small group instruction. And so we are putting some uh making sure that principles right now are going back revising their plan
090for February to address and adjust groups. Also giving um some guidance on what needs to be used during that tutoring time and as well as what's happening during intervention. >> And Mr. Brown, tutoring started for our students >> October the 15th. So, we've had we had tutors in the building and now we're going back because we have our new math data that we're coming. We're asking principles in their teams to look back and now teachers have been working with them. Some of those groups may need to change and so we're asking to make those adjustments. Next slide, please. So good evening, Superintendent Brown, board members, guests and families and all of our viewers. So as we've talked about, we saw data driven interventions. I will discuss the quarterly data review week. So as schools continue
091to gather their data to see how students are doing, we bring together the principles and their teams instructional coaches. As a director of school leadership, that is something that is very important to me to make sure that we bring together all of our teams so that we can actually look at the data. And we were able to help with making sure that there's an appropriate meeting protocol in place and also align with the new accountability model and with that it helps us to drive continuous improvement and to bridge the gap between curriculum implementation and student outcomes. What that looks like is oper operization and that helps us look at the mastery the growth the readiness and the graduation on the high school level. Um that also allows us to have those data conversations with our
092principles and teams to look at how are they monitoring the fidelity of the high quality instructional materials that we are using. With that being said, we also give them an opportunity to triangulate data sources and what that means is and Mr. Miles spoke about that earlier when we talked about the strategic plan is ensuring that we have those checkpoints along the way which is exactly what quarterly data meetings are which allow us to look and see where can we make improvements. How does that align with our map data? How does our map data along with our high quality instructional material data? And then ultimately to validate those assessments to ultimately look at are we actively using those resources and does it match the rigor of the assessments that we ultimately have students to take at
093the end of the year to determine if we are going to get those points in mastery growth etc. >> So now we're pretty much this year we've instituted those quarterly data meetings where they're led by principles. principles lead the conversation around their data and what they're specifically doing um in the building related to the high quality curricular resources and classroom instruction in general in alignment with our instructional framework. So that's our new instituting those quarterly um meetings in addition to the walkthroughs instructional walks that we're we're um um conducting um throughout the semester. >> Absolutely. Yes ma'am. This is the third the next thing we've instituted. >> And then when we go further and we discuss as you mentioned Miss Brown the instructional walkthroughs. Not only does the curriculum team that they've stated they do
094the curriculum um division walks. I implement the what I call leadership strolls with the principles. And so those are done bi-weekly. And so I go in with principles to actually take a a chunk of time and we're able to go in to look at the the delivery of the instructional framework. Um are they using the curriculum materials and what types of feedback are we providing to teachers um to help them grow instructionally? It ultimately closes the feedback loops to make sure that we are doing what we need to do. Next slide please. So, Miss Loward, that's looking at the feedback that principles are giving to their teachers around classroom instruction. That is correct. Yes, ma'am. And then just a little bit more on this on the quarterly data meetings. Um, ultimately that is done to
095support school leadership with analyzing measurable impacts on leadership capacity and student achievement. that allows us to inform our action planning and next steps for our instructional leaders. Um ultimately we at the conclusion of those meetings we have what we call a call to action much like um we'll be doing tonight. But ultimately that allows principles to leave the meetings with actionable next steps um and a defined list of instruct excuse me specific instructional practices um to look forward during their next cycle of walkthroughs and how they can continue to that feedback cycle. Next slide please. And with all of that being said, um, as the instructional leaders, the role of the principal as we kind of look at all of this is to ultimately be able to evaluate and coach individual teachers at their buildings
096to build instructional capacity of the teachers to maintain instructional accountability, which is so very important through our professional learning communities. And our principles also have made a commitment to go in to support their professional learning communities whether it's grade level on the elementary side or if it is content level on the secondary side but to make that commitment to make sure that they are doing and having those lesson internalization conversations um to strengthen differentiation practices to allocate time strategically. we can never have enough of it. Um, but they're actually looking to make sure how are you utilizing your time? Is there too much teacher talk? How do we increase that and have student discourse would be an example? And then to create a strong data culture and not only create it but to drive that
097data culture and then ultimately to close the instructional leadership feedback loop as we've discussed by delivering consistent immediate feedback to teachers so they know where to make the adjustments. If they know where to make the adjustments in their instruction then children know where to make their adjustments in their learning. Hence growth. Next slide, please. And so to wrap that up, our school leadership priorities just had plans for this year. Um, as I've shared, we want to support lesson internalizations. We also want to ensure that there is curriculum integrity to make sure that all schools are using the curricular resources consistently and with fidelity. As we've shared, we want to ensure when we're going in to look in those walkthroughs to make sure that teachers are using that blended learning model, not only using the digital
098online resources, but also to use the consumables that they can take home, they can write in, they can manipulate, and to use data to drive instructional decisions and ultimately strengthen intervention and tutoring alignment. Next slide, please. So before we close, I do want to just say that um whether we do quarterly walks, the instructional walks with principles, none of this is and I got you. It is how do we support? And so all of our walks is more of a think tank asking giving principles things to think about. providing support when we do our quarterly walks those um those walks and those data meetings they include um Dr. Manson team they include Mr. They include our gifted and we kind of do wrap around services. And so when we hear from a principal and we
099hear a need, that's when our team respond. And so that the the walks, all of it is about how do we improve. One of the things I've shared with our our principles, you're like the captain of the ship. You are moving the boat when it's calm, but you're always studying the boat in a storm. And because we know that when we introduce something new, it can be like we want to jump ship. But if we hold to it, the one thing I have I've learned about our teachers, they have the skill and and they and what I call supportive accountability, that's what I ask my team and the principles to apply. Be supportive, but we're going to hold and stick to our plan. So, we've asked for a call to action to the school board
100and we're asking our school board members to support us in the implementation of our new curriculum. Make sure that in your community meetings and when you talk to people, talk about how we're staying firm and holding uh the implementation of our curriculum resources because our kids deserve home grade level material each and every day. We're asking um emphasizing that adults in our building are responsible for what our kids learn and we are holding them accountable for making sure our kids get the very best education every day as possible. To our parents, we're asking our parents to schedule conferences with their school with their child's teacher to talk about what's happening academically with their child. And we're asking our parents to check their children's book bags to look at the consumables to see if their kids
101are actually using the consumables. We're asking our parents to pull up the digital material and ask kids to show what's going on because our kids deserve so much better. And I know for a fact that those scores that we saw on those unsafe tests does not reflect the true ability of our children. And so that's call to action to our board to our community. I want to say again, thank you for allowing this team to serve students um and we will take questions our discussion. >> Thank you, Miss Brown. We can go back. I just want to just highlight one last point about the call to action that we want to make sure that parents are sending their kids to school every day. We want to make sure that they are in attendance every single
102day and that you are taking a look at the attendance data because we have our attendance dashboard on the school division's website that each and every day you can see where your child's school is as it relates to attendance and chronic absenteeism so that it's transparent and you know where we are with that every single day. And so I just wanted to double tap on the attendance piece because kids can't get access to high quality curricular resources and instructional improvements if they are absent from school um every day or often. Thank you. >> Any questions? >> No questions. Um just want to make a comment. Um and Hopefully when the budget come we'll be able to put this back. With a school our size we have always this this is our first time that this
103has happened. We've always had a director of secondary and elementary. So hopefully we can return to that because that is a lot on the director of instruction curriculum instruction to be over all those schools. I miss that to be in all nine of those schools. We need someone who focuses on elementary and someone who focuses on secondary. I am not sure what you know I remember you all did that I'm just not sure why we moved away from that and I actually went out to the website and looked at some of the schools that that are successful and they do have the elementary and secondary directors you speak to our organizational structure. So when we changed the organizational structure uh for this year, we wanted to focus on one the curriculum implementation um and then
104we want to focus on secondaries and so I do agree with your recommendation that we do need um support but we also need to look at instruction and we already talked about improving increasing the number of specialists because it is a heavy lift for this team. Um the work that that they do is is what is what we do. we kind of share the load. I realize we um and we do things in conjunction with each other and so there's some things that supporting Miss Lowry um I'm doing along with her and I split my time with going to curriculum team and so I do agree that we do need to look at the support that we have for schools but it's a heavy lift um especially when we have in our schools we have
105those we still have those three groups of teachers in our building and that We have those who are certified, those who are long-term subs and those who are um working on certification and then we also have um a area around supporting our principles which need some a different and so we've been having conversations with principles and I will say um for chair that um this team has worked tirelessly um we work all the time. People may not think we work, but we work all the time. And we're constantly thinking about what can we do differently to support schools. And I'm constantly pushing them around, okay, let's try to how do we make this happen to support schools? And a lot of times we get calls from our principles. You can only imagine we got eight
106schools and they call and say, "Why is the person over here at my school? They're not are they in the office?" No, because they got eight schools. they're like they're splitting their time and so I do agree that we may need to look at how to revamp this for next year. >> So I think um thank you Mr. Brown. I think when you came in last year I think explaining the shift and why it changed was when you took a look at what the need was at the time. >> Yes. >> And that's was and I think and I in working with the state what they said is that you constantly continue to refine your organizational structure based upon how your school division moves. And so what you needed last year to get to this
107point, you start looking at okay. So now you had one person who's overcurriculum implementation from preK to I mean from K to 12 that one person brings in because sometimes you have disjointedness when you're trying to roll out new curriculum. And so I know Mr. around at the time in the conversation. I remember you talking about having someone consistently over the curriculum implementation of, you know, throughout elementary and and and secondary. >> You're correct, Miss Brown. And last year we did when we look at >> we did a curriculum audit last year and that's where the conversation started. And when we look at our curriculum resources, we were all over the place in our division. We had so many um curricular resources until our teachers had they could just pick anything to do. It wasn't
108strategic. And so when we were thinking about developing our curriculum plan, I wanted to have one person that I can go to and that we can build this project together with the curriculum team and so we can make sure it's aligned together from K12. And so that's was the start of it. Knowing that we had an opportunity to adopt some new curricular resources, knowing that some of the resources that were on our list were not even in line with um the Virginia um SOS that we had to remove some things. So I wanted to make sure I did that. But also on the other end, we also want to provide support to principles. And so I kind of split the two and say, "Okay, if you take leadership over here, then we can work on
109curriculum over here." And so it was me trying to have a right hand with curriculum and then have a right hand with school leadership. >> Thank you. Look forward to you all bringing it back to the board. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Any other questions? No questions. Board members, thank you all. Appreciate it. Board members, is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Is there a favor? >> Oppos? Motion carries. Good night.