Gilbert Public Schools Board Meeting 08/08/2023

001foreign Rogers or Miss Rhonda page Mrs eugetti thank you Mr Jetty all right laughs welcome we would like to welcome everybody and I'll call this meeting to order Tuesday August 8th it's our work study and brief board business meeting at 6 pm um we will begin with our presentation and discussion topics Dr McCord 2.01 stem initiatives at Quartz Hill Elementary and Patterson Elementary thank you madam president governing board members if I could have our team come on up real quick I'll introduce you guys thank you [Music] you sit there good evening everyone let me uh take you through some introductions real quick we have David Williams he is the Community Development regional manager for meta which is Facebook and Instagram then we have Theresa dukes and our executive director of Gilbert Education Foundation Mr Lucas

002Blackburn principal of Patterson Elementary and Dr Joan Henry principal of Quartz Hill Elementary we're here tonight to let you know some things that we've done with the help of meta as well as the Gilbert Education Foundation and the things that through their generous donations they've implemented over Quartz Hill as well as Patterson so I'm going to turn it over to David and you can get going and I've I've got your slides so you just say when all right well first yeah thank you again for the introduction uh my name is David Williams and proud to represent meta here in Arizona with our Community Partners next slide please so if you're unfamiliar with meta formerly Facebook we our mission really is to give people the power to build a community and bring the world closer together

003if you think of our family of apps and services from Facebook Instagram WhatsApp uh Quest 2 with the virtual reality threads a number of other products it takes a lot of computing power to keep three billion plus users connected and so about 11 years ago meta started to design build and operate our own data centers [Music] August of 2001 we went ahead and broke ground on our 17th data center globally here in Mesa well here in Mesa just down the road which is part of the Gilbert School District boundaries at the time we had committed to two buildings supporting about 100 full-time operational roles once open in May of 2022 we went ahead and committed to three additional buildings taking that employee account up to supporting 200 rolls right now if you drive by the

004site at Elliot and Ellsworth there's a lot going on we have about as of last Friday we had 1972 construction workers on site helping us bring that campus to life we anticipate moving into our as you'll see that that H to the far right that is our first two buildings and that we anticipate starting to move into at the end of this year and beginning to go live hosting traffic this time next year um next slide please uh overall this represents a little over a billion dollar investment as I've talked about some of the roles um one of the things that we at next slide please one of the things that we look at doing when we come into a community uh is Partnerships I'll talk about Community Action grants in a moment but some

005of the big things we do around programming is bringing in uh experts and non-profit Partners to come in to support our small businesses nonprofits how do you use all these resources available to you to elevate your business to get the word out about what you do to be more successful we have a big Focus around stem education which some of my friends will talk about here in a minute and volunteerism we have a number of our employees who are experts in their field whether that's in technical work math Engineers electricians HVAC Specialists who really love to talk about what they do and so I think we've already had a number of conversations about how we can get those experts into the classroom to talk about these career opportunities that are going to be coming up

006in their own ahead and here at the bottom is a number of our partners that over the last 18 to 24 months that we've been collaborating with next slide please uh one of the things I'm really excited about is to share with you that next month we're going to be launching what we call Our Community Action grant program we usually do this when a campus is coming close to going live and this is a set aside grant program separate from the work that we do with with our local districts where teachers or schools or local nonprofits can apply for a short-term high impact project that does one of three things improve stem education help connect people online and off or leverage technology for Community benefit so there'll be a six week window we'll be sharing

007that out to all the schools in the district and we hope to get a number of great applications coming in that will then award in March of 2024 and that'll be an annual program moving forward through the future Next Step so that's all I had before I passed it over again just want to really recognize the work that Joan and Lucas are doing and they're going to talk about they've really been forward thinking about how to get technology into the classroom and get students more engaged early on thinking about stem how that can apply for their own personal life in their potential academic careers and and hopefully getting into stem careers afterwards so happy to answer any questions just um a couple years ago David reached out to me and when they were building the

008center and he actually talked about being able to give some Grant fundings to some of our schools and right away I thought of Quartz Hill as well as Patterson just because those two schools that came top of my mind that have really embraced stem and have really incorporated into the classrooms and our kids have taken it full force as well as our staff and so that's how that connection was made so thank you for reaching out because if you didn't do that we probably wouldn't be sitting here today so thank you for that absolutely and I think this is you know just the beginning we're always we're continuing to have conversations identifying new schools new programs new opportunities to to continue to invest in in stem but also looking at Workforce Readiness and Construction And

009Trades and other high demand skills here throughout the state thank you anything for David Fortune over Theresa Theresa good evening just a real quick um run through Mr Thompson you're new so I don't know if you're how familiar you are with the Gilbert Education Foundation so real quick summary we were founded in 2001 um by the the administration you know that's pretty much how the foundations usually start and then once they get mature they pass off to community members and and people outside the district to run so in the last 22 years we've invested over 2.8 million dollars in funds to students staff and programs and we have five main programs our Innovation grants every year for teachers and campuses and scholarships for both staff and students Varsity letter and volunteerism program for our high

010school students that they can receive a varsity letter if they do volunteer service and our Shane program which helps give emergency financial assistance to families in the district as well as employees of the district when they're in in time of need and then our last one is our steam we had been stemmed we've moved to steam this year going to be kicking that off and So Meta coming and wanting to donate was perfect and to be able to really move forward some of our different initiatives Patterson we have been working with you probably the past five or six years on different grants on that on their maker space and they were kind of at least from my perspective one of the earlier adopters of that where we were aware of it and slowly been funding

011it so it was great to get a chunk of money and then starting to work with with Quartz Hill and get move that forward so we're thrilled with the partnership and looking to partner again and keep this relationship going and we're very appreciative of matter so thank you so let me play this little video real quick this will be a good intro to YouTube this is something that was put together at the end of last year Johnson Polly he put together our he's our videographer and our photographer and he put this together with quartz and Patterson [Music] it's thrilled to partner with meta to provide new stem opportunities to the students of Gilbert Public Schools hold on by providing tools materials and resources that has given our students the opportunity to become inventors Builders and

012critical thinkers the impact of this collaboration will resonate throughout Gilbert public schools for years to come shaping the lives of countless students you will go on to make a difference in our community and Beyond [Music] well done nice job so I'll start with either one of you whoever wants to go first don't fight over it now we were lucky enough thank you Mr Williams and Metta and then Dr McCord for offering the opportunity we wanted to come up with a mobile steam lab something that we could leave the classroom the kiddos could leave their academics and and whatever else they were doing on their desks and they could go somewhere else and use technology and so we purchased um you'll saw you saw the black tables and the red chairs the tables fold up so

013they're easy to store but they're easy to take out we can use them inside we can use them outside it's just an opportunity for the kids to have learning spaces wherever they want to go teachers can take it anywhere they want to go we used them this Summer there was this community ed had a stem camp and so we put those out there and the flexibility it gave us and for the kids to learn in different places is incredible and then we started buying tools and you saw those up there the Sphero balls are really fun until I break one um but they're tools for all ages and I think that was part of it these little Indies that are the cars that you saw in there the kids can put out their the different

014pads and everything and then code them through the pads so the little ones use that the bigger ones that's compatible it's a Chromebooks and then we've got circuits under there so we're still in the process from a very generous Grant it was forty six thousand dollars um that we're purchasing we have some new teachers thank you some new teachers coming on that are steam oriented stem oriented and so we're giving them kind of the gift of choosing some things that they might like like but we always think about Workforce and thinking about going forward even our Pre-K what are you going to do when you get out of high school what are you going to do for internships what are you going to do down the road so having them learn those soft skills too

015I think with collaboration and explaining the project they're doing we have kiddos I was Thomas Williams one child that is not very good at communication but he that he took to this and lit up and was showing everybody how to do it and I'll talk about a little girl we have Briley um who's fighting cancer right now and so I thought my gosh why can't we send these home because they're compatible with the Chromebook she has at home so she can certainly do that at home too so just the flexibility the functionality of using that so thank you for the gift you know so it really is well yes thank you Mr Williams thank you Miss Stevenson Dr McCord the the whole board uh grants like this is really what um what allows us to

016do what we do um and uh with the monies we we receive from meta it's really you know since I've been at Patterson we've gone it's always an evolution just like technology is like everything else we started we wanted we were doing stem education while it turned into inquiry and now it's turned into International Baccalaureate but at the root of everything and and going through and we were able to purchase things like 3D printers um iPads ozobots which are another kind of rudimentary coding um I don't want to say toy but kind of device that students are able to start to see what it takes to um you know to be someone in the to be in the computer science realm um but really it comes down to when we looked at you know because

017we were given kind of the palette of what to buy it really comes down to experiences and experiences are everything and and I think that as as we get further and further from the Industrial Revolution we're looking more and more at experiences and allowing the kids to experience learning it's not enough just tell them what to do I I go back to like an artist or who you know whether it's music whether it's a painting there's a lot for interpretation and with the with the devices and everything that's been purchased by meta it allows students to immerse themselves into education and then experience education and then it allows the teachers to be that innovators and how are we going to get out of these students what we want them did if we want them to

018experience we want them to enjoy it I think at the elementary level they have to enjoy school they have to really have a positive connection with it but the art is really using teacher Clarity and finding out did they learn what we wanted and and it's really amazing when they've learned what they wanted and they didn't even know they learned so really it comes down to being able to use everything that we've gotten which has been I mean this I'm gonna take a little I'm gonna digress for a second everything moves so quickly we're not it's not even a maker space anymore it's the inquiry lab and you know and really it comes down to where is the focus and without the generous donations of meta and the you know the the working through the

019inner workings of everything with Miss dudeson we wouldn't be able to do this we wouldn't be able to give the kids the opportunity to get to allow themselves to discover what a textbook would just tell them and with all the research out there knowing that when you experience it you are going to remember it and as Miss Henry spoke about those soft skills that's what they're going to take from elementary they are going to exceed expectations they are going to persevere and find their grit they are going to collaborate they're going to critically think and without what meta is doing which it's twofold I mean they're giving us opportunities but they're also building this Workforce because without those soft skills they're not going to be ready for the jobs that meta hasn't even created yet

020so this is the foundation of something that I hope gets bigger and bigger that all of Gilbert Public Schools is able to benefit from and uh it's just it I it's very humbling to be at the ground floor of this and see what technology can do because that's what grabs the interest of the kids and we can fight it we we can fight it we can come up with more strict uh you know reasons to not have technology in the classroom and things like that but no it's finding out how we can make it beneficial for everyone that's a part of it and don't get me wrong screen time something we have to worry about and technology is something we have to worry about but leveraging it with the stuff that not only we feel

021important but they're the generation of Workforce that's coming through feels important is is how we really we create this new education that needs to take us into the the next centuries so thank you to everybody for giving us this opportunity for any of these folks so I'm I'm curious how the how the program is um is run at the different schools as far as how do these tools get into the hands of the kids or the kids selected or do they go class by class or does each is it like a special everyday like a technology special every day how does it work uh we well thank goodness for and Mrs detail I'm sorry she was integral to everything that we got we have our technology educator which the district really can we I use

022them as as consult to get all these things so we state of the art but our technology educator has the teacher sign up their whole class it's not just one child it's the whole we have we have what we've built a steam Brewery if you will and so we have all multiples of all of these in there so once the technology educator trains the teacher in that she can go in and just say we put a Google doc or can I use those today which is fine so we kind of like a library checkout that's kind of what we envisioned so they check all that out and they can use it in their classroom so it's very easy to do once they go in and train them some of our teachers already know how to

023use these and so they find time in the schedule to use it because it is it's very beneficial to all the projects they're doing we do shark tank Quartz Hill and so that's something that um we had kids last year we didn't have the 3D printer they probably went over to your campus and did it but they came up with um fishing lures that were biodegradable but made them through 3D printers so that's that forward thinking that they gain from all these activities thanks yeah yeah at Patterson we did have it as a special last year as as most people know if not everyone we had art every other week and then that week when um was supposed to be cute computer special we did open up the Makerspace and have students come in we

024used a number of programs to allow the teachers to have a set lesson and be able to really allow the students to go through that engineering and design process and uh create the process we were very clear on it being the focus being the process and not the end product we want them to be able to adapt the engineering design process not only to creating something but also the writing process it's all it's all cyclical um this year it's really embedded into what we're doing so the expectation our students are are using the inquiry lab or teachers are using the inquiry lab to either spark interest in something give demonstrations or allowing the students to show what they know through the uh through the um the technology that we do have for instance um with

025our 3D printers the main goal of the 3D printers is getting to a point where the students are creating real prototypes there's a book that most students read and it's about the Iditarod you know the dog sled racing and and so the what's going to happen this year is the students are going to have a track that they have to take their their dog sled through and when they go through that there's going to be apps those is going to be all of this and honestly we hope they fail we want them to fail we want them to have to use re they want iterations and recreate this prototype because we're talking creating something from filament for a 3D printer that's pennies and so we hope it you know it'll there'll be a number of

026variables that has to go through and then when it fails they have to go back and look at it which is uh doing something different but expecting the same result which is very different for a student that's used to sitting in a desk and giving this information then taking a summative evaluation so really what I I don't know what it's going to look like at the end because that's the that's the Journey of every student um but the the training for the teacher comes back to regardless if they were successful or not with this Iditarod did they who can you check the boxes of the rubric of did they learn what they needed to learn um and you know the engineering design process can be just I mean you can put it in anything you

027want um so being able to take that on is something that they're going to know instead of dates or things like that stuff that you can ask Google they're going to be take able to take that perseverance um that that critical thinking and take it on to any number of our Junior highs whether it's the Gilbert accelerated Middle School Mesquite Junior High Greenfield Junior High or any number and be successful at that where we know they will yeah well I I just want to make a comment because I feel like um one of the things that we have to do is be so careful with our budget to make sure that we can cover the things that are really needed I mean we're just going to talk about a map adoption that's probably going into

028the millions of dollars so having these small grants where each campus can choose what would suit their needs the best I think that really helps the teachers and the schools have ownership and the students to have something that they're really excited about so I really appreciate the Gilbert Education Foundation for all they do because I know they do a lot and I appreciate meta for for donating that money to help us to individualize our programs a little bit because we do have to be very careful with those taxpayer dollars and so we we fund the basics but we can't fund everything in I appreciate that that's available for us to to give that little extra to the kids well I'm glad you brought that up in in addition to the donations and the grants they've

029given these schools they've also given uh donated 155 000 to the Gilbert Education Foundation for some stem and steam projects at the elementary that we're currently working through the minutia in terms of how to utilize that best way that impacts all of our students so stay tuned awesome thank you so much for that yeah thank you thank you very much all of you I appreciate it look at that you're done nice job congratulations thank you guys again wonderful well thank you for that that will take us now to 2.02 our math curriculum adoption K-12 Dr McCord thank you madam president governing board members if I could have our teaching and learning team come up whoever's presenting this evening they are going to talk to you about um K-12 math adoption for Gilbert Public Schools will

030take you kind of through the process some things that have uh we have to abide by statutorily as well as what our timeline will look like and when implementation will actually begin so I will turn it over to our assistant superintendent of teaching and learning Mr Jared Ryan good evening hold on one second sorry you were starting off great Sheila Rhonda are you guys there I'm here hi yep I'm here both are here okay sorry we didn't want we didn't want to forget about you thank you guys for calling in and obviously if you have any questions jump in at any time perfect Madam president governing board members Dr McCord thank you so much for allowing us to be here this evening joined here by wonderful team members of ours um honestly this group is

031probably why I sit in this position without the confidence and the people that you're working with every day it's tough to do this job and so glad to have them with us tonight in order to go through and really demonstrate and discuss answer questions but really provide a vision for what this Pre-K to 12 math curriculum adoption is going to look like for Gilbert Public Schools why it's important and ultimately what our outcomes our desired outcomes are so that being said you want to introduce yourself foreign assistant director of special education the director of secondary curriculum instruction and assessment Robert burcher her counterpart Elementary curriculum instruction assessment I also want to recognize Miss Crystal Udall is here this evening with us Weaver Crystal she is our elementary math coordinator and does a fantastic job and

032glad to have her with us this evening three objectives main objectives for tonight hopefully be able to provide some clarity to what this process is going to look like ultimately the first thing is to make sure that basic timelines are outlined understanding what the committee structures are going to look like there are some some changes to the Committees and the way the Committees are going to be developed and the way the Committees are going to function we want to be able to outline that for you this evening as well as discussing how the final curriculum and selection process is going to look timeline obviously is very important from start to finish and what that's going to look like all the way through rollout until we see it in the classroom so those are going to

033be some parts we're going to cover tonight the value behind so kind of the second thing is really what the value is and having a a consistent Buy viable standards based and aligned curriculum in every classroom across Gilbert Public Schools why is that important right and so those are some things that we're going to discuss is Miss Humphries stated earlier in the previous presentation this is significant investment significant investment from all of us from the community governing board investment and ensuring that this is done the right way and ensuring that you have the right people looking after it discussing why in terms of the following there are five kind of components that we're looking at or categories vertical alignment so Pre-K 12 ensuring there aren't gaps in student learning faculty support ensuring that our faculty

034members are confident and comfortable with what they're instructing each day collaboration the ability for faculty members District leadership campus leadership to work together toward ensuring that the student outcomes are exactly what it is that we're envisioning exactly what they need the fourth would be measurable targets so the targets that we have to establish that are in front of us based on information we have today and ensuring that that information we're Gathering the data we're Gathering is consistent and it's consistent across K-12 education in Gilbert Public Schools all campuses and then most importantly consistent learning ensuring that there aren't gaps in that learning ensuring that consistently across the board all of our campuses Pre-K to 12 there is consistency in the learning so the instruction and the learning and we'll discuss later how those are separated

035but those are objectives for this evening to make sure that there's a clear picture of of both the timeline the reason why and then ultimately what the outcomes are that we desire all right before going forward with our vision of what we'd like to do we'd like to present where we're at with current math curriculum so on the the second slide you'll see a brief history of our current adopted math curriculums and when they were adopted Elementary we've got kindergarten through fifth grade are using the math expressions curriculum which was adopted in 2012. and we've got the Glencoe math that we use in sixth through eighth grade which was also adopted in 2012. as we get more research in education brain-based research and what's best for kids a lot has changed since 2012. I remember

036being a part of the committee as a third year teacher you know bright-eyed and like let's do this let's change the world right and um even what I went into seeking in a math curriculum has changed in the last 10 years so that's what we're looking at for elementary I also want to make the distinction that I use the term on this slide conventional and I want that to mean universal I don't want that to get mixed up with the traditional math adoption that we just went through last year we're looking at a math adoption for all of the other students is what we're looking at sped gen Ed across the board and to continue on with that we have our sixth through eighth grade students currently use Glencoe math there's three courses there that

037was adopted in 2012 and then you'll notice that from uh the high school levels which begin at Algebra 1 all the way up through calculus a b and BC um all of those are content specific the majority Algebra 1 2 and geometry are using Carnegie which was adopted in 2014 and then the pre-calculus calculus and a b and BC calculus they were adopted additions that were recommended by college board again though back in 2014 one of the pieces that I would like to add to a little bit of what Robert had shared was we talk about a lot of changes over the last 10 years I'm sure each of us at this table can share different changes that have occurred that have changed and affected education but in the math world all of these adoptions

038that are listed above you the Arizona academic standards have have changed since then as well so in addition to education and learning loss and things like that our teachers have been having to dive into some other pieces with supplemental there's another one that you may hear at some of the schools that have used illustrative math for some components that's not necessarily are adopted across the board but there are different pieces that have been pulled from because teachers are trying to supplement where the curriculum that was adopted in 2012 and 2014 didn't meet those standards that then got added in when the standards were revised so I think that's important to hit on and that's a nice lead-in to what we're seeing in the world of special education as well teachers by with good intent have

039attempted to supplement Resources with a variety of curriculums to meet the varying levels of disabilities within the special education world we currently have a few different curriculums that are out there Matthew C touch math and others they're currently not supported by the district or the sped Department as we're phasing them out because we have learned um in our audit of everything that is out there that we really want to guide all of our teachers to use genetic curriculum when at all possible there are a couple programs that it's not appropriate to do so but the vast majority of programs that we have can and should be using genetic curriculum so that's something we'll talk more about later in this presentation is why that's important and what we discovered in that audit and in those differences

040in learning foreign so when we started this conversation we have actually been talking about it for a couple of years when we would get to the point of um moving forward with math we've had a few other adoptions over the last couple of years and one of the things that has been our main every time we start having conversations how do we get back to what is the main purpose of why we want to go forward with a method option and we identified that as the philosophy that exists there so the philosophy is on this slide I know everybody can kind of read along there but ultimately it's bigger than the math philosophy our teachers within this District our department chairs our math leaders this is a philosophy that you'll see hanging in classrooms I

041really do believe that a majority of our Math teachers would be able to identify this as a math philosophy and or something that they personally believe in as a math teacher K-12 pre-k through 12. and in addition to that there's a lot of other work that has happened within teaching and learning in Gilbert Public Schools over the last several years so we talk about revamping our professional learning communities the PLC process that we have here we have created a brand new instructional framework that is really driving teacher Clarity so it's really made us reflect and evaluate what curriculum we're using how we're teaching what we're teaching and making sure that all of our students are included in that gen Ed curriculum as Darren uh highlighted and as we continue to move forward with the different

042School improvement process and our school goals this math philosophy continues to be at the root and truly genuinely what drives our teachers and what is to the core of that so um I loved the presentation that occurred before us because it really hit on a lot of the beliefs and I think Crystal was nodding away back there while the elementaries were presenting because it's all about creating problem solvers that can solve problems in the real world and that critical thinking that they are required to kind of deepen that understanding and not be given the answer right away or uh to take the time to persevere through that and really show um that they may not get the answer right away but that they truly understand the reasoning of how to get there and so with

043that as we've shifted uh towards some other things we have identified some areas of need as well so when you dive into our accountability our letter grade AIDS growth points proficiency we have noticed that across the district but more than that across the state Across the Nation there's been this dip in math and there's some grades where that's more prevalent but it's there and we can't we can't dismiss it we can't hide from it but the more we dive in uh we really do believe that in order to truly live this philosophy in the classrooms and to support our teachers to be able to live this every day in their classrooms but that's going to start with revamping the curriculum which then would be aligned to all of the other pieces that I had shared

044the instructional framework the plc's and and so on so that everything that we're doing we've worked really really hard as a leadership within Gilbert and that includes our sites to really make sure all of our arrows are going in the same direction they all overlap and if they don't what can we do to update that to revise it to improve it and that's kind of what led us to this decision can I ask a question so I love the idea of critical thinking and problem solvers and perseverance but I've talked well my own children who I still have um a junior right now but I was talking to a parent over the summer whose child was had been had such a frustrating year of algebra that it was to the point of and this is

045a parent who's who understood and was supportive of this but it was to the point of just meltdown breakdown lack of confidence quitting even though they had tried and I think the teachers had tried to instill that um grit and perseverance and she was trying to take it over the summer you know to make it up so I think I guess I just want to ask you with this philosophy which is exciting how do we really address though also the I guess the realities of students like coming up against roadblocks and not being able to get across it and just feeling lost because they're supposed to figure it out themselves and they really don't have the tools to do or they just feel like completely completely overwhelmed how do we encourage and make sure that

046teachers are stepping in at that point to really guide and you know give some bridges to get kids to the next step rather than just have that floundering that's yeah not effective for anybody I will say and um I live this firsthand with my own children in this district and I as a previous building principal saw that occur as much as we want to believe this unfortunately sometimes I think when teachers either don't have the correct resources or curriculum to lean on or they feel like they're doing the best that they can our teachers work so hard to do this but I think sometimes there is maybe a lack of training or understanding and so with the instructional framework and a lot of the professional development there's been so much Rich work that's gone into

047intervention and how to identify students and I think that that's building that capacity with our teachers and we are again not hiding from the data so the more we dive in and we now have instructional coaches everywhere that are literally targeting that exact conversation so that the teachers that know how to navigate it the right way are doing that but if there's a teacher that doesn't know how to connect with that student or doesn't know how to get them there do they have the right tools within their classroom because sometimes it is just that instructional uh strategy that's maybe missing so there's a lot more with walkthroughs and observations in addition I will give a huge shout out to Tim and tia because uh we are really not just improving instructional strategies through those coaches

048and from the teacher lens but that starts with our Administration so they've done a fabulous job of working with our administrators to build instructional capacity and leadership as well so therefore that can transfer into the classes but it's not perfect and we definitely believe that going back to what Mr Ryan kind of started with that it has to start with having a consistent curriculum that we know is vertically aligned but also horizontally aligned because right now there's a major problem with exactly that when you go onto a campus and maybe you've got five different teachers within the same team slightly teaching things different so the more we can get to being consistent on a day-to-day basis where all of our students are getting access to that same curriculum you know you're seeing the same thing

049when our instructional leaders coaches administrators go into the rooms they're then seeing the same thing so that they can Target those exact issues through instructional strategies and instructional Improvement it's a lot harder when you're going campus to campus and you don't see those consistencies so um I guess for right now I hope that that kind of answers but I also know that at the end of this presentation Mr Ryan's going to go a little bit into what our plan is because we recognize that those issues do exist and we believe that we have dove into some research that has mapped out a strategic plan for how we can Implement uh in a more meaningful way than we ever have with adoptions that have occurred and part of that is that we keep repeating it the

050same way and we recognize that this was a decade ago why do we have so many inconsistencies that that we have to reflect on that and recognize that maybe a it's the way that we're training or having accountability and things like that so we've done a lot of looking in the mirror at our district leadership and our site Administration to make sure that we all understand what that plan is going to be and I know again Mr Ryan's going to go into that at the end of the presentation great if you don't mind just one last thing to go with that so can you give me like a specific example of how a teacher would what would be an instructional strategy to help a student in that way when they see I don't know if

051this is you know if this puts you on the spot I'm just trying if you're not trying to get some more specifics of like how and maybe how a parent could help or you know reach out to the teacher or or Bridge or give a bridge just can I make a comment would you mind I just was thinking of the teacher of the year and I'm sorry I can't yes yes because I I loved that in her classroom she talks about making mistakes that they'll be inspected respected uh corrected and I think every student has a math story certainly in my family we all have a math story and every one of them is different and I think that when we have that clear instruction that kids aren't afraid to make mistakes I just loved

052when I heard about the way she taught math I thought that is just so fundamental to making that understanding I was just really impressed this Gavigan's a great example to answer your question um I'll be honest that there is a lot more exploration that occurs when you would walk into a math class 10 years ago you would see more of a traditional style they're in rows they get the lesson they do the homework that really has shifted and so now you if you walk into a math class and a majority of our classrooms you will see students up at whiteboards you will see them huddled in a group and it is start student centered to answer your question though it is building that capacity it is not figure it out on your own and then

053I'm completely hands off so it's identifying the teachers to be able to say when they don't know how to do it and they get stuck when do you intervene and how do you help them there's a delicate balance there I would say for any of our parents that are maybe listening in or curious for that same point to encourage the students to Advocate and depending on the level I know for our elementary students that would be more of the parents advocating at the secondary level encourage your students to Advocate sometimes in class that frustration if you don't have maybe that safe environment or you don't feel like you can make mistakes you'll keep it in and so we're really encouraging our students and our teachers to make that environment across the board but sometimes students

054don't speak up if the teachers don't know it by reaching out maybe after class if it's through an email or whatnot and then at that point my hope would be that our teachers would meet the student where they're at and kind of engage there we have some really great um in in my experience observing and walking around at our campuses our math departments are really great at offering tutoring it looks different a little bit on each campus but I will say that it's probably the number one Department that is very intentional about tutoring and so I would encourage uh to get involved there depending on and this goes a little bit more to the junior high and high school you're going to see they set up peer tutoring because some students maybe learn from their

055peers they don't have that intimidation from teachers you can even suggest that maybe they get tutoring from another teacher I know at a couple of our high schools they do tutoring during math and they actually send the students to a different math teacher with that mindset that sometimes they maybe don't learn it from that exactly so that's great and I know that's going none I just had talked to parents specifically and it was just again what are what can we do as parents and we I mean we're in favor of the grit and the perseverance and everything but at some point it becomes just but they just completely withdraw they quit even if I know the teachers are trying I know Parents try new students are trying so I just want to keep remembering that

056that's especially in math absolutely you know I think that's a good segue Mr praska do you want to talk about how the philosophy looks like for sped and I was actually going to add Robert will later talk about the the real thoughtfulness that we've tried to put into an implementation plan which will Encompass more professional development more prep and training so that there are less instances of the example that you gave so he'll talk about that later but for me personally and it's not just about special ed but it's really about all types of Learners everybody at this table learns differently regardless of the topic so it's really about students that are accelerated accelerated traditional gifted my world is special education but we get a lot of questions related to what you're asking um uh

057elements of frustration I learned differently I'm not understanding the content the pace is too fast and for me really and for all of us at this table uh We've really foundationally embedded uh adopting a curriculum with the priorities of inclusion and access so access to a curriculum that is universal for the majority of our students and then what that looks like within the Gen Ed setting and this kind of spirals back to what I shared earlier about and really what we all shared about the sheer number of curriculums that are available that we've made available to all of our students is that oftentimes what happens whether your accelerated gifted special ed is that if you're learning a learning a strategy a math strategy in this case a different way with a supplemental curriculum when you're

058integrated back into the jet end setting and the majority of students are being exposed to a genetic curriculum imagine the frustrations that that student feels with coming in because of whatever disability they might have so what we want to do is get ahead of that by providing a curriculum that is available and all students have access to so that we can alleviate some of those frustrations with students parent questions concerns so it really starts there and in that audit that's what we really discovered with good intent there were lots of supplemental materials being provided trying to Target the disability at its core and in the most effective way but in the end it just created a larger gap between the majority of kids and kids that learn differently so it really goes to the heart

059of grading practices inclusion access and ensuring that the students are having access and then from having access their um the lessons are being designed to address whatever the needs of the students are okay so other than putting a Highly Effective Teacher in front of our students curriculum having a coherent curriculum is leads to the second biggest impact on learning so that's really what we're going after here otm has done solid and thank you the governing board for allowing us to get contracts out sooner and ensuring that we can get a Highly Effective Teacher in front now we feel like getting this a coherent curriculum for our teachers is the next step in this process I reflect president wood with um the the where we're at I saw second and third graders at the elementary level

060I'm already I'm bad at math I can't do that it's such a mindset thing and you see it it's almost some classes have to do a support group like you can do this and pump them up before they're even ready to hear the math part of things um because nobody wants to do something that you think you're going to fail at you have to get them to believe in themselves and you have to give them digestible cases so they can see success on a small scale and then look you're done we did the whole thing and I think that's really it's a foundation in elementary that we need to set the stage for because everything Builds on it in math and if you have a shaky foundation in third grade right fourth fifth sixth and

061Beyond are you're going to see an impact um sorry okay go ahead thank you turn on your microphone thank you so uh a couple of questions I've got um I'm back on the our philosophy page the second paragraph it talks about mathematics conversations and challenging misconceptions so we're not at our level even in the AP courses we're not challenging math theories right there's established math theories we're not coming up with a new String Theory or something like that right so and math is is very much a this is the problem and it has one answer now I know that the math is not that way hang on now I know that there's different ways to go about getting that one answer but generally speaking you know there's a math problem and there's an answer and

062and I totally agree that uh you know different kids learn in different ways maybe if I explain you know hey I've got if I want one plus one equals two I have to use you know for one student they just will get that right away for another student I'll say okay if you have one apple and your friend has one apple how many apples one plus one is two right um it's just you know that's a very simple example but I guess my question is because math is very um I don't know finite is the right word but but because every math problem has an answer it's not one plus one equals two or three right it's just every math problem has an answer what help me understand what conversations are taking place in math

063and what misconceptions are are we challenging I'm sorry we yeah are we challenging I think the way that you set it up and I get exactly what you're um kind of establishing with the answer part um the misconceptions the perseverance to deepen understanding when we say that we are setting students into groups and we want them to explore and work together as a team what we have found is that uh maybe and I'm going to say the old school way of teaching math uh was here's the formula this is how you do it copy me show your work we want it to look the same at this point it is get together with your group what you're thinking your thinking can be different we could have seven groups in the room and maybe everybody's group

064thinking is totally different uh but if you get to that answer how did you get there and along the way if you're not getting to that answer being able to identify where you didn't figure it out where did you go wrong because a lot of our students if they get the answer wrong they going back to what Mr Bircher said it's I'm not good at math well you're probably really good at math maybe it's just that one piece we even found that with the state assessments changing we added in mimic assessments that our district now does the benchmarks and even different mimics that match the high school level assessments and these are all the way K all the way through 12 and what we found this last year was our Math teachers at first when

065they were because they're data people so when they first see the data they want to argue and like give you all the reasons why there's no way they know their students that's that's not accurate but we dove into it a little deeper this last year more than we ever have before and what we found was that students actually weren't getting the content or the answer wrong um they weren't maybe answering the question correctly for example there are a lot of questions now that will say what are the best three answers or what are the three options that are the closest to the reasoning here and students would choose one well that question is asking them to choose three things that fit within that problem so if you don't understand all of the steps of the

066formula you may not be able to identify all three of those steps so it's less worrying about just knowing how to get to that and answer and really this is helping to better prepare them all the way up through college and in the real world where they have to be able to think through and break down a problem to figure out where is it going wrong and that's where like our Innovation our coding a lot of our stem there's a connection to that math piece there as opposed to just memorizing formulas and memorizing how to plug it in um same thing with calculators if they're just using their calculator a lot of the problems that exist now you might be able to use a calculator for a component of that but what's that real world

067thinking and that perseverance again to get you through multiple steps and so it is when you see it done really well and a lot of our teachers I mean it's really taken off just in this last few years you're seeing more and more classrooms where the students they just feed off of each other and they get so excited and I don't want to say argue with one another but it becomes a very competitive like trying to get to that answer and truly even our smartest brightest AP students like an AP BC class I joke that I feel like I'm in a foreign language class because it is way up there and when we started making this shift to be uh more exploration uh based in their thinking our AP students were the ones that struggled

068the most because they were like just tell me what you want me to do I can I can figure it out I can follow a formula but just tell me how to what you want me to do give me the formula and I'll just follow that so this is getting away from just following that formula and that script and how do you get to that on your own um I hope that kind of answers um just a little bit to the elementary-ish so um yeah sorry Mr rushing was my um trig teacher I have never used sine cosine in my real life but um what we have is I've heard it said that math is the language to teach problem solving and what we want are students that can solve problems so while I've never

069used sine cosine tangent um you know as I'm hanging a frame on a wall you know the conversations that we want our kids to have is what data should we collect before plugging into the math oh well I probably need to know how long the Wall is I need to know how big this Frame is okay great well we can do that now you can give them the number so it's kind of diagnosing a problem rather than just spitting out an algorithm all the time I would I would say a few years ago when my daughter was in high school we we had this conversation because the way math was being taught was changing and um my husband is an engineer and my son has had a lot of math and what they felt was

070that instead of waiting until calculus to say here's the problem take figure out the problem and then solve it with math now we're starting at the elementary level because really what math is is there is a real world problem and you have to figure out what math to use to solve that problem whether it's computers or infrastructure or building all kinds of math that we use every day but it's not there's no formula given to you the problem is given to you and you've got to figure out what math goes with that problem and how you solve it and so that's what we're we've started to do from the get-go instead of waiting until they take care ridiculous so I I understand but at some point we have to teach these kids math right at

071some point they in order to solve real world problems which that's it's a different topic but in order to in order to solve real world problems they have to know the math first right um and so are we it sounds like from from some of the things I heard that were almost putting the cart before the horse a little bit and not and not I guess one concern I have is that are we laying the foundation so that when we get to a point where it's like okay here's a problem go solve it with math if we're doing that from the very beginning which I get I get um are we are we are we spending enough time focusing on the basics and and the underlying and the underlying formulas of how things are being

072done and the reason you know and one thing that that I'm really concerned with is one crucial piece of mathematics is repetition we learn our times tables we learn the rule of nines you know these are things that we can just that we that are drilled into our kids you know first second third fourth grade so that when we get to those bigger equations we don't have to you know use a calculator to figure out what 9 times 8 is right um and so it is part of our philosophy also making sure that we're that we're teaching the foundation instead of instead of the end result of creating these amazing problem solvers are we also focusing on the foundation so if I may you may um agree wholeheartedly with everything that you're you're saying and

073both in terms of perception and then what is the reality and it's a great question one of the reasons and I'll speak specifically for myself in this case I'm passionate about this um is because there isn't necessarily consistency across the board with whether it be the amount of time we spend on specific skill development prior to moving into to a different level potentially if we don't have consistency across all classrooms it's really difficult for us to analyze that sure so as we try to break down data and and Dr Cox was speaking to that earlier as you're trying to break and dig deep into this what's causing what to occur and we don't when we don't have something common to look at and we don't have necessarily across the board things at the same levels

074to look at it makes it challenging and Miss Wood when you were speaking earlier it reminded me of recently and I shared with the folks that I work with there's a a young man in an honors algebra one class right now who took an assessment the first week of the school year and the assessment was on pre-algebra material they scored a 31 percent devastated used to getting good grades devastated talks to his friends oh I got a 93 and a 91 and an 88. what wasn't the test right potentially and and so we kind of go down the Avenue a little bit and we end up figuring out that pre-algebra teachers were doing two different things one was following a standards aligned curriculum throughout the the course of the year the other great evaluations good

075teacher very intelligent great relationships with the kids but some standards were simply missed not on purpose not because they weren't working hard not because they weren't but now the next year you go into the school year now you want to talk about a frustrated student looking for support now you want to talk about a frustrated student looking do I even belong here anymore so all of these things we're talking about there are foundational skills that every student needs that must have and we have to guarantee that every student across the board within each grade band or course description or course selection receives that then above and beyond now we talk about the individual approach of the teacher now we talk about the the you know Cooperative learning opportunities now we talk about the engagement strategies

076now we talk about right so all of that works together and we're going to talk about the difference between curriculum and instruction right right now we're talking curriculum we're talking about what it is that students are exposed to and that's why we're here we want to ensure that there is a substantial amount of consistency across the board for all of our students foundationally they have skills and knowledge that we expect them to have that they need to have we're obligated to ensure that they have at every grade level along the way sorry did you have a follow-up or so just just a a thought and a thought slash um observation slash concern uh Miss Cox you miss Dr Cox Miss Cox Dr Cox Dr Cox you bet um you mentioned you know test scores going

077down and I know that's a big problem and I know that it's it's been an ongoing problem for as you as you pointed out for a while seems to be trending down from an observer's point of view the trend downwards seems to coincide with trying to revamp how we're teaching kids math and it seems like every iteration that we go through using a word that we learned earlier from our we heard earlier from our stem group every iteration that we go through we get again this is my observation further away from from the concept of this is this is the equation this is the answer this is one of two or three ways of how you get there and the more we get towards this kind of you know I'll use the word in here

078this conversational math the further test scores dive and at some point maybe we need to look at the this thought that well gosh you know maybe maybe if we keep trying as we keep trying to revamp math and how it's taught and test scores keep taking a dive maybe we need to revamp the other way yeah and it'd be interesting to see if test scores go up and I will share uh I want to highlight Mr Ryan commented about having the consistency of what is being taught in classrooms so that we can better uh dive in and do a diagnostic to figure out like how to better focus on some of those pieces that's the starting place like we can't we're there's going to always be all these what ifs that exist until we have

079consistency that exists there no matter what curriculum we're using um but more than that and we'll talk about it a little bit more in a moment um because as we get deeper into this then you do start to talk skills versus standards which is another component that we will dive into deeper that I think will hit on some of the concerns that you have um we have started doing uh screeners with our students this last couple of years but I will share I don't know and I've overseen math and I've worked with math for the last decade and um I think that there's several variables that play into that that very well could be one but I have personally observed other pieces that I think uh play a larger role for example our state assessments

080have changed rapidly to be more of this type of assessment so for example the question that I just shared where they're looking for multi-step problem solving the state assessments that existed five years ago even 10 years ago they were a one-step problem and so when we look at the data and break it down to see how our students are performing on these assessments we're not finding evidence that they're struggling on some of the skill I mean they are but overall the ones that we are seeing the biggest issue with is multi-step problems and more of those bigger problem solving steps and that is from kindergarten all the way up um and so I think that there's several variables but again I think that in a moment when we dive into talking about the skills I

081just don't want you to think that we're bypassing that I'm just saving it for a little bit because we 100 firmly agree with you like everything you said I think we were all sitting here nodding uh so I don't want you to think that we're that it's not on our radar thank you yeah and then one last question um in regards to the curriculum and sped so is there do we not have sped math programs or I mean that's that's a wrong way to start that so so if I heard you write that you're saying that there's there's the Gen Ed gets one math curriculum and sped gets a different math curriculum or a simplified version of that math curriculum depending on the student is that right it's such a variety and that's part of

082that's part of why we're all here I think really taking a look at that there is a universal curriculum and access for all over the course of many years in any District I've ever been in is that in an attempt to meet the needs of the student and whatever those learning needs are um it's it isn't just about slowing it down it isn't just about um reducing the number of problems in the in the case of math sometimes it's about looking at a completely alternate curriculum in order to address whatever the disability is so it's really a range it is all those things you just said there are definitely special ed kiddos that are currently using genit curriculum and then there are students that are not and then there are students that probably it's not

083appropriate that they do so because of just the the varying needs of the kiddo so what we're hoping for in this math adoption is that um there's a curriculum that's Universal for all and then depending on the needs of the kiddo again accelerated or gifted or special ed depending on the Range that it's more about uh using the standards and using the content and meeting the needs from one curriculum versus finding things out there that could meet the need so if I'm hearing you right you're you're your main objective is to find a curriculum that can be implemented at all different skill levels 100 okay got it thank you Mr Thompson if you don't mind could we just say special education I just don't prefer that sped I just feel like it's um not something

084that most uh special needs kids respond to or parents sure I was just yeah I was just using the term that we've heard tonight and I think it's the term that is used on the district website and well I know it is set there as as an abbreviation but I I would really prefer in this board reading if we use the term special education thanks you did summarize very well though with your last point that is the Hope then thank you thank you I'm glad that you asked those questions and let's keep moving and then if you guys are okay if we keep asking please we really appreciate the opportunity yeah where you're coming from and to get a really good idea of all this so I'm excited thank you yep so again what we

085had kind of alluded to is having a coherent curriculum has the second biggest impact on student learning so that's kind of our jumping off point uh of getting that with our teachers we also have through the mtss process which is the multi-tier system of supports um we're seeing that establishing a solid tier one instruction best first instruction um that's effective and meets the needs of our students provides less need for intervention in the long run so we've got to do a better job of number one picking a curriculum that offers both enrichment options intervention options as well as on grade level options but we also have to train our teachers better in how to use the different resources that are within a curriculum so that they don't have to be hunters and gatherers on their

086own time and I think that's going to be critical to meet the varying needs of the students that we have in our class I also think it's important that a curriculum I know is a new teacher and I'm talking specifically we've got teachers coming from all different areas they're not just traditional teachers and that you went to a four-year University you did a year or a semester of student teaching and now you're going into the classroom we have pathway alternative certifications and I feel like that having a coherent comprehensive curriculum for math can be a common denominator that kind of leads to to better gains for all of our students I know as a young teacher um I didn't always know what I was going to do at the end of the week but I

087found solace and the fact that okay tomorrow I'm going to teach this lesson right and I had something to go home with so I feel like that we have a bunch of teachers going out and trying to find things I think that's way more stressful than doing a solid job of implementing um and training our teachers on a coherent curriculum at the start before we move forward before we move forward can you explain to me what you mean by this first line the second biggest impact on learning is from what is taught I'm I'm assuming that the the biggest impact is the teacher and how it's time that's a hundred percent what it is is besides having a Highly Effective Teacher at the front of our classrooms having a coherent comprehensive curriculum has the second

088biggest gains in educational research thank you and of course those are all behind the parents right the first teacher right so um this is what we control within the walls of our buildings so so we spend getting talking about the standard alignment and I wanted to take a little bit of time to just dive in a little bit deeper I think some of the questions I may go through this a little bit quicker in regard to the things that we've already hit on but we really want to establish teaching and learning consistency so as a teaching and learning Department K-1 pre-k through 12 what are our expectations and what is recommended versus what is expected and required and so with that we have mentioned vertical alignment from the lowest grade level all the way up

089which is very important but to put emphasis again on the horizontal alignment as well so for example if you have a grade level or a department at a school I know that there are some that we've worked with revamping our PLC process to get alignment within a school within a team but our goal in big picture and to be as successful as we believe we should be and can be is to really extend that across the district so all of our Algebra 1 classes they're following the same thing all of our third grade math classes they're following the same thing when we look at our data and of course there's always going to be those rock star teachers even when there is consistency but there are such uh gaps in the variety of where some

090of the teachers and students are performing and so it makes you wonder why and so if we can create this consistency then when we see a rock star teacher and we know that they're all teaching from the same curriculum and all of our students are exposed to the same thing we can go to that teacher and that's part of that PLC process to kind of dive into what are you doing because you're doing something really well but I'm your colleague and I know we're now teaching all the same stuff so help me to learn like what are you doing in this unit and if that's based on a skill going back to the foundational pieces or a standard it allows our teachers to have more meaningful conversations in their professional Learning Community to know what

091do the students know when they don't know it what are we going to do about it which goes into the conversation of the skill so when Robert mentioned kind of that tier one that's your initial instruction that all students get but if they're not learning well it is our job as Educators to dive into the why sometimes that is a struggle with them meeting that standard but sometimes they don't have the basic skill to even allow allow them to begin looking at that standard so we are doing a more intentional job with some of our screeners and even when we look through the curriculum part of what we're looking for as well is that it is well-rounded and it meets on the standards and can help support with those skills as well and so if

092we have more consistency there it allows for the horizontal alignment and then we can start having more meaningful conversations with the vertical alignment because everybody will have a better idea of what everybody's doing um to set those expectations in addition to that uh so I just want to really put emphasis on the fact that there is and I have this truly in my notes that there is a uh focus on having a balance between skills and standards and that will be at the core of what we do throughout the entire uh committee and we want anybody that comes in that's helping us vet the materials from the vendors making presentations that they are looking for both of those components um and then with that when we talk about through what lens we will continue to

093use our instructional framework with Clarity how teachers can design their lessons what instructional strategies are there what assessments will be included a lot of curriculums that exist now will provide assessments with them and so making sure that as we look at a new curriculum in 2023 2024 they include a lot of these components and making sure that all of the components of the curriculum the 50 the skills the standards the assessment that they all meet our vision and goals of the instructional framework for what we we are expecting so that there's that alignment for our teachers and what they're expected to do within the classroom so I kind of went back and forth between that consistency with teaching and learning but also where that happens with teachers is within their professional Learning Community uh and

094in a in a great world in a year or two from now we can start bringing our district teams together where we can learn from even more instead of some of our teams they maybe have three people on a campus so if those three people maybe have lower scores they can look at another school in a year or two from now and reach out to that school hey let's get together and see how can we learn from you if that's standards curriculum instruction and there's 100 alignment and as Christus said we've talked about some of these things earlier in some of your questions and earlier in the presentation but the the end result and the hope would be that it would certainly address vertical articulation grade level above grade level below uh even across levels

095from elementary junior high high school when you have strong collaboration between all levels through vertical articulation you have more effective teacher efficacy just because there's a Common Language there is a um there are conversations related to approach and student work and evaluating student progress so a curriculum adoption what we're proposing is that it will result in a vertical alignment where we do see more consistency between grade levels and hopefully increased student scores addressing those student gaps and that that is often what happens as a side effect is that when there is not strong vertical alignment then the gaps between learning exist and sometimes grow whether that's a change in level or whether that's just within a campus one teacher teaching One Way versus the teacher of teaching next door and then you just look at

096the next grade level the student in third grade for whatever reason doesn't make it through the entire scope and sequence of the curriculum and ends at a level that doesn't result in them being fully prepared for the next grade level above so having those conversations and that collaboration and not that you know surprise when the student finishes and they are moving on and there are more learning gaps exist because of that lack of collaboration and conversation regard to the to the state standards in regard to the state standards um you've mentioned that they've changed over time yes in your experience are you finding that our students are being taught to the level of the standard or as the standards have changed are our students exceeding being taught to exceed the standard because I this is

097the the pessimist in me um I can only imagine that the standards have decreased that they've made the standards easier for students to pass and I could be wrong but that's just my assumption um that every time they change the standards it's in an effort to help more students pass which logically means that they're decreasing the uh what what needs to be learned and taught to meet those standards are we I guess a short way of asking this is are we teaching to meet the standard or regardless of what the standard is are we just teaching the kids the most and best math that we can honestly I feel with a lot of the vision that has started to come into place with our instructional framework um it really should be our goal to always

098go beyond that so I've talked a lot about the professional learning communities our instructional framework um truly within those things they're oftentimes so I mentioned a second ago there's four common questions that come from PLC one is looking at the data and you often want to ask yourself how do I know when they're learning do they have it if they don't have it what do I do now if they do have it what do I do now and so that's that part of that question if they're meeting the standard teachers should be and I want to believe every single one of our teachers in GPS are or are striving to do that if they've met the standard what do they do now and so to um have a solid curriculum that everybody is using my

099hope is that we find these perfect curriculums that provide both when they're not doing well and that skill base and maybe to get back to the basics but also when they are meeting the standard what do you do next with them because we can lose students when they don't believe in themselves and when they feel defeated but we can all also lose students when they feel like they don't they already get it I already know all this stuff I'm not being challenged and truly uh we have some really bright students within this district and when I go out and about oftentimes that's more of what I see I know both ends of the spectrum are there um but we equally have to have the conversation of both and so my mind when I heard you

100saying that right away went to our elementary gifted students who Skip a year of math and they continue to impress and they are being challenged to go even above and beyond the standards are that are there and literally they talk about uh weaving in grade level standards that they're skipping and most of those students it's like they've already mastered them so why spend like let's move on so spending more time doing pre-assessments and again when the PLC process is done well that is a part of it first evaluate your students then there's the lesson you're teaching but then you have those two groups the intervention group of the students that are not getting it for whatever reason and your students who you need to enrich so to answer that I would say that we as

101a district and I believe when I've been a part of the instructional framework these PLC I've been in the room with these and oftentimes that is where the conversation goes it never stops just with the standard our job is never done as Educators uh but I do think that um I know that there is still work to be done in that regard and setting those expectations um and I do believe that it starts with consistency because it's harder to identify areas that maybe are not doing that when we don't have uh consistency there to go off of does that make sense so my biggest concern is that we're actually teaching the standards we have teachers hard at work they're doing great and they have phenomenal lessons but yet they're not hitting that standard that needs

102to be hit in order for those kids to learn so we focus on that as well our principles are are in classrooms and working with teachers to make sure that teachers understand what those standards are and that when they are planning lessons they're planning for those standards as well as planning for rigor and making sure they're relevant and so we focus on that and that goes back to the instructional framework Dr McCord I appreciate you mentioning that I just want to share that our coordinators that we have at the within our CIA team have done amazing work where as the standards get revamped from the state they then work very hard to outline what those are add in the rigor add in the depth of knowledge there's a variety of things that come with each

103of those standards and our coordinators have outlined that so they have created consistency for pacing guides and when standards should be taught and now the next part of that is getting the consistent curriculum into their hands so that they can follow the pacing guide with the curriculum to meet those standards because I I would agree that we've spent a lot of time over this last few years probably even before I was in this position I just wasn't at this level yet having conversations I know that even as a principal that was being talked to us making sure so when we walk around I mentioned the instructional leadership making sure you're looking for standards written on the board you're checking lesson plans and that you're seeing evidence of that but we have to build that leadership

104of instructional leadership before we can expect principles and admin to even know a principal can't possibly understand every single standard in every single content for all of the grade levels but there's tips and tricks to help build that capacity so I do know that that's been a priority for a while now so thank you okay I've got the next couple slides as we look at potential uh timelines and what we're looking at for a process so initially we're looking at starting uh our first district committee it is important that if we look at our last timelines as we're looking 2012 2014 is we're looking for a potential math curriculum that could take us 10 years it's important that we get stakeholder input and that is we need teachers in the classroom we need you know

105District administrators campus administrators we need Community stakeholders business owners and parents are going to play a critical role as we're starting off with initial large group we're totally anticipating moving to subcommittees and looking at different uh curriculums in the K2 lens you know what is this appropriate for three five what does this look for four six uh six eight and so on and so forth and I think it's going to be a critical opportunity to ensure that we get as many people in the room as possible and vetted through as many different viewpoints as possible I think it's important that we make special attention to ensure that our special education teachers and parents have a voice in the room that we have our gifted parents if we have input from Title 1 campuses and non-title

106one campuses with a project this large we're going to have to be extra intentional to ensure that we're bringing as many people in the room as possible I'd also like to point out that with new state regulations we also have to ensure and this is up to the people in this room that we are conducting these meetings in accordance with open meeting loss so that is a change in how we've done some of our committee work in the past um you will see you know announcements and some of Don's newsletters with hey this is what's going on here's the agenda um and so so on and so forth so we are prepared uh to do this committee work under that those new statutes is there a a link in our uh on our website that

107can parents and stakeholders can go to sign up for this committee that's a great idea a great suggestion we do send out to our principals uh Google form where we first ask them as building principals if they have a teacher leader or two and again not just Math teachers but from if it's an El teacher it could be an English teacher we don't we don't mind um but they then also take that to their site councils and we ask them to kind of identify a parent or two but I love that idea if there's members that want to uh go that way and fill out the form uh we bring all of that back and we're we will review it as a kind of a district team to select to make sure we have representative

108for all the different areas that Mr Bircher said but in relation to that as well there is a spot on the website that in the past when we go through the adoption we add a tab on the website to keep everything as transparent so when the public review is happening when we're requesting input or feedback the uh the new law with any of the meeting agenda in minutes so there will be a spot on there when the adoption comes to a close we usually leave it there for a couple of months and then we take it down so we just got done doing that with our last one and are getting ready to ramp that up and then also through our PR department um we have a regular updates that go in our newsletters in

109hopes to hit the parents and the community members in addition into asking principals to put that in their communication as well but that's all of the things but to maybe add a form for them to sign up I think is a great great idea we also have a special education parent Council that we would seek volunteers to represent right students that have disabilities okay on the next side our next slide we have our perspective timeline and what we think the procedures would look like so again we're already in August so we have already done a call for resources so we have sent out notification to different vendors and curriculum companies say give us your best shot what do you got you know as we've got a list of hey this is what we're looking for

110in a curriculum um and they're supposed to pick a product that best meets that needs or their best representative curriculum from there uh selection of the adoption committee we actually look on Friday we have a meeting on Friday to kind of pick the members of this initial committee and again we're looking at planning subcommittees from there uh yeah in September we'll have adoption adoption committee meetings and we'll have the initial review of materials by the curriculum committee so we've got to ensure that number one it's standards aligned number two it meets the philosophy and needs of our district one of them is going to be comprehensive and ensure that it you know there is a special education component or student intervention enrichment needs will be met the first big date that kind of comes in

111will be uh October October is likely and again please know this is tentative as we've hit different speed bumps but in the ideal world this is what we're looking at in October we would come to this table again and share this is uh this is what we're looking at as finalists and this is what we'd like to move forward to with a pilot is what we're looking at in October um sorry that's November I got ahead of myself um in November we're looking at doing that work and then we start the brainstorming of what does the pilot look like in the 60-day review period if you remember with the math InFocus the 60-day review period we had it at all three sites we also had it at the the district office and that was before

112and after school opportunities for parents and community members to come by and give their feedback we know that this review period is going to have to be substantially larger because of the number of students and people that it impacts so it's not just going to be at three but we've had talks about Regional campus this were you know and that's where I anticipate that our PR department is going to be huge on blasting out hey we're in a 60-day review period go check this out you know we could have potential links online to look at sample lessons just whatever that company is allowing us to utilize during that period ideally we learn from our mistakes with the math and focus we had said that December was not an ideal time to Pilot a new math

113curriculum it's hard enough to teach in December so what we'd like to do is do our trainings um during the month of December so that we can Implement in a pilot basis during the January through March that third quarter and we can collect information on what went well what didn't well what support you need as well as we've still got the concurrent 60-day review period with the idea with the fourth quarter we could come to you all saying this is what we've learned this is the resource that we like and this is our plan for moving forward with a with a curriculum I want to do the next slide too just as we look at um as we looked at that time frame um Mr Ryan was very intentional and we had conversations with Dr

114McCord and we really see this as an opportunity to unify math instruction in Gilbert public schools and we see the importance of getting this right so while we our ideal plan is to bring a curriculum resource to you during the fourth quarter I think when we looked at the daunting task of getting all of our teachers trained and trained well from fourth quarter to the start of the school year it was not very realistic so what we'd like to do is be very intentional in our planning and we'd like to have teacher groups come in administrator groups come in uh to do the training during the 24-25 school year so again we hope to bring you in the fourth quarter a resource that we could plan to move ahead with purchase but not necessarily Implement

115out of the shoots in 2425 because we'd like to pause and ensure that we're very intentional with that rollout and building capacity and getting feedback from stakeholders because we also know that there's some mindset shifts that have to work before we can even train on the new curriculum resource we've got to you know bring in the skill verse standard we've got to bring in some of those conversational pieces that our standards require so those are kind of the initial timelines process procedures that we've talked about as a team so I I have a question about that if we're because this I mean this is huge if huge every school K-12 and we mentioned preschool is going to be changing their math curriculum that is a lot of training to do so when you talk about

116doing training in the 24-25 school year would we then start if they come in and get training would they then start using that curriculum after they're trained rather than waiting until the next school year that you know they've been trained say in September and then we start the next school year in in July but they would use that they would start using that curriculum after that train but kind of rolling it out slowly so that we can get that really in-depth training so they understand the materials um because what we don't want is want to people to move back to what they know and they're comfortable with because that is easier right but once they get trained they would use this new material so it'd just take a year to transition everybody full implementation okay

117correct and that's exactly the plan we obviously need to take the feedback from our teachers campus and District administrators in that what group do we prioritize I don't know if that starts with Elementary and we try to get Elementary in first or if that starts with secondary I think it's really going to depend on the feedback we get on the particular resource and what direction we go but when it comes we even just thought about even the amount of pallets that are going to be in the warehouse to get out and in teachers hands from April to now we start in July it is a Monumental task so rather than doing it just to do it it's an opportunity to change math instruction for our district potentially for the next 10 years and we want

118to ensure that we get this one right and my comment to them was I'm not going to spend seven and a half million dollars for us to hurry up and slam something into our staff that will be put on a shelf later I think it's extremely important our teachers have so much to do and whenever there's any kind of curriculum implementation the curriculum obviously the textbooks and and the resources are extremely important but what's most important is that when they walk out of a training they feel comfortable going into their classroom and imparting that knowledge their students through that resource so um yeah okay I needed that clarification because I was like okay training trained the whole year and then we start implementing or we Implement as people get trained the expectation is that that

119year is for training there may be some implementation going on okay but at the next school year full implementation okay so okay got it thank you um well I do have a couple of comments I just wanted to um I I think math is so critically important and I think that in the past there have been lots of things that have been done not well with math and we need to improve that so people do feel like it's exciting and and that they can do it and that they have the basic skills they need and that they're being challenged to the level that they need to be challenged I think everyone does have a math story and I would say when I go into our classrooms we're not dumbing down curriculum we are raising the

120bar on every kid when I go into a special ed classroom I am amazed at what those children are accomplishing in their classrooms that a few years ago we would not have expected and when we go into those combined classrooms where it's special education and regular education I just am amazed what students are learning even even Advanced I'm every time I go visit school I'm like man I need to go back to school because they are learning such amazing things so we're we're not dumbing down curriculum curriculum we are raising expectations and kids are doing more and at an earlier level and yes there is some struggle but I think we're also being very intentional on meeting each student's needs individually and I appreciate the um looking at a curriculum that can be adjusted and

121used for every student and meet their needs and I think that's really important so I do appreciate the presentation and the discussion of all of the questions are really important and and I look forward to hearing about the progress this is a huge undertaking I mean I just don't know that we've done this big of an adoption all at once we've done Elementary or we've done secondary and we did English is kind of the same when that we our language arts that we adopted the elementary and then we went with the same thing for secondary but we didn't do it all in one year so I really appreciate the work that's gone into this have anything further to share before we our boss was gonna bring it home okay honestly this is it's already been

122brought home that the discussion has been fantastic and the questions have been wonderful as the questions have have come up I've been taking notes as I know we all have been and I think that that's what this is um as Dr McCord said it was it was a conversation that he really LED focusing on what is this implementation really going to look like this isn't you know Krista or Robert or Darren or myself sitting and having a discussion and deciding what this should look like this is this is all of us this is governing board this is all of cabinet this is our teachers our students our parents um we're we're fortunate we've all been teachers we've all been site principals cabinet same thing full of them we think we have great ideas but this

123is truly what's what it's going to take to really drive this into a new level of success than maybe we've had in some other rollouts and implementations and I think the time being given is really important so I appreciate that I think that's great for for us but most importantly I think ultimately it's great for our kids I think teachers will gain confidence I think teachers will gain understanding of exactly what it is and why we're doing something versus just saying this is what I was told and so now instead it's it's belief and understanding and seeing what the future can look like and I think I think we're on a really great path right now and I appreciate the support and making sure that that we can get that done for you all and

124for our community so um nothing further questions from you all so just a point of clarity this time somebody in the back just needs to be running this for me just for clarity this timeline is 23 24. this timelines 24 25 okay correct again our goal and again this is all tentative and you know as we bring different things to you we can we can adjust but an ideal timeline would be we bring a recommended product for purchase at the end of this school year but then the implementation is the following year with full full implementation in all of our classes was that 25 26 yeah wow right that's that's a ways away thanks I so I had a couple just follow-up questions as well is so are we absolutely committed to K-12 the same

125math and the same adoption and that's what I wondered is there some what what is a thought there we're not running in blind and we're not simply going to say this can't be considered because that's what we would like right that would be best case scenario for all of us but we're not going to choose you know that makes sense that's the goal and through the committee work that's where we're going to have to and and as Mr Bircher said earlier when we break it down by different bands and grade level bands we want there to be that consistency we hope that that's the way that it all flushes out but at the same point in time we're also not going to move so forward with something that's maybe weak in an area just so

126it fits right so we're gonna be smart about it but that's the goal and if we realize that is is the future that would be fantastic so okay High School High School secondary adoption it seemed to me like I wondered if it would make sense to again if we need to break it down anyways is to start with Elementary learning some of it because I thought I think part of the frustration in the high school adoption was these kids had never had never had that exploration math at all and then all of a sudden it started there so I wondered like if we had started in elementary done a year and then Junior High a year or two at least then by high school and I don't know we might need it though it might

127not be fair to the kids who are in high school right now to wait that long or does it make sense to wait either way I just thought could we be if you know is that something that you would even consider or is that not worth considering it's already been a discussion a point no answers as of yet until we see the product and what the options are okay but certainly has been a discussion um Dr Cox thinks that it needs to start a secondary and Mr Bircher thinks it starts at elementary so that's where we're at so far so for our next work study we're gonna Circle up here it's gonna be great excellent that's great okay I just wondered to see it would be interesting to see so am I understanding your question

128are you asking is it is it feasible to replace the current math program with a new math program say in like somebody's sophomore junior year that's what I'm saying I'm just saying I well I know it is but I'm saying does that make the most sense or does it make and is it what's best for the students and that's where or do we need and do we absolutely need that maybe we do maybe we absolutely need it at this point so and Mr Ryan's right I think Robert and I would go toe-to-toe there's pros and cons uh there's different philosophies but I will share um I'm very in tuned with what's going on at our junior high schools when it comes to math yeah our teachers are very excited for this and so that gives

129me a vote of confidence that maybe hasn't been there when I've moved forward with other adoptions when you have teachers that are ready for it like they're like they give us something um and because there's so many inconsistencies that currently are taking place across the board kind of ripping that Band-Aid off and just giving them something consistent just there's gonna be that shift no matter what if we do it now or if we wait until after Elementary okay so that's kind of where I stand but I also recognize that there's different opinions and different philosophies that's what I just wondered so yeah it's also different because the sheer number of teachers that we have to train at the elementary level because it's not just a department at a school there's a consideration there you look

130at like if you look at some of our elementaries they're departmentalized on the intermediate grades sure and those teachers whether you're a math teacher Ela science associate you're all getting trained on this because that could change the following year and we don't want to fall behind in terms of training so yeah and I was just going to add I think as a just a potential Advantage the three of us have all been campus leaders within the last two years on a campus in Gilbert Public Schools really I think still have a pretty current pulse on what's Happening and the desire to have a new curriculum and kind of the needs that we've seen over the last few years so I think that's an advantage because we're we're still you're doing it we've been informed it's

131an informed idea and thoughts as you're going to improve yeah I appreciate that I wanted to ask um Mr Jetty did you have any questions if you're I heard I don't know if you're still with us miss you jetty do you have any questions or thoughts you'd like to share I'm here um no I just this is just an amazing presentation and the discussion has been unbelievable thank you one of the things I do want to say is I really like the idea of training all of the teachers even if they're teaching Ela I think that's important great for the elementary you would you would Advocate that thank you right I'm sorry yep no that's great thank you Mrs page did you have anything any questions or anything to add I do um and I

132apologize that I'm not there tonight I have a lot of questions to ask so I'm probably going to schedule an appointment Dr Cox for Mr Burgess to kind of go over my questions with them I do have a quick question for Dr Cox and it goes back to the very beginning of the presentation when you are talking about group map um studying is there anything at the elementary or do you want to adopt any type of individual student study instead of just group math study I was a little confused about that all right can you clarify that a little bit miss page I'm sorry you're good tell us which which slide was it what I wanted to was it I don't remember I just remember Dr Cox talking about how she was watching a bunch

133of kids who do collaborative math studying at they're not in their individual rows they're sitting at their desk and then they go up to the board is the elementary school math curriculum solely focused on group study or is there any type of individual study in that I would say our current math classes have a variety of all of what she just mentioned um I think it's important to build excitement about learning and a lot of times that started with a group or solving a problem in the beginning there's actually new research brain research that shows if you start with the problem it sticks better so you kind of go here's the problem and then we'll teach the algorithm and then we'll do the paper pencil format and that's kind of what best practice in a

134math classroom looks like right now so I think in a great lesson in most lessons you'll see a combination of each [Music] thank you for clarifying amazing presentation I'm going to reach out with um my multiple questions at a later date thank you sounds good we look forward to it I did have a couple more questions so um have you considered maybe just doing like all of one grade level say we do first grade or have you thought more about by school or I think at this point in terms of training everything's on the table um it might be by school it might be by grade level I think it's a lot of it's going to determine product and the feedback that we get from the pilot teachers I think is going to be invaluable

135in helping to make that decision okay okay I appreciate that my last question is I feel like sometimes people don't understand why we need curriculum change an update every 10 years or so I mean sometimes we've gone longer sometimes we need to go faster so what are some of the reasons that we need a curriculum update every so often [Music] so first off I don't think anything should be done based on just simply a timeline right it's based on need some things work perfectly for 15 20 years sometimes things after six years are no longer working for what they were originally intended and I think that that's kind of the lens and scope we have to look at everything that we do right now we've analyzed mathematics began well before I stepped foot into this

136role probably began well before any of the four of us stepped into this role what we're seeing are inconsistencies across the school district and consistencies across whether it be grade bands or various grade levels and so it's a need it's a need for various reasons we can talk as Darren did earlier regarding covid and teachers scrambling and finding great resources out there to get us through a very challenging time we also provided great resources that looked different than they had looked before some of those have stuck around some of those have gone away but regardless it's changed what our classroom looks like it's changed what our teachers have access to um right wrong or indifferent we are at the spot that we are and so for those reasons Mathematics Curriculum adoption today is incredibly important

137but I think just simply to put a timeline on something as a challenge timeline to review always important right always turning around and looking to see if it's if it's effective in what we want to do I think data tells us a lot and we need to pay attention to that but also just the functionality is important so that's why we are here today but I I I wouldn't say that just based on simply time that we're going to make any changes versus always analyzing need all right thank you well thank you thank you Miss Paige miss you jetty one last anything further no oh I guess not excellent great and thank you are you guys okay too okay thank you very much we look forward to this process then the the opportunities involved so

138we appreciate it thank you all right that will take us to the adjournment of our work study and we will begin our brief board business meeting so I will call to order a brief board business meeting and I'll ask Miss Wilson for a roll call please for Chad Thompson here Miss Rhonda page miss page should we should we take a minute and try and reconnect Miss Rhonda page here oh great Miss Laurie wood here Miss Sheila eugelli here Ms Jill Humphries here Madam president all board members are present you have a quorum great thank you and thank you for joining us in person or telephonically I appreciate it that will take us to our consent agenda items board members is there a motion for the approval of a consent agenda items I moved to approve

139the consented agenda items as presented thank you Miss Humphries it's been moved as our second second thank you Mr Thompson it's been moved and seconded that we approve the consent agenda items as presented all those in favor please vote by saying aye aye aye aye any opposed with Nate thank you that pass 5-0 and that will take us to the adjournment of our very brief board business meeting board members is there a motion I move that we adjourn thank you Mr Thompson it's been moved is there second second thank you Miss Humphries it's been moved and seconded that we adjourn all those in favor please vote by saying aye aye aye aye any opposed with nay thank you we are adjourned appreciate everyone's attendance and and the work we did tonight yes