001to think of no gender. Would you like a minute? >> I am one frozen. Are we ready for >> I've already started? Yep. When you bang the >> G started. All right. I'd like to call this meeting of our work session to order on March >> 4th. Um today um um call Mr. >> M. Heywood, Miss Lmer, Miss Phillips >> here, >> Miss Roland Miller >> here. Aliance, please aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Um, our safety briefing has been bypassed since we do not have anybody here. Um, and I would like a motion to approve today's agenda. >> Second. >> Okay. So, Casey has a haircut. >> Casey, was Yes.
002>> Phillips. >> Yes. >> Sorry. This is to what? >> The agenda. >> We're not going to change the agenda. >> This is to adopt the agenda. We've got a motion. >> Yes. >> M. Okay, gentlemen. I am so sorry. I do not know why. Yes. Okay. So, we have a motion to approve the proposed agender. Morning. Uh I have the privilege of speaking about the work of almost 30 individuals over the past two years. We're calling it the great grade reboot. Uh this is a culmination of collection research caliber collaboration across the district. Um it's not a cosmetic update to graded. It's more of a a full recalibration. um in how we define, communicate and support student learning. I think our guiding question is grades are one of the most important messages we send
003students. Are we sending the right message? So, I know that um I am short on time and I'm talking about two years worth and about 62 hours of FaceTime in meetings. Um so, I'm going to move fast. I'll tell you ahead of time that I have several frequently asked questions sort of developed that I can send you uh later today um that might answer any questions that you have if we do run out of time. So um our work is grounded in a comprehensive grading handbook that I gave you. Um in the handbook you'll find rationale for the work, practical implementation guidance, research foundations and uh clear definitions. Um we want to move beyond philosophy into consistent practice and this is the start of that. So, as an overview, um the grading framework is designed
004for grades 5 through 12. It's designed to begin implementing next year. Um it addresses needs identified through district data, is developed by a diverse group of educators. Um, it aligns directly with our commitment to ensuring all students achieve their greatest potential and it really centers on three anchors that I may be competitive throughout this and accuracy, growth and um it's about clarity. Um, it's about coherence, which has become my new favorite word. Coherence meaning, you know, classroom expectations align across teachers and buildings. Um, student experience, consistency instead of contradiction. So, coherence is our goal. Um, and it's about alignment, learning. There obviously is a connection uh to our district mission statement. Our hope is that it strengthens achievement and growth mindset, enhances communication, and promotes consistency but honors teacher expertise. Um it aligns with our
005priorities of academic excellence, student well-being, that lovely coherence word, and uh equity and assessment practices. Uh of note, it's not isolated initiative. It strengthens our one plan and reinforces the jacket way. Um it also strengthens our work with curricular review, MTSS and really those implementation actions uh are firmly grounded in the performance rubric of the Ohio teacher evaluation system. So it all sort of webs together. So, how are things? Um, before we really began this or during this, we took a lot of time listening to students and teachers and studying data. Um, we can tell you that we found really three things. One, inconsistent grading practices across classrooms, which we suspected and knew but was confirmed. Um, student stress and anxiety was tied to great uncertainty. I noticed the the last word there, Uncertainty is
006not exactly knowing teacher what that grade meant because it changed and was fluid wasn't consistent and there was a disconnect between grades and actual learning. So I will caution though and say that these findings are not um out of the norm. They really mirror national research. Um maybe we wanted to be different than national research in this regard but it was in line with what we see across many research findings. So, uh, this is this was an opportunity we saw was an opportunity to strengthen both academic outcomes and student well-being. It's not lowering standards, but it's clarifying that there. So, in terms of this work, um, we had teachers across buildings and disciplines, administrators, we had an outside facilitator working with us, actually, Dr. Green State University and um multiple rounds of feedback and refinement.
007Um I can tell you before we even began this um two years ago and Brooke was there, we pulled all the administrators in each of the building in a room and said this is what we will aim to do. Are y'all on board? because this is going to be a commitment. It's it's hard work, >> but we need to walk together. And walking together, that entail getting all nine administrators in the room at a time and saying, are we willing to do the work? Because if we weren't committed to the work two years ago with our administrators, I don't know if it would have been a worthy cause to start. So that was the start. Um during this process we reviewed research, analyzed local data, revised, refined, revised, refine, revise, refined. Um wasn't top down.
008This was built by educators or educators. Um often folks think we have master plan. There was no master plan. This is something that evolved over time. So our core principles, we have three core principles. Um grade should reflect academic performance alone. Um clear separation between achievement and behavior improve this will obviously end up in improve diagnostic accuracy for targeted support. Um rating should support ongoing growth. uh there's emphasis that on improvement over time and this goes to our our will and want of lifelong learners, right? Um in alignment with the growth mindset research and we want to encourage responsible behaviors um only by separating can we really target those explicit uh success skills that we want and prepare folks for for life after us. And so this is the culmination sort of creation of all
009of our work. And you know, it's not lost on me that probably 10 years ago, we spent two hours arguing about our mission statement, >> they had one word, >> right? And so this was hours and hours of getting down to what are our core beliefs that went from 10 to eight to seven to five to ultimately three, but also then recognizing what we want for outcomes and how this whole web connects to one another. Because all of our actions don't happen in isolation. they impact the next thing and really support the next thing or without some of those actions will miss the target right so central obviously is great should be based on academic performance but notice the outcomes and I think those are the outcomes that nailed really our three outcomes that we
010want for our work writing practices are more consistent I cringe when I hear the words teacher or things are different. Algebra should be algebra should be algebra, right? And evaluation and reporting processes are clear and more transparent. Whether we're young people or we're adults, we crave transparency. We tr we crave to want to know clearly what is expected of us. Not a guessing, not a oh, what is it going to be this year? Clearly. And the last thing, students are more self-regulated, engaged in in learning. We don't want point chasing. We want to develop love of learning, ongoing learning. >> And so, you'll see the the bottom two. I won't go too far into this because I know we're in a time crunch, but >> this really symbolizes a lot of the conversation and how
011things are connected. in a lot of the conversation I'll have here in a moment. So, one of the things we know from um Jake shared a wonderful podcast called the hidden cost of implementation errors and one of the the the big things that is unrealistic expectations. We know that any implementation takes three to five years to truly get on and running full support. We're not magicians. There's no magic wand. It takes a while to develop. So, what you're looking at here is some more of a short-term indicators and long-term indicators. Shortterm, in the next one or two years, we want to see more consistent grading practice across classrooms. Period. Uh we want clear communication about student progress. Um we want reduced grade related anxiety among students. Th those are clear short-term indicators for us. Long
012term we desire improved student ownership of learning um enhanced academic achievement stronger college and career readiness and better alignment in grades and standard measure. Now I will say that if you implement anything whether it's 18 years ago or PBIS 14 years ago we know from research the implementation is easier for kids that are younger than kids that are older. There's a lot of reasons for that. I mean, obviously, if I'm a junior, I have 11 years of experience of what school was and then I'm asking folks to change while your fifth graders are coming in and learning grades for the first time. So, there's sort of a split. And so, improve student ownership is going to take time and consistency. And so those are our expected outcomes and metrics and and I think these will
013become more clear through conversation because our great great practice committee is not going to dissolve this spring. It will continue because we'll continue to reflect gather refine and new challenges. So the framework um there are are five interconnected components that that we highlight and part of highlighting these these five things are without these those lofty core beliefs become really burdensome and hard to accomplish. Um and so we wanted to highlight these um to ensure rigor and and whole child development. First is um inconsistent uh grades do not always mean the same thing from classroom to classroom. Our solution is clear guidelines for grade interpretation. Um implementation may include point-based systems with thoughtful waiting proficiency scales to align to standards. Um How will this improve obviously transcript interpretation um college application enhanced communication with families that's
014our goal um in terms of um formative assessment there is there is a current challenge of what is practice and performance and and not they're often conflated um in in basketball terms that would be like going to score in practice and and not the game, right? We want students to have the opportunity to learn in a nice low stakes practice environment. We also want to take that information and guide our instruction. That should be a starting point for our instruction, not an end point that we put in the grade book. And so this is uh considerable work to make sure that feedback drives improvement. Um, our benefit, our goal is more responsive teaching, earlier intervention, and hopefully increased student engagement because what increases engagement? Instruction that's relevant to student needs. So terms of homework, homework
015was widely varied in purpose and great impact. Um I've lived as a parent through homework. I've seen good homework. I've seen bad. Let's be real. Um but we need to re redefine and make sure that we tag a purpose in it. Um there's also danger in giving bad homework, bad practice, you know, uh results in bad understanding, bad implementation on the student part. Um so we're going to emphasize clear purpose, appropriate waiting and possibly differentiating differentiation of student choice. Um this aligns with research and supports student well-being. Um and so homework obviously is one of those five. Um, another thing is reassessment. Um, structured reassessment. Um, we want to promote student ownership responsibility. We want also keep in mind a manageable workload for teachers. This isn't only limited retakes. It isn't everything is open for
016reassessment. It can't be because all assessments aren't designed that way. The other thing is there should be clear parameters for eligibility. There should be reflection. This is part of student ownership, right? There there is a little elbow grease to say that I want to do a retake, but you just don't buy a mulling. Say, I'm going to go through it and then I'm going to live it. I'm going to do better the next time because I've been exposed to it. No, there's student ownership in the learning process. This is going to look wildly different from subject to subject. It just is because a science lab or an ELA paper or a math assignment or why it all looks different and so it will look different. Um but we want to reinforce the growth mindset. Um
017knowing context should be based on an arbitrary date that we assign. So I take a test of fusion on January 30th. Okay, I'm done with fusion. I will never fusion. That that shouldn't be the case. So this is something obviously that will develop over time. And then um learning behaviors um are often obscured in academics um both ways to the detriment of the student or they mask true understanding for students depending on how we're waiting desired behaviors or undesired behaviors. Um so we need to clearly identify what those means are consistent reporting mechanisms and then explicit teaching. Um I'll give you an example of this. So um our eighth grade social stud is experimenting with sort of unweighted student turns in assignments or don't doesn't turn in assignments. It's unweighted but it is archived. And
018then we see how the student does the test compared to their their work performance. So nails on a chalkboard for a teacher is uh my my child's work, right? Um in your head you're saying shut up. I'll go there because work can mean many things. It's an easy word to throw out and sometimes the assumption is, oh, my child's way beyond that. But it could be they don't want to do it, right? It could be you're not interesting to me. Um, I need things in shorter snippets. It could be a lot of things. Um, correlary to that and taking a test is my child's not a test. Now, just because you don't do well on a test, don't doesn't mean you're not a test taker. Because you might not be doing the prep that it
019takes to be a test taker, and I bring up that junior high example because they can now clearly look at what students actions are and how it correlates to test. Now, yes, if students doing all the work, turn everything in. Maybe there's some test anxiety and things going on. But if all that stuff's missing and they're not taking any ownership of it, it's more than just I'm not a test. So, I just point that out as an example of a way this will help us pinpoint behaviors as opposed to glossing over and gives a test taker type. So sort of uh what we gain quickly students clarity reduce anxiety greater ownership that is our goal uh for parents hopefully more accurate information uh I would know if my child is laying a student or truly
020knows and that that that would be important. Um teachers gain stronger professional judgment hopefully more meaningful assessment. Um we as administrators gain clear data for decisions. Um public community gains better prepared college and careers and for the board we're more aligned to our strategic goals um gives us better data. So in terms of approach um year one is a lot of professional development and phased implementation. Now when I say phase um what I mean by this is our disciplinary areas could be in vastly different stages of their work. Um I would also say that our schools could be in vastly different stages of their work. Um Mr. Christie and I and Mr. Ferdick opened up this can of worms 11 years ago. So they've had a decade talking about this type of stuff. Um HBI
021when they came aboard took a lot of junior high because they had a lot of junior high teachers coming that way and a lot of those great structures. The high school hasn't had as many conversations. It looks different. Now the analogy that we have used a lot is we want everybody on the road driving the car within the framework of our I mean within the parameters of our framework right what we're saying is no school no car should be in the garage no car should be pulled over every car should be moving some cars may be going 15 some may be going 35 and our people that are feel validated by all this maybe going past the speed limit. I don't I don't know but all the cars should be moved right in year one.
022I know the principles are already having conversations in their departments. Um some are more structured than others but what what we're ending with is explain your grading philosophy and how is that in alignment with our framework. And these are going to be frequent conversations throughout the course of the year. If a car is driving 20, it doesn't mean they have to drive 20 all year. It may speed up. The reverse of that, oh, I went too fast. I need to slow down a little bit. I'm still moving. I'm still working within the framework. So, that's year one. Uh, year two, we see a more full throttle. We should be going a little faster, right? And obviously, Three is evaluation refinement. Um evaluation refinement is in every year. Um but we just look at that as
023okay we live this couple years. Where are we going? Um in terms of support structures obviously we have building implementation teams. Um we have folks in in every building that have sat in our committee. uh we would like to have some I don't know we how we want to call it but but experts get get more training to be more of a a voice within buildings. We have learning communities already built in either through teaming or department work and then there's a component of parent community education and I would anticipate that being more snippets uh more podcasts more short videos more short announcements because I don't anticipate this being thoroughly um and so in terms of resource allocation I think we're primarily working with existing PD structures as we are so terms of risk management
024um yeah there are there will be challenges uh you know in every implementation uh you have 20% of of your population that feel validated and empowered And yes, a lot of question. Let's roll. Um, you'll have 20% that that will be your resistors. We know that. We're not like any other organization or school or anything. You got the 60% in the middle. They're just waiting for you. Where are we going? And so, um, that it's a recognized challenge and and we'll meet that head on in terms of implementation consistency among schools. and across schools. Um it is the desire for administrators in in all buildings to work together. Um it is the desire to ensure that kids that leave my building or enter my building are one working under the same philosophy, the same practices,
025the same terminology. Um because we know that would only help all of our schools and all of our work. Um and parent understanding. um and getting the word out there. Um in terms of mitigation, um obviously communication plan, ongoing PD, uh regular monitoring and adjustments, and the frequently asked questions. Um >> just down to about three minutes. >> I'm so sorry. >> Sorry. Uh in terms of uh monitoring, um we'll monitor fidelity across schools. Um student performance trends, stakeholder feedback, college acceptance and scholarships, those will all be monitored closely. Um will upcoming we're going to review our policy and see if this causes tweaks to our current policy. Um that'll be coming quick. Um and you know just ensuring there's alignment. I I shared there was alignment just showcasing the alignment and then future expansion
026maybe a mis may not be the best way to to put that. Maybe it's more aligning or connecting with our K4 format just because it looks a little different. In terms of next steps, this year we're finalizing the handbook, uh, developing implementation resources, conducting initial staff trainings, having those conversations about what next year looks. Next year is implementation baseline data, regular updates to you, and then board actions to possibly reviewing and approving related policies, supporting communication, consideration of resource allegation if necessary. I'm not really seen now, but could be. So, I ask >> you did an amazing >> I am so sorry for our audience that's listening to this. Um, we have an extensive executive session on hand and that's why you saw the um super duper version of Mr. Miller's um presentation here, which
027is an injustice and a disservice to the years of work that went into this presentation. So, I thank you for your understanding of our emergency needs that we need to get to. And I would suggest that anybody who has questions about this in the audience, especially board members, to please reach out to Mr. Schwarz Miller. Um, and we will get answers for you for sure. >> As a reminder, who's going to send out that FAQ this afternoon? Probably the question you're going to ask is in that FAQ, but if it's not, you probably need to add it to the FAQ. >> There you go. So if >> I think the question that I would just because between the last presentation and this one um the portrait of a jacket so that that distinguishing the learning
028behaviors as not graded I'm not clear on how like the portrait of a jacket some of that's like a class project that's collaborative but some of that is behavioral um professional skills that we were looking to try to really engage students with. So I guess I my FAQ is how is portrait of a jacket behavioral pieces working into the curriculum if they're not graded. So that I I don't >> I uh I'll also include with the FAQs I have sort of crosswalk with our project. >> Anything else? Um my only question that I want to make sure is addressed in the FAQs is um parents as partners. How are we making sure that they get the information in a timely manner so that if a child is having diffics, they are able to address it
029outside of the school day, whether it's with extra tutoring or ability to sit down. I will make sure that that is conversely stands for >> student performance with the grading book that parents can look at at any time is like a mirror or a window into their world and their performance. That's different than before I came here where the teacher grade book was something we got from the parents didn't say so. >> Well, my other concern with that too is I know there's a great book online but especially in your elementary years when all the basic building blocks happen then the parents have evidence to look at so they can help identify what the area is. And I guess my question I'd like to see relates to that. Thank you. Um, as a parent when
030you mention promotes consistency, love to see how that looks and I'd love to see how that looks in terms of what you just talked about because the the online visual for some classes is fabulous. For others, it's really not. I had the entire semester last year. I didn't see until three weeks before the semester was over. So, it' be nice to see how that consistency looks different. >> Thank you, members. >> Yes, very much so. Very much so. Um, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Second, Missy and Mrs. Phillips. Mr. Chair. Yes, >> Miss Phillips. >> Yes, >> Miss Roland Miller. >> Yes, >> Miss Haywood. >> Yes, >> Miss L. >> Yes, >> that gets us down to word discussion. Um, Mr. Drew suggested that I do this in word
031discussion and that is the special meeting that is tentatively called for Monday the 9th. Um, Now that I have a captive audience amongst the members, um this meeting will be all executive session. It is the purpose of the meeting is to uh tighten up our processes for and practice for the interview which um interviews which begin the 12 and 13. Um, we have one member who's available on the 9th. I am willing to hear if anybody um I have one member that can only be here on the 9th. I have one member who cannot be here on the night. So that means that we do not have uh the ability for all of us to be together at the same time and that is that is fine. I'm willing to meet individually. Do um so
032right now I've got um Susan and Denise available on the 9th at 6 o'clock. Is there anybody else who will join us on the night? And Casey says, "No way." Okay. Um, >> can we not find another time that all of us could meet because I think if we're really talking about process, all of us should be in the room. >> I know, but it's not happening. Not with this group. It's not happening. So, that's why you've had almost two weeks to work on this. So, um, this is push come to shove now. So, we have Missy joining as well. And uh >> you only asked us for evening times. >> No, I said anytime, day or night, I didn't care. Just anytime. >> I only responded for evening. >> I read it the same.
033I apologize. I read it as evening >> because um when I said that we had Monday the 9th and the evening available, that was that was text. So, the first one was, "Please send me anything you got." Um, >> I didn't get the first text then. >> Okay. >> So, that's where we're at. So, Monday the 9th, um, at six o'clock, we've got four of us. Dr. Dr. Haywood, um, would you please then, >> you involve me, a doctor. >> Okay. I thought you got your PhD involved. I've been >> It's in the works. Okay. There we go. Three of the five of us responded only about evenings. Can we look at mornings that all five of us might be able to meet? >> So, um I'm probably the restriction for the mornings because I'm
034running a I'm running two school book fairs next week. >> So, it has to be a pretty morning >> just to get it out, >> right? That's next next week before we're running out of time. So, we've got this week, too. Yeah, I mean mornings are much easier for me. I'm free any morning but Friday this week. Um Okay. Well, the earliest we could do it would be We wouldn't be able to do it tomorrow, would we? So, and you're saying not Friday, right? Okay. >> Well, I have to be at an appointment at 10:00 a.m. Friday. So, I could do >> have to be at 10. So, that >> could meet at 7:30 on Friday. Can we do 7:30 on Friday? >> That's fine. I can I can post it later today. >> Where
035you want to do the board conference room just the five of you? >> Yeah, that's fine. So, amen. So, 7:30 Friday morning. >> What's our end time then? Because I I'm meeting. I am shooting for an hour that's going to be driven by y'all >> and the whole meeting is executive session. Correct. Essentially, >> it's all no action all executive session. >> I'll post it later today. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Okay. Um, is there any other board discussion? While there, >> I think the question would be who's doing this meeting? >> Yes. >> Well, since I I don't want to spring it on anybody unless I have volunteers. >> Hearing none. >> Rachel will give you the entire bones of it. You're doing kind of the editing after. >> Yeah, you're doing the
036first editing. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Listen to the put the summary together and then >> does someone from community engagement want to put together a schedule and send that out because that's I mean community engagement took care of that and I don't even know who's on community engagement but >> we could get a schedule set and then >> is it for every >> it's every meeting and we don't we haven't done special meetings um that are all exec in the past so I think There's no reason for that. >> Yeah, because there's no minutes taken during an an executive session. So, >> would that No, because that's executive session. >> Yeah. Just >> and and Rachel can Rachel can drive you through that process because she's familiar with it and she's very
037good and she has made this so much more simple for us to do. Um, so and I agree with Dr. It's really basically running the first edit and then but it it's timely when she sends that to you. You got about 24 hours to do the first edit. Then the next 24 hours is the group looking at it and then she posts it. So you've got that's that's a Johnny on the spot thing when you see that come through from Rachel. Look >> Sue on Friday. Is it just the five of you? Do you want to appoint a pres um treasur prom? >> Yeah, we'll do. >> Okay. >> Yeah, we'll do that. We don't we don't >> Okay. Dr. Ana and I will be in Columbus. So, >> we don't need this work to
038do. You have to do a You have to go to the It takes you to a web page. >> It's a couple step process. >> My computer doesn't always figure it out. >> Figure out it works, but it takes a while to figure out. Yeah, because you see >> Yeah, because I'm on Looks like I'm on guest right now because my phone wasn't working for some reason because I normally tie my phone. Okay. Um, thank you for reminding me of that. I'm kind of focused on where we're going. Um, is there anything else? Okay, then. Um, oh my gosh, I don't have my card out. Um, we're going to move into executive session. >> It's written on the agenda. >> I make a motion to approve to enter to executive session for the purpose of
039discussing the appointment, promotion, or compensation of specific employees or officials. >> There it is. Okay. Sorry, my computer is really loading slowly. I apologize. >> All right, Mr. J. >> M. Roland Miller. >> Yes. >> Missy, >> yes. >> Miss Haywood, >> yes. >> Miss Phillips, >> yes. >> Miss L. >> Yes. >> There'll be no action following executive session. >> There will be no action. We will adjourn afterwards. stuff they're green.