001Okay. I'm gonna try to try to use it. Green means go. Good evening and welcome to our regular meeting for Monday, February 23rd, 2026. Um, tonight we began a little bit earlier and met for close session. We're now ready for our open regular meeting. And at this time we invite you to join us for a moment of silence. Thank you. Our next item is the pledge of allegiance. We invite you to stand and join us. The next thing on our agenda are the um public comments. We didn't have anyone sign up for public comments. So, at this time, I will close that. That moves us into our consent agenda. Board members, tonight we have several things on the consent agenda. Um, it's the minutes from February 9th, 2026. The bills and mileage from January of
00226, the personnel listing, field trips, and I just need one motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> I move we approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Thank you, Miss Lure. Do we have a second? Thank you, Miss Cave. Any questions or comments? Pardon me while I figure this table out over here. Hearing none. All those in favor of approving tonight's consent agenda as presented, please say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes. 5-0. That moves us into action items tonight. We have a bid recommendation for networking equipment for the elementary schools by Mr. Gregory Gillette. >> Chair Hurst, members of the board, Dr. Mr. Shifflet, thank you for your time today and for your dedication to the students of Rockingham County. Request for proposal number ER-26-C2 to purchase networking equipment
003with -ate funds was properly specified on our website and sent to multiple firms. Two firms responded with sealed bids. The lowest bidder was C CDWG in the amount of $435,818.50. Thank you, Mr. Gillette. Dr. Shifflet, >> Chair Hurst, and board members, I recommend awarding the bid for the purchase of networking equipment for the elementary schools to the lowest bidder as presented by Mr. Gregory Gillette, director of technology. >> Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. Board members, do we have a motion to follow? I move that we follow the superintendent's recommendation. >> Thank you, Miss Burko. Do we have a second? Thank you, Miss Laura. Board members, do you have any questions or comments for Mr. Mr. Gillette. Thank you, Mr. Gillette. We appreciate it. Um, we'll now move to a vote. All those in favor, please say
004yes. Yes. All those opposed, say no. Motion passes. 5-0. >> Thank you, sir. Board members, the next item we have for action are the school improvement plans for TSI presented by Miss Sharon Martz. Thank you for coming back again this evening, Miss Marts. >> Thank you for having me. So, good evening, Chair Hurst, school board members, and Dr. Shifflet. I'm here this evening to talk with you about the school improvement plans for the five elementary schools who are identified as a school for targeted support and improvement. To review just a little background about the levels of school improvement, there are three levels. Um schools can be identified as a comprehensive support and improvement school. The plans for schools in this category um require intensive assistance and a more comprehensive plan. Schools can also be identified
005as an additional targeted support and improvement school. And the plans for schools in this category require more moderate assistance. And finally, schools identified as a targeted support and improvement school. A TSI school um require less assistance, but they're still a very specific plan um developed to support student learning. A TSI plan is the least intensive of the three levels of improvement plans. And so the five schools needing improvement plans this year are TSI schools. The five elementary schools identified as a TSI school for having a very a specific subgroup of students not meeting state identified targets are Cubron Elementary School with the identified subgroup being English learners. Oakton Elementary School for the subgroup of students with disabilities. John Whland Elementary School for the subgroup of students with disabilities. Mountain View Elementary School for the subgroup
006of students with disabilities and Pleasant Valley Elementary School for the subgroup of um Hispanic students. So as a targeted school and support as a targeted support and improvement school at TSI school these schools looked at multiple types of data um including but not limited to reading data such as vows and MClass data benchmark data because we did do some benchmarks this year and so data to really identify the instructional areas to focus upon. And so then they completed a plan for improvement on a template that was required by the Virginia Department of Education. As you all recall, we we discussed these plans at the schoolboard work session last Wednesday. Um the principles continued working on those plans. They came back in on Friday morning for a work session. Um and we added additional action steps
007really more specific steps for scaffolding instruction for these specific subgroups which would benefit all students though receiving instruction. So you have the five plans um before you. The Virginia Department of Education requires school board approval of the plans before we submit them to the state. So once we have school board approval for the plans, we will then submit these plans to the Virginia Department of Education for their approval as well. So thus I'm asking for your approval of the improve improvement plans for each of the schools this evening. >> Thank you Miss Mertz. Dr. Shifflet. >> Chair Hurst and board members. I recommend approval of the schoolboard improvement plans for schools identified for targeted support and improvement PSI as presented by Sharon Martz executive director of elementary education. >> Thank you Dr. Shifflet. Uh board
008members, do we have a motion? I move to follow the superintendent's recommendation to approve the school improvement plans for schools identified for targeted support improvement as presented by Sharon Marks. >> Thank you, Miss Laura. Do we have a second? Thank you, Miss Irons. Um board members, any discussion or comments? I I will say we did um spend quite a bit of time on this at our um work session last week and I do appreciate all the time you took um and explaining everything to our our board and helping us understand and a special thank you to all of the teammates who put these plans together at each of the individual schools. A lot of work goes into that. there are a lot of meetings and um a lot of requirements and I think um all
009five of the schools have a really good plan put together for those subgroups. So, thank you for all of your all's hard work. Thank you. I also just want to be clear for everybody that while we are approving these support plans tonight, steps have already been taken. And the reason that we're approving this tonight is because we didn't get the information um all the information to really start building these plans, but we did have some inklings and we've already started we started the work. This is just the paperwork that also needs to be. That's that's a really great point to make that we didn't wait until February to start implementing interventions. A lot of these things have been in place since September. So, thank you. All those in favor of approving the school improvement plans,
010please say yes. Yes. All those opposed say no. Motion passes. 5-0. That concludes our action items for this evening. That moves us into information items. We have a few of those. Beginning with a math update from Miss Amanda Rickard. >> Good evening, chairs, members of the board, and Dr. Um, I'm here tonight just to highlight some of the things that have been going on in Rockingham County with math. So this year, some of the things we're doing that are new is we have we asked over the summer for approval to use the excl diagnostic um assessment instead of the Virginia state growth assessment that we're required to give in the fall and the winter. The reason for that is most teachers found that the growth assessment given by the state was not actually giving us
011very helpful data back. And so the diagnostic is a continuous diagnostic tool that teachers can use throughout the school year. Um but then we take a snapshot of it twice a year that we have for the growth measure and it gives teachers a lot more data about where students um is excelling and where they have areas that they still need to grow in. So, um, I'll also highlight in a little bit the teacher pilot program that we have this year in the elementary school and our secondary new textbooks we rolled out this year. The excl diagnostic though uh we even though the growth assessment is only mandated for grades three through eight. We did ask first and second grade to give the diagnostic this year too so we could have some data. Um and we'll
012also use that for our title one reporting. But it gives an overall grade level score. So for example a student could get a score of 470. the 400 in the the number in the hundred's place is the grade level that the student is approximately at and the number in the 10's place is about what month of the school year they would approximately be at. So we get an overall grade level but then it also measures um the five strands of math numbers and operations, algebra and algebraic thinking, fractions, measurement and geometry and statistics. And so they also get a score for each one of those strands individually. So it's easy to measure growth across the year. So, I included a slide in here that has what we saw from when we gave it late September
013into early January, the window opened back up for the winter. Um, and so this is the county average for the amount of points a student that each grade level grew during that time. Oh, I didn't even see it. My bad. Oh, just kidding. Let me try it one more time. Okay, got it. Thank you. All right, so this year, also new to Rockingham County for math is the elementary math pilot at John way, not John Waym, Pleasant Valley. Um, we instead of having classroom teachers teach math, we were able to hire one teacher that teaches K uh kindergarten and first grade math only, then another teacher for second and third grade math, and then a third teacher that teaches only fourth and fifth grade math. And they rotate uh to the other teachers classrooms. And
014that in addition gave the classroom teacher an extra 45 minutes of planning a day. Um so just like anything you do for the very first time there are things we're learning work well and things that have areas that we need to work on. So we've already started finding trying to find solutions to the speed bumps that we have come across. For example, we have found that 45 minutes of math time in fourth and fifth grade and really second and third is not enough to get through the standards that we need to get through. Um, so we have already been in conversations about what that could possibly look like moving forward. And I believe if there's funding, we hope to expand the pilot next year. And then lastly, um, for secondary math, we did adopt at
015the end of last year new textbooks. So, because it was towards the end, we rolled it out to all teachers at the beginning in August. We were able to get digital but also have a print copy in every classroom so they can check it out if they need to or if the teacher wants it offline they have access to that because we didn't get it into the teachers hands until August we picked a really slow roll out where we each quarter I've asked them to do a little bit more of trying it out in their classes and we've had three trainings now with a presenter from the company to get them familiar with all that the textbook has to offer them. Um, and we are in conversations about seeing what it looks like and if
016funding's there to look into an adoption for elementary math. with the process of adopting new textbooks, the state accelerated the math um timeline and so a lot of publishers were not ready and prepared to submit their Virginia versions on the accelerated VDOE pathline for math. Um and so some elementary math had the worst correlations of textbooks that were matching what we needed for Virginia. So, as a little bit more time has gone on, those have gotten better aligned. And that's it from me now that I found the clipper. Do you guys have any questions? Thank you, Miss Rickard. Board members, questions for her. Um, as far as textbook adoption, you're saying for elementary, we're just waiting for that list of approved Yes. Yes. The VDOE right now is actually in the middle of revamping their
017textbook approval process. >> Okay. >> Um and then I spoke to one company that is hoping that they do another round of math adoptions to let them the ones that didn't make the accelerated timeline apply again. >> I'd love to ask a quick question just in general. As I've been touring some of the schools, one of the things I've heard repeatedly is that as we have reading specialists, a lot of people would like to see math specialists. I wondered if that was something you could speak to or were interested in. I am all about bringing in some math specialists. Um, I have requested I've requested some this year. It would be ideal. I know the way that the law is written that it is required you have reading specialists and it's only suggested you have
018math specialists. Um, but I will say with all the changes in the focus, it's really hard when you have kids that are three years behind grade level where they're supposed to be in math to be able to get them prepared and ready to be able to handle the on grade level math that teachers are expected to get them. Um, and we've seen that especially with the diagnostic data that as the years go on more and more, you know, we're dropping more and more off that are not considered on grade level anymore. So, in that case, it would be very helpful to have math specialists. Um, we actually just got a approved for a grant from the Department of Education where we're going to try um to use our challenge teachers in the middle school to
019help a little bit in and almost like a math specialist kind of way. Um, even though they're not math specialists, but another teacher will be able to help and take a little bit of burden off the classroom teacher that has a wide span of kids that need to reach. Um, do before you go, I I heard there's another board member question, but I was just um curious if we're using as anything beyond diagnostic or if it's just diagnostic this year. Are they using it for practice? >> Yeah, so they're using it for on grade level skill practice, too. And I've actually gone around and met with um from first grade. We only offer it first grade through 8ighth grade. So, I've been meeting with each team of teachers around the division to make sure they
020know all the ways that they can be using it for filling the gaps or for getting their own grade level practice. Um, and is constantly adding new features that are really helpful. It's a very robust program, so they are using it in many ways. Very good. Is it you, Miss K? This may not be a question for you. May for you, Dr. Shifflet, but I know when we initially started talking about um piloting this program, one of the things that we often talk about is making Rockingham a destination division. And one of the ways that we can do that is by increasing teacher planning time. And one of our thoughts about giving um about having the special time with a special teacher for math was giving those home room teachers um planning time. That's what
021we were talking about as a board. I know when I talked to a few teachers about it and this was not at a school that we piloted it at um but they were like we like to teach math we don't want you know so I don't know in those schools how are the teachers receiving this I mean have they has it been helpful for them has it been an easy transition not teaching math like how have they received it >> that is a terrific question so last spring last May I went to Pleasant Valley uh to speak to the teachers, the faculty about the pilot, right? What we were trying to accomplish and there was a a bit of reluctance uh just uncertainty but folks willing to try. I visited Pleasant Valley about two weeks
022ago, same faculty to have a conversation to say, "Okay, we've been doing this for over half a year. What are you thinking?" And two or three of the teachers made comments to me. I was a little reluctant at first. I enjoy teaching math. those types of things. But I absolutely love it, right? Because we we're giving them that additional planning time, but we're also taking something off their plate. And I think um again, a couple of the teachers who were, you know, kind of like teaching math and was, you know, a little concerned about giving that up have since said, you know, I'm sort of this time that I'm getting back is so beneficial to me as a teacher. And uh one teacher commented, you know, my stress level when I go home now, I'm
023not I'm not taking as much work with me. I can focus on science and social studies, focus on my reading, and it's really given them more time. And so, and part of our budget conversations that we've been having is like, can we expand this to another school or two for next year to to, you know, to continue this pilot project to see, you know, is it is is it getting the results we want? And I think again, we've seen some growth, especially using some of the LL data, data at Pleasant Valley. seen growth with our students, but we've also had growth in other areas. So, we can't just point to that. But, I I do think it's um definitely worth considering uh as we continue how can we uh find a way to give our
024elementary teachers some more planning time. I think this is a a unique approach. Let's see how it plays out maybe in another year. Decide whether or not we really want to move forward with so small scale right now. Again, just three teachers at Pleasant Valley and as Miss Rickard shared, we found a few snafoos that we've had to kind of work through, but overall the sentiment that I received when I was visiting was we are very thankful for this and we want to keep going. >> I was just curious um with the pilot at Pleasant Valley, are we going to look at their growth and their test scores versus everyone else eventually, I guess, at the end of the year? And have you looked at that them in comparison to the rest of the county?
025Are they you know I would assume that they would be really excelling. They've got three teachers who are just focus on one subject. So that should be really beneficial. Yes. So I have taken a look and this this data that we just got from the winter assessment is the first one we've really had where we could do a comparison. Um they are doing well. I will say there's other factors that have to be taken into account also. Um but they were definitely had signs of improvement. >> So um just some of seeing big picture, right? Okay. So, we definitely want to look at, you know, their achievement data and their scores, but also recognize that Pleasant Valley has a very large EL population and also, you know, I think one of the math teachers may
026be a first year teacher here, right? Not just a first year math teacher. And so, I think, you know, um that's always hard to compare, let's say, a first year teacher to a three or four or five year veteran teacher and what they're able to to accomplish in the classroom. So, there's some nuances to this and I think that's why we've advocated let's let's do the pilot again at Pleasant Valley and if we can add a couple of more schools to that it gives us you know more information to help inform our decision because it is a big uh monetary ask right u for our budget to move forward with this but we just have to keep in mind you know that um I think we spent lot and we're getting ready to hear about
027literacy here just in a few minutes we but we spent you know lots of um resources and and training and PD and working with litery and I think we need to give some attention to math and this may be a way to do it without also overburdening all of the home room teachers, right? Just we're going to be focusing on working with a core group of math teachers. I I think end results will be very u very advantageous for us, right? I think it's it's a good move for our students and for our teachers both. >> Thank you, Miss Record. Our next information item comes to us from Miss Kim Tate and her literacy team. They're going to be giving us a literacy data update for kindergarten through fifth grade. Chair Hurst, members of the
028board, Dr. Shiplet, you'll notice that I put somebody else in charge of the clicker. Um, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge and introduce um the members of the literacy team. They're all over the county, but um from a central office perspective, our coaches um an Bragg and Tabitha Carter work predominantly in K2 and um half of our elementary schools. and then Janna Byer and Carrie Lillard focus more on 35 and half of our elementary schools. Um so we're going to be sharing an update on literacy K5 and um we've sort of divided the workload. So I'm going to turn it first over to an to share with you. >> Hi. We're first going to talk about the vowels data. Um vowels is our statemandated screener that we have to beginning of the year,
029middle of the year, and end of year. And according to our RCPS division literacy plan, um what's highlighted there in red, by the spring of 2026, um there will be 20% or less students as high-risisk students for our district. So if you look at the vows, thank you because I can't see that. [laughter] So looking at our schools first, there are 15 elementary schools. We currently have three according to mid-year data, three schools that are below that 20% goal and we have five schools that are close to that 20% goal and that goes all the way up to the 15 schools. And then when we go to the next screen, we're going to look at K through three by grade level for the district for midyear. Kindergarten is currently at 24%. First grade is at
03018% which is below that goal. and also first graders. This is the group of students that have had our curriculum for kindergarten and first grade. So, this is the group of students that we're going to watch as they move on. Second grade is at 25% and third grade is at 33 33%. Um there are benchmark ratings that PALS vows gives that used to be called PALS. Um and they have a range and so they look at depending on the grade level it looks at letter and letter sounds um phone segmenting and blending um or well or is toward the end for K through three but um pseudo word spelling and word reading. Thank you. Yes. All of those things. Yes. Learning to read. Yes. Yes. Sorry, just going back to that red spot. Is this
031where it says spring that's coming from the vow screener? >> I'm going to clarify that question because you all picked that goal. Yes. [clears throat] >> I'm just curious why that was like >> how did you arrive to 20%. That was my exact same question. >> Yeah, absolutely. Um, we always want to set the goal where we should be and if you have research will verify that if you have more than 20% of students in high risk, the issue is core instruction. And so what we have focused on with the curriculum and why it's helpful is that if we have collective teacher efficacy um John Hattie will say it is the highest effect size on student achievement. Um classroom management it's um a third of that. If we look at things like particular teaching strategies
032half of that. So the curriculum, the training in the curriculum using evidence-based literacy instruction should then give us collective teacher efficacy, which means everybody's rowing in the same direction with the same expectation, the same pace. An intervention then serves students. Maybe it's a student with a disability. Maybe it's a student that came with particular challenges in language or other things. But if we have more than 20%, we want to focus on what's happening in that core literacy time. Are students getting all the components of literacy that they should be getting? Um, and making sure that that is our goal always. We want to make sure that every student is getting quality literacy instruction using evidence-based practice and data to drive it. So again, unless I have a very unusual and there will be outliers, but
033a very unusual set of students I should be able to have and you know I was meeting Friday with a team, second grade team in a school and um the when we talked about what the three teachers on that team talked about one of the three teachers says, "I believe my kids can do this. I believe my kids can do it at grade level." At midyear, that teacher went from seven high-risisk students to zero. The other teachers were kind of shocked and the conversation began. How did you do that? And so starting to talk about pacing, look at the data, look at what individual students have as issues in front of them. Is it a phmic awareness issue? Is it a phonics issue? Um, so it's really important that we set that expectation to have
034everybody getting what they deserve. Does that make sense? >> Yes. Just curious where you got the 20% right it is be higher or lower or how you raised to that. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. Last year I think at the end of the year well our our goal was at 25%. So we reduced it again by five and as you can see some schools are already there um which is great and we have celebrated them as we have visited them. >> Can I ask I'm sorry. Um, oh, sure. >> Yeah, we're not gonna let you guys get through this. I just wanted to make sure just so I can understand as I'm looking at this. >> This is from Val's testing >> the beginning of the year to just when? >> January. Okay. So,
035a couple months just I just want to make sure. >> Absolutely. >> No, that's okay. That's what we're here for. >> So, we can actually two screeners in our elementary school for reading and oh that is too quiet sorry um so I'm going to talk about our MClass screening data for K2 um MCLASS is the screener that comes with our um core curriculum CLA it's also if you're um familiar with Dibbles it's a screener that's been around for like 30 years um that's basically what MClass is just called MClass with our curriculum um so it measures a little bit differently than vows does so it's going to score students um their composite score for in four areas well below, below, at or above benchmark. Um so we have beginning of the year and middle of
036the year data to share. So you can see um for kindergarten at the beginning of the year we had 55% of our students in the well below category that has dropped to 32%. So that's what we would want to see. Um you can see the yellow which is below benchmark was at 19% it went up to 22. um that's going to be okay to see because we're moving them from red into yellow. So that's where we would kind of want to see a little bit of up. Um the green and blue both went up in kindergarten as well and that's where we see kids moving into the at grade level or at benchmark or the above. So you can see we went from 12 to 27 and 14 to 19%. So kindergarten is moving in
037um the right direction with their in-class scores. Um same for first grade. You can see we started at 39% down to 34. Um again the yellow went up from 22 to 23. Some of those reds moving into yellow. Um I will say we've had red students move into green and blue um not just yellow. So there's been movement across um the colors. And then um 23 to 24 16 to 19 again we want to see blue and green going up which we are. And then for second grade um same type of of data 20 um 43% beginning of the year to 37 15 to 16 in that yellow category on on benchmark or on grade level was 26 to 28 and then 16 to 19 in the above. So all the K2 data for MClass
038is moving the way we would want to see that. I'm going to talk about the third, fourth, and fifth grade scores for MClass. Um if we look at third grade, we'll see there really hasn't been a lot of change from beginning of year to midyear. Going into this school year, we were aware that third grade uh teachers were going to need additional support because we saw looking at our data at the end of last year that there was a very visible need there. So that has been a particular grade level that we have prioritized providing additional support for both to classroom teachers and reading specialists um in buildings. So we have not seen a shift uh from the well below and below ranges into our above or at and above ranges at third grade. Um
039for comparison to where we were at at this point last year. So last year at midyear for third grade we were at 47% on and above. This year we are at 51% on and above. So compared to where we were in year one of implementation, we are making progress moving the direction we want to be moving towards. Uh in fourth grade when we look at scores from beginning of year to midyear, we see students moving more into our at and above benchmark ranges. We did see an increase in movement to our well below benchmark range. So when we met with our state representative with our curriculum, I asked about that because that is drastically different when you look at our scores K5. And she shared that every school division that she provides support for in
040Virginia that is in year two of implementation is getting skewed fourth grade data just like this. But school divisions that are ahead of us in implementation even by two years do not see a a larger growth on the bottom end as well as growth on the top end. So we are continuing to encourage those fourth grade teachers and provide support because we do know that intervention requires a lot more time and energy to make as much change with our older students. They've also had the least amount of time getting all of the background knowledge that would make them super successful with our material at the upper grades. Whereas compared to our kindergarten and first graders are going to get it from the beginning. So that is an additional lift that our third, fourth, and fifth
041grade teachers have to do to support our older elementary students. uh comparing our fourth grade students at this point last year uh we had 54% on and above. This year at midyear we are at 56% on and above. So we're still moving in the direction that we want. For fifth grade we did not see a lot of change on the low end, but we did had a have a 2% move from our well below and below range into our on and above range. So we do see our curriculum working for kids who are working at grade level. The material is working for them. As Tabitha said, we are also seeing movement of below or well below students into our on and above. So we know the the curriculum is working at the core level. We
042just need to be super intentional with the intervention we provide students who aren't at grade level. Um, again comparing to where we were at this point last year, uh, we were 42% on and above at this point with our fifth graders last year. This year we were at 50% on and above. So that's what we like to see. When you compare where we are as a division to where we are nationally, we are just a few percentage points shy of the national average. When we look at our on and above percentages for the national range, they're at 53% at and above benchmark. As a division, we are at 49% at and above. So in year two, I find that to be very optimistic. >> I think take a few questions about this section now. >>
043Yes. Yes. [laughter] Um I have question. Can you speak more to the lacking background knowledge? Obviously that's an important part of CKLA and for people that are unaware of our reading curriculum. This is is this year three >> Year two, sorry. Um it's meant to be rolled out over six or seven years. So it's so that for example that last year everyone was getting new information and the program builds on background knowledge from years past and everyone was basically starting fresh. But I would also speak to having a fourth grader myself. Um, yes, they are also the group that was masked during kindergarten, first grade and um or maybe weren't even in school because of that. And I'm deeply concerned that this is just a matter of background knowledge as far as their scores. Could
044you speak to that? >> Sure. So when we when I mentioned background knowledge, our current fifth graders have units that had pre-taught knowledge to support them um in fifth grade. So I'm thinking of our middle ages unit in fourth grade supports um the ancient civilizations unit at the beginning of fifth grade. They both open with a timeline. And in fifth grade last year, those teachers had to basically give a really brief overview of the background knowledge on the Middle Ages that was needed before diving into that particular unit. Whereas this year, they didn't need to do it. They could ask questions about it if they were with us in the division last year. Then they had that knowledge given to them through that unit. um that fourth grade unit about the Middle Ages. That background
045knowledge for them starts in kindergarten with the kings and queens knowledge unit that they have. So there is a document that the curriculum provided us that shows how all of those units over time connect to each other across all six grade levels. So, when we think about the little things that might be instructed in kindergarten or first grade that do fill in a small gap in knowledge um in our fourth and fifth graders, that's more what I meant about background knowledge. Does that answer your question, Pulley? >> Yes. I'm again I'm still a little concerned because this is also a group that didn't get letters because we're rolling all these things out. The teachers are getting trained. I just I'm I'm concerned this group is specifically like at going to be at a loss going
046forward. I think this group did get letters in K one and two and three should have been this would have been the cohort that >> the teachers would have been trained in the letters course of study. Um at that time we didn't have a curriculum. We were building the curriculum to provide for teachers. Um again just like anything else collective teacher efficacy different people were able to provide yeah you're building the plane while you're flying it pretty much. Um and certainly if they are one thing that and one reason we like having the M-Class data is that what we saw last year if students were working in those greens and blues if they were at or above grade level they passed the so one thing we've been talking to teachers about all year is not
047only are we going to help those the most vulnerable students, the students who are well below, and those are students that would be seeing a reading specialist and getting support there in the foundational skills. Um, but those students in the yellow need not necessarily see a reading specialist. It depends childto child but also those students need intentional flexible group with their teacher and the curriculum provides resources for the teachers to do that. Um, again, flexible groups, we want to give teachers grace, is something dramatically different than what literacy looked like 10 or 15 years ago when everybody met with all their groups for a certain amount of time. Sometimes doing the same thing with every group. In this case, if that student is in a red or a yellow on MC class, it should be
048very targeted to what the gap is because those students need, as you were pointing out, greater than average acceleration to be at grade level. It's all hands on deck. Those are the students that should be talked about at every data meeting. What are we doing? if they are meeting with a reading specialist, if they are meeting with an EL teacher, if they are meeting with a special education teacher and with the classroom teacher, all the intervention should be aligned. The kid should not, no student should have to use the cognitive load of having totally separate things every time they go for an intervention. It should all be working in tandem. Are we there yet with everybody? No. But again, we encourage people to reach out to coaches. Our reading specialists are doing a remarkable job
049with helping teachers understand what to do. Um, and the fact that we have very specific data. It's not I feel like I can talk to a parent or I can talk to my team about what the child's data shows me and then we decide as a team, a collaborative team what is best for that child. Um, and I want to speak to that just for a second as I ask hard questions. I also want to praise you because I was at the title one meeting for Peak View with reading specialists and they gave that exact data. you know, we had 32 kids that were high-risisk and now we're down to seven and they showed us how we do it and I stayed and observed and they also had really wonderful things to say about all
050of you and the support they received from you. Again, it's these guys. Uh they're doing the heavy lift. I mean, we're in meetings, but I think the big thing is the collaborative piece. Um, and the classroom teacher should always know what's happening with the child when a child leaves his or her room. Is it aligned with what the data is showing us this child needs? And that's not easy. >> Um, a question you meant. Well, I have two thoughts. One, when I look at this data for third, fourth, and fifth grade, when we say at and above, are these students that you the at and above kiddos at 51, 56, and 50% for third, fourth, and fifth grade. Um, is that is this the pocket of students that you are basically expecting they're going to
051pass an SOS test this spring and anybody not in uh green and blue is we need to work on? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, >> we've been saying that all year. >> Yeah, those are What kind of growth are you anticipating from now until the end of the year? because those would be pretty scary pass rates for Rockingham County to have a 51% pass rate in first or in third grade, 56 in fourth grade, 50 in fifth grade and >> absolutely >> that's pretty scary. >> Yep. >> So, what's what are you anticipating or what's being done differently to move now that you have mid mid year and you're seeing that? What's what's your plan? >> Yeah. Um the plan since the beginning is asking teachers to progress monitor high-risisk students every two weeks. Typically
052the reading specialist is doing that because those students are seeing the reading specialist. We ask that moderate risk students be progress monitored every three weeks and low-risk students be monitored progress monitored monthly because the reality is we are working to grade level. So how do we scaffold for those students? What are they missing? Are we um spending a too much time in assessments and not enough time in intervention and instruction? >> No, I I wouldn't say that's the case. I think we're actually better armed with information now that we're in year two and we are utilizing the progress monitoring um platform, for lack of a better word, more effectively this year. Um, and so not only are we having monthly meetings for our students who have student reading plans, our our higher risk students, but
053the week after that student reading plan meeting week, we make sure that there is time to talk about our low and moderate risk students because there could also be a need that comes up that we see through our progress monitoring data. Um, another thing that we have really been prioritizing particularly in four and five, but it's also applicable to third grade is the need for fluency instruction and how that is so meaningful during core, not just in flexible group. Um, but that also fluency can be practiced in every subject area throughout the school day. It's not limited to just literacy. So when we look at our fourth grade and fifth grade data in particular, there are plenty of students that we've seen who are now at benchmark with accuracy, which is what we want all
054of our readers to have. Then when we look at their fluency score, that's essentially their reading rate. Um, and then there's a third component of their score that's called MAZE. It's assessing the most basic sentence level comprehension. And we've noticed that students could be at benchmark in accuracy, above benchmark in Maze, but below benchmark in fluency, and it drops their overall composite score. So now we're able to more definitively look at that information now that we understand it better in year two and have more intentional conversations about how at this point in the year a teacher really shouldn't be reading the text in core instruction allowed for them everyone in their class because not everyone in their class needs it and if we want to increase fluency scores with our students then students have to
055be the ones doing the reading. Tim Shanahan has a lot of research on that very area. We've shared it. [laughter] >> Okay. You my final question for this section is regarding what you mentioned about you saw this coming for third grade. You knew and you saw end of year second grade data and thought we're going to have a problem. So what specifically has the division done differently above and beyond what you've already discussed to help these kiddos? Was it fluency that kind of hung them up? >> Um, I would say yes, that's a big part. Um, in August at Rockingham Learns for Life, we did multiple sections on fluency. We were Kim Tate's been talking about fluency for 12 years and upper grade teachers told me they didn't have time. Now, I think again showing
056people grace. we have the data that says this is exactly what the child needs because a reading test um a reading so is a stamina test and if you're not fluent you wear yourself out and so again um I think trying to work manto man asking people to get help from a coach if they're not quite sure what That looks like um we had additional fluency resources in the literacy loop in the fall and we have them in again next week. The entire literacy loop is focused on fluency because they can make some pretty big gains between now and May if we understand what to do. That's you know lots of material from Shanahan and from other resources that are there for them. Thank you all. Are there any other questions about this section before
057we plow forward? Okay. >> Um the just because I have two kindergarteners and a fourth grader. So I'm on the I have a child who started CKLA last year who is now the fourth grade band here. And then I've got kindergarters who are just this is all they've ever known. Um who are doing really well. My daughter's doing well as well. But I also see her struggling because she doesn't have those that building blocks from first, second, um, and she did get some in third. But, um, I guess with this the MClass data to the parents, are we telling the parents, hey, your kid is in this area? Um, I'll be honest, I didn't go to parent teacher conferences. I gave the teacher, my kids teachers a break, but is this being I'm terrible. I
058know. Is this being communicated with the parents? Because I know when my daughter's bringing things home, it's a lot of like I got this at school and I need you guys to, you know, help make this more concrete. So, my husband and I are reading with her and going over all the things um to make sure she can pass her test like that. So, are we sharing that with the parents? >> Yes. I mean all the data we encourage um teachers to share that because I think again it's a little simpler to have a conversation about it. If a student has a student reading plan which means they were identified as high risk or in fourth and fifth grade if they did not pass the so last year that's what gives them a student reading
059plan. Um then those parents are being updated as to the information on the reading plan um as well as conversations about midyear data at parent conferences. That again is so important because even educators have a hard time understanding all of the buzzwords that we have in literacy. And so we do we try to make the student reading plans as parent friendly as possible while at the same time being able to stay true to the spirit of the law. Well, my kids are at Lynville and so even though they don't see the reading specialist, I I feel like I could go to her and say, "Hey, do you have any tips or tricks? Like help me get my kid where she needs to be." So I think that's something people should know. There are so many
060more resources as well. school. So, >> absolutely. Lick me one more time, Carrie. Thank you. Um, so our takeaways, we're moving towards the 20% for this spring. That's our goal. Um, and we have continued to remind teachers as well as administrators about that. Three of our schools are already there, which is a great thing. And regardless of the risk band, we are progress monitoring students. Um, I think that's important. We don't want a student to lose momentum just because they are well above benchmark. Um, just making sure we don't miss anything. The other piece, um, Val's data confirms our students are learning grade level skills. McLass data indicates instructional focus. So, we're also teaching people how to read the data. And again, we're not all at the same place in what that looks like. Um,
061first grade, we're really pleased because 18% high risk reflects the two-year journey. And I can tell you, we've got some second grades that have already moved well beyond expectation. Um, and we have some third grade classrooms that are doing great things because they are collaborating with each other with very vulnerable populations. So to sum this all up, um, the results shown in this presentation are a direct outcome of intentional partnership across our schools. This growth is not the work of a single program or an individual. It reflects the coordinated efforts of classroom teachers, reading specialists, and administrators working in alignment. Classroom teachers have delivered strong daily literacy instruction and use student data to guide flexible small groupoup support. Reading specialists partnered with teachers to analyze the data and provided targeted intervention to our high-risisk students.
062Administrators have ensured protected instructional time, prioritized literacy and school improvement efforts, and supported ongoing professional learning. Because instruction, knowledge, and leadership were aligned around shared goals and evidence-based practices, we are seeing measurable gains for students across the division. So when expertise, instruction, and leadership work together, our students win. Thank you all. Board members, are there any final questions? Thanks for letting us hijack your presentation and just inserting questions as we went. appreciate all your time. >> But wait, don't run off. Especially you. So, in the end, I heard you say we are wrapping lots of people around and and it's budget season and we're hearing, oh, where can where can we cut where can we cut? Um, and part of it is each child has a teacher, so why do you need all these reading
063specialists and aids? Well, this is exactly why, right? And can Miss Tate, can you speak just a little bit to that about how all these levels really help the kid that that's not reading on a grade level and and gets us to our goal? >> Absolutely. I mean, we talk about teacher assistants and um our reading specialists are doing planning for teacher assistants. Um, we [clears throat] have trained teacher assistants over the last three years, um, specifically with evidence-based practice in mind. And so we make sure that they understand to the best of their ability why they're doing what they're doing. You know, to be honest, we had an instructional coach in every building. it would be helpful because we're all at different places in the journey and again you don't know what you don't
064know and sometimes you think well isn't this how everyone does it but you don't get an opportunity to see other people's classrooms where people are doing what they think everybody else is doing um and they just everybody you know Dr. partership. Let's said everybody needs a coach. You know, there's not a professional athlete that doesn't have a coach and having those person each person working towards his or her goals, but ultimately it's our students that we are worrying about and that we lose sleep over. Um, and having a support team that can go out. These folks don't evaluate anybody. They don't write anybody's evaluations at the end of the year totally for instructional support. Reading specialists can't do that. They're serving students. So, they don't know what happens in an individual classroom. They can help,
065but they don't necessarily know. Um, and again, you know, like Amanda was talking about with math specialists, it's it's a different world in which we are trying to help these students who've lived through a pandemic that I didn't live through as a student. Um, I think the recovery is possible, but it takes a village and that includes parent involvement as well. um and supporting what is happening in the classroom, whatever that's whatever that looks like, Miss Burggoyne, you know, it it is whether it's reading to your child, um whether it's listening to your child read or whether it's encouraging them with focus and with how can we get better tomorrow. And I I can't it's been my life's work. So, we're going to do what's best for the students that we serve. And that should
066always be at our forefront. It's not what's easy for me. It's not what's easier for these guys. Because let me tell you, they work day and night and weekends just like a teacher does trying to make sure that all of our students are readers and writers. >> Does that help? >> Can I ask one more question? >> Sure. One of the things that you said was that this upper grade teachers were saying they just don't have time. Um, is there anything that we can be doing because one of our jobs is to, you know, connect with people in Richmond and people who make the laws that you always have to live by in the classroom. So, is there anything you maybe you don't have to answer this right now, maybe you email me later, but
067is there anything we can do to to help you in that way? At this point, I think it's helping teachers recognize where the time is and how it can be the best teachers incorporate it throughout the day. You're reading a math word problem. That's a fluency exercise because we're attending to the commas and the punctuation. We're chunking the text. Um, you know, what does partner reading look like in a classroom for students who need it? But the students who don't need it, they should just be reading in the text and have a guide that moves them forward. And we have the data that tells us who in our classrooms are accurate readers. So a teacher doesn't need to read with them except maybe a beloved novel in 15 minutes during a day. Um so that
068we can share that. Thank you team. Appreciate you. Okay. I just have one final I'm sorry to jump back in one more time. Uh, Miss Tate, congratulations on your retirement. Thank you for your service. >> Thank you, Miss Laura. Um, that brings us to our information item letter C, policy revisions by Dr. Larry Shifflet. >> Yes. So, um, Miss Gilson and I have been spending some time, um, working on, uh, some revisions to policy JC, school attendance areas, and JEC-R, admission of non-resident students. And, um, it's red line, so you can see the changes. Uh, I spent a lot of time, especially in the summer, working through some of these this policy and we really wanted to clean it up and make sure that we were consistent in our language and our expectations and um
069just trying to bring a little continuity to what we're what we were doing. So, we took some of the portions out of JCR and added them to JC. So, you can see some of those additions. Uh, but they're for your information. If you have any questions about any of these changes, please uh feel free to reach out to me. I'd like to bring them back at our March meeting for approval so that we can kind of get some of these um pieces in place. We're already getting requests for next year for special attendance. So, we want to be uh we'd like to be, you know, kind of wrap this up and get it ready for next school year. Board members, any immediate questions or would you like time to digest this between now and the
070next meeting? You'll be digesting. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. Board members, the final information items are both um in your folder for your for your review. One of those is the financial review for January of 26 and the finance department staff report. um which please take a look at that. That gives you a couple of things that are um currently being worked on for procurement. That brings a conclusion to information items. Um bringing us right over to superintendent comments. >> Yes. Thank you, Chair Hurst. First, uh last Monday was school board clerk appreciation day. So, I want to publicly thank uh our schoolboard clerk, Caitlyn Gilkerson, and our deputy clerk, Brenda Bule. We went out to lunch last week and celebrated them. Um they Caitlyn does a terrific job uh keeping me organized, which really
071and truly that's a full-time job in and of itself. And then on top of that, she has five board members that she helps to keep organized. [laughter] And she which is Yeah. which is also probably a full-time job. So she she does wonderful work and uh and when she can't be there, Brenda Bule is always willing to step in or help and so I really appreciate them and I just wanted to publicly thank them. U also would like to just for the public and you know because the board is already aware of this but tonight on the personnel listing uh the school board approved for Carrie Keys to return to East Rockingham High School as our athletic director. So he uh was a teacher and a basketball coach at East Rockingham High School for a
072number of years. uh he left in uh last summer to be the athletic director at Central High School in Shannido County and so he is returning returning home. So we're really uh thrilled that he's going to be uh working with uh with us again. Um I've had some conversations with individual board members um just about trying to get a really good pulse on where we are as a school division and also uh within each school. If you recall last spring, uh we asked our principles to do um some u surveys with their faculty and staff and then I asked them to u sort of digest that information, that data, and then sort of think about some areas, you know, for improvement and how they're going to to move forward. And I'm I'm liking to kind
073of expand that a little bit and go a little bit deeper. So, I've been working with Mara Durstein from LDNB Consulting to provide a climate survey and interviews for our school division. This will um be anonymous survey uh so conducted by someone outside of Rockingham County Public Schools. Uh so, all employees will have that opportunity. We'll look at the school division as a whole, but then also what's going to be unique about this is we're going to drill down to each school. So in years past when we did these um I think I can recall two of these uh climate surveys, it was really division perspective and sometimes um you'll find that employees may be okay with what the school board's up to or what I'm doing as superintendent, but maybe they're not doing things
074aren't so well at their school, right? We need to figure out what what's going on and how we can improve. So this is not, you know, trying to u catch anyone. this is about looking to be better. And then there also will she'll she will do some focus groups. We'll we'll select some faculty staff and do some focus groups and then report back to to me over the summer and to the board and and look at where we are and and really we want to frame this in a mindset of growth. How do we become better at what we do? Uh supporting our students and um in that work. So I just want to make the board aware of that. And so, and I'll be communicating with administrators in the coming uh weeks about what
075that looks like and how we'll try to take this on and work through this. And then last, I want to just uh mention that April 21st was scheduled to be a special election day, but I believe it's been temporarily halted. I didn't sorry I didn't read any news reports today so I'm not sure where we are but um but once we know for certain if this date uh for this if this will be the date for the special election if there's another date we will make some adjustments to our calendar so it'll be become a teacher work day or or something because 12 of our schools serve as voting precincts right polling places and so it's really hard on those days when there's a lot of folks you know going to the polls to vote
076and all the traffic in and out of the school buildings. We would prefer just to have school for students not in session that day. So, as we learn more about this special date, um, and Mr. Reid, I'm looking at you. Have you heard any more about Okay. So, it it's on hold. So, we'll we'll keep a pulse on that. If we find out it is a, you know, April the 21st, we may there's a a teacher work day May 1st. I think it's a Friday. We may look at that. Maybe I could talk to someone and they could make the special election on May 1st. I don't know kind of I don't think I had that kind of influence. >> Yeah, I I'm just joking. I So, but I just want to make the the
077the board I just want to make the board aware that it is on our radar. So, if you hear something from folks in the community and maybe by next meeting we'll know something, we'll just bring an adjustment to the school calendar to the board. Just putting it on your radar. Thank you. >> 75 degrees outside. >> Thank you, Dr. Shifflet. Um, that moves us into uh schoolboard highlights, questions, and comments, and we'll begin with Mrs. Lure. >> Awesome. Thank you. Um, first of all, I'm gonna ask if there are any students here. I think there were some earlier and there's one one brave soul. I thought maybe you should get you you come up to us and somebody write her a note for like extra points because I think everybody else left and this is
078like a light meeting. Oh, are you just here for fun? Oh, okay. Okay. Well, still you're you deserve extra credit because these meetings are way shorter than they used to be and I thank uh our chair for that. But um yeah, kudos for you for saying um also we've been the reason I think our meetings are shorter is because we've been having a lot of them and one that we had this week or last this time last week was an MTC meeting executive uh board and this board met in in uh contingency in with um Harrisonenberg school board and we kind of started talking about moving forward with what MTC is going to look like moving forward. And I think we had some really good conversation. I think I want to thank this board publicly
079for working so hard um for that meeting. Uh also we did have some fun in the past two weeks. We had East Rock do Susical the Musical as well as Broadway High School did the Sound of Music and I have to give an extra special shout out to Broadway because I believe their lead got sick at the last last minute. I mean like Thursday morning before opening night, Thursday night and they sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh shifted some people around and really stepped up and did an amazing job. Um, of course, all of our students are super talented and and I wouldn't doubt that they could step up, but just kudos to Broadway
080for stepping up. They did a really great job. And there are five musicals left, I believe. So if you have a chance, get to one. There's one coming up this weekend. Um, or there two. There's one, right? There's one this weekend. Sponsor and high school. What are they doing? Anything goes. Yay. So, we're excited for that. Um, also, and finally, it's happy National FFA week. Thanks to all the FFA chapters who are doing great things. I've already been to a breakfast and I think we've got some awesome goodies here from the FFA chapter. And I want to also huge shout out to Mont Video Middle School and remind you all that I I got to be chaperon for a week or uh adviser for a week because the A teacher here had twins in July.
081So I got to be the A teacher at state convention. And then this woman has got twins at home, babies, and she did this amazing spread for us tonight. A huge huge huge shout out to uh Kristen Horn with uh Mont Video FFA. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Miss Lur, Miss Cave. I don't have anything over to Miss Irons. Um well, I echo comments on the musicals. It's um a great time of year again. So, I encourage everybody to go out and see all those things. Students work really hard. We also have um athletes going to states in the next couple of weeks which is exciting. Um and that sort of makes me want to echo what Larry was talking about, Dr. Shifflet was saying. We talk about growth. Um you know, these
082students that are going to compete are working their hardest to improve their times. They're working to get stronger and faster. And I that is something that should be familiar to all of us as a matter of process. So I want to just clarify that. Thank you. Um, as we uh as we ask questions and I think it's important as you all get to know me and and who I am as a board member when I ask questions just it's it's to gain information. Sometimes people take criticism or questions veiled as criticism you know like oh they're asking a question making a comment but I'm just asking for information. Um, and I hope that um, in Rocky County we have a we have a mindset like these athletes are going to have here shortly, just improving
083constantly, always getting stronger, faster, better at what we do for the benefit of the kids. And so, um, I think we we all feel Thank you for grooming me, [laughter] Sting. Oh, geez. Thank you, Miss Miss Burggoyne. I just want this schoolboard note to that we have to save all our notes. I want this framed for Hillary that says stink bug in her hair. [laughter] Anyways, um I I don't [laughter] >> Oh, I would have lost it if it if it ended up on my forehead. Um Oh my gosh. Anyway, I have been doing a bunch of um chaperoning, a bunch of field trips. Um I went to the JMU orchestra event, which was so cool. Um they played some songs that of course I knew and my kids were like, I don't even know
084who this is. But most of it was pop songs that they loved and everybody was singing and it was amazing. And I love that we um have the opportunity to do so many things with JMU and they were fabulous. I even the lady who I Dr. O, she leads the orchestra. I just like Google her and she is amazing. So, it was it was fantastic. Um and we're I just think we're lucky to have all kinds of different opportunities in our area like that. Um I went to the kids museum, great time as usual. [laughter] Um and then I did I was able to go to the Sound of Music and I always take my daughter because she loves that stuff and she started singing in the middle of the musical and I thought do
085I tell her to be quiet? And she just kept going and she just idolizes these these high school kids on stage and so um I hope that in 10 years that I get to see her on stage but uh it was awesome. Um I was out of town for East Rocks but I get to miss that one. But anyway um yeah it was the sound of music was beautiful. It was amazing. It was long but I expected that from the movie. She will be Oh, she'll be 19. That's right. I'm not that old, Larry. Okay. I'm not that old. All right. Seven years. Oh, God. Anyway. All right. I want to thank Monavideo uh for hosting us tonight and for feeding us. We do appreciate you opening your building for us and being here and
086taking good care of us this evening. Um special special thank you to our clerk um for as Dr. Shifflet said um we are a full-time job and we know it and we do appreciate you. Um I don't have anything further. So with that, thank you all for coming out tonight. Drive safe, stay warm. Um take care. Thank you all for coming. Meeting adjourned.