001Good evening everyone. We're going to call this work study meeting to order and we're just going to jump right in to 2.01 continuous improvement and impact checks. Dr. McCordon. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Governing board members, welcome to our work study tonight. Uh tonight we do have a presentation from our assistant superintendent Marcy Taylor and from assistant superintendent Dr. Jason Martin and from one of our principal coaches Tia Hansen. And um I was going to call you coach. Uh coach over there is our secondary principal coach. And this is basically about the process for um how we try to improve academically every single day. And this process started a few years back. Um but it has been such a huge team effort on not just the teaching and learning side but also uh admin services
002a lot of times and over many many years in this district those two departments were siloed from each other and they have come together and they work as a team along with the principles the instructional coaches the APs and the teachers on their campuses and I think the results have been very good and so I'll let them uh get into it who's Who's first? >> Hi, >> Dr. Martin. >> All right. Well, good evening, Dr. McCord, Mr. President, governing board members, and millions of vis or millions of viewers out there. I know you're going to want to watch this tantalizing presentation. But truly, what Dr. McCord said is we are excited to share this tonight and it's more than just the four of us here. It truly is a group effort of the pretty much
003the entire district office in one way or the other. So, little bit about the evolution of the process or the history. Um, you know, Gilbert has always had um really good rankings and scores, but I can say and I think we would all say that back in the day we were lucky. We weren't intentional. We weren't leading necessarily. We just had good kids, good families, and we had good test scores. Um, and then about six, seven years ago, Marcy and I and others were working on um goal setting. And our principles, like many over the years, set goals and would um get things up and running at the beginning of the year. But what we found was those goals sometimes sat on a shelf and they were never looked upon until the end of the
004year. And also the structure of the way those goals were done were different from school to school based on each leader's leadership style. So then that made it hard too to support those leaders and those goals here at the district office because there were such varied systems in place and we found too that the goals were there but the action steps were many times lacking. So, how are you going to reach that goal if you don't have a map or a road map or action steps? And so, those things were lacking. And I would say particularly when Tia and Tim both joined uh being our instructional leadership coaches five and six years ago, that's when it really became pronounced that we needed to have a coherent system in place because if they're going to coach
005and work alongside our principles and other school administrators, we needed to have common systems in place. And so that's really what we did starting four years ago with all the schools. For the first time, we had um continuous improvement plans that were consistent across the entire district for the first time. Uh they spent a full day of going through the continuous improvement process and then we spent that first year learning about the process. And during that first year, I think it came really apparent too that the district also needed to have a continuous improvement plan. If we have 39 schools working on goals and action steps, you've got to have some coherence at the district level as well. So, a little bit backwards, but I actually think it's worked out really well. Then over the
006last two years, we were really put into place the district continuous improvement plan, which I think has only strengthened the process. And so, right here, there's a graphic about how kind of the system that we did, and I'll walk you through that. But really, what we start with is we have to dig into the data. And one of the things is we have so much data now that it can be overwhelming. And so we have really fine-tuned what data is important and what data each school their particular level should be looking at. And then we have to analyze that data to prioritize like I said which data is important. And then we have to set those goals. And I think we've been fairly good at setting smart goals. But it's the next steps that I
007think has been the game changer over the last few years including the implementing the action steps and then gathering that evidence and artifacts throughout the school year to see are those action steps are we making progress towards that? And then you have to continually monitor and evaluate that process too. And sometimes you have to revise that or pivot so that you're not doing um something that is well-intentioned and meaning. But if you're halfway through the year with middle of the year data and it's showing you that your um your actions are not making a difference, then you have to pivot. And so that's really what this process has done for us both at a district level and at all 39 sites. >> All right. Thank you. All right. So 5 years ago it started with
008a SIP summit with our schools each of our schools bringing a team. It wasn't intended that the principal the administrator were was going to be the only one that would be determining where the school was going and what the needs were. So they were very much encouraged to to bring others to the table with them to bring classroom teachers to bring their psychologists to bring their social worker to bring their coaches. So they had many eyes looking at what was actually happening at their campuses. So the SIP summit happens every year and you can see on on the presentation it's a day where they they start off they're digging into their data and then they are analyzing it. What are our strengths? What are our needs of all of the things that are our needs?
009Which ones do we want to prioritize? Because you can't do everything all the time, right? So prioritize your needs. And then they set some goals. at the elementary um everybody sets a reading goal, a math goal, they have a choice goal because they do have different needs at campuses and then um they also have a goal for enrollment management um as well. And then they think about those goals and actions that adults that the teachers, the leaders can take, not just putting it on students are going to do this. What are we as adults going to do? What are our actions going to be? And how are we going to measure those? what's the evidence that they um plan to uh collect so that when they come and talk about how they're doing they have
010information about the process and the progress >> the state sorry the uh the state of Arizona has a process uh where you were required to do a comprehensive needs assessment an integrated action plan and a fishbone uh that would gather data uh and upload it to their site. Uh we asked as we developed this process if we could uh apply the same measures only campuswide. Uh and that's been the gamecher because the comprehensive needs assessment really didn't address a specific campus or the integrated action plan. Uh plans were all over the place. So, uh, by the state allowing us to do that and just recently they told us that even title uh, schools can, uh, use this process because it's actually better than theirs. They said I didn't say that, they said that. Uh, >>
011yay. >> But, uh, it it follows the same process. It looks at root cause analysis, needs assessment, teams working together, creating goals and action steps uh, that align with our district goals. So it's really a comprehensive process designed for e every campus in Gilbert. Uh and it's always in front of them instead of just uploading it to this site and then forgetting about it. So the summit sort of brings us all together to reassess to take a look at where we're at uh and move forward. >> All right. Uh, excuse me if my voice is weird today. Have a little bit of a cold I'm fighting. But, um, I'm going to talk about impact checks. So, impact checks, we're going into our fourth year of creating a process for, uh, to hold a little bit
012more accountability to the sites for those goals and those action steps. So um impact checks are quarterly meetings where they come in and they share and they reflect and they report out their progress on those goals and those action steps. So who attends uh as one of I think Tia alluded to it started out kind of focused on the principal and making sure they would understand the process and the administrators that assist with that that principal on the campus. But over time it has developed into a whole team of leaders on that campus. So they bring their instructional coaches, they bring their specialists, they bring classroom teachers, maybe their level leads, their department chairs. Um some of them has started bringing their counselors or their social workers to because everyone on that campus feels ownership
013of that continuous improvement plan and the process for that. uh they come in as a team and then we have a secondary and an elementary team. So obviously the elementary schools present to our elementary team that includes the two of them in addition to our elementary director of curriculum instruction and assessment and then we have the secondary one co counterpart obviously uh Robert and Christa and then Mr. Ryan also attends as many as he can. Um it's hard. The elementaryaries have 26. We have 13. So to go to 39, that's a struggle. Dr. McCord sits in on some of them when he can make it as well. Uh but it really has also expanded beyond that district team to include curriculum coordinators, special ed coordinators. uh we have had members of our data and research
014team that sit in so that they can hear the needs of the schools and what other sort of data is needed what other Tableau dashboards need to be created so it really has become uh Dr. McCord alluded to it an a place where things are not siloed. Departments are not siloed, schools are not siloed anymore. They're all going through that same process and it's created a lot of collaboration amongst our schools as well. Um, so because of some of the the reasons that Jason alluded to, um, we just had to find a way to inspect what we expect, but at the same time, we didn't want it to seem like there was so much accountability that it was a gotcha or that they were going to have to come in and put on some dog
015and pony show. We really worked hard in the first couple years to make sure that our schools knew that they had team support. We wanted them to feel the support and that our questions that we asked were designed to help them, encourage them, and work with them. Um, when they came in, so it's continued to evolve. It's continued to adjust. Um, we were worried at the beginning that they would be nervous and come in with really apprehensive, but Tim and Tia have done a great job of doing pre-impact checks where they open up the opportunity for our sites to meet with them before their impact check date to go through some guiding questions, uh, to ask some questions and talk about the data so that they can really put together a concise presentation of all
016of those goals and action steps. We limit them to one hour. So they have to kind of wrap it up within that time and and they're struggling the last few to keep it within an hour because they are excited to come in and share. uh and that has been the most rewarding I think part of the process is that they see now the value in it now and they have in turn started to some of them on their own campuses are conducting their own impact checks with their campus leaders so that they're hearing what each department what each grade level is doing to contribute to those SIP goals and then obviously we connect those SIP goals to the district goals as well. uh one of our principles in a couple slides from now will talk
017more about that. But overall the impact checks I think have been a a gamecher game changer for um our continuous improvement process. This uh slide just talks about some of the questions that we ask them during the impact checks. Um we actually all have a lot to ask and we get excited and interested in all the things that they're doing. So we try to limit it as much as possible, but it really is focused on the growth for all um all students, including all that subgroup data that many times impacts our accountability ratings, our teachers, our leaders, everyone's focused on instructional improvement in the classroom and our leaders becoming instructional leaders. So that that's that's the focus of uh this process anyway. All right. So, I was I'd like to share with you a couple
018of examples of what happens at the elementary level. So, each of our divisions, elementary, junior high, secondary, have what we fondly call the rainbow folder. It's um in our on our website. They each have a folder. And within that folder, you can see that they have um some tools that they will use. And so, here's an example of um what we would find in one of them. They have their actual impact check and and SIP planning form. They have a planning guide that they that they use at the summit that gives them a place to record information, kind of focuses them a little bit on where they what they should be thinking about and helping them when they're finally ready to set their goals. Um, there's a coaching tool kind of just like a checklist.
019How are you doing? Did you remember to include these things? And then they have what is up there says PL plan. It's their professional learning plan. And the professional learning plan is such that is set that they can plan things for the year that relate to the actions that they wanted to take. We have some early release days. We have other um Wednesdays where there's professional learning time and so they are setting their goals for the year in that as well. So this is an example of what the actual we finally call it the SIP form um looks like. And this one is is has not been completed yet for this year, but they start off listing who they're who's on their committee. We have our district non-negotiables as a reminder and what we believe
020in. And then they have a place where they start um recording their information, setting noticing their scores over time. This is happens to be the section for reading. Um setting goals for their subgroup that they are choosing to focus on. And then they write, when we had talked about evidence before, they write in ideas of ways that they will be able to monitor whether or not their actions are are being completed. And then here are the three questions Marcy just talked about. Um, what actions were implemented? What's your current progress? And what are you going to do next? So again, this section is just for reading. This school has an action, a first action step, a second action step, a third, and a fourth. and they included they're going to be including something for their
021their subgroup. When they come to meet with us, they will start filling in here's what we did and they this document gets a little bit long, but that's um what they are working on as far as this particular goal. Then they have a section for math, they have a section for their choice goal, and then the enrollment management goal. So, as uh as we go down, it just continues. It's kind of the same format. what are you what are you noticing about your data? What are your actions that you're going to take and so on and so forth. So that is an example of >> that's a question. >> Sure. >> So can you just real quick so what sections are in in there? So there's certain sections that every school's doing and then there's
022like a choice that could be different at every school. So what are the specific numbers that every school is looking at and topics that every school is looking at? >> Every elementary school will have an an ELA, a literacy goal. Every school will have a math goal and every school has to do something for enrollment management. And then the choice goal, depending on what they need, it might be working on their multi-tiered system of supports. It might be PBIS and behavior. It could be over at Gilbert Elementary, they have a focus on working on their Spanish literacy for their goal this year, for example. Does that answer your question? >> Yeah. And then for what data are they looking at? So like for the ELA or for the math, what what are they looking at?
023>> So many things. So they might be looking at their third through sixth grade um ASA results. They're looking at their beginning of the year benchmarks, their common unit assessments that are happening throughout the year that we just implemented and put in place last year for reading and this year we're adding in math. Um they're looking at just teacher collected data too. So progress monitoring data. They know they have a group of kids that need to work on a skill every few weeks, three to four weeks. Let's talk about how those students are doing. >> Great. And and is that consistent from school to school? Like everyone's looking at the same Yes. >> numbers. they're not choosing their metrics. >> At the secondary level, it's a little different in that we um we look at
024CUA data. We look at uh ASA data for seventh and eighth grade, ACT data for the the high schools. Um but then there's other uh pieces of data that we we look at. Next week we'll uh US News and World Report will come out uh that will show us where GPS is ranked uh not only nationally but in the state of Arizona. Uh we look at AP trend data. We look at uh anything initiative specific to a building. Uh we just initiated a a seventh grade reading class. That'll be the focus of our first impact check. Where are we with that? uh and what adjustments need to be made, what uh resources do you need, what support do you need? Uh but everyone has a you know for secondary we have graduation rates. Graduation rates
025is constantly monitored uh by all the schools they they uh that as Marcy mentioned we bring in the counselors now to and the part that they play in a huge part. we're this quarter uh and part of next quarter we'll look at letter grade data and the trends. The reason we have these uh folders is it's on the hub and it keeps trend data. So from when we started this in 2022 till now they can go back and look at some of the the subgroup progress, their ACT progress, their the trends in in uh all the different areas. Uh, so I'm constantly after the keep it in the folder. You know, you can make your own copy, but I I got to be able to pull it up when when you need it or or
026when I need it. But generally, it's the same, but the approach is different at each campus. Um, there and that's reflected in their professional learning plan, which is also in there. uh they they have to submit to us their professional learning plan as they move forward, how they're going to address some of the action steps they've created in their continuous improvement plan. Uh that's, >> you know, it's not only them that are looking at the consistent data, we also look at it as well. Um Dr. Martin, myself, and Robert Burchcher, we come together and really look at each school's data before they even arrive so that we have, oh, here's some successes we're noticing. I wonder if they're going to talk about this and if it's not brought up, then we'll ask that question as
027well. So, there's a lot of eyes on a lot of data. Did you want to share your two examples here? Do you want me? >> Uh, no, we can wait. But the the focus is all in the 45 days is always on student outcomes. where are stu what are the outcomes of the kids uh that we're serving uh and if adjustments need to be made then they'll make them right now and in in the past uh being a high school principal and a junior high principal we would wait till the end the beginning of the next year we'd lose all that time there was no system in place that checked where schools were at so every 45 days It's not only an accountability factor. It's principles want to know where are we, you know, in
028our GAMS program or our our AP numbers, our enrollment data. Uh when it started, uh it it really was an administrative team that would show up. Uh today, uh principles will call me and say, "Can can you beg Marcy to give us 15 minutes more?" And I'm like, "I you know, we got an hour, man." Well, then you can't ask any questions. Well, that's not going to happen. But one of the things that that's occurred is teachers gain a whole new insight. They will approach me after and say, "I didn't realize that principles had to report out." We've done 156 impact checks since we started this. Uh so double that for for elementary, but uh >> over 300. uh and teachers are excited to share what they're doing in the classroom and uh so they'll
029bring artifacts, they'll bring evidence, they'll bring uh a narrative about what's going on on their campus. Uh and then their data reflects that and they'll say, you know, this is not working. We I remember Campo was struggling with algebra 1. They pivoted at the semester. they lost four algebra teachers and they had to revamp right then. Uh so the benefit is it's always in front of them and in in this world of school improvement that doesn't happen very often and when Christa and Robert presented in Washington DC in the summer people were absolutely amazed at some of the things that they shared. When we presented in LA it was the same reaction. So people are beginning to understand that Gilbert's sort of a model of how to uh work through school improvement where many times
030it it doesn't work over time uh for lots of reasons. But we're really excited about um the direction that the campuses have taken. >> All right. I think most of Oh, this is an A. Is this the >> Yeah, that's me. >> More. Sorry. >> Um, none of this would happen without the support of the superintendent and the cabinet and the people sitting here. I've worked for a lot of different superintendents and uh Shane being in every district CIP meeting, Marcy and Jason and Jared and members of the cabinet coming to impact checks or coming to uh CIP meetings. Uh it's just a real credit to the uh to allow this organization to sort of knock down the silos and teaching and learning and PGD and uh academic services, special ed, uh all the different
031groups working together uh that have created this uh opportunity for kids. the data and research team has been a a godsend for uh us to be able to disagregate and gather data. And as Jason said, there's so much you got to sort of help people understand uh data that they've never really looked at before. So um the support from this group and from uh the district office has been instrumental in uh making uh our our data continues to improve where nationally state of Arizona it's either flat or regressing. We keep moving forward. Uh and a lot of it has to do with the support here. >> I I this is my 10th year. This is my 10th year in Gilbert in fifth year in this position and just the change that I've seen in the
032way everyone wants to collaborate and support each other and it's it's not stay in your lane, it's let's all get in the lanes get the lanes going the same way. It's really nice to see and I agree these um graphics that are on this table right here are just an example of some of the things that uh John Costalano's team in research and development and Ryan Nelson have. They are amazingly brilliant and you ask them for a way to find some data and and they take care of it and they're always trying to make it easier to understand. That was the challenge to begin with. The principal is trying to find a way to get their data and now there's just so much and it's visually so much easier to understand. I really appreciate them
033for that. >> So I I have a question and maybe we'll go to elementary just because I think it might be easier for me to understand. So if a school looks at its data and they see how students are doing, what what are some of the action steps that they might take based on their midyear data to to improve things? So some examples in the past have been um at midyear we're noticing that a particular grade level based on what we call the mimic assessment that predicts ASA performance, the state test performance. Maybe they've noticed at a certain grade level that it's predicting that we have a group of kids that aren't going to be successful or too many kids. So now we're going to look at what type of instruct instruction is going on.
034Do we have any para support that might need to go in? Do we need to do some some more walkthroughs and and monitor what's happening that way or provide more support? Do we need to make different groups? Do we need to target more um what's actually happening during the intervention time? It can be a lot of a lot of different things that that they're thinking about. It might be calling up and asking someone from for some support or getting um a coach out or a district specialist out to work with the team, giving them some time to do some extra planning or understand how to better plan actions like that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. All right. Okay. I think most of these we've discussed some uh the outcomes that we've all realized
035not only at the district level but at the campus level. Um and we've mentioned how it's it's spread tremendously. Um we wanted to include words directly from one of our campus leaders. So this is Tyler Dumis, our principal at Camp Overy High School. >> Hello, my name is Tyler Dumis. I'm the principal at Campovery High School uh part of Gilbert public schools and I am excited to share a few moments with you to talk about the continuous improvement plan that our district has implemented and how we have taken that process in to the site level and the benefits that we've all experienced here. You know, it's been difficult for us to find data points to talk and rally around, but when we started this process, we really did a deep dive into our root cause
036analysis and found things that we need to improve upon as a site. uh that allowed each of the different sites on our campus to look at this data, figure out what our goals are, what our needs are, and to make a specialized improvement plan that then aligned to the district improvement plan. Uh the the beauty of that is we've been able to find our own markers, uh identify our action steps and make sure that uh we are focusing on this not just as an admin team, but as a leadership team and then as a school as a whole. Uh the beauty of what we've done is we've been able to attack data to that being able to look at needs like common unit assessments. Uh looking at at data points that we've needed to provide
037as an implement. The district has been very responsive to our data needs and also to our needs instructionally. A continued evolution over the past 3 years that we've been through this process uh has been very successful for us and the data points that that align with it. But our action steps have always evolved each and every year. But probably the most important aspect of what we've done been able to do here as a campus uh and to continue to grow has been our our impact checks. And the impact check is a process in which we share out what our goals are. Uh we share back out with the district. Uh after we did this for the first year, we decided to implement it back on our campus and now our staff provides impact checks to
038us quarterly on their progress as well. Very powerful. But the the most powerful part of it is that our our district leadership was looking at walking alongside us more than finding a way to judge or do a gotcha with us. It was always what do you need? What kind of data do you need? What supports do you need? Is there additional staffing opportunities? What can we do to help you accomplish these goals which align to our district goal? So I would highly recommend uh this process. It has transformed what we do as a school. it is provide shared leadership opportunities and I'm super excited for uh for more people to find out about the success that we've had here. Thank you. >> Right. So, we've had some fantastic we've had some fant we feel like
039we've had some fantastic outcomes and I know you have seen this particular chart which represents some change last year. Um, right now all of the the incoming results um for ASA in particular are all preliminary, but um I do want you to know that in looking at those preliminary reports and hearing from some other districts that are very similar to us in size and in demographics. Um we are number one K8 in ELA in comparing to those. we are number one K4 and uh 6 through 8 in math. So we'll be looking at fifth grade more more carefully to see what was going on. But the state also we know um declined in in some of the fifth grade results as well. But we just we want to just highlight those projections for you. We
040see the change happening. We are not just being lucky anymore. We're using strategies by by having all of the departments working together by focusing PD. We're using those strategies that are getting us to be leading. We can take what we're learning and we're leading with that and making change that is sticking and is improving and we're not there. You know, we still have a ways to go and we'll keep working towards that. But, um, I'm I'm very proud of what we've been able to do. >> Yeah. Any system that's implemented is only as good as its outcomes. And you know, just a couple of examples, Highland Jr. uh 3 years ago in 2022 had a total of 67 total points on on their letter grade. They're projected this year to have 93. That that's a
041transformational move based on their ability to to stay the course and to implement the the system and structures uh that have been provided for them. uh Mosqu High in 2022 at 75.8 points, they're projected to have 89.3. And again, at the second at the high school level where your measure is ACT, uh that's quite a accomplishment. Uh, I talk to the principles all the time about ACT being a reading test, a timed reading test and how to build stamina and our kids to be able to take on four very difficult reading selections uh for 20 minutes at a time. They've had just remarkable results by uh focusing in on those things that uh level the playing field for their kids. So, uh, we're really excited about the projections. Uh, we're crossing our fingers. Uh, but
042one of the things Gilbert does really well is our data is really solid. So, unless they change the rules, which they could, uh, every couple years. >> So, but we're excited about the process and we're excited about the opportunity to celebrate again. >> So, really, what's next steps for this current year? you know, we're constantly reflecting as I think you've seen um as a school district and across the different departments. And so, one of the things is the last four years we've had quarterly impact checks and we found that we have that process down now and we can pull back just a little bit and now we're going to move to three times a year. So really beginning of the year, middle of the year and end of the year because it's it's ingrained in
043our culture and our schools are continuously um using the um CIP and the impact check process. The impact checks have evolved and we talked about how we constantly learn about best practices of what schools are doing. Well, we want principles and other teams to see each other. So over the last few years, we've had schools watch each other. At the elementary level, we've had um elementary principles sit in on two or three other schools to gain insight and knowledge from that. I know at the secondary level, they've had the vertical articulation already in place where junior highs have seen their high school counterparts and high schools have seen their junior high counterparts as well as each other across that same level. Um this year we're going to have for the first time elementary principles going
044to their feeder junior high impact check so they can see what is it that my students because we're a prek through 12 district. What are my students prek through six doing at our feeder junior high and vice versa our junior high principles are going to get to select um a a school or two as well at the elementary level to see what is it that the feeder schools in my area are doing. So those are some of those things that we constantly are doing each year. We're constantly refining the CIP summit process which happens every spring near the end of April where everybody like we shared comes together for a full day. But as we learn more about the process, we refine that so that it's more meaningful for them as they're planning their improvement
045plan for the upcoming year. And finally, this is a new relatively new graphic and uh Mr. Orion and the teaching and learning department really um have been reflecting a lot on the process like we all have been. And I love this graphic because if you look there, it obviously is in our district blue and and gold colors and the blue if you see early reading to complex literacy. Until a few months ago, it just simply said ELA. Well, to a lot of our stakeholder groups, what is ELA? English language arts. And so, I think early reading to complex literacy really explains and shows that it's more than just ELA. that there are so many different components crosscurricular that lead to students being um able to read complex text. Same thing with math. It's not just
046math anymore, but it's really understanding the mathematical and science concepts and applying them to our scientific process as well. And then as we've talked about at the district continuous improvement plan, the other goals, differentiated learning opportunities. We know our students and families want to have options in our district, preK through 12, and we offer a variety of those options, but we have to monitor those as well to make sure they're meeting the needs of our students. And then future ready graduates. That's what we're all about. Pre-K through 12. So that when students leave our high schools after 13 or maybe 14 or 15 years, if they spent preschool time with us, that they are ready to go out into the world, whether they're going to go to a vocational or on to college or some
047other career work process. So um we really love this graphic because then if you look in the middle of it, I think that's what the hallmark of Gilbert. I know my entire life being part of GPS has been the culture and we didn't want to forget that. And so now actually we have just this year added a fifth district continuous improvement plan goal and that's the culture because that's really what ties all four of these goals together is like we said there's no silos here. There's no administrative services department, talent management department or teaching and learning department. We're all here together to support our school principles, leaders and and teachers. And so really the saying there aligning our work to our goals, leading alongside great people and celebrating success I think really truly wraps up
048what we are here in Gilbert. And that is the end of our presentation unless you guys have some more questions for us. >> Well, thank you very much. I don't have any questions. I just want to just say thank you for all the hard work. This is a tremendous effort and I especially love what Jason and and Tim said about um not relying on being lucky and not resting on our laurels, but actually taking an active part in helping each of our schools be successful. And I think this this I don't know if you'd call it a a motto or what, but this this graphic and this uh and these words I think are perfect for um for a district whose whose goals are uh what they should be, which is the success of our
049students um and the success of our of our teachers and staff. And so I just want to say thank you for this. This is uh tremendous. Um yeah, and that's all I have. Thank you. Does the board have any questions? >> I I have a couple questions, but Shane, it looks like >> Oh, sure. Um I know we did um hire a data consultant. I don't remember the name of the company. Was that part of helping us um along this process that we've we've grabbed on to now? Cuz I feel like we've talked about data for a long time, but I feel like we're really now we have the concepts of how to use it and we're providing a way that people can use it. Whereas I feel like a few years ago they were
050just overwhelmed by we have all this data, nobody has time to look at it. But now we're actually have an easier way to look at it and people aren't overwhelmed and they're using a flashlight to look in there and figure out what needs to happen. So kids are making that progress. So it's not that a child takes a test and then you're like, "Oh, you didn't do very well." And we just move on. It's like, "Oh, we need to help you learn this concept better and then we can move on." So I think that's helpful. So, was the data training that we received helpful to this process? >> Yeah, we started with the PLC process with, you probably heard Lisa Pinowski. Um, she is a consultant that many districts have used throughout the United States
051and we brought her in and used her as a thought partner and thinking partner and she really has helped us hone in and refine what we're doing um so that we can then take ownership of it. But it's nice to have that person that sees more of a global, not just Arizona, but she's out of state. And so she can see what's what are those trends that are happening across the United States. And so she's been very thoughtful at working with all of our departments so that we can be more intentional. >> I was going to say she helped with creating the instructional framework as well. >> Um, but over the last couple years, we've started to back off, back off, back off um on the amount of hours that we need her assistance. it
052is helpful as Jason mentioned for her to come in especially when we created the district SIP um to kind of help guide that process but we're at a point now where um I think she's only going to come a couple times and Tia and Tim have kind of taken over the lead of the SIP summit and uh hopefully we'll continue on this path. So that was my other question was when was the SIP summit held but you answered that that it's in May in April so that they have time to think reflect on the past year and then create a plan for the next year. So I think that's really awesome. So appreciate all the hard work cuz I know that um we're just miles um ahead of where we used to be and I
053really appreciate that. So thank you. >> Hi two questions really quick. um out of curiosity. So, first of all, yes, like I love looking at all this data. It looks really great. Um it's nice to see how many of our schools are moving to the green looking at that data. I've looked at it from Mesa's perspective. Now, I get to look at it really from Gilward's perspective. So, that's great to see. Um, the question is now, so just to kind of take it a step further, do you guys happen to know how many of those students who graduate high school make it to graduating college? Cuz my big concern has always been, you know, it always it looks great that they're getting through the graduation rate for for high school, but just how prepared are
054they? You know, how are they standing up against the rest of the country when they get into the universities? The National Clearing House data helps us with that. Um, by increasing the rigor all the way through, uh, kids have a better opport. It's not nearly where we would like to see it, be honest. You know, there's a lot of kids who go and come back. Uh, partially because they can't handle the rigor of the college text. uh we've addressed that uh by you know increasing the number of kids who have AP opportunities or um IB opportunities or dual credit opportunities to get them started at this level uh so that they they've got a running start once they they hit college. We're excited to look at the the new national uh clearing house data to
055track those kids. uh because you want to you know it may say that 80% of our kids go to college when 50% of them graduate and that we got to close those gaps. Uh we want them 80% of kids who go to college to gra 80% to graduate. I mean that's always our goal. uh and then to look at, you know, the CTE part of that, you know, the opportunities for apprenticeships and and career uh opportunities that CTA CTE provides. So, uh that's opened up a whole another uh world for us to hone in on and monitor the same way. >> One of the biggest reasons though why kids don't persist in college is money. That's it. it it every meeting I go to related to kids completing college versus high school, the number one
056factor is financial. And so we work with our counseling departments to help kids acquire those scholarships to be able to go on. But a lot of times that it for some reason they don't complete it because they can't keep their scholarship because of grades or they have to work or all kinds of different reasons. But I think nationally you see the cost of uh university uh even community college for some is expensive and so we work really hard to try to get them the dollars before they get out. Uh but it really is difficult for some of them to keep that. >> Yeah, that's fair. I mean I just got my second masters so I feel that >> big time. Um, I just I'm just wondering if there's a way that we could look at
057it from a backwards perspective where we look at the text at the college level and go, okay, you know, what are those skills that they're missing? And then maybe when we do these meetings, um, especially once we get closer to like fourth and fifth grade level, you know, working backwards from that. So, you know, money aside, obviously, I totally understand that point. Um, but it's a control what you can and let go of what you can't situation. And if we can control understanding the gap of what they're missing at that college level text, I think that would be really like this is a really good opportunity to use it as a platform to kind of help middle school, high school teachers kind of fill that fill that gap. >> And our goal is six through
058nine with this reading course that's is beginning in seventh grade. Uh we'd like to see it go six, seven, eight, nine. so that to prepare those kids for that level of text once they get into high school and then beyond. Uh for any career, I'm a literacy freak. I I just think if we can teach our kids to engage in complex text, uh we we have given them something very very valuable, whatever they want to do. Uh so our our focus although this year is on seventh where we we've got this back burner sixth seven 8 n we have two high schools doing a ninth grade reading class now. Uh so we're excited to see what what that how that will evolve. >> Great was one of the needs that came out of this process.
059>> Cool. You know that >> yeah and we've really taken account that at the elementary level. I mean, it starts in preschool and kindergarten. And if we don't get those kids by the end of first grade being able to read, we know that we're passing on to our upper elementary and secondary colleagues, um, students that really are going to have a hard time. And so that's why we've really been working with our phenemic awareness program foundations and making sure that students are getting that and if they need tiered support, they're getting that right from the start so that kids aren't going to have those gaps or as many gaps in the future. >> Yeah, I love that. Thank you. >> Anything else? >> Yeah, just real quick wanted to echo uh Mr. Thompson and and
060everyone else's comments that so great to see this. I'm really impressed and really happy that you guys have had the opportunity to present at some conferences and re receive some recognition. Appreciate all the work that's gone into putting into this program. um really appreciate the comment that uh a program or a system is only as good as the results and I I couldn't feel stronger about that. So, so more impressed of than like the PowerPoint and the system is the results that it's getting. And so that's super exciting to see the improvement that we're getting and to look back at where we were um to where we are now like as Miss Humphre said, but but even more exciting is I know everyone's going to keep grinding and working hard and and to look where
061are we going to be in 2 3 4 years is super exciting for I think us as a district and as a community and I think uh we're really fortunate and appreciate all the work that you have put into it. All of our uh principles, teachers, staff, and students and families. um that have put in to to achieve the success. It's really exciting. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Well done. >> All right. We're going to adjourn our work study and roll right into our brief board business meeting. I'll call that meeting to order and ask Miss Wilson to uh do roll call. >> Here >> Mr. Jess >> here. >> Mr. President. >> Thank you, Miss Wilson. Agenda item number five, consent agenda item. Is there a motion to approve
062the consent agenda as outlined on our uh agenda tonight? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Dr. Robersonson. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Brainer. All those in favor of approving tonight's consent agenda as outlined on our uh I'm going to end up repeating a word here. Agenda outline. We'll just keep saying those words over and over again. All those uh in favor of approving the consent agenda as outlined uh tonight say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Thank you very much. Moving on to action item number six. Uh agenda item number six. Our action item 6.01. Allocation of $3,000 per governing board member to be used for professional development during the 2025 2026 school year. Is there a motion? I will move that motion. >> Thank you, Miss Humphre.
063Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Briner. Uh, is there any discussion on this action item? >> Um, yeah, I I do have some discussion on that. Um, I do appreciate that there is an amount. Um, I did look at the cost because we're not, if we were members of ASBA, this $3,000 would cover every conference and pre-conference because we're not members of ASBA. Um, I did check on the price for the law conference and the um because we're not members, the law conference, if we were members, that would be $640. because we're not members, it's $1,920. So, this $3,000 will allow perhaps one conference per year, maybe maybe two if some of the other conferences are maybe not as expensive. I do I do want to point out though that the
064ASBA does not make any profit from their conferences. They're just covering the costs of those conferences. So, I I do appreciate this. Um, I won't be able to attend the law conference this year because I have a broken foot and I have to keep it up and I'm not sure it will be better by that point. But, um, I do think there's important training at those events. Um, I I hope we can actually add a little bit more in the future. So, it maybe could cover cover two events um because there are actually four during the year. But um I think it would be very helpful for us to get that training. But again, if we had the membership, this would cover all of the conferences and the pre-conferences. So I just wanted to point
065that out. >> Thank you, Miss Humphre. Is there any other discussion on this uh agenda item? >> Okay. Then we'll call for a vote. Uh, all those in favor of allocate the allocation of $3,000 per governing board member to be used for professional development during the 2025 2026 school year. Say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Nay. >> Okay. And that passes 3 to two. Uh, and then go moving on to agenda item number seven. Uh, adjournment. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. >> Thank you, Miss Humphre. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Murray. All those in favor of adjourning, say I. I. I. Any opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you. >> Thank you guys.