001Good afternoon everybody. Back in here. I'd like to call the meeting to order and welcome you again to u great day that we've had so far and and we're going to open this with our board meeting with I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I have a motion to approve the agenda. So move. Second. All in favor? I motion carries retreat discussion. and uh we had a pretty good morning and u I don't know who's going to lead us in this we are co- facil I was hoping it wasn't going to be me learned a lot but not that one so I stand up there facilitate moves stuff around well good I
002guess good afternoon everybody um first and and foremost, we want to thank the board um our principles, our teachers, uh other members um of the teaching and learning um department. Thank you all for just helping us engage the board and all of our different stakeholders um as we related to literacy. Um I think we had some very good conversations today. and know in our separate small groups and as we're coming back as a collective when we really look at how we are trying to bring that vision to life when we think about the work that Dr. Saxs has us engaged in that the board has us engaged in how we really clarify um what it means to be a literate what it means literacy means for our students. So um at this time Dr. Sax
003and I, we would like to now kind of open it up to the board to, you know, share out um some of the takeaways that you all had in your u respective groups this morning. Um so that way that people who are tuning in and for some of us who are in different groups, we can kind of hear as a collective as Dr. Saxs um engages you all in crafting out that literacy vision. Thank you. And so the first thing I want to want to stress for those that are just now joining us is that um the way that the morning session was broken out is that we have uh groups of stakeholders that are with us and they're actually here in the boardroom. Uh but we have had representatives from uh administration school administration
004principles. We have teachers of both English and and reading as well as some other content areas. Uh and then we also had uh district level leadership from our instructional leadership team division um with uh the executive directors of elementary schools, the executive director of high schools as well as the executive director of organizational development and student learning experiences which is really responsible for making sure that we have high quality professional development across the district. And so we had five groups and each of those groups had a board member representative on them as they met um separately to really flesh out um the the the different mechanisms that go into why is it that we need to be having this conversation around literacy and the importance of literacy and making sure that um we are providing
005the best education possible for our students to walk across the graduation stage being college, career or military enlistment ready, um, and to be productive citizens in a very global society. And so, um, I was able to get be given the opportunity because I was not in one specific group, I was able to move around to the different groups this morning and be able to hear the rich conversations being had from Berkeley County educators and Berkeley County uh, school leaders around literacy and what our perceptions are, but also where um, we feel that we need to move as a school district and as a community to support the literacy development velment within our students. And so with that being said, um I think now is a a wonderful opportunity for us to engage each of the
006board members and for them to report out on what um the the big rocks uh were um from your work sessions this morning. So um how about who wants to start? I'll start. Okay. Um so Mr. Murphy, which group were you in? Group two. So, if you'll go up to your I'm going to put you back in your teaching days and go up to your um your top three items on your paper, then that'd be great. I had a student, I'm going to use his name, his name was Adam Walker, and I would be on the board doing something and I'd make mistakes. I of course it's a good thing to say about and Adam would be back there and and I would make a mistake like six plus fours and something like that. I
007oops I made my mistake for the year and he'd say no Mr. Murphy I was over 73 and I ended the year I was calling St. Peter and uh because he was keeping track of all my mistakes and the first mistake I'm going to point out is the group pointed me and I should I was ready for election board. Which group are we here? Hey, the first thing we pointed out is our data is we're not we uh we looked at our charts and we said to read these charts to do a diag top see and that was the basis. Uh we also I've it struck me as we're going back to the old late war beyond everybody's above average. Um and sometimes as a board but we're using report cards to sell bonds and
008levies trying to make everyone happy and in the process failing our children because of the stagnation that we're not seeing the growth that we're trying to focus on here. Um this was the uh four points and uh would you help me out here? This was and I said if you didn't summarize it into one point so go ahead. Um yeah no so we just talked about the importance of making sure that all students um have access to grade level content um instead of just trying to teach the whole group where maybe only a few students are. um making sure that that whole group instruction is grade level appropriate. Uh setting high expectations which starts with administration all the way down um to our teachers and instructional assistants to make sure that students know what is
009expected and that comes from the top. um making sure that our lessons are engaging um students are you know thinking critically and using those higher order questions to develop content and then making sure that all instruction is strong um for all students and that includes all of our subgroups. Um there was a a lot of emphasis on students with special needs, our English language learners um and just making sure that all kids have access to all four of those things. And I'll point out this didn't come up in the discussion, but in my career as a teacher, I I just I didn't look at standards. I just taught what I wanted to teach. Now, people would say, "Well, you're a good teacher." Students were highly motivated, but I was not a cog in the gear
010for what the whole system was supposed to be doing. And so when my students were tested, uh, they were not tested on things I should have been teaching that year. And that's something we're worried about in the uncertified teachers, but even our certified teachers, the teachers don't understand the goals of the system and what we're trying to do. Um, we do we have slippage and what we should be trying to do. Uh, the third point was staff development. We talked about not only top down, but I understand Rosemont did this. You all told me ask the teachers where do you feel you're weak? But we do not want to see uh centralization. We want to see customized practices for professional development so that you're developing a program to uh help meet the needs of the
011classroom rather than the perceived needs of the uh hierarchy there. So these were our three points. I hope I have a little group down. That's a good job. I hope your greenhouse is only tricky because you know I'm trying to be a good I'm used to go last. So, um it was a great morning with our group. Um we had um Mrs. Clapner, Mr. Barney, and Mrs. Miss Bles, sorry, we had representation of second head in primary. So, it's great to get their perspective in the past uh four years. This is the first time we've really had a board retreat in a while. pats um that we really like delve into academics and really got to the root of um how we can really better the district in itself and just really just focus on
012academics. So really our big three the gains are being made but they're not big enough um with Dr. Sax being its first year really it's um real focus on academics really made um us as a board think and having this is just digging more deep into the um trying to get through the root cause of how we can really improve our test force. Um, I don't know if she has to add anything to that. Great. Expectations, alignment, and accountability. Um, they're huge for us. Obviously, this creating clear expectations for staff, whether it's a perm sub, um, a veteran teacher, or someone that's coming back into the field. I'm just creating those expectations to um just whether it's uh that and then alignment um having the alignment with our different curriculums, different platforms, different softwares as
013well as alignment and professional development. um like I just said whe whether it's um like we're implementing the tier system of professional development to make sure that's a core piece um this upcoming year and then accountability um accountability for the teacher as well as central office staff and um school level administrators who are all accountable in this and it's a big um spotlight on us now. So we are very cognizant of that and we'll make sure that's continued moving forward. And then identifying the main thing which is obviously student achievement. That's why we're all here. That's our business. Our business of the school district is proficiency of our students. Make sure they're ready for the workforce outside of um their four walls after they graduate uh their high school days. I don't know if the
014any else wanted to add anything. We talked about a lot of things and it uh we talked about a lot of great things that aren't on here that are really making a difference. So I put on spotlight anything that we talked about. We talked about a lot of great things. It needs to be Mr. right now. [Music] Let's see if I learned anything from our great public speakers on our group. Had a principal, a administrator, a teacher. So, our three big ideas. I think one of the big things that we came up with was what we call the Berkeley way, which is um high expectations for everybody. Um, I really appreciate the fact that as board members be able to take part in this training because a lot of times I would come here and
015there trains going on. I walk by I'm like, "Hey, what's going on in there?" Like it seems sort of interesting, but being able to take part helps us to learn because we're not in the midst of everything. We hear things, but being able to learn this process is really helping us to uh better serve the community and better serve the staff. Uh, so we want to promote high expectations for everyone. We don't want our staff uh to not push our students and we don't want our administrators not to push the staff to be their very best. Uh we want our students to be pushed not just from us as administrators and staff but also we like to talk to the community and let the parents know we need you to push your students as well.
016Um I know one of the big things we always say is every student can learn. They do learn. They they either learn I don't have to work as hard or I will have to work hard. So we want to make sure that they learn in life. You're going to have to work hard if you want to achieve things. Uh we want to get to standard based curriculum with transparent transparent grading with that. What we want is something universal or common rubric. I don't want the way that I teach in grade like the A and my room but if they go to the next teacher's room see. So we want to have some type of commonality within all the grade level instruction so that everyone knows okay that a that was earned no matter what classroom
017that you're in. Um we wanted to be transparent in terms of communicating with their parents because uh at BC a lot of students are getting A's but then they go to college and are taking video classes. We want them to know what you're getting is at the highest level. So you you've earned what you what you've done the work that you put in. And we want to be purposeful and intentional with our uh our PD. We want them to be embedded throughout schools throughout the year. Um and so that teachers can feel that there something worthwhile. It's not a waste of my time. That something that's really going to help me that I can implement now throughout the year to help to educate our students. Uh, one of the big things I think I also
018appreciated about the training was just in the very beginning talking about literacy and learning and how we some of us from a young age love to read and others it was struggle but hearing that different differences in that um really helped me improve my empathy in terms of understanding and we see how students that don't fulfill that have the ability to read at a high level what we generally call problems in the classroom may not be the control makers trying to keep from being embarrassed. But we want to try to uplift those students and help them to gain not only the ability to read the words, but understand proper context. And as we said, read past the headlines, get it done. So, thank you. was found. Oh, that see how it is. I didn't know
019that we were in a competition, but okay. Uh I thought we were all in this together, Mr. Right. Except this none of them in our room. So, um so I I I do want to share that um in our group um they had the emotional board member um and of course I started crying and then it helped others start to cry and so Dr. Woods had to graciously go over to the HR department and grabbed tissues. Um, so that was a great a great um story I wanted to to share with everybody. We we we definitely u not only collaborated, but we b bonded together. And I can't tell you from the bottom of my heart. Um, and I hope I'm I hope when I say this that every board member feels the same way.
020This was such an exceptional experience. you hear it and you see it from the other side of the window when we're walking past, but to be a part of it. This has been amazing. So, I thank every single one of you for showing up and and giving your all. So, um three takeaways that we did was raise and define expectations from the boardroom to the classroom. And I said from the boardroom to the classroom when I prompted um this particular one in our group um was because as board we we do in we do impact the classroom. We do impact the community. Um and so raising that expectation of even ourselves within the community to show them how we are working with you, helping you, trying to support you and their students um you know
021succeed. That's that's a huge thing. And we did discover that there weren't necessarily an any expectations that teachers and staff had and and administrators really had and it was kind of like either unspoken or really not really clearly defined. So we needed to define those for you guys. We need to define it for ourselves. We needed to define it, you know, help have help facilitate the administration here and define it not just for themselves but then also for you guys. Um and then that then carries into the kids. what are the expectations for the kids and raising those raising that bar. Um we read a statistic that when the bar was risen kids rise, you know, rose to the occasion. So let's do that. And then clear and supported instructional guidelines that includes accountability. So
022this is where it was okay, you're only a good teacher and with the resources and the support that you're given and then the knowledge that you're given. So how do we help you? How do how do we give you clear and supported information, instructional guidelines that help produce that accountability piece that ends up meeting those defined expectations. And then the last one was why is what you do matters? We need to have that why defined and each of us can have a different why as to why we do it which is probably what prompted a lot of our tears in the very beginning. Um but at the end of the day that plays that actually plays a role in the literacy journey. not over not only for our county but all of our kids. Um
023each of us have a journey, a literacy journey. And so we need to need to look at that why. And it's not just for us as a staff and and board. It's for our parents too. What's their why? And how do we get that to where there's buy in? Getting that emotional piece. These are good facts, but then how do we get that emotional piece? Because I think if you marry the two, you're going to end up getting huge success. So those are our three t takeaways. And I think we might have beaten Mr. Right. I don't know. But I'm hoping that we partnered well on that. Miss, it is your turn. Well, um, Mr. wasn't in my group. However, he critic me for talking too much. I'm not going to do talking. I'm ask
024people that were in my group for help. Mr. Billy was in there, Mr. novel and kindergarten teacher from and your name for already. Caleb. Yes, that's right. Uh, our big three takeaways and big ideas was curriculum alignment standards based on instruction and we did a lot we had a lot of discussion on that but I think Mr. Dilly can probably explain that better or Mr. as well. Yeah, I can talk a little bit about So, the biggest thing is just making sure our curriculum, our our our core instruction is aligned with what we're seeing as objectives and and our standards and making sure our teachers are are aligning those things and getting that across to our to our students and making sure we're getting the correct instruction. And then the next high expectations for all
025students and the belief that they can do grade level work. When we give students the expectation that, oh, you're down here on this grade level, well, why are they going to try to go uh up to the next grade level? Because they don't feel that they can. And maybe somebody else can explain that a little better because you're you are in that field. But we have to teach to beyond what they believe in themselves because they can all get there. If we believe in them, they're going to believe in themselves and go above farther. And for too long we have not been doing that. So this is a chance for us to change the culture and uh the best things are yet to come. Stakeholder engagement, early frequent communication. And that was a biggie for
026us because uh I probably had a little different take on that. What I think is going on as far as communication versus how maybe we can communicate better with parents. Uh we all feel sometimes that everybody uh and if you're in the school facility, you know better than um someone on the outside that many parents have two or three jobs. they don't have an opportunity to even see their children in the evening or uh look at emails or um maybe that uh not to get a parent or teacher call or but but communicate with those individuals better so that when if a student is retained or going to be retained that it's not a shock in January when they would get a call or let's not have them retained. has worked with these parents earlier
027in the in the school year to uh allow them to know what their child what grade level their child's on, what they need help in, what's what's best for them. So, the more communication we could have with them, the better. So, and early and often questions. Mr. Wright, did you want to critique? Well, and I will add to all of what everybody else said. This is one of the best experiences that I've witnessed in my career. Um, I've did a lot of breakout sessions over time with the department of edit and over the years, but this was a great opportunity for us as board members to share with all of you and get your feedback because sometimes we only hear negative feedback or uh the blame game going on and we have to stop that.
028Uh, we have to start a different culture and I think it starts today and we can just move forward and only do better. So, thank you all. I love how all of these were combined in some way. All of them have reference, you know, every single one that it references the expectations. It it it mentioned the accountability, the alignment. Yeah. It mentions, you know, um getting to that place where we are doing something with purpose. And I I just I I love seeing that common theme throughout all of these. I don't know if any other board members saw that. I I think it's important we talk about this a lot. I have to get past the the point of um we talked about this that that everybody gets a trophy and that we are uh
029we have to make everybody feel good because um you know they they have a hard life at home or and and many of these kids do. They don't know where the next rule means coming. But when we give trophies out that's not deserved or we we're going for more harm than good. So we we have to get past that point and start a new I I love one of the quotes and I'm going to and I know I'm going to um kind of steal somebody's thunder but with with this one, but it's this it's on all of us, not just teachers, to give students better school experiences that that that set them up for success. We all want our kids to succeed and I think that's it's on all of us and I love that,
030you know, everybody here was included and um it it this was amazing. I love it and I hope all of you felt the same that you got something out of this and that it was worthwhile and and and it was worthwhile to be involved with their board in a positive way. you lost faith through this work. Well, thank you board members. Um at this time, I'm going to turn the floor over to um our deputy superintendent of instruction leadership, Dr. Woods, who is going to share with you some high impact um instructional practices that, you know, we're hoping that will help us carry forward with some planning. Um, and I think that that uh the the morning's session and debrief will give greater context to why these are so important than um getting your input.
031And then after he finishes, what we're going to try to do is is uh create a shared vision uh and belief statement for Berkeley County Schools based upon those big ideas that um and the takeaways that we just had. And so we'll be prepared to share that here shortly, too. So, uh Dr. Woods, take it away. Thank you, Dr. Sex. Thank you, members of the board. I hope Thank you. So, um like I said, I just want to echo what what Dr. S said earlier, um thank you all for engaging with us this morning. Um for all the participants of the board, um as we we go about this journey of of working towards high literacy for all of our students, right? No matter if we're talking about our prek, kindergarten babies all the way
032up to our seniors getting ready to graduate and go off into the world. Um, we all play a collective part and it is so refreshing for me as someone who's what, seven weeks in right now in Berkeley County just to hear that a collective commitment from everybody. Um, so now we get to the part of how do we engage this work, right? What what are we doing in our schools? what is the support that my team is going to help provide um our our amazing uh school leaders and our and our teachers and then what are those practices that we expect to to to see go back go back um sorry I have my clicker so when we we talk about um literacy we're really kind of getting to the root of what is high
033quality instruction what is high quality instruction in general and what is high quality instruction that we expect to see in Berkeley County schools when we go into any classroom, any content, any grade. So, one of the things that that my team um in alignment with Dr. Sax's vision is really start to piece together and think about how do we help accelerate that work? How do we help provide the conditions for learning and how do we do that in a way that we support and elevate the great work that we're already seeing to where we need it to be. So, we've come up with this theme uh purpose, power, practice. that and it's really just rooted around this belief of how do we ensure that every child receives highquality grade level instruction that unlocks their limitless
034potential and as we do that we can then accomplish that goal when we talk about highquality literacy. Um but to get to high quality literacy there are certain steps that we as a collective have to all embrace and put into place. Okay. So, and as we have these conversations throughout the the school year, um my team and I, we have tried to break it down in a way where it's it's very digestible to our staff, but then they also can kind of see from the district level how we're moving to support everybody. So, when we say purpose, power, practice, we have it broken down into these kind of three categories. Um, purpose is where we're making sure that we have clear goals aligned to student success. Um, when we talk about that power, how do
035we leverage these high impact practices across all instruction to kind of see that impact that we're looking for? And then the practice piece is how does it become a daily? How does it start becoming like clockwork? How is it that the kids just know how to respond to us? When like our teachers, how they just know how to kind of jump into these actions and it feels like riding the bike. When we think about from the building administrator level, how do principles kind of know, hey, when I'm walking into classrooms, this is what I need to look for. This is the kind of support I need to provide. And all of that synergy is all taking place or whatnot. So, it comes down to these five high impact practices. Um, but specifically, we're just going
036to focus on the first four because they're going to lead us right into that fifth one that we talked about literacy. And these are these these foundational um practices. Now, um for some of the folks I think here who actually attended Skills U yesterday and actually said the sessions, I actually already did an overview of some of this stuff with with some of our teachers. the team knows, I'll provide them with overview. Even the principles at the U most recent PR principal meeting, we had conversations about it because we all want to make sure that we're all moving collectively in the same um path with the same goals and same intentions to increase literacy. So, the first practice is when we talk about curriculum alignment with standards, making sure that the conversations um and I
037I love what you said earlier, Mr. therapy. Um, making sure that when we are starting the conversation about instruction, we're starting the conversation based off the standards, starting off the standards. What are the standards saying? How is that guiding what I should be doing? And then then making that progression over into our curriculum now starting to look at my curriculum and say, okay, how is that standard? How does that need to be addressed? and how is the curriculum helping me bring that standard to life? How would I'm actually now breaking down the actions that it says within that standard? So, if the standard is telling me to explain something, it's telling me to analyze something or identify something. Okay, now I have a better idea and I have a solid idea of where I need
038to start my instruction and where I need to take it when I get to the end of my assessment. Okay, that ties directly into the second practice. Well, now that I've got a good understanding of my standards, I see that clear alignment with my curriculum. Okay, so now how am I crafting that performance-based objective for my students? That objective lets me know where I'm taking kids in my lesson. It lets the child know what I should be doing in my lesson. And then as like myself, even if Dr. Sachs, your administrators, your colleagues walk in your classroom. We can all have the same conversation. This is what I should be saying. Then when we're crafting those objectives, there's two things that we're going to keep in mind. What the content is and what's the action
039that should be displayed. Well, we go to the third one. Well, now that we once again, we have our standards. We now dived into our curriculum. We make sure it's aligned. We have our high quality objective. Well, now we need to make sure that we have providing opportunities for kids to actually understand the words we're putting in front of them and we need to make sure that they have clear and consistent um working operational definitions of those terms. And that is critically important because when we talk about when our students take the GSAs, when they take the PSAT and SAT, words have meanings and the way they're being assessed on those words have a consistent meaning. So, we need to make sure that we properly set our students up for success. When we dive into
040practice four, student independence through inquiry and gradual release, how are we constantly displaying actions and constantly using strategies that takes it from what we know to where the kid knows where we take it from what we know and we gradually go through these different strategies to make sure that the child knows. and then the student can say it back to us or write it back to us, however we decide to assess them. When we've mastered these four things, that's when we have a solid foundation to see how that literacy is going to take place because that's when we talk about high impact in high impact structural practice. Five, the integration and reduction of original work. So now our students are able to take a variety of different sources and when I say, "Hey, I need
041you now to write an informative piece activity." Okay, I can do that. Or I say, um, I need you to take these variety of sources and craft an appendum from it. Okay? And not only can they craft and say it to us, but now they can write it to us. So now we're taking them to the highest level of bloom that we can because now they're creating and synthesizing for us. So this is a very very quick overview. I know the principles and some of the folks skills you know we dive really really deep into those just briefly. Um but this is the work that um my team and I are committed to this this this year in alignment with that vision to bring u high quality instruction and high quality literacy to all of
042our students. um within these practices um the the the principles already know they kind of got a dose of it. We're already crafting out for the year what that professional development is going to look like. So our professional development throughout the year is going to be wrapped around these five practices and the principles um and also in our conversations with teachers are going to help us kind of gauge where is the capacity at? Where are we at as a district on the capacity? How are we able to kind of start scaling between these practices um to make sure that everybody um is aligned? Well, our principles were all of our principles at Skillsu. Oh, at the principal meeting. I'm sorry. So, when will they have professional development or an opportunity? they'll have an opportunity at
043the beginning of the year when school starts before school starts to work with their staff on what is expected um from your practices so um at our various instructional meetings that we'll have monthly for the principles what we're going to do is we're going to um essentially dive into to each one depending on depending on the month we're also going to provide them with working examples to be able to share back with their with their teachers, but then also provide them what we're calling um instructional supervision strategies. So now that you know you you have a very firm explanation of it, we provided you with multiple examples of how you can lead the conversations within your respective buildings, but we're also going to give you strategies on now how you actually go about monitoring them
044and to kind of assess, am I seeing what I should be seeing? um cuz that will then help kind of inform the work that myself and the team does monthly as we're checking in. Um and as it relates to the specific school, one of the things we did u recently at the last excuse me at the most recent principal meeting is we actually provided them with what we called a professional development uh template and it was a rubric where we actually listed out the five practices. when I went in depth through them and I know some of the principles didn't understand that then I said okay what we're making was the professional development that you're planning and how you're thinking about how you know the needs of your teachers show us where it aligns to
045these we can help you make the connection but tell us where you you see these things evident or where you might say hey I think as a collective my teachers might struggle here but maybe not here And then they're getting that that information back to to my executive directors and myself. So then even though we are going to be monthly going through these almost like it's a tier one approach, we we can really kind of dial in and say, "Okay, what specifically do you need at church school? Where are you seeing the biggest need?" And then that's why conversations myself with our academic specialists and our as others, we can really favor the support that they need. Dr. uh Dr. was I also think that it's important that there's some context around you know these
046five highru high high impact instructional practices you know we're going to be clearly communicating this at the onset of the year but the support around these five practices are also going to be gradual release themselves yes so them a teacher a teacher being able to implement all five things in the beginning of August is is a little unrealistic so we want to be able to scaffold We want to gradually release this this with expectation and with with uh support mechanisms for administrators and for teachers. And so this is a process by which it will be, you know, um, uh, modeled and supported because one of my concerns is, uh, the uncertified staff, it's going to be more difficult for them to grasp some of that than maybe someone that has certified in the area. So
047they're going to need much more in-depth practice. Yes, ma'am. So for example um we've actually already started having the conversations with the principles about what some of these tools are going to look like. So to give you an idea one of the things when we talk about um those action verdicts. So when we we're talking and having explicit conversations about hey you need to be um standards based instruction when you look at for example um all of your uh different content so English math science history kids are always explaining they're always analyzed and they're always identifying uh the team we've actually started to craft like a one or two pager of all those action verbs that you find in all the standards and we're actually going to make them available to all administrators to all
048of the teachers to all the long-term subs. So then as they're talking to kids in live time, I have an anchor to go to and say like it means this. So for example, um when you were talking about how we would scaffold, Dr. s would say to scaffold these um practices in the updated walkthrough form, we'll all have the same walkthrough form now. So then I can literally bounce into any school and if the teachers know, hey, we've had we've started the conversations about practice one and two and the principles have pushed this out. Even when they see someone like me come in there, they know I'm just providing support around this conversation. like I'm not even going to judge you or try to mark you down on this because we haven't provided that PD
049yet. We haven't structured that support. Um, and it'll be good because it will provide myself, the team, the administrators, colleagues, since all of us are looking for some of the same things, we can actually be able to provide even more support because more folks can go in because we all have the same type of tool. So, those are just a couple different resources to to kind of help answer. We we have some things we've been working on, but what we've tried to do is make sure that we um support principles first and show them what these tools are. So then that way when we unveil them out, for example, to all the teachers and they have questions, they can go to their principal and say, "Hey, so explain this to me. I got a couple
050questions." They can kind of help lead that conversation. I think for Dr. I was just going to say I think this actually ends up clearing up a lot of confusion that have existed between different teachers, different schools, different classrooms. I think this is going to end up clearing up some of that confusion, providing good hard definitions and stuff that that to your point, words do have a consistent meaning. Um, and sometimes my perspective can skew how I look at a word and then implement it. So, thank you for helping provide like a level playing field. I would say a level understanding of what book is being driven. I like it. This looks good. Well, I think the other thing is is that it does put, you know, uh again, I think what you're hearing though
051is that there's different levels of responsibility in this um release of of expectation. So, you know, the the principles that the, you know, chief instructional leaders that are building, they're getting this information and we know that we're focusing on, you know, curriculum alignment with standards during this time frame. And the responsibility then becomes for the principal to be able to again articulate that to their staff and the expectation of their staff, the modeling for their staff, the um uh walkthroughs, you know, to to ensure that it's occurring. to when we have our instructional rounds and we're looking and we see that, you know, we're in a we're in a classroom and it's not occurring. Well, is that a teacher is that a teacher problem or is that the school as a schoolwide, you know, instructional
052leadership, you know, concern that it hasn't been it hasn't been communicated, articulated or or the expectation hasn't been set up so that we know at what level is the breakdown so that we can help provide greater level support. Um and and there'll be areas where it's not a gotcha, but it is definitely a a um uh I would say um pressure, you know, consistent pressure applied over time to make sure that these things are being done and that there will be checks to make sure that we're doing what we say and we say what we mean. Um because these all of these things um are are researchbased and again they're of high impact and we know that they're going to make a very strong difference when implemented consistently with and with fidelity across Berkeley County
053schools. questions. The question I have is um uh articulated here. Um we're not we're going to have a transition here. The way we've been doing it talking about the scaffolding which to the audience is not scaffolding means that we have different levels of performance in the classroom. The teacher may be doing teaching today whose groups individually for example in our testing we have students who are one level a year behind level two years level. So those levels from the scaff help explain. Yeah, I'm sorry. What what I mean to clarify, I apologize. When I'm talking about scaffolding, I'm talking about when we say as a as a district that kind of intensive support that we're saying, hey, you're going to hear me um you know, beating on the drums like, "Hey guys, here's how myself,
054other members of my team, the academic specialists, how when you see us in your buildings, we're going to make sure that we have a collective um um um attainment of this practice." So that way what I mean Mr. is when we consistently go into different rooms, we're always seeing this. there's no type of drop off and then as we have all that support there we can gradually as a district talking about that kind of support but that doesn't mean that we don't see these things or or or um and I make sure I hope the audience and everybody on the camera do that doesn't mean like okay um the only thing the teacher is going to be talking about day one is is my standard aligned to the curricul as we think about how to
055properly scale the support from here and make sure that we do it with fidelity and consistency. So then we can look you all in the eye, can look Dr. Sax and I and say, "Hey, as a collective, we now putting these things in place to take us to that vision that you all like us to have of high quality instruction and literacy at Roll." But okay, that's my that's my question. We're talking about high level instruction, but um we were talking about the staging stagnant of our of our expectations. We're just kind of staying 40%. What I what I was listening to in our group is how many are on level and are we going to be in the future saying okay teachers you're going to teach on level and what are we going to
056do with those students who are below level and and and then of course our discussion we said well the third grade success act says we're going to have a lot of retentions so so uh what happened after we've retained end of the year or will it be a good retention or a poor retention? What are we going to do in this crossover of trying to raise the level to of our teachers meeting the curriculum standards alignment the performance-based instruction which to me as I sit here reading it says that fourth graders are going to be expected to be working or third graders are going to expect to be working on third grade or you're going to repeat the third grade and that's going to be a new concept in the school system. But aside all
057those uh alternatives, you know, we were talking exemptions. Yeah. The these these these escape routes or people can run around the the expectation, but just talking about the students who are staying there who do not meet up to those standards. How how are we what are we going to do with them? Are we just going to move them along? Of course not. But we're going to try to have support. But what if they don't reach those standards and they're two years behind the grade level? They're not going to sit there and meditate in the classroom while you're trying to teach the rest of students. I think I think you you you bring up a lot of good points, but I think for us to really engage in that that conversation and and look at like,
058okay, we need to talk about those kids. We have to make sure are we when we step into a third grade classroom, are we consistently following third grade standards? And even if I struggle and I I have a reading deficiency, I know that that objective I see on the board is aligned to that grade level standard. So even though now I'm really speaking to the educators for him. So even though I know Matt is struggling, that expectation and that standard isn't going to change. I we have to figure out how do we get Matt there? How do I scaffold from where Matt's at to that standard? So I'm not going to use kid-friendly language. I'm not rechanging the objective. I might say something uh kid or student friendly, but I'm still going back to that
059proper definition like what the words actually mean because what we we have to consistently do is remember at the end of the day the standard is the standard and then the way it's assessed you know if you want to jump around GSA SATs whatever it is that is always going to remain the consistent the standard. So when we collectively all know that every day, every classroom, every content, we're following that standard to drive our instruction. That by virtue is going to raise the rig. That by virtue is going to make kids come up to those expectations. Now, as they start to fall a little short, that's when we start walking through these other strategies. like how do we consistently bring students to where we need to be? But most importantly, when we get down and
060talk about literacy, how do we then take them to the next level? How do we take them to take that ownership and be able to read and write at such a level that they can actually convey their emotions um and what they're learning to us at a high quality rate. Dr. uh Woods, I'd like to ask first of all, I think you did a fantastic job explaining that, but I would also like to ask um Dr. green with the children's literacy initiative how they think about approaching that that that concern and that issue and do it's all it's all recorded. Yep. I I want to know can I stay right here in my seat or do do I need to approach the uh it's your preference. Okay, I'll stay here. Okay. Um I do believe
061that the district will also need to develop a framework. I am all for I'll be the first person to set up you need to teach grade level but I'm also a realist that you have many levels of students in your classroom and so by building a framework there will be a time that yes every student should have access to level work but every student should also be able to have access to work in which they can independently be successful. So that might you need to develop a framework. Well, how do you do small group instruction? Small group instruction could be your opportunity to delve into where that student really is. You're in third grade, but you technically are functioning as a first grader. So during small groupoup time there may be students who have similar
062um skill deficits that you bring them together to support those students and making sure that you have other independent um level work that the other students can be working on. Uh then you you have a tiered system. You have tier one instruction, tier two, tier three. But as I've shared with Dr. Sachs and he knows I've not backed away from this. Your professional development has to support the educators who need to work in a complicated framework as such to ensure that you're giving every student every opportunity to meet grade level expectation. So you brought up Scaffolding is very much I liken it to how do you ride learn how to ride a bicycle? Uh my father put me on the bicycle, said do this. And he stood behind me as I was doing that. And
063then he said, "Now you're ready for training wheels." And so I got training wheels. And then when I was ready, they took the training wheels off. I could ride a bicycle. The standard of riding the bicycle never changed. But what my father did was scaffold me to when I could meet that standard. And teachers want to do that, but if they're not trained on how to do that, that's why you need customized professional development. You need professional development that's going to meet the needs of those teachers. Your third grade teachers are going to need professional development to meet that new legislation you all have and how to support students who are a number a year, two years behind grade level. But the goal should still be all students get access to on grade level because
064if they don't you guarantee that they will not be successful. Just just a comment aside from what you just said u in the groups we had the private groups we had facilitators from your group helping us which was a philosophy. So I want to make sure that's Thank you. I I just want to ask um and maybe this isn't a popular statement, but I also worry about as we're trying to implement that this and roll this out and to be successful and to get buy in from everybody that we give staff adequate time and just don't throw it out there and um you know, okay, you're on your own and um you got to do this the best way you can, but that they have enough time to develop and that they understand exactly what
065it is they're are supposed to do because we do not have enough PD. Well, we have PD at the beginning of the year, but also the lines are on everything else. They're trying to get the classroom ready and kids are coming in. So, um, we're going to do all this at the beginning of the year. Not all of it because I know it's going to be, uh, scaffold out. Um, look at y'all using all this. I'm so proud of you. I know. I got it. Yeah, I think I think I I heard the conversation, you know, at least in our group that some of these concepts that you are introducing us to today have already started yesterday in in the skills view. So there there were some some already some conversations that have already gotten
066started. And I think that one of the things I've loved about our county is that while there have been a lot of people who um say they, you know, that we're not giving them the right stuff, those are also the same people that are hungry enough. They're they're hungry for it. And if you're hungry for it, you're going to absorb it like a sponge. And so I I think I think our county is primed. If I'm and I'm and administrators, please speak up and tell me if I'm speaking out of turn. I feel like our teachers are primed. Our staff is primed. They're ready. They are hungry for this. They want this. This has been sorely lacking. And the fact that we're even having conversations about it. I think there's some anxious positive anxious. When
067I say anxious, I'm positive anxious, chomping at the bit almost to get as much of this information as they can so that they can start looking at this and working on it. I think those are those are the the things I'm hearing. I don't know. Again, correct me if I'm wrong. Um, but I think our staff are going to be good. I think the the part that is going to be a little bit hard is getting into it and then sticking to it. Sometimes sticking to it is this yucky part because you can get into it, you can be excited and then when the rubber meets the road, how how does it actually work and implement? How can we continue to support? I think that's probably where my bigger question comes in. How do we
068help you as a board? How do we help you guys support them? Well, I think and I if you if you will, I just want to share what I think your concern is and that is that on when we when we roll out our expectations um with the with the framework and and uh curriculum maps and those sort of things at the beginning of the year that are all aligned to what we're talking about. There is not an expectation from my part that there is a 100% proficiency or compliance on day one. Right? That's not realistic. Well, that I that part I understand. Okay. What I what I want to to ensure is that we know there's it's not going to be 100%. We're not going to put this out there and it's going to
069be rolled out right away. It might be rolled out, but in dribbles, that's not a very nice word, but you know what I mean. In spurt. Uh but I but is there going to be adequate time when we roll it out for them to grasp it uh for them to have some PD that they're not rushed because they have to take bloodborne pathogens and uh 16 other things that they doing online. You see what I'm saying? He wrote all that out to them at one time so I could say on blood. I was just going to give you an example like what uh Lewis and I would be doing our academic specialists are aims. So if we go into a classroom all any any of us go in and we see on the board um
070students will um learn literary terms. That's a very broad vague um content standard. So what we would like to see is students will be able to um identify personification and show examples of personification and then what Dr. Green was saying they would be in different groups and they might learn alliteration in this group and have examples and be able to express it personification in this group. And those are the types of things that dig deep down you hear rigor and and um you know deeper thinking that's what that is. we're scratching the surface a lot. So, if we all go in and we we can at least start that change with the content standards and then how they're teaching it, it'll go all the way down to his five practice. And I see this as
071coaching more than anything else. I see it as But we're all going to be saying the same thing whether it's me, Lewis, Dr. Woods, an AIM, an academic specialist, and we can target those areas to help it roll out like you're saying and not throw it all at one time. when will they get those expectations and um when will they have an opportunity besides when you all come into the classroom to uh focus more on what they're doing right and wrong instead of just maybe a principal has had a um a faculty meeting with them or met with them you know an hour uh in a PD um session to go over all this you see what I'm trying to say I'm not getting problem. I know, but it's worth the time. Yeah, worth the
072time. The time, I'll be honest, the time. That is one of the reasons why we're going to have to lean on the the principles and that's actually one of the reasons why some of the principles know in here when we had our recent principles meeting and we went through these expectations even though I think um for everybody in the district, you know, you got the email from me earlier where I just said, "Hey, here are the expectations. Here's how the theme's going to be." But inhouse and when I say in-house in your respective building that's really going to be going to I think what some of the groups had talked about a very tailored approach because you know if you're in one school your planet might look different than the school over here. So we
073are trying to be uh cognizant of that and think about how we deploy those resources. But I think one of the biggest things, Miss Long, I think that's really going to help us is as we now have a a unified walkthrough tool that now that in live time, anybody can essentially any administrator can go into any classroom and for the teachers, you're going to get the same feedback about whatever practice that we're that we're on looking for. And I think that's very powerful because, you know, speaking as an educator, a lot of times we're just in silos. Like, yeah, when I was a classroom teacher, I can count on one hand how many times people came in there to actually coach me up. I can tell you all the time somebody was coming there to
074look for something wrong. But for when someone came in there to say like, "Hey, man, I'm just coming in. I'm still observing. I'm going to give you feedback, but I'm just observing just to talk about this practice." and then you might see Holly come in the same thing. So, I think that alone is is going to help raise that capacity and hopefully break down some barriers where folks will will be they'll open their doors to different folks coming in there where it won't feel like a gotcha. It'll feel like, okay, I might have only gotten 40 minutes of this at a faculty meeting, but now I'm actually having five or six people who are coming in to provide me that support on it. It's going to help me pick it up a little quicker. I
075I just want our teachers u to feel like that everybody's there to try to help them and not only willing to be critical because they didn't grasp it as far as the teacher did as well as the teacher did next door. So because it it's definitely a culture change for our system which I think this board was wanted and girls needed. U so Mr. I look forward to it and I hope they do too. Mr. Murphy has the uh um one of one of the thing practices I I've noticed in Dr. Sax is change is changing is it seemed like as a board we didn't find out about the GSA scores till October or so uh in the past and now I know they have to go through and comb out all the people are
076less than 135 days and all this but we're getting your your people looking at the data and and I know that you've caught a lot of flack but not a lot but some focus flack about the devices going on both and and your purpose there is to get the diagnosis earlier of the students capability but the principles I think now are going through and looking at the scores of the students and their shortcomings and and Mr. laws. Uh you I'd like to invite you to add something here. The teachers will not have as many. Could you talk about the grouping of the students and and I I I was talking to another principal, I think. Well, actually, I'm going to defer. I I I know she's been waiting to say something and I wanted her
077to say it. And also, I think you would be a better one to talk about clustering than than me because we did a training during our instructional meetings. We're really trying to use our instructional means when we pull the principles to come in that they can go back to their school and they can be a better instructional leader. So we've been doing things and and we do spend the time with our ready and doing the diagnostics but utilizing that data to not only just serve our students needs but to also meet our teachers needs and we we just did a training on that and I know the principles have utilized this in a way that we actually asked them to. So Christa, would you like to experiment on that? Yeah. So, we're we're trying to
078use our I Ready data to look at data driven rostering instead of just mixed groupings of students because what happens in the past like you know we might look and see that we had five I don't know 15 kids that were two grade levels below on diagnostic and we would split those kids up evenly across all classrooms. Then we might have 25 kids that are above grade level and we would split those kids up. So then you have teachers that are teaching from here to here in their classroom and they're trying to fill in all of those gaps in between. So with the data driven rostering, we're trying to cluster our students more so that their needs are more targeted for the teachers so that instead of teaching from here to here, they're closing that
079window. And that's going to provide better supports for the students, but also limit the number of differentiated groups that the teachers have to teach. So instead of doing six groups on six different levels, they may only have to do three. So they're cutting that time in half and they're meeting those kids closer to where they are to close that gap. That is not tracking because tracking is whenever you like I have the high kids or I have the low kids. It's not that you have a you might have a high group. Closing that though, you might have two groups of middle and then you might have a a lower group that you're working and they might this might have a phonics focus. And so as a teacher, you're really doing three preps in for that
080small group instruction, not five or six or or kids that don't fit and you're just trying to pull one in, then you're not meeting their that kids needs. So it's really taking our data and being strategic when we're placing kids in classrooms. Barb, you and what I just going to go a little bit back to what you were asking about if time and Mrs. Boils is here with me so I she can help speak with this too. But we um we have been very intentional at Jurtown how we uh bring back those things from the instructional meeting. So my vision was um how to incorporate that. So we go to I go to the instructional meeting and share some of these high impact strategies that bring it back to school and then we meet in
081our weekly we I I meet with each of my grade level teams weekly and we talk about instructional strategies and we tie that to the data and so before we left the school year uh we we already have looked at the data for how they're going to enter into the school year. So Mrs. spoils kind of we don't have everything of course ironed out yet because we're still scheduling but we already have an idea of what it's going to look like how we're going to be able to um scaffold you know the the data and make sure that the instruction is presented in a way that the teachers can feel effective just coming in and then we're going to support with each of those meetings so when I come back and share then we'll share
082more And uh I didn't put you on the spot there. Yeah. No, it's just nice to be able from a teacher perspective to be able to have time to think like I have all summer to think about that and where I'm going to go with that and run through without. So I appreciate the opportunity to do that. And one of the things that they pointed out in I already with Ready is saying if you're utilizing the data in that way, the first thing you have to do and they told the principles, you have to talk to the teachers. the teachers have to be willing to look at that data to take on that task of that group or that collective of of students and then start to focus their instruction and if they were not
083willing then then you're wasting your time by doing all this they'd be the clustering of the students but the question I have for the principles who there's going to be changes are you communicating via email to your princ we did it this way but this we're going to do this so they're ready for it or at least have a bit conversations before they left. Um, and I a lot of our staff obviously is going to skills you so they're hearing it in real time as well. But I also I know some of my teachers they like to over plan and I don't also don't want them worrying all summer about it. So we're sending it out in spurts as we need to. But I think the important thing is is that good instruction is good
084instruction. they're not going to be changing a lot of what they're doing. It just might be a little tweak here or there with what they're doing. And and yes, it might be uncomfortable and a little messy at first, but that's kind of where the magic happens when you step outside of that comfort zone. So, I think um I think it's going to be good. And I know Rachel's here and she's excited about the changes. So, I think I think it's going to be good. stuff. I'd also say that we also have um some opportunities for some of our schools that let's say have higher populations of perm subs um have had higher retention or a teacher retention issues. Let's say that they are are a tier three school that they've had a harder time in
085being able to improve that there are also opportunities to lean in on CLI for some additional support for those schools. And um I I hope that that's something that we can consider because I think that they bring a wealth of knowledge and and that'll be some embedded support also for us um for again those academic specialists, our leadership team, our as so on and so forth. So we have some consistency throughout the year too and we have had that had that group to lean in on. Dr. Sachs, what what will I heard in my group the attendance from and and I know that uh Mr. Van Mater was working with the magistrates. Has there been one any followup when added to any conversation to try to put some more teeth into the attendance problem for
086those chronic absent students who are impacting their uh our county results? Well, I think that, you know, you're exactly right. You know, an absent student is, you know, it's hard to teach a student that's not in the classroom. And so, um, the short answer is is that we have hired that extra position which was helping with some of the backlog with the magistrates. So, that's that's that's one plus. Um but I'll also say that greater attention to supporting schools in um you know positive reinforcement around attendance and making sure parents are aware of the importance of attendance. Obviously our communities and schools program is very impactful in that regard and we're expanding it to five additional five you know five additional uh support folks. So, I think that we're trying to do a um we're
087trying to put more resources into improving attendance. And even this year, we we saw some many of our schools were having um a positive a stronger um attendance rate and a decreased chronic absentee rate. Um but to answer your question, have there been more teeth put into it? The short answer is no. But that'll be something that Dr. Woods and Mr. man lead me to continue to work toward with our magistrates. Other questions for M. Dr. Woods? Well, um, you have anything else? Um, yes. Actually, we're going to transition, right? Transition. I was transition. I'm sorry. You got to be quick up here, you know. Oh, I have. All right. Well, we'll transition now. Um, so, you know, like I said, we we've had great conversations today in the small groups. We came back as
088a collective. You all got to share out to uh to everybody else that that didn't get to hear your respective groups and also to the folks tuned in on your your takeaways and what we've been doing. So, I apologize if it looks like I haven't made it. I was actually trying to take note. We were the team and I were taking You're multitasking. We're multitasking. Okay. Um, of some of the things you said and what we tried to do is kind of plug it all together to kind of craft out what that that literacy statement will look like. Well, and and I think that you're you're exactly right, Dr. Woods. We wanted to be as efficient as possible. So, if you can actually if you can start at the top. I'm sorry. I want to
089start at the top because these are the the what I would say were three suggestions that we came up based upon the report outs that I I want to go over and then there's sort of a unifying statement that I would like to get your input on and see if this is something that we can all get behind. So um the first is is that we believe and this is again this is sort of a collection of things that that you all were each of the board members reported out to your groups from this morning. So, we believe that high expectations, clearly defined and consistently upheld from the boardroom to the classroom, are essential to unlocking every student's potential. Is that a statement that we can all get behind? Yes. Uh, number two, we believe
090that aligned standardsbased instruction, transparent grading practices, and embedded professional development are critical to ensuring equity and accelerating student achievement. We believe that everyone, educators, leaders, families, and community partners play a vital role in advancing literacy and academic success for all students. And so this unifying statement that we're suggesting here is in Berkeley County Schools, we believe that every student can achieve at high levels when our system from the boardroom to the classroom embraces clear expectations, aligned instruction, and shared commitment to excellence. By working together, providing standardsbased learning, meaningful professional development, and engaging every stakeholder in the literacy journey, we ensure that all students have the opportunity to succeed. Is there a word that we could place believe where? Because that's like we're not sure. Um for we believe. Yeah. Um how about we expect? Yeah.
091Well, it's something besides that. that we believe because I have heard that before when we've used the word um we believe that um it makes us feel like we're not sure but we think they think that we desire or something besides we believe that's something but that's just my opinion. Sure. I know we have um some chat GPTs. Is there is there another word for believe or what is it? Affirm. We affirm that every student maybe that's just me. Don't don't take it. No, that's why we're here. I want to make sure because we have tried to criticize what was saying and we'll have the opportunity we'll have the opportunity to we anticipate well maybe work on that or maybe just forget I brought it up in Empower, inspire, and empower. I was going to
092say, are you wanting an action word there? Yes. It would change. We could if I think we could change the word to an action word, but it it will change the it will change the the rest of it a little bit. Um, maybe I'm being agree. Yes, hold up. It is a belief statement. It is a belief statement. So agree make it more firm for you versus being a belief like we agree that this is that every student can do that. I thought about it. That every student will achieve high level was can can achieve. Yeah, that yes. There we go. Okay. Yeah, that's my Can we support that? Well, we have uh oh uh oh, here comes Pat. No, we have I I just think that we believe that but the students have to
093understand and their parents have to understand it. there's accountability, not a bracket in any behavior and everything else. And I I just I keep pointing out our vision statement doesn't have the word accountability in partic I I think you need to have a word accountability in accountability in here that that how about how about the second sentence by working together with families. uh and providing um [Music] accountable standards. Well, I'm just saying that that when we ask with families that that says that we have to engage families in this process. I I think you need that word accountability. Well, by working together with families and ensuring accountability by providing standards basically accountability. Well, that's just a long sentence. That's a long sentence. at the end by working together with families and sharing accountability by providing
094standard space learning. That's a long sentence. That's a long sentence. What if we put shared commitment with families? No. Shared three sentences. I'm I'm encouraging that we look at doing three different sentences instead of the two. And that second sentence needs to be broken up just a smidge here by working together with family. I just Yeah. I tell you what. How about we do this? How about How about we know We know that the components. Um, I I'll tell you what we'll do is is um we will we will address this and I will bring it back to the board on Monday um for your all's sort of blessing and and I'll have you vote on it and um and we'll come up with making sure there's accountability in there and yeah, we can do
095that for sure. The last one. Yeah. Okay. I I definitely want to make sure that we also keep the families in there too because that we need to make sure there's collective buy in. You don't say we leave a head at the bottom. You're going to say we bomb. I'm saying every want to believe in that when you say where we'll find of all things to do. Sorry. I'm sorry. We made such good progress there. So, we will we we we will take that input and put it together and we will we will limit or eliminate belief, but it will also make sure we have families and accountability in there for students. So, we'll we'll absolutely do that. Well, like I said once again, some kids believe in Santa and some kids don't. So, when
096you say we believe that we can or we we are or we're not. I believe in Santa. So, you said that and it's like superintendent. I believe in Santa. Yeah. I can I just say I I am very very thankful for CLI. You guys have come in. You guys have have critiqued us. You guys gave us information that kind of had us loving or hating you. We chose to love you. Um and I just want to say thank you for coming alongside us. Thank you. We appreciate that. Yes. I hope. All right. Thank you. Uh now can we uh Yes ma'am. move on to adjourn. Yes ma'am. There being no other business. May I have a motion to adjurnn? So move. Second. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Thank you.