001Hello, welcome. Uh we are here for our Wednesday, February 4th teaching and learning subcommittee and this is a meeting of the whole uh first on the agenda is our advanced learning opportunities with m Mike Pani. Feel free. >> Thank you. Good evening. I want to begin tonight's presentation just starting with gratitude. the prompt that we had to put this PIP together um really emphasize a few things that I'd just like to take a moment to highlight. The first is that we just have such a variety of advanced learning opportunities across all three levels. And we knew this before writing the program improvement plan, but to see it together in a single document, it's really refreshing to see all the different pathways students have to be able to access advanced learning. The second piece I just
002want to emphasize is the act of putting this together really helped us move away from kind of viewing each program in its silo, but instead as a continuum from elementary through middle and to high school. So, it was a good, I guess, perspective shift in terms of how we look at these programs. um they've been successful far before the presentation that we're going to share tonight, but it's really nice to be able to put it together in a single document and present to all of you. Uh and then also I just want to share one brief anecdote that I think emphasizes the values that are written in this PIP. um as a former Snug Harbor principal and a former Broad Meadows principal, I had the opportunity to work with students as they were elementary students
003and then again when they were middle school students. And I'm reminded of a specific student who I worked with at uh Snug Harbor as an elementary school student for many years and then I got to work with him again when he was in eighth grade. So only a couple years went by. Uh but those were transformative years for that student. And I say that because in elementary this student had some academic struggles. Great kid, but academic struggles, required intervention services, needed added support. Fast forward to 8th grade at Broad Meadows. This student is a straight A student. He was attending all advanced uh excuse me, neighborhood advanced courses and was scheduled to take two advanced courses at the high school level. So again, when we talk continuum and when we look at kind of the
004educational journey of each of our students, I think that anecdote represents the importance of creating multiple pathways for our students. We were able to support this student when that student was ready to get to that advanced level and we had that segue right into that programming. And so to me, what I am so grateful for is that this district really provides multiple access points to get to that same uh end result, whether that's AP, whether that's u dual enrollment, or the variety of programs we offer. Uh before I hand it over to Miss Vaughn, who's going to talk about the elementary programming, uh I just want to share some brief bullet points um that should be highlighted um throughout this PIP. The first is that as I mentioned it spans from elementary, middle and high
005school and by design the opportunities increase as students age. So when they go from elementary to middle school, middle school they have uh neighborhood advanced courses. So that's at every middle school in addition to the APC program which is housed at Central Middle School. So that's one thing that's worth pointing out. Um, and then obviously when they get to high school, then it opens up the early college high school programming, the AP uh programming, honors advanced, so on and so forth. So again, those opportunities increase as our students grow uh throughout their time at Quinsey Public Schools. Um, and I do just want to emphasize that whenever we talk advanced learning, I think sometimes people might be curious about what is the difference, right? If we look at kind of a general education classroom versus
006advanced. Now, instructionally, there's a variety of differences. It really is, you know, it comes down to the teachers and the and the students they're facing. But ultimately, uh, they all advanced learning opportunities are designed to extend the core curriculum, not replace it. Okay? And that's just worth noting because really what's happening uh for students regardless of their age range whenever they're in an advanced learning uh program really what's happening is they're getting access to increased depth in the instruction. The complexity of what they're learning, right? So uh along with reasoning and application over time. So these are all the things that you'll see change as the learning opportunity goes from let's say general to advanced. It doesn't mean the experience is dramatically different for the students in the sense of all students get that opportunity.
007You just might see it less prompted by teachers at the advanced level because we're starting to see students be able to produce that on their own again as they get older. Uh so with that, I just want to hand it over to Miss Vaughn. She plays a key role in the elementary programming specifically within the reach program. So I'll hand it over to Miss Vaughn. >> Thank you, Mr. Morani. It's great to see everyone this evening. Um, so as Mr. Morani said, as part of our advanced pathways program improvement plan, Quinsey Public Schools is strengthening and clarifying a continuum of advanced learning opportunities that begins early, expands over time, and provides multiple entry points for students as they demonstrate readiness. Um, so I have the fortune tonight to share with you uh some of the
008specifics that are happening at the elementary level. Um, the continuum begins with enrichment in elementary school and more formally in the grade 5 reach program. Students engage in targeted instruction that allows teachers to observe emerging strengths, academic readiness, and learning behaviors. These early opportunities are about exposure, giving students access to enrichment, problem solving, and higher level thinking that can spark interest and reveal potential. In grade four, the work becomes more structured through advanced learning opportunities provided by enrichment teachers at every elementary school. The sessions occur once a month for 90 minutes, and they're designed to offer increased academic challenge through inquirybased lessons, collaborative problem solving, and exposure to new and more complex academic tasks. Eligibility is determined using multiple measures including MCCAST results in mathematics and reading as well as NWEA MAP data. Approximately the
009top 10% of students at each school are identified and families are notified of eligibility in October of grade 4. In grade 5, the continuum continues through the grade 5 reach program which is also offered at all elementary schools. Reach meets once a week and builds upon the foundation established in earlier grades by deepening students engagement with advanced contact content in critical thinking. Eligibility again relies on multiple data points including NWA MA map data and MCCAST results with approximately 20% of students at each school identified. Families are notified in September of grade 5, allowing students to access advanced learning opportunities for the entire school year. Across these elementary programs, the focus is consistent to provide meaningful academic challenges for students who demonstrate readiness while also supporting early identification of strengths and ensuring equity through the use
010of common criteria and multiple measures. Importantly, these programs are offered across all elementary schools, ensuring access regard regardless of a student's location within the district. Um, as a year-long enrichment overview of the grade 5 reach program that would include a dynamic blend of STEM, art, critical thinking, and real world application designed to challenge and inspire curious minds. As part of the grade five reach program, students engage in weekly enrichment experiences that emphasize higher level thinking, problem solving, creativity, and academic independence. So, for example, I'll give you some specifics of these. Um, for STEM and design thinking, students tackle open-ended hands-on STEM challenges that mirror real world engineering problems. Rather than following step-by-step directions, students work in teams to define problems, test prototypes, analyze failures, and revise solutions. Some examples of these include designing and testing
011structures that must meet specific constraints like materials, budget, or environmental factors. Applying engineering design cycles to solve authentic problems such as energy efficiency or space usage, and reflecting on design choices using data, sketches, and peer feedback. These challenges build resilience, collaboration, and the ability to apply science and math concepts in meaningful ways. Another example for art and visual communication reach students explore how art communicates ideas, values, and solutions. Lessons go beyond technique to focus on intentional design and visual storytelling. Um, in mathematical learning, reach emphasizes depth, reasoning, and perspective. Throughout the year, students engage in weekly logic puzzles and non-rine problem solving that require multiple strategies. Um the focus is on how students think not just the final answer. Uh another example there is a lang uh sorry a law and logic unit where students
012learn to think like lawyers examining real life court cases and ethical dilemmas. Um these experiences strengthen argumentation, critical thinking and respect respectful discourse. In addition, uh all the students through all of these examples um use research and pre or strengthen research and presentation skills um through independent and guided inquiry. They research a famous architect and an eco-friendly building product of their choice, evaluate sources for credibility and relevance, synthesize their information into infographics and slide presentations, and practice clear and confident oral presentation skills. Um, in literature and historical inquiry, students engage in a deep novel study of Fever 1793 by Laura Hollyy Anderson, integrating literacy in history and ethics. Um, let's see. One of my personal favorites is a year-long poetry and creative writing um, where students explore poetry as both readers and writers. They study
013poetic forms and devices, analyze mentor texts. Um, they draft, revise, and curate original poems into a personal poetry collection, which is really impressive. Um, so each student then becomes a published author, emphasizing pride, voice, and craftsmanship. And finally, the Tiny House Design Challenge is a culminating project. The Tiny House Design Challenge brings together math, engineering, art, and research in a comprehensive long long-term project. Um, they create uh scaled two-dimensional floor plans using area per perimeter and proportional reasoning. They design elevation views and landscape plans, use 3D digital modeling tools to refine designs. Um and then they have to justify their design design decisions based on efficiency, sustainability and livability. Um so this project exemplifies the reaches program emphasis on integration, creativity and real world application. So the grade five reach program is a key part
014of Quinsey public school's continuum of advanced learning opportunities which begins with early enrichment and expands over time throughout the improvement plan um that Mr. Morani will continue with. You'll notice that it emphasizes alignment across grade levels. So advanced learning is not just a single decision or a moment but a pathway. By strengthening the continuum, we aim to better support student potential, promote academic excellence, and ensure that advanced learning opportunities are accessible, data informed, and clearly communicated to families throughout a student's K to2 experience. And so I will pass it over to Mr. Morani to continue. >> Thank you, Miss Vom. So now if we shift gears to middle school and high school. Uh so at the middle school level as I mentioned earlier there's really two uh differentiated pathways of advanced learning. The first the
015most commonly known is the APC program. Um that is housed at Central Middle School. Approximately 214 students are currently enrolled. That's grades 6 through 8. Uh it is roughly 10% of each grade level. So if you're looking at it in terms of what percentage of total student body it's roughly 10%. And I do just want to add to to uh gain access to that program, we use the CTP screening system that I do just want to include the idea that it really starts the screening process in the MAP platform that we use. So when we're screening students, I think it's important to note that all students are being screened. They're starting through the MAP system. So, our district-wide benchmarking system is essentially that first round of screening. And then when you see the top 20%
016performers, those are the students that would then qualify for the CTP screener. And of that, roughly 10% are then qualifying for that APC program. One of the strengths of Quinsey public schools is well, if a student just misses that or doesn't qualify for that, every middle school has a neighborhood advanced course offering. So that's in math, science, and ELA. So what's great about that, and we'll see this a lot when we're looking at the screening results, you might have a student that's very strong in math, and the the screening results show very uh I should say the quantitative reasoning results show very high achievement in math, but possibly in the qu uh in the verbal reasoning results, it might be a little bit lower. So it might keep them from getting into APC, but it
017doesn't mean there aren't advanced skills on the part of that student. And that's those those are the students that would then go into the neighborhood advance programs. Uh and so in conversations with many of the APC teachers who also teach neighborhood advance over at Central, they will say all the time that there are plenty of students within their advanced neighborhood courses that are extremely successful academically and very high level and can go in great depths in terms of uh discussion and processing information. So again, that's a strength because there's still two pathways uh that exist at the the middle school level. And I do just want to mention across the district, 628 students are enrolled in our neighborhood advanced programming. So again, that's grades six through eight across uh grades six, seven, and eight. Um
018and so then when we shift gears to high school, so at the high school level, we see even more pathways uh increase. So the the most commonly known one are the AP courses. So we currently offer 22 advanced placement courses and those are AP courses which means they're ending with an AP exam which means that AP exam is driving the content that's being taught throughout the year. Right? So essentially we're preparing those students for that AP exam at the conclusion of the year which potentially depending on the results could earn them college credits. But in addition to that and let me just take one step back. Uh, I want to give you the combined enrollment. And I say combined because you might have students in multiple AP courses. We have 1,364 students enrolled in an
019AP course. That covers any student from grades 9 through 12 enrolled in um an AP course. Again, that could be one student taking three AP courses and they would be counted three times towards this number. Um, additionally, we have early college, high school pathway. Uh, and I I I won't divulge too much into the details because I know Mr. Sagal is going to be presenting on that in the near future. But we have 255 students enrolled in that program. That's just grades 10 through 12. Uh we have grade nine that's not included um in the table that you see. That's an additional uh I believe 48 students. So it brings the total up to 303 students enrolled uh in the early college high school pathway. Uh and then I also just want to point out
020when we when we shift to advanced courses and honors courses, so separate from the AP courses, we offer 35 advanced courses across the district. Uh and then we also offer 151 honors courses throughout the district at between the two high schools. for the uh the total amount of students that are in at least one honors course, we have 2,356 students participating enrolled in at least one honors course. When you narrow that down to advanced courses or advanced placement courses, we see 1,222 students enrolled in at least one of those courses. So, they might be enrolled in more, but that's what the data point uh is. Uh and then from a curriculum standpoint at both the middle school and high school levels and I did allude to this earlier uh the all of the courses emphasize
021the increased pace the greater depth of learning and the subject specific thinking and I do just want to share that when speaking to a lot of these advanced level teachers one of the most common things that was mentioned over and over again was the opportunity for student discussion is amazing at this level. So, what's great from an instructional standpoint is these students are prompting one another to support what they're saying, provide evidence to support what they're saying. They're coming up with their own questions, whereas as compared to a general ed classroom, you might see a little bit more prompting on the part of the teacher, right? So, we're still bringing students forward regardless. It's more how they're getting there that that you'll see a little bit of a difference. Um, and I do just want
022to note as I mentioned the AP courses are really driven by AP exam which are designed by the college board. But then also with the math Desmos curriculum because that is a a new curriculum we've recently adopted. There is an accelerated track and so what's nice about that is whether you are in neighborhood advanced or whether you are in the APC program you will get that accelerated track within the math Desmos curriculum. And that is designed so that when students are walking out of eighth grade, they've had a complete algebra 1 course under their belt. So when they're walking into uh their ninth grade year, they're ready for geometry. I'm going to pause for a minute and just acknowledge uh because obviously between Miss Vaugh and what I'm saying, there's a lot happening. I want
023to acknowledge all of the principles and all of the teachers who really make this possible. They are the ones working directly with the students to offer that in-depth instruction. They're the ones that truly make it an advanced learning experience for the students and that's through a lot of effort that you'll see in their school improvement plans that you'll see in their day-to-day operations. And so it's worth acknowledging um that again these actions have been taken for many years prior to this uh to this PIP. Uh I just want to provide a brief overview of the three goals that you have in that program improvement plan. Uh the first goal um is really about setting up teams at the elementary and middle school levels so that we can really start to identify patterns and trends among
024our students from elementary through high school. So in other words, we want to be able to see by the time they're in high school, well, what was their educational journey that brought them there? Is there anything that we can do to improve that? Is there anything that needs to be uh fixed or what are the strengths of that experience? So, we want to formalize the the analysis of that by putting teams together to really look at the experience from elementary as early as elementary depending on the student or middle school or they might start their first advanced course at the high school level. Regardless, we want to be able to monitor what that uh pathway looks like for individual students. The second goal focuses on curriculum review. So, another part of this as we look
025at the continuum by putting these teams together, we want to make sure that we're looking at the curriculum to ensure that whether it's working this year uh or next year, but maybe in a few years, maybe there's a change in the standards and now we need to look at the curriculum again. We want to systematically put in place the review process of the curriculum to make sure that we're meeting the needs of the advanced learners that are participating in that program. So, that's the second goal. And the third goal is really about looking at kind of the culmination point which is high school, right? We're driving them all towards high school. And so we want to create opportunities, but we also want to be careful in how we place students in those opportunities. So it's
026not when we talk advanced learning, it's not just about increasing enrollment. Of course, we want every student to be able to take advantage of advanced learning opportunities, but when they're ready, and we want to make sure that when they're ready, we can position them for success. And so, goal three is really about looking at high school participation rate, which is an accountability data point uh brought forth by DESIE. But in addition to that, we want to pair that with the AP exam averages. So, if we're looking at AP exam averages and we're seeing, let's say, those scores going up and we're also seeing enrollment going up, we know we're moving in the right direction. If we were to see enrollment dramatically increase, but we were to see the AP exam scores take a big dip,
027now we've got to look at what we're doing and again determine what to do in that team format, determine the next steps. So, that that's kind of the the three goals. I would view all three of these goals as starting points. Since this is the first program improvement plan for advanced learning, I would say this is a jumping off point. I'm sure we'll formulate more uh unique goals specific to programs as we get those teams up and running. And so to close, I just want to add a couple items. Uh this reflects the strengths that have already existed in this in throughout Quinsey public schools. Uh there's there's really not much new in here that hasn't been happening for many years. Uh other than we're now going to take a more uh intentional approach in
028how we monitor uh these programs. It demonstrates a commitment of thoughtful design, coherence, and continuous improvement along the way whenever that student enters and accesses advanced learning. Um, and then finally, we just want to make sure that whenever we're looking at this that we're remembering each kid has a story and if they're not ready for advance, they have an honors course that's potentially an option or a CCP course. And regardless of the course they're taking, we're going to get them the best education possible. So whether it's in an advanced track or any other track that we have, it's important to close noting that. So with that, I welcome any questions or feedback you may have. Thank you very much. >> Thank you so much for the presentation. I just had a couple clarifying questions for
029you. Um so for the reach program, um 214 students is the current number. That is where we're at right now. >> Yes, that's the current number. >> Okay. Um I wonder didn't know if any had had been added or or dropped out since this number was. >> That's this school year. I don't have the exact date of when we pulled it. So I would say it's the most recent data point we have. >> Okay. And this is offered to all fifth grade students. The REACH program is offered to the all 11 elementary schools, top 20% within each of those schools. Does that make sense? >> Fifth grade classes. >> It's the fifth grade classes. Yes. But they do have to like be screened in. So there's a process to be in it, but it is
030offered to every fifth grader. >> Fifth grade classes. That's why I wanted to stipulate that. Okay. Um and the number of the groups we still follow the same um guidelines for group size of class that we have in the Quincy public school guide. This is still follows. >> Definitely. >> Okay. Just want to double check. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. I will open this up to questions from the subcommittee that is on teaching and learning subcommittee first. Mr. Leang. >> Hello. Hi there. Thank you for the presentation. um to the entire advanced learning team. Um for a first time uh SIP, this is a very impressive document. Um the breakdowns, the trends, uh the summaries, uh it's all here. Um so kudos to you. Um I'm extremely proud of the advanced learning program at Quinsey
031Public Schools. Um, so I just want to thank you all for everything that you do. Um, and echo uh your sentiment about the principles and teachers. Um, I would urge you to um, keep up, you know, keep pushing, right? I think we're we're doing a great job. Um, but, you know, there's there's more that can be done. Um I did have a question about uh the number of courses and kind of the the summary of you know how many students take each course and um >> I wanted to know if these numbers that I'm seeing are the direct result of any uh specific plan and and I can elaborate on that any plan in the design of the program. Um, for example, I think a couple weeks ago, my colleague, Miss Cahill, asked in a
032different context about maybe like actively recruiting students for a particular program. So, I'm wondering if any of that is reflected in the courses here, right? So, uh, 35 advanced courses. Um, is there any active like recruiting of students as as teachers uh, you know, watch them through their their journey, observe them through their journey and maybe identify like this kid might be might do well in the Italian advanced placement course. >> Yeah, the quick answer to that question is absolutely. Uh, yeah. So that that's very common for teachers to have conversations with students of you know let's say if there's a student in an honors course and that and that teacher saying to that student like you know you're you're totally ready for advance next year you know you can do this and it becomes
033a conversation that then brings in guidance counselors and a lot of that will then be realized through the scheduling process but absolutely I mean there and there and it could happen the other way around too a student might ask the teacher do you think I'm ready for advance so I would Absolutely. There's a lot of back and forth in that planning process throughout a student's uh courses. Excellent. Thank you. And then um just one other thing. Um anything to make of some of the dramatic decreases year-over-year, right? For example, one of the computer science AP courses saw a dramatic decrease in number of students taking the course. Does that reflect anything that you guys see going on or is it just >> Well, I I think it's a fair question and and there were a
034few courses that we noticed that as we put putting this together. And so to the point of this program improvement plan, I would say what this is going to then prompt us to do is to dig into each of these courses a little bit more and see try to find the why if there was a significant decrease and that's both in the exam results and also enrollment too. So we're going to monitor enrollment as well. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks. >> Thank you. Thanks. I'm so excited. I've been looking forward to this day to see this pitch. I've um uh advanced learning stuff is kind of uh kind of where I've why I'm here, why I've advocated for so long for my kids. just it's part of been my journey as a parent and
035just seeing kind of every grade level what opportunities are and just how heavy a lift this has always it had always been for teachers to be able to differentiate so much for some of these kiddos that um you know need more from the curriculum need deeper as you mentioned Mrs. Morani. Um, and it just becomes such a burden on the teachers to have to do that when they have a classroom of kids that are a bunch of ranges. Um, so I think that that's really where this is so fantastic is it's giving those kids uh something different and they can stay with that same curriculum as you mentioned, but go deeper. So, um, I'm so grateful for this uh plan. I'm so grateful for the way you're looking at it as a continuum across the
036grades. Um, as you said, I think you know, we kind of look at every school and we sort of have them as a subgroup, but I think watching the continuation is so important because it's these same kids that are staying in there. >> Um, so uh I have a bunch of different things to um to add to it, but I love it's a starting point. I think this is great. I think it's really um uh it kind of has a really good picture of where we're at right now. Um our reach team, our reach team staff is amazing. um phenomenal uh teachers that we have on there and I know that we're limited in what we can do with reach with the number of reach teachers that we have. >> Um so one priority for
037me would be to just sort of find a way I don't know if this you know in our budget to to be looking at adding staff to that reach program. Um because if we look at grade four um it's 90 minutes a month. Um so and they get identified in October. So I'm guessing they're starting in November. So that's um basically 12 hours of advanced learning in their fourth grade year um which is about two school days. So I'd love to be able to do better with that to be able to provide those kiddos with even more um closer to what we do for reach where it's a full day uh every week. Um so that's where I'd love to see that go. At one point um when we were talking about expanding reach down
038to grade four um there was some talk about the reach teachers working with younger grades classroom teachers um can you talk about if that happens if that communication happens and and what that might look like? >> Sure. So um because of that 90 minutes on the Wednesdays um and the Wednesdays are typic you know half day in the elementary school that's the usually the time when the um three enrichment teachers that we have full-time and um we also have another teacher at Marshall uh that does the grade four group there. So um they are able to collaborate with the grade level teachers. um the teachers can come to them if they um you know or or a parent can come to them and ask for them to observe or or you know just to to
039meet about that. Um they also have in grade four um a Google classroom where when grade four students um that are not in that enrichment group um they are able to join that and there's all sorts of challenging activities that they can do independently because you know we found that families want that. So any any fourth grader can join that. Um and then you know typically that's kind of morphed into um you know when the other students aren't there and they're with the they're with their enrichment teacher um they can have more intervention for what they need. And in addition um with the younger grades they can have um a windb block which is a what I need um time of the day where teachers other teachers and interventionists can provide with what whatever whatever
040it is that the student needs which is now including enrichment. So that's the way that we've been able to accommodate that um with you know consultation with enrichment teachers that that you know are able to provide a lot of the things that a general education teacher may not have the time to do >> or know what to look for too. >> That's great. That's kind of what we had talked about happening. I didn't see it in here, so I didn't know if it was happening or it wasn't happening, but I'm glad to know that that's happening at least in the meantime of getting that program even more robust because those, you know, grade four students in grade three, they might have needed more. So, I think, you know, our goal should always sort of be
041continuing to look both directions, but, you know, if we can get any more resources for the younger grades, I think that's great. Um, having reach having the fifth grade program be in all the schools versus one school and busing kids there, losing time on either end for busing, um, is phenomenal. It's I think it's one of the greatest changes we've made to be able to offer a full day of enrichment for those kiddos a week. Um so I think that's a really great thing that we've done. Um >> the um so that that's kind of the elementary my comments on the elementary level. Uh for the middle school um one of my one of my main concerns is um evaluating that APC program because it's really difficult to um find out if it's challenging enough
042for those kiddos, right? um without having some kind of test or some kind of way to evaluate if they're being challenged. So, I had sort of an idea of um as you're looking at the curriculum in your goal number two, as you're doing a curriculum review, uh I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but maybe kind of looking at the grades the students are getting in those courses or at the end and sort of if if kids are getting A+es, that's great. It means they're working hard, but also maybe they could use a little more, right? So, I just wonder if um that might be a good way to to sort of see if if those kids that are getting A+es are is is was that easy for them? Do they need
043more? That might be a good indicator is to um some areas to look at and maybe a way to start. Uh if that's I always like to try to offer some kind of suggestion if I'm going to offer a question. Um so that was just an idea I had for middle. And then um can you talk a little bit Miss Morani about you said something about Desmos with the Desmos curriculum? Yeah. >> Now all 8th grade kiddos that are either in the neighborhood advanced and the APC advanced math are going to be starting at geometry because I know that there was sometimes it's like sort of teacher dependent, right? If the teacher thought you were ready for geometry, you went on. If they didn't recommend you for that, you were in algebra again. >> Yeah,
044fair question. and and that process is still the same in that depending on each individual student because they might get through algebra by the time they're completed with eighth grade, but let's say, you know, back to the grade piece, right? If the grade isn't exactly where we want it, it might make sense for that individual to take uh algebra as a freshman. Um, and so you have to weigh those decisions by each individual kid. And that's why we have teachers looking at the data and making the recommendations accordingly. Um, but ultimately our goal is for a student who successfully completes either one of those programs has algebra 1 successfully completed so that it's essentially equivalent to that 9th grade algebra 1 experience. That that's the goal. And I would say that depending on the results
045of each individual student, that will then determine where they end up the next year. >> Gotcha. Gotcha. I just didn't know if it was a difference than from what I remember, but it sounds like it's about the same, which is great. >> Yeah, that's about the same. It's just the vehicle having the Math Desmos accelerated track is is a new change to it. >> Gotcha. Um and then just to kind of go to high school. Um what I didn't I didn't see a lot on the honors and eight I'm sorry honors and advanced courses in the PIP but you spoke a lot about that which is great. Excuse me. Sorry. Um are we in in order to kind of stay at that level if a kiddo is in honors and taking honors there's a certain
046grade level they have to maintain to stay there. Is that correct? >> Yeah. So again, so back back to the uh the point of the question about like how we recommend for the following year that really comes down to teacher discussion with guidance counselor and student. So yes, we're absolutely looking at grades, but we're also looking at work ethic, homework completion, those other things that might not a student might still have a B minus, let's say, but it's okay. Do you go to advance or do you stay in honors? And that's when teachers are communicating with students, with their families, and with the the relative guidance counselors. >> Okay. All right. So that's kind of I didn't see that in here. So, just maybe that might be a good thing to sort of remind people
047kind of where that what those levels are. You know, if if you're in honors or whatever level you're at, if you're maintaining say a B average, is that something that you would you would stay the same or if it's an A average, would that would that teacher, you know, sort of recommend the next grade up? That type of stuff. I thought um might be interesting to have in there. And then the um the AP exams, and I feel like this is the most that we've sort of looked at AP classes as ours, right? because I sort of felt like when we were talking about them it's the curriculum isn't really determined by us right in the national test it's it's kind of out of our hands right so I've always sort of felt like those
048have been like well those are those classes and we can't really do much about that but I think looking at the exam results is super important because our teachers are getting across that curriculum right and if they're getting it across well our students are going to do well right so um looking at those scores and seeing how they do I think is a really great idea um And I think if I'm not mistaken, it seems like a four or a five on an AP exam, that's when a college will accept the credit. Is that Does that sound accurate to you? >> Depends on the college. >> Depends on the school. >> Yeah. >> All right. I just I was noticing in here that there are only two um in the average 2025 grades, there were
049only two that were a four higher. So, of the of all of these grades. So, um, that's that's just really frustrating for the kiddo and the family that spent $105 per AP test to, uh, you know, has have I have a kid that is taking five AP tests and it's 500 whatever that math is that I'm not doing right now. Um, dollars and, you know, when they're not getting those scores that are going to get them that college credit and it's consistent, right? if we're looking at as a class as a whole year over year and we're sort of seeing that I think that's our opportunity to sort of work with those teachers and sort of give them maybe more supports more that we can do and sort of not not sort of stay as
050hands-off as we had been. So I love that that's going to be part of this plan in that way we look at it. >> Yeah. And I share your sentiment. I mean absolutely that's that's part of the benefit of putting this all together and really looking at it as okay how can we improve the pathways along the way and then how can we improve the experience when they are in high school and you know get them more successful than they already are >> right that's perfect and I just think you know you pointed out the the number of kids enrolled in the um in at least one honors it's 80% 80% of our high schoolers are taking at least one honors and 41% of our uh students are taking at least one advance And that's
051phenomenal. Um, and that's just part of this program. If we kind of >> support them early on and we kind of prepare them, they'll have those skills to fight through those diff, you know, the challenges where it hasn't all come easy forever to them. Um, so I so appreciate this. I'm really glad you did it. I'm really excited to see how it looks next year, too. >> Great. Thank you. Appreciate it, >> Miss Campbell. Thank you so much. This is really wonderful. I have a question about um the AP Humanities courses. It looks like there's a considerably higher number of students who take the AP humanities exams and you mentioned earlier about the importance of discussion in class and I'm wondering how the class size is impacted and discussion is impacted for those who take
052the humanities AP classes. >> Uh that's a very fair question. I don't have the class byclass enrollment data in front of me, but what I can say is just part of our typical planning process is at the end of every year as we look at projected enrollment for the following year, we're looking at all the courses, whether it's AP, advance, honors, CCP, and we're look monitoring the numbers so that we can still keep those class sizes at the acceptable level. Um, so without having the specifics in front of me, it's hard to comment, you know, exactly on it, but it's absolutely part of our process to monitor. If we're seeing increase in enrollment, then we might add another offering of that course to keep the the the to Yeah, another section. Thank you. Another section
053of that same course to keep the the enrollment low. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? Okay. Thank you very much. Uh I just need a motion to approve from my colleagues. Motion by Mrs. Pertio, second by Mr. Le Young. All those in favor? I thank you very well. >> Thank you everybody. >> And being that that is the only agenda item we had, motion to adjourn. subcommittee policy subcommittee meeting for um February 4th, 2026. Oh um the superintendent needs to make a statement. >> Just a advisory the subcommittee meeting is not a meeting of the whole school committee. Therefore, per open meeting law, only subcommittee members may discuss, deliberate, and vote on matters before the subcommittee. The subcommittee members are chair Tina Cahill, Paul Begali, and Katherine Hubley.
054Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Good evening. And thank you, Mrs. Kale. And good evening, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here this evening. Joining me this evening is uh Jill Bonado, Quincy High School's uh CT department chair. So, we welcome Jill. Um this evening we wanted to uh share two policy. As you recall in the spring the board of education department of education uh made adopted a new requirement for admissions and we wanted to share how those uh that that that vote and that approval affects Quinsey's CT admissions policy. So we'll just take a few minutes this evening. The first policy is the CT admissions. Um the rationale is career and technical education schools and programs at comprehensive high schools are required to develop and implement a CT admissions recruitment and retention policy in alignment
055with the updated CT regulations approved by the board of elementary and secondary education. I'd like to begin with just a few general revisions and these are all recommendations before you folks. The first is to replace the title of um of the school committee policy 10.53 CT admissions with school committee policy 10.53 CT recruitment admissions and retention policy and you'll see that on page one. Also replace career vocational technical education CVTE with career and technical education CTE. And if you can just think about the CTE, it would encompass chapter 74 programs, non70 program, non-74 programs, as well as business electives. I believe that's the rationale of the revisions. I'd also like to acknowledge that uh a few weeks back, we did have a visitation from Dezy, our CT uh director, and she visited both Quinsey High
056and North Quinsey High programs. And not only was she so impressed with our programs, but um we we had a conversation with would you be willing to review our changes of our policy and they said yes and they actually did that. So what you see before you um have been preapproved by the Department of Education which is very interesting because we traditionally submit and my fellow colleagues across the state submit their policy and the DZ makes recommendations back. So, we're going back and forth, but they've reviewed this in advance. They made some some suggestions and you'll see those and we'll talk about them in just a minute. In addition, we also would recommend replace the word underclass with grade nine. You'll see on page two. On page four and five, it's called recruitment and communication.
057We struck the entire section and inserted a comprehensive plan highlighted in yellow um which you'll see and we'll talk about that in just a moment with the with the middle school um recruitment policy as well. But if you turn to page uh four, all middle schools in the district will actively collaborate with the respective high schools to inform students about CT vocational opportunities available to them. This collaboration includes a variety of samples that we do throughout the year in our middle schools collaborating with our high schools including open houses, back to school nights, open campus assemblies, course selection planning nights, flyup days, parentmies, school tours, individual school tours, promotion of events, as well as our online resources, website channel 22 and such. So Jill's going to take it take take this on further with the
058application process. So, as as Keith mentioned, um when we had our meeting with DESIE representatives, um they told us the application process begins. You have to look at it from when the entrance into CTE is. And I'm mentioning this only because I think it's going to help explain why we've made the changes that we have made. So, fortunately, we did not need to make a lot of changes to the application process for Quinsey High School. Um all grade nine students currently um enter CTE through our freshman exploratory program. All students participate all grade nine students participate in it. Therefore we really don't need to do any sort of um lottery in order for students to get into CTE. However, at Desi's recommendation, we did um put a line in our um policy that in the
059case that there are more students than we have seats available, we will conduct a lottery for admission into the exploratory program. Fortunately, that's not something we anticipate happening, but they had asked us to include it, so we did. uh we needed to include uh new language for North Quinsey High School because at North Quinsey High School students enter CTE in 10th grade where they directly pick the pathway that they would like. Um therefore we had to add students wishing to enroll in a CTE program indicate this by selecting the program during the Aspen course selection process in the spring. Um and any students transferring from a private school also have the opportunity to select CTE program during the registration process. If students who have request requested admission to a program that is overs subscribed, meaning
060we have more students that want a program than we have seats available, we have to use a straight lot. We have to use a lottery to determine who gets into that program. Um the requests for the program, they need to be made by April 1st. The lottery will take place on April 15th. that needs to be public um in a publicly accessible place. We've discussed doing it virtually um and the district will provide one week's notice before the lottery takes place. And so the way that it would would work is all students that are interested in that pathway, their name would go into the lottery. We would draw all the names. Um if we had 12 12 spots available, the first 12 students would get the spots and the rest of the students would be
061maintained on a wait list in case another spot opened up. Okay. Any requests we have received after April 1st uh would be drawn from the lottery only if additional seats became available because we're we will be giving priority to people that put the requests in before the April 1st deadline. If students do not get um students and parents will be notified by the director CT director if their first choice is not accommodated and they could be placed in another program and they will also be put on a wait list. Also, we needed to add in for non-residents of um Quinsey public schools, we added we needed at Desessie's recommendation to add the language um that we would that the law the application process would occur between January 1st through March 1st in order to be
062considered for admission to school for the next year. and we needed to strike um anything that any sort of admissions that dealt with attendance records, conduct or guidance counselor or teacher teach teacher recommendation for admissions into a pathway at North Quincsey High School. And then we also struck um the part applications received after any afformentioned deadlines will be evaluated according to the criteria because we can no longer use that criteria. And we added new language that I've said before that any requests received after April 1st will be drawn only if additional seats become available. And then when we were talking when we referred to um we had a the section I believe it is um let me see when we talk about overs subscribed pathways um page nine. We can still maintain the same admissions
063criteria rubrics for overs subscribes programs or pathways meaning um a student in nth grade is choosing to go into a program in 10th grade. we have too many students that want it, then we have seats available. In that case, we are allowed to use an admissions review process because students are already in CTE. However, at North Quinzy, because they're going directly into the pathway, we need to use the lottery process, which we've reiterated here on page 12, that any student requ any any North Quinsey High School student requesting admission to an overs subscribed CT program will be entered into a straight lottery. We also added two new um elements, retention strategies. Quincy Public Schools is committed to retaining all students enrolled in CT programs by providing individual support and specific strategies that promote equitable access
064and those retention strategies include progress monitoring, counseling and career planning, family engagement as well as work workbased learning. We also added uh a new element maintenance of records and it' be our responsibility to hold records of um overs subscribed programs and lists uh in case um the department of education does request those. And with that that would conclude our revisions to and recommendations of the CT admissions policy. CT admissions recruitment and retention policy that is >> do you want to go to the next um do you want to okay any questions on this portion on this policy >> Mr. Super goalie. >> Yeah. How many um non-resident students are now enrolled in our program? >> Zero. >> Good. >> What should it say? Um and with the with the lottery uh particularly at North that
065runs counter uh to a merit-based program. Correct. >> Yeah. >> That's wrong. It's unfair and it's wrong. So, I don't know what DC's thinking, but it's it's absurd. So, I'm just uh stating my objection to that. Thank you. >> Um, >> so you probably remember last year when we um were given the proposed rags, this body sent in a communication to DZY objecting to that very thing. Unfortunately, the Department of Education did pass the regs as proposed. So therefore, the lottery is a requirement that we would have to follow under the regs. Some of the people in DC have never had >> Thank you. Um, so I'm just curious why remove the word vocational? Was there a rationale behind that? >> I don't know. This is the department of ed asked us to do it.
066Um, I'm assuming because again once the CTE would encumber chapter 74 programs, non74 programs as well as business electives. So I think that's the reason instead of career vocational, it's career technical which would have all those other elements under it. >> I'm just speculating. Okay. I don't know. I can get I can request >> I'm just just out of curiosity. I was just curious. Um and then >> if I could just say I I think that so if you read on you know Desessie's websites they've removed vocational from all of the website >> and I I kind of feel like part of it is because they're trying to make a push for college and career readiness and they're trying to get away maybe from just being strictly like job, you know, vocation readiness. That could
067be my best guess because I know there's many schools now that are referring to it as college and career technical education. >> Okay. And um where Quinsey High has the ninth grade um directive um is there's nothing for North Quinzy as a ninth grade um directive for them to have in that in that grade. >> Exploratory. >> You mean direct direct? >> Exploratory. Sorry. >> There is no exploratory because um we're under the the limit of four four vocational programs. and you must um implement an exploratory program. Oh, >> okay. Okay, that was all. Thank you. >> That's a question I asked last year um about why we we don't expand the uh vocational or technical programs at North Quinsey High School. Um it seems like we're running two different school systems here. >> Well,
068we currently have four chapter 74 programs. I know that >> if we increase certainly the budgetary piece um scheduling it will be a paradigm shift for the staff at North not not opposed of that that would be some training and certainly we can convene with the superintendent and team >> to consider that >> well I just think it's unfair to um students at the north end of the city that they don't have the opportunities that they do at uh Quinsey So, >> Mr. McGill, we are we are um in the process of um applying we're in phase two right now of chapter 74 for engineering technology at North, >> right? That's going to be taking place in September. Correct. >> That's correct. >> Yeah. >> So, we're increasing 74 programs respectfully. >> Yeah. Okay. That's
069better than nothing. Thank you. >> Okay. Um so, I have a couple of questions. one would be um the only qu one question I really didn't understand a little bit was the April 1st lottery. So if if someone determines after that April 1st or before after that date and they get into a lottery to go into the waiting list. Is that how it work? I don't understand that just that one piece. What does that mean? Um, so, >> so you have to you have to say you want to, you know, get into a certain >> If the seats are available, >> you're in. >> No, you're in, >> right? >> If there's a wait list, you're not in, >> right? So then what's the April 1st? It's a lottery. What is the April? >> April
0701st be the lottery for all students that have um registered for that program, >> right? >> In advance. So, you're correct in saying like anybody that applies, say they wanted to request after April 1st. Yeah. They could enter into the lottery, but they would be into the wait list portion, >> the weight list. The bottom list >> because then what happens is if um if a we have a wait list at Quincy High, we've been fortunate not have we've had the kids have been placed. Um there have been some weight lists for some programs. >> This past year, early education and care was a wait list. >> Okay. And then so you might have six kids that are on the wait list. >> Are there opportunities? Have there been opportunities for the kids to come
071off that weight list um in in the past? >> Yes. So actually this year we had um for early education and care we had I think approximately eight or 12 students on the wait list. One student that had gotten a placement in the program I think they moved out of district and so the next person on the wait list moved up. Yes. >> Okay. And then so I guess that so does the April 1st that April 1st lottery piece mean that the kids that are on the wait list for this one program they go into a lottery to see who comes off the weight list or is it by they're they're listed first come first serve or whatever it might be. >> You mean for the the late comers? >> Yeah. >> Um I think
072it would be but >> the back of I I'm assuming it's the the bottom of the list. Bottom of the list. The lotteryy's already happened. Okay. Yeah. So those on the waiting list would would would move forward, >> right? >> And the ones that came in late would be on the bottom of the wait list. >> So So do you need a lottery for that or can they just be put on a wait list? >> It's a good question. >> You know what I mean? >> So yeah, >> or it's non-acceptance. I think we have that option. The if the lottery is already taking place and it's after April 1st, right, I don't think we're obligated >> to do another lottery >> to be honest with you. >> Yeah, that's after it. kind of doesn't
073makes I don't understand the point of it. If it if we're giving >> if we're if we have a weight list anyway then how do what does this do for a student? >> Right. >> Remember they can also choose their second and third choice is in a program as well. >> Okay. So can't they just register and get on the bottom of the weight list? >> Yeah they could. I don't know if that's something that we need to think about if if we should keep it like that or I I just I don't understand the the lottery piece, but um I don't know how to address that. >> We're still learning as well. >> Yeah, absolutely. Honestly, >> now is that something that Desi determined that we should be um including? >> Yes. >> Okay.
074So, that was their suggestion. >> Yes, it was. >> Okay. All right. So, um Okay. So, that was that. Um, I think that was probably my biggest question that we had in terms of the weight list being accepted over subscribed. Kids get on a wait list. Um, my other question was which I um reasonable accommodations for students that um might have either an an English, you know, um, language barrier or some kind of disability. Um, and we accept them, just to be clear, we do accept them into our programs and where they may whatever program they may decide to get into after going through the ninth grade exploratory program. And then um the who would determine the the reasonable um accommodations for the students and we make sure that they're in the class and they're
075have what they need to be successful, >> right? So who how do we determine that? Well, it happens a lot with the teachers. I know I can I can think of right now off the top of my head, I know in healthcare tech, we had a student this year that had um limited English and the teacher reached out to the her the students EL um teacher to make sure, you know, that the student was going to be supported. How can I help this student? Um so, it happens a lot like from teacher to support personnel, you know, whether it's guidance or an EL teacher. Um and sometimes teachers will come to me and ask you know for my help and assistance with getting the support for the students. Um one thing we do do is
076um when we did we when we went to an admissions review this year for early education I can tell you students have to write a letter or a statement of interest and we did inform students that if they wanted to write it in their native language they certainly could do so. um so that they had equal opportunity um to you know as as other students had. >> Well, I see that and I think that's great because it helps them with the application process and the admissions process. So, that's good. But mostly in the classroom like if it's a if it's a student that really needs some um support in terms of understanding the the directions that are given in the class and things like that. um we would have some way for them to because
077even if you know if it's in a health care situation, a student might have a language >> um their own language that they can bring to them >> in their in maybe a I'm going to say a a hospital setting or doctor setting where their language skills would help but also have the training in a healthcare um profession, you know, but as long as they have someone in there that >> so basically this means they would have someone there to help them to understand what's what's happening in the in the classroom. Another thing that we often do too is um like students will help each other. If you have two students that speak the same language as is often the case in a class, one has you know better understanding of English or is able
078to speak English and understand more. They will often you know help the other student help translate and help bring that student along and and help them learn the language. So >> and and also um maybe a student has a physical disability, we would have somebody um to support them in the in the class. >> That's correct. Okay. Um, I think that's good. That that would be my my and especially knowing that most of your this has already been approved by Desi and they've given you additions and and subtractions from what we should be doing. >> That is correct. >> Okay, great. Okay, thank you. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Oh, do we have to motion this one first? >> Okay. Motion to move this to the main meeting. Mrs. Hubley, second by Mr. Bgalie. Voice
079vote. I >> I And that second policy um is a middle school uh pathway exploration policy. This is a brand new policy for all CBT CTE districts across the Commonwealth. Uh the rationale districts with middle schools that have access to career and tech education programs through their high school or through their municipality membership to a regional CT district must develop a middle school pathway exploration policy in alignment with CT regulations. And so you'll see the um the program elements, the policy elements, if you will. There's a policy overview, there's high school pathway options as well as the middle school career exploration. Um collaboration with our high schools as well as providing admissions to uh records to CD CT schools and maintenance of records. It's pretty simple and pretty generic. Um however, uh it's it's again
080here it's it's it's made for Quinzy. It has been approved through DZY already which is great and they made recommendations. Um if I could just the collaboration of high schools once again we do a lot already in our district at the seventh and eighth grade promoting career tech education at the high school. Um again open houses back to school nights parentmies fire up days and such. You'll see those there as well which open for questions. Uh I just have one question. Um how will we be publicizing the individual the tours for the ninth graders? >> I believe those are done by the principal. So if you're a parent or student want to come into the high school north, you'd call the high school principal. >> Okay. >> Or or myself and we give certain tourists.
081>> So it'll be up to the principal to publicize that out. >> That's correct. >> All right. Thank you. >> And um yeah, I'm I'm all set. I did want to say one thing on the first page of the um school committee CVTE the very top there's a V CVT CVTE at the top of ours on the the original policy >> middle school >> no the um the other one just I meant to mention that before if you look at the uh just when you're doing a a a review at the very top >> the typo >> you see it Lauren Yep. Motion >> motion to approve by Mr. Begali, second by Hubley to move it to the U main meeting. Um >> I >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. meeting a journal.