January 14, 2026 - 10am Special Board Meeting

001Welcome everyone. It is 10:05 a.m. on January 14th, 2026. Welcome to this special meeting of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education uh special meeting um board retreat. Uh first we will take roll then we will go to public comment and then we will get to the presentations proper. So now we're going to take role. Uh Miss Newell >> present. >> Dr. Rivas >> present. >> Mr. Meline >> here. Miss Grigo >> here. >> Miss Gonz >> here. >> Miss Ortiz Franklin. Board President Schmeurlson >> present. >> Okay. Six are here and we're waiting for Miss Ortiz Franklin. We'll go directly into public comment. Public comment is limited to two minutes each and only in person. Um, two of the folks are here. Uh, folks are going to sometimes speak in Spanish. So,

002if this if they're speaking Spanish, please put your hands up so we can get you translation headsets. So, put your hands up now if you would like a translation headset. You can experience simultaneous translation. You're welcome. Okay. Our first speaker today will be Maria Daisy Ortiz. Come on up, Miss Ortiz. You have two minutes to speak once you begin. Gracias. Foreign English language English learners and they are not getting EL and they're not informing the parents that they need to reclassify. It's the way in which you are undermining the parent provided for the dual language programs and not just put them for English language learners because if they're below they need to truly work with parents which is what you don't want to do so that you don't have to work you work for your

003positions and your interests but not for our students because if not we would have excellence in our results. s there is a belief that you are here for being uh of service but it's unacceptable we're under 40% in English and math and let's not even begin talking about science so if you want to progress your best uh shot is with parents but you need to change superintendent please I don't want words I don't want words that only are giving me the runaround. Thank you and have a great day. >> Thank you for your time. And the next speaker is Maria Louis. I don't want to get too Good morning. My name is Maria Louisa Palma. Do you imagine that any parent woke up today and said, "I hope my daughter scores 50 points below passing

004on a math test or closer to the passing test uh compared to other students across the state of California." Does that make any sense? So, excellence, even if it's a stretch goal, is what we need to have here in this strategic plan. high expectations, what and and how it will be measured and outcomes, the results. In today's presentation, you have not a single mention of the local control and accountability plan, the LCAP, and how this plan will integrate or how it has ever integrated with that. We need a deep dive on all of the areas of the LCAP together with the strategic plan because strategic plan does not include the word accountability. That's the essential part of the LCAP. For example, at the December 11th parent advisory committee meeting, the parent advisory committee only exists

005to discuss the LCAP and the local control funding formula funding. Dr. Bayas came to present there. Thank you. But the staff presented hours and hours of parenting advice, instructional strategy, not what you're seeing here today. This is what the parents need to see, these kinds of graphs. There was a presentation on November 13th by the Department of Data, but it showed each each test result on a different graph. We need them all together so the parents can compare the different groups, the different grades, so that they can see how badly low-income students are doing, how badly English learners are doing compared to the other groups. And they need to be asked where to set the future target like you're being asked here today. Not just being given parenting advice. There was discussion of rainbows and

006birds at that meeting to parents. That's absurd. You also need to explain distance from standard. That measurement makes absolutely no sense to the parents. You need to explain the scale ranges by grade. That number of how many points distance from standard is meaningless without that understanding. So please stop focusing on comparison of this the district's results to the state of California averages. Let me ask you, you sports fans, do you does a sports team compare themselves to the loser? Is that really how performance is measured and and structured as a goal? So, please shoot higher. Don't you shoot higher for your own kids? Thank you. >> Thank you for your time. >> Okay, the next speaker is Mr. David Tokovski. Come on up, Mr. Tokowski. You'll have two minutes to speak once you begin. All

007right. Yeah, >> I'm going to move the microphone up for you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, I I'll work on an instinctively two minutes. Uh one I want to thank um John Fullerton for coming back to the school board. He was the uh IAU deputy director and you'll be hearing from him today. Uh particularly I think in the documents that you have here um you know you don't see the research that John has done and it's really interesting research on privatization on uh vouchers on choice and the market of education. uh he's a very thoughtful guy, but the research and funding you need to look into as to what he's doing and uh who contracted, whether it was Mr. Schmurson or the superintendent Sasha or somebody else who did the contracting. Um today's presentation lacks

008any discussion of science as a goal. And so as you revise uh the the the goals, it seems with a superintendent, a science teacher or board members who are science-based that you need to add science. That's very fundamental. You ought to also have some goals uh that are improved on the social emotional the the data that was given to you is really uh horrible. I think it was less than 1% of the uh students were enrolled in the program. So what happened there? Find out what happened in your discussion. So we can improve the social emotional piece and career tech ed which is close to a number of board members priorities and the superintendent and the labor partners. We need to be beyond what we have in in the division of instruction in terms of

009just a few pathways. We need to engage our labor partners from hre to carpenters uh to all the building trades to be part of the instruction and the workforce that is being developed. So, good luck on the priority, the new changes. Do not lower your standards. You've been ambitious. You've hit tremendous goals. You've you've talked about it across the state. The governor brought it out in his state of the state, but to lower any of the standards and change the metrics like we did four years ago is risky. Let's keep up the good high standards and engage parents across this county to come back to this school district and not have the departure of Asian-Americans in large numbers from this this district. >> Thank you for your time, sir. >> Thank you. >> And Miss

010Ken, Miss Ken is going to speak in Spanish. So, if you'd like to hear what she's saying in English as she is speaking in Spanish, please use these translation headsets. Put your hands up if you need one. If you already have one, >> please use it. Okay, >> good morning. My name is Diana. I've been chairperson of the parents in in the district central level and we also have an organization for parents that is the uh school safety parent network and we're very concerned with school safety and the numbers that you will be presenting right now as far as how our kids are are doing academically. Latin families, you're saying you're defending them. Well, defend them with education. We've spoken with the superintendent to tell him about how we're presented LCAP in the pack uh

011committees and it's deplorable. It's we asked that they have better understandable presentations and I'm glad to see that they can be done especially seeing the graph the graphs that you're going to be presented today. This is what we need as parents so that we can understand the programs and understand where our kids are at and what we are going to recommend not just on a district level but also schoolwide level. So the involvement of parents is very low and we have spoken with many of you here on the board many that are active and functioning and we're being ignored thinking that you can do it but you've had a lot of years to do it on your own. And what are the results? [clears throat] Very low standards. You're saying only the privileged are the

012ones that get there, the Asian and white that are up there. But all the money that has been given to these different categories for Latins and African-Americans and special education, where is the academic achievement? Where is that money going? Why is it not working? And that's what you're not analyzing. We have been talking to you about how our families are being affected and we're being ignored. You think that we're only here because we have nothing better to do. We have a lot of work to do in our homes with our families and we want to open your eyes so that we can have at least a minimal connection with our community because our Latin community is suffering and you are discussing the support for us, but we want academic achievement. Thank you. The last speaker

013is Monica Razola, but I do not see her here. And I will now turn it over to Superintendent Caro. >> Do you want Do you want to interpret what he just said? I didn't interpret it. >> Thank you. So the opportunity today is an important day. A number of years back, this board decided the very bold fashion to adopt a number of goals actually for the adoption of the development of the adoption of the ready for the world strategic plan. Those goals because they were strong, they were bold, they were a combination both aspirational but also realizable survived the process uh were maintained as the district schools. Obviously, as is customary for uh strategic plan analysis and development, now is the time as we approach the end of this four-year strategic plan, which would ordinarily

014be relegated to a five-year implementation. But u there was a need to move fast to create greater opportunities to achieve higher levels of achievement to stabilize the social emotional um level of of our students and therefore the promise back then was that five years worth of work would be condensed into four years of practice. Uh have we reached everything we promised we would reach? Absolutely not. And what you will see whether it's in the private sector or public sector, no one ever reaches all of the goals that are designed. If they do, two things happened. Either you diluted the potential, you lowered the standard to ensure upfront that you would reach it, or you faked it. You cheated. We don't do that. That is why those goals were bold. And as bold as they were,

015this district, this district, and it is fair to compare ourselves to the rest of the state, otherwise what would we compare ourselves to? Who, what state would we compare ourselves to? Is it Florida? I think not. Is it Mississippi? I think not. So yes, it is appropriate to compare ourselves to the state of California because all the kids in the state of California are assessed with the same exam. It is the only fair way of comparing ourselves to anyone and they're all assessed around the same time, following the same standards, following the same benchmarks. So we take pride number one in what has been achieved. I don't need to go down the litany of progress this district has made over the past close to four years. In fact, the implementation, the strategic plan, in as

016much as it was a four-year plan, its implementation to this point is barely three years. I need not remind the board, the community about where the performance of our students across all grade levels, all tested subject areas as well as all subgroups were immediately following the pandemic. So, was it risky for the board to adopt goals recognizing how far a distance from the reality then and the goal was? Yes, it was risk, but it was bold and it was courageous. We have an opportunity now to do a number of things. Number one, look back. Look back at where we were. Look at where we are today. The progress we have made towards those district goals. Be honest and re-evaluate the adequacy of our vision statement, our mission statement, the principles and values that guide this

017district. Ask the tough questions. Do they still reflect what we believe in, what we stand by and for? Are the goals still appropriate? What must we change to ensure that the progress we've seen over the past three years is not only continued but is actually accelerated? Taking into account all factors, taking into account our workforce, taking into account the contextual variables that are so deeply impacting the ability to learn in our community right now. on there are so many and affordability, homelessness, poverty, immigration, woes, fears and threats. Taking all that into account, what must we change? How must we pivot? What do we envision for our students for the next four years? In addition to that, I think it is fair to pose a number of questions. If we did not reach goal, why? And

018if we understand the why, how do we overcome those stumbling blocks or those challenges that we encountered? Is it an issue of strategy? Is it an issue of policy? Is it an issue of resource? Is it an issue of implementation? Is it the horse? Is it the jockey? Or is it the race itself? These are the opportunities where collectively board policy makers staff with the voice of community we will hopefully reach a point where ready for the world benefits not only from a deep retroactive examination but an honest proactive analysis of possibility. That is obviously what we hope to accomplish today. if we're lucky enough today, we will get to, and this I believe will happen after lunch, uh really identify targets, maybe even some strategies to achieve the district's goals. And then if we

019are really good, we don't stop at the culmination of the desired outcomes of this incoming strategic plan. We actually dare to dream big about what lies ahead beyond that strategic plan. preparing for not only beyond this year, but by the time this next strategic plan is fully implemented, where will we be? What promise are we delivering for our kids? And what we envision for the future of our district, Mr. President, members of the board and colleagues and members of the community, I recognize fully in a very honest way how far we are from where we need to be. But honesty requires me also to acknowledge how far we've come from where we were. And negating one only observing the other is demoralizing to our children. It is devaluing of the work that our workforce members

020have done. It is not by mystery or destiny. It is by intentional design that we have surpassed for the very first time prepandemic levels that we have surpassed across all subgroups in terms of performance the state subgroup performance that our rate of improvement two years in a row exceeds that of the state in reading and mathematics. So I'm proud of the work we've done. But pride cannot hide opportunity. And now is the time to recalibrate in a very honest way and ground ourselves in what we must do to actually empower our children, our students in a respectful way to our workforce for them to reach their ultimate maximum potential. Thank you very much. And with that said, I'd like to turn it over to our president, Mr. Scotch Mura. >> Yes. Good morning everyone and

021happy new year to all. I just need to tell you I'm so pleased to have this retreat right here in our Bodri building. It means a lot to me. So today's retreat marks the beginning of the development of an updated district strategic plan for 26 to 2030. As board members, our work will be concentrated on revisiting the vic, the mission, core values, and district goals. and they will be the anchor for the rest of the plan. And once we have agreed on these important tenants, Mr. Carvalo and his team will initiate community engagement efforts and begin the important work of drafting the updated strategic plan and developing an operational implemental plan. And to help frame the day, I have asked our own board member, Kelly Gomez, to please provide some history on how we got

022here. She was our board president in 2021 when the board engaged in the development and adaptation of board goals focused on student centered outcomes. And in 2022, the goals were updated and incorporated into the district's 22 to 26 strategic plan as district goals. And I am very, very excited for the day and looking forward to what we can accomplish together. So, Miss Gonz thank you so much, Mr. Schmurson. I'm happy to provide a little bit of history and context on the development of the current district goals which were originally called the board goals. Um so in the spring of 2021 when I was board president for the first time ever the board uh set out to set an ambitious collective vision for the future of our students and our school district and we undertook a

023process to develop and finalize board goals which were focused on important student outcomes which we felt needed to be prioritized over the next five years. Um and I think as super superintendent Carvalo alluded to um they they were very responsive to the needs of that moment. Um in the spring of 2021 we were just beginning the process of reopening our schools in LA Unified following the corona virus pandemic. We knew that student achievement and academics have been extremely detrimentally impacted by the pandemic as well as students social and emotional well-being and that was particularly true for students in our highest needs communities. Um so the board was responding to those really significant needs at that time. Over the course of four months um from March of 2021 to June of 2021, the board met publicly

024with an external facilitator to discuss and deliberate the creation of the goals. Um the goals had to be measurable and we wanted them to be specifically focused on student outcomes. What we wanted students to know and be able to do when they culminated their time with LA Unified. Put another way um you know we were again really focused on what would be true for students if this vision were achieved. Um a difficult piece as one might imagine was narrowing our focus as we all want many things to be true for our students and there are many many areas where we want to see our district improve. Um and I will just note that while some of the goals are focused on one grade level or the other that that didn't mean that we didn't expect

025progress across all grade levels. It was about prioritizing um progress in certain areas for acceleration because we recognize that if you prioritize everything then nothing is a priority. Um and the board ultimately reached consensus. We voted publicly on the four goals um that are now the district goals. Those goals were unshrined and led to the creation of the 2022 strategic plan which includes a lot of strategies and efforts to help our district move forward and achieve these goals. Um and I will also note that they've evolved somewhat over time. we were in a unique moment where we didn't have recent student testing data because of the pandemic. Um we also had a change in leadership. We didn't yet have our our superintendent at that time. So there's been some evolution particularly on the socio emotional

026learning goal. Um but I think it's clear if you look back at the progress over the last several years that the board setting a vision for this district and for our students um has helped lead to incredible efforts at our school sites and the positive results that we see today. Um and with that I will turn it over to Carolyn. >> Good morning. Um I am going to do a very brief um sort of design of the day and then I'll introduce John who will take it from here. Uh Dr. Fullerton, excuse me. So uh I I'd like to reiterate a few things that the superintendent and the the board president and board member Gonz have said. Um, the first thing is is I I don't know how many people of you know this, but

027I did strategic planning with school districts in the private sector for about 25 years. And I can tell you in all honesty that I've never seen an organization in the private sector, government or nonprofit, and I've worked with all of them who has leaned on and implemented a strategic plan the way you all have. And the results show it. I've truly you are a standard that I've I I really mean that I've never seen. And you can see it cascading through the entire organiz. You go to a school, you see it on the walls. The teachers know what it is. They know to talk about it. I've truly never seen that. And I think a lot of that is because of the leadership. And a lot of that is because of the strategic plan. You

028have a good strategic plan. You really do. And that is why we look at this as a revision, not a revamp. This is a revision of the because again, I think you have a good strategic plan. But we have made prog. You have made progress. I can take one year of credit for it, but you all have made progress over the last four years and tremendous progress. So to take a, as the superintendent said, to take a look back and then to look forward is exactly why we're here today. Today we will be revisiting the vision, mission, core values, goals, district goals only, and targets. That is the board's role. The staff will then move to the operation plan, which will be goals that will be subsets of the goals that you set today. So,

029as board member Goness said, you will have a handful of goals today, but that won't be the only goals the district has. Those will be the district goals that will cascade down to drive other goals in all of the departments. So, um, and then the second thing I wanted to say is that we we've heard you loud and clear board members that you all wanted in your retreats less breakout time and more group discussion. So, we've designed that as well. um you do have one breakout because first I think it's you know four and a half hours of this is a lot without any breakouts but secondly and more importantly we have four goals now so after we go through the data of where we've been and where we might be going you will have

030breakout groups with the experts at each table to revisit each of those and then if you add a goal today we can also help facilitate that in the breakout groups so what we'll do first is when I hand it over to John you'll revisit the core beliefs keep saying core values but core beliefs vision and mission you all fill lot of survey board members. So, thank you for that. What the survey showed and John will go through that is that there weren't a lot of changes. There were a few recommendations of um a few of you asked to discuss it more before you had an opinion. So, we have incorporated that feedback into this already. So, you can see what we heard and it was all anonymous. So, we don't know who said what, but

031you will see what was said about those three things. Um and then Bill Johnston will get up and show where we've been. You've seen some of these slides. Those are the slides from the last retreat um where it shows from 2022 I believe to this current year where we've been in each of these goals and then we will then talk about revising those goals. A couple of things I want to say about that just in my experience and board member Morgones touched on it. You have four goals now. Um we're going to talk about do you want to add a goal? Do you like the four goals? Do you want to change the grade fac, you know, the grade makeup, however, and that's up to you because you are the anchor for the rest of

032the strategic plan. And it's up to you. I would recommend that you don't have, and I've done this with all of my clients before, you don't have more than five goals. It becomes too at the district level. Again, you will have many under that. But what happens, it becomes unmanageable, number one, but even more importantly, the community sort of loses it. They kind of lose. It's not pathy anymore, and they kind of lose what our northstar is. Um the second thing I would say is when you get to the targets which we will start after lunch that's where you want to be in 2030 uh what I would advise there is that you've heard of smart goals I'm sure I always felt that was too many in an acronym so I do ABC goals which

033is attainable bold as a superintendent mentioned and calculable so you want them to be able to be attained you want them to be bold but you also want them to be measured you want them to be more outcome than output specifically at the district level but Dr. Furton knows that as well as anyone in this room. And then the very last piece will be to prepare for so the staff will take what happens today and will develop um activities and action steps around it. I also know that the board members have specific actions that you all believe would help us to achieve these goals. Even though that's a staff and kind of getting to the operations plan, we do want to hear from you about what you hear, what you see. So that's what that

034last part will be. And the discussion will not end today. also want to stress that as well. Um, Mr. Schmurson and I will facilitate at the very end of the day of where the board wants to go from here depending on how far we get. So, I'm hoping we get far and we'll we'll go from there, but know that it doesn't have to end today. Um, and so now I'd like to introduce Dr. John Fullerton. He has a we have looked long and hard for him. It took us a long time to find him. um and ends up he's worked for LA USD so we should have started here and then branched out instead of out and then inward so currently he is uh the executive director of the education policy hub at USC uh

035before that he worked similar at Harvard education policy hub of research right they threw in research in both situations um what he does and I'm oversimplifying this but he helps districts and policy makers and this board will love this is use data to affect change. So use data for student outcomes, use data for determining their budgets. So all of his work and research has been around data and that this board is very in the superintendent leadership is very anchored in data. So that was one of the pieces that we um that really drew us to him. He's done this with countless organizations. Um and he also before that worked in um was the Andrew of LUSD. So he worked in the independent analysis unit. It was a bit different then you focused I believe um

036Dr. Fullerton on uh research and data right finance research and finance it was broken out a little bit differently but he worked for the school system and then he he has his PhD from Harvard and he um worked in the private sector before that so thank you for for your time today and staff is here again to answer questions as we move through this but I will hand it over to Dr. Great. >> Oh, I think I have one more thing real quickly on the slide on the timing. This will be quick. >> Yep. >> Maybe this is the timeline very quickly. This is where we are today. In February and March, we will do a massive um community engagement with in our one-on- ones or two ones. We explain that to you also. We'll

037start that in the spring and again combine that with the community engagement for the landscape analysis so we're not going out there and you know the same people over and over. Then we in the spring we'll start drafting it and refining it and creating our operations plans around what happens with uh the board's decisions today and onward. Then we will bring to the board in June. This will be the first time that we bring the strategic plan, the LCAP and the budget and they will all be linked um so that it's one instead of peace meal into different documents and then we'll start prepping for the launch and then launch it at the beginning of uh 26. >> Okay. Okay. Uh well, it's a a pleasure to be here and a pleasure to uh work

038with you all and a pleasure to be back at LA USD. Um uh where again I sort of had uh uh really respected and and enjoyed my my my time here when I was when I was here 20 years ago. Um but uh today we're going to work together. the board and the superintendent are going to work together as a team to think about where you want LA USD to be ultimately and where you want it to be in 2030. Um from that as Carol and others have said sort of the staff will go off and create a strategic plan using input and sort of knowledge from you all but also from the community and sort of a wider set of um of uh participants. Um and basically I think of it today is like

039where are we going and then the strategic plan is how do we plan to get there. So this is really choosing where is it you want you want to be. Um uh and today our goal is to come to as much consensus as possible around goals and targets. Uh and there may be some things that we don't fully uh uh get to but um but the but the more we can we can move forward the better better off we'll be um going uh forward. Um as noted before we really constructed today to have um you all uh work together as a board sort of sitting and sort of talking with each other not breaking out uh uh constantly. Um so uh so I do encourage you to uh do that and sort of and talk

040with one another uh sort of I will help traffic uh uh plan traffic but sort of if you don't necessarily you know if if if nobody's talking please uh please jump in. Um and uh uh and we'll spend the majority of our time around this around this uh circle here. Uh that said, time is short today. Uh and some issues may need a little bit further discussion. Uh and I will um timekeep and uh move us on if we're sort of if it doesn't look like we can sort of get through today and sort of say this is something we'll have to come we'll come back to. Um and then also I have uh put up uh one of a a parking lot here. So if there are other things that come up that are

041not directly related to this discussion or that sort but you want to make sure that uh staff and and and or the board comes back to we'll capture that here. Also behind uh me I should introduce Tiffany Woo is my colleague uh at uh the USC Ed Policy Hub. Um she's uh um uh and she's taking uh careful notes as well. Um and so that's the that's the intro. Any questions before we sort of jump in? We're going to start with uh beliefs and vision and mission. All right, seeing none. Uh so, so we're going to uh review the uh the the beliefs and vision and mission. And the question you should be asking yourself is these do these statements still reflect the community's aspirations and do you have edits or sort of are there

042other edits you have? And there was a survey that went out um and there was some edits that came back and so we've tried to capture those uh in the slides that come up and we'll talk about and ask if you made the edit um since we don't know who uh who made which uh who made which suggestion please do speak up and sort of explain any uh reasoning behind that uh and then we can sort of move on and sort of do people like the edits or uh or not. Um and so we start with the core beliefs uh of equity, collaboration and excellence. Uh and um the first uh core belief is equity. Uh and um I will let you read that um that uh we we believe we must unapologically call out

043and close the persistent opportunity gaps. Uh and then more detail. There were some suggestions on this. Uh so one is um uh we should be uh we should be clear that we have the responsibility and ability to make systemic changes that bring us closer to equity. Uh two is um is there a way to call out how we will close the gaps. Um and then we have uh a couple sort of more word edits for u replacing Latine with for Latinx. And then also it should it should say we uh we must right now it says we must disrupt the generational systemic manifestation of discrimination should say we must can and will uh do that. So these are suggestions uh folks who made them please feel free to sort of say why uh and then

044uh and then would love to hear from the board members themselves about sort of what you think are whether these seem right or not. >> I did Um, I made the suggestion for Latina because um, it sounds like Spanish. It's hard to say Latinx in Spanish and so that's the reason why and it is one that is uh, being embraced right now versus Latinx which um, came from academia, not necessarily from the ground. So that was my suggestion. It's really the inspirational morning and I'm excited for the creative thinking today. I offered the other edits um because they uh felt like an opportunity for us to uh step into our role and our responsibility in uh doing the work. Um and so it's a it's a small edit. This can and will. Um but my

045hope is that it feels more like shared responsibility as opposed to calling someone else out um calling us in. Any other any other thoughts on this? >> And how do uh so how do the other board members feel about these proposed edits? Agreed. Thumbs up. Thumbs up. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> Yeah. I just want to say thank you for that. I think um we have the statement definitely has to be something that we're committed to and it's active, right? Rather than just this is what we aspire to, but this is what we will do and this is what we're doing. It's more intentional, right? in equity and you know on all of our meetings and conversations equity is always at the forefront of everything that um um that we ask the district to

046do and investments and resources. So I think um although I did not I totally agree uh with um you know we can and will disrupt the generational system because this is what education is about. So I yeah so being more sort of committed and dedicated and more active. So appreciate that. >> Great. Okay. Um, next core belief is collaboration. Uh, we believe we exist to serve the students and families of Los Angeles Unified and we acknowledge the many voices who have a vested interest in the success of Los Angeles Unified. Um, our decisions, policies, and programs are designed with learners at the center. All actions are informed by listening and learning from the community through open dialogue to create authentic partnership opportunities so that our entire extended community may contribute towards student success. Um well

047uh so there there were two comments on this and I I want to say one of them was not captured in the slide so I'll show that in just a second but sort of the first comment was when we say we want to acknowledge the many voices who are the voices what communities being referenced is it parents labor partners advocates education nonprofits is important to specify at least our labor partners in the statement as one and then two. How about that? Um there was a suggestion to sort of uh to to replace some of the latter sentences here with with with the following that that that was uh thought to be a little bit more clear, which is by actively seeking, valuing, and making decisions with the diverse voices of our communities, we build stronger

048relationships or partnerships that better support our students at school, home, and the world. And again, I ask board members who maybe made the suggestion some thoughts and Yep. >> Yes. Uh, within our own district, there are many different communities within our own district. And I think it's very very important that community reps are at schools to represent the parents and the students at that specific school to make sure that they're getting everything that they need and helping the parents to achieve that goal. >> I hear you, Scott. And I wouldn't be opposed to adding specific partners. we often say staff, families, students to to explicitly call out who our various stakeholders are. Um I offered the second one. Um I included the or partnerships in parenthesis because that's the language that's currently included. Um but

049similar to my first comment instead of saying all actions are informed by which feels passive. Um I was trying to say like we do the action, we build the relationships. Um and the way we do that is the the first uh clause of that sentence. So, it's an offering >> and I was the one who made the um the voices. It it just seemed so vague, you know, voices. There's so many voices. There's voices to, you know, really undermine our district and undermine our communities. So, what voices are we referring to here? Um if anything, and the the reason I me I mentioned labor partners or our employees, we want to listen. to hear the voices of those who are inside of our schools or who are really entrenched in our community. So, I just

050felt it was a little vague. There's so many voices. Yes. And of course, there's so many um or entities um that really want to be able to collaborate. We have community based organizations. We have nonprofits. Uh we have our you know, I mentioned our labor partners. So, it just I just felt like that it's like voices just seems so abstract. So what if we did something like voices including parents, labor partners, advocates? >> Yeah, profits, you know. >> Yeah. Just name who those are, right? The ones that we value the most and that we collaborate with, >> right? >> I I I like being concise. So I I think Tanya's suggestion or board member Ortiz Franklin's suggestion is a good one. Um, and I think that there's a way to to name I usually say

051students, staff, and families because I think it encompasses kind of it doesn't encompass advocates per se, but I I think it those are the most important stakeholders in my opinion. Um, so I think if you included that somewhere, um, then then you're both being more specific to Dr. Rivas's point, but we're uh maybe losing some of the extraneous words that are in the original version. Other thoughts? >> Just wanted some clarification. If we were moving, were we adding by actively seeking where were we omitting or putting in or adding in where voices is or >> so it would be um so right now the proposal would be from all actions down we replace >> by actively seeking >> got it >> the voices of our communities. And then I just put after communities, students, staff,

052and families. >> Got it. >> You said you're keeping communities, right? >> In the in that in uh Tanya's version. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. I mean I I think that that um that is a statement more than a value if that makes sense. Like that is a declarative like by doing this we as opposed to that's what we strive to do. I mean I think that the the way it's currently written the all actions are informed. It creates a bit more agency like just like the word acknowledge doesn't suggest acknowledge and value are different. Acknowledge is like we hear we know there are voices out there. Um and so I think that on um I mean I I don't know if there's a way to like maybe instead of by actively seeking

053like we actively seek value and make decisions. Okay. >> All right. How does the board feel? All right. Great. On to excellence. We believe uh the communities served by Los Angeles Unifi deserve the most exemplary education that prepares all students to achieve post-secary excellence for our community. We must deliver schools and an entire system that meets the promise of all of our unique students. Um the main comment we got on this uh was uh for excellence. We need to specify that excellence extends to the students active entire education trajectory from early education through post-secary and adult education as many of our students um continue their education journey in uh in uh DAC >> great um yeah I mean I guess that what what you just read or what I wrote is you know yes I

054I just felt that it was just stressing of postsecary which yes it is a goal right the ultimate And we want to have excellence but I think it's the entire trajectory right excellence in our been making so many investments in early education and expanding that right excellence there and in elementary and all the way through high school and now you know we're expanding our access for um the division of of adult and career education. So I think it's the entire trajectory. So that's all I just felt that that needed to say prepares students to achieve um excellence throughout their educational trajectory in LUSD from TK to adult ed. something that also acknowledges all of the work throughout um the district educational services >> throughout educational trajectory from preK to post secondary So the so the

055proposed uh revision would be prepares all students to achieve excellence throughout their educational their educational trajectory from prek to postsecary. I appreciate that. I guess my my comment on this one didn't make it in. Um I have a a challenge with the word deliver schools. Um and this comes up a little bit in the next slide around like this idea of providing or delivering that like we are those on high giving to those who need. Um and so I don't quite have the solution for it but it made me think about you know the lighting of a fire versus a filling of a bucket. Um, so can we envision like co-constructing or cultivating or something that is a bit more like shared activity between um, you know, the profession the professionals in the building and

056the communities we you know serve. Um, so I don't I just I struggle with the word deliver and I didn't know if anybody had a different word than deliver support create [laughter] >> well I think if we want to continue with um centuring uh working with community and in inclusivity then I would say co-create um or co-build um schools. So if that is what we want, that's what we want to is that one of our core values to always be inclusive of community in making decisions in informing our decisions then I would say co-create. >> I I guess I was just you could also say like with our community we must create and and not I have nothing against create but it's a little less wonky I think. >> Yeah. You said with our community

057we must deliberate >> for with And then just on the prior edit I to be slightly more expansive because some of the early childhood programs are not necessarily pre preschool per p. So I would just say early early childhood education to because we serve uh if you didn't know we serve 12-week old babies so we want to include them too. >> Okay. So the new thing would run, we believe the community served by Los Angeles Unified deserve the most exemplary education that prepares all students to achieve uh all students no education to achieve excellence throughout their educational trajectory from early childhood to postsecary with our community. We must deliver schools and an entire system that meets the promise of our unique students. Yeah, >> I think I left it delivered, but it could be create

058or like the width changes the width, but it could be create or build. >> But I think we should go with create. >> Great. >> Okay. So then the second sentence was with our community we will create. We must create schools and an entire system that meets the promise of all our our unique students. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Board thumbs up. All right. Okay. Mission statement. Current mission. Mission statement is realizing excellence for all students by providing the unique, rigorous and culturally relevant education that each and every student deserves. There was a recommended edit that LUSD sort of moving away from slightly pacifist construction but that LUD aims to ensure all students achieve academic success and social emotional competence or strengths with a unique, rigorous and culturally relevant education. that I think that each and every

059student deserves. >> Yeah. I'll jump in. Um I I appreciate the uh the calling the reframing to make it more active and the inclusion of social the social emotional components. I don't know if competence is the word that I would use. excite me. I think strengths or like well-being as well is something that I I I think is important. Um, and I didn't submit this edit because I didn't have time to, but I would suggest that the word joyful be included in the unique, rigorous, culturally relevant because I think that joy is is an important thing to aim for for our for our students. >> Okay. So this would then would then read, LD aims to ensure all students achieve academic success and social emotional well-being with a unique with a joyful, unique, rigorous, and

060culturally relevant education. >> I'd put it somewhere else, but that's fine. [laughter] >> We can I like the current version's breath a bit more because I think we want students to be also be creative and happy and good citizens and good people, not just have success academically and social emotionally. I mean, I guess you can you could shoehorn a lot of those other things in a social emotional framework, but um it's more about, you know, if we're if we're going to get down that path, I think we want to maybe be more prescriptive around we also want students to, you know, be good citizens and good people and thoughtful and contribute to society. Whereas like the realizing excellence despite kind of the weird syntax is just broad that it covers that. like we want them

061to realize excellence, you know, kind of whatever that means by doing these things and having joy. So I just I guess my concern with the the recommended edit is just we're then focusing on academic and social emotional when there it's kind of missing the good citizen, the good people, the Yeah, I mean I guess if that's that's what I mean about we potentially being able to shoehorn it in there. But um if that's our understanding of what social emotional competence is than all that, then I I think it works. But um I think we ju just to me it was a little too specific around not getting at just like good good people contributing citizens etc. So I don't know how other folks feel but but maybe your answer is that it's just that's part

062of the social emotional >> I I was going to add holistic in a way so that it could be inclusive of joy of the art of the civic. We want children who come out whole beings right out of our schools who have these experiences that create folks who are interested in engaging society in many different ways. So I want to add the word holistic and I also want to add the word experience like educational experience or academic experience. Yeah. Because experience is everything that you encounter in school, right? It's not just the doing of academics, but it's also how you feel, how you feel welcome, how you feel like you belong. And all of those lead to academic success and social well-being, social emotional wellbeing. >> Yeah. Um, I was [clears throat] going to say

063with a unique um, instead of add a holistic unique I I'm struggling with the word unique because it's it's so broad and vague, but with a holistic um, education, >> the holistic rigorous and culturally relevant education. >> Yeah. educa. Yeah. Okay. >> I mean, I'm okay with you leaving unique as long as you add holistic with a holistic, unique, rigorous, and culturally relevant education. >> Okay. So, >> um or take out unique and put holistic So yeah. So let me so let me So So we're saying with a holistic, rigorous, joyful and culturally relevant education. Okay. All right. So the new statement would read, "LUSD aims to ensure all students achieve academic academic success and social emotional competence well-being um with a unique with a unique relevant no with a holistic, rigorous um joyful and

064culturally relevant education. Yes. But when you say unique, that means you're meeting the individual needs of that special that student. >> So I I don't know if I want to drop unique. >> You know what I mean? >> Yeah. >> Speaking to him or her. Yeah. Mhm. >> Okay. So with fine. So, unique, holistic, rigorous, joyful, and culturally relevant education. Okay. All right. So, board, how do we feel? I don't know that we answered Nick's question quite well, but and I'll just say I I pulled out academic and social emotional because it aligns with our board goals and that this whole process is about student outcomes. And I felt that it was a really important um opportunity for us in our mission to call out the two things that I think we best well the

065two things that I think we're working towards which is academics and social emotional. And so like while excellence is a big umbrella um for a school district's mission I think academic like needs to be in that mission. I think education was in it originally and and continues to be. Um but um I was trying to be clear that like if a kid goes, you know, TK through 12 in LA Unified and is excellent in blank, it should be academics and social emotional. >> Well, I guess I guess so. John, can you read what's the current edit? >> Read the the new edit. >> Well, what what we've the flow >> the or whatever we just coalesed around. >> Yeah. So that'd be Luc aims to ensure all students achieve academic success and social emotional competence

066well-being. Thank you. [laughter] With a unique, holistic, rigorous, joyful, and culturally relevant. >> Maybe my suggestion is that we add at the end that prepares them to be thoughtful contributors to the world, active contri. That prepares them to be active contributors. Active and engaged contributors. >> Yeah. Yes. I was about to say that the vision statement does mention ready for the world and career and college readiness. So maybe we can toggle back and forth a little bit. >> Yeah. And so the the vision statement uh was Los Angeles Unified will be the premier public school district by eliminating educational inequities to graduate all students ready for the world to thrive in college, career and life. Um the recommended revision was Los Angeles uni unified will eliminate educational inequities to graduate all students ready for the

067world to thrive in college, career and life. So, taking out the premier public school district >> and sorry and maybe this is uh this was mine. Um the premier district I think is appealing to employees. I think it's less relevant for families. Um I'm not sure how my colleagues feel about that. But that was why I was thinking like let's just talk about what our vision is for those we serve. Um and we think about our students and families as who we serve. And um we hope we'll be a premier district, but I don't know that that is like our vision. And I know like it can be in a lot of ways, but I think it's more employee oriented than it is family oriented. But I could be wrong. So just an an idea

068to throw out there. >> Yeah, I agree with you. I also struggle with the premier public. I mean I think we are that already. um is I think in in connection with all of the goals in the mission um connecting that it's we're talk everything is aiming to students and I think this one was like the district is like no it should be focused on the students so I do agree with you know eliminating so I struggled with it but I wasn't sure exactly but yeah I agree with you I think this the vision alongside this the the mission and the the goals should be all connected to the students to you know what we want. So yeah, so I think I agree with eliminating that um or striking that out. >> Any other thoughts

069on the vision? >> Does that get to what you were talking about, Nick? >> Yeah, I guess. Sorry. Did you say what was the rationale for eliminating the premier public school district? Well, that was that was the the rationale stated was >> it feels more employee oriented than family oriented or student oriented even >> and and it's also focusing on the district in and of itself rather than what the district's already doing towards our for our students. >> Yeah, I guess I mean I forget the conversations we had when we were dealing with this originally. I think to some extent that this should tie back to the excellence and that's where maybe and I know as always you have the mission and vision conflated. I think that like we need to do more like eliminate

070educational inequities is a big driver of this board and district especially given our demographics but we have to do a lot more to graduate all students ready. So I it's it's just to me it's like is that where this belongs as opposed to um like I mean I can see a vision that's just Los Angeles unified we'll graduate all students ready for the world to thrive in college career and life like that is our vision. [clears throat] Yeah >> I like that actually better >> and then our you know and then you get to the strategy like in order to get there you have to eliminate educational goodies those go to our core values >> but to me like that's just a clean like that is our vision. Well, it's funny you said you don't

071remember the original conversation. This is the original conversation. The board has not talked about the mission or vision. We did the goals, right? But we didn't do this part of it. >> So that so that revision, just let me let me make sure I've got the revision is that Los Angeles Unified Los Angeles Unified will graduate all students ready for the world to thrive in college, career, and life. Yeah. >> Yeah. All right. So, we have to go back one. Uh, but we're getting close. So, back to the uh mission statement. Uh, and so here we have Los Angeles aims to ensure all students achieve academic success and social emotional well-being [laughter] with a unique, holistic, rigorous, joyful, and culturally relevant education. So as a reminder and I think the board knows this, the vision

072is the where the north star where you're going and the mission is the very high level sentence about the how to do it. >> So kind of to your point about the academics and the social motion. >> Yeah. here. Oh, what about um realizing excellence for all students through a unique, rigorous, culturally relevant education that supports academic success and social emotional well-being. >> Right. Okay. thoughts. >> Well, instead of supports, you can say nurture supports or nurture. >> And then here we go. The unique unique um holistic, rigorous, joyful, and culturally. >> Do agree with the social emotional. I want that to stay in there. I like would like it to say that. >> I appreciate that. And I think I was hearing like this the aims to makes it sound like a vision statement.

073So maybe we just cross out aims too and like what we do is we ensure the academic and social emotional that's the how. So we got to cross out the Ames too, right? So LUD ensures uh excellence for all students by providing the unique holistic rigorous joyful and culturally relevant education that each and every student deserves. Um that supports academic success and social emotional well-being. We are taking We have about four people taking notes. So I think we're covered. >> Yes. Let me work with Eric on that. I guess I guess maybe the the way to do it is like do people feel like what we just hit on is the right approach. We can put it together. Right. So, uh, so yeah, I think then it's time to move to the next. Yep. So

074first we are on time which is uh exciting. >> Thank you John. Thank you everybody. Good morning. Um, so just to just to again reiterate what we're going to do right now is we're going to put together a summary slide with where things stand on the core beliefs and the mission and vision so that we can recirculate that. I'm going to uh while that's happening, I'm going to move on to the next section which we are right on time. So good job so far everyone. um uh for a part that is perhaps the the least amount of new information uh for everybody, which is just a quick recap of where we stand with our district's progress on the on the goals as we have them currently expressed in the current strategic plan. This is information

075that you saw in April at the prior board retreat, but now it's with one more year of data because obviously in April we were just in the middle of testing for the 2425 school year. Um so the 2425 data is now in these slides um which you also have seen this data um when we presented to the board in June and again in October as the data came out. So this is really it's about our smarter balance data and then um Dr. Bayz uh will talk a little bit about our social and emotional um progress on those goals as well. And so here is a a recap of the of the strategic plan district goals as currently expressed. We're going to go through literacy, numeracy, our post-secondary goal, and then social emotional wellness, which has

076uh two components for starting with literacy. And again, the overall goal um between 2022 and 2026 was to move our third grade students 30 points closer to proficiency um on the Smarter Balance assessment. So again, that and this is on that distance from standard scale, right? So we want to move, you know, if you're at a distance from standard of zero, what that means is that on average, the students in question are performing at the at the threshold to to reach the meets um meets standard level in the Smarter Balance assessment. So if you have a positive DFS, that means on average you're performing above that threshold. If you have a negative DFS, you're performing on average below that threshold. And so whether you're below or above, the goal is to move get 30 points

077further along that scale. And so here we are again. This is third grade over time. And so we have our baseline from our current strategic plan on the far left uh for the 21-22 school year. Um and at that time our distance from standard on average for third graders was -32.9. And so with that logic, if you go all the way to the far right of the graph, you see -2.9. That's that 30 points I'm talking about. So our goal is to get from - 32.9 to 2 -2.9. And that's the 30 points. And so that's where we have been shooting since 2122. And then as you see our last year of data that we have in hand now is from the 2425 school year. We are at -17.6 distance from standards. So we have

078moved up. Um but that leaves us with about 15 points more movement to go to reach the goal for you know for the assessments we would do this fall. We also include here um a reference line of the state average for third graders. Um and you can see um you know that we have really closed the gap to statewide third graders compared to our third graders. Here is um this information um broken out by student group and the and the the bottom bracketed section. Those are the student groups that are called out in the strategic plan for improvement as well. We also include Asian and white students since they are obviously an important part of our student body for this graph. And we also present this information here with a slightly different definition of our

079English learner population. The the as written in the strategic plan. Currently English learners are included. And remember those are students who are considered English learners on the day they take the test. And so we also are now make um doing our best to report English learners along with reclassified English learners since they are you know since these results are reflective of their journey as English learners. still now even though they are they may have since reclassified and they're not an English learner on the day of their test. So here you see a group called ever eel which is how the state defines that group as a student who was ever an English learner during their time in their K12 journey. And here are results broken out by school model. Um so a range of school

080models that we have looked at. We also include the district average in black and the state average in gray. Those are the same those are actually the same data points from that original slide, but the the scale is scrunched a little bit to account for all the different school groups that we have. And you see priority schools um all school groups are improving in terms of their performance on on third grade ELA. Um over the past year, there has been, you know, but there is still nonetheless real g real differences across uh school models here. And then if you're curious about schools themselves and how are schools doing on our district goals, not just the single district average, this is an important way to look at it for schools. And so you see at the

081bottom we have 143 schools in LA Unified um that serve third graders. I'm sorry, not no um that's wrong. That's those are the 143 schools in the bottom left that serve third graders that have not made progress since 2122. So, their average DFS is either the same as or worse than they were doing back in 21-22. We do see 71% of our schools that serve third graders have made some form of progress since 2122. Um, with around 25% of our schools showing 11 points or more closer to standard on third grade. Nonetheless, this is reflected that there is some variation in how our schools are doing on this goal beyond just the district average. Okay, moving forward to math. And again, on math, we break this out by third through fifth grade as a group

082and sixth through 8th. So, we're going to start with third through fifth. And here you see third through fifth. And this this goal was to move 40 points closer to standard. So, you see on the far left, our baseline number was - 44.6, six which means on the far right our goal is 40 points above that. So -4.6 is is the has been the target since since 2122. We are now at negative 22.9. So we have we have made um since 2122 over 20 points of progress moving moving 20 points closer to standard for our elementary grade students in math which still leaves us around 18 points uh closer to standard we would need to get on average for this group in this current year. um we have surpassed the statewide average for the similar

083group of students. Whereas we were over 10 points behind the state, we are now above the state in this group. Here's the progress for all of our different student groups. Definitely making every student group here is making progress. English learners um again in this group are defined as students who were English learners on the day they took the test. And then we have the same information here but with the ever eel definition of English learners that we may want to consider results broken out by school model. Again showing all school models along with the district average are are seeing progress. And then when we look at at it at the school level what percentage of our schools are making progress. 87% of our schools that serve these grades have had some progress since 2122 on

084their math performance with 29% being above 11 points. Moving quickly to sixth through 8th grade, we have not surpassed the state average in this grade span yet, but we have certainly closed the gap precipitously. We were 21 points behind the state at baseline here and we are now just seven points behind the statewide average for middle school grades in math. And again, this goal is to go 40 points closer to standard. So 81.1 at baseline. And so that means the goal is -41. So 41 points below standard is has been the target. We um we still have about 15 points to go on that current goal. Nonetheless, we see cons, you know, not only the district average, but when we look at student groups, we see improvement across all student groups. We see improvement across

085all school models here as well. Um, affiliated charters consistently are standing at the as the highest performing group across our school models um but not necessarily the fastest growing. We see a lot of growth among a all school models, particularly our priority schools that that do see the highest rate of year-over-year growth um in these metrics. And then 81% of our schools have shown progress in this metric with 19% showing no or or or negative progress on on middle grades math. And then uh the last one for me, our post-secary goal. And again, the post-secary goal here is is the the metric of the percentage of our of our students in our graduating cohort who um are graduating having met all of their UCCCSU A to G requirements with a C or better. So essentially

086our students graduating ready for UCCcsu um enrollment. Our goal is to get to 70%. And that was based on a baseline of we were at 50.5% for [clears throat] this goal. We've been actually above the state average uh since baseline uh with that gap growing um in the current year. So we moved up eight points on this, but that still leaves us at 11.6 points to go to get that goal this year for UCCCSU. Not much to to labor on here. Similar pattern again. There are persistent uh gaps across some student groups, but all student groups are improving year-over-year and all school models are seeing improvement in this year-over-year as well. Um and I will hand it over to Dr. Bias to speak about the social emotional wellness school. >> Thank you, Dr. Johnston. All

087right, good morning everybody. It's good to be with all of you here to participate in just looking at our data. I want to talk about social emotional learning by reviewing the social emotional learning goals. Uh if you recall in 20 by 2026, 50% of our teachers in these particular grades will support students in the creation of a portfolio. Now in our district in the 2425 school year, we had approximately rounding up 14,000 teachers in these grade levels. So the goal was for to have 7,000 teachers using these portfolios. Uh and also by this year of the students who complete those portfolios, students should reach a meets or exceeds uh by 40%. So 40% of those students who are using those portfolio rubrics should be at meets in terms of their social emotional learning competencies. So

088if we take a look at the progress, the goal here is on the left and the progress is on the right. So at this point we are at uh in 2425 we were at 137 teachers out of the 14,594 in these grade levels uh that supported students in the creation and uploading of these artifacts. Now why these grade levels? These grade levels are aligned to the graduate student profiles. This is where we wanted to see and empower students uh to have those executive functions and those social emotional competencies to continue and persist in their learning. Uh and when those students completed those portfolios, we did see that we exceeded that 40% target. And so when students did complete those portfolio rubrics, teachers scored them and uh when we looked at the data, 50% of them

089are meeting the proficiency rates in the social emotional learning competencies. What we also know is in the school experience surveys, teachers were asked about their instruction of social emotional learning. And so what they reported was that 90% of the schools are providing cell tier one instruction. So while instruction is occurring, we're seeing that the rate in which portfolio rubrics are completed is lower than the rate in which instruction is occurring. And over 80% of our schools are integrating cell instruction by implementing any one or more of these different types of activities. Now you're going to see that a lot of them have to do with reflecting on behavior, reflecting on the competencies like self-awareness, persistence. All of these help students with their growth mindset and those reflections help with critical thinking. You all mentioned that

090rigor is part of our vision and our mission for our district. And that's what we've been doing with ensuring that there's cognitively demanding tasks in the classroom and language arts and math. When we're integrating cell instruction, that means that it's not a standalone. It means we're integrating that in the math lesson. So, for example, in math, we have problem based or project-based learning. Teacher may begin by first, you know, preheating the oven and and just kind of checking with students to seeing what their growth mindset is looking like before the task. And then once the task is completed and they've worked with their partners, they went through the productive struggle, they reflect on their thinking. that is part of providing that challenging task is that reflection, critical thinking, metacognition and so many of these are

091related to that. Peer-to-peer mentoring is a program that we've been implementing in our schools that has also uh leverage a lot of those cell competencies and also accessing multiple cell family and supports uh during our parentmies. So, we've also accelerated the amount of professional development. So, you're going to see there's two things happening in this pres in these uh in this update in the progress. While the portfolios are not where they need to be, the instruction is because that is what teachers are sharing. Now, however, we want al also want to share that at this time, we have about 3,500 teachers who are participating in these portfolio institute trainings. 82% are trained in reporting uh current or planned increased and sell uh instruction as a result of the district goal. However, 2.4% 4% of the

092targeted grades, that means the ones that we've identified from the graduate student profile, have been using the cell portfolio. When they've been graded, at this point, 70% of the students are meeting cell competencies. So, we're also seeing that the more we're engaging in the cell instruction and the more students are reflecting on cell, we're finding that they're higher in meeting the cell competencies. Now, a problem of practice that we want to share with you is that teachers have reported when there has been professional development by our providers or in professional development that we've uh uh provided, teachers have noted that they're not quite sure when the confidence level is not as high as to when to incorporate cell into the instructional day. They've also noted that while we did create efficiencies by moving away from

093a paper portfolio or a folder, it's in the learning management system. It's in the schooly for the students. It's digital. So that has made things more efficient. However, it still feels a little cumbersome for them. So those are the two things that teachers have noted and have explained to us as to why there'd be that that less you know that why the decreased number of uh portfolios in comparison to uh instruction that's occurring in the classroom. So that said that is the update on our cell um uh social emotional learning goal. Now I'm going to pass it back over to Dr. Fullerton. Thank you. >> Please do. >> Um I really appreciate that. I just wanted to share for the board colleagues who weren't here that and I just sent around the email and as

094much great work as the team has done on that actually wasn't the goal that the board adopted originally because all of our goals were about student outcomes and so I I mentioned this in our briefing when just a few of us were there but I do think it's really important that we come back to the original language um because it's student outcome oriented right so this is process and adultoriented which would get us to the student outcome but just to bring it back as we we come to this at some point it was about those transition years and students demonstrating mastery in the social emotional competencies as reflected in this rubric. So when we get to that part, I just want to let you all know it's not that we voted on like a separate

095goal that was all adult oriented or like processoriented, not student outcome oriented because it really was originally. So yeah. >> Okay. Um so now we're going to talk about uh the district goals and there's two things we want to do in the next uh 354 minutes is one is uh do we do you have the right goals? so they reflect what you think are the most important student outcomes that they should. One, and then two is talk or at least begin to have the discussion about okay, are we measuring them the correct way? Uh, and do we want to change how we measure these these goals? After lunch, we'll be more focused on targets. And so, what what changes do we want to see from where we are now? But sort of right now it's

096really understanding and thinking about sort of are these the right ones and also are there um uh are there uh uh are we measuring them correctly. So so right now you have four goals and again this is abstracting from targets. You have sort of literacy, numeracy, post-secondary outcomes and social emotional wellness goal. So, um, and, uh, as we talked about earlier, we don't want to expand the goals too much. Like, you could you could potentially add something, but sort of not, but you, but but you really want to keep five or lower, uh, in terms of these big goals for the district. >> Yes. [snorts] >> Yeah. I would like for us to consider adding science. Uh, when we got the ESBA scores, we saw that science was an area of high high need. Um

097and if we um I would offer that if we don't want to focus on upper grade science at least elementary science because that was an area that was not that where the students um score the lowest and it also prepares them for middle school right when they are now uh in a single subject course of science. So, um, so I'd offer science and, um, if we want to be very intentional, uh, zero in on elementary. And speaking of science, I'd like to consider social studies also as a subject that uh I have found that uh in middle school when you have a teacher who is teaching social studies in sixth grade and English language in sixth grade, they kind of spread the whole block into English because English is being tested. So that's another subject

098area that's being ignored. I um second the the science for sure. Um and uh I would say while we're just cleaning it up and also appreciate Mr. Ortiz Franklin giving us the the context and history there. I also think I mean as we were going through the post-secondary goal is really a secondary goal. >> Um and so maybe we just want to call it secondary >> um a goal for secondary students. >> Well, yeah, it's a goal about it's not a post-secary goal. is a goal for our secondary. So, we might just want to call it like literacy and numeracy, science, social emotional wellness, and then secondary, [snorts] >> right? >> Um because if I know some some districts and schools are talking about postsecary, like college metriculation and persistence, which is something I'd love

099to get us to get to at some point, but it really is a goal about what's happening in secondary >> preparation within within the secondary. >> Yeah. Not postsecary. Other thoughts? >> No, I I agree with science. I was I was you know going to mention also science. I think it's a competent a goal that we really need to strive for students now. So science and >> right >> okay we discussed science as well when we looked at our scores and so appreciate you nailing that out first and um didn't really pay attention to when you said postsecary and looking at what the goal is and seeing that what the term postsecary means and how we are defining finding it here. Obviously, they're not one and the same. So, appreciate you highlighting that. And if

100we had to add um an additional goal, keeping it within five, science would be one that I think we need to highlight. >> So, I don't hear a second for social studies. >> I think the challenge, Mr. Rosson, is we don't have an assessment the same way that we do for um ELA, math, and science. Um, and so, you know, I'm just looking back at the board informative on the smarter balanced assessments and actually science is significantly lower than ELA and and lower than math as well. And so it is an area of great need for us. And if we had a a social studies assessment, I would also be right with you because I think there is so much civic engagement that students really need. So, I don't know if the team has a

101thought on like assessment for social studies um because maybe that would be helpful. >> Thank you. Uh I do appreciate you uh you raising that uh board president because it is an instructional priority. So we do have literacy uh numeracy, science and history, social study is an instructional priority. But as far as a goal, we'd be back in the same situation we kind of are with cell that we we'd have to add an assessment and then how do you assess? So it is a priority though I do want to be clear about that. It's just how you measure it is a little tougher and it'll bring us back to the same situation as cell. >> Okay. So I'm hearing something close to consensus that there should be a science goal added somewhat to be determined

102sort of what what that will be. But uh and then um uh partly because of numbers, partly because of we don't have an assessment that sort of maybe social studies is this is not the right time to do that though it's still a priority for the for the district. Yep. Okay. Does that seem okay to the board? All right. Um so next we're going to move from uh these these goals to how do we measure the goal and uh and sort of looking at what what you're doing now in your strategic plan and then sort of potential alternatives to uh to those. So let me actually I want to come back to that. So for right now in literacy the current strategic plan measures literacy only in the third grade. You all obviously measure literacy

103much more than that but sort of but uh but but it's not sort of this the goal is just third grade third grade literacy. Uh as you think about what you want your goal to be going forward um the staff has thought of kind of a couple additional options. And of course you can have your own option too if you if you if you uh so choose. But so one of them is keep using the DFS but sort of include more grades or more grade bands. So do 3 through five, 6 through 8 and 11 which is what you do in math except you don't do 11 in math but sort of but it was getting close to what you do in math. Um and so that would give you three targets uh for each

104basically one for each grade band. Um, option two would be to roll all the grades together and uh have one measure for grades 3 through 11. Um, now in terms of sort of thinking about this uh so option one sort of the nice thing is sort of the the the the uh the the outcomes are grouped by um grade span. that sort of makes a sort of you can look at middle school, elementary school, and high school and think about those uh separately. Downside is that does mean there's more things to monitor, right? So, you went from one looking at third grade to looking at three things. Um on option two, when you roll everything together, uh that means all grades are accountable. and um uh and it's a simple one one uh one uh

105metric, but the trends across grades could be washed out. And so like if if things are going very well in elementary school, that might sort of hide or or or uh are um push down sort of trends in middle school that you want to be aware of. Uh and so by by lumping things together sort of some some of the differences go out. So what are folks thoughts on these options? >> Well, I would like to go with option one. I think for literacy it's it's all great spans. That one. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Yeah. I think um it gives us a better picture of where we are. Helps us, you know, understand if we if our fourth and fifth graders are struggling in literacy, we know what we need to do sixth and

106eighth as well. And so I think it's they're all critical years. So I think we go with option one. >> Um I uh I'm okay with option one. I don't like option two. I guess my plug for current goal is that um well a few things. One, I mean I think that that focus on early literacy. We know how hard it is to catch students up if they're not reading by third grade. And so I think that like to the the comment earlier in Miss Gonz's framing around why we did this years ago, like if you have 100 priorities, you have none. Like really trying to focus on that um is important. I also think that implicit in the secondary goal is literacy because you're not going to do C or better if you can't

107read. Um and so I think at least for 11th grade and we also know the 11th grade standardized testing are are hard predictors too and we're but um so I'm like you know maybe there's a compromise where it's option one but just third through fifth and middle. um or we just focus on it's not that I don't want to draw it out because I I think Miss Gonz is right, Miss um Grego's right when it comes to the like, you know, the the need to focus on literary across the board, but I think it is kind of rolled up in the in the secondary goal and like kind of having that myopic focus on third grade um seems to be serving us well in terms of that focus. But I I would vote for the

108current goal. Not opposed to option one. Definitely don't like option two. >> Okay, great. >> I have an option three. Um, what if we did third through eighth grade as one and then 11th could be pulled out or it could be rolled up into the secondary goal because I'm just looking at the results from this last year and just so you can hear how similar they are um in terms of distance from standard 3rd through 8th um 1716 9 16 18 20 like it's all kind of close. Same thing for meeting or exceeding 46 43 44 44 47 45 45 44 like they're all kind of in the same bucket but then 11th grade is.7 distance from standard like wildly different from the teens in the 20s and 53% almost 54 on meeting or exceeding.

109So I know we'll talk about the and maybe this I don't are we talking about distance from standard versus meeting and exceeding again? Maybe not. Um, but I think it would help me to look at a wider range because when we're just looking at third grade, even though early literacy was something that this board was really into and still is really into and is important for the um, you know, student outcomes, I am constantly going back to well, what about everybody else? And so I'm really interested in the third through 8th grade. >> So third through eighth put together. >> Yeah, I'm I'm with option one. Um, you know, I agree with uh u board member Grego. There's something that when you know we're looking at the data, right, either uh beginning of the year

110or middle of year and end of year, there's something that's happening in fourth and fifth that I'm always wondering, right? And if we're not really looking at how they're progressing from third or fifth, um, then that's going to affect when they get to sixth grade. I think fourth and fifth definitely we need to have um more analysis and understanding so we can get them to succeed to sixth grade. Um but I I also feel like um also continuing the progress of our students when they get to high school is also very important because you know particularly in 10th and 11th it's one of the most critical years um you know right before they graduate. So, I'm I'm for option one and definitely keeping in keeping um 11th grade. I would like to add 10 11th

111grade um just those two critical years uh right before they graduate I think is important but you know >> I know there's more grades to monitor as one of the cons is but um if we can keep 11th I I definitely feel like more eyes on our high school students is is definitely key to help for the >> I think 11th is when the SP back so that's that's why y also for option one I've always wondered uh in the middle schools whether that sixth grade score has something to do with their learning in the elementary school and how they were taught in elementary school and many times they were not going from class to class to class it was with one teacher and how that changed uh as they go to a middle school

112and have different teachers in different classes. So I would like to consider option one. >> Please some of the we cannot adopt options that uh involve grade levels that are not assessed. >> Right? >> So California for whatever reason baffles me does not assess nth and tth grades. So I share the concern that Dr. Rivas has. You know, if we wait from 8th grade until 11th grade, and 11th grade is is a is an assessment that does not impact the student's graduation. And by the way, our kids are brilliant. They know that. So, you say, "I'm already taking AP exams. Why do I care about the 11th grade? It's not going to hurt me or benefit me." And they know that. >> And schools also understand that in terms of accountability, there's really no true

113impact. So, uh, I disagree that 11th grade is the only marker for high school. >> Uh, it ignores 9th, 10th. I can see why 12th wouldn't be, [clears throat] >> but ninth and 10th are critical, right? Uh you wait too long until you get to 11th, grade, unless of course you're looking at other interim assessment data, which we rely on, which is appropriate. But um yeah, we unfortunately don't have n or 10 to exam, >> right? >> Um yeah, I I know that you know the ESPback that's a huge metric that it's used, but in internally right there's a lot of data digs, a lot of um assessments that are being conducted throughout the entire year that we can get to um have an understanding, right? the the internal assessments that are already being done

114um can definitely help with three and fifth although you know we'll get the official from ESPback but internally we can at least see where how our students are progressing in fourth and fifth so that for those metrics could be more like of internal metrics that already being used currently um to look at those grades so I think you know there'll be two different metrics right more like the ESPback and then the other ones more internal from what our um regions are doing. >> All right. So, let me let me put the question. So, I've heard some skepticism about using the 11th grade uh 11th grade outcome, but so if not and then you would like to roll them the third through 8th all together into one. Uh and then I think others where are others

115on that sort of third through eth having it split out or not? Oh, so basically so option one sort of removing 11th grade potentially. No. So you want 11th grade in. Okay. Yep. >> I I I don't want 11th grade at all. I I just I don't think it's a very reliable assessment and I um there's a lot of other u ways that success is measured in high school and I I don't think the 11th grade ESBACK is is a good uh tool to for us to rely on for this particular one. Um so I I would agree with Mr. Melvin that postsecary we're focusing on that college and career readiness piece and that we should we should lean into that front. Um I maybe I'll take this time to make a slightly different point

116is um I'm interested in progress over time. I'm a little like I well two things. One I guess I would take issue with like everyone is held accountable because every grade is taking the SVAC. That is state assessment data. We are held accountable by the state. Those results are published. So uh just for for this conversation um I'm not going to die on that particular hill. But I just because it's not called out in the particular goal doesn't mean that people are not paying attention to it. And I certainly think that our our teachers and our principles are are paying a lot of attention to their ASPback results in every grade level. Um what so the the piece I was mentioning is I'm interested in like cohort growth over time and whether that's something that

117because one of the things we know is true is like this you receive students in a particular year and and those students are different every year and it doesn't necessarily allow us to see um the students who started in third grade how are they how is the school helping them grow and make progress from where they started um when they culminate in fifth grade. So I I am interested in that. I don't know if that's something that's uh logistically feasible for us as a district, but I do think it is a much more nuanced and comprehensive measurement of how are our schools making a positive impact for student academic outcomes. >> Right, Bill? >> I love this. >> Yeah. Oh, no, please. >> Yeah, I love it. I love it. I love it. um you

118know we have gotten updates on I Ready data and you see how much you know blue green and to some extent yellow there is in the kindergarters and then you get up to 11th grade and there's all this red and like as you get through elementary and middle school you get more and more red it gets bigger bigger bigger right so we could use I ready we did invest in this it was like a you know vision of the board that we looked at data more regularly and so to Dr. Revas' point too, right? How do we include everyone? That would be a big shift for us to focus on something like I Ready. I know we could also do it with ESPA and maybe you're going to talk about that, but I love love

119love the cohort idea. >> Yeah. And this can be uh this question on using longitudinal data, whether that's sort of a cohort model or a growth model. We can get in we can tease that out in future conversations, but I I would just like to give a couple quick considerations for for the conversation today on some pros and cons uh of of that approach. And I mean one big pro is obviously we want to see this is the whole point is you want to see progress right wherever a kid comes in you want to see where they how how they how they progress and so this is getting that this is asking that question so um obviously there's a pro there I think one of the the the considerations is we when you do that

120you it can only be done for students for whom you have data at the beginning and the end and so we we then automatically then we end up dropping students from the from the calculations when it's focused on data for students for whom we only have two years of data or more data if it's a if it's going to be a longer runway of the longitudinal model. So third graders, we wouldn't be able to work with them. If we were using SBA data, we wouldn't be able to work with third graders. We wouldn't be able to to look at 11th graders at all. And maybe that's to your earlier point, maybe that's just fine. Um um the other piece and and we we know the California Department of Education is now releasing a growth model

121that they have on the California school dashboard. It's not for account official accountability yet. It's more for information purposes. Um and then we also have our own internal school identification model which is based on a growth model um that we do. Those um the state's model does not include high schools at all completely out of because it's only grades four through eight that are in there and that data comes out you know six months after we get other types of data that are helpful for a year. So there's a time lag that could h could could hinder us and there's the again we lose all high school we lose all lens on high school students and then if we use our internal SIM model it's tricky because that model is we're we're basically every kid

122is getting every student's getting a growth score based on similar students in the district from the year before and that's really helpful um for the school at the school level how the school is helping students progress. If you put that at the district level, it the the number is automatically just zero. Like the district's growth score and our own growth model is zero because on average it's again h the model is how did people do compared to other people like them the year before. And so when you lump everybody in the model into the aggregation the it's just by definition it's zero because you but then when you look at individual students you can see are you above or below zero and that's interesting. So, so there's there's some there's just some con complications and

123constraints that make it a little more challenging. We might drop some students from the model. If we're relying on SBA, we will definitely be dropping students now. And if we want to bring in something like I Ready, there's other considerations we need to do because that becomes a very high stakes test and that becomes a very high stakes I don't know um if you want to speak to that Dr. Estrada or others. Bring the mic over. >> Yeah. >> Which is good. The only thing I would just flag is that we've been very intentional with I Ready to be clear that it's a tool to inform instruction. So the data that we get from like for example our middleofyear data is going to be critical to show for us where students currently are based on

124our strategies, our instruction and intervention and enrichment. So I want to caution us using it as one additional uh assessment for measuring whether true progress has met or not because the intent is truly to ensure that teacher, student, family, principal are having that conversation about whether our instructional strategies are working for us or not and how do we make adjustments. So I just kind of want to give a little more detail to high stakes uh what can happen if we're not careful and we've been very intentional making sure that it's used to inform instructions inform our decisions at the region level of what our support PD and so on will look like as well as at central office where do our investments need to be based on how we're seeing students progress. Uh but again

125it's not the only thing we look at I ready to your point board member Greger we we look at things holistically it's a data point that is been very useful but I want to be cautious of using it for high stakes purposes. >> Yeah I just want to be clear that my intention was not I ready I was talking about the ESPback because it is the summit of assessment so I think it is the one that makes sense to to compare ourselves to. Yeah, and I I appreciate that and I think Espec makes a lot of sense for us. But to your point also it's on the dashboard and that is how we are that is for me high stakes is what's the California dashboard. I think district high stakes is a cultural conversation for

126us right because if this board really is student outcome oriented then we should be looking at I ready data more regularly and we should understand exactly what our schools are understanding about investments and instructional choices and then making adjustments where necessary with budgeting and policy during the year such that we can make changes in real time before kids are tested at the end of the year. But my point is on the cohort like every time I look at I Ready and I see all of these kindergarteners who are closer to on grade level, all of these elementary and middle school students who are further away and then high school students who are way further away. That's where I really feel like well what are we doing as a board to make sure that our kids

127stay on grade level and that is a real opportunity I think for us to think about our investments our policy decisions to help kids stay andor get back to grade level before they leave us to graduate with our vision and mission that we just said. Well, I think in terms of I Ready for high school, what we've been hearing is that it's not an appropriate test for high school. First of all, it was meant I think all the way up to 8th grade, right? And so, it's not appropriate for high school students. The feedback I have heard from students as well as educators is that students just click click click. So, they're not it's not a serious test. It's not a serious experience for them. they're doing a lot more rigorous work than I ready.

128And so for me, if we're going to look at, you know, we can't to me that data it doesn't feel valid because compared to what I'm hearing from folks, it's and I have a I just had a graduate last year who click click click her way through I Ready. So, >> right. So, I Ready does not seem appropriate for >> Yeah, I echo that that same sentiment. And um and a lot of our high schools really are focused on doing project-based learning, right? They're doing they're doing other things. They're they're incorporating podcast, they're incorporating technology in their learning. So, um that's where their students are more engaged in. And when it comes to, oh, here comes Ready, my son as well, I will say. Although he um he reaches the top level and then there's

129no more room for him. It's not challenging for him. So, he doesn't have to take it because he's at that level. But I know from from hearing from other my other schools that um at high school I is just not the best um metric to be using, right? Because it's just they just >> kind of check out. It's another test and then they have to take the S back. Well, well, 11th grade they have to do it. So yeah. Um so yeah, I do agree that um I needs to I don't know rethink rethink how we're using it in our high school. >> Let me pull us back a little bit and sort of say okay. So, so there are a couple couple of three options here that sort of I've I've heard. Um, one

130is uh, so I guess one one thing though is is that um, you could still look at calculate and work with growth models and cohort models whether or not it's the main goal, right? So, it's like that could just be some because that's kind of how you figure out are we going to hit our main goal, right? if if if the growth is not there, you're probably going to um miss. Um but it could be the main it could be a main goal or one of the main goals. And then um second thing I've heard uh and I'd love to get sort of the board's sense of this right now is sort of splitting up the grades and and part of it's we're we're in English language arts right now. In math, the the the

131grades look, as I recall, quite different. Uh um but uh you know do people we have one one board member wants to sort of roll third through eth together others I'm unclear if that's what you all want to do. So what are people's thoughts just even >> well I was just going to ask your first question if we were okay separating or stepping away from the early uh third grade the early literacy goal because it sounds like yes right as a first step. >> Okay. Sorry. Yeah. Can I um are we agreeing we're looking at option which option we want >> one? Yeah. Kind of options within option one. >> Okay. So I had originally said option one which includes 11th grade. I'm okay with taking out 11th grade because I do think we have

132other measures that can address that and I don't think the ESBA is quite by 11th grade it's not the assessment that will let us know if they've made growth. >> Okay. I agree with Carla. Yeah. >> Okay. You agree with that? I agree. I guess for me as we're looking at this selecting the ESBA to measure as the assessment and I think that's some of the questions that we're having here. What is the assessment? Right? If there's not an assessment to be able to give us a measurement, >> then are we looking to the team to create an assessment? And that would be my question. What would be the assessment if this is not it? Um to be able to measure whatever grade level we're measuring. And if we're just looking at grade level measurement,

133then of course, I mean, if we could measure, as we mentioned before, nine and 10, we would want that if we had the tool. But if we don't have the tool and we got to use what's existing, then we have to go with where their measurements are, >> right? Third, sixth grade is okay. >> Correct. >> For you and >> Well, I mean, 11th grade, yeah, I I understand. But at least 11th grade when we we need to have a measure or something for ninth and tth. Maybe 11th grade is like but ninth and 10th is is important years in in high school, right? So, I I see what y'all are saying about 11th grade, but I mean, if students still have to take the 11th grade test, right, regardless, right, because it's man mandated,

134>> um, we have to at least be using it for something. So, right, >> right. Um, >> so I think >> so I I'm feeling a little bit, you know, >> yeah, I think board member Mel Melvin was saying that that really the secondary goal uh or the the the the uh captures uh the A through G with C or better um captures a lot of that question. So maybe and and if and if people aren't taking the 11th grade test seriously or they're click click clicking and all that then maybe it's a better better measure for that. >> Yeah. I think that needs to we need to really analyze that part. >> Yeah. I think my my feeling is that an A throughG measurement maybe we're we're going to expand that and look at

135high school a little bit differently but there is a specific goal focus on high school that is by definition encompassing of literacy and numeracy all of the subject areas that are required in order to to be eligible so I I don't I don't think we need to include a specific 11th grade piece here. >> All right. So if we so if we took option one third through 5th 6th through eight how many just straw poll in terms of people being okay with that two three took 11th grade out not 11th grade is still important but we'll hit that in the secondary all right so I'm seeing some consensus there and then I think second uh is sort of upon um staff is sort of thinking about really how are you going to also um report

136on and use kind of cohort-based metrics as well to complement that that particular goal. So you're not it's not the it's not the it's not the thing you're measuring, but it is quite important for Yeah. And and there will be um for whether it's for literacy specifically or or some some of the secondary focused um areas. There are going to be other aspects of the strategic plan that are going to implement sec, you know, other aspects of sec the secondary student experience um for one thing. And also there's going to be internal district accountability for high schools. We're not absolving high schools of academic uh accountability. Um you know, and to your point, yes, 11th graders take the test. And we should know for our school identification model that is used to determine our priority

137schools and other pieces like that. High schools are a part of the model and they will continue to be a part of the model and that is based on their 11th grade smarter balance assessment. So we're not we're not we would not be walking away entirely from holding high schools accountable for high expectations. on to numeracy. Uh well, numeracy uh sort of the is is like it's because it's based on the same test uh tests um has is similar um except the current goal of numerousy already has 3 through five distance to standard and six through eight distant through uh distance from standard uh and so and not and the option one here was add grade 11 which I didn't hear overwhelming support for and then option two is again rolling everything together. So is

138should we just stick with the current current goal approach? Current goal. Current goal. Yes. All right. Okay. Post secondary. So secondary as we're going to call it now. Um which is uh currently being measured by the percent of uh students in cohort with an average of C or better in A through G. So basically the A throughg, CSU, USC, I mean UC not USC uh um uh eligibility uh which is abroad and thing is that what are what are folks keep it keep it >> yeah I think the only I mean I think it's really important to continue to measure A through G with the C or better I'm interested in expanding to include like our CT pathways in some way to acknowledge that for some students their post-secary journey is like apprenticeship for example

139rather than necessarily um a 4-year university. So like a composite metric of some sort that would that would account for that. >> Right. Okay. So um so you would like to see it expanded. So A3G is one part of it but then another being something about CTE or other other pathways to post a post postsecondary success. >> I would agree with that because I think we need to encompass those that I mean when you think of A throughG and you're thinking college ready and then whereas are career ready who are doing apprentice or career technical education that is preparing them how do we capture those individuals as well. Oh, sorry. No, particularly now since we are expanding CTE, um, link learning and apprenticeship programs and it goes back to our strategic clients. There's college and

140career ready, right? So, it's sort of missing that career aspect of it. >> I definitely be curious how how we think to measure that. I mean, I do think and I I when I'm talking to students, so I always remind them that like for example, the IBEW training apprenticeship program, you need a C or better in high school math. So, in algebra and so I think it is like it's not you know what the way I always articulate this is like getting your C or better in A throughG courses sets you up for career pathways and college um but if we want to be more vocal or encouraging about those paths I'm curious how to measure it but I I do think that we don't want students you know I want students who are taking

141vocational pathways and apprenticeships to also be you know getting their in algebra. >> Yeah. So very very good point. I actually like all the comments made about this uh this goal. We need to be very careful with this goal in terms of witsmithing real time right now and arrive at language that we believe should be the language should be reflected in the strategic plan. Number one a lot of the secondary sub goals under this goal do address career technical education the like. The point they just made is very important. We all recognize it cannot just be about graduation. high school A throughG needs to be allincclusive about all the different pathways but we ought to be very careful about establishing a goal that early on tracks. So when you say you know some have an

142expectation that they will meet CR better while others go towards a lower standard right and that is equally okay. So my recommendation is I believe I understand where the board wants to go. We just need to spend some time internally in discussing how do we measure that without diluting the expectation to begin with. Right? >> It becomes a little bit more difficult because >> the measure of success, right? How you measure internships cannot just be x number of kids over last year now are enrolled. Uh maybe so maybe not. or enrollment in in uh certification programs that are industry endorsed. What are the measures to to observe whether or not we're making progress towards that goal without diminishing the overall expected standard for high school completion, which should be C or better for everybody, >>

143right? >> Yeah. I I really appreciate that because big fan of this goal, always have been and um C or A throughG is available to every high school student across the district. CTE programming varies wildly across the district and so I think maybe for the team to help us um start to landscape what that looks like and I think maybe that is a part of a landscape analysis already happening in terms of what access high school students have to CTE programming. Um and then maybe in the next iteration we can start to think about and and what I heard from Miss Gone is it's not a replacement. It's not an eitheror but an and right. Um, so what would that and look like once we get a sense of what is available for students to

144access first? >> So I'm hearing these points very well and there will be time this afternoon in the post we're going to be doing stations and there will be in the in the postsecary or or sorry secondary goal station we will um consider there's the there there might there's hopefully going to be space to consider some of the methodology and and metrics used in the the state's college and career indicator which is a part of the California school dashboard. There's pros and cons to actually using the dashboard data. Um, but looking at how it how that is defined in the dashboard might be helpful because there's a bunch of different indicators for college readiness. One of which is a tog and there's a bunch of different indicators for career readiness and those are those are

145sort of um put together in this metric. State can make this a bit of a black box but there there is a lot of learning there. So there's going to be space this afternoon to talk about that. Um and then of course after today uh we can continue that conversation. Thanks. So I'm hearing that if we can add something on career that does not lower the rigor and the and the the expectations and create tracks essentially um that would be worth looking at and we will be exploring that this afternoon and then um going forward. Does that sound right? All right. And we're at lunch. We're at lunchtime. Okay. We're at lunch. Oh, we have to we will have to come back to um seal. >> You want to do this? >> Yeah. No, we'll

146go ahead and break for lunch. Um, we have 30 minutes of a break, so everyone please let board members go first. We have a buffet in the back, two lines. Um, and we will, uh, get back together at at 12:40. Thank you. Okay, we're going to go ahead and get started. We're working now on um the vision mission projection. So, we have a little bit of a um a time right now. Uh we're about to project the vision mission. So, we're a little bit behind. So, a couple of uh small edits we're going to make to our agenda. We're going to now for five minutes hopefully um hopefully we um correctly captured what uh your edits were. So we're going to go through the vision and mission for five minutes. Then we did not touch

147on the seal goal yet to talk as a group. So we want to do that as a group for 10 minutes. Then we will do our breakout groups. So we'll be back on the time of the agenda and we'll spend 10 minutes in each of those. But we'll get back to you on on how that will look. So, right now, vision mission. Um, Eric will be will you be able to do it while they're speaking, Eric? Okay. So, we'll do some live edits if it's not right and then we'll move to the UCLA. Okay. So, uh the uh new vision statement is Los Angeles Unified will graduate all students ready for the world to thrive in college, career, and life. Thumbs up. Okay, that was the easy one. mission. The new mission is LUSD ensures

148excellence for all students to achieve academic success and social emotional well-being with unique, holistic, rigorous, joyful, and culturally relevant education that prepares students to be active and engaged contributors to the world. anything. Yeah, be engaged contributors to the world. So we can we can drop drop active. other changes. >> Yeah. And we have the revised mission statement here in Lake. Let us know if there's anything and achieving. to achieve. >> Yeah. And uh we're all students. I mean if you you could do LHD ensures all students achieve academic success but that drops the excellence ensures excellence for all students. >> Yep. seems like >> it seems like it should be more like LA USD prepares or like LA USD provides a you know unique holistic rigorous joyful and culturally relevant education to ensure academic success

149and social emotional well-being and prepare students to be engaged like it seems like the CL like there there is a way to get that all there but it's just like >> our mission is that LA Unified provides a unique holistic rigorous story for culture relevant education. Uh that um like results in academic s or that like provides a unique holistic relied education. um >> results in all students achieving economics. Well, >> yeah, I'm happy to have others chime in, but I think that it should be like because because if the vision if the mission is kind of the how-to of the vision, like here's our vision and this is how we're going to do it by providing this >> these kind of this type of education that will do what? LSU provides a unique and

150cultural education >> and to be Yeah. So, so then you'd have to achieve academic success and social emotional well-being and to be >> that ensures academic su you know success and social emotional well-being to prepare students to be engaged contributors to the world. >> Okay. So LCD provides a unique holistic, rigorous, joyful, and culturally relevant education that ensures uh ensures students achieve >> academic success and social emotional well-being um >> and prepared >> and prepares students to be engaged contributors to the world. >> Yeah, I think that could still use some words something but that I think is the flow. Did you get that? >> Where results? LD provides a unique, holistic, rigorous, joyful, culturally relevant education that ensures all students achieve academic success and social emotional well-being. >> Yeah. And that should go. Sures

151all students achieve academic success and social emotional well-being. >> Prepared to be engaged contributors to the world and >> prepared to be engaged contributors to the world. He has to take out the other part of social um and prepare students to be engaged contributors to the world. >> Yes. and and prepare students to and prepare students to be engaged contributors to the world. Period. The rest goes away. It's ready for the world. Yeah. So, go back to the go back to the mission. Go back to the mission and then take out just end it after well-being. Yep. Okay. Doing okay. All right. I guess if you can restart the slideshow, I'll take take it back over here. Oops. All right. Because we are a little bit behind, I'm going to spend um Sorry. Here we

152go. 10 minutes timed but sort of trying to get as far as we can on uh thinking about uh how we should measure progress on the social emotional wellness uh metric. Um and there are uh two proposed options. So other options could be as well. Uh one is the current goal uh which we heard uh um the presentation on earlier uh this this this afternoon. um that basically 50% of teachers of grades 2 5 6 8 and 10 12 will um support students in creating and uploading artifacts of the for the portfolio and 40% of students will meet proficiency um and obviously that was a challenging goal because the first part of the goal which is an adult- centered thing uh I think correctly sort of but there's very few uh teachers had done that

153uh as of now um second option would be to um uh go back and use the uh school experience survey uh to measure um where students are uh onCAL uh competencies uh which is sort of it's a survey so it's like less authentic or are less uh it's not the right word but less um uh deep can't hear me my mic's my all right there we go I think I wondering about the mic. Can I change mics? It's not the mic. Okay. All right. Um uh second option is to uh is to move to a uh move back really to the uh school experience survey and there could be other options there. So I want to open that up in terms of what people are thinking about. So this is obviously something that is much

154uh much easier to implement um but has other disadvantages in terms of um what it's measuring. So let me stop and sort of get thoughts on that. Yes. So thinking about these options andor other ideas. >> Okay. So it seems from the report and the data that not enough teachers have participated in the training for SEAL. And so I think in order to for kids to demonstrate SEAL competencies, there needs to be instruction. and it needs to be incorporated into uh all parts of their uh day. Um and so I think our teachers need to be trained and I I think part of what um Dr. Bias presented was that teachers did not feel confident in even after take taking the portfolio training as to when they would incorporate this. So um I think I

155would like to see a goal that also addresses teacher educator training not just teachers but all educators. um and staff training in SEAL. So that's one. Two, I do think that the SCES survey is a good form of measure for districtwide, but we do I would like to see something that is more um local to the school and maybe locally designed so that schools can um create their own goals. I don't know how we would put it in here. I'm just putting out the ideas. And um they can they for example if a school has a conversation about particular cohorts that might need some support the school can come together and uh create a goal to meet the needs of that particular cohort of students and then they can have that local measure and that

156they could present to the district you know later on. So, but in terms of districtwide, I would like to see a district-wide educator training goal. >> Okay. >> I just want to bring us back to the comment I made earlier about the original student outcome oriented goal which is missing from here. Um, both of these are about perception. Uh, well, the first is really about adults, right? And the the second one is about student perception of their skills, not demonstration of their skills. And that was the conversation we had several years ago when we first started this conversation. So it seems to me that it's been really challenging to get to a place where we have a tool that we can actually use for student demonstration of skills. So maybe that's a conversation for the

157superintendent team and I realize um Francis is out but um oh just kidding. Um uh because if what I would hate for us to do is the board put a lot of emphasis in this and then we spent a lot of time you know developing tools training teachers which can be important um but if we still don't get to a place where we're looking at student um demonstration and like student outcomes then I fear we've missed the mark. um if we put a lot of emphasis on the adult experience, it doesn't match up with the other board goals that we've all had about um you know, student performance. So, I don't know if if this is the space for that or not or if we're going to land on this today, but it just feels

158like this is the one goal that has gone through like so many iterations. And I don't want to like make the team just spin their wheels on something that's like not going to yield anything for moving. What we really want to see is that kids are ready for the world. And we use that phrase all the time. Um, and I guess the question is like how do we show that kids are ready for the world? Um, you know, on the social emotional side of things. So I don't have like an answer on this. That's just like some thoughts challenges. Um, well I feel similarly this was something that was and has been really important to me. And I guess I will point out despite the challenges in getting to um student outcomes data a tool

159that we could even use for that um because when the goal was established in like there there was not very much on cell at all districtwide both in terms of instruction resources tools and also an an assessment or a way to measure. So I I I do want to highlight that because this was a goal we have made a lot of progress because there has been investment. there has now been um while not districtwide there has been more expansive teacher training and I know when I visit schools I see in classrooms sell artifacts teachers are doing sell time as part of their day um and and I think that had this not been one of the four goals I don't know that that would progress would have been achieved um to this specific question this

160I do have a big issue with using the school experience survey you know students are self-reporting and I I don't know that you know like a fifth grader is really like able to say with uh with a great deal of validity like I am proficient in self-management. So um I also don't don't want to test like I think that was a conversation just as again for historical perspective um as we were trying to figure out how to implement and assess this goal there was a discussion about whether this should be a test or an assessment that you know that tested in a similar way that we do to literacy and numeracy. I really think that's the wrong direction to go in and that's why you know we went with a portfolio. Um, just for the

161sake of brainstorming, one option I also thought about is like work habits, grades, like whether something that already exists that teachers are measuring students on might might be something that we could think about using as well. >> So try to leverage existing >> exactly >> grades and measures. Other thoughts on this side? So I think we're not going to resolve this now. Um yes. >> So we do have as a reminder this will be one of the breakout groups. So we will get in more detail there. Um and then what we will do as we will with all of the the targets and the goals that have changed. Staff will go back with some um and to create some ideas given what we have that's not too much for staff or for the kids or

162anything else and come back to the board with a recommendation given what we're hearing now and what we hear in the breakout group. So I think now we might it might be a good time to shift to um write uh to the targets and then we'll do the breakout group. So Bill okay thank you. So, we will be um going into our our our breakouts shortly and this is going to be um the conversations will be different depending on which goal we're talking about as Caroline was just saying for the numerousy uh that will be with me uh lucky lucky me it's pretty we're we're we're at the point where we can really dig into these targets now. We think we we think we're coming around to agreement on on the goal on the grades

163spans we are interested in and now we can look at well what should our 2030 target be maybe for literacy we can do so as well we have the other grade spans that we've been considering to look at and then for the postsecary um we also have some target proposals and then and when we're in theCCL breakout group we're going to talk about it where we're ready at whatever point we're at in the conversation and so but before we go I just want to recap some of this and we're going to go through it for for one of our goals. And this is information that the board members had in in our premeings. And you're going to have printouts of all of these graphs as well. And for for our um for the academic measures,

164we're looking at different different options here. A gold line, which is our current target for 2026, but extend it out to 2030. And then that and then the goal is to get to that point four years later than the original goal. Option two is take let's take the average rate of growth of improvement we've had since 2022 and just draw that linear line all the way out to 2030 and that will become our new target. So based on it's informed by our our our our track record since coming back from the pandemic with testing. Option three is the average annual improvement of a set of comparison groups uh statewide that are demographically similar to LUSD um and looking at how they have done over the past four years and then using that as our target

165point extending it out to 2030. And then option four um is is an option to consider where rather than look at it based on how the our our prior performance or that of other districts remember DFS distance from standard. If the diff distance from standard is zero, that means on average our students are performing at at standard for for that for that assessment. So one option is that we get to that we get to zero. DFS equals zero and then and then the there's some pros and cons to all of these as we as we may recall 11th graders for ELA are already there. So, you know, I'm not sure that should be our goal for four years from now to just stay where we are, you know, in a horizontal line four years later,

166but this isn't a compelling option for for some of the other grade levels and some of the other assessments. So, let's um click the slide. Um so, so we're going to look at it really quick for ELA. And so, this is just third grade ELA. This is our current goal. I'd actually like to skip this because I think we're not going to do this. Um or perhaps, well, we can we can we can still go there, but back one slide. So, let's say let's do we'll we can leave it here. Let's leave actually. Yeah. you know, we'll we'll let's go to let's go to math then, I guess. And again, you'll have all of these options and all of these handouts in in the in the pieces. So, this is third through fifth grade math.

167This is again our our current goal as articulated one part of it for math. And so, our current goal is to get to this -4.6 distance from standard that again was based on our baseline back in 2122. It was to go 40 points from that baseline. So, that's this goal. And so it's just basically taking the goal and moving it out to the right so that by 2030 get there. That means we would have to based on the assessments that we've had, we would have to improve an average of 3.7 move 3.7 points closer to standard per year. Option two is just take our average rate of change of improvement over the past um four years and continue that to 2030 which would take us to actually being 7.2 two points above standard for elementary

168math. Option three is, and you'll see this, for the most part, the comparison group option, the red lines are the most modest, least, you know, the least aggressive of the options. And we've talked about this at length. You when we're looking at LA Unifi compared to similar districts, we are outperforming them. We're at improving them. And so this is often the shallowest line um that we are considering. Um so that's this one to get to negative 9.8. And then option four to get to distance from standard equals zero. Here is option four which would be a rate of improvement of 4.6 points per year moving out. And so what we'll see depending on the on the subject and on the grade level sometimes option two is the most ambitious. Sometimes option four is the most

169ambitious because of we're just you know we're how far you know especially when you think about it for upper grades math where we are the DFS is unfortunately much higher than it is for early grades math that getting to that zero is a very steep slope. Um so but we can look at that. So next slide John. So again six to eight we'll see that option four is now the most ambitious. Option two is still very ambitious, but not not as not as high of a of a climb um as option two would be to get to DFS equals zero for grades six through eight. And then our current goals here moving to the right comparison districts and so on. And so you will have these slides at your tables for for the literacy goal,

170all the different grade permutations, grade level permutations we had for the numerousy one and then also for post-secary. And again at the post-secondary station where we we can bring in some considerations of other metrics for um career readiness as well as as the A to G that we already have. Um and then for we will have an interesting conversation. Um and I think with that we want to do the groups. >> Yes. So now we're going to break up into uh three uh tables. Uh at each table you'll spend 10 minutes uh talking about each of the um each of the goals. Uh and then staff will rotate. So you'll stay at you'll stay at your table and the staff will rotate around you. So uh at table 10 we have uh Melvin and uh

171uh Grigo over there. Uh I think that's 10. Yes, you and Nick. Yep. And then table nine is uh and Ortiz Franklin and table eight is everybody else. So Gonzville and so you're going to move to there. >> Okay. Hello. As the folks go into small group breakouts, we'll recess the meeting and then they will come back and readjourn to report out on what each group discussed. Thank you. The time is now 108. Okay. Um, we're at time for the first group. So, we'd like staff to rotate uh around the tables. And uh board members, please stay where you are. Okay. If uh staff could rotate uh again Okay, staff, please rotate. Time to rotate. Final rotation. All right. >> Identify question. All right, you should rotate. One more rotation. No, this opposite Sorry. Okay,

172let's let's please reassemble the board back at the U table. All right, go team. Got some final report outs and stuff. All right, the time is now 2:15. It looks like folks are going to begin reporting back out from their small groups. So, we're going to reconvene the meeting. It's 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, January 14th. Yep. Okay, why don't we go ahead and get started? I think we'll get some people coming back. But, um, what we want to do now is do basically a series of kind of lightning report outs from each of the tables, uh, or each of the each of the subjects really, I suppose. Uh and then I want to get a sense of the board's uh feeling about where we landed. So um so we'll start with um uh Bill, why

173don't we start with you? >> Yeah. >> All right. So for the numerousy goal, we're we're coming together around a differentiated goal for elementary grades and middle school grades. For middle school grades, we have achieved consensus around option four, which is get to DFS equals zero by 2030 for math in grades six through eight. Seven votes for that is what we heard in the in the breakout groups. For elementary grades, it was a mix. We heard one group said they like option four as well for the elementary grades. So, it's get to DFS equals zero for both groups of students. Another group wanted option two for the elementary grades, which if you look in the data, those are the the two most ambitious options. And then another group had what we're calling option 4.5, which

174is get to not get to DFS equals zero, but get to DFS equals 10 points above standard as a as a little bit more ambitious of a of a anchor point to put that on. So for middle school grades, we're there. uh for elementary grades. There's some nuance to to to sort out and to land on exactly what we want from for elementary grades, but we're very close. >> So, board, does that sound sort of thumbs up middle? No, that's not what we said. >> Great. All right. Uh let's go to literacy. Chen, you want to come up? >> Numeracy. So for literacy, sorry, apologies. Thank you. For literacy, we had um a similar pattern for GR grades 6 to 8. We did have consensus around option four as well, getting to standard. For grades

1753 to five, similarly, there was um some divergence around what that target for 2030 is. There is consensus around getting to zero or higher. Um, three folks wanted an option 4.5 as well, which is plus five, not plus 10 for numeracy, but plus five for grade 6 to 8 literacy. Another two u were comfortable with zero DFS. And then the other two voted for option two, which would put us at a positive 8.6 in 2030. >> Okay. Uh, next up is secondary postsecary. previously postsecary. >> All right. Um so there was a lot of universal agreement. Um one keeping the goal post secondary as it exists. Um and adding a college in career indicator which is something that the state already already reports on the dashboard that incorporates career as well as the college piece

176of it. So I think the idea was we would explore come back with a kind of recommendation and explore some version of the CCI to incorporate um and add the career piece of it and then in terms of the existing goal there was um four for 70% which is the existing target and then the other three were for the 71.6% so pretty close >> 71 the 71.6 Six is the growing at the average the or >> that's the target >> target. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Great. 23 target. Great. Uh and then finally uh SEL. >> Hi everyone. I'm Elmer Cho. This is my first board district uh board re retreat. So uh Elmer Cho, executive director, office of data and accountability. So with the social emotional goal, we spent that time discussing what to measure. We

177didn't land uh we we have some new ideas. I think more discussion needs to be had but we were going towards uh marks and work habits and cooperation and elementary progress reports marks as well. So we will discuss more and get back to you. [laughter] Thank you. >> All right. So, um, so hopefully that all sounds familiar to, uh, to to the to the board members. Uh, and, uh, I think with that sort of the, um, content, uh, in terms of, uh, part of this is over. Uh, and we're going to sort of do some, um, thank yous and, uh, and closings. So, I want to start with board presidents. >> Oh, you've got your own. >> I have my own mic. Yes. Thank you. Well, uh I think this was a very very successful

178retreat for several reasons. Number one, we are having this retreat in our home and that's very important. We feel a little different when we're at home than we do at a different local. So, I mean, we know where the restrooms are. We could run to our office during lunchtime if we have to. So, it's very important to have just like painting, lots of preparation before you actually start painting. So, we thought this was a very good um retreat and I know we definitely need retreat part two because there's so much that has not been answered and we want to do that. But I'm just so impressed about all my board members and their opinions about things which I had never heard before from them in discussion and I think it's wonderful. So, I thank you

179very much for being the leader. Thank you. >> Okay, superintendent. >> Thank you. I I I guess I'd like to yield some of my time because I think that the transition from all of that uh very organic and explosive dialogue which was really cool. I kept going from table to table and trying to listen to listen in. Um uh I I I think with the board president's permission maybe do a quick round robin uh with the board members or even the staff that participate in these conversations and just very quickly because I do agree. I think it was very very productive. But I'd like to hear more because I I was not present at every table, right? And I'm going to go from here to a meeting at some point with staff to digest through

180all of the opinions of the board members in terms of goal setting, the mission, the vision, and then what's realistically a possible goal to shoot for leading to 2030. So maybe just a quick round robin with the board members and appropriate staff about where we really hit the mark. uh where maybe we fell a little bit short of mark. Not not a disappointment to anybody, but you know, we are in a continuous improvement uh business, right? Uh so maybe a little bit of that uh before I make my my comments and then Carol will close us out. >> Started. >> There you go. >> Oh yeah. Um well I I yeah I agree this is very productive and coming together and having um these conversations about you know where we were right in 2021 where

181we are now and where we want to go and what's been was positive is that we are you know almost to where we want to go. We're heading in a very positive trajectory which makes it um more motivational and inspirational to know that we can continue um that our students can continue to achieve even higher and that we're going on the right direction. And yes, you know, there was some tweaking. There's some areas that we, you know, need to continue exploring and per not perfecting but um improving upon. And um so I think if anything um I appreciate all of us coming together and having uh conversations and that that we're I I feel um and I know there could be some you know some differences here and there but that that this board is

182is together on where we want to see our students and how we want them to succeed. um particularly as um you know they graduate and what we want them to um be demonstrating and being writing for the world and being uh positive contributors to this world. So I think overall is great. It was our first conversation and there will be more um and um I definitely would love to continue this at a committee of the whole particularly with u social emotional learning so that when we we get to the to the voting that we've actually really explor explored uh these goals and um and being realistic of of where we want our students to go and beyond for 2030. So very positive and grateful. >> Great. Well, thanks thanks everyone. I echo a lot of

183what my colleague said. I'm not sure I love that I share board presidentson's love of bory as much, but that's fine. [laughter] No, the uh but I um the uh appreciate the opportunity to dive in on this. Um appreciate the work that the staff put into I think you know there were some moments of learning for me. I think the college career indicators and and how responsive that was to some of our interest in career readiness. I think um looking at what other districts have done around um uh around SEAL um and uh I loved I love the bullet that most of them their metrics were just said unclear. Uh they didn't have anything but um I I do think sometimes we find ourselves in the trap of LA unified exceptionalism like oh we can't

184compare ourselves to anyone else but that's what we're trying to do. And so, uh, that was helpful. Um, I, uh, think the board conversation was productive. You know, I do, and I mentioned this whether it was with not saying we're going to zero, but talking about standard or having that proficiency metric. I still think we want to make sure that what we're doing is uh, is transparent and communicable to the public. I think that still like when you hear that you're 20 below standard, you don't know if that's really close to meeting your goal or way way below. And so that's why those proficiency levels are still really important and I've suggested either having both metrics or talking about that. So I hope that when we communicate, you know, meeting standard makes sense to me

185like getting to zero is just a tough like what does that mean? That does not seem particularly exciting or good. Um but so that's that's one thing as we think through that. Um, I also think that while we're adding the goal of science, which we all agree on, I appreciate Miss Grigo um, bringing that also making sure that we're keeping our focus to a few main priorities because it has been working over the last few years. I think when we did this the first time, there were a lot of folks who said, you know, as you recall, when a few of us got on the board, there was a a quasi strategic plan that had 100% of everything that was never board adopted. And I think we were trying to figure out that balance between

186ambitious and feasible. And there were a lot of folks who said these were too ambitious. And actually I think we've seen that they've been quite feasible. And even though the slope uh you know because we had room to grow post pandemic and like with a lot of these these um protocols and practices we would we've put in place, we don't expect that slope to stay as steep on across the board. But we do want to um I think aim high and I think it was pro a lot of us you know were proven correct and that when we do set those expectations and we we invest appropriately to meet them we can get there. Um so I want us to kind of keep the main thing the main thing while also knowing that the strategic

187plan and the pillars are other areas that we can beef up those things. You know I was thinking about proposing today an operational goal around you know financial stability and especially given the next few years. When I looked around at other districts, a lot of them have it as a pillar or as a sub goal but not as a goal. And that makes sense because I the more I thought about it that is an a means to an end. That's not the end. Like no, none of us are here because we want us to be fiscally solvent except for Simon whoever he is. The rest of us are here because we want kids like you're here for the right you here because you want kids to succeed too. We cannot have kids won't succeed if

188we're in financial receiverhip or whatever. But so that's why it is a means to an end. We can't do any of this without um without that financial solveny. uh but you know as a as a pillar as opposed to a goal. So just as we as we think about adding things like oh do we want to do the SE or better but also the CCI making sure that we're not diluting uh you know the the the the key goals here. So >> yeah, >> sure. Well, definitely appreciate the conversation with everyone here and um I think as mentioned before some of the things obviously looking at the vision, looking at the mission, obviously even breaking that down to the point where we understanding what pieces we're taking to see that vision come to fruition and

189then looking at ourselves as we are, for lack of a better word, trailblazing the things that we are doing here in LA Unified, but also being able to, you know, be real with how we're going to obtain this and obtain the goals that we have set before us and taking into consideration the assessments. I mean, we're looking at assessments that we've been using and how we can kind of augment and create new assessments. And I know the team is like, "Yeah, we're doing that now with SEAL." And I think that was one of the probably most robust conversations that we had about SEAL and figuring out exactly how do we monitor it, how do we use it, how do we measure it? um because it is one of the the bigger things I believe um

190in this process that we call education and if we're not able to really uh measure it and see the growth and what is proficiency in SEAL uh how do we obtain it and so that area for me was one of the things that I'm like okay aha moment and then just whether it's growth models progress models you know what are we going to use and when we sat in smaller groups that was very helpful for me I you know, being able to talk about things as far as, you know, what what works, what hasn't worked. And I know we had conversations back to SEAL about, yeah, we've seen things that are working and let's check the box that that's not working and we need to improve it. And being able to do that as a

191district, I think, is um an area that we continue to strive for. to be able to look at ourselves and say, "Okay, we can do that." And just being intentional in that. And then science, I appreciate it being brought up and I think we had a little extra time to be able to talk and Bill gave us some little um nuggets on how we can look at that because it's a little different than talking about distance from standard um because we're not going to be able to model it the same way as we assess other areas. So um and then for us, I think on the other end, just modeling as we do teach in class. Um, I don't think we had enough breaks in here. Um, whether we get some more time, break, stretch

192moments, something because we got to model what we say we're going to teach and to be able to practice that. So, that's for me. >> Yes. I'm going to start with Charlet's last point, which is let's bring in some art, some movement, some creativity, some yoga. Um, get our brains flowing, right, for the creativity. I, um, it sounds like our next opportunity will really dig into that CCI, the science, and the report cards for. And I just really want to say I think the report card idea for SEAL is genius. Whoever came up with that um ah [laughter] um and I'm just really excited that by 2030 we're going to hit the mark and that means kids are on grade level. 70% of our kids are college eligible. Um so here we go 2030 hit

193the mark. >> Thank you. Yeah, I first want to appreciate the staff because I think one of the asks that we had of the superintendent was that this retreat felt meaningful, that it was engaging, and that when we came here, it felt authentic and that our voices and our thoughts were taken into consideration. And so, I think that I felt that that was done here. I want to appreciate uh the fact that they had the materials done in a timely manner that we were able to be briefed that they a new one came out and we were able to process it and go through it and we were ready and prepared to come and have this conversation. So, thank you to the staff. I also want to thank Michael because he really did do a

194good job of getting us our coffee and our yummies and so that also helps in having a good uh retreat. So, thank you all for for that. And yeah, I really valued the small groups. Like in almost every meeting that you go to, you never have enough time, right? Um, but that was a very good conversation. I'm excited that we're going to be looking at science. I'm excited that we're sticking with SEAL and we're really uh thinking through how we're going to measure it and I'm looking forward to to really getting all of our staff trained incl so that we can become a district where everybody is trained and we are a district where everybody feels like they belong and that they're welcomed and um from our students to our employees. And I'm looking forward

195to more conversations about this and also um looking into uh having conversations about the rest of the pillars in our strategic plan around parent engagement around joy and wellness and um and looking at our uh having conversations about our particular student groups that have not quite met the mark even though they've made progress. We want to, you know, um appreciate that and also think about them intentionally. our students with disabilities, our black and brown students, our foster youth. So, you know, having more conversations around how we're going to support those students. So, thank you. >> Um, well, I echo the thanks. I think that for a conversation like this to be a productive and meaningful use of time, it takes a lot of work outside of this space, in advance of this space. So, I

196also want to appreciate the staff for ensuring that um that this conversation was set up appropriately, that we had a strong facilitator, and that the board actually had time to work together and to discuss and to make progress on on the various um items before us. Um I also appreciate that this um last time when we set goals, it was an unprecedented and unfamiliar exercise. So, I'm I'm happy that we are in a place as a district where we are regularly setting time for a vision setting and and setting priorities because the only way for us to ensure that our students can move towards those goals is for us to set the goals in the first place. Um, I also think it's a great opportunity to to celebrate the amazing work that has happened across

197our system at our school sites because of our our teachers and principles and classified staff um that we helped accelerate as part of a vision setting process back in 2021. Um and my only other reflection is one of my worries in emerging from the pandemic and just knowing what deep academic needs that we had would be that we would really narrow so much to you know just reading and math and that we would in a way deprive our students of the well-rounded and joyful education that they deserve and really respecting them as whole people and um the kinds of experiences that we want for our own kids. And so I'm appreciative of the fact that in this conversation today that we have taken an expansive view while still maintaining priorities by including science by maintaining

198socio emotional learning by including career technical education and career readiness um as something that we really value for our students and it makes me excited about the future for our students. >> Okay, thank you very much. So before I ask our board members if they feel that a second uh retreat would be worthwhile and also to think about what things were not answered to your satisfaction at this retreat and what you would like to delve further into. So I'd like to ask first of all if we think we would like to have a second retreat to continue this. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, it's unanimous. So Carolyn, come on up. And I'd like to know um what we can do for next steps and timelines. And you know what? I would appreciate next

199time that we have different groups of board members sitting together at the small groups because I want to hear what other people have to say too. Although I love my group. >> I understand. I understand. So I hear I hear you loud and clear. Thank you for all the comments. Thank you for the time and the dedication to this. You all have been with us working on this for weeks with one-on-one meetings and follow-up data and follow and follow-up questions. So, thank you for that and for being so engaged today. Um, I uh so what I've heard more breaks. That's my fault. I was the one pushing it through. Um, art, movement, creativity, mixing up the groups, >> yoga, music, and art. >> Yoga. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to give that to the art branch

200to deal with that. I'm not going to even try to do that one. Um so in terms of the the timeline um we will let me like you know start where we're going to end and then back up in June we'll be bringing this to the board for approval with the LCAP in the budget. So all that will be together like I mentioned earlier. Um so to back up from that we really want to have time for the operation plans to be developed by the staff based on this anchor that you all have started to create today and we'll continue to create. Um so I you know as soon as we can I know that's just I know we have a lot of meetings scheduled. I'd like to schedule another retreat. Really, the three big

201pieces we need to focus on for the next retreat are going to be the science, the seal, and to land the targets. We've gotten on some of them. Um, but we haven't gotten on all of them. So, to really land that because, you know, kudos to you. We really did land the vision, mission, core values, and what the goals will be at a high level. And that's a lot of progress. Um, and we'd really like to take this out to the community. So, the sooner we can have our retreat. So, we will get on scheduling that uh with Mike, wherever he is, we'll get on that soon. um to try to to to try to make that work quickly. So, I also want to thank before I turn over to the superintendent, I want to

202thank Dr. Fullerton for your patience with us because you've been with us throughout helping us develop the materials and work on it. So, thank you for that and thank you for a good a good day as well. So, superintendent >> uh briefest comments, thank you. Extreme gratitude to uh to the board and and to and to the team. I did find the engagement to be at a high level. The productivity level at the group level uh when when the board came together in groups of two or three with rotating staff very very engaging. Uh I learned uh you know I walked away with some ahas delivered and uh and I do agree Mr. president that coming back uh to continue the conversation and really go a little bit deeper in some of the areas that

203we talked about today but we did not land on very specific goals or sub goals i.e. science and the like uh would be very appropriate. So thank you the board thank you to to the staff. Maybe next time around I see a lot of people uh in this room that did not necessarily actively engage. Next time around we'll put them to work too. I heard yoga dancing. So get ready. >> Thank you very much. And uh one just one last little point. I took social media today to decry the fact that I don't believe in coincidence. And since the very first day of the second semester, we've seen a surge increased uh number of immigration enforcement actions specifically around our schools. They're coming within two blocks, three blocks of the school, but it's it's it

204is quite disruptive. Um, just this afternoon, I was monitoring and I received five or six text messages. Unacceptable. And uh for the board and for those who are listening, we're going to redouble our efforts and ensuring that our kids, our families not only are safe, but feel safe feel safe uh you know, moving forward. Thank you once again for being the best darn premier school district in >> I like that. Meeting adjourned 2:42