WCUUSD Curriculum Newsletter

Hi, WCUUSD educators--

Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year!

Like last year, I plan to write a monthly newsletter about the curriculum, instruction, and assessment work that is happening in our district. As always, I welcome your feedback and any questions about the contents of the monthly newsletter.

We had a number of awesome Curriculum Camp sessions this summer. In the weeks to come you will learn more about the great work that was accomplished. HUGE thanks to all who participated in Curriculum Camp 2025!

Finally, I'd like to bring your attention to an upcoming professional learning opportunity beyond our district. Harwood Unified Union School District is offering a course for K-12 educators entitled Enhancing Student Writing: Engagement and Skill Development. It is a hybrid course offered on Monday evenings beginning on September 8. It is aligned to the work that we have been doing and will continue to do regarding student writing. You can find more information, including the syllabus and registration link, here.

Warmly,

Jen

Curriculum Council will meet on second and fourth Mondays from 4:00-5:30 p.m. when school is in session. Our first meeting will take place on Monday, September 8.

Stay tuned for our monthly talking points in future newsletters, and check out our 2025-2026 membership roster below.

• 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: Jenn Ingersoll, Brittany Perry, Becca Tatistcheff

• WCUUSD: Ellen Dorsey, Jen Miller-Arsenault

During the 2025-2026 school year the EQC will review our district's literacy and math data throughout the year, including monitoring progress on our district and school Continuous Improvement Plans. The SLO's that are scheduled for review include Transferable Skills and Scientific Inquiry and Content.

The next EQC meeting is scheduled for September 11, 2025 from 5:00-6:30 p.m. at Central Office. We will be diving into our spring data. I have not started the presentation yet. I will share it with you in the September newsletter.

The new Education Quality Standards (EQS) went into effect on July 1, 2025. This fall we will roll out professional learning to all educators in our school system regarding the new EQS.

Thanks to all who completed the annual LCAP Feedback Survey last June. We used the feedback to draft this year's LCAP. We are putting the finishing touches on this year's LCAP and will post it on the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment site in the next week or so.

In the meantime, please know that the fall window for i-Ready and Acadience will open on September 8. Like last year, the fall window will be longer than the winter and spring windows so that you can focus on getting relationships and instructional routines in place. The fall window will close on October 10.

During the 2025-2026 school year we will be rolling out professional learning for all teachers and administrators regarding universal design for learning using a professional learning plan and materials designed by Katie Novak. Principals will share more details in the weeks to come.

UDL resources shared last year:

• CAST's updated UDL guidelines
• Katie Novak's monthly newsletter
• Lesson planning template
• Loui Lord Nelson's podcast series
• Novak Education Teacher's Guide to UDL
• The Science and Research Behind the UDL Framework
• UDL Personalized Learning Profile
• Video about implementing UDL in a manageable way (2:31)
• Video likening UDL to planning a successful dinner party (3:21)
• WCUUSD unit design template

The Vermont Licensing System for Educators (VLSE), Vermont's new teacher licensing platform, is up and running.

You can find tutorials and FAQs about the new system from the AOE here and you can find directions to register within the VLSE system here.

Later this fall members of our Local Standards Board will assist teachers with the transition to the new system.