Thanks for reading,

Jen

Curriculum Council met on November 11, 2024. While reviewing our current work plan, it became clear that one body of work that will support our ability to fully implement our Multi-Layered System of Supports is to seek clarity about the current state of the Educational Support Team (EST) process across our schools. We will then have a better understanding of how best to provide district coordination and oversight as we all work to ensure that we are consistently providing students with the supports they need.

While discussing our desire to get feedback from K-6 writing teachers about the all district prompt and rubrics, we realized that it may be helpful to seek information about our current literacy practices in general. A sub-group will be meeting in the days to come to draft the survey, including current context and next steps. Stay tuned!

We are still planning on administering a social and emotional learning (SEL) universal screener based on the work folks did during Curriculum Camp and in consultation with the leadership team. We are working out details related to scope, time, and cost.

As mentioned last month, a number of us joined the Families of Color affinity group meeting in October to talk about curriculum. The meeting was positive and productive. Our key takeaways include the importance of:

• Communicating with students and families before beginning units of study;

• Asking for regular feedback from students and families about student experience;

• Offering choice; and

• Routinely reflecting on practice through an equity lens.

We will continue to explore the ways in which our Curriculum Council work interfaces with the work of the Humanity and Justice Coalition in alignment with our district’s strategic plan.

• Berlin: Celia Guggemos

• Calais: Jenna Howard

• Doty: Allison Fayle

• East Montpelier: Alicia Lyford, Hilary Paquet, Dave Willard

• Rumney: Veronica Eldred

• U-32: Erin Galligan-Baldwin, Elizabeth Marks, Amy Molina, Brittany Perry

• WCUUSD: Ellen Dorsey, Jen Miller-Arsenault

As promised last month, here is the link to the full Post-Secondary Outcomes slideshow that was presented to the Education Quality Committee earlier this month. We did not have enough time to fully debrief the presentation. We will continue our debrief at the next Education Quality Committee meeting on December 4.

We will also be focusing on financial literacy on December 4. Here is a link to that presentation.

The EQC does not meet in January. We will focus on Physical Education and Health at our meeting on February 5.

In the spirit of continuous improvement and support, we will ask all K-6 teachers of writing to complete a survey next month about the all district writing prompts and rubrics, writing instruction, student performance, professional learning needs, and next steps. We will use this information to inform our professional learning plans and district practices related to writing.

We're still finalizing the survey. Below are a few draft survey questions:

• How has your use of the all district writing prompt and rubric informed your instruction?
• What tools do you use to plan, implement, and assess your writing instruction?
• How are you currently using Fundations or Just Words?
• What is the most recent professional learning you have had about writing?

The second request to complete the survey yielded more results. In all, 20 people responded to the survey. Thank you!

The most pressing professional learning needs were:

• Pacing (11 responses);
• The ongoing use of data to inform instruction (8 responses); and
• Leveraging My Path and/or Flight Fluency (5 responses).

In terms of timing, including time of year, time of day, etc., there was no clear path. Given the range of responses, at this point I am going to pursue the possibility of no longer than a half day session and perhaps 2--hour sessions depending on the topics, likely taking place in January or February.

Stay tuned for the details, and thanks again to those of you who completed the survey.

It sounds like there has been some confusion about Form A.

Form A is the form that we are using in our district when we believe a student may benefit from more targeted intervention and support (Layer 3) to supplement the interventions and supports that are already being provided in Layers 1 and 2 by general classroom teachers.

Form A should be completed collaboratively by data teams, with general classroom teachers taking the lead. It includes a review of data points, a review of the instructional strategies and accommodations that have been provided to and accessed by the student, and a clear articulation of the standards and performance indicators that have been addressed.

You can find Form A on the MLSS Intervention Resources page of our Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment website.

Curious about the science and research behind the UDL Framework? Check out this article. Fun fact: David Rose, one of the founders of CAST, was one of my graduate school professors. The course was phenomenal!

UDL resources shared so far:

• CAST's updated UDL guidelines
• Lesson planning template
• UDL Personalized Learning Profile

Act 139, Vermont's new early literacy bill, requires annual parent/caregiver notification within 30 days of the administration of a universal screener for all K-3 students who score well below the benchmark. The notification must include the date of the screening, the name of the screener, including a link where families can learn more about it, the screening results, the actions the school is taking to support students via supplemental, systematic, evidence-based instruction, and contact information if families would like more information.

The AOE has created this template notification letter which we will use in Washington Central as the basis of our district notification letter. We will send the notification to families based on students' Acadience winter benchmark scores. The winter assessment window is January 13-February 7.

Elementary principals will be sharing additional information about Act 139 and facilitating data analysis sessions in the weeks to come.

As I shared with you last month, this spring's course on racial and intersectional justice will be designed to directly support our district's ability to implement Vermont's new Education Quality Standards. Entitled Schools and Pedagogy to Thrive: Embracing Education Quality Standards, the course will explore the IRIS Framework for Ethnic Studies and will results in units of study and lesson plans that will be shared across our district.

The course will be taught by Shelley Vermilya, our equity scholar-in-residence. It will take place on Thursday afternoons from 4:15-6:15 via Google Meet beginning on January 30 and in person one Saturday morning each month from 9:00-12:00 at U-32 beginning on January 25.

Here is the draft course syllabus and here is the sign up form.

All are welcome to enroll in this course.

Please reach out to Shelley at svermilya@u32.org or me if you have any questions or concerns about the course.