Thanks for reading,

Jen

Curriculum Council got to meet twice this month!

Our major area of focus was the K-6 writing survey. THANK YOU to all who took the time to complete the survey; we had 37 responses in all. The highlights are included in the LCAS section below. Our immediate next steps include revising the Standard 6 rubrics for use with the next K-6 district writing prompt (February 3-March 31) and getting grade level teams together to score student work and determine exemplars. Stay tuned for more details in the next month or so.

We are moving forward with the DESSA, a universal screener for social emotional learning, at the elementary school. We are aiming to implement the DESSA by February break. Professional learning about what the DESSA is, how to score it, and how to analyze the results will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

Jen Miller-Arsenault and Julia Pritchard have met with each principal to ascertain the current state of our practices regarding Educational Support Teams. Jen and Julia will synthesize the data and determine next steps in the weeks to come. District oversight of EST is one of the levers of Act 173, and we are looking forward to more clarity and consistency of practice across all of our schools in the next few months.

We have been selected to host Responsive Classroom course offerings at the elementary and middle school levels this summer. We hope to offer both the core and advanced courses at both levels. The courses will take place from August 12-14, 2025 at U-32, pending minimum registration numbers. More details, including the rationale, the intersections between RC middle level and Restorative Practices, and registration information, will be forthcoming. For now, please hold the dates if you might be interested in participating.

• Berlin: Celia Guggemos

• Calais: Jenna Howard

• Doty: Allison Fayle

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

• Rumney: Veronica Eldred

• U-32: Erin Galligan-Baldwin, Elizabeth Marks, Amy Molina, Brittany Perry

• WCUUSD: Ellen Dorsey, Jen Miller-Arsenault

The Education Quality Committee will focus on Physical Education and Health at our meeting on February 5. Here are the presentation slides.

The next Education Quality Committee meeting will take place in April and will focus on our fall and winter benchmark assessments in literacy and math.

The objectives for last week's inservice day included:

• Deepen our understanding of how issues of economic justice impact our work with students and families
• Commit to actions that will further our humanity and justice work for all of our students
• Deepen our connections with each other.

Thanks to all of you who completed the feedback form regarding last week's inservice day. The feedback was very positive overall. Folks appreciated watching the film and engaging in the Q and A with Bess O'Brien. They also reported appreciation for working with colleagues from across the district and knowing the plan for the morning ahead of time. Folks also offered some concrete suggestions for improvements for the future such as using subtitles and being more explicit about the connections between statewide policies, school actions, and student experiences. A summary of the quantitative results is below.

And, again, a huge thanks to the Humanity and Justice Coalition for their planning and vision for this day. Wow!

Shelley Vermilya, our equity scholar-in-residence, is eager to support our continued thinking and learning together. Please take two minutes to complete this brief survey. She will use the results to create professional learning opportunities based on your interest and availability this spring.

As mentioned above, Curriculum Council has been analyzing the K-6 writing survey results and planning next steps accordingly.

We used AI to generate a preliminary report (we had a lot of qualitative results to analyze!) and then engaged in a deeper analysis dive. Here are some key takeaways:

• Consistency of instructional practices varies within and across schools.
• Teachers use a variety of instructional tools to teach writing.
• Teachers have expressed a desire for professional development in writing and time to focus on writing with grade alike colleagues.
• There is variability of practice regarding the teaching of handwriting; there is more consistency in practice regarding the use of Keyboarding Without Tears.
• Many teachers are using Fundations to teach spelling, with some supplemental instruction.
• The Standard 6 rubrics that were created this summer at Curriculum Camp were a good start, with room for improvement and a need to develop rubrics related to genres.

We sorted the responses by school and shared them with principals in order to further inform next steps.

Below is a summary of respondent data for your information.

Curriculum Associates will join us on Wednesday, February 12 to support our ongoing implementation of i-Ready Classroom Mathematics and the i-Ready math and reading diagnostics.

Here is the training schedule:

• 8:15-10:15 Grades K-3, Pacing
• 10:30-11:30 Principals, Instructional Leadership
• 12:00-2:00 Grades 4-6, Pacing
• 2:15-3:15 Grades 7-10, Leveraging i-Ready Data
• 2:15-3:15 Grades 4-6 (Optional), Analyzing i-Ready Data
• 3:30-4:30 Grades K-3 (Optional), Analyzing i-Ready Data

All sessions will take place at U-32. Please arrive in time to check in at the main office and get settled for a prompt start, and please reach out to me or your principal if you have any questions or concerns.

The leadership team is in the process of finalizing the administration dates for VTCAP this spring. We are aiming to have all testing take place in April. We will schedule the testing so that we have on site technology support at each building.

As we finalize the testing schedule, we are also preparing to work with case managers next week to identify designated supports and accommodations for students who need them. We are also finalizing the proctor training agenda and timeline.

Stay tuned for more details in the weeks to come.

This month, rather than introducing a new UDL resource, I am going to reintroduce a UDL resource, our very own WCUUSD unit design template. Grounded in the principles of backwards design, the template embeds planning for universal design for learning, trauma-informed practice, and culturally responsive teaching.

UDL resources shared so far:

• CAST's updated UDL guidelines
• Katie Novak's monthly newsletter
• Lesson planning template
• UDL Personalized Learning Profile
• The Science and Research Behind the UDL Framework

As mentioned in previous months, Act 139, Vermont's new K-3 literacy bill, requires us to notify caregivers when a student performs substantially below expectations on a universal screener. We are preparing to send out our first notification using this template. Elementary principals published the following blurb in school newsletters earlier this month:

Act 139, Vermont's new literacy bill, was passed by the Legislature late last spring and went into effect on July 1.

Act 139 is intended to support strong literacy achievement for all students by focusing on young learners. Specifically, Act 139 focuses on K-3 learners and requires assessment to identify students who might need support, the provision of student support, professional learning for teachers, and caregiver notification when student assessment results are substantially below expectations.

The shifts we've made in our district to the Acadience reading assessment and the Fundations program in recent years are in alignment with Act 139.

We are in the middle of our winter assessment window right now, which means students are taking the Acadience reading assessment again. If your K-3 child scores well below the winter expectations, your principal will send a letter home as required by Act 139. The letter will let you know your child's current strengths and areas for growth along with the supports that are or will be put in place to support your child's continued growth in reading.

In future years we will send the family notification letter after the fall assessment window.

Please reach out to your principal if you have any questions about Act 139.