Dear WCUUSD Educators,

Thanks to all who read the first issue of this newsletter, with a special thanks to those who provided feedback. I really appreciate it.

I am still trying to figure out how to organize this newsletter in a way that is informative, intuitive, and predictable. I want to provide information that is timely and relevant, and I want to do so in a way that is helpful and not overwhelming. Have I struck the right balance yet?

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns about the contents of this newsletter. I can be reached at jmillerarsenault@u32.org or (802) 229-0553 x1310.

Warmly,

Jen

Curriculum Council met twice this month. Our major areas of focus are making plans to advance the Curriculum Camp work and exploring possible ways to collaborate with the Humanity and Justice Coalition.

As you know, the focus areas for Curriculum Camp this summer included social emotional learning, functional skills with an emphasis on executive functioning, and writing K-6.

All of our work together remains work in progress, and it will likely change as we become smarter and more experienced as a school district. Our work is iterative and responsive, and it is important to us to be transparent about its nature.

As we move this work forward, we have combined these bodies of work into two areas of focus: Functional Skills and Writing.

We analyzed our Transferable Skills to ensure that we have articulated clear expectations for students for both social emotional learning and executive functioning. To our delight, we affirmed that the performance indicators do indeed address these vital areas. We explored effective instructional practices regarding the teaching of these skills, and, again, affirmed that we have many great practices in place. Curriculum Council will continue to create a plan to move all of this work forward. For now, the most important thing is that all teachers routinely embed the Transferable Skills into their lessons. To see a version of the Transferable Skills that highlights the alignment to social emotional learning and executive functioning, go here.

More information about the K-6 district wide writing prompts and Standard 6 Written Language rubrics will be forthcoming soon. Indeed, the WCUUSD K-6 Narrative Writing Prompt window is October 1-November 22.

Natasha Eckart, facilitator of the Families of Color Affinity Group and co-facilitator of the Humanity and Justice Coalition, shared some background information about the group with us and invited us to join their October meeting so that we can share information and ask and answer questions related to curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Members of Curriculum Council are looking forward to attending the meeting next month.

As always, please reach out to any of us if you have questions or concerns, and know that we will be reaching out to you for more information and feedback in the weeks and months to come.

• 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

I presented a district overview of our Spring 2024 i-Ready and Acadience data in early September. On October 1 I will present a deeper dive into our Spring 2024 data with a focus on disaggregated data and our district's equity indicators. Here is the complete slide deck that I will share next week.

We have enduring differences in performance between students who qualify for free and reduced lunch and students who don't and between students who qualify for Individualized Education Plans and students who don't. These differences in performance present in our youngest grades and persist throughout our students' educational experiences in our district. To me, this is why our MLSS work is so critically important. We all have a role to play in ensuring that all of our students meet or exceed our expectations for both performance and growth.

The equity indicators that are highlighted in this report include Grade 8 algebra readiness and Grade 3 reading. See the pictures below.

I hope that you will check out the full presentation and consider what you can do in your respective roles to ensure that all students meet or exceed our expectations. Ensuring student success is a collective effort and responsibility. It takes all of us!

As you know, our Local Comprehensive Assessment Plan (LCAP) is posted on our Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment website. Please consult it regularly so that you can plan accordingly.

You can also use this link to access the WCUUSD LCAP Google calendar.

Students in Grades K-8 are currently in the middle of the fall window for i-Ready diagnostics, Acadience Reading, and/or Fundations assessments.

Here are two important announcements about VTCAP, Vermont's statewide assessment:

1. Individual Student Reports from last spring are being sent home today, September 27.
2. The Agency of Education has announced the spring testing window for this year. It is March 10-April 25, 2025. We in Washington Central will determine our local testing window in accordance with the statewide window in the weeks ahead.

We have the opportunity to learn with Curriculum Associates together for a day this year.

Last year we learned about how to analyze and leverage winter diagnostic data in order to better meet students' needs. By all accounts, the learning was quite powerful.

If you teach i-Ready Classroom Mathematics K-8, please take a few minutes to complete this brief survey about your professional learning needs. We'd like to plan the session with your input.

We have done a lot of work in recent years to articulate performance indicators that are aligned with our standards, and we have diligently revised them as necessary to respond to evidence and research. We continuously examine and refine our instructional practices to ensure that we are doing our best work to support all of our students. We have also committed to using programs like i-Ready Classroom Mathematics and Fundations to support our implementation efforts.

Teacher feedback informs our work. To that end, last year we periodically asked teachers to let us know "where they were" relative to our curriculum maps or program pacing guides. Our first attempt to gather the data was helpful, and we can improve on last year's experience to get better, more actionable data. We are still thinking about how to improve this aspect of our practice, and we welcome your thoughts.

Last month I shared CAST's updated UDL guidelines with you. Have you had a chance to check them out yet? How are they influencing your thinking and impacting your work?

This month, I invite you to check out this lesson planning template designed to support the implementation of UDL. The template will prompt you to set your learning targets and success criteria, consider your assessment practices, predict and plan for the overcoming of barriers, and design lessons that incorporate flexibility and student reflection.

Act 139, Vermont's new literacy bill, was passed by the Legislature on May 24, 2024 and went into effect on July 1, 2024.

Act 139 requires universal early literacy screening in K-3 at least annually. Schools must use evidence-based, explicit, systematic instruction and intervention practices and must notify families within 30 days when students score substantially below benchmarks. School districts are required to report the percentage of students below proficiency annually to the Agency of Education.

Further, schools are required to provide and maintain records of professional learning for all K-3 educators and administrators related to screening assessment, interpreting results, instructional practices, and family communication.

The AOE is in the process of developing more guidance and technical assistance to support schools in the implementation of the new law, including this week's launch of Read Vermont, the AOE's "comprehensive statewide initiative dedicated to improving literacy outcomes for Vermont students."

The shifts we've made in recent years to Fundations and Acadience Reading are in alignment with the new law. I'll share more information as it becomes available. For now, you can find the AOE's overview of Act 139 here.

Vermont's new Education Quality Standards go into effect on July 1, 2025. In the months to come I will highlight some of the differences between the current version and the new version. My key takeaway right now is that the new EQS are aligned with and affirm our district's commitment to humanity and justice. We are well-poised to implement many of the changes.