MSD of Pike Township Work Session August 14, 2025 Meeting

001So, >> good evening everyone and thank you uh for coming out for part two of our student achievement work session. Um, since we all pretty much know while we're here, we'll I'll go ahead and turn it over to Doug Dwood. >> Thank you, President Anderson, members of the board, uh, thank you for returning if it's uh, pleases you. I'm planning to just pick up where we started or where we left off. Um and and we left off still in elementary toward the end of our elementary slides. So we'll move through uh middle school and high school tonight as soon as we wrap up um elementary. So we left off specifically with um our English I'm sorry our reading I learn results in grades 3 to five by ethnicity. And I did uh incorrectly report to

002you in our last presentation that the state doesn't uh report subgroups of less than 10% and it's actually 10 students not 10%. Historically it was percent they have changed to students. So that is why and you uh I believe got this uh prior to this meeting why you now see uh how our white students are performing. So as you can see here um the last 3 years we have had steady gains uh of a few percent every year. We're making slow growth but slow growth means that we don't have a a an outlandish year where we have all this growth and then we have a regression or anything like that. So what we see is that our students and our demographic groups are continue to to perform better and better each year. This is ELA

003[Music] math. Uh we were aware that there was some concern. One of the things uh that we took time to do this summer was rewrite our curriculum maps as we have seen. Anytime there is um a change in what's happening and what we expect, we take a look, we get into those school buildings, we observe, we talk with the leaders of those buildings, etc. to see what's going on. And so we did have a slight decline in math. We have tightened that curriculum map this summer and expect to see those scores go back up. Here is our student groups and we did talk about this a little bit last time. This is specifically on um ELA again grades 3 to 5. um our general ed students versus our not versus but uh how they are

004performing, how our special education students are performing, our English learners, and then how we perform overall. Again, you continue to see gains if you look at each group [Music] and math. You'll see the same thing represented here. um you'll see gains actually across but except in our English learner. So, Miss Swinton and I have been taking a look at that data and uh we believe that we found what was happening related to push out and pull in services when our students were being pulled out during poor instruction and we've uh taken care of that and and shared some new expectations about how we can serve students best and come alongside them so that they are not missing grade level instruction. This slide is a is a new slide, which is why you got a copy

005of the slide decks. Uh when the state releases state data, they release grades 3 to 8. Everybody who takes iLearn, when I broke down the slides for you in the presentation, I took a look at elementary and then I took a look at middle school. So when you see things out on on the state website or in newspapers and things like that, you're seeing an overall of grades 3 to 8 where last time we just talked about 3 to 5 and then I was going to talk about 6 to8. So I did add this so that you would see exactly how we continue to trend across all grade levels. [Music] And then this is the last slide from elementary. So we have some curricular updates. Again this summer we pulled teams of teachers together. Those

006teachers helped us rewrite our ELA and math U curriculum maps. And in many cases, it wasn't a a full rewrite. We had just written um the ELA ones. We went through a textbook adoption as you all know because you all approved it the year before um or yeah, very end of spring of 20, this is 25, 24. Um and so at the end of throughout the course of that year, we asked teachers for feedback. So, we implemented a new textbook. We asked teachers for feedback throughout at the end of each unit. We pulled that information and we pulled teachers together to do the writing of the curriculum. And then this fall, our elementary school students will take the checkpoint assessments. The Indiana Department of Education has what they call a throughcourse assessment. And students will

007in grades 3 to 8, it's mandatory across the entire state now. They will take the assessment. Each assessment assesses so many standards. So they'll do an assessment, let's say over five ELA standards, and then a few weeks later, they'll have an opportunity to take it again once we've been able to intervene, do some more uh tier one teaching, and then we'll be able to see that growth throughout. We sent parent notification about this process out today to all of our families so that they are well aware and then as reports come out, we'll explain those reports and message that as well. Moving on to middle school. Oh, I was going to say I don't know where my title went. Got a little fancy on accident there. So, our sixth grade. This is our summitive. So,

008for >> question to interrupt, but just before we move on, >> put the middle school, we see all the demographic breakdowns. >> Yes. But when we look at our individual elementary schools, there was one in particular, I think last time I didn't say the name, but Fishbach just killed they beat the state average. When I look at the I was at their school, we're back to school night. Demographically, that school doesn't look different than our other schools. Do we know why they are so successful versus versus some of our other schools? Is is that something that we're looking into? So when a school's results are figured, everybody in that in that school building's population is figured into that into the test scores, right? And so while they may not look different on the outside, there

009are some programs that are in certain buildings that impact how that student per or how that school building performs because students in that particular classroom are added to that. Right? So, in some of our classroom, I'm sorry, in some of our buildings across the district, we have specialized programs for our special ed students and some other things and all of those also factor in where some of our schools have a particular room and others don't. So, that would be one piece of it. I would also tell you that Dr. Seal um is wellversed in in MTSS and some other intervention things and so she runs a tight ship. Not that our other buildings don't, but some of those processes need a bit of tweaking. And so we rolled out teams this week that will be

010looking at those school buildings who maybe didn't perform as well. And they'll have an additional person from my team, the curriculum instruction team, an additional person from the special education team, helping them write their school improvement plans and really digging into that data so we can set goals for those specific subgroups. >> Will those other teachers get an opportunity to talk to Dr. Steel? >> Absolutely. Yes. And the principles do too. U Mrs. Hardman does a very nice job in the principal meetings of having them share. If something is going really well in the building, this is one of the things that Dr. Young uh brought to light last year. He when Mrs. Hardman first got here, he said, "I want I want the meetings in the building. So, if something is going really well

011at Guyen Creek, I want you to have a meeting there. I want that principal to have an opportunity to talk to their colleagues and share what's going incredibly well." Um, and she continues to do that process as well. So teachers have an opportunity, principles have an opportunity to share ideas. We bring them together based on some preliminary I read results in those practice tests. We bring them together and they plan together for how they're going to address their individual data so that they can hear ideas from each other. Oh, I didn't think about that. Man, that worked well for you. I that's how I see that that can be implemented here in this building. >> And and that's part of where I was going is are we taking learnings from fishback at the other schools?

012I I guess I want to ask one question about it. Do we think is part of the difference in that my understanding is schools like Fishbach, we have a few other that are still lottery schools. Does that play into their scores being higher? >> Well, Fishback historically has been one of the highest achievement. I can say even as people start living in lottery school too, right? I mean, they were always one of the year rounds. They were one of the >> Right. So, so I think if we think about demographics from from e, you know, from an e ethnicity breakdown, um, look very much very similar, but socioeconomically they're is one of the more influential schools and so um, you know, there there are those resources, but I don't say that to take anything. They're

013doing some amazing amazing things when you look at just the progression too. But just from a historical perspective, those scores, you know, um have been a little bit higher, but but again, that team's doing doing some great things. >> So, do we have any um statistics that says parent participation um is it higher at Fishbach as opposed to one of the other elementary schools? Do you have anything? because I would think that that would play a role in uh the participation of a parent being involved in child learn is that a factor. So, we don't collect that sort of data necessarily at the district for for this purpose, but because of title one and some of the federal regulations that we have to describe to, they would have signed in sheets from like their title

014one meetings and their parent teacher conferences and things like that, but we don't have hard numbers necessarily to to compare >> Yeah. >> that sort of data. We do know I mean data does the research boards obviously that we have parents that are involved in the process you know it it impacts but as far as you know at what level they're assisting and helping at home and those types of things we don't necessarily have that >> I ask that because if you have if you have fish back and they have bigger participation parents what are they doing to get more people involved um cuz we did pipe back to school right and the turn out soon be a little more >> and I you know it's interesting you said that because I would say which

015is promising that uh from the other schools like you know exposed to snatch cross it's I mean that the the level of parent participation in like their back to school >> was significantly higher this year so that's yeah that's hopeful >> that was a share off for Miss Jones in our leadership meeting this was this is her third year and this was the highest participation. >> Central said the exact same thing. Great turnout there as well. >> What do we what do we plan to do? What does it look like to increase the math scores to you? >> So what I was going to say about this because absolutely we we definitely see a decline in math scores. So a variety of things. Number one, um there's a shift from middle school, elementary to middle

016school where students are asked, I'm sorry, asked us to to think abstractly to solve mental math problems and some things like that rather than everything just being on the paper. So there's a shift in academic expectations. We we do typically see a drop a little bit in sixth grade. But one of the things that we did across all grade levels or I'm sorry all subject areas in the middle school right away when I came over was we did what we called instructional audit. So it was just an internal taking a look at the curriculum maps as they currently existed against the Indiana state standards by quarter all on paper to see are we hitting every single Indiana state standard? Are we hitting the critical standards? Are we hitting those every quarter? what does that look

017like? And then we immediately saw some gaps. I shared those gaps with Dr. Young. And then we immediately began reworking those maps because we absolutely have to hit Indiana every Indiana state standard that's going to be on the test or there's no way to be able to to determine if what we're doing is working, right? So that was one of the first things that we did. Another thing that we did was we implemented walkthroughs. Uh, Miss Cohen and I had a goal writt specifically around writing because we know that when students perform better on the writing portion of the ilearn test, they actually perform better in other areas. Um, and so she and I were specifically looking at writing in our walkthroughs, but then also my team and I went out and we hit in

018one week we would hit every um, ELA classroom in all three middle schools in one week. So, we went in the same two hours over two or three days and went to every single classroom. If we noticed that someone wasn't on the curriculum map, if we noticed that maybe they were using this text versus this, we saw some classroom um foundational just kind of ground rules about how how things are going, what is what does bell work look like? We we tracked all of those kinds of things. And after each one of those, I actually met with the building principal and their director to talk about what we found. So we came together and said, "Okay, here's the trend. Here's how many people were on uh following the curriculum map to a tea." Or for

019instance, in one class we went in uh they were actually about two weeks behind in math and we asked why and what happened. Well, that particular classroom had quite a few newcomers in so she needed to go at a little bit slower pace. Okay. Now, Mr. Davidson can my math specialist can come and help that teacher and so can Miss Swinton and we can figure out exactly what our EL students need to make sure that they are on track. So we just put roots to the ground um more often than not. We also again reworked those math um curriculum maps. We uh already um as a part of our adoption have a program called Alex and Mr. Davidson and I jumped on a call last week that particular uh program that goes right along with

020our textbook adoption and math has found that when student they they took this uh research from Perry Township when students participate in 65% of their learning progression so they take an assessment in math at the very beginning um and when they complete 65% of their learning progression that's based on that assessment we they are finding Alex is finding that students are performing better on iLearn. So as soon as Mr. Davidson heard about that, he said, "Hey, I'm going to jump on the call." I jumped on the call with him. They have completely rewritten all of their programming to follow checkpoint one and here's your learning progression here and checkpoint two, those assessments I was just telling you about, so that we can see what's what's really happening in real time and make immediate adjustments. >>

021Yeah, there's a good plan of action. Well, no, >> I was just going to say one thing that I would share that I'd like to circle back around and we definitely because as you look at the like when you look at seventh and eighth grade, it looks different, right? So, something in sixth grade is not quite clicking like it is in seventh and eighth grade. So, what we're going to do and and um Dr. Gatewood, you know, we'll spend some time with our principles, but also go through do observations um as well because we want to see those a transition for one kid is a transition for the they're all making the same transition. We want to see that trend going going up. So, we'll spend some time trying to dig in a little bit

022and and try to figure out why the sixth rate's trending different than the seventh and eighth. Yeah. So, I'm a mom and I'm a middle schooler. And in in my kids district, they transition in seventh grade. Seventh grade was just harder for one of my kids than it was for the other. Just that expectation, that close-knit elementary, I'm with my teacher all day and now I'm switching period after period. They don't know me. They don't know or they are calling me by my older sister's name. Those kinds of things certainly account for it. than that abstract thinking that I was saying where kids are asked to do mental math and all those kinds of things definitely adjust it and well but what you asked me was what is our plan yes so our plan is

023I want you to know I heard you I'm going to answer your question our plan is to continue do doing what we've already been doing we need to actually focus more into sixth grade what is happening how are we getting our our fifth grade students ready for sixth grade are our sixth grade teachers and our fifth grade teachers having an opportunity to talk about what what different skills will be set so that second semester, fifth grade, we're moving them a little along a little bit faster and some other strategies and those kinds of things. So, we've got a variety of things in the works, >> Dr. Young, the digging in that you suggested. >> Yes. Yes. >> Uh will you keep the same plan you just mentioned after you dig in? >> Yeah. Well, great

024question. And that depends on what we find out. So, what we'll do, Dr. Okay, let's circle back around because I want to make sure we're bored because that's that's a great question, right? I mean, why are we seeing the trend for sixth grade that is not what we're seeing for the other other two grades in middle school? So, uh it's going to be a focus and that's that's where the equitable piece comes in where we have we have resources, but we may be pushing in in one grade level a little bit harder or one particular school a little bit more providing support based on what the data tells us. So, sixth grade may get additional help uh more so than even seventh and eighth grade based on what the data is telling us. So, we

025will we will circle back around and let you know kind of what we find out and what we're doing this year to help that transition. So, >> you're saying that this is an issue. >> Yeah. >> And it it needs to be worked on and looked at and >> Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. >> And you're going to bring some results to that. >> Yeah. One way or the other. >> Yeah. We'll circle back around and let you know kind of what we found out, what we believe could be causing sort of the that trend the opposite direction sixth grade that we want in math. And we'll circle back around, let you know what >> and the instructional piece that you suggested is the ideology of digging in in that instructional piece. >> Absolutely.

026>> So you dug in in the instructional piece and the numbers are still there. They're not there. So >> So we started that this year. >> Okay. ahead. So, so I I've only been in this position for the past year. So, we we started that this year. We have these results. We've tweaked some things. We'll also start earlier with those observations. Matter of fact, I met with my entire team for their beginning of the year goal meetings today and and it's just an opportunity to have a conversation about what what where they want to focus. >> So, the instructional piece is sort of the remedy to what we're seeing on the data. >> Yes. And just because and I also shared that It is it it is working. The the dip is sixth grade math,

027but as we look at language arts, >> we're seeing the growth across the three grade levels. And even when we look at math, seventh and eighth grade, it's just that transition in math sixth grade is the area that is trending the wrong direction. So, that's where I think we really want to hone in and push in and try to figure that trend out. But what we're what we're doing is working. >> Absolutely. And the reason I brought up those goal meetings was because Mr. Davidson specifically came into me and said his focus is sixth grade math today. He just have I mean that we couldn't have planned that any better. So as you can see >> I have a question. >> Absolutely. >> Um so I'm I'm just trying to trying to make sure that

028I understand this uh correctly. Uh and so you have to help me out with that. So the math proficiency for each grade, what is the value? How important is that percentage uh as it pertains to understanding how well how well we're doing? >> So absolutely we need to look at proficiency and growth. We always want to see growth. As long as we see growth, we know what we're doing is working and the goal is to get to the proficiency of the state. >> And what number does the state view as successful? >> Like what was that cut score on that test? >> Yeah. What's the cut score? like and I'm talking about for the proficiency what what do they recognize as the goal to at least reach to yeah >> to show that our schools

029are doing better or passing or >> what what number what percentage is that >> like on the actual assessment >> on iLearn I don't believe the cut score >> because there are cut scores on iLearn there is on i >> but what happens is they put out how the state performs >> and you'll see those percentages and then how every school district um for instance we take a look at Marian County and then every school district you know around us. So they'll tell you how the state performed the state average but there's not a cut score like there is I read so for instance in I read the cut score is 446 >> but there's not a cut a specific cut score in the iLearn test. >> So may maybe I'm not so let me

030say it like this. So, should I should I be concerned if I'm looking at this? If I'm on IdoE >> Mhm. >> and I'm looking at Lincoln Middle School >> and I'm looking at their math proficiency rate >> and I see total tested 244. I see that number. >> Mhm. >> Uh but then I see the proficiency rate 7.4%. >> What does that mean to me? >> You should be concerned. we should have a much higher proficiency rate in math and in middle school period but but definitely there as well. >> So okay. So then I I think I'm trying to figure out how does that tell me that I should be concerned or that we should really be looking into certain processes to help turn things around. How does this graph tell me the

031same thing that this graph is telling me here? That's that's what I'm trying to make that connection. >> Absolutely. So what you see here is the average of all of our middle schools in seventh grade. That that's what you see here. What it sounds like you're looking at without looking at your computer is just specifically um Lincoln Middle School. >> So this is I learn which is 2025, correct? Is that >> Yeah. Dr. G, you going to toggle where you going back and you cuz Dr. Gaywood has the it pulled up. Do you want >> because >> Mhm. >> So you kind of see what you're what you're saying. uh the uh the you know the state cuz you're looking at the IDE right? >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm on IDE. I'm looking at each individual

032school. So I'm in seventh grade. You know we got three middle schools. So I'm just looking at their >> but but the chart that he's looking at I don't I don't know where that is on that's He's not on GPS. >> He's not on GPS. So he's right. I Right. I I do see that. What I don't know is how where that is on GPS. >> Okay. >> Right. So this is GPS where all so for instance our proficiency rates you'll see here we've gone up in all of our subgroups and all those kinds of things. It's Pike as a whole. So I'd actually like to see >> So should I just should I ignore this number like when I see this here should I just ignore that? >> So well no don't certainly don't

033ignore anything. So, so he's pulled up from from office apps this particular and that's the number of students and that's how many are proficient. So, no, you should not ignore that. Okay. >> Absolutely, you should not ignore that. What I'm presenting is an update from the fall and it's across all of our schools. So yeah, I think your question was how do you make the the two fit, right? From from the presentation that I have versus what you're looking at on that spreadsheet. And so what I would say to answer that particular question is that this is all of our seventh graders. That's all of Lincoln. >> Oh, seventh and eighth grade all in one. >> Seventh grade for Lincoln. Okay. >> Yes. >> So So I see this here and I see that here.

034So you are looking at seventh grade. And so if you took this and you took this and then you took let's see this is New Augusta and then Gian >> that's Gian Elementary but guy in middle must be oh here right here. There we go. If we took all of those and average those we get that. >> Yes. >> So basically what you're saying is when you average out you take all three >> to average he's taking Lincoln and looking at Lincoln >> specifically Lincoln is doing >> Yeah. And uh Guyian might be doing 75, but Guy might be doing 20. >> Yes. Right. >> And this is why he asked for the >> separate scores for the school. >> So we can really see >> what school is performing. >> And I >> not

035a a a a a combination of all three together. >> Right. Right. And I shared that with you guys. Yeah. >> So yeah. So this here for me it just tells and people understand things differently that may work uh for for some of us uh but for me so I can get a clear picture and it tells me the severity rate. >> This is what what I was talking about from last from last painting. I like to see >> how this number works how it compares to this. Mhm. >> Uh so now I'm starting to see, you know, kind of know I'm going stick with this here. >> Uh as compared to this here, this tells me more of the story than this does. That's just for me. I don't know >> what the specific.

036Yeah. But this kind of helps me out say, "Oh, okay. Wow. Now I really need to see." So, but to my my first question, >> the math proficiency, is there like a state because we were talking about cutoff. I don't know what that is. Is there like a state percentage that we should be reaching toward? Like if the state says, "Hey, if you're here at 40%." Well, the 40% is the >> the standard across the state. You know, I just want to see where we stack up. >> So, so that so it's a moving target. There's not a cut score. There's not a a score that every year the state says you need to hit this particular score. When I say it's a moving target, what I mean is every year when the state issues

037this number right here, this 40.7, what that number is telling you is of all of all of the schools across the entire state of Indiana, this is how they performed. And so it that that percentage may be different next year because it's all of the kids in Indiana in math next year and how they performed. So when I say it's a moving target, you have different kids taking each grade level test each year and so it won't be exactly the same because there's not a cut score that says you have to get this particular >> and I think the closest thing to that the state is creating new accountability system right so they're going back to letter grades and that will probably be the closest thing that will that the state will put out to

038say hey an a school looks like this right um so one of the things that all Mary County schools want to be sure uh and we've given feedback and hope that you all would as well is that one of the one of the major factors that are considered is not so much where the kids come in but how far we grow them. Right? So you have proficiency, but if if children are almost there when they walk in and they have a higher proficiency score than another school, they have a lower proficiency score, but those kids grow more over the course of that year. Who's doing a better job as educators? And that that's what the proficiency score by itself won't show. We know that our children uh walk in our doors and they're not at

039the level of readiness that the other kids are. Our goal which we've done and I learn is we have to close that gap between us and the state which I think we've done for the last what two years. So that would be the suburbs and other schools in the state is to is to close is to close that gap. So, so but for right now I look at that number where it says for the iLearn proficiency math >> 40.7%. So that's kind of like what the state average is doing across the state. >> Yes. If you took every single school in the state of Indiana and how they performed, that's the average. >> So I'll take our school uh their percentage >> and measure it to to that right there. >> That Yes. Well, so,

040so right here, this is I learn proficiency. So, it's all it's all grades 3 to eight right here across the state of Indiana in math scored an average of 40.7. >> So, that's 3 to eight. Okay. >> Yes. And this and we scored here. >> Okay. >> So, that that's your apples and apples. >> We scored what? Seven >> 17.7. We went up 2.3%. >> You went up 2. >> Yes. So I I got and even looking at this before this from the first round I mean this breaks my logic brain because this tells I mean when I see 40% I've never been in anything that 40% wasn't an F that that's you know unless you're unless you're in baseball that's unless you're a batter that that's so that's either our whole state is failing

041>> it is >> or the test is garbage. as an idiot, >> but it is what we have to work with. So even in a failing state, we're at less than half. >> Still gives us a target to work with, right? >> We're still at less than half than that. And so that's where we're trying to work to. >> That's what we're trying to work to. And I think the celebration for our educators is over the last couple years, we've outgrown the state. The state's growth in iLearn has not been as high as pike. So we're >> That's good for us to know. I didn't see that. That's good to know. >> We're we're we're Yeah. So we're closing that gap. Our kids are growing more on average than the other kids are. But, you

042know, as you see, we're still behind. So, we still have some some work to do. Get caught up. Yeah. >> And that's what this number will tell you right here that the math growth average across the state was 33%. And ours was 15%. So, you'll see between 15 and 33% is a closer gap than just the proficiency itself, right? That's a further gap. So, we are growing the way that we need to. Not not maybe at the rate that everybody likes. I'm I'm not, you know, but we are growing and our numbers do continue to go up. >> I I Dr. Gwood, the statement you just made at at the rate that everybody might not agree with the rate that we're going, but I think we ought to look at u the digging in. >>

043Mhm. the digging in piece and and and and the strategy the strategies that will will will push the the progression of these numbers >> um and and and and make it a shared strategy. >> Absolutely. a shared strategy so so people can understand and I think Dr. Young did mention the fact about every school uh the numbers you gave per school. >> I I think in in the future reports, you don't have to do it. >> Uh it would be good for people to just see if my child is at Lincoln, I can see what Lincoln is doing. My child is at Guyian, I can see what Gian is doing. and and you might be able to get the type of involvement outside of uh uh from a parental standpoint to help push those students

044in those particular areas when they see well my child is at Lincoln and Lincoln is not doing too good in this particular area and what can I do to push my child uh at Lincoln to be uh more progressive in those particular areas of study, you I'm not if I'm not an educator. I just thought I told that I >> I I took a note. I do want to let you know that one of the things when I mentioned those teams that will be helping the schools individually and how we'll have a member of special education and we'll have a member of our English learner team, etc. helping to build our school improvement plans. There are some data points and and some um goals specifically for that. But one of the first things that those

045teams do is they involve parents. That's a requirement by the state. they have to involve stakeholders and then they also do a comprehensive needs assessment a CNA. So one of the models that I like is is for instance called the five W's and so you say okay our special education students aren't performing at the same rate as our general education students why and we list the reasons why that might be. We get to a pinpoint of why that is. And then we take that that reason and say, "Well, why is that happening? What do we need to do differently to fix that thing and you go through that series five times to get to the root of what is really happening?" So you can make a shift. We're not just up here thinking, "Oh, I

046think it's this. I think it's that." We dig down five different times to ask ourselves, "Why is that happening?" And once we figure out that what is happening here, why is that happening? And so that's a process that was just rolled out um to our schools this week um and and we'll form a team that will dig into those pieces and figure that out. >> So you created a curriculum type of hit list. Well, I would prefer not to say anything. >> We um created the data created created >> and we developed a support plan is what we did. You know what I'm basically saying and and I know that might not have sound the right way to say it, but when I say hitless as it relates to education, you're going to focus very

047hard on those particular issues, >> and you're going to do your best to hit them from all sides and all angles. That's what I'm talking about. >> I might look like that, but I'm not. >> I'm not making any judgment. I just like the word support. And so, yes, we have developed entire teams. >> I have a comment. I have a comment. So, will this what I'm glad that you said what you said cuz that gives me a little bit understanding more understanding of what direction that we're trying to do to help these schools. Will this this new uh plan will it tell us if the principles are getting the support and resources that they need? Uh will it tell us that the teachers and the IAS are they getting what they need? that will

048tell us like wait a minute maybe it's something with the test >> because kids learn differently and so if it if the test is not really telling us the true story you know will it tell us that we're trying to make better everything that's within our controls I know the test is state regulated but will it just tell us that we're everything within our control we're doing the best that we can to do to help >> and and I to me I think it's it's it's it's the results right if we're seeing that were trending and growing. That's why we said sixth grade will push in because the trend is not the same um as it is for all the other grade levels. You know, the proof's kind of in that pudding. The results of

049whether it's enough will be on how well, you know, and how successful our students in and are in continuing to kind of close that close that gap. >> So, and you're going to have meetings with the principles and they're going to be able to say, "Hey, this is what we need. This is what's okay." So, they their voice will be heard. >> Yes. We have historically done that. This year we have a series of three data meetings in addition to this entire process that I'm talking about. That process is a timeline that started in August. And there's when the state puts out their memos, there's um requirements the school building has to hit. There's requirements the school district has to hit. And so when we rolled that out to principles this week, it had a

050timeline. So here's what the district will do and here's when it'll be done. Here's what the school is responsible for and here's what it'll be done. And it takes us through an entire process. that takes us all the way through April of this of 26. >> So, it's very laid out. Um, and then assigned. So, not only did I roll out the process, but then here's the team that's going to help you based on the data. So, if they have underperformers in special education, then there's a special education person. Uh, we have we have everybody involved in this process. We have my entire team. I went um our special education team has a a team meeting every Wednesday. I went to that meeting. Luckily, I knew them because I used to run that meeting when

051when I was the director. Um, so I went back and said, "Look, we need you to come alongside us in ways we have not historically done." They've done a good job on in their lane and we've done the job in our lane, but it's time for those lanes to merge. >> Yeah. And we're also using the Lily Endowment dollar so that Lily Grant 2 actually is focused on middle school. So we actually have tutors that are going to come alongside our students uh through IU. Then we also have training for our instructional leaders at the middle school level uh through um was it uh not through the initials but through Marian um >> oh the uh the now you're talking about the middle school right? >> Yeah. Yeah. So additional training that our middle school

052uh instructional leaders are actively getting as as well. >> Oh the Nissle leadership. Yes. are doing that as well with us and this leadership. So those are some additional supports and then also another big one that I'm excited about too because one of the things that you really don't necessarily see is is there are schools that do have a much higher percent of English language learners a much higher percent. So we think about schools like Dear Run they're what 50 almost 50 >> they're over 50%. Matter of fact, they received a waiver from the state related to good cause exist. They have such a high. >> So, one out of two kids in that building >> speaks genius as a second language, >> right? And and now with Haitian Creole and you know, it's hard

053to to to to really know uh by walking through, but those are going to be that's going to vary >> by by us. And that's that's good in. So with that being said and the questions that are being have been asked. So, we're looking at the resources that are going to each building, whether it's elementary, middle, high, like because we're going to look at SAT, >> all these areas, because the trend, I know we're done with we're not talking about elementary anymore, but that fifth and sixth grade >> math seems to be where we had the lowest >> growth. Yeah. fifth and sixth grade. Now, >> Mhm. >> I don't care what the building was. >> I'm for the whole state actually. >> Mhm. >> We need some t I >> targeted something and so

054what is so the building so you're talking about a building that is has 50% English second learn English as a second language students. What are we putting in that building? >> It's not going to look like um College Park. It's not going to look like Fishbach. It's not going to What are we doing for those students >> in particular so that we can say we're going to meet those needs. When we're talking about the equity, we're talking about all these things. It looks like what they need. I mean that to me equity looks like what is it that what are where are the resources going to make sure we have the instructional assistants that are trained to come alongside the teachers and not just be a body in the classroom. >> So one win for

055us specifically in your run is we had a a classroom teacher who has transitioned to back to EL and she's a a fabulous teacher. um she'll help lead that work at across the elementaryaries, but she's she's at Deer Run. Um her scores historically have have been high. Um another thing that I think we need to to think about outside of EL, but just as a whole is where our pandemic babies are. So where were our fifth graders 5 years ago when the world shut down and they were learning virtually and those kinds of things. So those foundational math skills that were happening were happening for a lot of these kids online. >> So I that number sense piece where I'm taking the cards and I'm, you know, figuring out what three on the dice means

056versus three physical things. For many of these students, they didn't have that opportunity unless they were going to run and grab some Cheerios off the, you know, whatever that looked like. So So we also have to equate equate that. I read an article this week that talked about how the pandemic were really just at halftime. Where are the kids that were hit most during that time and where do they fall in school and we're really just at halftime of seeing what that affected >> I'm sorry. Yeah. >> She made a great point. Um you said dear run was it? >> Yes. That's one example. Yeah. >> The example of Dear Ron 50% >> over 50% are English is becoming a second language. Is that what you said? >> English is a second language. [Music] >>

057That's why I'm I I'm I'm I'm a strong proponent of of um the individualism of a school as it relates to to to to the education and and the consuming of it all. And when you set these teams up that are going into these particular areas, um the approach I think will be probably effective because you're doing an individual >> type of situation. >> Absolutely. And hopefully when we see presentations like this in the future, we can see for instance, if you see what happened in uh 23 and now or what maybe let's say 25 today and and you put you implement this program for an individual school and you you're able to highlight the individual school in your presentation, it was 12% and 25 now it's 26%. And it goes back to what she

058basically says we have focused on putting the need in that particular area to move those numbers where they need to be moved with the team that is supposedly qualified uh to make this happen. So is it possible or is it out of order to ask uh could we see once these teams begin to work in these specific areas? Can we see the progression of numbers per school and not the collaboration of all schools? >> Yeah, the I learn checkpoints I think we talked about last time um will be trying to think which months they'll be but what we'll do is once >> this one is in September >> in September. So what we'll do is we'll we can put together a report so that you guys can see how how the students are performing on

059those checkpoints. What's nice about the checkpoints this year is the students will be assessed on some of the same skills. So we'll be able to see if they're acquiring that knowledge. So we'll we'll share when we get those reports, I'll make sure I share them with the board. The one thing I forgot to tell uh the board that I'm really excited about, you guys approved for us to apply and we got the digital learning grant. AI is a game changer when we think about helping our educators bridge the gap when we're trying to do things such as support students with have that have special learning needs or speech speak English as a second language. You know the challenge is how do we support our educators and provide training so they can best utilize those tools.

060AI is something that I mean snapping your finger you can translate um a narrative, a story into a child's native language, right? You can change assessments. There's so much that we can do. We're just kind of scratching the surface of even, you know, what the possibilities are. But through the grant that we received, we did purchase Magic School, which is a specific AI tool that allows for children to utilize it. The problem with Chat GPT, and Gemini, and some of those things is that you have to be 18. So, our educators can use them, but our children can't necessarily interface with them. But now with magic school, we'll be able to do that. >> Dr. I'm glad you brought that up. I was sitting there kind of sitting on that question till the end think

061I'm the IT guy. Whatever. Why am I asking AI? But >> but in train because part of it is training, right? I'm at work. I'm the old dog getting taught new tricks, right? You know, the the new guy that came in, how to use the prompts, how to everything. >> Um >> I guess that you know that that is going to be key to I know we're a member school at CISC. Do they offer a training? I think we always have what whatever you call it points or whatever we can spend with them. Is that an option for us? >> Um CISC. >> Do they not? I just know they do all kind >> I'm not sure. I I think >> I need to look at one of the things we started a year or

062two ago is what we called our AI ambassadors. So these are actually teachers that have said, "Hey, I'm passionate about AI. I'm willing to be a point person in helping the building administrators with with professional development. So they get training here at the district level and then they go back and help the building administrators deploy that training actually at at the building. Uh but I mean yeah we'll we'll continue we we'll make a note to see if there are >> to let people know how important that trick is. I'm having to get it at work kind of on the fly. So, no, I I I see the value here. >> And the fear for us was when we when those title dollars were held, that's how we paid for that, >> right? >> Um and

063so we had to sort of kind of pivot. Now we're pivoting back. But that would be profound for us. Yeah. For us. I mean, schools that have a higher percent of children qualify free reduced um lunch or fall under that whatever that percent is from poverty get these additional dollars. Well, our children need that additional support. When those dollars go away, then we're just kind of left not being able to have the financial means to do some of the things we can now. So, I'm glad those dollars got released. >> I had Well, one question. Which group? So, there were some groups that were added to these checkpoints this year cuz they didn't do checkpoints last year. Which groups are added this year? elementary. So grad three, four, and five. >> Last year we piloted

064six, seven, and eight, but in the state of Indiana now, everybody has mandated grades three through eight. >> Mhm. Okay. And then my other question, and this some of what I think we're talking about when we start really talking about resources being reallocated and shifted, some people are not going to be happy. No, I'm just saying. >> I had this conversation the other day. to our building having but you don't need that resource. It's needed over here. So I think we're going to have to have a whole shift in thinking you're not losing. >> Yes. >> Absolutely. >> That that has to be reallocated. >> And I think that's important that we understand that that we as board members need to be able to promote reallocation of dollars. We have to say that the money

065these the PE whatever the resource is people money >> equipment >> so >> if that building doesn't support that or need that it needs to go where we need it. >> Miss Kelly it's almost like you were in our leadership team meeting on Tuesday. So every year I go over sort of what you see on my email unapologetically committed to excellent equitable learning opportunities for all students. to go through that and we have that conversation and that poster on my in my office unapologetic is capitalist really big and bold because when we talk about equity you're literally saying I'm going to ask adults to do in education I'm going to ask you to do something different or you may get something different than what you currently get. That's literally what we're saying. So we actually

066go through, we just have this conversation on Tuesday and we do it every single year that's not about equality or what's quote unquote perceived as fair. It's based on what the data tell us that our kids need and and that's exactly what he's talking about. >> I hope this is not a bad question to ask you, Dr. Young. Are we in a in in a position to where we're going to have to do that much sooner than later? >> Do the shifting Oh, no. We've always I mean that's the the reason why we keep seeing this is our third straight year overall gains island. The only way we've reached that is is because we didn't focus on fair. So this school you get no we pushed in where the needs were. That's the only way

067we've been able to get where we've been and and be able to utilize some of those additional dollars title dollars and also those 21st century dollars with the afterchool tutoring program. So, we've been doing that. Um, and we'll continue we'll continue to do that. >> Okay. I I was just curious because we're having a rough time uh statewide with resources that is going to get worse this next general assembly. >> Yeah. >> And and it's I don't think we ought to not we we can't afford to ignore that. >> No. And and to that point, Doc, I'm sorry. Well, and even looking at I know traditionally a lot of people are like I want my ch child to go to the school closest to my home blah blah blah or if we're saying this school

068we've said the resources for this is going to be here if this is the need you have we shift students even I don't know and that may be going too far but with keeping in mind where where the state dollars are going where national dollars are Like we're being told already, >> you're loose. You're not going to get what you got >> in the past. >> Yeah. >> Well, the gravy train you thought you had, which is not even the gravy train, >> it's drying up. >> Well, and that's one reason why, and you may recall, was it last year the with snatch crossing got recognized the state board uh meeting because they had some of the highest growth in the entire state of Indiana. But they are a school district that has historically always

069been the lowest. But they have also have the highest uh or the lowest when it comes to uh number when it comes to socio economic social economic status. Right? So uh ch the more children below that poverty level. So that was, I think, a celebration for us to have a school that has historically had, you know, less um less growth, higher poverty, but had the highest had the highest gains in the in the state among the top was it top two, three, I can't remember what it was top 10. >> Top 10 in the state. So, um, what you're saying is exactly what our our focus has been and we'll continue to and I to be quite honest, I don't think our I think our team, our leaders pretty much know now. They they support

070it. We don't get a lot of push back. >> I don't want to interrupt anybody, but one of the things that Mrs. Cohan and I did along with Mrs. Swint, our EL coordinator for the district and and the assistant director of special education, was we interviewed every single principal this past year. uh we sat down with them what what services do you have going on and all those kinds of things. As a special education teacher, you know that historically IDA dollars and and you know parts uh pardon me dollars have said I can only service children who have an IEP who do this sort of thing, right? And and that's that while that may have been the spirit of the law 20 years ago, that that is not how we do things anymore. And so

071we started having those conversations. One, asking questions and listening. What do you need? what do you have? What are you doing that's working well? Where do you need support? Those kinds of things. But then also starting to to plant that seed. We have to shift the way we've always done things. If I don't have an IEP, but I have a skill deficit in this particular area and this child has an IEP, we can pull them together and still use this resource for that. Right? It it we started talking about EL and the numbers and all those kinds of things. we have to look at how we service children differently. So even before the the threat of the hold of dollars and all those things, we were already committed to that. So we started having those

072conversations. We started those interviews. We took those interviews and also asked other EL coordinators and special ed directors across Marian County, what are you doing that's working well and all those kinds of things. We took all of that information, presented it in a in um in a presentation that was also an ask a proposal of Dr. Young. There there was nothing in there that that he said, "No, this isn't going to work. We're going to find a way. This is you did all of this research. You did all this digging in, if you will, and these were our findings." So, now we're able to implement those things this school year. So, we had already been having those conversations prior to the threat of funds being held. Well, even like you said in one building, principal

073understood tier one, tier two, tier three instruction >> that can be mirrored. >> Absolutely. >> In every building. >> Absolutely. >> Tier one, tier 2, tier three. And like you said, anybody can qualify for tier one, tier 2 instruction. >> Yes. >> So, as we move up the tier, >> you can continue to add those that need to be added until you get to tier three. Then they have to get whatever they need to be in tier three, >> but tier one and tier, we have not exhausted tier one and tier two. >> Agreed. >> Yes. >> Yeah. And what's what's another thing I'm excited about is we going to talk about Dr. Wilson Cops and the work she's doing now and obviously we had to make a pivot in her responsibilities. Uh she was

074our diversity, equity, and inclusion uh person, but now what she's focused on is MTSS. So she's literally taking this year assessing look at RTI, PBIS, social emotional learning and she's looking at where we are in those processes and her focus is literally going to be to tighten up all of those processes that we have to make sure kids don't fall through the cracks. So she's actually the one who joined the team in working with our schools to tighten those processes up. And then my thing hopefully I'll not have a whole lot but in terms of now the ask of the teachers finding a way to make it not a burden finding a way to make it so that this information is interpreted so it makes sense to them and now how do I take that

075back to my classroom and do it >> so without it being convoluted without it I don't feel like I can do this. I don't feel like I feel like it's going to pull me away from what I think I'm supposed to be doing. And the goal the the struggle has always been how do I stay on the the pacing map and how do I meet my kids where they are? I think somebody that has an understanding of curriculum coming up that that teacher may need that support to say okay you may need to do groups you may you can't do large group instruction right now you need to do small group but we talked I think last time about pushing in rather than pulling out >> putting resources there so they're not missing the grade

076level skills then you have the other folks coming in that say let me do this remediation with you also. So it's a very a dance >> that has but we have to figure out how to to make it work. >> Mhm. >> One of the ways that we are accommodating that because I believe that some teachers are burned out because they don't have the professional development they need and they don't feel like they have the support and resources that they need. Just believe that in my core from my building principal days. And so we have a a district-wide link that that is that all principles have access to where they can request professional development and and what that looked like. Last year we had over 20 requests from building principles for various things. It might

077have been an entire buildingwide PD. It might have been Miss Naylor going to meet with second grade because they know what they they got the training in you fly but man now we've been in school for two weeks and actually applying that. what does that look like? So, she goes to that school, she she works directly with those teachers. So, we really have um a philosophy of we're going to build all these supports and align all these systems for you. We're going to do all those things based on our observation, but then also we're going to come alongside you in the things that you need in this moment and we're going to build that and we're going to come right to you and we're going to offer it immediately. I had a principal I was

078I was at uh University of Louisville at a volleyball camp watching my kids and I had principal saying when is that PD link coming out for next year. This was in June. When is it coming out for next year because I want to be the first one to submit my three requests and and she flew with them. I texted and said all received we'll get those. And so we had teach we had people from this team in school buildings the first day teachers were back at request. So, we're really building those things and really I believe in listening first. What What is it that you need? And that's why there are team members on these teams I was telling you about. What is it you need? And and that's exactly how it was worded in

079the email and in the communication. We want to know what you need and then fulfill those needs. Cuz I really feel like PD needs to look like we're asking teachers to go in and differentiate. We're asking teachers to meet students where they are. when we're sending teachers to we need to do the same thing for PD >> like you said what do you need >> absolutely >> and that sometimes is when I was in the classroom I find that [Music] >> there was no one to tell who I needed whatever to and then fin you know you fill out the survey 20 times and then finally somebody goes oh this is what you need we want to get way before 20 times. Way before 20 times we want them to ask one time exaggeration. However,

080but it's >> absolutely >> if you go through that process and you're kind of like >> why am I going to PD? >> Mhm. >> What good is it going to do me? But building that same I don't know if love of learning is the right word I'm looking for that we're looking for in our students. Put that back with our teachers. >> Teachers. Absolutely. Cuz otherwise this like we look at that and that looks very daunting. It looks very whatever. Especially to me I'm still stuck on that fifth and sixth grade that it can we can it's going to be work >> and I think everybody has to go into it going it's going to be difficult but we can do it. >> We can. And we are we are the group that's here

081right now. So we need to get the skills and the tools so that we can help these children that we are a unique district and we have our own set of unique challenges but I think we have the educators that can meet them. So it's just a matter they need what they need to meet those challenges. >> Absolutely. And I would say a celebration is it's the teachers who are boots to the ground who are doing this work every day. So where you see this growth, we need to give credit also to our teachers for the lessons that they are preparing and the things that they are doing. We have a member of my team who has partnered with a a teacher in an elementary school. Uh the member of my team is our our

082ELA um elementary person who is in charge of leading the work with writing those curriculum maps and all those things. she's working co-eing with a teacher in real time in second grade so that we can think about um pacing for instance she said I immediately noticed that some of our pacing in that very first week we might want to step back a day or two so we are in there in real time also trying to figure out so there I mean we roll up our sleeves and get right in there to help however we can as well absolutely I I agree with everything that you're saying so if Okay. All right. So, seventh grade, seventh grade, you'll see uh that that number does go up and our ELA does continue to go up and you'll

083see the same thing in 8th grade. Uh numbers are continuing to go up. Sorry about that extra. So, hopefully we've and then this is our overall grade 6 to 8. Now, again, what you see what DOE puts out is 3 to 8. And because I gave you elementary in the fall and middle in the fall and high school in the fall, I wanted to give you an update to those things. Uh but I have noted what we uh should shift for next year. So we continue to see growth. And this is ELA by ethnicity. Again, you'll see uh white students added that that um was not there in the last slide deck. We did see uh a bit of a decrease. Our math scores though have been right on point and continued. Yes. I >>

084I don't even know how to ask the question, but I I want to be the one in the room to ask it. Why is it soioeconomic? Is it the test is not fair to minorities? Is it I don't get it. I don't get it. So why? Because that's not acceptable to me. I mean, we have less than 10% of our students are white. They're at 41%. The rest of our students I I don't get it. And And yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I think it's Yeah. I mean, gosh, we can talk about this for days. I don't think anyone doubts that there's bias built to these tests. >> Not quite sure how to say that politically. >> No one doubts. We all know. We all know there's bias. >> Yeah. We all know the bias

085built and and we also know that there's a cultural piece that's built into these tests >> that's very different than >> we're 94% children of color. >> Right. So I've got a PhD from Purdue, >> but most my parents are college educated, but I still didn't come to school with people speaking American Standard English, right? My mom was from North Carolina and and I think and that's what the test is based on math and language. So even the children that may not be English language learners are still coming in without that skill and background and they've lived here all of their lives. So those are all of the things that that fall into this. For for me, I I really and I want to celebrate our teachers. They're doing a phenomenal job. The gauge of

086our success is are we closing the gap? We, you know, we try to get as many kids as we can. That's why I thank you all for supporting the NGLC as we're expanding that. But to be quite honest, I I think with Dr. Moore, hey, are we going to have enough room for all the kids? Yeah. based on our current numbers, but if we can get more people to come to Pike, we'll put them right back into to to those elementary schools. Because what the data is showing is that if we can get them into school a little bit sooner, threes and fours in a quality preschool program, our kids make up that gap by third grade. So, it's just we're just playing catchup. But I always don't lose sight of this that PIP graduates

087are out here changing the world. We're getting kids across the stage. They're getting scholarships and they're having a lot of success um at uh post high school. And I just think for urban school districts, I think those are some of the things that we just want to uh always keep in mind as as some of our goals. >> And and I wanted to I wanted to ask that. Well, one, it is a sincere question, too. I wanted to hear that. I know now these are you know >> on YouTube so people see it cuz >> there are people out there that will look at those numbers and they will >> probably just because they got evil thoughts anyway but they will do gymnastics to think wrong things about our population that is and I wanted

088to understand it's the test >> it's not the kids and and so it's just >> yeah and it's not it's not our educators it's not our teachers and and I think I think that's the thing that I think is hard for urban educators is I go in there and I teach my butt off and my kids grew more than the kids that are north of 96th Street yet I get labeled as a failure right and you know and that's tough so I just want to make sure I always want to let them know that that yes we can't control that that's a system that doesn't make sense to me I don't have the magic wand but let's try to close the gap when we've been doing that let's keep closing the gap but Let's also

089focus on how much we grow our kids and let's keep in mind that our goal is graduation and in and post. >> Yes sir. >> I think we need probably just need to be real about the situation when we look at those numbers and and the ethnicity and the movement of the ethnicity there. >> Got to understand that when and I'll go ahead and say black children begin to move up in numbers. They move the goalpost. And a lot of people don't want to talk about that. It is a racist testing system. >> Nobody wants to talk about that. It is what it is. It's obvious. And for people to look at it and not say it, I kind of question their integrity. But but that's what's happening. And you've seen it in education. When

090black children begin to catch on to whatever testing system is in place, >> they move that gold post. >> They move it every time. one comment that I that I have and I I hear you know from my my fellow board for members you know but when you said that quality preschool >> you know uh and that seems key to me >> uh I'm wondering with the processes that you that you guys rolled out this year will that tell us if we need to emphasize our put more resources into the ounce of prevention So then when we get to third, fourth, fifth, sixth grade, you know, we start to see our numbers up. Is that is that realistic? Is that a smart goal to think? >> So I think part of it is that when

091I go back to that five W's, right? So every school building will be taking a look at why do we have this score on this assessment? What got us there? when they figure out what got them there for reason one, they're going to ask when they get to, you know, kids come in hungry. I don't know. Why are they coming in hungry? Oh, well, because they're, you know, I I don't know. Culturally, they they something happened. I don't know whatever it may be, right? These are ridiculous excuses or or reasons on the top of my head at this moment. But they're going to dig down five five times to say, "Why is that happening?" And it may be because we have this many students who didn't go to preschool in our building. we have this

092many students because kindergarten isn't even mandated in the state of Indiana. So we have this many students who who are we do not in the state of Indiana put dollars into early education, right? And so as long as we're we're doing that, we have the data to show that when kids go to NJC, they are outperforming their peers who don't. So we know we know what it is. Unfortunately, the state of Indiana isn't funding that part. So we may find that but we may also find that this particular thing happened right these kids in this particular grade were hit and most impacted by CO. So all of those factors will be looked at for this school and all of those factors will be looked at for this school over here and those factors will likely

093be different and then their plans will be built based on what they find in that building. And I think one of the things too I shared, you know, I think in in in my notes to the board too is that actually the funding that pay that will allow parents to be able to afford quality preschool actually got cut. >> Yes. >> This year >> to your point Dr. more, you know, as as we kind of unravel and figure out, hey, well, we we crack the code, then, you know, rather than resources and everyone uh going all in, you know, sometimes we see the odds. >> I can't wait to see your findings. Um and in fact uh you know can we expect something what before Christmas break or >> as far as the checkpoint data

094>> checkpoints and which way they were trending >> every time we take that what I I I'll ask our team that when we take the checkpoint data that we can break it down by school and in a in a report in a way that I can share with you guys and then we'll also kind of report back as we're talking to the principles as we're getting in, you know, to like sixth grade and math. You know, we'll we'll we'll we'll let you know. It could be a year that we had a whole bunch of brand new T. It I just don't want to speculate, right? But I think it's worth whatever whatever's happening at that one area. We got to figure it out >> cuz that will help us that'll help the board. Once we

095get that data, then we can take a look at that. That'll help the board figure out, okay, do we need to look at teacher retention to your point having a bunch of new teachers? Do we need to look at, you know, our preschool? How can we make it better? All the things that are within our control, are we maximizing in those opportunities? So, yeah, I look forward to that information. Thanks. >> Who's Kelly? >> Oh, I'm sorry. So, I know we're talking about I learn and Ivory, but we just got a whole new group of kindergarteners that were born like you were talking about. They didn't go to school. >> They couldn't go to school, couldn't socialize, couldn't all of these things. And now they show up >> in kindergarten. >> Yeah. They may not

096know >> the basic things. >> Absolutely. >> So even kindergarten >> the support we give kindergarten is going to have to look different >> than what it used to look. >> And that's also again a challenge for for urban kindergarten teachers too. It might if a child compared to a neighbor school district, they've been in school 2 years. They just didn't even know how to do school. So imagine the first time you've been in that setting, you show up in a kindergarten classroom. So there's a loss of opportunities to learn because you're still trying to learn how to do school, right? Raise my hand. How do I manage the stress of a kid that I don't know and we're trying to navigate the same space? So those are some challenges I think that many of

097our teachers >> before I can even teach you ABC123. >> I got to teach you how do you share >> take turn >> with your neighbor. >> Yeah. >> It was just me. >> Yeah. >> And my mom. >> Yeah. >> Or whoever was watching me and >> or siblings or >> I can do my own thing, you know. And so I think again the We all are going to have to wrap our minds around the tough decisions that are going to have to be made. And I think we're just going to have to not that we don't want everybody to have everything. >> Yeah. >> But we can't say, "Oh, this group has all of >> whatever and this group has nothing." >> Right. >> Equity says, I you're good >> with that. I'm

098going to take that support. >> Yeah. >> And maybe not take all of it, but shift some of that >> to where it is lacking. >> Right. I mean, that's one reason why we applied for the IA I AQLI grant where we actually had a resource previously that actually is a really nice booklet, language arts and math, which uh has um lessons, activities, and objectives for children entering into kindergarten. So, basically with that tool, if I'm a parent, what we're telling parents is if if your kids can do these, it's really nice. We have it in Spanish and English. We just got the grant. We were notified this week. It got held up with a lot of these other federal grants, but we got approval. It we didn't get an amount that we wanted to.

099Uh it was reduced somewhat, but it's a tool that can be in the hands of any parent and we can also put in the hands of any any daycare, any preschool, whether it's related to us or not. But if it's in Pike Township and those kids are coming into our building, we want to get that resource in those educators hands, but also the parents hands to help bridge that gap so that when they come in kindergarten, they at least have an idea of what I can work with my child to master for them to be successful in kindergarten. So, we're going to push that out into all the preschools, daycarees, and bike township. The other thing that when you said that made me think of parent university, are we using that to send supplemental I

100know parents are like I'm tired when I get home but >> parents have to partner with us >> and education of their children. >> Absolutely. So we say here on the parent university here are the resources to supplement flashcards you can download >> websites you can log them on to that's going to enhance their skills. Can we add those kinds of things onto parent university to say parents here are some tools for you? >> You know >> those are I mean everybody may not take advantage of it >> right >> but some will. That's not a good idea because we push that out to individual buildings. But what we can do is look at grade level >> appropriate. So that matter what school you go to >> math social has a whole Yeah. >> ideally

101has their own >> SEO curriculum. Even just putting a link on there say parents. >> Yeah, that's you can do this. >> Yeah, we'll do that. That's that's a good idea. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So, uh, grades 6 to 8 in ELA by student group. Here again, you're going to see the same trending data that we have been talking about. Um, and and you already know how we're we're addressing these particular uh challenges and with math. So, in middle school, we've already talked about the checkpoint, so I I won't hit on that too much longer. We've already talked about how we've pulled together um teachers to rewrite curriculum maps. Uh I think Dr. Young has alluded to our Lily uh education foundation grant that is specializ or I'm sorry specially focused in middle school um in

102several ways that we are supporting. And then this fall um at this was actually at the request of the middle school principles. I go to all of those meetings. Some of my team members come. They asked for us to support reading and writing opportunities in all subjects each week. So, making sure that our responses to writing or responses to this science question mirrors the type of response that a student might need to write on on the ilearn test, right? How are we making sure that our students are reading and what is the text and music? That text is the actual sheet music. Maybe what is that text in PE? you know, what does that look like? And so, uh, members of my team are providing professional development to ensure that all of our teachers feel

103comfortable with those types of writing and reading experiences across all subjects. So, that's one of the other ways that we're digging in. Moving on to high school. Oh, there goes my label again. Our PSAT data, this is fall to fall. So, how did they perform in the fall of 23 and the fall of 24? And then SAT is taken in the spring. So that's why you see that spring to spring. We did see a slight decrease in our ELA. We know that we need to tighten that up. Our focus was math this year. We really uh focused on making sure that those math scores that we saw gains and we we did see gains there. So um my team is meeting with the department chairs at the high school. One of the things that came

104out of the conversation with the math um department chairs just today, Mr. Davidson came back and and said to me, uh they heard about what's happening in the middle school and how you're doing reading and writing across all all of the subjects. They want to know, can we have SAT type questions across all of our subjects to ensure that our students are getting absolutely absolutely let's do it. So, we are definitely taking a look at this data um and determining how we can best support and tighten those systems. Here is the ELA portion of the SAT by ethnicity. We've already talked about why those numbers look the way that they do. They they do across all standardized tests and math. >> Yeah. Every But every group went down. >> Yeah. [Music] That's still >> which

105was that previous. >> Wait, I'm sorry. >> Oh, in in ELA, >> everyone >> except for whites. [Music] >> And then there's our student group. Again, you're seeing the exact same trends that we we have seen before and you know how we are addressing those. >> What what percentage of our population is maybe and I apologize you probably don't know this off top of your head but I just I was curious as I was looking at this and looking at our total numbers. Um special ed and ELLL we can see on all of these and it makes sense. It's going to be struggles on these kind of test. I think it's fair to say what percentage of our our then population are made up by those two groups. I'm trying to figure out how that

106impacts our numbers because that is a three, you know. >> So, our English learner population is at about uh 30%, we have 3,000 students, right? >> We have three over 3,000 students that are English learners. And are we at n I believe we're at 19% special education across the district. >> 50% of our population is either ELLL or special education or both. >> Well, you may have some that are both, so you can't just add those together. number like that. Okay. I just >> that does put context to the numbers that we're seeing that that I'm not sure are just there when you just look at them. >> Absolutely. >> Our math student group, you'll see that same trend data. Uh and we are we are really um focusing in secondary. We have um I

107would say across the state focused on elementary in ways for a lot of years. That's a safe space. it's easier as a former secondary teacher sometimes it's harder to break in because I went to school to be an English teacher I know right and so um we are really spending a lot of time our principal and our department chairs at the high school have been very open to partnering with us and really digging into what's going on and what do we need to update how how have we looked at our curriculum maps and those sorts of things so we're very excited uh to be focused on that work this year >> one thing can I ask quick You can send me an email cuz uh we're running a long time. U but uh I see

108there's a cliff in waiverss between 2023 and 2024. It's complete drop off. So you can just uh I just like to know what we did to this magic spring. >> No, no. I was so No, no. Well, um I so I sit at sit in these meetings um and you know as a newer superintendent uh we put in we put in plans to make sure that all of our children got pathways. >> It just became a priority. Um I created additional resources. We added computers over at PPA. The challenge was our children meeting their pathways. So we we put some things in motion at this time to help ensure and I made that a priority that our children meet their pathways. So that that's what happened there and you can see the years following that

109a nonwaver graduation rate of 95% because I think we think about our special education populations especially some of our severe and profound students we probably lose I'm looking back at maybe one two points uh percentage points off the top. off the top >> off the top >> which means the highest you could even get from there might be 98%. But you still that still includes other children that have speak English lang lang English as a second language or still have learning disabilities. So when we have and I and that's a good thing but I think what we see is because of people like hey Mrs. Wilson we take care of those children. We don't cast them out. you you you I'm hearing horror stories of things such as people taking these uh the vouchers, right,

110in these private schools that flat out say, "We just won't even serve you, kid." >> Yeah. >> Or I've heard I've heard horror stories about charter schools, too. >> Right. We're we're not going we're not going to take care of these special needs. But in Pike Township, and I again give Mrs. Wilson credit cuz she's she's been a big part of that. Man, we we bend over backwards to take care of these kids and make it a place that they feel comfortable. And what happens is you attract you attract more >> of of of those people talk and that's not a bad thing, but it it it does impact these numbers to the community. >> Okay. Uh with that being said, uh were you uh >> that was it. I mean I I've already mentioned

111the curricular update. So we made it through the very last slide and then it was going to be questions which you all have asked about. >> That is impressive. >> Thank you very much for the presentation. Again, if anyone has any questions, feel free to email Dr. Gatewood. Um that being said, we got about 5 minutes, so we'll go ahead and wrap up, refresh ourselves, and get the uh the board meeting. >> Thank you. Right. I know they've got to change the u I'll