WCUUSD Curriculum Newsletter

Hi, WCUUSD educators--

What a busy time of year it is! Earlier this month I was at a meeting and the check in prompt was "Share a positive coping skill you use to deal with stress." My response: "Checklists!" I write checklists for all sorts of things: "to do" items, steps in the Consolidated Federal Programs grant application process, planning professional learning opportunities, completing course assignments, you name it. Checklists make me feel like I am control. They help me stay calm, especially during busy times, and I derive deep gratification from making the actual checkmark to indicate the completion of a task.

Another application of checklists is to break down complex tasks. In his bestselling book The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right author Atul Gawande shares numerous examples of how checklists have literally saved lives. Checklists are routinely used by nurses, surgeons, and pilots, for example.

Whatever positive coping strategies you employ to deal with stress, I hope they continue to work for you so that you and our students finish the year strong. We've got this!

Warmly,

Jen

• 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

On May 20 the EQC looked at our disaggregated winter data, analyzing differences in performance among groups of students (gender, free and reduced lunch eligibility, race/ethnicity, and IEP eligibility).

Here is the full presentation.

Our district continues to see differences in performance among sub-groups of students. The most pronounced and enduring differences are between students who have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and students who don't and students who are economically disadvantaged and students who aren't. I believe we need to continue to examine our Layer 1 and 2 instruction and our inclusive practices, continuing to build on and implement the work we have been doing related to universal design for learning.

On June 17 the EQC will examine school and district Continuous Improvement Plans (CIP). They will look at the end-of-year summaries for each CIP goal. As a reminder, Vermont's Education Quality Standards require school board approval of CIPs annually. Principals will engage in the end-of-year data review right after the spring assessment window closes, the EQC will review the summaries at their meeting on June 17, and the full school board will approve the CIPs later that evening.

Here are the current CIPs:

• Berlin Elementary
• Calais Elementary
• Doty Memorial
• East Montpelier Elementary
• Rumney Memorial
• U-32 Middle and High
• Washington Central UUSD

Partnering with students has been an absolute joy this year. We look forward to inviting more students to join us and creating more sustainable systems to expand our work in the future.

Twenty-six teachers and paraeducators complete the feedback form. We appreciate their feedback! And we hope to have a higher response rate in the future. Feedback informs our planning process and helps us ensure that we are designing high quality, meaningful professional learning experiences.

Overall the feedback was positive. Folks appreciated working with colleagues from across the district and having conversations about instructional next steps. They also noted appreciation for the structure and design of the professional learning experiences.

See below for a summary of the quantitative results.

Next year the i-Ready Diagnostic for reading and math will be renamed i-Ready Inform. i-Ready Inform will be a shorter assessment than the i-Ready Diagnostic, while retaining its reliability and validity.

If you administer i-Ready and are interested in learning more about the changes, you can log into your i-Ready account to access the templates below:

• The shift to the i-Ready Inform name and the shortening of the assessment
• Just the shift to the i-Ready Inform name

We will communicate the changes to families and students in the fall.

The teacher supervision and evaluation committee sent an email to all teachers on May 5, 2025 to inform them about the current state of the teacher supervision and evaluation process and to invite them to provide feedback during the 30-day comment period. Principals have or will soon carve out time during a faculty meeting for teachers to review the draft revised process. The comment period closes on June 5, 2026.

We encourage teachers to take a few minutes to review both the draft revised process and the key talking points and to provide feedback between now and June 5. Please reach out to any member of the teacher supervision and evaluation committee if you have questions or concerns: Daniel Diddlemeyer, Christiana Martin, Karoline May, Jen Miller-Arsenault, Becca Tatistcheff, and Callie Weller. Thank you!

As reported previously, we've been selected to host Responsive Classroom courses from August 11-13 at U-32 as long as we reach minimum participation requirements.

Below is the list of offerings:

• Responsive Classroom Course for Elementary Educators (PreK-5)
• Responsive Classroom Course for Secondary Educators (6-12)
• Responsive Classroom Discipline Course (K-12)
• Teaching Children to Care with MTSS (K-12)

So far very few people have registered. If you've been thinking about registering, please do so soon. In late July the Center for Responsive Schools will determine whether or not courses will run; however we will know for sure that a course will run sooner than that if at least 16 people sign up for it.

You can find more information about all four courses and a registration link here.

Renewal season is winding down. I want to offer enormous thanks to our tireless LSB members! They include:

• Berlin: Lynn Wagner (co-chair)
• Calais: Lauralea Curavoo
• Doty: Maureen McDermet
  
• East Montpelier: Claire Gallagher
• Rumney: Diana Costello
• U-32: Brian Divelbliss, Erin Mooney, and Rebecca Sweeney