We call this meeting to order for the education student service committee meeting on October 15, 2025 at noon. Uh can we have a roll call? >> Markhart present. >> Lammy Godson present. And moving right on to approval of the minutes 3.1 for from June 11th and September 10th. >> Second >> and I will you know >> yes >> say yes for that. And then moving on to approval of the agenda. uh approves the September 10th education service committee agenda and approves the October 15th education service committee agenda as per attached >> second and yes >> and yes for that as well then we can move on to information items Mr. or Dr. Lucal >> all right thank you Mr. Godson. In terms of our upcoming meetings, tomorrow we have our finance committee meeting at 100 p.m. here at Swan Way. Uh, Friday, October 17th, our operations committee meeting at 11 a.m. October 21st, policy committee meeting at 4:00 p.m. And then on October 28th, committee of the whole board meeting where we will have some of the items that we're going to be talking about today passed on for the full approval of the board. And we're also looking forward to presentations from Mr. ruts about our local assessment data results. Always enjoyable to to listen and learn. Thank you. >> All right. And I can see Joe Rutz is up next enough for the presentation of local assessment. See, I got to move this thing forward. This week's been a long month. >> [snorts] >> Thanks for being here today. Uh this is a draft of the presentation for our local assessment data. We've done the last several years. Um, I'll go through it and as always open the floor for questions, feedback to refine and revise this to prepare this for our full board uh presentation on October 28th. Sorry, I'm going to skip through some of this. We're going to be looking at data from several areas. our dibbles K3, our I Ready K8, and our excl English and math, which is 910. We'll speak to that when I get to the excl slides. Uh some changes with that. This is our dibbles uh K3. Our composite scores uh for the fall. Again, from the feedback last year, we put these bars in the benchmark for the beginning of the year, and that will change the middle of the year and the end of the year. And the green diamond you see our middle year benchmark what we're aiming for and then we'll have an end of the year benchmark green diamond when we get to the middle of the year presentation >> Joe can you just talk about where these benchmarks are coming from you know are they ours or are they statewide they national >> they are national benchmarks yes >> and I'll speak specifically I broke down uh >> yeah please Y-shirt. >> Yes. Okay. >> Yes, I can do that. I could add that when we do that in December. I'm sorry, January. >> I'm sorry, but can we use the microphones? >> I'm sorry. >> I have mine. >> Sorry, my fault. Yes, I asked um >> if we could put the uh date with the middle of the year benchmark so people know exactly what date we're shooting for and that it's a good idea to put that it's national. Yeah, I could add that to the legend. Oh, that to the legend. >> It does say national below the chart. It does. Oh, >> does it? Yep. >> Beginning of the year national benchmark. >> I could still add the date to the legend though. That'll be a good idea. Um, we talked about kindergarten the last few years. Last year, we started tracking the three-year trends um for students entering kindergarten. do you because I was just sitting there looking at this at home you know do we have any way of you know because you know we're looking at you know students this year looks like they are less ready >> than previous and that does affect the whole learning curve and the whole process and the state results. Is there any way that we might be able to show that line, you know, up um on the first slide, you know, where I came in >> this here? >> Yeah. >> What I'm doing is I'm showing this is for all grades first, Mr. Godson. That's okay. And then I'll break it down by >> Yeah, you know, I did see that, you know, coming. I do see it in there. Yeah. But it, you know, what I'm thinking is, you know, being able to show on this slide, you know, where, you know, they lack the skills, you know, coming in for kindergarteners. >> What I'm showing here is all of K3. So, we got K1, two, three across the board. And then I go into the grade specific so we could talk about it here more um where students are coming in. Uh because as we talked about last year, if I if I hit um first grade, you can see where we are with with first grade this year. So there are things out of our control obviously as an organization, >> but there is also the benefit to see how much growth that we provided through teaching, you know, you know, and that they are gaining some skills. >> And this is the same point. I'm I'm proud to be able to make the same point two, three years in a row here with this that despite despite this data, despite this data at the end of first grade, this is where our our scores are internally again above the national benchmark uh by a good amount. >> Uh just a question for uh clarity. Yes. >> So it's beginning of the year national benchmark. it's showing a numerical value and on the bar graphs it's showing a numerical value but it really doesn't say what that numeric numerical value is. So if you go up two slides um the left hand of the graph is composite score but it's not easy for people to see that. So just maybe to give some meaning to that number does it make sense to somehow I'm assuming that composite score is like an SAT type thing. It's not zero to 100%. >> Correct. So maybe if people know that's so because they're going to be looking at numbers and go what do these numbers mean? >> You want I could add the benchmark number to the gold bar. >> Is that what you're asking? Because >> from this slide remember last year we the ask was to leave that off because we do it here. But Mr. Gard, you want me to go >> just an explanation of what the actual number means? Because people are going to say 306 and think what does 306 mean? But if they because it's it's not like a 90% score, but it's a 306 out of what. But like people know what a certain number on an SAT means because they know what the high number is on an SAT. I'm assuming this is the same thing, right? So if they know that's what that's referring to, they'll know what those numbers mean. >> A scaled score. Okay. Yes. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Where was I? I'm sorry. That was grade one. Okay. Uh off to grade two again. We're seeing a similar pattern coming out of kindergarten to your point Mr. got extend where students are coming less prepared. Uh the last few years we're still seeing gains in the beginning of the year uh dibbles once students are with us in grades uh one two and then here is grade three. And again this shows that for all of the last three years three different cohorts these are three different cohorts of students are scoring above the beginning of the year national benchmark. again going to our programs, our practices, our teachers, the consistency of the curriculum and the programs that we've put in. Um, I'm not going to read at you this. We kept this slide in just to share with the public and the board all of the evidence-based supports that we've put in the last few years and continue to maintain uh and support for students and teachers. I'm going to go into I Ready uh ELA and I Ready Math. Um, just a reminder again for our uh MTSS, our tiers of our triangle. Uh, tier one is at or above grade level. This is a rough goal. It's it's not set in stone. We aim for 75 to 80% of our students by end of year to be in tier one. Uh, in tier two, which is one grade level below 15 to 20% of students and tier three, two or more grade levels below. The guidelines to guard rails are five to 10%. our K8 reading. This is beginning of the year, the fall assessment. Um we have uh 34% of students in tier 1, 41% of students in tier two, and uh 25% of students in tier three. So we have 75% of our K8 students um in tiers one or two to start the year. And remember, we talked about this last year when we did a deep dive. You're talking about students who are getting assessed on end of the year academic expectations. So I'm walking into fourth grade being assessed on fourth grade standards the first week of school in state of Pennsylvania. Those academic standards are endofear expectations. And as we've seen for four years, three four years now, give our teachers 12 to 14 weeks of instruction. and I'll see you back here for the middle of the year. Uh I ready and we see these numbers grow exponentially. >> Does it become clear that this is end of the year data that we're presenting though it is fall results that is up there? >> No, there are two factors. One, like I said, if you're if you are you're a student coming out of third grade, um I'll just pick a third grader for example. Yeah. >> First thing you're dealing with is some summer slide. So you've got that. Then you're walking into school August, end of August, first week of September, and we're getting assessed on fourth grade standards. >> Is that up there? You know, in the slide that >> I could add I could add a legend. >> Fourth grade level. >> I could add a legend. No problem. >> So people know this is just a starting point >> growth down the road. >> Yeah, I can get a legend up there. I can get a box over there. [clears throat and snorts] >> Uh yeah, let me look top right >> because otherwise we kind of looking at well why are we keeping you know our data you know in that range you know but it's becomes much more clear when we are assessing at a higher range. >> Correct. Okay. Yeah. And I'll do the same with math. You'll see math here. Oh this was the three-year. We started this last year as well. I just wanted to make sure I continued this um so you can see the progression from 23 24 25 uh to this fall uh where we are. Um again it's good that we're decreasing those tier three numbers. Um that's the trend here. And I will add that same legend then here to K8 math as well. Yeah, I've got room to add it here. Um, so we've got 77% of our K8 students um, who are in tier one or tier two to start the year with math. 23% are in tier three. Got to make sure I add real and math. Okay, I'll add that 16. Sorry, just taking notes for myself. All right, [snorts] thank you. This is the year-over-year for I Ready Math. Um trends with that again more evidence-based supports for in the world of math. Not going to read this at all of us, but do want to get into and I've got an asterk there with for 9 and 10. Uh remember that our first three years with we were also capturing 11th grade students um in the data. So those students are not captured in this data for 2526. This is ELA. This is English um across the screen. Light blue you've got 23 24 uh darker blue 2425. And then the darkest blue is this fall 2526. in the four categories um reading strategies, vocab, writing, grammar, mechanics. This is a composite score. This is taking both our ninth and tth grade students in these four categories on there are no we may have caught a few stragglers if you will. Um but we are not um we've moved 11th grade out. We've gone up from with just grades nine and 10 to capture basically the keystone exam years. Um you remember in years past we've been struggling the last three or four years with scores for students whether 11th grade or when we're even capturing some 12th grade students um because their uh scores tended to trend down um after finishing with Keystone exams with graduation requirement exam um some motivation uh seem to dip with that. So this is just grades nine and 10 going forward right now for ELA. >> Question though in this regard, do we have any way of breaking them ninth and tth grade or >> I could break down anything >> because it would be interesting because again I'm looking at you know where one year they could have been stronger. >> Sure. >> And and instead of just having a combined, you know, where it's not clear, you know, what group came in better prepared. Exactly. [clears throat] >> I think that would be perfect if we can do that. Do that. All right. Because they look really nice when you look at, you know, this year's data already. I mean, it's like what happened? You know, what did we do that's so much better this year than >> correct in the past? >> Well, a lot of it is that curricular consistency, students now being in the program longer, teachers mastering their content with new curricula, all that fun stuff. Um this is n and 10. Now this uh this is already broken out. Okay. Because we have algebra is solely ner 10th grade is geometry because they're course specific. We're able to we're able to break them out to segregate them out a little easier. Uh because these are course specific rather than just capturing reading strategies or vocabulary across the English class. It might be worthwhile for you instead of having the ninth think grade up there. You put just put algebra thinking ninth grade geometry 10th grade. >> I can separate those out for math. Not a problem. You want an algebra slide and then a geo geometry. >> They can be together like they are. You know, I'm just you because you're saying it's specific to ninth grade and algebra and you know geometry is 10th grade. >> That's a pretty good drop in geometry. What happened? That's a you know that's historic you know it's across >> statistically it's a bit of a drop um we have to dig around again this data shines a beginning of the year data shines a flashlight um shines a light on um where we are programmatically geometry was trending up um not just beginning of the year but over the course of the year so this just could be specific to the cohort Mr. Kinhart, but this is where we would uh again follow up with principles, building principles, teachers, and then keep tracking uh where we are middle of the year to see if that rebounds on its own. >> Again, like you said, just a snap, you always say it's a snapshot particular. >> Yep. On a particular day, >> at the beginning of the year, >> especially beginning of the year and again, not it matters, and I thank you for saying that because you you've you've listened to me for the last few years. um it is a snapshot in time uh the these assessments and you're talking eight days into school. Um so uh not an excuse but maybe a reason and we watch that and monitor it and again what I'm really looking for is after 12 to four weeks of 14 weeks of instruction when we get to that middle of the year especially with we talk about gaining that 10 points a month to kind of see where we are at that point. >> Does it would it be worth saying that that is just a snapshot? It's giving us a picture at the very beginning so we know how to adjust going forward so people don't look at that and go what happened >> right and what's great about using a program I shouldn't call it a program a platform like that after this assessment if if I'm a student who's taken the assessment um in geometry now gives me an individualized plan in my greatest areas of need so I'm now not only getting classroom instruction from the teacher But the teacher is carving out time in or out in and outside of class for me to spend time in my pathway in excel for individualized instruction. Again, in any areas where I may be falling short. I won't read this out you guys. Um we talked about this last year kind of where we were going. Um our state level data, this is our district level data that we're doing in October. data is coming. >> When you're saying state level, that's the data from last spring, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. We'll come back to that. And just the third leg of the school districtwide with um curriculum based assessments which really uh drive That's in the center right there with the uh class comment assessments. Any other general questions? >> I did them as we went through them. >> I can't thank you guys enough. I really do appreciate the feedback. I'll make these tweaks and have everything ready for the October 28th schoolboard meeting. >> Thank you. Next is uh >> summer reading. Rose, come on down. [laughter] [clears throat] >> Yes, turn on your microphone. >> Hello. So I am here to present to you the results of the optout survey from last year's summer book packs as well as the thought exchange in which you are familiar we collect feedback from the families that accepted the book packs and use that to strengthen the program. Uh as we know at the uh April board meeting last year it was stated that we would likely not be continuing to fund this through district money. Um, but we are still here to present to you the results. And so the opt out survey indicated that a total of seven students out of 2,700 2,472 were opted out of receiving the book packs. So that's again less than 1% of our students who did not choose to take the book packs home. [snorts] So then we send the thought exchange in October to our families. We did send that uh K through five and then we tried to send it also one through six because we realized that our uh kindergarten students those families have they did not get a book pack because those students weren't here uh last year and then our fifth graders have moved on to sixth grade. So we're trying to we were trying to make sure that we captured everyone. We had 76 participants uh which is down a little bit from last year but the interesting part is that the ratings are a 76% increase from last year. So last year there were only 271 ratings. So as you know with thought exchange the participants can go in they wrote in 42 thoughts and then the 76 total participants get to rate those by putting stars on them kind of like liking them. And so we did have actually really great participation when you think of it that way. The amount of ratings >> was anything done in the by the classroom teachers to encourage you know parents and families to fill out this survey because this is a very low number when we're looking at 2,700 students. >> So this survey was sent we did send it through the office of teaching and learning. We did share it with um instructional administrators. So hoping that principles would put that into their weekly newsletters and such. Um we sent it out in an e alert several times including the midway point. Um and so yeah that was where we were at with that. I know that uh in the past we have been really looking at the participation languages that has been a steady increase of 3% over the last three years because we are able to translate within thought exchange so we are hitting more languages than just English there Ukrainian Russian and Spanish are the others each at 4%. This is just a breakdown of the percentage of parents and families from each building who responded and grade levels. So then we get into the overall breakdown of satisfaction and we see that 79% of parents and guardians who responded to the survey were satisfied with the summer book packs. And we see that 72% of parents and guardians who responded stated that their children were satisfied with the summer book packs. and then breaking down into some just key thoughts. Overall, they were uh super positive, thinking that it was great to get books for students. It kept them interested um and it helped motivate them to read during the summer months. So, those were the top successes and opportunities. As we go through, it breaks down again into just general themes. So again, the idea of having books was really nice. It encouraged families to uh do other things related to the books like take trips to the zoo. Again, another thought and theme is that it kept the students engaged, especially during that summer break. It kept them reading, introduced them to new books and authors that they may not have chosen for themselves and different topics. And then just the idea that it's nice that it's provided through summer because we know that summer slide is a thing. Um and so it helps to continue that motivation for students reading through the summer. So our overall summary here again we had 76 total participants 53 of whom took home the book packs. 79% of participants very or somewhat satisfied. 21% somewhat or very dissatisfied. the strengths. Overall, it was a valued resource that maintained reading interest and reinforced skills over the summer break. It promoted the discovery of new books, authors, series which engaged students and motivated them to read throughout summer and inspired additional activities like trips to the zoo. Opportunity areas for the future. Uh it was noted in the thought exchange that it would be useful and we see this often to increase levels of interest. And then an additional thought was the multicultural representation. And just a note there that these books are not chosen solely by any one person or uh team within the district. It's a representative group of students from the student advisory councils, parents from the parent advisory councils, teachers, administrators, reading specialists, coaches, and school board members. And some parents regretted not receiving a book pack. So that was likely those incoming kindergarten parents. They wished that they had also received that. Questions? >> Well, I mean questions clearly would lead up to argument if we do not have money in the future and funding in the future. Any thoughts about you know any other ways of maintaining that interest and and encouraging that interest in reading? So we do find great value as you know we last year presented the article of why every child needs a home library. Um we know that that can really be a gamecher and levels the playing field for students. And so we have been looking we've looked into things like Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. We're looking uh at a company called Book Smiles. We're looking internally to find ways that we can get free books. Our main question there is how can we get books into the hands of every child? We've talked about keeping the libraries open, but then we need to get students there and that's not providing that access [clears throat] to all students. So, we are continuing, Joe and I, um along with we're working with some people in the business department. We're looking into getting potentially a payroll deduction so that people could donate money towards that fund. Um and then thinking about how we could ensure that every child if we did an afterchool title one title three event. Not all families are able to come to that in the spring. We in summer time we often have low attendance because families are busy. There's sports. There's everything and it's hard to get there. So, we're thinking about potentially maybe working within the school day to find a way maybe with librarians that we could do some kind of during a library class, every child gets to take home a book. So, if we I know that some librarians do a book exchange at the end of the year. So, we'll work with the librarians to see if a student brings in a book, they also get to take home a book. And maybe we can then just supplement for students that don't have a book to bring to exchange with some of these free books that we've started to order. any thoughts of working with the PTO's, you know, to find a way maybe to do some fundraisings to to do the same thing, you know, as a is another thought because that will involve the community. >> Yeah, we can definitely look into that as well. >> CF be approached. >> Well, that could be as well. >> Yeah, there are limits. We're going to be applying. There are a number of grants we're looking at uh a number of them. CF is one of them. There's a limit to that. So, we're trying to cobble together what we can. um from grants what's out there as as Rose as Miss Millie mentioned we looked at uh Dolly Parton's Imagination Library there's a program from Scholastic um >> the the issue the issue is that the cost is the cost >> uh we were that and I I say this objectively we were getting a really good deal from learner education for our book packs um so I looked at Mackin we looked at Mack and we looked at Scholastic and they were way under uh book source was another one now I recall that. So we were getting really good pricing uh from learner education for this. So the cost is the cost. Um grants, CF grants, maybe payroll deductions, voluntary payroll deductions can help uh do some of this. We've asked the librarians to do some preliminary number crunching if we kept stuff inhouse. Mr. Godson, you had mentioned this at the tail end of last year. uh staffing alone staffing alone and facility use would probably put put us as close to or more than what we're spend we've been spending um and Miss Millie mentioned one of the biggest hurdles getting students to the libraries right now we are very active [snorts] in giving them books to build their home library um that's more of a passive act and how we figure out how to get transportation now you're looking at more cost The other thing I would just throw out there and I know we'll continue to talk about this because I want to recognize all the great conversation Dr. Maguire, Mr. Godson, Mr. Gilbert, we've had around this and I don't ever question your support of this. I just want to put that out there and I know the money can get tight. One thing we could continue to talk about or brainstorm is right now we're funding K5. Let's call it 50 grand. It's been around 50,000 anywhere between 45 to 49,000 a year. We could consider cobbling together sources of money from other areas and maybe reducing instead of going K5 at least to going K2 students so that we're hitting our earliest readers with book packs. That would shave probably a half to a third off the off the cost. That's I'm putting the cart way before the horse, but wanted to put it out there for full transparency with this group. Thank you. Um so because the uh number of respondents in the survey were so low, it's not really a you know a good picture at all and with money being always being an issue with this. Do we have any internal data that shows that kids that take this these things home it helps with summer slide >> so we can use them as a way of saying how important it is? >> I I would Rose I didn't mean to hop in here. Let me real quick. Um I would I would only say this working with thought exchange. I don't disagree with the premise, Mr. Ghart, looking at these numbers, but for the survey, for the sake of a survey, our numbers are not that low for the percentage we're getting back. Okay. And yes, I because I would like to have more. The other thing to keep in mind is the human element. When do usually when do humans when do people usually respond to a survey? When they're dissatisfied or upset or angry at something. So, we have to recognize that as well. And I would say yes, I I believe there's a direct connection with all of the factors that we're doing. uh uh tier one instruction, professional learning around with our teachers to master the content, years uh of consistency with curriculum and items like this uh summer reading packs, uh one book, one school, all the in initiatives we do in this district that supports literacy absolutely finds its way into the data as it reports. It's not the factor, but yes, it is a factor that continues to support our growth. If anything, what it does, even if it minimizes or negates summer slide by getting the five books in the hands of students, we'll take that. And I I I would I would say yes that it's it's showing up in our data. Rose, I'm sorry. You want to add >> tease that out so we can show data that you know the the children that take these books have better. I think we are I think the data that we're showing with the >> show, you know, get it out there and show it >> with the I Ready growth and with the achievement that we're seeing, you know, when we have an 8% growth in sixth grade, not I'm sorry, achievement, that's just growth. 8% increase in the number of students who are advanced or proficient in a third grade PSA or a sixth grade PSSA. You can't convince me that summer reading is not one of the factors that's supporting that. not just growth but now that achievement >> when you look at the sheer numbers of positive responses included in the people who completed the survey it's it is the looking as though it's the majority and as uh Mr. Rut said when people complete surveys they generally want to complete them to complain. Um and so we have mostly positive responses there was very few that were opportunities for success. Um but in also going back to thinking about uh the idea of sticking with K2 we do have some larger percentages of respondents of the survey in those great areas. So might be a good opportunity to cut back to that for this year. Um, just in general for this year, it will be difficult to get something together because everything has a cost to it and learner really was giving us a great deal. Um, especially when we had Mr. Ruts haggling and [laughter] negotiating to get it down to the 50,000 like last year. >> Some data back up would help to show how valuable it is. >> When we looked at the data, did we look at how students truly looked at this? You know, was it something that they liked? Did they like the books? I mean is there any way that we could have food of w you know that early period you know as >> you know ask students specifically >> so our main vehicle of surveying students needs to be through parents because they're understand >> but that's why I'm looking at you know >> what that 50-minute period that you know you have for social skills you know using you know [snorts] you that as an time to inquire you know with the students through the teachers and not through the parents. >> I think that is an interesting point about after the fact. I think before the fact they do bring the books and the book packs to the students to get impact from the different student groups like this. So um and finding out whether these would be books that would be interesting to them. So back, but you know, did they really enjoy those books that they had they've read, you know, while they had them during the summer and that's a way of, you know, getting at least the students involved in, you know, giving us data and information. >> Yeah, that's something that we can certainly look to do in the future. [snorts] Good. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> We have seven items for recommendation and I, you know, would like to move all of them together. >> Um, just have a few quick items on the Willowdale book order, um, 7.2. two, page four of the book order. It's um the book is Hocus Pocus and Spell for Home. It uses pronouns. I don't think that needs to be in front of elementary school students. >> I would like that one out. Yeah. And maybe we tried to do a little more research on this. I haven't been able to find much, but in the Clinger order, the Love Report series, um I found uh some comments talking about sections [snorts] of those books talking about sending naked pictures. I I I Yeah, I don't know if it's a Yeah, I don't know if it's a plus or a minus, but I think if it's there, why take the chance? >> I haven't been able to read these books cover to cover. I can't get them, but they're reported on for a reason. So, why take the chance? >> You can take those two books off. >> Yeah, there's I think two or three love report series in the clinger order. I'm okay. >> You agree with that? Okay. >> And since I picked a few things apart, I want to be positive. Um, Animal Farm. Awesome. I'm glad that's in there. Every kid needs to read that. And there was a book called Heroes about um kids talking about their dads in Pearl Harbor. Awesome. That that's in there. That kind of history never needs to be forgotten. So there so I want to just say great things where there are some things that are bothering me. Those things are fantastic. So good with that. Um I I forget if the a month or two ago we got any information on the SAS conference and the world history lessons pilot. >> I have no problems with that. That's I think is >> um Okay. and the World History Lessons Pilot. >> Yeah, the same thing. >> Okay. All right, then. I'm good. >> How many books is it? >> Um, one in Willowdale and >> I think it's two or three in the Love Report series in Clinger. >> Can you repeat the ones for Clinger? >> Yeah, it's called the Love Report series. it it's um there's a major heading of the love report and then I think there's one or two under it like a subheading kind of thing. >> I don't know a if that's you or you know if it's Dr. Google. Does each school have a certain amount for library books or is it you know are we going to see groups coming through throughout the year? >> Orders? >> We will. Yeah. >> Does each school have a certain amount of money to spend? >> Yes. Each each building gets its own library budget uh out of a larger pool of the building budget >> in proportion to the number of students or is it a set? I think it's a set a set amount each each school. Yeah. With the high school being a little bit higher because of the size. Yes. >> Books. >> Yes. Generally. Yes. Hardbacks these days. >> All right. So, moving all seven items forward minus three books. >> Yep. >> Favor. >> Favor. >> I That means we at the end of the meeting, you know, with the next meeting being November 12th. Thank you. >> [snorts]