Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Public Schools, Curriculum & Instruction Committee Meeting, Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Place: LCPS Administration Building / School Board Room, Ashburn, Virginia
Length: 1h 11m (video)
Official meeting video (Vimeo / LCPS-TV): https://player.vimeo.com/video/1072220833?rel=0

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 2026-10-13. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:03] good afternoon everyone I'd like to call this April 2nd 2025 curriculum and instruction committee meeting to order my name is Lauren Chernoff I am the chair of this committee and I'm joined by my colleagues dr. Samara Rashid and dr. Linda Deans we do not have any public comment tonight so we will jump right into our agenda item 3.01 the approval of the draft minutes for March 12th 2025 meeting are there any changes at this time that need to be made to the minutes seeing none I'll entertain a motion motion to approve the minutes

[00:00:37] there a second second it's been properly moved and seconded all those in favor to approve the minutes say aye aye any opposed that passes unanimously we will now move on to our information items 4.01 is our first information item of the evening it is policy 5430 use of generative artificial intelligence and I believe I will be passing this over to mr. Slevin before we do that I just wanted to clarify this was an information item last meeting we are keeping it as an information item due to the public feedback window still being open so we will talk and discuss through some of that tonight in hopes that we

[00:01:15] can possibly move it to action in our to move to the full board next meeting so with that Mr. Slevin the floor is yours Thank You Ms. Chernoff we appreciate the opportunity to have a bit more of a time to work on this policy as it's an important one and one that is of interest to our community I'd like to thank mr. Hendrickson and mr. Smith for being here tonight they've been partners throughout this work and so they'll offer perspective as we go but what I thought we could do is first start with a little bit of a overview of the of the work to date we did have an update earlier this fall on what we've been up

[00:01:54] to and the work has continued and then we did bring tonight two draft regulations one that were of interest to the committee that we'll walk through in terms of what we put into the regulations taking an initial look at the feedback that came in late last week many of the concerns are addressed in the regulations that we've developed and there are some things that we should think about going forward and I would note we're also still waiting on feedback from SEAC I believe they're voting on that this evening so staff will have access to CX feedback

[00:02:29] when we come back in May with the final policy and then we'll just have a general discussion on any kind of feedback that you see that perhaps we missed. Does that does that work? Committee is that fine with you? Me as well.

[00:02:45] Okay so in in board docs we had linked a number of things in terms of where we're at with our work. Ms. Tynerick Simms did you want to talk a little bit about a few of the items on here that were updated.

[00:03:01] yes thank you we've updated the graphic to reflect some of the work that we have been continuing and as it's moving from one column to the next so some items of note on here are some of the professional learning resources we've developed over the course of the school year we have offered professional learning on artificial intelligence in a variety of formats through our

[00:03:37] professional learning days we've offered some virtual sessions for teachers we've offered materials to schools that that the instructional technology facilitators can take and turn around to staff and we've had some schools make use of those resources so I feel like we have a good foundation in professional learning it doesn't mean there's not more to do but I think we have some good resources that have been out there and have been utilized by our teachers and staff another thing of another item of note is some of the work we've been been doing around collaborating with Mr. Smith's team and DDI on evaluating tools that include

[00:04:16] generative AI. So inside of our onboard software review process, we have updated all of our checklists and documents that are guiding those reviews to incorporate look for around generative artificial intelligence. We've updated RFP, technical review processes for things like new textbook adoptions when we're looking at technical requirements or technical configuration for some of those tools that come along with with with RFPs we've got a set of questions and and items we're looking for and

[00:04:54] evaluating for around generative artificial intelligence and I think we're in a pretty good place there in leading amongst other school divisions as far as how we're thinking about artificial intelligence and adopting new new tools a couple of things that are still in progress we have some some pilots of generative AI tools that we have in in certain places we have a few schools piloting a teacher facing tool called brisk which is a Chrome extension that allows teachers to use generative artificial intelligence on top of tools

[00:05:31] they're already using like Google Docs and YouTube videos and things like that we have another small group of teachers in an innovators cohort in that group of teachers is piloting a tool called school AI which offers some student facing tools so we're about ready to start dipping our toe into offering some some generative AI experiences for our students in a in a supported way and some things that we're looking forward to working on are developing some skill progressions for students what are things what are things that we want

[00:06:09] students to specifically learn about generative artificial intelligence how do we want to cluster and sequence that learning what makes sense as far as when those topics should be introduced in different grade levels and things like that we're beginning to think about how we can collect either curate and/or create lessons around generative artificial intelligence that can support student learning and figuring out how we align those lessons with that skill progression and then beginning to think about you know at the early stages of thinking about how do we plan for broader student access and what might

[00:06:47] that look like and what are things that we have to have in place to help teachers feel comfortable to help the community feel comfortable and help students feel comfortable with with using those tools to support their learning just to piggyback on that a little bit I know there was a lot of instructional focus but we also have some more operational focus that we'll be working on establishing a innovator cohort for more of like a central office facing one about how we can become operationally more efficient using these tools and really start leveraging those in our organizational processes so we're going to start standing that up we have a lot of early adopters but we kind of want to make this

[00:07:26] more of like a ubiquitous approach across the organization so that is another next step not necessarily an instructional facing side but as a district how we kind of want to start leaning into this work too. So we do want to take our time if there are any questions for this portion of the information item before we move on to the regulations. Go ahead Dr. Hsi. Thank you chair.

[00:07:49] I'm really excited for this. I know it is a boatload of information. I'm sure it will evolve you know later on. I guess trial and error type of thing. I don't like saying that but I know it's it's just been birthed but I really I can see a lot of help for the students also with the educators with bringing this coming forward. So I'm excited to see where this goes. Dr. Deans?

[00:08:13] Do we have a way to cite having used generative AI in your work? That'll be in the regulation. Okay. Okay. I know that is important. You know, we wanted to kill Kate when she left us all the requirements surrounding bibliographies and stuff. So we know that that's important.

[00:08:40] I just had a question. I had an educator reach out, and this might be more policy related, but I'm going to ask it in terms of professional development. An educator is, I guess, creating sort of a what-if situation of, will there be guidance around how to deal with if you suspect AI has been used, but it wasn't cited?

[00:09:02] will we be providing guidelines and background for teachers and support for educators to be able to approach those situations because I could imagine that that could be contentious right. You have a kid who you think has used AI instead of it's their authentic work but you have to approach that student and how they may or may not respond.

[00:09:21] I thought that that was an interesting point. So I don't know how you put that into something in policy so I thought maybe on the professional learning side that might be something that would be addressed. And I yes and I think that may not be unique to AI use when a teacher suspects that it may not be a student's work what is our current approach and can we bring some of that language into our supports of teachers I think that's great feedback.

[00:09:48] And I just want to say thank you for your work on this. I do think we are light years ahead of our surrounding districts. I think that we're doing really innovative work. I can see that it's already evolving and changing even since we've talked the last time. So I'm I'm very excited as well as Dr. Rasheed I echo those comments.

[00:10:04] I think we have to embrace this. I wasn't in that camp when we first started a year ago, but I'm fully in that camp now, and a lot of that is because of the work that you've done and because people are responding to that, and it's here. And so us being proactive is, I think, really key. So I thank you for your work.

[00:10:20] You may proceed. Thanks. And I'm really thankful for Mr. Hendrickson's leadership in the AI Innovators cohort. We do plan on spotlighting a couple members of the cohort at a future board meeting. I believe it's in the May spotlight when maybe this policy may be in front of the board.

[00:10:36] But either way, we'll have a positive example of the use of AI as the board is taking on this. Okay, so we have two regulations we want to talk about. Much of the feedback was about whether or not even we're allowed to use Gen AI, when is it appropriate. There were some questions about citing Gen AI, like Dr. Dean said, asked.

[00:10:56] And so the first regulation, we're at the gate with two regulations, and these are draft, obviously, because we don't have a policy. And so the first regulation is pathways inciting of artificial intelligence.

[00:11:13] And so we imagine and we have been talking about four different ways that we see our teachers or students using Gen.A.I. in the classroom. First, there are many situations where we don't want students to use Gen.A.I. That's perfectly acceptable for a teacher to say this is the time when we're not using this technology.

[00:11:34] We see situations where Gen AI is used as a coach. We see situations where they're collaborating on the work, and then they are an essential tool in the task that we're putting in front of our students. Section B references citing Gen AI, as well as what would happen if you failed to cite AI in its relation as an academic integrity violation.

[00:12:03] And so your feedback, Mr. Chernoff, is good about, you know, what is our guidance that exists and make sure we're linking Gen AI used to that communication. And so we have information in there around using MLA or APA styles online and where we can find those resources.

[00:12:23] And then we also have sections on how to use, how to disclose use of Gen.AI, and also information about sharing your chat in Gen.AI responses with your teacher. Would you add anything to this regulation? The only thing I would add is a lot of the content that is making up these regulations is inspired by some of the resources we built for teachers inside of the Generative AI Guide.

[00:12:52] So if some of this is looking familiar to you, it's because it's kind of pulled out of those resources and we're highlighting the ones that we feel are kind of the most supportive and the most relevant to some of the major questions we're getting from teachers and community around this work and kind of codifying it or formalizing it inside of the regulation.

[00:13:15] Mr. Smith, do you want to talk about the second regulation? So the second regulation we have is privacy and data protection when using artificial intelligence. So really, this policy just highlights for generative AI specifically.

[00:13:32] We already have student data privacy, PII, director information type policies. This just kind of highlights when we do have authorized gen AI tools, the differences between using authorized tools and unapproved tools and kind of the dangers of using consumer versions of tools. We just want to make sure how we compare them is like putting data in a system that we own and that we control is a lot different than putting data in a system that's just out for everyone in the world to use so we kind of wanted to highlight the differences there we made some just when students use the tools and how we're going to protect their data and really just don't put PII or personally identifiable information into these tools we do not want the models

[00:14:11] for these AI tools being trained on our student data we want to make sure that they're protected and the best way to do that is to use the tools that we are going to provide as a district that are going to be enterprise licensed contractually obligated data protections in place so that's really what this um regulation is to highlight is there a way to you know they're going to use that when they're home at home they're going to use they may use a device other than what is issued is there a way to indicate to them that they've used outside resources versus the ones that are allowed

[00:14:50] so when the regulation and the policy are passed we'll probably have some conversations about what exact tools we're going to allow as a district and then those will be rule sets that we apply based off of an account and a device. But if they choose to do something on a personal device, this will be where we would be recommending to them that this is not a best practice and that if there is, you know, this could potentially be a disclosure of data where they have to do a FERPA notice or something like that.

[00:15:15] So we've already included this as part of our FERPA training about why we don't want to disclose student data. And so we've been doing that since last summer as, like, these tools still are out there and people are using them about how to use them carefully. So it's still going to be up to them to kind of make that decision if they're using a personal device that we have no connection or control over.

[00:15:38] But if they're using an LCPS device or an LCPS account, we'll probably have some permissioning and restrictions there once the policies are in place and once we make some of these decisions about what our enterprise tools are going to be. I had a question about, it actually came from the MSAC feedback, and I thought it might fit better in the regulation, is about opt-out options.

[00:16:00] So I know we do a lot of permission click for certain digital platforms. that be something that you envision would be part of this process if parents I mean some of the feedback was pretty heavy-handed in terms of fear and parents feeling like that that's just something we shouldn't even allow at all so would that be an area that we would cross over to to give parents that choice to opt their kids out so before students will be granted access and Mr. Anderson I got the pleasure of being at MSAC and having this conversation it's very robust it was it was awesome but I think part of this is really go slow to go fast and being safe because we don't want we want to make sure that we have a system in place

[00:16:39] where we have transparency into what students are doing right now the environment is evolving so quickly that a feature set that doesn't exist today exists tomorrow and so we're trying to keep up with that rate of change but we do have some requirements that it's going to be data protections we're going to have some transparency into what students are doing some sort of look like our goal would be something like a gaggle of how we do that when they do a Google created content and then the potential for an opt-out it really depends on how the technologies are on board and what we're able to do there so I think there's more to come those are things we would like to have in place and we actually are working through a process now we're going to share some more

[00:17:19] information about getting parent consent for some of these things to make sure that they understand like where their students are using and where that data is going so I think that'll all be wrap together but we don't want to put a tool in students hands before we are 100% sure that it's safe for them to use and at that point I think that's some internal conversation about what an opt-out could look like is that part of our online registration process or whatever that kind of needs to look like so a great point something that we really haven't finalized yet but I think could make sense depending on the tool selection and how it's implemented it's wonderful that that's top of mind for you all and that you engage them in that conversation because I thought that was a really you know good good oh good

[00:17:57] thought so anything else so in terms of a quick walk through the feedback and we'd love to hear the committee's feedback and what we should be thinking about what you see in the feedback as I mentioned there are a number of things regarding the feedback that we did include in the regulation comments about insufficient guidance as to what would be dishonest use of gen AI or when could to be used there were while I agree there were some comments with concern there was also very

[00:18:32] positive affirmative statements about us being forward-thinking and thinking how that's going to impact our schools and appreciation for the policy a lot of it is going to be driven by professional learning like how are people going to be using this in terms of the concerns that are being given such as around our English teachers what are different approaches we could use so AI uses as a tool and not a crutch for writing essays for example one comment about the erosion of critical thinking and intellectual growth there are steps we could take in our classrooms to make sure we're focusing

[00:19:11] on the process and not just the end result of a writing process that would help teachers navigate that but these are all perspectives I think we need to be mindful of as we're supporting our teachers and implementing and encapsulate why we have a policy and regulation and training to begin with around this particular topic. There was a suggestion about getting student voice. The student advisory committee is kind of wrapping up for the year, but I think that this is a policy that's going to be of high interest to our students. And so trying to find some ways to get some student

[00:19:49] perspectives on how we're rolling out AI. We've had some level of conversations, but increasing student engagement is a big takeaway for me from the feedback. And then moving on to the MSAC feedback, one of the things that stand out is a question they had about a section on general prohibited use of generative AI.

[00:20:10] We did use pretty positive language in our policy about what we expect people to be doing, but there are probably very specific behaviors that we do not want people to use. Mr. Smith mentioned not using personally identifiable information as a tool to kind of feed the tool.

[00:20:26] So should we add a section for prohibited behaviors for generative AI? That's something that we'll be working with the team as we come back in May. and then some questions about inaccurate information and that may be more regulation but that's the feedback that stood out for me from MSAC. Do you all have any thoughts on the feedback? Part of the conversation we had at MSAC was the ethical use of AI and not just from a student perspective, from a staff perspective. So we're actually updating policy 7566 which is the employee

[00:21:03] technology responsible use policy regulation to support that and so we're going to embed some of these ethical practices into that regulation to ensure that it's not just a student ethical use there have been deep fakes or other things that have happened that we want to make sure that staff are aware as well as along with students so it's kind of that holistic across all facets of that that we're looking at so we threw a lot at you and happy to get your the committee's thoughts and on what we should be thinking back when we bring back a policy

[00:21:37] for action in that thank you so much I'll pass it to committee members for questions and comments. Go ahead, Dr. Deans, kick us off. Is it true that she would get a different AI from an Apple product versus an HP product? So, starting to see it be embedded into almost everything, but there are some core tools like the ChatGPT, which is a tool. There will be, Windows is releasing AI embedded into laptops, so it would be right there as an assistant on the

[00:22:14] device and yeah so they are what they would be different but our goal would be if we're going to have a technology it would be to students for example it would be on their Chromebook managed by LCPS and that type and it would be consistent for all students to have access to that unless there were some sort of opt-out process so there are variances but our goal would be to have to probably be as consistent as possible across the organization with that thank you I was asking it for a personal reason because my granddaughter keeps saying mom I want to use your your laptop rather than daddy's. Hers is Apple and his is not. There

[00:22:50] might be some personal preference in that but but it is they could have different but you're going to start to see that just as an evolution of the market. Dr. Rashid? I had we did a pretty deep dive on this at LEAF as well which was really interesting and I think today brought a lot of clarity and hopefully I can point them in this direction because I think people see the policy and they think that's all we're doing and I was trying to explain to them we're kind of almost working backwards with the policy because we've already like forged a path with AI in a lot of

[00:23:22] different ways so more thinking about this being just sort of the foundational philosophy behind generative AI I'm very happy with the regulations I think they're really responsive and I think they're in a good direction I don't have a lot of notes there but I did the one conversation that did come up that I think is stressing people out a little bit is this idea of continuous improvement like we always want to be doing that we want to monitor what we have in place and then there's an annual review and i saw that a little bit in the msac feedback also but in leaf that's really where

[00:23:58] the conversation was coming alive is maybe we need a little bit more clarity on what those processes are specifically someone said um i you know i understand that there'll be an annual review of the actual program but if features and things need to be turned on and off in different ways that we find within those programs before that review would come up? How do we define that? So specifically limitations, how will features of programs, how will those things be evaluated? And do we need to have a section that more clearly identifies the difference between monitoring a program we

[00:24:32] already have and reviewing something that we're going to keep or not keep? So I think the way that we do this now, the model that we use, for example, like our Google environment, they're always releasing new features functionality and so we have an off until on and then every twice a year that environment is audited and by a k-12 focused provider who tells us what's kind of best practices for those based off of age levels restrictions what other districts are doing so I'm in this area we haven't found a partner yet who could do who could sit with us and help us do that so part of that would be what how much do we have to build ourselves as part of that process versus how can we lean on a vendor partner

[00:25:12] who's going to be looking at this more than just like an entire K-12 spectrum across the United States so those are one of the reasons those are like all the questions we have before we can select a tool that we really want to make sure that it's not going to be this ever-changing environment and today a teacher thinks this and tomorrow it's like this like it really needs we need to be able to provide some consistency there and then that also helps us with our review process because if we think only this feature is enabled that should be the only feature that's enabled not this kind of like ever-evolving thing so So I think that's heard, and I think that's one of the challenges we have now.

[00:25:47] There was a feature in ChatGPT that was released that was just auto-on for every single person, and that would not be okay. And like a K-12, we would want that off until we made the decision to turn it on, and we would want to review that. So those would be the type of processes that we'd want to build out. But like I said, we're just looking for who in that space can be our thought partner to pass through those processes.

[00:26:08] And that would be part of the, before a tool got to students, like that would be part of the things we would want to consider before we reach that tool. I guess I appreciate that context. I'm just thinking about in terms of policy language, like how do we clarify those multilayered steps in a more concise and clear way with definitions or?

[00:26:28] I think this, as much as you are saying we are catching up to the work we've done, I think we're at that point now with actually making decisions about the usage of tools that we don't quite know yet. Okay. So, like, we are engaged in pilots where we're trying specific tools, and that's going to inform how we're managing and decision-making.

[00:26:47] I would offer a suggestion. We recently shared back in the fall when we were talking through the instructional technology guidance, we developed a regulation for selecting online instructional resources tied to our supplemental resource policy. I can envision adding a section to that regulation specific to AI, if that's something that would be warranted once we go through this process of kind of making some decisions about tools we're putting in place specifically for students.

[00:27:16] Yeah, I like that idea. Is that what you're thinking? Yeah, I mean, that sounds good. And, again, it is evolving, which is kind of the issue. Also, is there a place where we can link the guidelines? Like, would that be in the regulation to have a cross-reference to the guidelines?

[00:27:33] Is that already in there? Guidelines for onboarding and structural technology in general? Just that we've developed, yeah, for the AI use. The guiding principles, sorry. Well, the guiding principles are in the policy. Are you talking about for when we're selecting a tool? Yeah, but didn't you guys present like a big document that kind of had all of that in there?

[00:27:50] Is that just all transferred into here now? You're asking me is there a place where we put the guiding principles? I mean, I see them in the policy. I'm guessing that first part, I think Mike, Mr. Henderson knows what I'm talking about. Sorry. Sorry, I think we do have the generative AI guide, which we developed this year, which is, you know, this year which is you know 10 pages full of content and and guidance and a lot of what is in these regulations and policies pulled from there that's the document i'm thinking yeah so so your suggestion is to find a way to link that that guide or reference that guide in in some of

[00:28:27] these regulations yeah because it's a much broader approach and i think that that would help people feel like wow they really have done a lot more work around this whereas this feels i think to parents this might feel a little bit like bread bear it's just the basics right but we have a lot going on so i would love to see that work like linked into here even though some of it's pulled from it we could do that we do we do have that published on the instructional technology website in case you wanted to share it yeah we did share it at leaf but i think people want to see it in

[00:28:59] combination okay we could think about how that fits in i do not have anything else um i'm looking forward to hearing from SEAC as well as other feedback comments. Can you remind me of the date that this is open till for feedback? So the feedback process has closed on the 28th. Okay.

[00:29:21] But of course they can send in a let's talk or an email and we're happy to receive additional feedback. And we are anticipating the feedback from SEAC and then staff will get to work so that we're ready to present a final recommendation at the May C&I meeting. Sounds great. All right. I so appreciate it. Thank you guys so much for your work. We will move on to item 4.02, Virginia Assessment Language and Literacy Screening System vowels for grades 4 through 8. We have Mr. Jeff Roundsley, the Director of Teaching and Learning, presenting. Joining him is Dr. Michelle Picard, Supervisor of Secondary English Reading and Writing. And I think standing in for Ms.

[00:29:59] Catherine Neal, who is the Supervisor of Early Literacy Elementary Reading, is Mr. Wes Strayer. And Wes, you'll have to remind me of your title. It's not in board docs. I am the early literacy specialist. The early literacy specialist. Floor is yours. We are here this afternoon to talk about the current state of VALS and the Virginia Literacy Act and LCPS and the extension that is coming next year to grades four through eight.

[00:30:28] Currently, this is K through three. Next year, we'll expand into the upper elementary grades and also middle school as well. Before we get started, I want to thank Dr. Picard and Mr. Strayer and the rest of their teams. who's back here for the really proactive work they've done in helping our schools get ready for this change that's coming next year to communicate early with principals and reading specialists and our teachers and there's a lot we don't know so there's part of this presentation tonight you're going to hear is is information we don't know yet but they've been really really proactive in thinking through how we might approach it and how we might best support schools so I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Picard and Mr. Strayer to walk us through the

[00:31:05] changes for VALS for next year fantastic so our goal really is to inform the subcommittee of what's gone on in the past year with the K3 and looking forward as he said we've been really proactive with how the VALS assessment is going to be implemented in grades 4 to 8 because it will not look the same as it does in the K to 3 we also want to provide in complete transparency what is known and what is not known and you will see that there are a great many things that are not known but we're a very proactive organization and so we're

[00:31:40] thinking about those implications and we want to share them with you tonight so just as a reminder here are four different components for the Virginia Literacy Act the first one was the k-8 teachers as well as high school reading specialists were are currently participating in an online course called the science of reading that actually happened last year at the elementary level, and then it was opened up this year. So that is going on, and we'll come to a completion at the end of this year, and then they'll probably, most likely, we've been told, be a cycle for new

[00:32:16] hires. The second piece is the one we really want to talk to you about tonight, which is the implementation of VALS. As a reminder, that's the Virginia Assessment of Language and Literacy Screening System, and that is in legislation as a K-8 initiative. The third, and I know you're familiar with this again, but I think it's helpful to bundle these ideas, is that we should all in the state of Virginia be using research-based interventions that is connected to the VALs as students that are identified as high-risk. So until this point, it was very much the school system's purview who received intervention based on multiple data points. We'll talk a lot about

[00:32:55] that. Now we have a very clear red line. If you are indicated as high-risk, then of course you're going to be afforded the opportunity to be in a research-based intervention. And then lastly, the law does require the documentation of student reading plans or interventions and that progress monitoring be part of that. So all of these ideas, especially the bottom three, are interwoven into this evening. We wanted to start off with what we do know about the vowels assessment for the grades four through eight so we do know that vows for four through eight will be

[00:33:32] administered in the fall we know that it will not be a universal screener there will be a subset of students that will be assessed according to the criteria but that has not yet been established by the VLP or the video and so what are the implications of just that piece schools will need a new plan for the administration of vows specifically the one-on-one assessments that is something that as Dr. Picard and I were talking is a little bit newer to middle school level. We have those structures at elementary but not so much at the middle school level. Staff in grades four to eight will need to also be trained in how to give the assessment. Additionally we know the VLA requires

[00:34:11] the implementation of the research-based intervention and a student reading plan for all those that are identified as high risk on VALS and we're already using those interventions those programs and there's been ongoing professional learning and support for the implementation of these approaches so we feel really confident in that. What else we know is that LCPS will be required to develop and progress monitor those student reading plans for identified students. We have an electronic monitoring system already in place with the MTSS module and the student reading plans and we know that there's additional work that will include the professional learning on plans for grades four to eight and just how that data is all going to be

[00:34:47] synchronized. There are however a great many things that we do not know if we can to the next slide so the first is we do not have the criteria the VLP is currently engaged in a pilot with grades 4 to 8 and that pilot will not end until quote the end of the school year which for some systems is May and for some systems is June so we are not really anticipating a full download of information until the summer months so if you don't know the criteria for how many students are going to participate in an assessment it's challenging to plan

[00:35:25] what that assessment model will look like we're gonna talk to you about things we've done to prepare and to be proactive you're gonna leave feeling really great but we do not know this at this time the window for assessment we assume we hope that it will be similar to the one at the elementary level but that is that is still information we're waiting on how long the administration of the vows will take per student at the middle school level specifically it's usually like a soccer game you start and you end and it's an hour and it's done but this is probably more like baseball you play nine innings it may take a

[00:36:03] short amount of time it may take a long amount of time so that's a really important piece of information that we are waiting with now the implications are to develop testing teams and you'll hear more that we are starting to do that at the middle school elementary is definitely more flexible with that and has had that experience previously we're also an implication is that middle school should and are being as proactive as possible as our grades 4 to 8 into scheduling kids that we already know from multiple sources of data require an intervention so that's that's part of our jobs that that's been going on for

[00:36:42] decades and decades and decades so we're talking about being very proactive with spring data so that we will not have to make a myriad of rescheduling decisions we'll talk a little more about that and then the last two and I don't mean to gloss over them but we don't know the accommodations for students with learning disabilities or for English language learners now we do have all the k3 guidance and we can make some assumptions about that and you'll hear later in the presentation we have given space and time for that but we really need that guidance because it will look different for as a quick

[00:37:21] example a read aloud accommodation is a common accommodation for testing but it wouldn't make any sense to give a reading accommodation if you're testing a student's ability to read at the middle school level or higher so and then lastly we're not sure how the staff will be trained it has been implied and we are preparing that it will be an online module and other other words downloadable something that you could go through with a self-pace we are already making plans to use some of our august county-wide professional learning days to provide that training and so that is under consideration

[00:38:01] so those are the things we don't know now i'm going to turn it back to wes and he's going to talk about how proactive they've been at the elementary level and then i'm going to talk about how proactive we've been at the secondary level and we'll all feel okay so at the elementary level we do feel very well prepared to roll out vowels for grades four to five all of our elementary schools are proficient with using the universal screening data that's provided from the vowels assessment while adding the vowels assessment to the upper grades will be a little bit of a new

[00:38:38] process in terms of how do we use this data and how does it interact with the other data sources we already have such as MAP for example that process will be new but teachers feel really fluent with administering the assessment or administering assessments I should say in this way to their students.

[00:38:55] We have testing teams that are in place to support students and teachers as needed schools feel really good about how they might use their EL teachers to support their special education teachers to support whatever that might look like in terms of organizing the testing itself. We are very fortunate at the elementary level.

[00:39:12] have daily intervention time built into our master schedule so in addition to their ela minutes that they get or that they are allotted they also have an additional 30 minutes that is dedicated to intervention so when we are starting those interventions with our fourth and fifth grade students um we are already rolling that out it'll just look a little bit different because fouls is going to give us some of that new information um and we feel well versed in data collection and progress monitoring for students next slide please and so as we get closer to the implementation of vows for the fourth and fifth grade we just kind of wanted to

[00:39:51] share a little bit about what we're doing to kind of get as much information as we can as quickly as we can because we recognize that a lot of this can be really time sensitive and teachers want to know kind of what to anticipate so we do attend bi-weekly office hours those are hosted by the VDOE and the VLP offices and we listen to see what can we pull from that to be able to share with principals and reading specialists in a really timely manner. We're considering the implication of VALS on the decision trees for grades four and five so having that additional data source is definitely going to have a little bit of an impact on those decision trees and

[00:40:31] so we're working with the MTSS office and those and those teams to kind of see what that might look like. We monitor the updates from the VLP office regarding the availability of the training. That is something that we've been asking about. We ask frequently about just when will we know what this is going to look like and when we can anticipate this. And then finally, we're just considering the additional materials that will be included in cycle four. So cycle four is, they're going to do another list of the recommended supplemental and intervention programs.

[00:41:00] And we, it has been shared that we can anticipate that sometime in October of this year. so now we're gonna transition to middle school which is definitely a different ballpark it genuinely is so we wanted to be as proactive as possible but we've had so little data we also participate in some of the meetings that Wes was talking about but it's all been k3 k3 k3 k3 so we have very little information I mean we've shared what we know what we don't know but what we did do is I met

[00:41:34] with a subgroup of principals and talked about this really important aspect of the VLA specifically the implementation of VALS and intervention is coming and then that group helped us to form us being my office as well as MTSS as well as special education EL it was a very broad-based committee that put it together and then I facilitated over 60 minutes with with principals it was very productive because we broke it into three different components so we would say this is what we know about administration and then we'd let them work with their peers what could that look like at your school this is what we

[00:42:11] know about intervention what could that look like and then lastly the documentation so that was we got a lot of really positive feedback mr. Slevin was there mr. Roundsley was there we had dr. Tyler there it was very broad based and so people left feeling not overwhelmed but okay we've got some challenges coming up and so we did that one of the things that came out of that is they asked the office to turn that information around as awareness for the middle school teachers so we made a narrated PowerPoint I'm sorry yeah

[00:42:49] narrated PowerPoint so it's 15 minutes of me talking over slides explaining to them, very much like I just did with you, what we know and what we do not know, and then giving them some next steps. What we anticipate doing from here, obviously we want your feedback and we want to inform you, but we will also have spring, they're called lead meetings. So EL meets with leads, students with disabilities meet, English and reading salts, which is a subject area lead teacher we have access to them so as we get information we will be fielding

[00:43:26] questions and preparing them just as we did with the principals we also already made the commitment to the the middle school principals and many assistant principals that we will use the August Countywide Day and when I say we in this case I mean the English office the secondary English office we will provide time and will provide support so that whoever needs to be trained whoever it's decided is on the testing committee and that might be more than English that might be a social studies teacher it might be an EL teacher it might be a special education teacher that we will provide some support around the

[00:44:04] professional learning and then on the last slide for this section we have also Also, as you heard Wes talk about, we've put out draft MTSS decision trees, how does this data help us make decisions, and we will have an ongoing professional learning plan across the year about the use of the data.

[00:44:32] So that is where we are. The takeaways we want you to take away, here are the takeaways I shared with the principals and all of the land, is that we are well positioned to handle the administration of the new assessment and to handle research-based intervention and student monitoring.

[00:44:51] We have, and Wes alluded to many of these things, I've alluded to many of these things, but we have strong CLT structures. We have strong assessment protocols for multiple sources of data. We're already using, and you'll see the last few slides have just been added for your own access, but the state has put out the recommended research-based interventions.

[00:45:16] I don't believe they've been voted on yet, but all of the ones that we're using are up for approval. So, for example, Read 180, Lexia, Power Up, Core, and other, Language Live. So we're already using those research-based intervention programs.

[00:45:33] and equally importantly teachers already know how to use them I feel very I feel great sadness for a district that is going to be adopting an assessment an intervention and the professional learning all at once that that's not the case for us one of the hiccups is scheduling and as you heard Wes talk about they have an intervention block of course it's shared with math it's not it's not a perfect solution but it's certainly something that we can lean into we do have intervention courses in grades seven and eight not six but we're leaning into

[00:46:08] that and then of course we have this robust MTSS monitoring system where we can keep student reading plans that's being streamlined and we've been working not only to streamline it but to make a lot of progress monitoring data asynchronous so it just gets it gets uploaded to lift the load from teachers so with that we'll open it for questions you'll see the last three slides are simply what the VDOE has recommended recently in terms of intervention for

[00:46:39] the middle grades and resource link at the bottom thank you so much colleagues questions or comments sure I think this group of middle schoolers are the first group after COVID in terms of reading. So even some of the students who are maybe advanced in

[00:47:15] other areas may need help here. Parents are pushing more and more for their students to start those high school credit courses especially in math in middle school. Will there be any time taken away from those high school credit courses for these assessments and interventions? No we would not anticipate that when you think about the assessment it will most likely be a day and again this is speculative but given well given a great many years of experience with assessments at the middle school and the elementary school

[00:47:51] it will likely be a group administered assessment so for example you read something and you answer questions and then that will that will trigger oh oh, Michelle needs a sub-assessment on something, right?

[00:48:08] So there will be some individualized testing. That testing most likely, I mean, schools will have a lot of latitude, but for example, a testing team could decide to pull students from a study hall and do those individual assessments.

[00:48:25] They could decide to have a day where that is happening and there's enrichment going on for the day. So there are many ways that we can handle it, But it will not affect your participation in advanced classes or other classes, right? Okay.

[00:48:40] It's a great question. Dr. Rasheed? Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to see if you anticipate any challenges with the educators in terms of, I don't want to say training, but for their support for this. If you anticipate any cutout time for them to kind of like to get comfortable with it, if I may.

[00:49:04] So when I said that it's a different ballpark for middle school, it just, it's a different experience. I will tell you that our English educators are amazing and our reading specialists are amazing and we're incredibly proactive. So I anticipate that there'll be a small learning curve and I also anticipate that this will be an opportunity for EL teachers and students with disability teachers and classroom teachers to come together, deepen their understanding of what these assessments mean kids in their classrooms so is there a learning curve absolutely a hundred

[00:49:38] percent our job in central office in my view is to make life easier for teachers and one of the ways that we're doing that is by providing time that we you know we talked about the August we will provide the time and the support and the structure so that they are completely comfortable does that address your question yes it does thank you thank you uh so much i i'm gonna start with the positive um one thing that i know lcps is well equipped and ready to do is take on data analyze it and use it to

[00:50:14] drive instruction we are blazing the trail there i feel very confident about that and um mr strayer i really have very few worries about elementary i think we're built for this the structures are there the teachers know and I actually think this adding this component into the data set is going to be really beneficial to identifying kids that are continuing to have foundational gaps and so I see this as a real plus for grades four and five I think that it will be well received we've done the legwork on MTSS and I really have very very little fears so yay you um on to middle I um I

[00:50:54] feel like we've had some very timely conversations recently that kind of all lead into this one is master schedule and different kinds of piloting schedules and I think you know having that conversation now as we prepare to take on a new literacy curriculum and new assessments and more intervention I think we're queued up for having those conversations here and to allow for more flexibility and scheduling so that flex time and MTSS and resource are used to their maximum capacity to meet student need because like Dr. Dean said I do think that these kids are we're seeing needs that we've never seen in years past it is unprecedented

[00:51:30] and the gaps are real for a multitude of reasons so I think that was a timely conversation we've had staffing conversations I will be a little I'm a little worried if I'm being honest about reading specialists you know we have one in our middle school like the ratio is high and so this makes me a little uneasy in terms of staffing and and I know you're saying testing teams so I know it's not just going to be them but I'm imagining that teachers will have to step up that have never previously given one-to-one assessments might have to step into this in a way that they never have before so I know you will support them it's just it's another lift and it's another shift and

[00:52:10] so I think that that's um something to name for them as well as I and I'm gonna say it and you know I'm going to say it I am so worried that this is going to end up being everybody do one-on-one testing because we have Lexia and we can put kids on a program I know that in elementary sometimes that's the only way to get it done you know there aren't always extra people in the room co-teaching and so sometimes kids end up on different programs to get just to get it done because it is the nine assessment it's a lot so I I'm glad we have those structures in place for teachers I don't want that

[00:52:49] to become the default and so I'm just putting that out there I know we've talked about it before and I think it also was a good conversation for us to have before this one so I'm looking for some balance there and and you know I don't you there's a lot you don't know with logistics so we don't even know how many kids and how much time so I don't think that that's a fair thing to you know put on you yet but I'm gonna let you speak to it but I just that's my biggest worry is because that instructional time lost reading time lost and I want to make sure that we are doing what is best for students and still getting books in their hands that's

[00:53:26] a lot and I appreciate and I appreciate it and I appreciate that this is a conversation so I am not worried about the time it's going to take to administer the assessment I will tell you we will I think about how the WIDA is administered I don't know if you've ever had the privilege of administering a WIDA test but in my previous my previous life they would train central office people and we would go and do the one-on-ones the one-on-ones for kids at this level they're going to be quick and they're going to be well the teachers are going to be well trained I'm not worried about the identification I am and I'm just going to underscore again I'm very hopeful that this will strengthen

[00:54:06] teachers understanding of what it means to be a proficient critical thinker reader in all areas and then with regard to intervention we do have significant gaps and and we're doing a lot of things as you know we have a word study initiative we've adopted the use of Lexia power up we have reading specialists we have an increase in the number of reading specialists that are serving the secondary community we are a very well resourced division I will say

[00:54:39] that the beauty to getting Lexia in the last year and a half is that teachers at At the middle school, remember that Lexia Power Up is both supplemental and intervention. So in the intervention component, we really prioritize the in-person component, as you would expect, and the use of that platform has been very, very beneficial.

[00:55:02] And we will have more to share with you at the end of the year on that. But the other piece that's happening is that teachers are seeing it as a bolster to core as well. So if you need to teach a grammar lesson, they have like 32 different videos.

[00:55:18] So teachers, I feel very happy that teachers have had a year and a half to get very comfortable with what are the resources in Lexia Power Up, while taking a course on the science of reading, understanding explicit instruction matters, sequence matters, reading robustly, and having opportunities for conversation matters.

[00:55:39] I feel like this is a really incredible opportunity for the middle school as a unit to understand more of that. I am a little worried about numbers in the schools that are upside-down triangles. You know, I think you've heard that expression before where there are more kids that are -- have gaps than don't.

[00:55:58] And so one thing we are exploring is we could -- and this is just draft thinking. We have not made any steps toward it yet. my team my small team and we could invite friends we could invite friends to go to a school like Sterling where we expect there's going to be a lot of assessment and support the assessment so it's not just the teachers so those things are going to evolve as we get more information we looked at students that failed the standards of learning in sixth seventh and eighth grade and we saw what I've just alluded to which is some schools it's not going to be a

[00:56:34] a heavy lift. And then other schools, it's a very heavy lift to get that information. So I share some of your concerns, but I have nothing but optimism about the use of this data. I just wanted to add to that the concern around staffing, which I think we share. There's not enough reading specialists for sure, but I know that Dr. Picard has been really strategic in how we place those reading specialists looking at multiple points of data. I think we have a good idea of where more support is needed. And I've been a part of some of these conversations with her already of thinking about where we can place more staff how can we be strategic and making sure we're fully allocating staff to schools where we know there's going to be more

[00:57:14] support needed because as Dr. Picard just mentioned there are schools where we know that a singular reading specialist can probably handle we would love to have more but we could probably handle the task in front of them and places where Dr. Picard has been strategic in making sure there are some additional supports and reading specialists available to help those schools with some of the work that they're going to be asked to do through this well I really appreciate all of that and I actually really love seeing elementary middle sitting together and tackling this problem together or this challenge and we'll call it a problem because I think that there's a lot to learn on both sides I you know I've always thought that as middle school is kind of

[00:57:53] carrying this load now like elementary has a lot of good structures in place to handle intervention and so some of that pressing in I think is really you know gonna be beneficial and so it kind of just happened that way because it's four to eight but I'm happy to see that and look forward to the update and hope that VDOE actually gets us the information we need that's my plug for the day alrighty anybody else okay let's move on to thank you very much for coming let's move on to item 4.03 policy 5440 the literacy plan and our presenter is Mr.

[00:58:26] Roundsley director of teaching and learning thank you all right so we are We're here to talk about a new policy, policy 5440. This is a policy that is a part of the legal requirement around the Virginia Literacy Act. And the policy that we have drafted here tonight is very closely drawn from the VSBA model policy.

[00:58:47] I'll just take a minute to walk through the parts of the policy and then happy to answer any questions for this information item. So in section A, you'll see the vision for literacy. The vision for literacy is pulled directly from our division literacy plan. was language that was developed collaboratively among many groups several years ago when we first submitted the plan so that comes directly from the plan as it currently exists in section b the required components of the division-wide literacy plan this also basically is a word-for-word reading from the virginia literacy act of the seven pieces that are part of the virginia sorry of our division

[00:59:22] wide literacy plan and finally in section c these are also requirements from the virginia literacy act of how we make the public aware of our plans and aware of the staff that are present in our school division to enable this it also covers in the second section around how this is submitted to sorry in part two of section c around how the plan is submitted to to the vdoe biannually for their approval and their feedback as well which is a process we have engaged in previously so really this puts in place a lot of things that are already present

[00:59:56] And puts it into our policies and really, I hope, affirms the importance of literacy as central to the work that happens in teaching and learning at LCPS. And we're happy to answer any questions that you might have or comments on the draft. Colleagues?

[01:00:14] So when will you submit this and when will you know that it is approved? You don't know. So the plan has already been approved. Okay. What this policy does is just capture in policy what our requirements are related to the Virginia Literacy Act.

[01:00:35] so we at this point we've actually submitted okay I'm good you didn't know about some other things I didn't know if you didn't know about this too and we will submit a new plan in June which will cover what we just talked about the addition of grades four through eight and then we will get feedback from the state make any corrections that they suggest and then we will have our new plan so a new plan will be coming later this year no questions or comments mark

[01:01:05] it down looks good we guys we do plan to send this out the feedback okay sounds great thank you all so much all right we will move to item 4.0 for review of policy 50/70 field trips presenting is mr. Ferry yes miss Mitchell joining you or no she's in the back she's consulting so policy 57 field trips is under its five-year review one thing I do need to apologize for the red line version

[01:01:44] actually did not do not actually capture number under letter a five six and seven those should be in red they were not in the previous policy so I'll make sure I correct that but under this five year after the five-year review one of the things we did notice and identified is we added additional definitions we never actually clearly defined what an international field trip was the other definitions we added were aligned with how we the language that we the staff

[01:02:19] members and transportation uses when we're entering field trips and trip finder is the application out in which we use and the other red line item that was not captured is on page three under letter C which again apologize I don't to why it used to read the Department of Instruction and now it is the Department of School School Leadership there are no other changes than the ones I just identified and I'm available for any questions if you have them thank you

[01:02:59] colleagues did you have any questions about this want me to kick it off with mine okay thank you oh you're good I just wanted to I think I need to spend a little bit more time looking at the regulation too because some of these These things may be in regulation, but I am having a hard time understanding the difference and the nuances of field trips that are in school during the school day, regular field

[01:03:39] trips, and then the field trips that are endorsed by maybe boosters or where you're off at a competition and you're representing LCPS. And I know Riverside just went and marched in a parade in London and I see international is in here. But I'm also wondering about weather because this winter and last winter for certain field trips including all county chorus and then there was a theater competition it seemed like there was some there was a lack of clarity maybe around whether or not if you can physically get there even though school is closed can you go and can the teacher go and sponsor

[01:04:15] just a lot of questions swirling around weather and non-official I don't know are those official I guess my first question is are those official LCPS field trips if they are not within the school day are they still considered LCPS field trips if they're if they're competing and representing their school they're considered LCPS field trips and we enter we call them NTN which means no transportation need it because it's parent driven but we still enter those there's they're still representing our school division in this contest which

[01:04:49] also represents a staff member being present and being either the sponsor or the coach of the event, and I think the events that you're referencing. Yeah, and I think it's, to me, those would then adhere to LCPS policy and weather procedures, correct?

[01:05:07] So if there's a closure, they would then not go? Correct. There are circumstances where the superintendent or Mr. Lewis and them have allowed travel, and we might I can speak to in previous years we've sometimes we're not able to meet on school property just because the lots are not clear but we'll meet at an off-site location to pick up students be able to take them to this is only for like state level competitions that aren't canceled but there have been some exceptions in the past that's not identified in policy we don't typically

[01:05:45] in field trips even in regulation we don't reference weather but we can the regulation is actually under review as well yeah i think weather is important to address i mean especially given the size of lcps i think when we cancel school for maybe something you know an ice event that happens in the west but you know by 10 a.m everybody's thawed out and then those kids want to go and compete say it's i think it was on a friday and i believe it was a theater competition is what I'm referencing and some schools decided they were going to go and other schools there were

[01:06:19] sponsors that said whether school's closed I'm out so they didn't get to go so I think we do need to draw some lines there and have some information about how that's related to cancellations and different things when it's not based in Loudoun and they feel like they can safely get there and also help teachers and educators that are sponsoring those events to understand what their role is because I think there was some pressure maybe to feel like oh I have to go and maybe put myself in a situation where maybe I don't feel safe you know see where I'm going with this so I think there's some gray area with this and I would love to see us kind of tighten up that

[01:06:53] language or create that language. Can I ask for clarity would you want to see a I guess a language regarding whether in policy or in regulation? I think I'd be fine with it in regulation because then you can change it more frequently rather than go through the formal review process and that's why I said I haven't really looked it the regulation in depth but and the other part is while some of these are transportation matters you know we do have a number of events on school sites that aren't related to transportation or requiring transportation so that would need to

[01:07:29] fall under either a different policy or regulation if you understand yeah like like for example Blue Ridge is having their theater production this week and that is a situation where we wouldn't typically we don't provide any transportation people show up but we close our campuses which means those events can occur would you yeah I think we should flush some of that out is what I'm suggesting or asking and I mean we can talk to the committee as well I mean I'm kind of springing this on you guys but I just I think that there is a lack

[01:08:06] of understanding from the public what their role is when they can go and who is involved and in those different circumstances so if we could outline that well the reason I mention is we're also right now revising regulation 8350 which is student activities so it might be a chance to capture what happens when school campuses are closed related to school sponsored events or activities that related to students so we might go to capture in both areas colleagues did you have any questions or comments just I guess a question maybe I couldn't find

[01:08:43] I see the section on safety for section E, and I just was looking more for, I guess, tightening up the language in regards to safety when they're traveling far, especially in reference to, I guess, more of chaperones or a liability, something that kind of talks about, like, if you have a parent and the liability when it comes to a parent, maybe it's somewhere else.

[01:09:14] again if we could just find like a place to make it more it's in regulation but I could I could see about moving it here but it's currently in regulation okay okay and still like sure enough I'm still making friends with this policy I tend to agree with dr. Rashid and I also am wondering students are expected to adhere to all discipline policies when they're on a field trip correct so is Is that cross-referenced?

[01:09:50] Are those cross-referenced? I know there's probably a lot, but I don't know if that would be appropriate to cross-reference some of the discipline policies just so that it's clear. Any other comments or questions at this time?

[01:10:20] Chair, are we going to review this again at another committee meeting or is this just going to go to the full board for discussion? So it's information tonight. So it could either be, is this one time sensitive in terms of the end of the school year or anything? It's just on its five-year review, right?

[01:10:37] So, would you like to recommend that we keep it as an information item one more time? I think so. I think so, too, especially with given that the regulation is being looked at, and I can do a little bit more homework on that side. We'll keep it as information, and then we'll move it to action after that.

[01:10:54] That's all good. All right. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate you being here and answering our questions. And with that, we will move on to item number five. Is there any new business? Seeing none, I will adjourn this April 2nd curriculum and instruction meeting.

[01:11:11] Thank you. Drive safe.

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