001foreign no I heard something I think that fixed it Sean I think I didn't hear him in here I mean I would still oh good evening and welcome to Tuesday November 1st 2022 to our executive session and then work study and brief board business meeting that will immediately follow board members I will call for an executive session pursuant to ARS 38-431.03 A1 for discussion or consideration of superintendent performance standards is their motion so moved thank you Mr Jetty it's been moved is there a second second thank you Mr Parker it's been moved and seconded is there any discussion CNN I'll call for the vote all those in favor of us adjourning to the executive session pursuant to ARS 38-431.03 A1 for discussion or consideration as superintendent performance standards please vote by saying aye aye any
002opposite name thank you we will adjourn and be back afterward test test foreign thank you test test all right thank you we are returning now from our executive session and we will begin our work study of calling this work study to order and we will begin with uh 3.01 traditional math curriculum adoption Dr McCord thank you madam president governing board members tonight we're going to give you well a couple other people are going to give you a presentation about the process to come up with a traditional math curriculum adoption I won't take any more of their Thunderbird we have Dr Newman and we have Crystal Udall from our teaching and learning and CIA Department good evening how are you don't forget to turn your microphones on you ready all right good evening Madam president governing
003board members and Dr McCord as Dr McCord mentioned we are here to discuss the GPS traditional curriculum adoption that we're doing for math we were notified recently last year that Saxon Math which we have always used in our traditional program since 1999 Inception of Neely Traditional Academy we've learned that that no longer will be available to districts to purchase so that's why we're here to kind of explain to you where we're at in that process and what we're doing I want to begin by introducing Crystal Udall crystal is our elementary math coordinator she actually is a form a parent of former Neely traditional students as well so she brings a lot of wonderful perspective as both a parent and a math expert and she also her coordination and facilitation of all of this work has
004been amazing and greatly appreciated so thank you for being here Crystal as I mentioned we knew that there was a need for a traditional math adoption and we wanted to make sure that we were looking through the lens of what is important within the GPS traditional program specifically for math we want to make sure that the Inc there's incremental learning that's going on and also that there's daily practice and that quick trajectory towards independent Mastery math is also taught one grade level ahead and what we noticed also is that this is not something that Gilbert Public Schools is doing just on the side because we're not happy with what has been going on at Neely traditional this is not unique to Gilbert public schools at all other districts are in the same place that we
005are some have already adopted curriculum others are waiting to see what other districts are doing and others are just like us they're in this process as well I wanted to bring attention to our adoption committee wow what an amazing group of committee members um very very impressed with them as you can see they represent all different areas and stakeholders and perspectives and the picture that you see right here are actually it was actually a three and a half meeting finally at 7 30 we're like we you have to go home but they were so vested in this work and they really wanted to have the presentation so this was actually a vendor presentation that they were watching the vendors and two very two different vendors and listening to what they had to say in addition
006to that they have met for meetings just to understand the process they've met to provide feedback to us they've met to review data and they on their own have individually reviewed products as well and all of that on their own time so this is something that's very important to all of them we had representatives from all three of our traditional campuses in this as well as some District Representatives the unique thing about this group also is many of those that are teachers or administrators we have a paraprofessional on the team they many of them function in two different roles they are either parents of traditional students or parents of former traditional students so we're able to have the perspective of both as well for that we follow the same process for every curriculum adoption so
007this probably isn't new to you but we are now sitting in November here on this slide we're here to provide some information to you about what the committee has is recommending for a product that we would like to provide some public review and initiate a pilot for that I I just have one question on the timeline when we will have a pilot and then we have the 60-day review and we make the final adoption in February will we begin using the curriculum right then in February or will we be waiting for the new school year so what we'll do is we um those teachers that are piloting if they want to continue they uh yes absolutely they could continue using it but we would use the rest of spring for training and then we would
008initiate for all in the fall all right thank you I hate going back and forth but there I go um in September the curriculum review process began and it was initiated it's an important process because we know that it's regardless of what the products are it's super important that they are representative of what we believe is important and it fulfills the Criterion that is necessary for us to ensure that we have a math product or any kind of curriculum project that specifically addresses the depth and rigor of our academic standards this is a unique situation because we also want to make sure that it represents what we believe is part of what the traditional program is and how it works and how it functions so we really did this in a two-step process the expectation
009initially was of a subcommittee which was a curriculum work group and they were looking through the lens truly of does this curriculum align to the standards and does it have the resources that we need for that Crystal do you want to talk a little bit about through the pieces um the second piece with the alignment to the rigger that we're speaking more of the balance of rigor leading to skills and application for standards and also looking at how the students are able to utilize that rigor and have a straight trajectory on the quit practice to Mastery of Standards sorry Crystal can you put the mic a little closer because I don't think it's picking up your voice there you go all right and then also in the area of the assessments assessments are measuring progress
010of students and having ways to collect ongoing data for teachers to measure students mastery so those are the specifics that we were looking for in those as well so initially we do a call for resources there were 11 submissions from vendors that we received of those 11 eight were formally reviewed by the curriculum committee the reason why we only reviewed eight out of the 11 was because it was important for us to have a K-8 product so while Neely and the traditional programs at both spectrum and Canyon Rim are Elementary we have fifth and sixth graders that are using seventh and 8th grade math it was important for us to have a K-8 product rather than having two and so they reviewed eight the expectation was again they worked several days they had very very
011long working days they had working lunches they came early and they stayed late this is super important for them to make sure that they took it very seriously I guess I should say and we knew that we were only going to move forward of those eight with products that we believed met all of the Criterion that's listed here can I ask a question um and I when you when you go out for an adoption like this how do you structure the language in terms of the difference between traditional and just our regular classroom so permit a math for a program of any kind what we did initially is they knew that within our call for resources we specifically talk about that it is for our traditional math program however we it does we there's not
012really a product out there specific other than what we've been currently using so we had to make broaden it a little bit to make sure that we had a quality math product to see what would best align to that traditional approach so these were our two finalists Math in Focus and I ready these two resources that came forward through this review met the criteria so of those eight if you would rank them these two met that was in the ninety percent or higher um both are evidence-based products that means that they have gone through research and studies and there's evidence according to what Essa or every student succeeds at demonstrates or or expects of products so as I mentioned when we first look at it we're looking really at a math product that we would
013say is a quality math product that meets all the Criterion that we would want and expect from from our curriculum resource so it's no surprise that when we did our vendor presentations the vendor presentations came pretty close to each other one was 8 19 out of 20 that would be our math and focus and the other is iready 18 out of 20. that confirmed to us that both were quality products so the next step was to go to the bigger committee and through that bigger committee really look through that traditional lens and that's where we sit here so the traditional committee members they knew as they were working independently and they were looking at the rubrics and there were a lot of conversations even though they were working independently as they were coming over here
014to the district office and looking through all the materials the focus was to keep that traditional lens the as I mentioned those on the committee they have that experience and they have the expertise of that traditional lens and so that's what you will see here all grades k through eight were evaluated they were evaluated by three or more reviewers for every single grade level so there was a really substantial amount of work that was done by the committee to make sure that we were not overlooking any of the grade levels and it was addressing all of the needs for those grade levels I'm going to ask Crystal to go a little bit more into the rubrics if you notice though the math InFocus is the one in green and then the I ready is the
015blue and the red or are the blue red thank you and good evening to you um as Dr mentioned it was very important for us to keep the lens of the traditional approach in our fourth site as we went through this review and as you see all sections were reviewed within the sections there were individual indicators a total of 20 for all five sections math and focus came in at 18 out of 20. reading criteria and then the I ready came in at 13 out of 20 when we were looking at that traditional lens focused um as the adoption committee's adoption committee members reviewed materials they found that iready did not fit the expectations for the traditional classroom in two of the areas and because of the higher use of the online components for that
016program as well as for the expectations for a large amount of learning happening through small group format which was not in the traditional approach that the Customs now take math and focus did had have a greater emphasis on using student work text extra practice homework and daily fluency practices math and focus also stood out as it had similar problem-solving approaches that traditional students are right now accustomed to and utilize while both resources are very much standards focused and meeting the needs for students it was the importance of keeping the lens of that traditional approach that we did keep at the foresight during that committee review and so these are our results so you mentioned a couple of the the whole classroom approach direct for instruction and then the review [Music] what what were some of
017the other you said there was 20 different criteria that you looked at I believe you said that 20 different indicators can you give me a few more examples of what what those indicators were for instance uh looking at the technology use of online what does that resource held need and I have applications of does the resource have manipulatives does the students have rigor balance within looking at the lessons and that's all traditional there's those those are a math lens of looking at that and be keeping that quick trajectory to Independent Mastery that is our biggest Focus to make sure the math Solutions lead to that industry that's what I just and I know you're very familiar with it so that helps me a lot I just am really concerned that we have a really excellent
018traditional approach because it's been very successful and parents who are there come to to the schools for it and absolutely so I just want to make sure I almost wish that the traditional lens was first and then we looked at the which I and it probably wouldn't make sense and then we looked at the all the meet the you know the other things that you mentioned the meet this the Criterion but I guess yeah yeah we wanted to be sure that all the criteria for what we know is important that addresses all the mass standards were met and so that's why we started big and then we focused in through that traditional lens knowing that we were looking at products that were quality math products in particular okay what were some of the differences between
019the two different curriculums that made the Harcourt one better for the Traditional School there were extra consumables um further beyond that we are put including in our quote for purchasing for the extra practice and homework they also had the daily practice fluency piece components it does have an online component for having students to be able to be adaptive in their learning environment so there's another piece there as well it came with more Hands-On manipulatives which is something that traditional teachers were talking about having and using versus only online digital pieces so that was something there and provided to look at and see and what they would be like at age grade level the problem-solving approach was something else that was looked at it with a traditional lens that is something that very similar in the
020I read in the I'm sorry math and focus piece which did not come out in the eye ready component Crystal mentioned that four-step problem-solving process when we were listening to feedback from the teachers they said that's exactly what we're using in Saxon so they were able to see some similarities it's not it's not the same for sure but some similarities that they would be able to say this would make sense for our kids that would be a continuation of some of the experiences that they are having what was the biggest difference in their minds between Saxon and either one of these well they're they're they love Saxon because they're used to Saxon right right really and truly oh yeah excuse me it's successful it is successful um they some one of the parents really liked
021um for her for Saxon that students have the opportunity to learn multiple types of problems in one sitting and so she said they don't ever feel like they're not getting it because if you notice Saxon is silica cyclical and so they might be learning a concept and maybe they do or don't understand it but then they can move on further down you know in the Pro um on the page you know or a hint workbook I mean it's traditional right but they can move further down in the problems and when they move further down in the problems that's something they've seen before so she said that she likes that her student always feels successful because of that um the one thing that they um while it works really well in a non-traditional setting and it's
022something that we would always look for the other product was more of an Adaptive type of product and in with traditional with sex and it very much is a whole group teacher the teacher is the one that's providing that instruction not not an Adaptive computer and not small group settings where kids are working together on their own in teaching in that way and so that was more of a comparison to them that they believe that this was more aligned to what Saxon is for the in focus would you say that the math focus is more similar to Saxton than the other one are was no uh are they they're obviously yes you know the the teachers as they were looking and you know as we move on well because we we went from this is
023the data this was our independent this is a vendor presentations now when we look especially through that traditional lens this is where we sit and this is the data then we just let them talk we really wanted them they talked in groups they talked in not only just same campus groups but mixed groups and um the the teachers really they are they resign the fact that they do not have the option to use Saxon anymore and this is the product that they truly believe will be the one that would be most close to what they're used to I was a Neely parent also times two so yes and we also talk about no curriculum resource ever is the end-all be-all even if we want it to be and So within our Curriculum maps we know
024what's successful within the Saxon routines and other parts of what they do and so it's important for us to include that in those curriculum resources and Curriculum maps so we don't ever just hand a resource to a teacher and say there you go you know start on page one and finish at the end and so um that will be something that we are working on in the spring when you talk about what we're doing in the spring that will be something that we're doing bringing in teachers and asking them to help and paying them to do some of this work too because that will be super important because they're the ones that live it all the time they know what's successful with the kids they know what those daily routines are but they did see
025some similarities in the math and focus if they were to draw between that that would be what they would choose so when we look math InFocus was the number one choice First Choice in Vendor presentations first choice for whole committee over 6 almost 70 percent chose Math in Focus or over the other product um it was important for us to look at what that percentage is of campus and community members because they're the ones that live it not necessarily just those of us that are here that don't live it every day that don't have those conversations that don't see the kids always with learning and and what would help them they're the interacting with the materials on a daily basis and so that's where we sat and that that was their number one choice so
026besides looking at all the data that we showed we also looked at what was the highest ranking for each of the individual committee members so I mentioned we were talking about the we looked at all the data with the committee but we it was really important to come with a unanimous recommendation I thanked all of them at the end because I said thank you that helps us out so much because it was all a thumbs up no thumbs sideways no thumbs down until they knew that I said thank you so much it would be terrible for us to not have unanimous so you know oh maybe we should do this but overall they were all um this this is the product they saw that this was the product for them as Crystal mentioned the language
027is similar to that four-step problem-solving process they saw that directly tied to it they also it was interesting they made some comments um like as teachers we teach to the standards and I know that Neely traditional and our traditional programs at Canyon ring rim and spectrum they do teach to the standards and they said it's our job as teachers to ensure that we continue with the approach and this is the resource that we think that we would be able to do that but there's other feedback that you got as well I'm leaning back on some conversation that I had earlier oh leaning back on some things that I did say earlier was the extra amounts of having the work textbook along with side with the extra practice on homework than daily practices so those are
028pieces that are in hand no not online but in hand for students that was important and a lot of the reviews and the comments that were said on that there was the um Hands-On manipulatives that were already and available to work on with students in the classroom there was the quick build of skills into that independent Mastery Focus as well as the problem solving that came out quite a few times in our review so that puts us here tonight requesting um your approval for us to do a public review and pilot of math InFocus and with that public review We want to make sure that we are getting the materials in front of um our community members our parents and making that as easy as we can as far as user friendly we will have
029full resources available at all three of the campuses as well as the district office and we're having it here at the district office also because we're going to do some extended nights so that parents are able to come as well and I might have this confused with with something else but didn't didn't we at one point in time utilize Saxon for some of the special ed programs too so would this fit the criteria for that you know right now the resource that they are using um for in we just were speaking about this today that's so interesting um that they're using is an older version um so they're using it in a different way than what they were using it at the traditional but yes you're right it is there so so will you have
030to do another adoption then that's a supplemental resource and so no we will not because they will continue to use it as they do currently right now they're not purchasing every year for those products want to talk yes just one question about piloting how many um what percentage will be piloting and I guess I'm not probably on all three campuses that's so that's next up our pilot um I will be at all three of our traditional campuses um with that it ranges from 25 to 30 percent of the classrooms so um it's representative across the board so we look at how many classrooms are at each of those campuses and it is between 25 and 30 on those on each of them so maybe one I'm just thinking if there's like three classes like one
031in three classes one class would be piloting and the others will continue with Saxon correct not all of the pilots are a team of teachers at the same campus yeah and so we will be providing a full day training to the teachers in November and then there will be ongoing support and meetings that we'll have and teachers will have will have committed to wanting to do that and so there will be four in addition to that that they come for additional help and then we'll work during PLC time to pull them together for some of that too okay just thinking about that how are you I hope that we're already communicating to families and parents why why we're changing and why we're looking at this and then how we communicate to those families that their
032classroom will be piloting just to make sure that there's just clear communication through our work with Don prior to the public review all of the information will go out just in general why we're doing an adoption she usually attaches the video to the work study so it's there we'll have um frequently asked questions that are available as well and then there is a letter that will go home specifically to those classrooms in well in advance before they begin piloting they don't begin piloting until December and so that gives us that time that second week of November to communicate that great well and I think too that invites them to give feedback as well and even even if obviously there's going to be changes but we want to craft the product in the the teaching of
033it and you know how to the best way that it works so give feedback so that we can tweak it and make it so that you know when we roll it out the District wide it will be good or not district-wide but to the traditional campuses well and we um we do take that feedback right from campus that's that feedback regularly when they're meeting in addition to that every other week even though they may not come in and be coming in for a meeting there's some questions that go out or visits to the classroom so that we can get feedback from the teachers and then it with that as well the teachers were the best they said the kids we're going to know from the kids right so we're going to listen to what they're
034saying and we're going to find out some of those things so that will be an informal collection of data of course but then also to our parents of students that are piloting and we denote that differently whether it be within the public review and then we'll also have a survey that goes specifically just to the parents specifically for that because that's going to be key all of that data is what we need to take so that we can create the best product as far as the curriculum map as far as the rollout and just implementing it next year that's it that's it for our formal presentation kind of a unique process than what you're used to correct it's Unique in that the traditional Saxon Math is so unique itself that there's really nothing similar around
035where generally it might be that we might have a curriculum resource that's outdated but generally they're very they're much more similar than this so well usually when we do this we're ready like yes this this is 20 years old and it's time for a change we all those things factor into this wasn't the case this is we love this but this marriage is going to end in divorce right I mean it's going to be done and you can't use it anymore so you got to go somewhere else and finding a replacement is extremely difficult so well we appreciate that that you guys went through this process knowing that that's the struggle that you have to face every day because that's hard that's hard for those people evaluating it in your head you want to slide
036something perfectly into that puzzle piece and it's not just going to be there so when our our teachers love it and our families love it and it's been 23 years of success they weren't ready to change at all and so going through the process they that's why the committee's been so amazing yeah because they really in their hearts love what they have and so they knew though how important it was for them to choose a product that's going to be right for their kids I guess we're in the same boat as anybody else any other districts using this is they're going to have to switch just like anybody else will so right okay thank you guys for doing that I I wanted to comment on that in this process there are many stakeholders built in
037the teachers the parents even the students because we're going to be piling piloting it to see if it works well with the students so we have a process where there are many voices built in and we're working for consensus to come up with the best new product since we do have to change that we have the best new product that will work and I'll be interested to see the feedback that we get and I personally will be looking at the books and the lessons and the things that are put out at the district office anything further board members well thank you so much Dr Newman and Crystal we appreciate it thank you okay that was our only discussion topic in our work study tonight so we will adjourn our work study and I will call
038to order our brief board business meeting Mrs Wilson will you please call roll Mr Bill Parker here Dr Charles Santa Cruz here Miss Laurie wood here miss Jill Humphries here michiela eugetti here Madam president all board members are present you have a Cora thank you we will now move to the consent agenda items 6.01 approval of consent agenda items board members is their motion so moved thank you thank you Miss Humphries and miss you jetty it's been moved and seconded I I will call for the vote all those in favor please please vote by saying aye aye any opposed with nay thank you we've approved the consent agenda as written that takes us to our action items 7.01 superintendent evaluation instruments and performance pay measures and weights Dr McCord thank you madam president governing board
039members are bringing before you tonight your approval of my evaluation instrument as well as performance pay measures and weights has presented an exact session thank you board members is their emotion I move that we approve the superintendent evaluation instruments and performance pain measures and weights as presented thank you Mr Jetty great second thank you Dr Santa Cruz it's been moved and seconded that we approve the superintendent evaluation instruments and performance pay measures and weights as discussed in the executive session is there any discussion seeing none I'll call for the vote all those in favor please vote by saying aye aye any opposed with knee thank you that takes us to 7.02 traditional math curriculum adoption Dr McCord thank you madam president governing board members we bring tonight the e-request to approve the traditional math curriculum
040adoption and start the clock on the review process board members is there a motion I move that we uh adopt the traditional math curriculum is recommended by the committee we're not actually adopting the curriculum or we were just the approval process we're a better way to say that we're how do we how should we say that I am reading from the uh agenda that says traditional math curriculum adoption Okay so could I amend it just that we adopt or approve the process of adoption we're doing the preliminary preliminary okay adoption yeah that works for me that works thank you thanks Mrs is there a second second thank you miss you jetty all right it's been moved and seconded is there any discussion so this is what we reviewed just tonight because sex and math is
041no longer going to publish and allow us to purchase we have to go through and find a different curriculum for the traditional schools and the timeline was discussed tonight as well there will be a a public review for 60 days as will be sent out the exact dates on that and then there will be the pilots just like we talked about before we come back in February to actually adopt correct okay with that if there's no further discussion I will call for the vote all those in favor of the preliminary adoption of the math as presented tonight please vote by saying aye aye any opposed with nay thank you that will take us to adjournment is there a motion so moved thank you Mr Jetty is our second second thank you Mr Parker it's been
042moved and seconded that we adjourn our brief board business meeting all those in favor vote by saying aye aye any opposed with me thank you thank you board members and those who are here and we're and watching appreciate it