Report: MCAS Overview

Transcript (~51 min @ 45:07)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 44:56 Speaker 3: And we've done this for many sports over the years at many points. So if we need to make a, uh, a sports team hold to run it, it's, it's a good opportunity for those eighth graders to be brought up. Any questions or comments from the committee? Yes, Mr. Kelly? Yes. Motion to approve. Motion to approve. Any, any questions before we go with that? We have a second. Second from Ms. Withi. All in favor that passes unanimously seven in favor. And that takes us to our next big item, the big item of the night, um, the MCAS results from the spring of 2025. Uh, lots of good news in here, as well as lots of areas to improve upon. Thank you for coming to us, um, Ms. Acevedo and Missus, and you guys did a great job with this overview. I really appreciate it. Take us away. Alright.

▶ 45:50 Speaker 7: Um, no, do you wanna introduce yourself first and we'll?

▶ 45:52 Speaker 8: Good evening. My name is Nora Suis and this year I've had the pleasure of working as the director of academics. Um, and so Mel and I have worked with Carrie Berman very closely and Principal Merrill, um, to ensure that we make the community proud and that we make sure that we sustain the work during this challenging time and now exciting time as we're, as we're moving forward.

▶ 46:13 Speaker 7: Great. Um, so thank you for having us here tonight. I'm excited to be here with Missus as we discuss the spring 2025 MCA results. Um, this year, the two of us have partnered with each other to help move the needle forward in teaching and learning pre-K to 12 here in Melrose. Um, we both have a similar belief and high expectations for all learners, all staff, and especially ourselves, although there are several slides tonight, some of them are quick references or visual data representations, and we'll skip through them quickly. We'll be sure to add these, um, to the full report and as well as the meeting minutes, so if anybody wants to go back to any they can.

▶ 46:49 Speaker 7: Um, so our objectives tonight, we have three main objectives. First, we're gonna provide a high level overview of the results of the MCAS from 2025 spring. Next, we're gonna identify high level analysis and next steps for elementary, middle, and high school. And then we're gonna synthesize everything, everything together, um, with a few district-wide conclusions and next steps. Um, and we wanna save time, um, for us to be able to have questions and the discussions. If, if we have any, um, you have seen me enough in these data presentations, I always like to start with previewing some vocabulary for you. Um, not all of us are educators and don't use these terms in our everyday lives. Uh, so three things you're gonna see today are tiered practices. Um, that top picture in the top right, um, I actually like this one. A lot of people use the stack triangles. I like this one because it shows tier one is everybody, everybody is included in tier one. Um, that's the blue triangle. The green triangle are tier two. So tier two practices are things that we, um, use on a targeted group of students. A student is never a tier. You will not hear, um, Ms. T and I at any point tonight refer to a student as a tier. A tier is an intervention or a program that we're using. Um, and then tier three are those really specialized in individualized, um, interventions. So we talk in the report, um, that you all have as well as in our slides tonight about tier one practices versus tier two and three practices. Um, as always, when I come to present data, um, we're talking about proficiency and growth proficiency is how are students doing against a benchmark growth is how are they doing usually over time? And then in MCAS, when we talk about meeting or exceeding expectations, the simplest way to think about it is students passed if they're meeting or exceeding expectations. We're talking about the number of students who have passed their MCAS. Um, so those are the three that I think will come up most frequently tonight. Um, but feel free to ask any questions that may come up along the way.

▶ 48:51 Speaker 8: So when we started the school year, and actually this started way back in June, we talked about accountability, belonging, and consistency, and the importance that every single student in the district matters and that we need to make sure that we're ensuring their growth and their progress during their time in Melrose. Um, MCAS comes into play because we use that data, um, to inform everything that we do. So it starts at the high level when we see how we make our decisions for school and for the district. But then as we kind of go deeper, we look at it to determine our curriculum choices, um, our instructional practices to identify the gaps in the areas that we're doing well, what we need to replicate, replicate what we need to change, how to support individual students, and how do we monitor their progress to make sure that we get them where they need to be. So it matters. It matters that we get this information and it's actually helpful and it's actually exciting data to get. Um, because there are moments where I think we can celebrate what we're doing. Um, in times that we're like, you know what, maybe we need to make some changes.

▶ 49:55 Speaker 7: Um, so the next four slides, um, you may be familiar with, they were what I shared out to the entire community when I, um, gave a brief overview and a teaser of this presentation back in the very end of September, beginning of October. Um, we're not gonna spend much time talking about the actual results slides that you'll see. Um, you'll notice in ELA math and science, there's a bar graph for performance distribution and then scores over time for grades three through eight and grade 10.

▶ 50:24 Speaker 8: So what we really like about these charts is it is that it gives us the balcony view of how our students are doing over time. Um, and our goal ultimately is, if you look at the bar graphs, is to see green and blue. We want all of our students to be proficient. We want our students to eventually move to meet expectations, and we want to eliminate the red and we want to eliminate the yellow. That is our goal, um, over time as students are working with us in the district.

▶ 50:53 Speaker 7: So the same is true for math. You can see our results there. Um, those three bars at the top are separated out, elementary, middle, and high school. Um, but in some of our, um, materials will reference non-high school, which is grades three through eight. And then some will reference, um, will break apart elementary and middle school so that we can get a fuller picture of what's happening here in Melrose.

▶ 51:14 Speaker 8: And for science, um, we are seeing upward trends. Open side is a curriculum that we're continuing to invest in. Uh, we're wanting our students to, to think and argue and, um, ask questions like scientists and engineers. And so we're seeing that in that foundation in the middle school. And as they proceed to high school, we're seeing sort of the trends with biology as students are really invested in the sciences.

▶ 51:41 Speaker 7: And then lastly, we have civics. Um, a quick note about civics. Civics was first, um, this was our first official year of implementation statewide in Massachusetts. Um, we had participated as a district in some field testing in 2024. So the hope, although I'm not sure, 'cause Jessie sometimes does random things, um, I anticipate that we'll see those same kind of charts over time as, um, the civics exam is given to eighth graders.

▶ 52:09 Speaker 8: Um, and what we put here is we just thought it was really nice to see the, the trends in the sixth grade and the seventh grade, eighth grade, and 10th grade, um, comparing it to districts that are nearby. So just Wakefield, Stoneham, Wilburn and the state and just seeing how our students are progressing as they move during their time, um, from middle school to high school. And just the fact that we are really invested to make sure that our students are doing well. So it's, it's the middle school is an area that we are fully invested in and we're wanting to make sure that we see the progress that students are making.

▶ 52:48 Speaker 7: Alright, so let's get into the fun. Um, so for each grade, you can go to the next slide, Dory. Thank you. Um, what we did is we did highlights and hot spots, spots. So highlights are things that are really great and we wanna celebrate. Um, hotspot are areas we wanna kind of dig into a little bit more. Um, so a major el highlight of the elementary grade results this year is that grade three and four have returned to their pre pandemic achievement level in math, which is awesome. Um, that means that the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations now is the same or higher as it was in spring of 2019. We've been able to close some of the unfinished learning gaps in math through targeted teacher tables, and a focus on utilizing supplemental materials such as mindset math to strengthen students' conceptual understanding as opposed to relying on rote memorization and procedural fluency. Um, fourth grade ELA also a great achievement for us. Um, in 2024, we had 53% of students meeting or exceeding expectations. In 2025, that jumped up to 73%. Um, and although I can't say for certain, as I'm walking around and visiting classrooms and talking to principals, um, I don't think my view has everything to do with it. But I think the shifts that came with the instruction with my view have some, had been having some impacts, particularly in the fourth grade, as students are switching from that reading to learn, Nope, learning to read, to reading to learn stage. Um, we're seeing a lot of shifts towards the science of reading in, in background building, um, in word work, any of those kinds of things that we weren't necess necessarily seeing with our Reading Street materials. So this was a promising kind of jump for us. Um, and to see it across multiple schools and across multiple, um, groups of students, um, is a promising, a promising antidote. Um, with our, my View materials we're in year three of our implementation. So, um, and then obviously there are a few areas we wanna focus on based on our results. Um, one of the areas we saw in many spots was writing, um, in general. So open response questions, constructed response questions, math answers, where they had to prove their answer, those kinds of things. One of the areas that really, um, concerned me the most, I would say is the idea development of writing when it came to essays during ELA. Um, and you'll see this again, um, as we move up to the secondary. So what it means is that our students, and when you look at their sample writing, which we are able to do as educators, they're writing a lot. So it's not necessarily a stamina issue. Um, it's they're, they're writing a lot, they're using evidence from the text, but they're not answering the question that's being asked. So as we're working with teachers on teaching writing, it's really that purpose of the purpose in the audience that, that we're writing for. So how do we make a, a concerted effort to really make sure that those are, um, kind of fully embedded in our writer's workshop. Um, and then the area we've been talking about for years, um, disproportionality in our subgroups, um, we are really focusing right now on three in particular our black and African American students, our students with disabilities, and then our English language learners or our recently flipped students. So, um, when you leave English Learner Services, you're monitored for four years. And so we are able to track data for our students who are currently receiving services and the four years after they're, um, leaving. Um, and we have, when we talk about next steps and that are specifically, um, that we're trying to address this, um, in a more strategic way. So when you look at our next steps, um, they're splitting into what are we doing for all students tier one practices, and then what are we doing for targeted interventions? Tier two or three, um, one practice we're working on as a district, um, is we go, as we go back to basics, is a reset on a evaluative and non-evaluative feedback. So how are the leadership team working together to make sure that our feedback is calibrated so that every educator, whether they've been here a year or 30 years, is getting feedback that is specific, descriptive and next step, right? So that is one of our focuses as a leadership team, um, to really think about and we're using that as a next step to help us improve some of our student outcome data. Um, we're also kind of looking as we're going around and, and what looking in classrooms and talking to teachers, what are those high leverage practices with my view, mindset, math, and false implementation that we can then scale. Um, and then the other piece we need to look at is some of our time on learning minutes. We spend a lot of time in our classrooms and on content, but are we spending the it on the right amount of things? So what does our ELA block need to look like now that we know more about the science of reading than it did even three or four or five years ago? Um, so really looking at that cent, those, um, those pieces more critically. Um, and then the other piece around some of our subgroups, um, myself and then working with, um, Mr. K and Ms. Chase, we're looking at those, what's happening during times that students are pulled out of class to ensure that all students are still getting access to high level grade level instruction. Um, so when we look at our subgroups, we're really trying to examine, are our subgroups not doing well because they don't have access to grade level instruction, and they're constantly in this cycle of remediation, um, and how can we address that more effectively?

▶ 58:35 Speaker 8: So at the middle school, we were excited this year to see that, um, the seventh grade increased the, the meeting and exceeding from 44% to 57%. And I think it's just nice to highlight that, to see that people are working hard to, um, improve the outcomes for students. And we, that was something that stood out to us in ELA. Um, in math, we're noticing that students are doing very well with multiple choice questions, um, on ratios and proportions. And so that it was an area that stood out for that eighth grade. Civics is doing a phenomenal job, not only in addressing the topics that are covered in the curriculum, but also really enriching the experience. I think Melrose is at the forefront of civics education. I think the educators make sure that they weave learning experiences throughout the year. Um, they have a civic action project, and then they also have events at the end of the year that really make it a powerful experience for students. And so I think it's really important to highlight that. And I do think that other districts look to us, um, as a model, uh, for that work. So, so I do wanna give a shout out to those educators who are working really hard with that. Um, for our hotspots, we are working to, again, this idea of having students really answer questions. I think they know what to do, but I think we need to be a little bit more precise. So we're gonna be working with that and making sure students understand what they need to do with that. Um, we've been consistent, but we want to reverse things. We really want to excel. And so we're, we're working really hard to try to reverse the trends, and we're seeing growth in, in pockets. And I think as we're kind of progressing, we want to see students continue to grow. And disproportionality still exists in subgroups, and that's just not something that we want to see. So we're working hard. As Ms. Veto said, students really need access to, to coursework, that's appropriate. And so we want to make sure that students are getting rigorous coursework support as needed so that they can progress their skillset and experience the growth that they need to be grade level by the end of the year.

▶ 1:00:39 Speaker 8: Uh, next steps, um, similar, similar, uh, practices. We want to make sure that we're aligned. Um, as an administrative team, we want to make sure that we're supporting educators with our feedback. We want to make sure that educators can see best practices from their fellow colleagues because there's really, um, excellent teaching happening and have giving educators the opportunity to share that and that expertise. Um, we want to make sure that students have access to high quality instructional materials. We've had some shifts in the sixth grade. We're looking at mathematics right now. We're looking at ELA and other grade levels to see if that would be a good fit. We want our students writing across disciplines. Uh, that's just something that the more that students do that, the stronger they will be. Um, and IXL, uh, again, it's our first year with the platform, but really looking to see what is most effective in terms of how students use it when we're using it in the classroom, and the supports that we can provide to students. And so there are some tools that we're finding some students really benefit from. Um, and so as we're working on our own professional development, you know, having a little bit more finesse in how we're using things, I think we're gonna see an impact there. Um, and I'll pass it to you for, so our tier two practices,

▶ 1:01:51 Speaker 7: um, that we're looking at, one of the biggest shifts, I think that came from the reduction of, um, department directors is the ability to look at data in small groups. This was always done during department meeting time, and department meeting time essentially only exists in small pockets right now. Um, so we had to come up with an, a plan to continue to review data, identify students who are not making grade level progress, and then, then identify some interventions that they could, um, use. So we, with the help of Mr. Merrill and Mr. Corrigan, Mr. Beaver, Ms. Zu, Mr. Black, um, myself, MSIs, we ran a 175 person data meeting, um, at, for our six through 12 faculty and staff. Everybody, everybody from the English teachers, to the wellness teachers, to the art teachers, everybody participated. Um, and the task was, you're to look at your students, look at your data, and by data we meant MCA data, classroom data, um, beginning of the year data from IXL at that point, or beginning of the year assessments, um, or AP data for those that it applied to, and identify the students who weren't making progress. And so when we were thinking about our tier two interventions and what we were going to think about for middle school and high school, um, we really wanted to think about who are our students who are not making progress. So that was our first step. And then on November 4th, um, the PD day we just had a couple weeks ago, teachers were given opportunities to be able to have some time to review that data, to go back to their, um, Note taking sheets, for lack of a better word, that they did on the October 15th day, um, and see if some of those interventions were being effective. Um, we have mid-year data, mid-year assessments coming up in January, and we'll be doing something similar at the February faculty meeting, but this time we'll be split middle school and high school. Um, so I'm excited about what that looks like and the opportunities that it brought for us. Um, something we thought was gonna be a really big challenge. We, we kind of turned into a, a strong model that we hope that we can move forward

▶ 1:04:02 Speaker 8: For our high school data. Um, it was really impressive to see that we've surpassed where we were pre pandemic. And so an interesting data point is, if you look at our numbers, where at 80% meeting exceeding, but if you look at the students that were in front of us, it's actually 82%. So when you look at the numbers, it's just kind of an interesting difference. So there's some students that are not in front of us at Melrose High School, that's where that 80% comes from. And the 82% are the, the students that our educators worked with every day. Um, and I just think there's, there's two components to that. I think students working through and going into the ninth grade from the middle school and building that skillset with their educators. Um, but there's also strategic things that have been happening. Educators have made professional practice goals that are really aligned, um, to the work that they want to do. So, for instance, many educators decided that working with EL students was a priority, and they've invested in professional development for the past two years of their cycle. And we've seen that disproportionality decrease. And so we're seeing improvements, um, in our subgroups as we kind of get to the 10th grade. Um, so that's a highlight for us. Um, high school biology, we've seen an improvement as well. And I think it's important to note that we're one of the few districts that offers AP biology in the ninth grade. So currently this year we have four to nine students enrolled in that class. That's pretty impressive. So it's a combination of providing students who are ready for that, for that early experience, access to that experience, but also, um, our biology students are really getting an outstanding experience. Um, and, and there was work done last year with our STEM director. There was investment in sort of supporting students and working with the teachers. So I think, um, we're in, in, we're trending the right way with that. Um, you know, areas that we wanna work with. I think we've had really thoughtful conversations this year about mathematics and just some shifts that need to happen. Um, and so we're, we're looking at some changes that we want to make. Um, I think things that we're thinking are immediate things that have to happen in each course, but there's also long-term, uh, shifts that we're thinking so that students can decide sort of which path they want to go in terms of mathematics, making sure that all students have access to higher level coursework. Um, so those, those are both a priority for us. Um, you know, short answer constructed responses, it's an area of growth, but it's, it's an area that we can coach students on. I think brevity tends to be the trend for students when they're responding on assessments. And I think just coaching them to get a little bit stronger with that. Um, again, disproportionality is something that we are watching, but I think it's the short term and the long term, thinking about where they're coming from, um, when they enter the sixth grade to get them where they need to be. And then also addressing the students as they are in each grade level, because that matters too. We're not gonna wait, um, for students to, uh, we're, we're just not gonna wait.

▶ 1:06:56 Speaker 8: Um, so in terms of next steps, similar things, um, continue with the writing, continue with high quality instructional materials and looking at the materials that we have. Um, but the big thing is just really leveraging the expertise of our educators as well. And so we've been having conversations. I think the alignment of the schedule is a plus. Uh, this year we're able to coordinate a a lot more effectively. And so we want our middle school content leads and our high school content leads to have opportunities to talk to each other. And we're in the process of planning walks so that they can see both buildings. Um, and I just think that having that lens and that expertise, an educator who might be teaching an 11th or 12th grade course might see something that we can immediately shift at the younger grades. Likewise, our educators who are working in the middle school know the students and know the things that they need to be doing when they're in ninth grade. So I think we're just, we're just gonna leverage that as well as we're moving forward. Um, you know, data team meetings, we're gonna continue to talk about that IXL how it looks in terms of implementation at the high school, slightly different. Um, and we've talked about that it's really to help, um, we, we need that dipstick for students, but also thinking about how we can support students who need to fill some gaps, um, and making sure that our students have access to grade level instruction consistently

▶ 1:08:20 Speaker 7: Wondering, So what does this mean for us as a district? Um, I wanna start by saying that Melrose has a talented and dedicated group of teachers who are working incredibly hard to meet the needs of every student in their classroom. Um, and that each and every day, and that that shows in our overall MCA results. We continue to outperform the state as well as some of our neighboring districts. When we triangulate our MCM CAS data with other assessments like access, which is our English language acquisition assessment, we can see a fuller picture of student progress. Um, and with that being said, we also wanna be honest about our trouble spots and where we're seeing data and work and work to address those. Um, our trend that was present in most of our MCAS data is a fairly consistent percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations from 2021 to now. So we saw a lot of, um, graphs that that line didn't move very much. So how do we, how do we start pushing that needle a little bit? Um, we wanna move that needle so that we're at least meeting, if not surpassing our 2019 achievement levels in every grade, in every subject. Additionally, we have a new renewed focus and some additional next steps to help us address our disproportionality gaps in our subgroups, which support our overall goals.

▶ 1:09:36 Speaker 3: Next one. Thank you.

▶ 1:09:39 Speaker 7: Is that you? Um, I can, yep.

▶ 1:09:40 Speaker 8: So, um, the next piece is like the feedback cycles with evaluators and educators. I think we wanna make sure it's a dialogue. I think one of the most powerful pieces that we've been doing in these feedback cycles is really having the thoughtful conversations with educators about the areas that they wanna pursue in terms of strengthening, strengthening their own repertoire, their own interests, and, and supporting that. And so that might mean, um, giving them time with colleagues, that might mean giving them them opportunities for professional development. That might mean giving them opportunities to see other schools that are successful in the area that we're working on. Um, I, I think that the data team meeting structure and intended outcomes is just really making sure that we have the time set aside so people can think about the students that they want to support in their classrooms, and making sure that families are part of that conversation as well. I think everyone in this room and everyone in this community wants to make sure that they see their students succeed, and educators are fully invested in doing that. And so we've made that a priority as well this year. Um, high quality instructional materials, again, making sure that we are consistent from the moment a a student begins their time in Melrose, and that students have that building of skillset and, and that curriculum. And then also it's, it's helpful when we add new staff, honestly, just making sure that we have the structures in place and the curriculum in place so that it's a seamless transition when we have transitioned, um, with staffing, um, using IXL, I think there's some students that are trying to master some skills, figuring out when it works to practice and making sure that we are using that, uh, with fidelity and the, the leveraging practices that work, and then making some adjustments for things that just no longer have the same impact on our students. And I think there have been conversations that educators have had with each other. Like, this practice was amazing. I, I tried this in my class, come and see me implement this. Um, and some other practices that just for whatever reason right now with the students that we have in front of us, it needs to just look a little bit different. And I think that's something that educators do all the time. You might have four classes and each feels a little bit differently, and you might deliver the instruction to meet the needs of the students in front of you, slightly different. And so, um, personalizing, uh, things, uh, instruction to make sure that we're supporting our students.

▶ 1:12:05 Speaker 7: So that was a lot of information and, and we appreciate the attention. Um, but we're happy to answer any questions that you may have.

▶ 1:12:12 Speaker 3: Great. Thank you so much, Mr. Kelly.

▶ 1:12:15 Speaker 2: Go ahead. Sure. I have, um, I think a two part question. Um, the slide that we were just looking at, um, which was resetting feedback, consistent data team meetings, high quality instructional materials, utilizing IXL and scaling, is that essentially what the plan is to address all of this, but with particular to what appears to be some real challenges around math?

▶ 1:12:37 Speaker 7: Yeah, I think that when we think about back to basics, this is, this is where I go, right? Like this is where, when I'm thinking about the vision for the district for the next this year, but even the next three to five years, these are the things that need to stay at the forefront as we start to add new pieces. Um, so the high quality instructional materials, I am a big proponent of, I appreciate teachers having autonomy and, and want them to still be creative, but high quality instructional materials really provide that level playing field for everybody. Um, and when we look at our subgroup disproportionality, you could have the best of intentions and be doing great curriculum that you created yourself, but the inherent bias that's in that sometimes is really something that's hard to get over. Whereas HQIM, those high quality materials, they've done research, they've field tested, they've done some of those things to try to remove, um, some of that opportunity gap for, for students.

▶ 1:13:34 Speaker 2: Okay. And then my second question, um, maybe is a little bit more to superintendent, or maybe it doesn't need to be addressed tonight, but it's a comment, which is, as we've now had a successful override and we've now perhaps have some money to allocate, what would be the best use, what would be the most effective way for the school committee to support this five point clan as we go into FY 27?

▶ 1:13:58 Speaker 2: That's a Great question. Can punch the super superintendent. We can talk about it at another time, but Carrie

▶ 1:14:02 Speaker 7: And I are both looking at each other saying, I'm not sure who wants to take it. Yeah. I,

▶ 1:14:06 Speaker 5: I think these are, these are the points that we're looking at now that we have had a, a successful override, especially with some of the funding that's gonna come in for the second half of the year, hopefully, if it goes through, you know, I don't wanna take anything away from city council, you know, if it goes as expected through C City Council and is appropriated appropriately to us, um, that these are the pieces we'll look at. So we will look at expanding our curriculum, um, pieces to make sure that we're including these high quality instructional materials. Um, that's going to mean professional development, that's gonna mean training, right? That's gonna mean purchasing, that's gonna mean continuing and, and committing to something for a number of years. Um, I think one of the things we have done in the past, and Mel, you can speak to this a little more than I could, but, you know, we've, we've dabbled in some different things, and I think what we need again, is come back to our EBCs consistency, right? We need to do something for a certain amount of time in order to see, um, the student outcomes that, that they are projecting should come when you're being consistent on implementing, um, curriculum. Okay. Thank you. So, Mr. Herman, go ahead.

▶ 1:15:13 Speaker 2: Um, thank you for the report and I'm sure we'll have more data to discuss in the future soon. But, uh, one of the things that, that I, I think you mentioned a little bit in your presentation was around, um, consistency at three and four, seeing some of the same things happen again and again with the explanatory, um, pieces of, of the MCAS. Uh, and it raised a question in my mind about cohorts versus, um, snapshots. Mm-hmm. And I think, you know, MCAS has certainly some utility to the data, but it's a snapshot in time from last spring versus what we see in IXL, which is much more updated information to the students that are in the classroom of that teacher at that time. Uh, do you think that what you're seeing in, in that particular scenario is a, is a combination of a cohort issue and a, you know, continuing issue year after year in third and fourth grade? What is the breakdown that you've seen in, in that kind of split?

▶ 1:16:04 Speaker 7: I think kind of just thinking off without having done a deep dive at, at this point in time, I think one of the things that is next on my priority list is really looking at when the mid-year data comes in, how are our students doing, right? So what is that saying versus how are they doing? Where, where did they fall on MA last year where there are some predictors that we can see when students have a certain growth percentile from beginning of the year to the midyear of how they're going to do on MCA if they continue growing at that same rate. Right? Um, so I think that's step one. I think it's challenging for us to look at anything other than MCAS right now as a, um, cohort data because we've changed tools so many times, right? So as we look at even our unit assessments, we've had my view only three years. So, and we, so we don't have enough data to look at a unit one assessment in my view, over those three years, right. Or over, um, for the same group of students over a number of years. Mm-hmm. Um, so I think that one of the, the challenges we've had is always looking for the, um, the bargain version of whatever assessment tool we could find at the time. It, it's, it's making it a little more difficult now. Not that it's impossible, but it's making it more like comparing oranges and apples than it is to comparing oranges to oranges, if that makes sense.

▶ 1:17:28 Speaker 2: It does. No, and I think that goes back to the point I was raising with, um, the Roosevelt School and their plan and the consistency that we hopefully have over the next few years to be able to take advantage of and the superintendent's point as well. Um, that does raise another question in my mind then around, um, how we can leverage some of that, that mc a data since it is potentially useful for the cohort side of things. Um, and just looking through the, the three through five grades here, I'm kind of seeing consistently when you look at the cohorts, you see the grades kind of at the same level each year as they're progressing. Mm-hmm. So that group of students doesn't seem to necessarily grow year to year. And so I'm wondering, you know, the first level question is, can we determine if those are the same students we probably can, right? And then how do we actually get to those students and the teachers working with those students to address the potential barriers those students are facing that clearly seem to resemble themselves year after year? Right? 'cause if, if we're focusing on a third grade problem, which is really part of a cohort problem, we're missing the opportunity with those students as we move forward. Do we, we have any ways of kind of making sure that we're, we're taking the third grade data and, and making sure the fourth grade groups are looking at it and, and so on and so forth? Yeah,

▶ 1:18:40 Speaker 7: So that's happening at, at the building level. So I'm working with principals to make sure that they have one access to all of their accurate MCA data, um, and two, knowing how to share that appropriately with their staff. Um, so some buildings have already looked at it. Some buildings they asked me to kind of hold off until I came and gave the big district presentation, and then they're gonna start kind of looking at that. But that is something that we're doing with building principals so that they can, teachers can see how did their students do, how did the students that just left us do, and what are those gaps in standards that maybe I'm noticing a couple of years in a row. Um, we're seeing that a lot with science, right? Like, where are those gaps that we can address in fourth grade science that are reappearing every year? Um, so we are doing that at the building level, not necessarily at the district level yet.

▶ 1:19:30 Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah, and, and just following up on that, if we get to a point, uh, with looking at the data that we could again, come back and look at cohort data at the committee level, I think I would really appreciate kind of seeing how that, those cohort trends seem to present themselves. Um, and then more feedback about how that's being, uh, discussed at the building level and at the, the classroom level. Great. Thank you.

▶ 1:19:50 Speaker 3: Absolutely. Thank you. Oh, go ahead, MRK.

▶ 1:19:52 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: Uh, thank you. Um, my question isn't about the data, it's more, um, on the, um, social emotional level. So I'm wondering about how you're seeing students present relative to test anxiety compared to maybe prior years or, um, you know, uh, at grade levels. Are you seeing anything that, you know, sparks questions with you?

▶ 1:20:18 Speaker 7: I'm gonna have to probably talk to a couple people and get back to you, if that's okay. Absolutely. No,

▶ 1:20:24 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: I was just, you know, thinking about as we have some opportunities to, um, you know, to explore different, um, um, possibilities, you know, thinking about what are the needs, um, teaching wise, but also having students, you know, prepared to learn prep, like re ready to receive information, and how do we ensure that they're, it's like feeding students, right? We have to make sure that they're in environments that are supportive to them, um, and they're ready and, um, able to learn. So again, not for now, and, and, um, but thinking about that, so that's one question I had. I'm also interested in knowing, I know I'm with teacher licensure, I'm speaking about sort of the secondary campus, if you will. Um, I, I don't know if it's, it's changed over time, but I know that there are licenses that are in content areas, five to eight in nine to 12, and sometimes seven to 12. Um, so I don't know what the standards are right now, but I'm wondering if, and this is purely hypothetical, I don't expect an answer, but thinking about, you know, um, how if you had different, um, grades of students, right? Some of them, they have personality sometimes too, and sometimes there are different kinds of needs, whether there would be opportunities for students, or excuse me, for educators say at the high school level to say, you know, I think, um, it would be interesting for me to work to support middle school students, or being able to have some of that flexibility and is that, is that something rigid or are there, um, potential opportunities in there? And I know that sometimes too, there are teachers who have dual certification relative to just sort of that dual certification with special education and a content area, but also in multiple content areas. So, you know, I'm just sort of thinking about those things, um, and how to keep our educator workforce as flexible as possible to meet the needs of those students where they are at particular times, and potentially have opportunities to change over time too. Um,

▶ 1:22:25 Speaker 7: Yeah, I think that one of the things that we are getting a, a really strong handle on over the past couple years is who is licensed in what, and what are they able to do, um, in addition to what do they want to do, right? Mm-hmm. Because, because right.

▶ 1:22:40 Speaker 9: You have to live your passion in a library

▶ 1:22:43 Speaker 7: Telling a teacher who, you know, teaches seniors, you're gonna go teach the sixth graders, right? That may not go over so well. Um, so we wanna make sure we're balancing those, like, what, but I know Mr. Merrill and Mr. Corgan and myself and MSIs, we, we are all looking at that as we start planning for next year, um, in future years. And, and we've been looking at that when we had to do, um, reductions. We, we really use licensure as a means of how that, how that works so that we could get as many people who were qualified to be in a position, in a position, right? So we have teachers that move content this year so that they could keep a job, um, you know, those kinds of things. And now we have the opportunity with the override passing that we can be a little bit more flexible with, well, what do you wanna do as well? Right? Versus we're gonna tell you, you have to be here, or we're not gonna have a place for you.

▶ 1:23:33 Speaker 8: Yeah. And just the other thing, we've had a lot of educators who have stepped up and have said, I have this expertise, and although perhaps this is my passion and this is what I prefer doing, I know there's a need, so if you need me to do this, um, that's happened quite a bit. And I think it's testament to their commitment to the district and to their colleagues. I think there were, um, many situations that were challenging last year, and I think people were very mindful of that. And I, there were, there were people who stepped up and I just wanna acknowledge that as well.

▶ 1:24:02 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: Well, then I appreciate the educators who have done that, um, stepped out of sometimes their comfort zone. Um, and I also appreciate the fact that over a long period of time, the district has worked really hard and but successful at having a, a 95% or higher, um, highly qualified, um, teacher, uh, percentage. And I know that's, um, something that's really important to the department. So it's important to us. And I guess the last thing is really just a wonder for the future, which is there, um, used to be, um, more reporting around advanced placement SAT and acts. So, um, again, not for tonight, but I would wonder if some of that data will be coming back to us at some point. Um, and that's a consideration really for the superintendent.

▶ 1:24:46 Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Skal. Yes, Ms. Hy.

▶ 1:24:50 Speaker 1: Thank you. Um, I have four quick things. One, I, I heard us name families would be involved continually in the data meeting process. And I think the number one question we get asked is like, or the number one question I should say that is on a family's mind is like, how's my kid doing in school? Mm-hmm. Right? So can we expect then that, for instance, if you're an elementary parent, I know there are screeners that happen three times a year, will families continue to also get that realtime data like they did before?

▶ 1:25:20 Speaker 7: I would like to say yes. Mm-hmm. Um, I'm, I'm gonna be very honest about the capacity piece of things right now. Yep. Um, but I would like to say that that is something that is an intention I have. Um, but I don't wanna overpromise and under deliver. Um, my hope is that when we do mid-years, that I can send out an email, um, much like we did in the beginning of the years. Yeah. Where here's where students were and then here's where their growth is. Um, we are required by DESI to inform any family in K through three, um, that does not meet mm-hmm. Standards and or benchmarks. Um, and any family by Title one law or Title one regulations, um, any family that's receiving Title one services. So we have Title one at Lincoln Hoover and Middle School. Um, so any family that is receiving additional intervention from from there would receive notification automatically. But my intention is to do another mailing like we did for beginning of the year.

▶ 1:26:18 Speaker 1: Thank you. Mm-hmm. I think it's really helpful to open the conversations and allow for families to know my student took this assessment, this is where they are currently. I wanna acknowledge that. I recognize we still have a lean district team. Um, but I appreciate you naming the importance of families being able to partner with their students. And I think them knowing the data is one of the top ways for them to be able to do that. The next thing I just wanna highlight was around math. I mean, I'm really thankful that we are taking a deeper look into root causes with middle school math in particular. I think it's clear through the data that we're either stagnant or declining. I also heard you say earlier that, you know, materials matter, right? And so, looking at high quality curricular materials and starting to think about what would make the most sense in order to help accelerate student learning outcomes feels like the right call to me too. I would just add that a lot of these high quality curricular materials, while they are incredibly strong, are very different from how perhaps we learned in school ourselves. Um, and so I think yes to professional learning, but I also would just encourage us to think about how do we ensure we're helping educators understand the why behind the design of these materials? Because that's actually the thing that's gonna help, I think just make sense of a shift in perhaps like the pedagogy or the approach that the materials are offering up. So yes to pd, but also bring in the research, help people get clear on the rationale and the why so that they can walk alongside and see what is the purpose of this material? How is it similar or different to what I've done in the past? And how can I, or how might I wanna lean in? Um, the next thing is around writing. I just, I'm struck by the three through eight call out of like, idea development. I would also say, um, I think that's not unique to Melrose. I, I'm seeing similar things too. Um, and so I, I wonder if it's also an opportunity for us to think a little bit more expansively about perhaps a strategy that would go across grade levels. Um, 'cause I think one thing that tends to be challenging is when kids go into middle school, for instance, from an elementary perspective, sometimes we just say different words that ultimately are the same thing, right? And so is there a way for us to be able to have like common language, common ways in which we actually think about writing development across those grade spans that would help promote students in being able to develop their ideas in a clear and like consistent way? I think

▶ 1:28:46 Speaker 7: That's part of the reason. And Nora, feel free to inter interject, but I think that's a big reason why we went with my perspectives for a pilot in sixth grade. It is the next step up from my view. Yep. Um, and my view is our reading and writing program. So the hope is that if there's a clear consistency of my view from K to eight, um, that we'll start to see some of those incremental shifts,

▶ 1:29:10 Speaker 1: That's really helpful framing, just to recognize that those two programs talk to each other. 'cause sometimes that doesn't always happen, and it can be actually really hard for students to have to figure out, wait, does this mean this or this? Like, how do these things kind of refer back to what I've learned in the past?

▶ 1:29:25 Speaker 7: And we're also looking at that for math. We're looking for one program that is K through algebra Two. Thank you for sharing that. Um, so that is one of our goals. Super

▶ 1:29:33 Speaker 1: Helpful. Last thing I will say, um, I noticed, and this is minor, but I just wanted to call it out, that when it was talking about time on learning as something to investigate a little bit more, that social studies and history wasn't called out. Is that intentional?

▶ 1:29:49 Speaker 7: Not exactly. Um, in our younger grades,

▶ 1:29:54 Speaker 7: me, I, and I'm gonna speak very bluntly 'cause I haven't really talked about this with many people other than the principals. Um, we are noticing a trend in science scores where teachers who specialize do a better job with their science MCATs. Okay. So if they teach science Yep. And another teacher teaches social studies. Mm-hmm. So it wasn't necessarily intentional, but the thought process behind it is that we may need to think about that at three through five Of Got It. How do we make that time really intentional? The other reason we do that is that it's less likely to get forgotten. Teachers at the elementary are really good at making sure ELA and math are taught consistently mm-hmm. Every single day. Mm-hmm. But if something happens, the first blocks to go are our science and social studies blocks. So how do we, how do we think about that a little bit differently? Mm-hmm. Um, so that it would, I think also increase our science scores, but also, um, be better for teachers and kids.

▶ 1:30:55 Speaker 1: I appreciate you calling out that. Sometimes those are the moments that can get cut a little bit more. 'cause that's when I saw it, I was like, wait a second. Um, and I would also just highlight that, you know, we can teach literacy best practices and literacy through content areas. So I just didn't want for that one to be forgotten because again, like we have to teach informational texts. This is an opportunity to continue to do that. So I wanted to call that out too. Thank you so much for being here and for answering all my questions.

▶ 1:31:23 Speaker 3: Thank you. Any other committee members have any questions? Comments? Okay. I have a couple. Um, I'm very proud of our ELA 10th grade performance. That is a, a big star there. Um, I, I just also wanna say that m cass is no longer a graduation requirement. So that changes the way kids are going to approach the test. It may decrease anxiety and it may impact test scores positively or negatively. Do you wanna, it looks like you have something you wanna say about that, that, Ms. Vedo, go ahead.

▶ 1:32:00 Speaker 7: So, MCAS is still a graduation requirement. Every Melrose High School student has to sit for the MCAS. It's part of our accountability. Yes, I was going but passing the m

▶ 1:32:08 Speaker 3: You don't have pass longer a graduation requirement. The, in the original intention of MCM CAS was really to see if we were teaching to standards and how well we were teaching. And now we actually can do that. It doesn't mean that DESI isn't gonna change it, but it is the only test that we have that's remained consistent prior to the pandemic, prior to technology becoming an integral part of our educational system. And the teachers are learning about technology and the impact of technology. We are all learning about the impact of screens in our lives in a way that we didn't know anything about 20 years ago. So education is changing. The MCAS requirement for graduation, for passing to get to graduation has changed. We still have to take the MCAS. It's a good thing. It's a good tool, and it's been the thing that's been consistent for many, many years. So I, I do believe in using it as one tool, but it is not everything. And there's many ways of learning and there's many ways of achieving outside of tests. So I just want to kind of frame the discussion to keep in mind that all of this is a moving target all the time with every single unique and wonderful student that we serve. So

▶ 1:33:17 Speaker 7: I think too that it's important to note that Jesse, although they've removed the MCAS requirement, they have not removed the competency requirement. Um, so we are now, Ms. TSIs, myself, Mr. Merrill, um, you'll see us again in December, um, coming before you with our new competency determination policy. Mm-hmm. Um, that is required of every district to have. Um, and it allows us a little bit more flexibility to be able to say, how are students Showing that they are competent in the 10th grade standards in a way that isn't necessarily a test. So yes, while they did get rid of the, the requirement that you have to pass the MCAS Yeah. Every student still does need to show that there's, um, a competency Yeah. On the 10th grade standards. Yeah. Um, but we as a district are able to do that. And we're looking at things like using MIDYEARS and end of years, um, but also going back to portfolios and going back to opportunities for students to show some authentic learning, um, and giving different pathways for students to be able to show that competency.

▶ 1:34:26 Speaker 3: I think that's very exciting in terms of, um, not just trying to put every single kid in a, you know, who may be a square into a round hole, right. So, or vice versa. So I like a lot of the trends of what we're seeing even on the, um, results by student group on the subgroups. They're, some of them are going up, some of them are still kind of flat. Um, and there's a lot of years that are quite flat for all learners. So, but there's also been tremendous growth. And if it's a plus or minus five, it's statistically insignificant, right? So it's only over time that we're really gonna know how we're doing. But those ELA scores over time have just stayed in a beautiful place, like, or gone back up. So we know we're pretty solid. Um, on the ELA side, we're wondering about the math, and I think you're gonna come and offer us some ideas about the math curriculum, I would imagine. But I really appreciate all the work that you put into this. Both of you and both of you have really stood by us through a very uncertain time. So thank you very, very much. Thank you. We don't need to take a vote on this, but thank you for all the work and the analysis and we'll see you soon. Thank you.

▶ 1:35:33 Speaker 9: Thank you. Thank

▶ 1:35:34 Speaker 3: You. And with that, that concludes e, p, and P for tonight. Thank you everybody. Thank you.

▶ 1:35:40 Speaker 1: Finally, we'll round out our committee work this evening with policy and planning chaired by Mr. Hartman.