Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Curriculum and Instruction Committee Meeting, Thursday, January 25, 2024

Date: Thursday, January 25, 2024
Place: Loudoun County Public Schools / School Board meeting (see BoardDocs / LCPS-TV)
Length: 1h 21m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/906367668?rel=0
BoardDocs (School Board): https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/loudoun/Board.nsf/Public

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-21. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[00:00:24] All right. Good morning, everyone. I'd like to call this January 25th, 2024 meeting of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee to order. My name is Lauren Chernoff, and I am the chair of this committee, and we really appreciate you coming today. And I have to say, I've said this before, but this is a real full circle moment for me as being on staff with teaching and learning for many years as a facilitator for elementary English. This is a real sweet moment for me to be able to be amongst old colleagues and in a new position, but hopefully we'll still just be Lauren and everybody else.

[00:01:02] It is a new world, but I'm really grateful for your presence here today and excited to get to work. So the purpose of today's meeting is to work through our agenda. We're going to have one action item on policy 50-80 on class size.

[00:01:19] We have several information items, two policies, 8360 and 8310, one on school publications and another on theatrical presentations. And then we will have some presentations from different departments on the Virginia Literacy Act at the middle school level and the elementary literacy core resource adoption for grades 3 through 5, as well as a gifted plan update.

[00:01:42] So that being said, we will move to item two, 2.01 procedures for public comment. We have two speakers today. Thank you for engaging with the school board through the public comment process.

[00:01:59] The school board welcomes comments from the Loudoun County residents and believes that strong community engagement and outreach are important components of a successful school system. Speakers must limit comments to the time allotted. Based on the number of speakers in the agenda this morning, all speakers have been allotted three minutes each for each public comment.

[00:02:18] Please be advised that speakers who miss their time slot will not be called at a later time. All audience members shall maintain civility, decorum, and respect for the functioning and dignity of the school board at all times. Please remain seated unless arriving, departing, speaking at the podium, or during a break.

[00:02:35] Shouting, heckling, jeering, applause, or other noise which disrupts or delays the meeting, oh, I'm sorry, violations of civility, decorum, and respect include shouting, heckling, jeering, applause, or other noise which disrupts the delays or delays the meeting, obstructing speakers from being able to see the school board, interrupting speakers, attempting to speak when not called or do so by the chair, and approaching a speaker or otherwise attempting to intimidate, disparage, or distract a speaker, staff member, or other meeting attendees. Speakers should refrain from vulgarity, obscenities, defamation, profanity, or other like breaches of respect, nor may speakers

[00:03:11] target criticize or attack individual students and or individual division employees during public comment speakers should communicate those concerns to their school principal or appropriate school official the school board requests that comments to an individual student or employee related matter not be shared at public meetings where the discussions could violate applicable confidentiality requirements speakers should face the floor I guess face us not the dais today and direct their comments to the school board and committee per LCPS policy 2520 members of the school board will not answer questions or respond directly to the public during the public comment period

[00:03:49] violations of decorum or civility by any meeting attendee may result in the chair directing staff to remove the attendee from the remainder of the meeting repeated or persistent violations of decorum or civility by the audience may result in the decision of the chair public comment being tabled to a later point in the meeting's agenda, limiting the number of attendees in the meeting room during public comment for safety reasons or the public period ending for the morning.

[00:04:14] Distribution of materials, copies of materials for the board members should be given to the public information officer in the media box at the back of the board room prior to the start of the meeting. Please provide enough copies for all board members on the committee. Under no circumstances may a speaker approach us.

[00:04:30] The public is reminded that access to this meeting is just being audio recorded and will be available later through board docs. We look forward to hearing your comments. All right. Thank you all for coming out. Like I said, we have two speakers, so we will have our first speaker is Sandy Sullivan.

[00:04:47] Good morning. I'm Sandy Sullivan, an elementary school teacher who currently serves the members of the Loudon Education Association as their president. LEA looks forward to working with the committee in order to ensure that our students and educators have the supports they need to be successful.

[00:05:07] I've already expressed my concern with Chair Chernoff about the timing for these committee meetings. While we're meeting now, educators are already teaching or preparing for their students. This does not allow our educators to easily attend and participate. Hearing from those employees who are teaching every day is critical.

[00:05:23] I'm sure you want to have the input and feedback needed to make the best decisions for our students and educators. With that, I look forward to the committee examining the meeting schedule and finding a time when school employees and members of the public who work regular business hours will be able to participate. Thank you. Our next speaker is Andrea Weiskopf.

[00:05:47] My name is Andrea Weiskopf. I am a sixth grade English teacher and I want to reemphasize what Sandy just said. In order to be here today, I took personal leave.

[00:06:04] You are talking about the English curriculum. I teach English and I had to take personal time. I actually had some other comments, but because my substitute was 15 minutes late, I was rushing out of the house.

[00:06:22] So, I don't know, do I use my three minutes? But I did want to address, you are talking about that English curriculum, and I do want you to think about the middle school curriculum.

[00:06:38] It is still using Lucy Calkins, and not even Lucy Calkins Lucy Calkins anymore. Thank you. Black Lives Matter. Thank you to everyone who provided comments. Your input is valuable to us. With that, we will move on to item 3.01, approval of the draft minutes for the December 4th, 2023 meeting. We need to approve the minutes from our last meeting. Has everyone had a chance to review the minutes? Are there any corrections or additions? If there are no

[00:07:18] objections or corrections, I entertain a motion to approve the minutes from December 4th, 2023. You make the motion. Oh, I move that we accept the minutes from the December meeting. All those in favor?

[00:07:35] Aye. And any opposed? The minutes are approved. Thanks, guys, for bearing with us. All right. We will now move on to our action items. Our first action item today is 4.01, revisions of policy 5080 class size.

[00:07:52] And our presenter is Ms. Elaine Lehman, I believe. Yes, there she is down there. she's the director of elementary education and charter schools so off to you miss layman good morning so what you see in the attachments is policy 5080 and feedback from the special education advisory committee this policy was it was requested that this policy be re-entered for review so that they that committee would have the time to give their feedback so you see their feedback attached as well as the recommendations for the revised policy so I'll entertain any questions you all might have about the feedback that they have provided.

[00:08:30] I'm here to answer your questions. Thank you so much. I just wanted to ask a couple of questions from the feedback. I know, first of all, I want to assure as I've worked with staff to go through this policy that this is not suggesting, this policy is not, I want to clarify, it's not suggesting an increase in class size as staffing standards remain the same, but rather it is providing provisions should those standards change or in unforeseen circumstances.

[00:09:03] Is that correct? That is correct. And I would add, this is not about average class size. This policy speaks to maximum class sizes, and this policy lowers maximum class size to be in alignment with what we've actually been doing for the last several years. So this is taking grades 1, 2, and 3 from a maximum class size in the old policy of 31 down to 28, and fourth and fifth grade, which had a max of 32, down to 30.

[00:09:31] Wonderful. And then I know there was a question about PE in middle school. Why is there a difference in standards between sixth grade numbers and seventh and eighth? So if you could just give us some clarity around that, because I know that was part of the question. State code speaks to K-6 and 7-12, so that is why there's a difference there.

[00:09:49] Thank you so much. Okay, go ahead, Samara. Thank you. If you can just clarify, that's mentioned in the red line document of average daily membership. What determines that specifically? I'm not sure of the answer to that question.

[00:10:07] How do we calculate average daily membership? It's an average. It's a calculation that the state and school divisions use across the system, and it's calculated at certain points throughout the year. So you'll hear the term ADM.

[00:10:26] You'll hear it actually probably in budget discussions and things like that. So it's an average daily membership that's calculated regularly and used for things like budgeting purposes. And what actually determines that?

[00:10:43] Like what is the determining factor for that? So I would have to, I can work with the business and finance office to get an exact calculation, but there is an exact calculation. And actually I may have it even by the end of the meeting, if you want to come back to it.

[00:10:59] - No worries. - Thank you. - Thinking about moving on the action, would you, Samara, would you like us to wait till we can possibly get that information before we vote to move this to the full board?

[00:11:14] Okay, all right, so seeing that the discussion is over and the question and comments, if there are no further questions or comments, I will entertain a motion to move this item to information for the whole board on January 30th, is that right, are we doing February 8th?

[00:11:33] January 30th and then we'll decide that later perfect so I will entertain a motion to move this to the full board as an information item do I have a motion so moved we hear you excellent all those in favor aye all those opposed all right yes I have the definition for you please do so the average daily membership or ADM as defined by BDOE is determined by dividing

[00:12:12] the total aggregate daily membership by the number of days school was in session during the school year all right thank you so much miss layman for that presentation we will now move on to our information items the first is 5.01 policy 8360 on school publications digital and or print and the presenter for this is dr michelle picard who is a superintendent of english and secondary reading, correct?

[00:12:41] Yes. Oh, it's you? Okay, it's not. I'll start. Okay. So the next two information items are related to policy that were presented to the committee in the last CNI meeting as information items. We're bringing them back again today as information items with feedback.

[00:12:59] Part of the reason why we had them as information items is so that we could be prepared with feedback for the new curriculum and instruction committee. I do want to introduce you just to get to know folks. This is Mr. Jeff Roundsley. He is our director of teaching and learning K-12, supporting many content areas, but important for today's discussion, fine arts, secondary ELA, and elementary ELA.

[00:13:20] And for this particular policy, school publications and digital or print, Dr. Picard is our secondary ELA supervisor who has supported the development of this policy. So I'm gonna turn it over to them. Sorry about that.

[00:13:37] Okay, so as Mr. Slevin just mentioned, I'm joined here by Dr. Michelle Picard, who is our secondary supervisor of English reading. And this school board policy, policy 8360 school publications, was adopted on June 12th, 2018, which means it's up for its five-year review.

[00:13:59] Dr. Picard brought together, along with members of her team, who are seated over here as well, some teachers of journalism in LCPS to take a look at the current policy and to make suggestions. It was further revised by our division council and then also based on the VSBA model policy around these issues.

[00:14:17] So I wanted to just kind of talk through some of the revisions that were made and the reasons behind them and also some of the feedback we received based on our previous presentation of this to the CNI committee and community feedback. So if you look at the red line policy, you'll see on line five, we removed a line that said represent well the students, staff, faculty, and leadership of LCPS.

[00:14:37] This was an item that came up in community feedback questioning why that was removed. Our committee looking at this believed that further down in the policy, in section C prohibited content, we were much more specific and that that current line as it stood left room to be maybe vague or confusing as to what would be constituted as appropriate in a school publication.

[00:15:00] We would much rather point people towards that section C where we're much more specific about what constitutes prohibited content in school publications. On line 25, you'll see a significant revision where some specific information was pulled out.

[00:15:16] That information quotes directly from the Code of Virginia. And so as a revision from our division council, we pointed instead towards the specific code reference. So you'll see the revision to say section 18.2-372 of the Code of Virginia. That is a quote from everything that follows that.

[00:15:33] That allows us to, if the code should change, to still have the policy be consistent with that code language around the definition of obscene content. On line 37, you'll see that we expanded the definition of content that endorses unlawful activity. Again, that was a revision made by our division council to be more encompassing and specific as to what that would entail.

[00:15:55] And on line 46, you'll see some additional specifics around what constitutes content that compromises the privacy or reputation of an individual. That information comes directly from the VSBA model policy on school publications.

[00:16:11] The feedback I mentioned, the one I already talked about, that line about represent well and our rationale behind that. The other questions and feedback we've received from our community were around what constitutes disruptions to the school community, which is part of this policy as well.

[00:16:29] We felt like there are additional policies in place, specifically policy 8210, introduction to student discipline, and policy 8215 around in-school disciplinary measures that help guide our school administrators as to what would constitute disruption or what would happen if there were a disruption to school operations.

[00:16:47] And so that was kind of our thinking and the revisions, they were relatively minor revisions and this is really part of that five-year review cycle. We're happy to entertain any questions or comments you may have based on that.

[00:17:02] - Thank you, Mr. Roundsley. Are there any comments or questions? Samara? - Thank you. Just for line 25, where considered was crossed out, Is that crosstalk because it was open to interpretation? Is that why?

[00:17:17] - Correct, there is a very specific definition of obscene content in the Code of Virginia, and so that was that revision. - Okay, thank you. - Dr. Rishi, can you repeat what line that was? Sorry, okay. Any other questions or discussion?

[00:17:35] I had one question also about 20, in that, well, the section before, in section C, number one, line 21, how would you define could? Who makes those decisions around what could cause something?

[00:17:51] I understand that it's easy when something causes a disruption. We have an action. We can see it. But could cause could be very subjective. So can you speak to a little bit more of where that's defined in the code or later in the policy? So I believe that is, and I don't know the specific case, but that is part of case law around school law.

[00:18:10] And that is ultimately a decision made by the principal of the school building, whether or not something could possibly cause a disruption in the school day. Usually that would be made in conjunction with our level offices or with our office of school administration, but that would be a discussion with the principal who knows the community and is there as to whether or not something could cause a disruption to the school environment.

[00:18:31] - Okay, so it's more could cause a disruption, not could be prejudice, hatred, or violence, or harassment. We're not defining what those things are. The could goes to the disruptive. - To the disruption. So if something that might be published in a school publication might disrupt the school environment, that would be reason that it could be excluded as disruptive content.

[00:18:52] We added that information about prejudice, hatred, violence, or harassment. That's in addition to this version of the policy. Thank you so much for that context. Dr. Rasheed? I forgot to ask for that same paragraph in line 22. Was it ever considered to say, Like, this also includes materials, but was it ever considered to say, but not limited to?

[00:19:17] Like, to say, but not limited to included in there? Or was it something, because this looks like a very definitive line, that it has to fall into those categories. But just, you know, to keep it kind of open, was it ever considered to say, but not limited to? No, I don't believe that was any part of the discussion, but that could be valuable feedback.

[00:19:38] But that was not part of our discussion around it. All right, thank you. Just a clarifying question. Are you referencing, could be the board materials or the descriptors afterwards, prejudice, hatred, violence, like could be inclusive of those?

[00:19:54] Just the materials, like on line 22 says this also includes materials, so it could include those materials, but it would be, you know, I was just wondering if anyone thought of saying, you know, but not limited to these in reference to prejudice, hatred, violence, or harassment.

[00:20:18] Any, Dr. Deans, anything? all right thank you so much um seeing that there are no further questions or discussion i um well do we want to move this to action for our next c and i meeting um on february 8th so i will entertain a motion to move this to action on our february 8th c and i'm nope so you don't have to do a motion you can you can just say we can just move it we'll bring this back as an action item at our next c and i meeting we'll bring this back as an action item I knew this was going to be a good time, so here we go.

[00:20:54] And we'll take that feedback, and if we have some ideas, we'll make sure you all see that. All right. Thank you so much, Mr. Rounsley, and the work around this policy. All right. We are now moving to Item 5.02, Policy 8310, Theatrical Presentations, and I believe that's being done by Mr. Rounsley as well.

[00:21:18] Thank you. Okay, so for policy 8310, which is around theatrical presentations, we're joined by Michael Pearson, who is our fine arts supervisor, and Mark Rogers, who is our performing arts specialist. They led the group that created some of the revisions here today.

[00:21:34] So this policy was last revised on November 27, 2018. And again, this is a policy that is up for its five-year review cycle. And joining Mr. Pearson and Mr. Rogers in making these changes is many of our LCPS theater arts teachers who contributed to some of the revisions that you see in front of you today.

[00:21:56] So again, I'm gonna walk you through the proposed changes to this policy and to the feedback that we received. The most significant change to this policy is the incorporation of multiple new policies and regulations that have been passed since the last revision in 2018.

[00:22:13] And those are referenced starting on line 30, which includes policy 5055, parental notification of instructional materials with sexually explicit content, policy 5420, controversial and sensitive curriculum standards, regulation 5420A, instructional and communication practices for sensitive and controversial standards, regulation 5420B, instructional guidance for the use of role play simulations and assuming different perspectives, and regulation 5420C, instructional guidance of using materials with racial slurs, hate speech and sensitive content.

[00:22:49] So those were added because we feel those additions really expand and more thoroughly define that term harmful to juveniles, which is included, or harmful to minors, which is included on line 27 of the current policy and really defines what that means.

[00:23:04] So for example, policy 5055 defines exactly what sexually explicit content is and requires 30 days written notice to parents of any instructional materials that may contain sexually explicit content. Policy 5420 and all those associated regulations that I just mentioned establish guidelines for school staff in how we approach sensitive or controversial topics thoughtfully and in ways that help develop critical thinking skills for students and really help us partner with families to make sure we are communicating with them that these controversial and sensitive topics may arise and really establish a forum for open feedback and communication with our community.

[00:23:43] So the policy still would make sure that still is adheres to that code of Virginia, the same one that we just talked about before about obscene content, that that's not permitted in our schools are part of theatrical presentations, but also expands that further to really establish guidelines for how we communicate to our families when there are plays that are not obscene but may have topics or things that mature themes that parents need to be aware of.

[00:24:07] The feedback from our community focused primarily on that possibility of obscene or inappropriate content in our school productions as I just shared code of Virginia still applies there that we would never perform a play that is that meets that definition of obscene but that we will also notify the community of any possible topics that may be something that parents should be aware of prior to a play being performed we really believe that this extends and strengthens the definition by including publicizing and communicating any possible concerns I wanted to point out in the feedback there was a comment that what if a teacher disagrees with the principal's decision the policy very clearly says that the theater teacher has

[00:24:46] the primary responsibility for the in this policy but that the principal has the ultimate authority to either say that a play would move forward or would not and there is an associated regulation to policy 8310 that that spells out the protocol that our theater teachers and our principals follow to to make sure that plays are approved and meet the criteria for that community.

[00:25:10] So in that case, it's all about a discussion about the educational value of the play, the appropriateness of the themes of the play, communication with the community about a play's content by having a summary posted. It gives the principal the authority to create an advisory panel to make sure that a play does meet the needs of the community.

[00:25:30] So it really works hard to provide a collaborative space for theater teachers and principals to arrive at a play that really does meet the community's definition of what they would like to see, but also allow students to grow, develop their skills on stage and as critical thinkers.

[00:25:48] So also I wanna point out that Mr. Pearson and Mr. Rogers spent a lot of time supporting our theater teachers and principals in making these decisions about plays that are put forward. There's a very extensive handbook that Mr. Rogers publishes of many of the possible plays Plays, areas of themes that may be of concern so that everyone is making an informed decision when schools do choose what play to put forward.

[00:26:13] So again, we'll take any comments that you might have on our feedback or on the policy as written and be happy to hear those now. - Committee members? - Question. - Dr. Deans? - The handbook that has a list of possible plays, how is that published?

[00:26:35] - So I don't know that that's published, that's an internal document for our teachers so that they are able to make those informed choices when they're considering plays. It's not published widely to the community, but it is an internal document to help our principals and theater teachers make informed decisions.

[00:26:53] - Are there repeated, I'm sorry, chair? Are there repeated inquiries from the public about plays that are presented in the high schools? - I think I would let, Mark, do you want to speak to that, or Michael?

[00:27:08] - Are there repeated inquiries from the community about plays that are presented at the high schools? My familiarity is with the high school. - So I'm gonna ask you to repeat that one more time.

[00:27:25] - Are there repeated or numerous inquiries from the community about those plays that are presented at the high school? I've just been in the environment at Riverside where parents were asking questions.

[00:27:44] - Well, I think that that's probably different from school to school. We have some schools that have a very active discussion between community members and the theater directors and the principals.

[00:28:03] And then there are some that maybe that's not the case. I just think some of those inquiries that I've heard at Riverside would be clarified if they knew that those teachers have a guide, a guidebook.

[00:28:19] And so it just might be good to let the public know that there is a guidebook, even though it's circulated internally. so that those inquiries would be less. That's excellent feedback, and I would just add to Mr. Rogers' comments.

[00:28:36] A lot of the spirit of the policies that we've put in place over the past few years around topics of interest to the community with curriculum and extracurricular decisions are really about engagement with the community, communicating ahead of time, here's the why, here's the how, here's what we're thinking, an opportunity for dialogue, And we really rely on our teachers and principals and that's a big expectation.

[00:28:59] So we wanna make sure they're supported. And so the document that we have for theater is one of many examples of like, here's some guidance. And there may be plays that we haven't thought of and we'll have to take a look at and have a conversation about. So if there were particular interests at a school, they would generally bubble up through Mark, through Mr. Pearson, through Jeff or myself, or through school board members.

[00:29:22] But we could definitely think about how are we, Like, it's not an approved list, per se, of plays. It's more of, like, if you do this play, you should think about this. Like, there are a couple scenes here you might want to modify, you might want to communicate, like, there's sensitive language, and it's not so much an approval process.

[00:29:39] It's more of, like, making an informed decision as a professional. I agree with Dr. Deans on that. I think the more that the public knows that those things exist and that there are warning flags with those different things or there might be things to consider, that the public would be reassured by that. I will say that I have actually heard from the community and our theater teachers about and several parents that are very grateful for this addition and adding in. I know these policies over the last few years have been a big lift and a lot of work but I think that the increased transparency around these issues really letting parents know that we're being thoughtful about what we're presenting and what we're putting out is making a big difference to

[00:30:19] kind of bridge that gap in this community and in LCPS and I know the theater teachers also feel like this really gives them the footing to stand on and the backing to when they you know when they do a show to be able to clarify those things to the public and to be able to move forward confidently that they won't you know be subject to whatever might be out there so that's some of the feedback that I got so I just want to say thank you for that and that they're very thankful they really like this policy which I think is great it doesn't always happen one consideration i heard from two different theater directors in my district were to is there any would there

[00:30:57] possibly be consideration for their making provision for a written approval so maybe a form letter or that date stamps like when it was approved when the discussion was had just so that they feel like they can go back and reference and say like we had this conversation with our principal on this date and you know here's the proof of that just so that they feel like you know they have more backing in that sense. And we did talk about that as part of the regulation that accompanies this that does go through very clearly about script revisions and and how that process happens there is not currently a formal part of that process where it is written but that

[00:31:37] is something that we could consider adopting in the regulation once this policy is is revised and again Mark and Mr. Pearson will collaborate with theater teachers to make sure that we do that in a way that supports their work. Wonderful. I appreciate that. Is there any other questions or discussion? All right. Seeing none, we will get this to action at the next CNI meeting on February 8th. All right. Moving right along. Our next presentation is item number 5.03, the Virginia Literacy Act or VLA at middle school. And I believe the presenters

[00:32:13] are Mr. Roundsley and Dr. Picard. So thank you, Ms. Chernoff. I'm going to open it up. And Mr. Slevin. I am very lucky to have an amazing team working and supporting literacy in both elementary and particularly now for middle school and secondary school.

[00:32:35] We have had significant conversations on early literacy and elementary literacy publicly, and we've made some big shifts in our work. And as you know, the Virginia Literacy Act is K-8 when it talks about moving towards the science of reading.

[00:32:51] And we definitely have been doing work in middle school, it's just the spotlight has been on early literacy. So we wanna put a little bit of a spotlight on middle school, what's happening on middle school, and some proposals for moving forward. So Mr. Roundsley and Dr. Picard, we'll take it from here.

[00:33:08] - So I'm just gonna start by saying that the Division of Teaching and Learning K-12 is excited to have this opportunity to talk with you about our next steps in supporting literacy across Loudoun County Public Schools at both the secondary and elementary level. We're gonna begin with Dr. Michelle Picard, supervisor for secondary English and reading who's going to share some initial steps that Loudoun County Public Schools has already taken in supporting the Virginia Literacy Act and also our plans to continue that implementation in future years. I'm going to turn it over to Dr.

[00:33:33] Picard. Thank you and good morning. I just want to underscore what Mr. Slevin said. We have an extraordinary staff. We have an embarrassment of riches in Loudoun County and I just want to call out that my whole team is here. My specialist, Melissa McQuillan, and I have three instructional facilitators. This team has been built over time and is a tremendous blessing to the county.

[00:33:56] Heidi Walsh, Dr. Chris Cuzzo, and Melanie Buckley are all instructional facilitators at the secondary level. So thank you for having us. Today we're going to discuss three things all very quickly. The first one is we want to extend the conversation about the science of reading to the middle school, to the secondary world, because predominantly, as you know, the Virginia Literacy Act was first passed at a K-3 level, and now they've expanded it 4-8.

[00:34:22] The second is that we are a very proactive organization. We did not wait for the law to go into effect. As a matter of fact, even before the law, we were working very diligently to make sure that we are cutting edge in this division with instruction, assessment, and learning.

[00:34:38] And then the third is to talk about our next steps and to make transparent our thinking. So you, I'm sure, in the national conversation have seen that reading is described with five pillars. I just want you to understand that that came from the national reading panel in 2000, which was the last comprehensive review of research.

[00:35:00] It was the last time they made a compendium of what we know about reading. Now, it's been several more years, and of course we stay current. We stay current through a variety of ways, but these are the five pillars that are discussed. The first two, phonemic awareness or phonological awareness and phonics, are the primary concern of elementary.

[00:35:21] So let me just give a little bit more background there. Phonological awareness is an academic term. It means that you have the ability to identify and pull apart and put back together sound. So if you think about young children learning the alphabet, to be able to come up with a word that starts with tiger, tantrum, that is a purely auditory skill and it is critical to learning to read. Phonemic awareness, which is here, is a little more specific. It goes right

[00:35:53] down to the level of the letter. So for example, the letter C actually has one sound, but it has two different ways to represent it. But the one sound is k. There are 44 phonemes in our English language. Now, when we move to phonics, they take that letter sound, let's take c, k. Well, that's great. It's one sound, but it actually has more than one way to represent it. In this case, c and k.

[00:36:25] So these two, when you look at curriculum, these two are all the way in k5. As a matter of fact, Our new standards initially only had phonemic awareness and phonics at the K-3 level, and the proposed SOLs are now saying, no, this is a K-5 issue.

[00:36:44] Now, typically developing kids that have been in school, they're not homeless, or they haven't had interrupted schooling, or a variety of other factors that could impact their education, typically developing the secondary program is all focused on fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

[00:37:01] It's built on knowledge building, being able to get those words off the page easily, and then to put meaning to it. So if we go to the next slide, another way to represent reading is, well, there are two reading models here.

[00:37:17] The one at the bottom is a little bit obscured. It basically says language comprehension times decoding equals reading comprehension. That means simply there are two buckets. One, can students get words off the page? Can they recognize supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?

[00:37:35] And if they can, we've done a great job with decoding and phonics and the ability to get that word off the page. But it is fruitless unless you understand that supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, it means something. And we all know that it's a nonsense word from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but you see my point.

[00:37:51] You need both. So Scarborough's Rope expands that for teachers to say, all right, here are the two buckets. You'll notice the ones that are circled, that's word recognition. Word recognition, getting words off the page, it is rocket science.

[00:38:08] It does take more than just having a mapping of sound to print. It involves phonological awareness, it involves decoding, it involves sight recognition. And it gets a lot of press, as it should in the national conversation, because while we have 44 phonemes, 44 sounds. There are 250 ways plus to representing those sounds, and then of course context. But again, that very large, very important piece to the reading rope is predominantly the scope of an elementary curriculum, and intervention, because we know

[00:38:47] that kids come to middle school and high school from a variety of experiences with instruction and schooling. The top, I just want to pull that out a little bit for you, language comprehension, a lot of it is about your background knowledge. So for example, I use the word supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and you can teach a young person to read that. But if they've never watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Julie Andrews, they have absolutely no idea what that means. Vocabulary is highly, highly correlated with the ability to read.

[00:39:21] The more we read, the more experience we have. Language structures, grammar, critical for all, but also our EL students. Verbal reasoning, literary knowledge. Under literary knowledge, I'll just sort of call out, if you've never read nonfiction before and you're thrown into nonfiction, you're going to struggle, right?

[00:39:40] If you've never read a fairy tale, which we know lots of kids have in their experience, then they're going to struggle. So we teach genre. teach literary analysis. So if we go to the next slide, this is just an example to underscore what I'm talking about. I want Supercalifragilistice to stick with you, but I'd like you to just take a moment to read this. It's for adolescents. It's the description of a best horror game on the PC. So I'm going to be quiet and let you just read that to yourself. There will

[00:40:11] be no quiz. So if I do a poll, I don't think there's a single person in the room that isn't able to get the words off the page. Now I consider myself a fairly intelligent person but I have to tell you I'm really struggling with this passage and if you ask me questions about it I would

[00:40:46] struggle because I'm not a gamer, I'm not an adolescent, I don't understand how there can be complex environmental puzzles in a game. So reading just to grow that definition up, reading is so much more than getting words off the page and of course that happens at the elementary level.

[00:41:03] Elementary does not just stop at the phonics level, but when they get to middle school, there is an assumption from the state and from curriculum that students are able to get those multi-syllabic words off the page. So now I want to turn to what we've been doing to meet the demands of the Virginia Literacy Act 4 to 8 or K to 8.

[00:41:23] Like I said, we are constantly very tied in to the reading community. So the year the VLA came out for K-3, we immediately had our reading teachers engage in some science of reading book clubs. We did that for a year, and they had choice.

[00:41:39] We read five different kinds of books focused on this area because, of course, the science of reading is a robust collection of research. It's not one thing. And then this year, we're doing an online course with a company called Aspire. It's excellent. Everything is documented, cited. And all 55, 57 of our secondary people are working through that just to renew, just to stay current.

[00:42:03] I want to point out that our curriculum is not based on one program. It's not based on one piece, and that comes up later on. We look very closely at what the science of reading says, and then we make sure that we're making that in an implementable fashion, a friendly version.

[00:42:23] One thing we have done that is very worthy of note is that right after COVID, of course, kids were coming in with tremendous gaps. And one of the gaps, for a variety of reasons, one of the gaps was clearly their ability to decode and to spell. Decoding and spelling, reading and writing are two sides of a coin.

[00:42:43] And so we began a word study initiative in grade six because that is a double language arts block where we're teaching developmental spelling. And we have been tracking the progress of that. You think of it, again, the second side of the coin. And we're seeing tremendous gains.

[00:43:00] We're closing the gap in that. And Melissa McQuillan has been instrumental and led that initiative along with Heidi Walsh and myself. Teachers, we now have it at all of the schools. So what are we thinking about now? You know probably that the new standards have been published.

[00:43:17] And they are extending fundamental reading K through 5. It does not show up in 8th grade, nor does spelling show up in 8th grade, but we know that not all students come in with the same schooling. We have invested in Lexia Power-Up, which is approved by the VDOE.

[00:43:35] We purchased licenses for every school, and we were ahead of the curve here. That was before the state identified Lexia Power-Up as one of the interventions that has a robust research base. So we are currently literally going school to school in every middle school to make sure to support their implementation of the intervention, which includes an online platform as well as an in-person component.

[00:44:01] And then lastly, I want to talk to you today about textbook adoption. So if we go to the next slide, let's see. Oh, this is some more verbiage around our support. Not only do we buy the licenses early, we've already provided training, we have asynchronous training, and now we are literally providing school-by-school support for all in tutoring and intervention.

[00:44:26] So I really want to share with you the clarity and transparency around our thinking about textbook adoption. So this is what the code says, the VLA code. It says that we're aligned with a science-based reading research, evidence-based literacy program.

[00:44:43] So this is where elementary and secondary differ just a teeny bit. And I will go through the slides, but you may also want to pull out the handout. So we have two goals. One is to have a curriculum that aligns with the science of reading, but is also adopted by the state.

[00:45:00] And ultimately, we'd also like to align the cycle of textbook adoption with the high school. Right now, they are different. So that's where we started. A little bit of background. And this is, again, where we differentiate from elementary. The elementary process, the law said that the core curriculum programs had to be based on the science of reading, just like they say for middle school, but the state actually reviewed them with that lens.

[00:45:26] They did not do so for 6 to 12. And actually, there's an amendment right now in the legislation around VLA just to clarify that. So the state took on the very large lift of looking at all of the curriculum resources, K-5. That does not exist for 6-12.

[00:45:43] They do, however, produce a list of approved programs. And then secondly, and you've heard this from Catherine I'm sure, there is a list pending for supplemental and intervention materials. We're looking forward to that in March.

[00:45:59] So understanding that there will not be a specific review, we have to use our expertise and we would also like to adopt a program that is approved by the State Board. You already know that the standards are changing.

[00:46:16] What you may not know is that we do not have a year of crosswalk implementation. So literally those standards are out now. We're looking at them very closely. We think the improvements are incredible. However, they do need to be finalized by March and then implemented in the fall. Can I raise a point of clarification?

[00:46:33] Please. Because it's a lot of information. So there are, we've talked about approved by the VDOE in two ways. So with the Virginia Literacy Act, the Virginia Department of Education has been asked to review and approve materials that align to the science of reading.

[00:46:50] They're being asked to do that for K-5. They're not being asked to do that for grades 6 through 8. So when Dr. Picard is talking about the other list of approved materials, the Virginia Department of Education does generally, as practice, review instructional materials aligned to state standards, saying, OK, this would be an acceptable textbook for you to adopt, because divisions that don't have our size have to rely on the VDOE to go through the process review and materials. So there's two levels of approval. Just as Dr. Picard is talking through,

[00:47:24] I just wanted to raise that point of clarification. Absolutely, I appreciate that. So the next slide shows you the existing curriculum, just as a point of background. So again, our comprehensive curriculum is, it has multiple components, and you can see those here. And we've worked very diligently, and thank goodness for instructional facilitators, to help teachers on the ground make sure that that is a high-quality intervention. So we put our heads together and we came up with three different options. And again, I'll go through the slides, but I would point you to your handout. One possibility is to maintain the current course and then to re-adopt or to adopt,

[00:48:04] to review and adopt new curriculum with the high school. There are pros and cons to that if you look at the next slide or if you look at the handout. Could you go to the next? Yeah, there we go. So the pros, of course, are it's an existing practice, teachers are, there's a lot of capacity, there are a lot of moving components.

[00:48:26] The cons are that the units of study in reading and writing, which are written by the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, they have teachers from all over the country that have written these units of study that focus on reading and writing. They will likely, we are anticipating, they will not be on the adopted list for a variety of reasons.

[00:48:47] Another con is, it's a pro on another slide, but we actually have the opportunity with a great deal of money being provided from the state to change our curriculum at this time. So that's the first option. The second option is to conduct an off-cycle textbook adoption right now and to review all the VDOE approved programs.

[00:49:09] There are three or four of them that go six through 12. The benefit to this, if we go to the next slide, is that VDOE has provided a substantial amount of money for this purpose should we decide to access that money.

[00:49:27] All stakeholders would be involved and we would be starting from a list of the VDOE programs. It would also be an opportunity to align the new standards with a new program. Some of the cons, the adoption would be for two to three years with the possibility to in three years, high school goes through an adoption. We could at that time either reaffirm the adoption that we make in the coming year, or we could change the adoption. So again, pros and cons really depend on your perspective. Either way, staff needs to align the curriculum and write

[00:50:04] the curriculum and align it with the new standards. And there would be substantial professional learning, and we would potentially facilitate the process again. I raise a point of clarification for option two of course so dr part use the term right now and just we want to make sure we're clear on language what we mean by that is we would do an adoption in the fall correct and then so it would not be in place for next fall we would do the adoption process through next fall transition to new materials for the school year 20 25 26 and if you look at the handout under task timeline it also underscores that and i do appreciate it because it's a lot of information i'm really just

[00:50:43] sharing this to be transparent. These were the three things we wrestled with and we will make a recommendation and seek your feedback. The third option is to wait to sort of pass on the money that is available for this at this moment and to re-adopt or to go through a full process in the, well, next year, 2024, 2025. And we would implement, we would have a staggered implementation. So the implementation for middle school would be 25, 26, but high school would literally be waiting several years to adopt new curriculum to run out the

[00:51:21] contract. So you can see the pros and cons. I'm not going to belabor them. I just wanted you, we wanted you to see the robust thinking that has gone into what are our options, what makes the best sense for our students. In that case, Dr. Picard, so in option three, we would be reviewing in 2425 across six through 12 curriculum so we would be adopting so we would review all of it but we would stagger the adoption for high school until later in the other two options we would be focusing only on our six through eight curriculum and resources absolutely

[00:51:58] and that is where our recommendation lies we would like with your permission your approval and obviously your your conversation we really feel that the best way to move forward is to conduct a thorough review for middle school next year and to implement the following year. When high school adoption comes up, we can again review, but that review might mean that we recommit to the existing program, because three years is not a long time to be with new materials. So that was a lot of information to process. That's why I have handouts, and And I'd like to just entertain any questions that you have right now.

[00:52:38] And I appreciate. Thank you, Dr. Picard. So, Ms. Chernoff, so Dr. Picard mentioned approval. Again, this is a staff plan. There's no action needed at this point for the board. The board would be involved when we go through the textbook adoption process.

[00:52:53] We would let you know, let the public know when the process was starting. We would bring back a recommendation as an information item and then back as an action item when we were actually adopting. But our plan is to just proceed with option two. But we would like feedback from you all and, of course, the public as we go through this process.

[00:53:13] And I would just underscore we want you to have the thinking that went into it to be transparent as possible that we have considered many options. So I'll entertain any questions that you have along with Mr. Roundsley and Mr. Slevin. Thank you so much for that very comprehensive overview.

[00:53:31] I have the benefit of having quite a bit of foundational knowledge in this area. So I'm going to actually pass it to my colleagues first before I dive into my myriad of comments and discussion questions. Don't be scared. Good. My question would be, while we're waiting for the alignment, what will we do in terms of textbooks?

[00:54:02] So let me start, and then you can warm up. So, we know that we need to make, we have made significant adjustments to our approach to secondary ELA in middle school. Understanding that units of study does not meet all the needs of all of our learners.

[00:54:21] And Dr. Picard is much more capable of speaking about that. So, we will continue those additions that we've added, but we also need to be focusing on those supplemental and intervention materials. Dr. Picard mentioned Lexia, we're waiting on the state to give us some guidance on, okay, what would be approved, and teachers are going to need a lot of support and attention building out those tier two, tier three, and so there'll be a lot for teachers to chew on as we're transitioning over time to the new materials.

[00:54:49] So Dr. Picard, what would you add about some things that we've added to the curriculum? Well, first I would just note that this summer, once they get published, the new standards of learning, we will take the existing curriculum and we will align it and make sure that they are all covered in depth.

[00:55:06] If you look at your handout, you'll notice that we have the units of study in reading and writing. A weak point to that program is vocabulary, so we built our own LCPS word part program, prefixes, suffixes, and morphological analysis, Greek and Latin roots.

[00:55:23] So this summer, we will absolutely do a review of everything that we have, and we will make sure that it robustly aligns. The other thing I would tag on to what Mr. Slevin has said is intervention is also part and parcel of our office.

[00:55:38] So we currently have tier two interventions, Lexia Power-Up is the additional one, and we have very high hopes with that. We're even piloting at the high school and getting some really good results.

[00:55:55] Other questions or comments? Dr. Rashid. Thank you. For, you said for option two, because LCPS staff plans plan to proceed with that. When the, I noticed in the table of the cons, when it came to investment in the teacher professional learning, I just wanted to know the, like, where would it fit in when it would come to the task timeline?

[00:56:20] And also when it comes to budgeting, because I really consider that very important in terms of the, when you say investment, if you can expand on that. That's a great question. Thank you for it. So, whenever you have a new curriculum, there's a deep investment in teachers, and we have limited, constrained time to access teachers.

[00:56:45] I mean, we do as well as we can do, and we do a profoundly good job, but it takes two or three years for teachers to really dive into every aspect of the curriculum and implement it at a high, high level. So, what that looks like is we roll out training, so they get sort of a launching of training, and then we have leadership groups.

[00:57:06] we have a middle school leadership, a high school leadership, and a reading specialist leadership group. They meet four times a year for four full days of training. That training often gets turned around to schools. And then because I have a robust office, my instructional facilitators literally go and say, all right, sixth grade, let's look at it. Where are you? What's going well? What needs support? But it just, it's a recognition that it does take time for a brand new curriculum to be

[00:57:34] implemented at high levels. And it's an ongoing process. Anything else? I have a couple of questions. Again, just thank you so much for this work. I can't emphasize enough what a heavy lift this has been across the last few years. And I really do believe that LCPS is on the cutting edge of making decisions and balancing that with waiting for the state. Oftentimes in these conversations, we keep saying, we're waiting for the state, we're waiting for the state.

[00:58:09] But LCPS has not stayed stagnant in that. They have pushed forward. And I really appreciate all of the work that you all do in evaluating where we are and where we're going. I will say also that I'm encouraged, you know, we spent some time this week with our state senators and delegates, and we are encouraged that there's going to be some bills on the floor about, you know, post-secondary education in holding them accountable to getting our teachers ready, because it's important to note that, you know, teachers are coming out school with some of that um older thinking and then we are catching them up here in lcps we're

[00:58:45] doing that heavy lift on the fly um before that is retrofitted to our colleges and universities so that again adds another layer so just want to mention that that that is something that we are actively supporting um on the hill which i never thought i'd say but we're doing it um and then i just wanted to know if you could give some feedback um has feedback been solicited from teachers around this process in middle school yet or would that be something that would happen as part of rolling out option two? That would be part of the formal process. Okay and then in terms of intervention you touched on intervention and assessment. I know in elementary we give the

[00:59:24] developmental spelling assessment. How are those interventions determined through assessment at the middle school level? So similar to the elementary level we have what are called decision trees and they were put together collaboratively with the offices of English language learners and students with disability and the English language arts offices. So we take whatever screening assessments, we believe in multiple points of data, and those are used to determine what level of intervention and which intervention makes the greatest match. Is that helpful?

[00:59:59] Yes. And then in terms of thinking about those interventions, we're now moving further and further away from the pandemic. Are we seeing in middle school those gaps close? Because I know this has been a shock to many middle school teachers to be teaching, you know, phonemic awareness in some cases and really grappling with the phonics and the morphology and word study and how it progresses.

[01:00:21] So do you see, do you have data to support that those gaps are narrowing as we move further away from the pandemic? - Thank you for the question. Absolutely. We are monitoring the word study initiative very, very closely. Both Catherine and myself have presented to the elementary principals and shared data. We've presented to the middle school principals. We're meeting with CLTs, and we collect data three times a year. And as I said earlier, and I know there was a lot of information there, but we actually have evidence that some kids are making double-digit gains on the continuum of word knowledge, so phonics, orthography, morphology. So yes, we're absolutely

[01:00:58] seeing a gain there a substantial one and I would also say in the last three years Heidi Walsh led an initiative and middle high school is now following suit to really have a robust homegrown program to look at Greek Latin roots as well as prefixes and suffixes because words and vocabulary are very highly correlated with comprehension. Wonderful and then this is kind of putting you both on the spot and you may not have the answer but one of the benefits i see to option two um is as we roll out the elementary as you said that that's a that takes a lot of work to

[01:01:38] to implement with high levels of fidelity buy-in lots of change coming for our elementary teachers which we're going to talk about next um so i love that all these plates are spinning because it's important but also how do we manage that workload within the county and doing too much um so i love the idea of you know taking the year next year to kind of sort through that that being said is there a plan or could there be a plan to collaborate with elementary to see what that implementation does for that next year of sixth graders right like we should start to see now we've made huge

[01:02:13] adjustments at the elementary level backing up at least three years now um and shifting towards the science of reading so hopefully we're those gaps closing is part of that um but in addition you know with this new curriculum we'll be monitoring the success of that program through you know the data that we're seeing so is there a plan to collaborate with elementary and how that rollout's going and how it's impacting our sixth graders that was long-winded but and the answer is yes okay good katherine and i meet um i think monthly and then we meet with our k-12 team

[01:02:45] quarterly um and our specialists monthly so we are in constant collaboration um we don't share facilitation of the professional learning because we both have our hands full but there is absolutely alignment and collaboration and I'll give you one quick example of how we are ahead of the state curve both Catherine and myself and my team are part of an organization that I co-founded a number of years ago called Novel Northern Virginia Educators of Literacy it's not a state organization It is literally people that come together from across the state, and we are coming together

[01:03:23] in February to put together a crosswalk of the standards of learning so that we can give the state great guidance and so that we can jumpstart that work. So we are very collaborative, and we have systems in place to make that happen. Thank you.

[01:03:39] I think that's really important. Those vertical conversations have huge impact on how we see our kids moving through the system. Last question, piggyback off of what you said. Do we anticipate the VDOE approved list for middle school changing with the modified rollout of the standards?

[01:03:58] Do you think that anything will come off or get added because of the new standards? Well, the list hasn't been published. Recommended, I guess. The recommended list? Oh, the recommended list will not change for 6 to 12 because it's not in the law. And as Mr. Slevin said, and I do think it's really important that people understand it, The 6 to 12 programs, they have only looked to see that the standards of learning are embedded.

[01:04:25] But it really is school divisions that make sure that that happens. Yeah, and to fill the gaps, like you said, with vocabulary, we've already, you know, made great strides in that area. Is there anything else, discussion or questions? All right. Seeing none, we will move on now to our next, thank you so much.

[01:04:42] We will move on to our next information item, 5.04, Elementary 3-5 Literacy Core Resource Adoption and Recommendation. And I will pass it over to Ms. Catherine Neal, who is the Superintendent of Early Literacy and Elementary Reading and Writing. I keep interrupting, and I apologize.

[01:04:58] I just want to do a time check. We do have the room until 1030, and we have two substantive items, and so we may need to make decisions based on the time. Sure. Should we make those right now? - No, we can see how Ms. Neal in the city does, and then we'll, I just wanted to do a time check. - Okay, thanks.

[01:05:16] - All right, good morning. We are excited to share with you our updates regarding the three to five literacy core resource adoption. I wanted to begin by providing some background information on the work my office has done to fulfill the requirements of the Virginia Literacy Act.

[01:05:38] In December of 2023, the VDOE released an updated version of the approved core instructional program guide. This updated version includes the approved core resources for 4th and 5th grades. Today, the Virginia Board of Education is being presented with a draft of the revised English standards.

[01:05:57] And after the draft standards are presented to the Virginia Board of Education, the VDOE will host a variety of public comment and feedback sessions regarding the proposed SOL revisions. Some of these sessions will be held in person across the state.

[01:06:13] However, some sessions will be offered virtually. Next slide. In March, the Virginia Board of Education will vote to approve or not approve the 2024 SOLs. It has been shared with literacy supervisors across the state that at this meeting, the Virginia Board of Education will also be presented with a first draft of the Intervention and Supplemental Materials Guide for grades K through eight.

[01:06:41] This guide is anticipated to be approved during the April meeting for the Virginia Board of Education. Per the VLA, Virginia Literacy Act, all school divisions will be required select supplemental and intervention materials from the approved list similar to the selection of approved core resources by fall of 2024. Additionally, the Virginia Literacy Act requires that all school divisions create a division-wide literacy plan. The VDOE has shared a tentative due date for these plans as May 1st. However, the Virginia Board of Education will be discussing the

[01:07:15] division-wide literacy plans at their meeting today. At the start of the school year for the fall of '24, school divisions will be required to implement high-quality instructional materials in all K through 5 classrooms per the VLA. Teachers will also be required to implement the approved 2024 English Standards of Learning. However, these standards will not be assessed on the spring 2025 SOLs.

[01:07:44] Additionally, the Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System, VALS, our statewide literacy screener, will expand to include third grade. All students in grades K through 3 will be required to participate in this assessment in the fall winter and spring testing windows with the VAL screener all students who have been identified as high risk on the literacy screener will be required to have a student reading plan we are excited that during the our December board meeting the LCPS school board voted unanimously to adopt HMH into

[01:08:24] reading as our core literacy resource for grades K through 2 the adoption of HMH Interreading will fulfill the requirements of the Virginia Literacy Act to implement high quality instructional materials.

[01:08:39] Since the December school board meeting, my office has begun to work with various stakeholder groups regarding professional learning for all K-2, general education, English learner and special education teachers, as well as elementary administrators.

[01:08:54] We continue to work closely with administrators and teachers to determine needs for successful implementation of Interreading. I've shared a brief overview of our accomplishments and work so far as it relates to the Virginia Literacy Act, but what's next?

[01:09:12] Our most immediate and crucial next steps is to identify a high-quality instructional material for third, fourth, and fifth grades. As I shared in the December school board meeting, we have two options for moving forward with identifying a resource for grades three through five.

[01:09:29] We can move forward with an in-depth review of HMH interreading for grades three through five, or we can review all seven instructional resources that have been approved by the VDOE for grades three through five. Knowing the magnitude of this decision, we felt it important to seek feedback from our LCPS stakeholders. A survey was sent to all teachers and administrators asking for whether they prefer option A, review HMH into reading, or B, review all seven approved

[01:10:03] resources. You can see on the screen a breakdown of scores. A total of 497 staff members completed the survey. The staff members who completed the survey represent a wide array of job titles that support literacy instruction. They are outlined on the screen. In total, 57% of staff favored moving forward with HMH interreading. Option A focuses on an in-depth review of HMH interreading.

[01:10:38] On the screen, my team and I have identified a variety of pros for moving forward with Interreading. You can see that a review of Interreading will provide early onboarding and professional learning opportunities for grades 3 through 5. Additionally, having one core resource for all K through 5 students would provide consistency in practice and expectations.

[01:11:00] It would be supportive for staff members who support students in varying grade levels, and it would provide consistency in assessment practices for students. Additionally, a common core resource would provide increased flexibility and options for ongoing professional learning support for teachers and administrators, while also being the most fiscally responsible option.

[01:11:27] Next slide. Option B would include an in-depth review of all VDOE approved 3-5 materials. A pro would be an increased awareness of other approved instructional materials. However, awareness of other programs does not necessarily guarantee that we would find a resource better than HMH Interreading.

[01:11:49] Out of the seven approved resources from the state, LCPS reviewed six of those products as part of the K-2 adoption. The seventh resource added to the VDOE list was SAVAS MyView. As you can see, reviewing all materials for grades three through five may have a significant negative impact.

[01:12:09] While this is not an exhaustive list of potential cons for reviewing all approved materials, Some of the most important to mention are the continued feeling of uncertainty for our three through five teachers and administrators, the condensed timeline available for these teachers to receive materials and support, as well as the challenges of navigating multiple vendors for supporting professional learning to different grade levels.

[01:12:37] Based on the pros and cons of both options, coupled with feedback from our LCPS teachers and administrators, we would like to recommend moving forward with an in-depth review of HMH into reading for grades three through five. I want to take a few moments just to review some of our professional learning plans. A critical piece to the success of HMH into reading implementation will be the professional learning provided to teachers and administrators. This visual provides an overview of the tentative professional learning plan. On the left you can see the

[01:13:13] kickoff to the plan begins with this presentation. On March 5th all K through 2 teachers will engage professional learning provided by HMH into reading ideally we would like for teachers in grades 3 through 5 to also receive initial training on HMH however the timeline is very tight to secure presenters a contingency plan has been developed for all grades or for all grades 3 through 5 teachers these teachers will engage in professional learning around planning explicit vocabulary and comprehension instruction for students once the Virginia Board of

[01:13:49] Education has approved the 2024 revised standards. We will begin our curriculum development work of unpacking SOLs, mapping these to HMH into reading, and identifying assessments. In August, as teachers return, they will have an opportunity to participate in additional professional learning from HMH. This session will not be required, rather we will offer a variety of sessions for teachers to select from, depending on their comfort level with into reading. The The exception to this would be that all LCPS new hires would be required to take the professional learning.

[01:14:26] These teachers will be required to participate in the launch professional development that other teachers had during the March 5th session. Next slide. Here you can see a breakdown of the sustained support plan for schools.

[01:14:43] After the August professional learning, elementary schools will engage in sustained professional learning throughout the school year. elementary schools will be assigned a cohort that will participate in the monthly PD offerings. Principals will have the autonomy to determine who from their school will participate on the team and then this core team will be responsible for turnaround trainings in their building. Specific guidance on expectations for turnaround trainings will be shared with principals at the launch of the cohort. The idea is to provide schools with flexibility on whether this works best for teachers in a CLT or an after-school PD or even

[01:15:21] participating with other schools specifically thinking about our small schools on the right you can see an overview of the topics that will be covered rather than anchoring our professional learning in one resource we have chosen to focus professional learning on high quality literacy instruction each pillar will be covered in depth and explicit connections will be made to into reading and how this resource supports a specific pillar being shared to allow for this flexibility and specificity all learning will be designed by the elementary reading and writing office and the supporting

[01:15:56] facilitator team in conjunction with HMH professionals additionally this will allow us to better monitor consistency of implementation while personalizing to incorporate LCPS students practices and vision and with that that concludes my presentation and I will hand it over to mr. Slevin I do just want to close by going back to the recommendation from staff we like middle school we have considered multiple options in terms of what are some next steps for 3-5. We are required by the

[01:16:31] Virginia Literacy Act to have adopted materials by the start of next school year. So our recommendation, rather than going through a full review like we did for K-2, we will focus our review, which will be a robust one, which will include a committee, include a public process and dialogue, but we will solely focus on HMH interreading for 3-5. So we're happy to answer any questions.

[01:17:00] questions or comments from board members no okay it's hard to argue with zero cons um wearing my teacher hat i i really appreciate this recommendation um i too have been hearing from principals and staff that this isn't this has to sort of happen so that we can move forward quickly we've already been crunched on so many timelines and so i'm really grateful for the work and for the recommendation and um we've come really far and so my hope is that we can get materials in hands faster for teachers I don't know that all of them read them beachside but I

[01:17:37] do know that most of them do take time when they have materials in advance to really dig in to create organizational structures around those things is no easy lift so I am fully supportive of this and in light of the discussion and the presentation at this time I'd like to make a motion to suspend the rules to take up item 5.04 which was on the agenda as an information item as an action item and move that item 5.04 elementary three through five literacy core resource adoption be presented to the full school board with the curriculum and instruction committee's recommendation that the school board review hmh into reading for grades three through five

[01:18:16] is there a second all right all those in favor aye all those opposed all right the motion passes unanimously um and that will resolve this matter thank you so we will work with the chair and dr Smith on when this would fit on the agenda but obviously it is a priority so we appreciate the board's action I noted your comment about materials being accessed and that is a priority for us and we've heard it very clear we also have a large state that is all coming at these vendors and so

[01:18:55] we may not have a robust access to physical materials but we will have robust digital access and the materials we have will be strategically placed around the county and so I just want to it's important to be clear in these meetings. So I just want to be like, we're going to have them accessible, but there is a bit of a supply crunch from HMH.

[01:19:15] Appreciate the clarification. All right. Do we want to move forward or should we? So we do have, Ms. King says she could do it in 10 to 12 minutes. It is a robust item. It is not time sensitive. We could bring it back to February 8th.

[01:19:32] So we do have the room until about 11. We did, staff was here until 10.30, but we could go a little bit long or we could bring it back February 8th. It's at the discretion of the committee. Do you have an appointment at 10.30?

[01:19:49] All right, we have other appointments at 10.30, so I would like to give it the space and time it deserves, although you've been sitting here and I'm sorry. But I really appreciate the work that you've put into it, and I know I've reviewed it, and I want us to get a full scope and be able to really give it the time it deserves, so I think we'll move that to the February 8th meeting, if that's okay.

[01:20:09] No problem, we'll be ready. - Alrighty, let's close this out. So, our next meeting is scheduled for February 8th, 2024. Please mark your calendars. If there is no further business, I entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting.

[01:20:24] Motion to adjourn? - So. - So. - Okay, all those in favor? - Aye. - This meeting is adjourned.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coraggio Consulting · aguyonx.com