WCUUSD Curriculum Newsletter

Hi, WCUUSD educators--

Some of the tenets of Jim Knight's instructional coaching framework call on coaches to:

• Be a witness to the good
• Find common ground
• Maintain a stance of curiosity
• Be humble
• Listen
• Reflect

These tenets resonate with me always, and especially during uncertain and divisive times. And these are uncertain and divisive times. I'm looking forward to February break as a time to connect with family and friends and to reset, rest, and reflect. And, I also look forward to returning in March, ready to recommit to those coaching tenets and continue our good work together in service to our students.

Have a wonderful break!

Warmly,

Jen

A lot has been happening at Curriculum Council in recent months!

First, we welcomed three new members to Curriculum Council in February. Aanika DeVries, JB Hilferty, and Amy Molina have joined us in order to ensure broader representation from U-32.

We have spent a lot of time engaging in thoughtful reflection regarding the effectiveness of the professional learning modules in the district. We are using Thomas Guskey’s framework for evaluating the impact of professional learning; specifically, we have been referencing this article and this framework overview, with an emphasis on participants’ use of new knowledge and skills and student learning outcomes.

As part of our reflection, we have pored over feedback. We are really grateful to those who complete our feedback surveys; they truly inform our work and our next steps.

We are still looking for ways to catalog and share the information and great resources as we promote collaboration and the deprivatization of practice across the district in service to our students. To that end, we encourage folks to share their gallery walk artifacts from our inservice day on January 20 here.

• Berlin: Celia Guggemos, Melissa Maring

• Calais: Ainsley Burroughs, Jenna Howard, Jarrod Weiss

• Doty: Allison Fayle, Gillian Fuqua

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

• Rumney: Veronica Fair, Karoline May

• U-32: Aanika DeVries, JB Hilferty, Jenn Ingersoll, Amy Molina, Brittany Perry, Becca Tatistcheff

• WCUUSD: Ellen Dorsey, Jen Miller-Arsenault

The EQC will meet on February 18 to focus on Scientific Inquiry and Content. Here is the slideshow. We now have three years of VTCAP science data to share, including disaggregated data compared to the State for 2023 and 2024. Below are a few slides.

The EQC will next meet again in April. The exact date will be determined after the school board reorganizes in March. The focus will be our district's fall and winter data.

As noted last month, the feedback from our inservice day was overwhelmingly positive. Participants appreciated both the student panel and the gallery walk.

The Humanity and Justice Coalition spent most of our meeting this month analyzing the data with an eye toward possible next steps. Here are some key themes that emerged:

• Consider ways to create a curated collection of artifacts. The gallery walk was a huge hit (despite the crowded cafeteria). Organizing it by grade level or subject could make it even better, and folks would also appreciate having digital access to others' great work.
• Continue to think about ways to amplify student voice more regularly, and think about ways to include even more students so that more diverse perspectives are offered.
• Provide concrete resources for educators to facilitate conversations about potentially controversial topics.

Just a reminder that some of our schools have been selected for the NAEP this year. Grade 4 students at Calais Elementary tested last week. Berlin's Grade 4 students test on Thursday, February 19. Grade 4 students at EMES and Grade 8 students at U-32 will test shortly after we return from February break, on March 5 and 6, respectively.

We are continuing to prepare for this spring's administration of VTCAP.

Here are some highlights:

• Case managers met on Friday, February 13 to identify that designated supports and accommodations that students will need in order to access the assessments.
• Principals are starting to think about testing schedules.
• Proctor training will be ready in early March. It will look similar to last year's training and will include an introductory video from the district, the AOE's proctor training video (about 30 minutes), and time to read the Test Administrator's Manual with a particular emphasis on test security and other important details.

Here is the Test Administrator's Manual for those who would like to check in out sooner rather than later.

Once again we've been selected to host Responsive Classroom courses for elementary and middle school, including introductory and advanced courses. This is a great opportunity for us! We will host on August 11-13 at U-32 as long as we reach minimum participation requirements. The Center for Responsive Schools has streamlined the registration process. You can register here. No special code needed!

In case you haven't seen them yet, here are the final recommendations for graduation requirements that the AOE provided to the State Board of Education at the end of December. The State Board now has until June 2027 to make decisions about graduation requirements, although they will likely make those decisions much earlier than then.