WCUUSD Curriculum Newsletter

Hi, WCUUSD educators--

In his book How to Work with (Almost) Anyone, Michael Bungay Stanier shares a framework for proactively strengthening relationships at work. He purports that taking time to consider how we work together is key to the success of the organization. He offers guidance for having what he calls a "keystone conversation," five questions to answer together in an organization in order to leverage the strengths of the team and commit to improving and repairing relationships when (not if) they are inevitably challenged.

The five questions are:

1. What's your best?
2. What are your practices and preferences?
3. What can you learn from successful past relationships?
4. What can you learn from frustrating past relationships?
5. How will you fix it when things go wrong?

Spring is a season of change and renewal and promise. Whether you are working with colleagues with whom you've worked for years or you are building new relationships at work, I encourage you to take some time to talk with each other about how you work together in addition to focusing on what the work is. I'd love to hear how it goes!

Warmly,

Jen

Curriculum Council met twice this month.

Curriculum Associates joined us during one meeting to review our fall and winter i-Ready data with us. We looked at both performance and growth data and looked at issues such as needs by domain and students whose placement has improved between the fall and winter assessments. Principals will continue to examine and share school-based data and we will share district level data with the Education Quality Committee next month.

We have begun the process of creating next year’s professional learning plan for the district, taking into account the feedback that we have received so far this year. We are thinking about how to narrow our focus and design professional learning experiences in ways that lead to changes in teacher practice and improvements in student learning outcomes. We are considering how to apply the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework with provide choice based on need and interest. At this point we think the focus of Curriculum Camp this summer will be designing the professional learning that we will implement next year.

We remain grateful to those who routinely provide feedback to us; it informs our work and ensures that diverse perspectives are represented.

• 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 did not meet in March due to school board reorganization. The next meeting of the EQC is Wednesday, April 15 from 5:00-6:00 p.m. at U-32. We will focus on fall and winter district data with an eye on growth and differences in performance among sub-groups.

We will also look at our i-Ready winter data in comparison to national norms and national year-to-date data. While the presentation is still under development, below are some of the slides that will be included as part of the presentation. They are some of the slides from Curriculum Associates that Curriculum Council reviewed earlier this month.

The Humanity and Justice Coalition did not meet this month due to some scheduling conflicts.

We are working with middle and high school students to deepen and sustain our partnership. Next month we will learn about a student curriculum survey related to issues of equity, belonging, and relevance and continue our efforts to recruit student co-chairs.

By now the vast majority of potential proctors have participated in VTCAP training. Our elementary and middle school students will begin testing very soon, and our high school students will be wrapping up soon. If you have any questions or concerns about VTCAP, please reach out to your School Coordinator.

As reported last month, 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!

Last month the VT Agency of Education conducted a monitoring visit in our district regarding our Lau Plan. The Lau Plan is a federally required plan that articulates how we serve and support our multilingual learners (ML). During the monitoring visit the AOE examined our Lau Plan and interviewed Steven Dellinger-Pate, Michele Tofel Murray (ML teacher), and Jen Miller-Arsenault.

We received very positive feedback and a few suggestions for improvements and we were commended for the process by which we developed the Lau Plan.

Last year a work committee comprised of educators across the district who support our ML students met monthly to draft our Lau Plan. Michele and Jen co-facilitated the process and members of the work committee provided invaluable feedback. Many thanks to Olga Benoit, Lisa Gariboldi, Laura Giammusso, Celia Guggemos, Tracy Martin, Sean McIntyre, Shelley Vermilya, and especially Michele Tofel Murray. Wow!

You can access our district's Lau Plan here and on our district website.