Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County School Board, Curriculum & Instruction Committee Meeting, Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
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/1066916189?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 2026-10-16. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] and the changes we've made to recommend to you. Based on that feedback, I do wanna thank Dr. Blakelock and Dr. Tyler for their work on gathering the feedback and then also to all the administrators and teachers who have come to talk and listen about this important topic today.

[00:00:18] So moving on to the next slide, here is the timeline. You can go ahead to the next slide. The timeline where we've been and where we're going. The April tentative school board review of the revised policy could happen in March or in April just depending on how the conversation goes today.

[00:00:39] We wanted to leave you all flexibility in case you think we need further discussion. Either way whether the board whether it's voted on today or you need another meeting that still puts us in a good place to be ready for the start of the school year.

[00:00:55] I will also add that the team is already reaching out principals to get nominees to join the assessment and grading work group and that work group will convene several times this spring to develop specific guidance and regulation to accompany the approved policy so we thought it was really important to have teacher teachers drive that work and so that group will be mostly teachers with additional administrators if they have if they are available on the next slide since we last met we have gathered a lot

[00:01:32] of feedback so our advisory group groups we have msac feedback and board docs for you seac feedback we have the the raw data from the public feedback we received many many comments almost 100 comments i believe which is much more than typical policies receive so we were glad to receive that mostly from teachers a couple of parent comments and then the research team pulled themes from the from that feedback again themes are just the big ideas that are mentioned multiple

[00:02:07] times that rise to the top as big ideas we've also included the revisions that we presented to you last time we met in january and as i mentioned before we do have some updated revisions for your consideration based on that feedback that we received the themes from the public responses also in board docs and I just wanted to mention those briefly so 20 respondents gave feedback and expressed concerns about the 50% grading floor and there's there's more information in this document so I'll move pretty quickly

[00:02:46] through those but that continues to be a concern I did ask DDI to see if they could pull the number of reassessments that I'm sorry the number of assessments in the grade books that had a 50 floor applied I didn't even know if it was possible to pull that information but they were able to and it was a couple of thousand individual assignments out of tens of thousands of assignments for a total of point one percent of all summatives that had the 50 floor applied so I just thought that was interesting information the second theme was the

[00:03:22] number of retakes as a concern respondents requested again there were about 20 people so this did rise to the level of a theme respondents requested a limit to the number of retakes one specific recommendation was one per quarter or one per semester to prevent students from abusing the retake system a couple of people for respondents proposed limiting retakes to not include AP courses or IB courses I do hope that the changes in the policy that we're recommending around reteaching and reasonable effort and completion of

[00:04:01] formatives will help address this there were several there were 18 comments specifically about the ceiling for retakes and the desire to lower the ceiling from 80% to 70% staff still didn't feel comfortable with that we don't know that that truly represents the philosophy of the policy and and certainly doesn't set students up for a growth mindset, but I do think that there are pros and cons to that approach, and so I hope we are able to have a conversation about that.

[00:04:38] Teacher workload and autonomy came up as a theme. Respondents were concerned about the excessive workload for teachers given the number of retakes and late assignments. We hear this quite often, as I know you do, and again, I hope that the specific guardrails around reasonable effort, the weighting of formatives and homework and other changes to the policy will positively impact that.

[00:05:04] I do worry about limiting the retakes and how that would look in a gradebook, how teachers would track that. I don't know that it's impossible, but that is something that we've talked about, potentially being an added challenge.

[00:05:20] The fifth theme was grades for formative assessments homework 16 people provided positive comment comments regarding that and praised the draft for including formative assessments and homework in a percentage of the grade the sixth theme was regarding due dates for assignments and penalty for late work I do think that we have addressed that in the new revision that we're proposing this evening I'm hopeful for that and then the last one fewer respondents but still enough to be identified as a theme

[00:05:56] expressed concern about student effort and this was a little bit separate but connected to reassessments and the grading floor just a general sentiment that students may be taking advantage of those aspects of the policy so with that we had further conversations with cabinet with board members and we do have some additional recommended changes and there is a table in board docs and also in these slides that I wanted to highlight for you we use section number instead of line numbers because the line numbers kept changing

[00:06:36] on us so I'll go through these really quickly mr. office is helpful to continue to roll through this okay so in section a we rephrase part of section a - and this was really in response to your feedback back as a committee the last time we met adding in a mention of high expectations in section B 3 we updated that section to include include student goal-setting so this is on line 81 I'm looking at the red line to the March

[00:07:13] red line version to help students evaluate and set goals for their own progress in section B 4 there was confusion and and a specific comment from one of the stakeholder feedback comments was really helpful in getting clarity around this.

[00:07:34] We removed the concept of pre-learning. That was really hard to define and measure in terms of homework, so we removed that. Section B5, reasonable effort. Hope to have a conversation around this because we're not confident we got this definition right.

[00:07:53] This is a really tricky one. We tried. And we are definitely open to feedback on this. it is it's a tricky thing to define and one I think we absolutely need a definition for to support teachers when working with students so we did take another stab at reasonable effort. Section D secondary grading procedures we revised it to reflect current practice again a helpful comment from from the feedback referenced the averaging of quarter grades we confirmed with DDI that that is not how grades are calculated and so we updated that to

[00:08:31] reflect actual practice section e1 so there's a lot of strike throughs but if you skip to 195 201 it clarifies that projects done outside of the classroom can be considered major summative assessments and so homework by nature nature should should generally be considered practice and just an opportunity for feedback or a formative assessment however across the board in middle and high school in different subject areas there may be projects or

[00:09:09] essays or longer-term work that is considered summative section e3 so again there's a lot of strikethrough skipping to line 309 summative assessments that section E3 we tried to clarify major summative assessments that we were speaking about major summative assessments on line 317 let's see Eve and and throughout I'm sorry for that whole section focus on major summatives section

[00:09:47] E4 the floor of 50 applies only to quarter grades after talking with the team and many principals and others this may actually have been the intent of the original policy and it was very confusing so we hope to clear that up that the 50 floor does not apply to individual assessments that the actual grade whatever earned on the individual assessments would be in the grade book

[00:10:15] the 50 floor is only the quarter grade next slide section E5 we received feedback around what a student support team is and a request for a definition it is difficult to define a student support team because that could look a little bit different at each school so we provided examples for who might be on a student support team section E6 regarding late work the original policy

[00:10:54] said teachers may assign deadlines and I think there was some confusion whether that really meant they could assign deadlines and so we have changed that that to say that late work should have a deadline section E6 B this has the potential I think to be really helpful for some of the teacher concerns that we have heard and that is that late work will not be accepted after a major summative assessment has been administered this will likely also be a

[00:11:32] change in practice and a shift for many people but the team thought that that was an appropriate shift to to really keep focused on student learning I have heard stories from teachers who receive late assignments at the end of the quarter from the very first week of the quarter and they feel obligated to receive those assignments spend the time grading them putting them in the grade book long after the summative assessments have been done and truly even long after the grading for the entire quarter has been done and so in order to

[00:12:08] mitigate that we have clarified that again that then has the potential to be a significant change in practice and we would need to outline that clearly in the grade book but I think that's an important shift section E9 regarding extra credit this is just a clarification based on one of the feedback comments that we got extra credit is not required to be offered to students teachers do not are not required to offer extra credit however when it is it should be offered to all students and not just a select group of

[00:12:42] students section F this currently or previously read dishonesty in assigned homework and we have changed that language to academic integrity for two reasons one two well three reasons to make it more positive facing to to apply to all work not just homework so we expect academic integrity in all school work not just homework and then also this language aligns with language that

[00:13:13] you will see in the AI policy in just a few minutes. And then Section F1D regarding the use of AI. This was a helpful piece of feedback from SEAC regarding assistive technology. And so we just clarified that students may be asked or it may be documented as an accommodation in an IEP that assistive technology or another tool is allowable. So we added that clarification. So So, we also had a couple of spelling errors that we corrected, just for your information.

[00:13:52] Or grammar errors, excuse me. So, on the next slide is just a summary of the significant changes, the significant changes that we've made throughout this process from the policy currently, as it's posted in BoardDocs, to today.

[00:14:12] We have tried to define reasonable effort. Again, continue to be open to feedback around that. We have created criteria for when reassessment and the floor of 50 can be applied. I think many interpret the policy as it's currently written as that being wide open.

[00:14:27] That was never the intent, although it's definitely being used that way, so really trying to narrow that focus. We changed -- similarly, we changed the floor of 50 percent to apply only to quarter grades, not individual assessments. As I already mentioned, weighting the homework and formative assessments for a total of no more than 10% of a quarter grade and specify that deadlines for late work should be assigned and that late work will not be accepted after the major summative assessment so we again are really trying to balance the philosophy

[00:14:59] of assessment for learning and the what we're hearing from from teachers so in terms of next steps obviously we want to hear your feedback and discussion and this is an action item however we're open to postponing it if you feel that's necessary the next steps would be on the next slide would be an information item at the full school board so we would give I'm assuming a similar presentation with your help miss Chernoff and then discussion at the full board and an

[00:15:36] action item we are already beginning to update the regulation and we have initiated the planning for the work group so we hope to have the work group names by the end of next week and then we will start that work in late march and early april obviously nothing will be published until we have a final policy because it needs to be aligned and then with that we will develop a communication and implementation plan and barring no additional global pandemics we will

[00:16:07] implement that brings us full circle right back to the beginning wow thank you so much um that is a lot to digest so um i will defer to my colleagues on sort of how you want to work through this if you want to go through the chart and kind of go by different things or if you just want to address certain topics before we um decide if we're going to move this make a motion to move it to the full board or if we're going to keep it info and delay it um i am hopeful that we can get

[00:16:42] it to the full board today that's sort of my goal so I'll put that out there in full transparency I think the more time we have to repair our teachers the better but again that will be up to the will of the committee so I will defer to you all first for any topics that you want to cover if there was anything specific in the revisions to the revisions and then we'll just kind of go from there so anybody want to go first okay Dr. Ricci thank you chair I have no

[00:17:18] I don't have any specifics that I like to go if I know is exhaustive extremely detailed I think it's about time to put this into into fruition so I'd like to make a motion chair if that's okay I'd like to make a motion to put this forward to the full board is there a second a second all right I will add that I am actually going to make an amendment to the base motion and then we'll open that piece up for discussion so I would like to make an amendment

[00:17:55] that on the red line version in lines and I am sorry there was an error on board docs but there's two places where I would like to change it lines 353 and line 364 to change 80% to 75% as it pertains to the reassessment cap and I guess I speak to my own motion then is there a second three red line version

[00:18:23] 353 and 364 yeah so we need a second in order to discuss is there a second no second so it will stay at 80% for those two lines and then I will propose my second amendment which is on the red line version on line 403 after the words college or university I'd like to add a sentence that says the floor of 50% will

[00:19:00] not apply to advanced placement courses is there a second all right there is no second so that will also not be a change so with that we will vote on whether or not this goes to the full board so all those in favor of this going as revised revision revision number two to the full board say aye aye all those opposed that

[00:19:36] will pass 3-0 unanimous all right with that we will move on to item our information items first up we have policy 5430 use of generator generative artificial intelligence and I believe Mr. Aaron Smith is here to present.

[00:19:55] Slevin and I will be tag teaming this. Okay and Mr. Slevin my apologies. We appreciate that being here it's been a great partnership between the Department of Teaching Learning and Digital Innovation. Transition here real quick from grading and assessment. So we are excited to bring back the new policy 5430 on the use of generative artificial intelligence. As you may recall we talked about this which feels like a long time ago in November and the

[00:20:34] first attempt we took of the policy we just wanted the committee's feedback before we sent it out to the public and so we're bringing it back this evening as an information item hopefully to have a little bit of dialogue but ultimately getting it get it out to the public so we can have some feedback and bring back some revisions to the committee in April before sending it to the full board for consideration for adoption based on the feedback that was received from staff in November there's been some significant additions to the policy if you starting on page two of policy 5430 the previous policy had a

[00:21:13] much shorter use related shorter description of staff and student use of AI yes the red line copy and the feedback from the committee was that they'd like to see a little bit more information in terms of just how we we envision students teachers and staff using AI so taking some of the work that we've done with our cross-departmental team we've added the language we're using with staff related to the use of AI so you'll see those three sections related to students teachers and staff knowing that generative AI will move will hopefully be used and is being used outside of the

[00:21:51] classroom as well in LCPS we've also added a cross-reference to the grading assessment policy as Dr. Ellis just mentioned. We know that AI will be a piece of the conversation about grading and assessment in our classroom.

[00:22:06] And so we added a cross reference to the bottom of that. One area that the committee discussed was the idea of academic integrity. And we while we didn't add a robust section on academic integrity what we have done is we're working with the Department of Student Services And we're adding language to our students' rights and responsibilities section on academic integrity.

[00:22:34] And we're going to have mention of the use of AI. And the last update I have for the committee is knowing there was interest in regulations related to this policy. The staff does have two draft regulations that are working their way through the system right now, getting reviewed by Division Council.

[00:22:55] The first regulation will be on pathways inciting artificial intelligence. One of the additions to the assessment and grading policy had to do with teachers allowing the use of AI in an assignment knowingly. And so we are giving examples of what are some frames of references teachers can use when making decisions about the use of AI.

[00:23:17] They include don't use Gen AI. They include using it as a coach, like asking the Gen AI questions as a collaborator or as an essential tool. So those are some of the examples of where we're headed with use of AI. And then citations.

[00:23:33] As we enter into this new world of AI, how do we have an expectation for citing the work of generative AI? And then the second regulation, Mr. Smith and his team has been a great help with privacy and data protection when using artificial intelligence.

[00:23:52] And so that'll be another regulation. And our intent would be to have, while the board doesn't approve regulation, We heard about and clear your interest in seeing those regulations as the policy proceeds. So my goal is to have the regulations drafts ready for April when you all are considering moving this to the full board.

[00:24:11] So, Mr. Smith, would you add anything? Just from the data privacy perspective, we've tried to be very clear as this is an ever-evolving landscape that's shifting so quickly that there's some additional reviews that will be put in place as part of this policy where software of this nature will be reviewed every year versus not on renewal or every three or five years as traditional software titles are reviewed.

[00:24:36] So we just are trying to do the due diligence to put the protections in place so that student data is protected, LCPS is protected, and we have enterprise tools with contractual agreements and binding data protection and addendums and all sorts of things that we need to have in place. So that's really, I think, the focus of the regulation is to make sure that we're using the appropriate tools in the appropriate way and aren't risking any sort of data security.

[00:25:00] Thank you all so much for your work on this. This is exciting that we're going to have a policy. I know we're kind of pioneers for having an AI policy, at least from when I talk to other people from other districts. And I know it's complex and I know it's ever-changing, and I'm glad that there's going to be a regulation because I think that's the piece that we can tinker with more often as things evolve.

[00:25:23] So I'm very grateful. I feel like it's a good base. I also feel like I'm a little out of my scope on the AI world. I feel like I'm playing catch up. I think a lot of us do. So I am very anxious to get this out to the public and see what they have to say and definitely engage our educators as they've been engaging these tools.

[00:25:42] And the only other piece that I would add for feedback at this time is I really, really appreciated CAC's recommendation in the grading policy about unknowingly because there are now tools that I have clicked on where I am unknowingly using AI to wish someone happy birthday on Facebook.

[00:26:00] So I didn't know that was a real thing, but you can engage that now without even knowing that you're doing it. And I think for students adding that layer, although they tend to be way more tech savvy than we are, is really an important, we may need to do some noodling around that in terms of this or in terms of a handbook and what kind of learning is gonna happen around these tools as they are literally changing in the moment.

[00:26:24] so I thank SEAC for that little word but words matter and it really it made a huge difference in really framing that conversation for students so I hope that we can continue that I'll turn it over to my colleagues for questions and comments Dr. Deans my comment is that I think that it should be put somewhere in the policy that it will be reviewed every year to give them to let them know that and we should review it at the end of each academic year to see and have

[00:27:00] some surveys from the teachers of what have you as to how it's been used you know generally our policies as in you as usual the policies are reviewed every three years or every five years and I think that this is one that should be reviewed every year because it is so new section C in the policy 5430 does say that generative AI programs will be reviewed annually.

[00:27:32] And I think, so the policy, like acceptable use policies, for example, they have to be reviewed every two years per state code versus like standard policy review is five years. So this is probably something as this landscape evolves, this isn't capturing everything. Like every time we have a alert meeting, the first thing we do has been the first hour being like, what just changed over the last two weeks?

[00:27:52] So how quickly things are going. So this is, my guess is this will be a policy that will not just sit for five years, But we do have that language in order to ensure that the software programs are going to be reviewed yearly, at least at the beginning, until we get some short-footing in this area. And Dr. Deeds, I would add, that is part of our intent of picking the topics we've picked for the regulations.

[00:28:15] We understand how we think we're going to use AI right now, and we think we're going to cite AI right now, and the privacy concerns. So as opposed to putting that into policy, we know we're going to have to revisit that and respond to what's actually happening in our classrooms.

[00:28:31] And the regulations have an ability to update those much more quickly than the policy process. That being said, it's to the pleasure of the board when we revisit policies. And so I would just add that's how we've differentiated between what's in the policy and what's in the regulation.

[00:28:49] And we could always add additional regulations. I could imagine new issues coming up. We need to add a third regulation to this particular policy. Yeah, well, now that I see that annually is in there, annually and or as needed because of the fast pace.

[00:29:08] Dr. Rashid? Thank you, Chair. As with, like, you know, with your kids, you know, like you wish you could revise that because, you know, how they're growing up. The same thing with AI, it's always evolving. And I echo my colleagues here, especially the fact that since it's always evolving, I do recommend that we always proceed with caution.

[00:29:30] And it's a great tool if it's just not abused. But then again, with the use of it with kids, but I could see it benefiting the teachers a lot. So I don't have much to add, but I do echo your sentiments. Thank you. Yeah, I agree that it's ever-changing.

[00:29:49] My hope more for the policy piece was to just have some foundational principles in place so that we wouldn't have to keep reviewing it year in and year out. I think definitely as we're kind of trailblazing here, we're definitely going to need to keep it open for a little bit. But I do like the idea of the regulation being the piece that's going to be more catered to those changes.

[00:30:11] I think foundationally the principles are pretty clearly outlined here for kids in terms of integrity and how to use the tool. So I'm open to that. But I do hope that we can get to a place where the foundational policy is just good guidance and guidelines for kids and teachers to follow as we use this tool.

[00:30:27] But I guess we'll see how that regulation rolls out. And then we'll make that decision. Is there anything else before we move on? All right. So we will send this out to the public. Yes, we will send this out for review, have that feedback, and recommended changes.

[00:30:44] That will be our plan. Yeah, I'm anxious to see how that plays out. So thank you so much. All right, we will move on to our next information item. We have many guests in the room here today. I'm very excited to have all of you. this is item 5.02 middle school pilot schedules and update on the Trailside and Watson Mountain middle school schedules and so I'm actually gonna let you all introduce yourselves because I don't want to miss anyone and I want to make sure that you all get a chance to say who you are and the fabulous work that you do so thank you for being here hello everyone I'm Bridget Buechler I'm

[00:31:22] the principal at Trailside Middle School my name is Brittany Shepard I am a a seventh grade science teacher as well as in charge of the science department. - I'm Madame Tujar, I'm the French teacher at Trailside as well as the soul for the department.

[00:31:39] - I'm Gila Russell, I'm assistant principal at Watson. - Good evening, I'm Lenny Compton, the principal at Watson Mountain. - And I am Tristi Oliver, also assistant principal at Watson Mountain. - I will turn it over to you all, the floor is yours, and then we'll discuss afterwards if that's okay.

[00:32:00] - Well, good evening everyone. We're really excited to share with you feedback from our parents, staff, and students about our schedule initiative at Watson Mountain this year. With me tonight are our wonderful assistant principals. We were looking for one of our parents. He may be coming a little late. And we also have a student video.

[00:32:16] We move to slide two, I wanted to share our agenda. And looking at our agenda, we aim to review the reasons behind electing our schedule, provide a snapshot of data and feedback as to how we believe our schedule fosters an opportunity for our students to excel academically, thrive in an exceptional learning environment, and detail modifications we are considering for next year.

[00:32:37] Then in looking at the alignment with the strategic plan in our next slide we wanted to ensure that it is aligned to 1.1 which is enabling core academic excellence by promoting rigorous instruction for all students good evening so this year we have been in a really unique circumstance of just having sixth graders 540 of them and opening a brand new school and because of that next year we will be both sixth and seventh graders with about 1,120 students we had three major research-based objectives for guiding

[00:33:14] our thinking when it came to our schedule last year that we wanted to bring to light the first initiative was centered around the question how could we devise a schedule that would provide students an equal amount of time each and every week in their classes we really call this schedule a creative cadence and we've pre-planned all of our weeks for the entire school year to ensure that creative cadence is evident for both our staff our students and our community even with the disruption of weather this year which we had quite a bit every single one of our students had the same amount of time in their classes each and every week we adjusted the schedule to provide that and

[00:33:54] communicated it with our community our second initiative was addressed to the concern of cognitive fatigue we provided links to current research that exemplified this as the day it goes longer students mental stamina has a tendency to wane our schedule allowed for our students to see classes at different times of the day and we also even encouraged our staff to administer assessments during the morning portions of the day that they see their students our last initiative was around student engagement with this we not only allowed for intentional interventions which you'll hear about a little bit later

[00:34:30] including our pilot program but we also were able to have bring your parent to school day cultural ambassador day and a series of pep rallies throughout the year this pilot program as well as our other intentional interventions have supported students who are in need of additional time for math for English and students with MTSS plans as a quick recap of what we brought to light earlier this year we had two main modifications to our schedule this fall you can see visually that we had a typical five-day week we had a regular a day and b day on usually mondays

[00:35:10] and tuesdays then we would switch to an a b reverse known as a c day and a d day that speaks to the cognitive fatigue the week concluded with an e day when both teachers and students were were able to see every class this structure and familiar cadence ensured consistency Eliminated confusion about the day's schedule and the week's schedule.

[00:35:34] We also devised a common cadence for each type of week, whether it was a three-day week, a four-day week, or even a two-day week. Next slide. Throughout the year, we had told this committee that we would take feedback, not only from our students, from our staff, but also from our community.

[00:35:54] We did this throughout the entire year, both in the fall, the winter, and in the spring. It's been a priority to get this feedback from our students and our community. And as you can see, 83% of our respondents have shared that our parents, that they would like to keep the schedule as it is or provide minor tweaks.

[00:36:14] Only 17% reported a desire to have a traditional AB schedule. For our staff, 96% agreed to keep the current adjustments or would like small tweaks. And only 4% requested a traditional AB schedule.

[00:36:31] As we get to the sections on navigating forward, We'll discuss a few of these tweaks that might be options for the future. - Looking at the next slide, we would like to share some anecdotal information with you. Possible, we would like to show a quick student video.

[00:36:49] Mr. Slevin, if you were to click that video there, so it'll come back.

[00:39:19] So I promise we did not pay those students to say anything about the schedule. However, they did have to answer a question. So I would also like to highlight a quote that is on slide seven. So we did provide a couple of quotes, but I'm gonna read the second quote verbatim for you.

[00:39:37] This is from our parents, and it says, "My child has a diagnosis of inattentive ADHD. "Due to the way his brain works in medication, "it's really nice for my child to experience "every class in the morning "before his medication starts wearing off. "My child has thrived "at Watson Mountain Middle School."

[00:39:53] This is a number, these are, this is one of many anecdotal informations that we received from our parents. I would also like to stand on that particular slide. I would also like to show the display to the left that shows an actual Tardew report from one of our students.

[00:40:09] In a typical AB schedule, two of the students' classes would have been impacted more. However, in our model, the loss of instructional time is spread to four classes. Do you wanna acknowledge this was in December, as you can see, 12-3 to 12-6, and we have since worked with that child to make sure that he gets to school on time and his parents.

[00:40:28] So, but it just shows an advantage of having our classes switch. Then I'm gonna give it over to Mrs. Russell. - All right, we can look at the next slide. So while not a causal relationship, we do believe our schedule has contributed to the high levels of academic success for our students.

[00:40:44] In this slide, you can see a highlight from our winter map, but before we look at that, it's really important that we look at the spring 2024 map scores from our amazing feeder schools. You'll be able to see that our current sixth graders had a solid academic performance with math scores ranging from the 66.3% to 76.8% again in that spring of 2024.

[00:41:05] And then for reading in the 63rd percentile to the 72nd percentile. - Can I ask a quick question? Is that percentile growth or achievement? - Achievement. - Okay, thank you. - We are fortunate to show our winter 2025 map results further reinforce that strong performance.

[00:41:21] On average, in math, students scored in the 81st percentile overall, with 51% ranking in that top 20% nationally. In reading, students placed in the 71st percentile overall with 36% in that top 20%. These current numbers far exceed the spring 2024 middle school averages of 54.8% in math and 58.3% in reading.

[00:41:43] Additionally, if we were to look at the tier placements, we would find that 90% of our students are tier one in math and 87% are tier one in reading. Additionally, projected SOL proficiency levels show 91.3% of our students are on track to pass math with 30.5% achieving advanced scores.

[00:42:01] 89.1% are projected to pass reading, including 20.3% at the advanced level. In our next slide, you'll see some plans and successes we've had for our students who are in that tier two and tier three, which provides us an opportunity to focus on how we can best support them in their growth.

[00:42:18] So Chirstie mentioned earlier that Yeti pilot program, it's designed at Watson to really enhance student achievement in both math and English by providing a balanced daily instruction in both subjects. So remember again, we have sixth grade. Currently 30 students participate in this initiative, ensuring consistent reinforcement of key skills.

[00:42:37] This approach has led to measurable progress with an average growth of seven percentile points in math and 3.5 percentile growth in English, demonstrating that effectiveness of that targeted support. Academic performance across Watson remains strong with 86% of our students earning A's and B's in their coursework during the first two quarters.

[00:42:57] Additionally, fewer than 3.5% of our students received a D or lower with no increase in failing grades from quarter one to two. Every student requiring extra support is actively engaged in either an MTSS plan or receiving an in-class intervention, ensuring that none of our Yetis are left behind.

[00:43:14] A key component of student success at Watson's commitment to literacy through our Alexia efforts with 100% of our students engaged in that program. At the beginning of the year, 41% of our students were at a foundational level in one of the, at least one of the literacy strands.

[00:43:30] So remember those literacy strands are word study, grammar, and comprehension. By February 2025, that number had dropped to just 10%, highlighting again that significant growth in the reading skills. These results showcase that impact of Watson's structured interventions and that dedication of truly our students, our community, and teachers have made a huge difference.

[00:43:50] Watson Middle School, so if we look at the next slide, is continuously evolving to really enhance student learning and engagement. So, Chirstie mentioned earlier that looking at that data and taking action, as part of this effort, We're rebranding their eDays to serve as a launch pad for our week.

[00:44:07] So currently, most eDays appear at the end of the week. Our plan is to have those begin at the beginning to truly anchor or set that week. And it will help us set learning goals and really build excitement for the days ahead. To create a smoother transition between classes, we're adjusting the length of advisory on eDays, allowing students to arrive at each class feeling more prepared and ready to engage.

[00:44:27] Remember, Watson is four levels, and sometimes that's a hefty trek. So we need to ensure that there's some time in between. Additionally we're reevaluating resource in the second English block to better meet students individual needs. By refining the structure of resource we aim to really provide those targeted academic supports while also making that second English class again for sixth grade more enriching with those passion driven and community projects. Finally we're deepening and continuing to deepen that collaboration and teacher planning to really strengthen instructional consistency, enhance alignment across teams, and maximize the

[00:45:02] student learning experiences. - Any questions you might have about Watson Mountain? - Thank you guys so much. Of course, always love the videos, seeing the kiddos.

[00:45:18] Hope they weren't drinking coffee, but maybe they were. It's adorable. This is impressive and exciting, and I know it's been an impressive and exciting year for you all, and I really enjoyed my time spent with you talking to students about this schedule, talking to teachers, seeing it in action, seeing the cards on the door, A, B, C, D, E.

[00:45:39] It seems like everybody got it down pretty quick. I certainly was skeptical of that in the beginning. I think some parents were too, but it seems like everybody's kind of jumped on board. Before I pass it to my colleagues, my main question is what were the bumps and what were the challenges and how did you overcome that and do you feel like you've gotten to a good place now?

[00:46:00] I mean, obviously most people want to keep going with it, but do you feel, and I guess the part B of that is do you think you can sustain it adding your 7th graders? I believe that we can sustain it for seventh grade. We've actually started to plan that for next year.

[00:46:16] The biggest bump, quite honestly, is our E-Day. As you have seen in this presentation, we are looking at how to make those modifications. Our students are used to the block schedule where they only see four classes per day. And the E-Day, they see every single class. So we've had some concerns of students, well, what binder do I take?

[00:46:32] And do I have to take everything in my backpack? So to work with that, we're looking at some executive function and skill development with our students and how to support them, as well as reducing time that they have with those particular classes so it doesn't seem as if it's an exhaustive day. I'll give it over to Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Oliver to answer that question as well.

[00:46:51] - Probably with that E-Day as well, one of the concerns that was brought up, and that's one of the reasons for the change in timing, is the E-Day, could it be a preview instead of a read? And so instead of using that Friday as our E-Day, really looking at using it as kind of the start of the week, that was a big ask and request from our teachers.

[00:47:14] So it is something that we actually want to pilot this spring of switching up a week and just seeing how do our teachers like that, what does that do and what does our staff and our community and students feel about it as well. - Awesome, I love the pilot within a pilot. - Exactly, always.

[00:47:32] To add on to that, I think what was a challenge initially for English is because in sixth grade we have the pleasure of a double block of English, seeing English twice in one day, right, when your colleagues have only the opportunity to see them once was a bit of a challenge initially of like what does that second E day or that second English block look like.

[00:47:49] We've been able to really modify that to ensure that we're working on the passion efforts, that we're looking at interventions and enrichment. But I think that that was an initial challenge that we've been able to overcome by just modifications in our practice. And that really was led by our English teachers ensuring that they had the things that they needed necessary to deliver that, but that they also had our support.

[00:48:09] But they have been really, I think, game changers in it for sure. Yeah, that's really interesting. Remind me, was the transition time in your block day and your E-day, your A, B, C, D, and your E-day all the same? So they have to move quicker on the E-day?

[00:48:25] On E-days, they have four minutes to get to class. They think it's two minutes, but it's actually four minutes. And on our A through D-days, they have five minutes. Okay, so was that significant to them? It is, however, they will adjust. next year our sixth graders would be on the top floor fourth our fourth level so they will have less they will have less time to move around the building okay yeah that's interesting colleagues thank you chair um and thank you for this awesome presentation you guys are the 100th school i think at loudon county so that's so so it makes everyone so proud to hear um and i think that the results

[00:49:03] are it's it's really important to see the results after such a such a while you know especially for a brand new school um you had mentioned in one of the slides that there were some tweaks like I think it was a pie chart, and on there it said that there was a small portion that said that, yeah, we do agree. I think it was the parents part on the left side of that slide, and it said, we do agree with it.

[00:49:22] We think it's good or something like that, but we do recommend tweaks, right? And what would be those tweaks, or were they already on the navigating forward table? Oh, those were the tweaks that they recommended? Awesome. And then my other question is, oh, yeah, please. Yeah, the largest tweak or concern was the E-Day.

[00:49:38] The E-Day, as you just mentioned. The majority of our feedback. That makes sense. And then, yeah, so the other one was the challenges that you mentioned previously and or the general results that you had, were they similar to the challenges or the even positive results that other schools and other systems experienced?

[00:50:01] I remember you and I had a conversation over the summer saying there are other places that are simulating this type of schedule. Did they seem to have this similar type of challenge, whether positive or negative, and did you anticipate that? I think our biggest challenge was just it was so new to our community, how to affirm that they were going to be okay.

[00:50:23] And I think with our communication, which we didn't show that graph, but we had over 90% of our community, specifically our parents, say that communication with regards to when the E-Day, when our schedule will be, has been outstanding. So that was the biggest challenge that we felt that we would have, is affirming with our parents if it's going to be okay, given that we're giving their babies, the sixth graders, and I don't know if you guys have seen any other challenges, but that's been the main one.

[00:50:46] Yeah, that could be stressful, too. I think one thing we did to kind of preempt it, as well, is not only with that communication, but it was a little bit scary, but in October, we opened up our doors to over 180 families to come and spend the day with their student we call bring your parent to school day and I think that that kind of dispels some of the hesitations and the concerns by opening up our doors and we're gonna do another one on March 28th so we'll see how that goes and I would just add I think that the key to honestly is our students they have sold the effort for us you saw Willow kind of mentioned the schedule there many of the people who gave us feedback the parents said you know I was freaking out about it I didn't know what this was

[00:51:26] going to look like and my child said I've got it I know what I'm doing I think that they have helped us know that we're on the right path because they are able to say well yeah Ms. Russell it's a C day yeah I have this this and this and so their knowledge of it is really strong but their desire I think to keep with a schedule is very clear to us for sure. Very nice thank you and also have other middle schools reached out to you saying that they want to simulate what you have change what they currently have don't be shy don't be shy I have some colleagues here so I'll try to uh yes we have I have had a couple of principals reach out

[00:52:01] and wonder how might that work in their particular school given that they had challenged because they have six through eight so the question about how will it work with resource in eighth grade I can't answer and I don't have to worry about that for three years because we're gonna be six and seven Dr. Deans I am excited I taught middle school at one point and for you to get those little babies around and see that level of improvement I'm just so excited I am

[00:52:36] just excited and congratulations and I applaud you because as someone said when I was there last summer I said no they can't do that but you did it and you've shown that you've done it well and for that I am very grateful all right with With that, I'll turn it over to Ms. Buechler to tackle the trailside pilot of the 8-block.

[00:53:04] The opportunity to share trailside. I told my teachers I wasn't going to make them present, but they're definitely here for questions and comments and everything. So we started with just showing you what the 8-period day is like.

[00:53:24] So just background trailside, this is our 11th year. We are two stories, not four, thank goodness. and we piloted the eight period day and last spring my two assistant principals were here to share with you the rationales that came from it and it actually came from the teachers themselves we have we're working on becoming a model plc school and our guiding coalition our leadership

[00:53:56] team of teachers when we really started looking at a prime thing was student engagement and also making sure that students were available for their tier one instruction as well as tier two and tier three the teachers were the schedule needs to change we need to relook at this and so here's a schedule that we've been running all year main focus is time we are a six hour and 48 minute day in in loudon county it's really how are we using that time so it's the kids have class every

[00:54:36] day they see their teachers every day it's 40 minutes lunch and recess we count minutes super close the mtss and the flex is a 30 minute our bell change is three minutes the flex and the mtss and advisory is a big component of this so when you're looking at really meeting the needs of all students we have flex and MTSS four days a week now so we shifted that a little bit

[00:55:09] for the MTSS kids the other two days or advisory for all students the MTSS we use our data points and are still you know going back and tweaking what is the criterion for MTSS looking at all the data points we actually just after our math more kids in sorry about that so we are covering kids for both math and literacy as well as for social-emotional or tier three students for behavior as

[00:55:48] well the flex time is for our tier two and also our enrichment time and so that started in November and so the flex is where teachers and their CLTs plan out whether it's reteaching or visiting current content and they pull students into their flex period and it goes into it's through Phoenix students who are like acing it you know they have mastered everything they get to choose

[00:56:26] where they wish to go so whether it's music whether it's fitness and so our MTSS is still for kids who are selected and so they don't have a choice as to where they're going during that time so what I want to share with you next slide please this was our winter map data and so this is about growth okay so our data was based on that and so it tied right in with our school improvement plan looking at the data for our trail side compared to all

[00:57:03] of the other middle schools we had significant growth 40 students in tiers 2 and 3 advanced tiers between the fall and winter it was we've never had such growth before the conditional growth specifically for our EL students and our students with disability showed significant growth as well and reaching even up to the 74th percentile we just celebrated this data with a whole staff a couple of weeks ago and we had like individual anecdotal stories the kids in

[00:57:39] our MTSS groups are really engaging in their own data really getting excited about one student was talking about well in the winter map I normally don't do as well and was very surprised so seeing that student agency happening with their data was was really exciting I know Brittany she's a science teacher but she's also an MTSS teacher for math.

[00:58:06] I don't know if you want to share any specific with your one student. - Yeah, so I think what's important about MTSS in particular is that based on their data, we want to see them grow and achieve and reach on grade level or beyond grade level. And I had a group of seven students that I was working with, and two of them actually were able to graduate out of MTSS because they had achieved so much in such a short period of time.

[00:58:32] I did not anticipate that when we started, that that would look like that. And then now I've had another student that was added in based on their results, so it's something that's ever-changing. But even for my students that might not have grown overall as much as they had hoped, 'cause they had set their own goals for themselves, we got to look at certain categories, because Matt breaks down certain categories, and we had worked a lot on number sense, and every single one of them had grown in number sense.

[00:58:58] And now we have a new goal for them that they've set for themselves of, okay, now I wanna focus on this specific piece because that's where I'm lowest in. And so it's fascinating because these are kids that are, I'm working with eighth graders and I had taught a couple of them in seventh grade and seeing the difference as they are growing up, but also as they are setting these goals for themself is I'm hoping preparing them for the future coming forward.

[00:59:23] - So I do wanna point out with the winter map, so if you look at the top bar graph, so if you wanna look at eighth grade, I just wanna point out, Only the pre-algebra students and a handful of Algebra I students take the math map.

[00:59:40] And so pre-algebra and eighth grade, those are the students who are really the most challenged with math. And so when you look at being able to, our Tier 1 moved up to 63% compared to overall the average of 45% that we saw significant growth there as well.

[01:00:04] We didn't even, in our tier three for eighth grade math, it was, you couldn't even get a percentage there, so we were super excited. When we looked at the second bar graph for our EL students in math, definitely we were able to lower the number of students who were in that tier three.

[01:00:27] If you look at, again, I tend to focus a lot on that eighth grade. Looking at that, that's at 21 percent compared to 48 percent across the other middle schools. And then in eighth grade for our students with disabilities, we saw more growth in our students with disabilities on our both math and you'll see with reading than we ever have before in the 11 years that we've been at Trailside.

[01:00:56] onto the next slide is our reading super excited about this with our schedule with sixth grade because they do have English every day we actually changed that up and we have students have a reading class and then they have a writing class as well writing has been a big focus at Trailside for the past few years and across contents with expectations of trying to really improve that that writing both in in all domains I know in science in seventh grade right

[01:01:34] now they're doing a partnership with the English class on research and so the writing components a big piece looking at the reading very very excited about this as well looking at our EL students across the board that's that second bar graph if you look at sixth grade our EL students 25 percent in tier 3 compared to 57 percent across the division 41 percent in seventh grade

[01:02:11] compared to 54 and then our eighth grade 30 percent to 55 and then again as I mentioned before we had tremendous growth with our students with disabilities and then across the highlights were 97 students in tier 2 and 3 advanced tiers between the fall and winter with five of those jumping from tier 3 to tier 1 and it's just not the kind of growth that you normally see from near to near and then if you think about winter and the winter that we had

[01:02:47] and there was disruption with learning and then of course with with the big winter break and everything winter map was taken we did it at the end of the window and it came like right after like some consecutive snow days as well just a celebration reading conditional growth for both EL and students with disabilities had improvements reaching growth rankings up to the 75th percentile well above the national average so that was our our quantitative data looking at

[01:03:24] qualitative here is feedback from our students and so we gave all students the same questions even though obviously our sixth graders had never had a previous block schedule before and so a couple of things that jumped out was attention span and that was a big motivator for us with moving to a period day with the shorter periods the engagement I would say with being in the classrooms I've never seen the engagement the way that I have it's fast it's bell-to-bell the

[01:04:03] teacher focus the teacher planning and as well as the students the daily consistency some of the anecdotal feedback was I feel like I know my students so much better by seeing them every day and I knew them faster than before also the variety of subjects some of the feedback from the students anecdotal was well and if I don't like a certain class I'm not in there as long and again if you ask the kids the variety another specific eighth grade

[01:04:37] student said told me she liked she gets to move more because of having so many more passings between the bell and then definitely the efficiency it's you get right to right to the point there's not really a whole lot of downtime and I know my teachers will be able to speak to that to the forebach for preferring the longer classes as longer classes did allow for more in-depth exploration of subjects there was a little bit less rushing that's definitely something that

[01:05:17] has come up homework management but not having to do it every night but could pause on that the reduced stress of fewer classes and then focus some students found it easier to focus on fewer subjects each day for our next slide okay so this is the staff data and we had a lot more question or we had a lot more feedback but for the sake of presenting tonight we slimmed it down but

[01:05:54] I do understand I can send you more if you would be interested in seeing it okay so this is from the staff and comparing to the block schedule in the eight period day definitely student engagement was a very high between the two four and five you're looking at 62 62 teachers the shorter classes the teachers found definitely able to focus more and then looking at definitely some improvements

[01:06:30] in transition time and just some logistics and that's some of the feedback that we got looking at a little tweaking of the bell schedule classroom behavior and classroom management our deans can definitely attest to this we have we do not have nearly the amount of behaviors coming out of in class most of our behavior is during that unstructured time that we have and also it has decreased you know some of those downtime activities the brain breaks because they they don't need that in a 40 minute period as well

[01:07:08] as spending more time on a bell ringer than really what you would normally the fast pace the fast pace and frequent transitions did definitely seem to help keep the kids focused and then the last one looking at definitely having to be more proactive on classroom management and less react next slide so this was our flex and MTSS time and really looking to see that we had definitely

[01:07:45] opportunities for differentiating that instruction and so we had very positive feedback from the staff on this time as well our guiding coalition is still working on how do we want really wanted to continue to cultivate that flex time so that's really heavy in the CLT's and primarily for that fourth question what do we do when students already know it really looking at that enrichment

[01:08:16] opportunity for sure thank you so much impressive numbers and I'm actually really surprised to see how much the students want to continue and have had such a positive reaction one thing that you and I talked about when we sort of debriefed about how it was going and that surprised me and I'm wondering if this has continued since our last discussion was that you said kids weren't using the e-hall pass as much anymore which really surprised me but

[01:08:54] because they have more frequent breaks and so you're not seeing the kids wandering the halls during instructional time as much is that holding true still yes in the past when I had an 80-minute period the students where frequently I would have a whole list that I would have to create of who's going to be going next to the bathroom. They would be using e-hall pass to go, but they want to know who's next and it would become a little bit challenging managing their bathroom usage. Today, I can even think back to today in particular. I maybe had two or three kids ask all day. I think they see

[01:09:32] that 40 minutes is really valuable time. They're really focused on what they need to do and they're learning and I think that's a result of that change in that time that they're in the class they don't want to miss instruction they want to see what's next they don't they want to continue in their learning and not step out of class obviously you'll have certain students that like to wander to the bathroom when they get a chance that's natural but I think having those 40 minute periods has really reduced that and we don't have that nearly as much as we did before that's excellent I think that that really speaks to that bell to bell that you said I love that obviously the MTSS data here is really speaking my love language I

[01:10:11] really love to see kids moving tears that's not an easy feat it sounds like maybe that's not a big deal but we know it's a big deal and you know every visit I've had to the middle schools I've I'm reminded of my daughter who is now a seventh grader and was a third grader during COVID so you guys are seeing intervention needs at a level you've never seen before because those kids that needed those foundational skills weren't in school to get them and so now that's moving up the chain and so I'm just so impressed with this I have been a big fan from the beginning and the many discussions and

[01:10:48] touch points that we've had to just see how it's going and I will ask you the same question I asked Watson which is what were the bumps and what are the continued challenges i know you mentioned tweaking the bell schedule and i know you're always mining for minutes over there miss bickler so i know you want that extended school day so for the bumps i would say definitely the passing time so we're looking at increasing that to four minutes uh what we did find though is the kids carrying their backpacks like that was one piece that i was

[01:11:26] nervous about and it it had so uh not just having all their supplies with them but for my sixth graders it's the quietest bell change that I've ever like I noticed it's very quiet in here but I didn't see the kids stressed with having to use their locker like they have a locker they have access to their locker but um so that's so that's been a really good thing um but I would say definitely the time between the periods I am gonna I'd like to hear from the teachers to what you found what was challenging but that that probably stood

[01:12:03] out more than anything and we had to tweak health and PE so because you can't take your backpacks into the locker room because their lockers aren't big enough so we we found space and kind of corrected that along the way I will say that the first challenge the biggest challenge that we face was before we implemented when we were talking about it because it was new and not knowing how it's going to look like and it seems going to be really heavy and fast and maybe too fast for the community and for

[01:12:37] the teacher and for the student. I think my biggest challenge talking to parents and students were how it's going to go, how it's going to look like because when we started I don't remember thinking anything beside okay when it comes to foreign language it's actually working much better because it's actually a heavy curriculum to teach and it's a high school credit class i don't like to mention it to the student but factually it is but because of the 40 minutes they didn't really have like when i introduced some heavy or difficult uh content as irregular verb or something like

[01:13:16] that 82 minutes i remember me and i love teaching but draining to even approach the concept because it's going to be 42 minutes you have those students struggling and you're trying to figure it out how to make them feel better i didn't experience that at all this year because it was 42 minutes they do not have time to stress they do not have time to worry about i introduce i give something very easy at first, and their brain has a time to process everything. We just learned that they want or they do not want to, and then the next day they come back. When it comes to homework, sadly, every

[01:13:54] student is not going to go home and do what they need to do to make sure that they are ready for my class. Well, seeing them every day allowed them to learn so much better and so much faster that, in my case and around me, it's just positive feedback from the student and from the the the community and in my case specifically because I have student two years in a row I was able to hear from student that they had me last year and and they were very positive They really enjoy it. They didn't see any difference

[01:14:29] They like it better because it's not as long as not as heavy and I completely understand what you're saying about the schedule I noticed that last year when you have 82 minutes at the end of the day and every single day every other day is the same class i felt bad for them because it was heavy having a foreign language class at the end of the day not that much tg are you fine if i may say not at all because 40 minutes it just you keep your stay happy to see me i hope and they are just ready to work and by the time

[01:15:03] they get unplugged it's over so it's all positive that's awesome did you want to say go ahead um one thing that we were concerned about early on was the materials which our principal had mentioned the teachers though as well as the students having their backpacks the teachers have found that there are certain materials that will store within the classroom to help to reduce that need to have a lot with them so we have looked at our school supply list and we're finalizing that for next year and so you're seeing not as many binders using smaller materials what can we keep within the classroom

[01:15:42] that are gonna best support students because they don't need a binder for every class. We also noticed that with our teachers that they were concerned about planning for that new period of time and at this point everyone has mastered it beautifully.

[01:15:58] Planning about summatives or people are concerned about science labs and all of that has been no problem at all and we've been able to adjust to that time. - Thank you. Colleagues you have any further questions for Trailside?

[01:16:14] No questions just thank you and to see the difference at that age I taught seventh grade at one time yes yes yes.

[01:16:35] All right before we close out I do want to honor the colleagues that are here our other middle school principals that I see as well as just acknowledge that I had hoped to get to all 18 by today but Seneca we had to reschedule because of snow and some other circumstances so I've been to 17 of the 18 and had these conversations because I wanted to be prepared to ask this question which is what is next for our middle schools and I really used to be a big fan of like if we're going to do it for one we got to do it for all but personally in my own reflection

[01:17:12] with the conversations that I've had and really seeing these passionate middle school educators who I believe were actually put on this earth for this specific age range which is very unique I applaud you as well I have been so inspired by these two examples by others that love the block the traditional block because of the collaboration they might have with a neighboring high school and there's so many nuances I think in a division this large that I am wondering if we are going to be able to allow our middle schools to choose their path or if there's going to be direction from staff and I know I'm kind of putting you on

[01:17:52] the spot but we're inching closer to next year and and I think it's a conversation worth having at least from what I've heard. First a great idea to wait for Mr. Catone to be last. And second I have a seat open here for Miss Robinson or Miss Mitchell if they want to address what's next for the middle school schedule. Feeling you'd ask that question. And thank you for visiting 17 of our 18 awesome middle schools.

[01:18:31] And thank you to our presenters tonight. And I'm just so impressed with the data that they shared. And we have some middle school colleagues behind me with lots of interest on what the instructional schedule might look like.

[01:18:48] So if I was queen of the world I would suggest lots of things but I'm not. And I have to remember also that we're talking about potentially 20,000 adolescent children. And we do need to have some consistency in our school division because it impacts departments like teaching and learning budget DDI like all of these schedules had to be put into the student information services database also the program of studies.

[01:19:21] So I think one thing that is coming pretty consistently from our middle school leaders is the desire to have some sort of an MTSS block whether we call it flex or compass or what have you where students can get what they need some students may need interventions some students may need enhancement and enrichment so we have had many principals requesting if that might be something that could come this upcoming school year but in our conversations with the Department of Teaching and Learning and academics is we definitely need to have more conversations

[01:20:01] about what potentially could happen and then the budget impact because we would need to talk about budgets for FY 26 27 and also changing the program of studies. So I don't have a definite answer for you except to say that on our calendars beginning tomorrow is further conversations with academics and teaching and learning.

[01:20:27] I appreciate that and I know they're in good hands with you all and I you know I defer to that expertise and I know it's a heavy lift to make shifts but I also know people are looking to you all and saying you know maybe that might be something we would want for our students too and I think the data really speaks for itself.

[01:20:47] So I'm anxious to see how that dialogue continues and maybe we'll get more updates along the way. Thank you so much for your work for your willingness to step into something new and for being willing to come and share with us. I appreciate it. With that we will move on to new business item number seven.

[01:21:06] Is there any new business. With that this curriculum and instruction meeting is adjourned. Have a good night.

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