Good evening. The time is now 5:27. The Visetta Public Schools Board of Education work session for Monday, October 27th, 2025 will please come to order. We'll start with quick introductions beginning from my right, >> Heidi Kar, >> Dan Janestra, >> Bendy, >> Valentina, >> Sarah Johansson, >> Chase Anderson, >> and I am Milan Sony. Thank you and welcome everyone. This evening we have two items on the agenda. The first one is the community survey results and the second is the comprehensive achievement and civic readiness part one of the annual report. The first item on the agenda is the superintendent reports and Dr. Anderson will introduce our guest. Uh m Mr. Chair and members of the board. Thank you for uh giving me an opportunity to introduce Peter Leatherman who's here from the Morris Leatherman Company. uh he and his firm have been engaged in doing a community survey. As you know, we've been in the throws of conversation about uh facilities and um as part of our uh normal protocol over the years when we've been considering facilities additions or improvements or enhancements, uh we've done uh surveys within the community uh for a couple reasons. wanted to uh get a random sample for the sentiment in the community and levels of support for um the district in general and also for uh the possibility of uh new facilities being considered and uh also to help guide us as we work toward a final uh recommendation to bring to the board which will be forthcoming uh if we make the decision to move forward and uh give consideration to those facilities that we've been discussing. Keep in mind that in that regard, we've been working for two or three years and putting together uh preliminary ideas about needs across the district and uh we'll be working uh in uh tandem with uh our leadership staff and our strategic partnersh Anderson and Bold Architects and Engineers to determine how best to move forward. But for tonight, uh it's not specifically about just facilities, but about the results of this community survey. So, without uh further elaboration, I'm going to turn it over to our guest, Peter Leman. Thank you so much for being here tonight. And uh sorry for starting a little bit late here. I know that uh you were scheduled for a little bit earlier, but we appreciate uh you being here tonight. Look forward to hearing your presentation. Thank you. >> No worries. It's a pleasure to be here with you this evening. Uh we're going to did the survey. I was out here this spring, kind of the overall survey, how people were thinking about the district. Um, as we look at this one, this is what I call a guardrail survey for a potential bond referendum. Uh, at the end of the day, we're looking to see what components that our district is considering um have high levels of support. Um, what components don't have as much support as the facilities committee starts to tailor a recommendation. There are some repeat questions from the spring um because as public opinion is moving on education, there are some things to check in on a six-month basis. And so that's included upfront. Just to review with everybody what we did, we spoke with 400 randomly selected residents across the community. Results are projectable uh to within plus or minus 5%. It was a shorter survey. Average interview time was 9 minutes. and the tele uh telephone uh interviews were conducted back in the last two weeks of September. No major changes on the demographics uh from the spring. Uh everything looks stable. Uh typical residents been here for about 15 years. 13% have a preschooler in their household. 30% have a child attending the Weisetta public schools. And then 66% are empty nesters. They have no children. Um home values uh comes in. Now this is this is their the uh the median uh comes in uh over 400,000 uh men and women are equally divided. If we continue the typical residents been here about 47 years highly educated as always almost twothirds uh having college uh degrees either bachelors, masters or doctorates. U the financially stressed little bit lower uh than in the spring in this district and we're seeing that across the state. Um this continues to come down. Uh the state uh wide that I just shared um with the education uh clients uh that we did in August, we had 38%. So you've been historically about 10 points lower uh on the financially stressed and that's the major factor uh over the past few election cycles when districts are asking for funding requests. Um so it is going to be a mitigating factor this November. we will talk about what the major factor will be for districts uh coming up in this November and looking into next year. Uh and then you can see the geographic distribution based on registered voters. We asked folks because the discussions at this point in time had started on the facilities and so we were curious if anybody would in an open-ended bring up facilities at this point in time. Um there was 1% they're in the scattered category. Um it's not a top-of-the-line first thing they're thinking of. What is it's the lack of funding 24%. This is pretty consistent. Now somewhere between 20 and 25% of motans will say off the top of their mind the most serious issue is lack of funding. Now this is one of those things is like discipline that crosses borders. So if you necessarily if you're not doing budget cuts but your neighbors are that's what people are going to think about because now it's at the inevitable that's going to be happening. If they're doing it then then we'll probably be having to do it. So it is growing. Last year that was in the 15 to 20% range. We're upticked into the low 20s. large class sizes. This probably uh has come up uh because of the facilities discussion potential for need of space. Uh so one in seven are already thinking about large class sizes. Uh lack of discipline, it's typically right around 10%. For all 30 years I've been doing these sorts of surveys, it's always been about 1 and 10. Um and then a few issues in the single digits. Um, still very strong booster core at 22% saying there are no problems in the district. This is utopia. Um, and so that one in five uh is is relatively strong. We're finding that now about eight or nine%. So about 2x of what we're seeing this fall uh for the booster core quality of education. Uh when I was here in the spring, I talked about this um that you have avoided what so many other not been able to avoid. And that's the slide from the good to the only fair uh category. Uh the median the the the norm right now on excellent good is 77% across the state of Minnesota. Uh you're at 89%. The excellent rating is at 11%. So you're 3x. Um so still relatively strong uh in comparison. um you you have a wall and it really is important to maintain that because when somebody goes from a good to an only fair, you have to get them to change their mind. If they go from excellent to good, you have to make them more enthusi enthusiastic about something they they believe in. Um so it really is important to try to maintain u that favorable rating. Some of the key perceptions in the spring we asked probably 10 or 12 different statements. These are kind of focusing looking at um the kind of the process and how people are feeling about the district as you're coming up with the facilities plan. Uh does the district spend taxpayers money effectively and efficiency efficiently? Uh 81%. Uh norm right now is 62%. So 20 points higher than the norm. Satisfied with decision-m we saw the uh uptick from 23 to 24. It went up 11 points. it maintained uh 85%. Do they trust you to do what's right for children? 91%. That's about 15 points higher than the norm. And you see you had a 10point uh increase from 23 to 24. Um so two data points a trend does not make. You need a third data point to see if it's stable. Uh but there's a sense um that that there's kind of been a stability now and that you have come back to where you were back in 2019 before the pandemic kind of turned everything on its head. This is really a critical piece uh when you're having a facilities planning discussion um and that is do they believe that the district does a good job of involving the community? Uh this is critical um and you're doing very well. The norm on this right now is 72% in the most recent statewide. Uh so 15 points higher. Um you were always high before the pandemic. Um everybody dropped because of the pandemic because it became hard to involve people when you're on Zoom meetings. Um so that's a really critical piece. It's going to be important as if and when you when you finally move forward with a plan um that the it it's emphasized that the community was part of the discussion. Do they support a tax increase to protect the investment in the education of Weisetta public schools? Uh absolutely. 74 to 20. Uh the 20% is the low over the past two years. Uh, I looked a few weeks ago at all my clients that are on the ballot next Tuesday. My gosh, eight days away. Um, the norm for this round is 33%. Disagree. One in three in the district are against anything before they even know what the potential. They don't know if it's an operating levy, a bond referendum, if it's $5 a month or $5 a year. They're already entrenched. So once again, this doesn't mean everything passes, but when that the lower that number it is, there's a willingness to have a discuss discussion. It's not a reflexive no, I'm going to be against anything. And then we did add into this survey, do they believe the district has done a good job of aligning projections with needed space in district buildings? Um, and there is a trust in this process. Um, you know, this question we only, you know, I I did a survey back on when I said a high school was built for the district. So, this one kind of just pops in here and it popped in in 2013. Um, and there's they've always given you the the the the credit uh that you do a good job of of monitoring and looking at projections and then aligning space. Financial management, this is really really strong. Um in in Minnesota right now we're at about 52% excellent or good. Uh so the 74% is just right at the top. The issue for districts in 2025 is the property tax climate. And I mentioned this when I was here in the spring and the the spring number is the dark blue bar. And you can see we had 63% say their total taxes were high. Uh 51% say that their school taxes were high. Um in April uh when the survey was done though, everybody just got done paying the first half property tax. All right? So you kind of forget about it. Uh this will go back up when people get their November 15th property tax statement all over the state. Um so you still have 55%. It's down eight points. Um, but we still see everything. We see the same thing district after district. You have an eightoint gap from total taxes to school taxes. People are not blaming their school districts for what's happened with property taxes right now. They blame the cities and counties and townships. That remains that's the the good news. The bad news is they don't have to go to the voters. And by the time um I have many clients right now that in September uh their residents learned that they were going to have a 20 or 25% tax increase from the city or county. Um right at this time that the voters started voting on a school district uh levy increase. Um and so it makes it a very difficult uh environment right now. uh very ri um it goes back to the late 90s in public opinion on people's feelings on property taxes right now in the state of Minnesota. Th this chart this says it all about what where folks are at when thinking about education funding. They have no idea. In 21 71% said, "Yeah, the district's adequately funded." Uh but now let's put that in context. That was when Governor Walls did his victory march all over Minnesota about all the money he gave education. Um then by 23 it gave a lot money a lot of money but now districts are making cuts. So I don't know now in 25 years yours went up uh it went down 10 points in a few months. Uh what happened? I think a lot of this is what's happening around you at this point in time and the discussions happening in uh surrounding districts. If they heard the district was going to ask for a property tax increase, are they for all against all or are they persuadable? Uh 1% more uh you start out 1% ahead. 26% for all, 25% for all or against all. Uh right now with the clients on the ballot, the norm is a neg -4. Uh they actually have 4% more opposition than support. Uh but it'll all come down to the persuadables and how they fall. Um and so it's a great position to be. Uh but the key will be aligning the wants and needs of the persuadables with the plan that's put forward by the district. The let's make a deal question. The first thing I look at is the nothing. Uh we want that to be under 35%. Uh so at 27% that's a good position to be in. Uh we have 26% at $10 a month, 25% at $20 a month, and then we have 19% at over 30. If we look at those that are willing to accept a property tax increase, we're going to take out the nothing and look at those willing. It comes in roughly at 18 bucks a month. Just round it to 20 for the sake. Now, the key on this though, you know, school boards have always asked me, is this number set in stone? It is not set in stone. It's meant to give you an idea that the further you go from that number, it is most impactful of what's included and aligning the values of the package. Um, there was an example I use back in 2017, the Richfield School District did a survey like this and they had not updated their um it came in that 10 bucks a month. That's what they they supported. We went through a list like you're going to see in a few slides of about 15 items and they didn't have less than 65% support for any item all the way up to 85%. They went for $27 a month and it passed 2:1. Okay? Because it aligned with the values. I've also seen districts come in under the number and it includes things that people don't like. Elk River years ago tried to get a ice arena. Uh, and it was actually two bucks under what the tolerance was, but the community didn't want an ice arena. Just because it aligned with the dollar amount doesn't mean that they're going to support it. We've had a little bit of a change. It is statistically s it's it's on the edge of statistical significance. Do they believe that the buildings and facilities meet the needs of educating today's children? 86% this spring said yes, 79%. So technically it needs to be more than five points. Uh we do have 16 points, 16% saying no. So this whole discussion moving forward of the planning process. This isn't to fix something that's broken. It's to improve what they already have. How do you have because you can see of those saying yes, it's a soft yes. Um and it's you at the end of the day you're not moving from somebody from you're not they're not going to support because they think no they think yes and I want to be strong. Yes. And in this district it is always been critical to link facilities to curriculum and programming. That's what folks value in this school district. some things that the the the perception out there in the community uh needs to be worked on. Um with this one, does the district uh do they think that the district has enough space to accommodate future enrollment growth? Yes. 60% indicate that they do believe that's the case. Do they believe that the buildings currently provide sufficient flexible learning space? 70% believe that that is the case. How important isn't it to how important isn't to ensure comparable spaces between buildings across the Weisetta school district? Well, 80% say it's either very or somewhat. Do they believe that there is comparability in spaces between school buildings in the Weisetta public schools? 75% believe that's the case. Um so once again this is this is you have to show them um districts you know the flexible learning spaces have been doing surveys. Edina was the first one back in 2019 and we had to back then it was called 21st century learning spaces. So we had a definition and you explained it to folks what it was. Um and you'd have people say yeah that is important and yeah my district has that. Well 66% of people are empty nesters. Half of them haven't been in a school building since before when there were chalkboards and erasers. You have to show them what it is. Similarly with comparable, you know, that's a value they have. So then you you talk to them and show them if they're not comparable, why they are not. Do they believe over the past five years new housing construction has increased? Absolutely. Twothirds. Do they believe it will continue to increase? Absolutely. So the history that in 2013 in this district, Amy will remember when we asked this question, the whole south side of the district had no idea the housing construct. They didn't come up to North Plymouth. You know, they you know, it's not on your way to Minneapolis to go to North Plymouth. So you had to show people the mailings of the development pictures and everything. it it's it's accepted in the district that it has increased and it's also accepted that it's going to increase student enrollment similarly 55% believe it's increased 65% believe that it will continue to increase so with that in place the key is going to be the this the foundation is there but folks do believe that All three levels of school buildings do have enough space to accommodate the growth. 62% for the elementary school, 55% for the middle school, and then 62% for the high school. This is a critical chart when you're looking at putting together a potential referendum package. And this is simply would you support a property tax increase for? Not surprising. Uh safety and security is at the top and it's actually now I'm starting to do surveys for districts looking at spring uh referendum like you fall referendum. Um safety and security I didn't think it could get much higher. It' been around 80%. Uh enunciation over has changed it over the past 6 weeks. Uh 88%. Uh renovation of special education spaces uh 72%. Expand kitchens and cafeteria. 68. Expand high school CTE space. 66. Ensure comparable facilities. 65. Additional early learning classroom. 65. Desk classroom furniture. 62. You can see the construction of the high school, fourth middle school, and 10th elementary school are towards the bottom of the list. But part of it is it's a solution to a problem that they don't realize at this point in time. So, if the numbers do bear out, go back to what they said. They believe the district bases the space needs on accurate demographic enrollment projections. Um, that would that would rise. Um, and not surprisingly, I shared this with the facilities committee, uh, an eight lane swimming pool is divisive. athletics, uh, uh, theater, anything outside of core academics and space and safety and security is always going to be at the bottom of a list in a difficult economic climate. Now the economic climate is improving but now it's the property tax issue coming into play and people are willing to support have to haves and I I tell the athletic people and I apologize to them that you athletics is a nice to have at this point in time. So the recommendation coming forward from this is that when you look I'll do a summary and then uh overall assessment of a good a good idea a bad idea you do only have 19% saying a bad idea and like that we had almost 50% uh opposing the swimming pool because there were so many other things that they highly supported. Um, I think you know a plan, uh, you know, 20 bucks a month. You could go higher than that if the plan did not include a swimming pool. If the pool comes forward, I would highly recommend it be a second question. Um, and let the community decide. There's there's a clear theme in all the other components of space programming and safety and security. Um, and then it'd be very easy something like that could very easily become a lightning rod. Uh, that could potentially risk everything. Um, so I would I would submit, you know, if if a pool is more than 5% of the total package, um, it should be, uh, positioned to the community as a second question. So, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. >> Thank you, Peter. Um, any questions? >> Thank you so much for the, um, very informative presentation. And I think it, you know, tells us a great story about what our district's doing well, um, and as well as our future. So, um, I have one question. Um, if you wouldn't mind flipping back to the slide that kind of listed out the different, um, infrastructure extensions or additions we could have. Um, my first question is a technical question. I noticed the difference in approval between construction of a fourth middle school and 10th elementary school is you had 61 versus 58%. Is that difference statistically significant? >> It is not. >> It is not. Okay. >> Yeah. Plus, it needs to be a difference greater than five%. >> Five. Okay. Thank you. Um and then my my uh other question is it's I think also known that it's not just, you know, homeowners, uh town homeowners, renters in our district who would contribute to new buildings. It would also be companies, commercial, uh real estate owners who, you know, have property in our district. Is there a a a wide understanding that perhaps they're actually because commercial real estate subsidizes single family homes and so they actually pay a significant amount of the um you know dollar amount um that that kind of helps out you know affording something like this? Do single uh family homeowners know they kind of have some relief in that way? Is that widely known? it it's a ve it's it's it's true nuanced and too inside baseball for the average voter. I I I I would I would put it that way. Um at the end of the day um you know I mean what happens even uh bond referendum up north I was on a call with him for an hour and a half on Friday. Um the no committee is fixated not only on the put out a flyer of the total tax increase over 25 years on a home homes in the district at different levels. So instead of $5 a month, it's 60 time 12 time 25. Um, and at the end of the day, the first thing people think about is their monthly mortgage payment because so many people escrow their their property taxes. What will that increase? They're not thinking 25 years from now uh or anything like that. And so, um, you could it it is true. And I know that there are districts that want to go out and say, "Well, my property tax increase for a package like this is would be well, I was on a call with one that was be $49 a month for $200 million because they don't have that commercial base. That's all well and good, but it doesn't at the end of the day, how much does it cost the individual property owner?" >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. Um it uh I don't know that we can do pictures of farmland with what with the big flags that say Weisetta schools like we did back in 2016, right? Like that was our just showing blocks and blocks of where they were building. Um I have two questions for you. Uh and one is you've and about kind of what you referenced. So the first is you talked a lot about the the neighbor effect and so if if neighboring districts are facing budget cuts then we would and you're talking about that. What do you see as the tone from the national conversation um that is impacting things? So when people hear nationally that full departments are being cut that send money to schools and then do they do they translate that to that's going to impact my school district or is that separate? >> We haven't we haven't seen it in the polling. Um I'm going to do another statewide simply because I can't stand it. uh the the August the August one left off probably a 100 questions that we wanted to ask but we were already at 120 questions in that survey. So can't do 220 questions especially on politics. Um I want to explore that deeper. I need the government shutdown to end in order to help to help on that. um in in polling earlier this spring, not that we've done we did, but that I've seen from some people that I trust, um the whole Department of Education uh discussion is um at that point in time was kind of seen as a pillow fight. um that people realize the what 64% of the funding comes from the state of Minnesota and it is a smaller amount from the federal uh that level impacts. So it'll be interesting to see how that develops but the educ the whole department of ed kind of went quiet uh that whole discussion. I mean there's just something new every other day. So yeah it's easy to get distracted on it. >> Okay. Thank you. And then I just want to make sure that we understand what something else that you said, which is you were talking about people feeling their tax like as they're related to taxes and and our fall numbers went up and people feeling better and you said because in the spring and April they were opening their tax bills, right? >> So is that an important data point as we are considering a spring referendum? And so if that's the the m mood and tone when people are taking the survey, >> I mean it will I I mean the the data plays out um and I had to have somebody do the data because 15 years ago April was not the second best time to go. May was. Um I think a lot of factors came into play. uh it you know still April it's not only their tax day it's all it's not only property taxes it's income tax day >> um I I think a lot of districts have had so much difficulty over the last 15 years with May referendums and it has not so much to do with taxes it's about volunteers and getting parents to the polls which is difficult whether you're going in April May August or November um and it has impacted greatly so the data does bear out that over the past 10 years. April is the second best chance for success. Um, I have a I I I am beginning to wonder as I've seen the last two November election cycles and what is happening in districts when cities and counties announce the preliminary tax assessment for the next year in the middle of September and people are voting the next week early voting. Um that might be a gamecher uh for bond referendums uh in the future uh to completely stay away from November uh at that point in time and let the community this is where we're at um and not have the issues of what the cities and counties have done. >> How much time do we have? >> Just kidding. Um, so I love numbers. Um, quite frankly, I'm trying to get my head around and I like I need help. So again, I'm not being critical, just trying to understand. >> No worries. >> So demographics one slide um the and again not against any specific demographics, but it shows 66% empty nesters. >> Yes. >> Is that by design or is just happen to be like that? So when I look at how many actually parents with kids have in school district that percentage is way lesser. So that's sort of you know the first data point right. >> Yeah. >> And table it I'll get there in a minute. >> Oh >> yeah. And just in conjunction with that when you look at the most serious issues >> the last two buckets that says nothing or unsure. >> Yep. >> What are they trying to say? It doesn't impact me. I don't care. Yeah, I I'll answer this. I'll go back and just have a discussion on demographics. We differentiate the unsure versus the nothings. There's a difference and say I don't know. I don't pay any attention. >> Okay. >> The nothings they truly believe there are no issues. >> They don't issues. >> Yeah. This is the and we call them boosters. And if I would if I uh cross tab the data by all the demographics and if I isolate the booster core they are positive typically 10 to 15 points more positive >> okay >> than the typical resident. Now the demographics we do quota based sampling. So when we start uh a survey process uh that's making the calls I have targets for the phone bank to be within the margin of error of the survey with updated census information. Now the census has a margin of error. Uh some categories it's a narrower margin of error than others but still it's a margin of error. Um there are some key demographics I look at that we key in on. uh the percent of households with children uh I believe in this district it's about 32%. So we're within the two points now that now and that 60 I should say 66% empty neester implies old um it's not we could have a 23 year old without a child in this there and it just it's a classification. Um renters versus home ownership is also a good one from the census. Um and then households with seniors um is also good. And then the geographic uh distribution I just do it based on the registered vote. >> So it's it's quota based. It's it is intentional. >> Um if we at some point you always have to do it but we just do it intentionally instead of because I don't rewe like so many other posters do. >> Yeah. So [clears throat] excuse me. So that that's good. So if I count nothing as support right that brings the most serious issues >> kind of 60% of them either they are happy they think lack of funding or class sizes right so that's >> that's the problem statement if you >> when you look at how many people are supporting tax increase I think one of the slides said 70%. But then as you start going down the subsequent slides that percentage is all over the place including the last slide where really where the class sizes matter those things are at the bottom. So my question is are responders survey responders are they thinking holistically or they are answering questions to individual questions answering you know what I mean? >> My business >> you get my point right. >> Oh absolutely. Yeah, I first off my business partner when I started, he was my stat professor uh at Augsburg College the Harvard of Minneapolis uh back in '94. And when I started doing this in '95, the first survey that I ran and we're going through it, I'm like, "This makes no sense." And he's like, "If you look for logical consistency and public opinion, you'll never." And so you could see how I mean my favorite in Minnesota and this doesn't actually we do a lot of surveying in Wisconsin Indiana I'll pointed out to you here is tax predisposition just in concept 25% or against all you only have 2% Minnesota nice because the nothing on the next slide when I ask for a dollar amount goes up to 27% % and so, okay, I'm persuadable until you're really asking me for a dollar amount. Now I got to say nothing. It's it's it's the Minnesota part of it. Um, going back to the class size piece, you had 14% say large class sizes are the issue. So, they're baked into the uh like the answers on does a district have currently enough space? 32% say no. So, they're in that group. They're already represented. Um similarly uh enough space to accommodate the growth 14% large class sizes that's in there. Um you know with just the district on the construction of high school classrooms construction of for the middle school and the elementary school. Very few districts in Minnesota would have that level of support for a solution when you have that many people not seeing the problem. But it goes back to the political capital and the trust that the district residents have in the district going back to 80% believe that the district aligns the needs with space based on real projections. Um so there is that inherent trust. Um once you get into the discussion of the growth coming in the middle school, in the high school, um the residents here will trust it because they also will be proactive. There are some school districts that they say, "I need to see the kids lined up like Cordwood outside and then we'll vote." this district. There are some forwardthinking districts that say, "Okay, I trust the numbers. This is going to happen in five years and you can't build a middle school in six weeks." Okay, we have to be thoughtful and pl and plan for this. So, that's kind of all does that kind of help with it? >> Yeah. And again, I was trying to understand what what is the message out of this, right? And you touched upon some of it that hey the the community trusts you know financial decisions right community trusts the enrollment numbers you also talked about educating community on hey where the growth is or how the growth looks like. So obviously you already talked about it and again that's where I was trying to understand yes this is good but then what do we do with this data and how do we think about it because some of those points were kind of a little bit >> contradictory. So I was trying to make sense out of it. So no that's helpful. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um I have a couple of questions. One is about do you do this for most districts in the state, right? This kind of survey >> a lot. Yes. >> Couple of classroom. And then we have students who need an an extensive dose of extra or remediation. Doesn't mean they're still not getting tier one. They're getting tier one, tier two, and tier three. or we like to think of it as extra scoops. Um, and then we're using assessment data, both satellite, so you're seeing a lot of satellite data tonight, right? MCA's FastBridge, but we also use that street level data, which is what our teachers see in the classroom and know about our students. And we put all that into action. And so that's part of that data decision making model. And so what are we doing? we like to talk about is again a lot of data but how does that um lead us to action and so we're talking about that in systems of responses and so we want to say we're I'm going to these are just kind of a high overfly view this is by no means an exhaustive list because we wouldn't have time to go through everything that is happening inside our classrooms um to address those gaps that we see um but it's important that that responses we have are both systematic and collaborative um as You've heard before, we have built teams, our building instructional teams, and we're looking for where those patterns emerge um that we can connect directly to our reading intervention at the instructional level and that our our coordinators can also attach to and support teachers in our literacy coaches. As you know, we've invested highly in Orton Gillingham as um as well as our curriculum and the required state training. Um and so we're really fortunate in Weisetta that not only have we done the state required training, but we've layered that on with OG and have a OG trainer in um in Julie on our team as well. And so they are really um our literacy coaches are really embedded in that PLC process. We have um two full-time literacy coaches at the elementary level and then seven part-time literacy coaches in in the other buildings. It's based again on that data in need and they are arm-in- arm with our teachers and and helping there. And then our literacy specialist or um sometimes referred to as our intervention um teachers, their job then is to really be getting more at that tier three intensive intervention but also in supporting teachers um on how they're adapting the curriculum. But we're really focusing then in our literacy specialist with those students who are in the 25th percentile or below on fastbridge assessments. And one of the changes that we've made over the years is that that supports follows the students. So our literacy specialists are district level um staff and they go to where the student need is. And so wherever the highest need is, that is where those those teachers respond to. And then in professional learning, we've really been focusing then on that formative assessment, meaning what what are we learning about the students in the moment that changes my instructional modality. We're not waiting. One thing nice about our data at the classroom level is we're not waiting on those results to make an instructional pivot. Um, and so that's the work of those PLC's, essential standards, and success criteria as well. And then we want to make sure we also are working on to clearly define what it is we want students to know and at what rigor level they need to know that at. And again, that's part of that PLC process that we've been working on so deeply. And then at the early literacy, we're really emphasizing again that Orton Gillingham. So all of our kindergarten and first grade teachers are now trained in Orton Gillingham and we're also doing some piloting of how to embed that even more deeply in our reading curriculum at some of our most neediest um spaces. And then we are piloting um second grade has been offered OG training as an optional um piece and we're seeing just how that um layers in as we know that we do have students in second grade that are still reading at a kindergarten and first grade level. So our second grade teachers having that training u may be advantageous as well. Um in grades six through eight then um many of the same strategies are taking place. Um at the secondary level it gets to be more embedded in a teaming process with targeted interventions and programmings. But again we're using those built teams to look at our growth instructional coordinators. um our reading intervention teachers more partner with our classroom teachers daily and also provide some direct instruction in there. We've been um moni have some new monitoring tools including a new program called Lexia. This year we've been doing additional building level um professional learning. And then as you heard from I think it was Meg that was here, we're looking at some explicit content vocabulary instruction because that was an area that was noted um for importance as well as how do we um leverage that instructional support during my time. >> Okay. So the 20 focus areas I think Dana you were gonna >> That's right. That's still me, isn't it? Yes. All right. So then we are setting the goals for the 2526 school year and so there is no numbers with these yet because we use this data that is just coming in to say okay now where are we and what are those next goals that we set but we know that they'll be again around the increasing students at or above grade level the aggressive growth. similar to the goals we've done this year, just plugging in the new numbers um as soon as we know what those are and then we bring those to Superintendent Anderson and the committee of teaching and learning committee of the board to finalize those for you as well. Okay, great. So, next we're going to be sharing the MCA results for reading and math. So, as you know, MCAs are state accountabilities tests and our goals for 2425 included reading and math. So, we're sharing those tonight. So our smart goals um for grades 3 through eight um was that increasing the number of students who score proficient. So for grades um 3 through 8 going from 72 to 74% and grades uh 3 through eight sorry for reading and 3 through eight for math it was 75 to 77%. For our high school um student participation has been a challenge for the last few years. So we have a participation goal for our high school level. Um so grade 10 the goal was to go from 83% to 85% participation and grade 11 69 to 71% participation. So looking at our reading data um you can see that from 20 the year 2122 to 223 our um percent proficient on reading went down. However in the last three years it has been stable and in um 2425 it was at 71%. When looking at the data by race, ethnicity, um comparing um 2425 to the where we were at in 21-22, all of the groups went down approximately four to four to six points and the gap between our highest and lowest group um has stayed at 40 points for the last four years. The performance u by special population for special education and students in the free reduced meals group has stayed the same over the last four years and our multilingual learners group has gone down each of the four years. When looking at math, you can see that over the four years there has been a a decrease in percent of students proficient. One thing I do want to note is that we will start implementing the new 2022 math standards [clears throat] this year in the 2526 school year and the MCA4 will be related to the new standards and the first year for the MCA4 will be in the 2728 school year. When looking at our math data um by race ethnicity, you can see that there is lower performance in 2425 compared to 2122 for all groups. And the largest gap um in 2425 was 54%. Moving on to special populations um the multilingual learner and free reduced price lunch um free meals group um was similar in 2425 to 2122 and the performance for the special education group um decreased in the last four years. So I'm going to hand it over to Dana to talk about how we are responding to the results. >> Okay. So again very similarly um many of the things that we do in English language or reading are similar to what we do in math as well. But to just to note some of the um some of the changes or maybe things that are different. most highly important there is that we were able this year to reinstate five of our um elementary math specialists in the math area and bring that back as part of uh upsizing of our staffing. And so that was a nice addition. Um and then we also are providing specialized math support in our um my time at the middle school level with the math read 180. Um, math is going through curriculum review right now as Stacy mentioned for those 2022 math standards. And so Abby and his um team of math folks have been Sarah Weinens, Becca Ospy have been um very engaged in this and really focusing on those mathematic instructional practices as well as math rigor. The standards um and how they're put together has changed um dramatically and so they're working on that piece as well. And then really again focusing on that formative assessment. So when we talk about formative assessment, we're talking about right in the moment in the classroom. What are teachers using at the during the class or even at the end of class? So maybe you've heard of exit tickets or whatever, but what are they using in the moment that says I might need to retach that differently? So even a quiz or something in the classroom can be a formative assessment that tells me, are my students getting this? So again, back to those PLC questions. What do I want my students to know? That's a big part of the math work right now. How will I know that they know it? That's that formative assessment and then what will I do when they do know it and what will I do when they don't know it because we also have students that will come in um already knowing that or at a higher level and what is our response to that. Um on a side note our enrichment programming is also under review this year um and going through many changes in that as well and looking at um how we qualify our students for that. the boundary shifts u made an impact on that and what we discovered was we had different um qualification standards at different buildings and so we've been working to stabilize that um and so uh Austin Talerson oversees that and Stacy helps with that and um we've had a team with some principles looking at that work as well to say um how do we make sure that regardless of your address how you qualify for those enrichment programs is the same. So, we started out having to use our fast bridge scores as our measure and now we are also looking to add on so that it's a multi-tered measurement as well. And so, we're doing that work currently and probably in November, December, um Austin and his team will be coming to you with an update on those qualification criteria. Um what are the multiple tools that we're using? Um how might parents ask more about that or what would be our um reconsideration process? All of that is still in the works, but that really gets again to our responses because we're not just looking for our students who are not getting it yet, but also looking at our students who are getting it. Okay, so MCA participation at the high school. Um, this graph shows both grade 10 and grade 11 on the same graph and each one of the bars is a is a different school year. So you can see there was a large increase um in the 22 23 school year in percent participation from the year before but then looking at 23 24 to 2425 there was a small decrease. Um one thing to note is that while we have been working at our participation rates at the high school in Weisetta this is a statewide issue. It's not unique to Weisetta. um it's just something that we're keeping track of and um making sure that we're aware of it and the goal is to increase participation. Then looking at the data for grade 10 by race ethnicity, you can see that in 2425 the um highest participation rate was in the Asian group at 95% and the lowest participation was in the black African-American group at 74% and white um group at um 79%. Then looking at the data for grade 11 by race, ethnicity, there are some differences um that you can see in 24-2, the highest participating group was the Asian group at 85% and the lowest participation was in our white and he Hispanic and Latino groups at 58%. Okay. So again then um just like the fastbridge data we are currently working on setting those 25 26 goals and again we'll be looking to increase our performance on grades 3 through eight as well as our participation rate and also um continuing to work on decreasing those gaps keeping in mind the difference between fastbridge and MCA data that our MCA data is really about grade level benchmark um data and our um fast bridge is really about where students are performing on that And so they give us two different pieces of information and they are systems data. And that really is one of the struggles at the high school level is for our students the accountability to that or the the the purpose that test serves is a little bit harder for them to grasp than um the ACT for example. And so that tends to be our marker for that. The state continues to require that we do those MCAs at that level. And again, they really do provide us systems data because we can look at trends in grade level to see for gaps in our instruction. And the MCAs are highly correlated to the ACT. So if we can identify there are gaps in our um curriculum or in our instruction, then that we can then address that which could then increase our ACT scores. So, I'll make my shameless plug to our parents that that really is critical important data for us to increase ACT scores because if we can do better in our instruction and our curriculum, then our ACT scores also grow and improve. So, I'll make a shameless plug though. >> Improving our MCA scores. Yes, you said improve ACT to >> Whoops. Vice versa. Thank you. >> MCA and ACT very closely linked. >> Thank you. There you go. All right. >> All right. So on um the next area that we're going to report on is our on track to graduate. So previously um well actually in our in the goal areas for um for the state uh were int we have to report on students all students graduating from high school. So previously we had reported how what percentage of students graduate. What we did um this this time around is we looked at not just who is graduating and are they graduating but all along in high school are they on track to graduate. So we're looking at students in grades 9 through 12 every year being on track at the end of that school year. So the way we've defined on track to graduate is students who have earned the number of cumulative credits expected at the end of their grade level. So looking at the data um you can see that for grade 9 and grade 12 they're at 98% last year. We're on track by number of credits. And so this is just one year of data. This is the first year we're looking at this. So this is our baseline. So this is all of the data in this graph is for grade or for year 24 25. Um grade nine as I said grade 9 and 12 were at 98% and grade 10 and 11 were lower at 96 and 95%. When looking at the data um by race, ethnicity, um there were gaps in um percentage of students who are on track to graduate at the end of the year. Um and the largest gaps were in grades 10 and 11. There you go. So again, then looking at what is our system and that MTSS systems um look at how we are addressing students being on track and graduate. And we're really excited about this goal and working closely with the high school on it. Um rather than did they just get there, but again it's are we what are we interrupting along the way? And the high school is kind of anchored in two areas this year or ongoing. And that's in presence and purpose. So this year one of the focuses at the high school is on being present. And being present means how do we support each other and strengthen our relationships across the high school community both as students and staff. um a real strong focus around attendance this year because we know the data is strong. Simply put, if you are in school, you are going to do better and your likelihood of graduating is is higher. So, um the high school is focusing in on how are we building those strong connections with students and noticing when they're not there and getting them back into school as well. And then their continued work on the portrait of the Weisetta graduate as well. um providing that common language and vi and vision um as a way to cultivate those skills in in every student. They also have a strong student support team. So made up of social worker, counselor, dean, the assistant principal, and a plethora of other supports, specialized services, etc. who get together on um a very regular basis and monitor this data. So they're looking at grades, they're looking at attendance, credits um so they can identify any concerns um quickly. Um [snorts] they do provide intensive reading support at the high school using read 180 and then they have a plethora of academic support programs such as their both in-house. So if we think of things like the resource center or the academic mentors um their math exploration center, the writers um workshop area, all of those are are intentional um processes are in place while in the high school for the students while they're there. And then when a if and when a student does fall behind, we have systems in place to catch them up quickly as well, which is credit recovery, summer school, independent study. And for those students who may have fallen further behind and we want to give them a heavy duty boast, we do partner with Henipin um technical around Gateway Academy as well. And then in ninth grade, they start with personalized learning plans at the high school with their ninth grade. I see some head shaking. you've been through it as parents, but um with their nth grade counselor, parent and guardian meetings to kind of sketch out what does what does their high school plan look like. It's not written in stone because we all know if we've raised children nth grade to what their interests are, but it's just a way to kind of road mapap it um for our students, if you will, so that um they can be um you know, having those conversations and see the in the the plan forward. But again, at the high school, it's really about wrapping themselves around in relationships with their students and knowing their students to make sure then that they're on track to graduate. So again, um we will be setting that 25 26 school year and it will be to increase the percentage of Weisetta High School students who are on track um at the end of each grade level and then to decrease those gaps between our highest and our lowest groups once we have that data in. And then I wanted to just highlight um a change that we're super excited or in addition to the Weisetta system that we're super excited about that really is connected very strongly to the work we're talking about that um tonight and that is we have purchased a data visualization system called Aubrey. Um some of you who are part of the teaching and learning committee of the board got to see an entire presentation on this and as we get a little more refined we will bring that to the full board. Um but this has been about three years or so 3 four years in making. Um when we started the MTSS grant um four years ago very quickly realized that we just did not have a good system of data visualization. We had a lot a lot of data and we still have a lot a lot of data but it was in many different places and so the effort and energies that went from not only Stacy and her department but our principles our teachers to bring that data into something that is actionable was very difficult and what we know is if data is not actionable then it really doesn't serve us a strong purpose and so the intention of Aubrey is to visualize our data and and simplify complex data so that we get it to that um piece. So right now we are at we've um we made the decision on Aubrey. We've added many different tools landed on Aubrey and this is partnered very tightly with MT MTSS. So we have Kaia Mortonson and Courtney Norman who are heading up that work um with our buildings. We have three buildings piloting Aubrey right now um Sunset Hill East and then one house at the high school. And then our principles now have all signed up to get trained and do some data literacy work around this too. And we'll start using it at just their level with their administrative teams. And from there we will venture out into all of our buildings hopefully Januaryish um to using this with their WAP or their student support teams. Um Aubre's potential is pretty much endless um in all the different dashboards and all the different ways that we can use our data from even your level as a board at the board. So there could come a day for example when you have your own dashboard and you set your markers as to what you want and would be able to monitor that data at a moment's notice as well. So really having that data at the fingertips of our principles of our department and of our teachers um will allow us to be much more nimble in our responses. So, we just wanted to make sure that we put that out there that um we're continuing to um not only work at a student system, but also to be able to be more data literate and data responsive um in our system. And we're super excited about that opportunity. And so, that just brings us to the end tonight. And again a way that through the directions that in the equity commitment that you as a board set for us um how we are working to operationalize that at the district level as well as through the rest of the organization and so we are ready for questions. Thank you. >> Thank you Dana. Thank you Dr. Lackner. U any any comments questions then? >> This is an excellent presentation. Thank you so much. Um, I think it's just awesome the, you know, plethora of, um, you know, graphics and statistics that really inform the the great work our district's doing. Um, I have one question and it's around MCA participation. Um, could you share some of the things you've been doing to um, you know, while you mentioned it correlates very strongly to stronger ACT performance, just kind of other things you're doing to, you know, promote students taking um, the MCA. >> Um, so I I can speak to >> Oh, sorry. I can speak to it a little bit. Um, we do um provide information to families and to students about the importance of the MCA and how it helps our district make decisions and I know it is it's a challenge. Um, we do have um announcements that are done um by the high school principal, Mr. gangler and we just do the best we can to make sure students understand um where to be when it is and just making sure that it's as um uh easily accessible to all of our students. Um but it as we have mentioned it has been a challenge. Um so I don't know if Dana you have anything to add. Yeah, I think as Stacy said originally, it is a is a concern across um the state and one one concern I have is we could raise these numbers in ways that I see other districts doing that I would not encourage us to do. So we have districts who for example will add um extra credit points to classes for showing up or who will do some other incentivizing um and that just that just doesn't sit well with us and not a direction we've chosen to take. Um the reality at the state level is that there's not teeth at the state level put into this. And so our students are tested and tested and tested and tested again. And so um the ACT is the high stakes test or SAT or both um for our high school students. That being said, I really think it's more about educating our community and our parents that this test is important to our instruction. It gives us it is the test that gives us our best data about how we're doing on the state standards because it is aligned to the state standards and our state standards and that test are aligned to so it is a tool that can help us as um teaching and learning department and really our department. So when Aby's meeting with math or Austin's meeting with English that we can look and see are there gaps or places that our students are consistently not doing well like we're doing at the middle level where we can say vocabulary for example might be an area of emphasis and do we have enough in our curriculum. We don't always have a depth of of um information as well. we can use the ACT scores, but the ACT scores aren't necessarily norm to Minnesota state standards, right? And so I think it's really more about educating our um students. We have made the opt out a little bit more difficult I think over co >> yeah that so in 2122 the link to the opt out form was included in the email to parents. So I think that's why the participation was so low and since then we've been very careful about making sure that the communication about the test is very clear and then if anyone has any questions they can reach out to the high high school assessment office. So and then also just other efforts in terms of communication and messaging and everything to um our students and our parents. Um we've made some efforts in that sense as well. >> You bet. So you had mentioned first of all thank you for this presentation. I know it took a lot of effort to put all of this together and I appreciate >> incredibly informative to us. Um you had mentioned um some of the earlier slides that when there are fewer than 20 students Yes. >> within a racial group or another group you you um you don't report on it and it's I just want to clarify is that for privacy purposes or what is the purpose behind that? Yes, that's definitely for data privacy purposes that we don't want to um report any data on a smaller student group where you may be able to identify who the students are. So that's just a general practice. We don't report on any groups lower than 20. >> Right. Thank you so much. >> Yeah. >> As I uh was able to come in when we had a break and made make a comment to you. It obviously shows that you're very professional. You know uh what to um looks like you are liking numbers and all. I really appreciate but at the same time looking at data. I like data too. If uh I would like to ask to pull out to page 48 please. Mhm. Uh 48. uh sorry 48 on I guess uh when it's it comes up as um okay [sighs] on the slide uh I mean how uh as a okay wait a minute it's 40 uh I'm talking about grade two to five by grade >> and it comes as a when I I'm using iPad it shows 48 on them >> on the title of the graph It says what is graph? If you could let us know that, that'll tell us where we need to go in the presentation. >> Is it the fast bridge? >> Yes. Fazbridge, sorry. Yeah. Uh fast bridge. Um question I have to be honest. I've done for two years Americanore uh tutoring uh in the past and yes, we used fast bridge data. I just realized recently once I got an access from my school too they had the motor till third grade students are learning to read after third grade they are reading to learn I'm curious uh when we look at this uh data is in cohort uh like 2021 second grade the next year obviously becomes third grade then uh fourth grade. Why are the numbers are not coming up? I would have said 20 uh 21 understandably it was on and off masking issues and all but the numbers um if you look at cohort what you liked in other slides here they are not circled but the same principle 2021 second graders were reading at uh 49 percentile percent students were um u making aggressive uh growth then 20 uh 22 then 23 then 25. Why is that? Why are we even after having um readact training why the numbers are not a little bit better? >> So with this group of students it's difficult to go cohort by cohort because it's a different group of students. So typically grade level you're going to have some moving in and out. So you will have some loss in the cohort. However, with this particular data, because we're only looking at the students who start in summer high-risisk, that's could be a very different group of students when they're in second grade and then in third grade could be a completely different group of students starting at summer high risk. So, it gets really tricky to try to do a cohort analysis. So, I'm not sure if that was the question that you had >> tracking like second to third grade to fourth grade. >> Yeah. uh sometimes to be honest obviously whomever stayed at high risk uh stays unfortunately there too but you have a good point uh I understand and uh page I mean just one page above 47 um if I I would like to hear why do you think it's um we are not doing better. >> Yeah, I mean that's that's a that's a great question and one we're certainly monitoring very not an easy answer. Um and and again at the building levels and at our level we're continually looking at. So we need to look at our instruction practices. We need to look at our early identification practices. We need to assessments that we're using. How well is our curriculum aligning? Um I mean I could probably go on and on. Maybe my team has some other things I'm not thinking about, but it's it's difficult. Um, and our obviously our goal is to continue to raise that that population. Um, one of the struggles we're also having in our in our special population is our growing numbers in that population. And so oftent times we one of the things we're breaking it down as we use Aubrey is what percentage of those students started in the Weisetta district and what percentage of those students are new to our district because that plays a role in that. Um, so there's it's just, you know, to for me to name one specific reason why that's happening, I I can't do that at this point other than to say that is not something we're happy with in as are you or our classroom teachers or our building principles. And so we just continue to dive in to that data and try and pinpoint if we can see any specific areas that might be leading to that um piece. It's also important to remember that in this one student can hit in all three of those levels and so sometimes it's a matter of impacting a smaller group of of students as well. >> Okay. And one more um actually I have a couple more questions. MC as comes for MCA results. What does it mean to be proficient um >> on MCA? Yes. >> Proficient. Yes. Um oh I'm sorry. um proficient on the MCA is um for MCA 3 are students who are at the meets or exceeds level. So each grade level the um MDE sets a cut point um where they have determined that a student who performs above that is proficient on the state standards and anyone below that is not proficient. >> Um so >> what is that number? Oh. Um, for proficiency for each of the grade levels, um, there it's a three-digit score. Um, and in each grade level, the first digit is the grade. So, for example, in third grade, um, the scores are between 301 to 399. In fourth grade, it's 401 to 499 and so on. So, for example, in third grade, a proficient score would be a 350. In fourth grade, it would be a 450. in fifth grade 550 and so on. This one numbers wise I remember but what about like I believe it is percent I mean if you answer certain percentage you would be considered to be proficient let's say you have um we're not allowed to see MCA test so I haven't seen myself uh if you have let's say 100 questions if you answer how many questions you'll be considered to be proficient >> um it's not done like that um so each each item has a certain weight and a difficulty level. So depending on which items the students get right and which ones they get wrong, it there could be a different calculation depending on the difficulty of the item. So it's not necessarily the percent that they got correct. It's all worked together in terms of the waiting of the items, what the student got in terms of which questions they got and then um put into a scale of uh the one to 99 in each grade level scale. So, it's not necessarily a percent correct. >> Okay. And page 44, please. Um, >> I'm curious uh 6 to 8 uh are there not as many students? That's why percent uh is low 10 to 12. >> So, you have an iPad and it shows 14. >> If you could just tell us what the title of it is, then we can >> Okay. 21. I see right now on this one the number page 21. >> Uh so page 20 21 >> is a uh grades 6 to 8 uh 10 to 12 compared with for example ours 31 30 wise. >> Um so um are you looking at the six through eight by grade? Oh the smart goals. Yes, >> I think. >> Yeah, that that makes sense. Yes. So, um for the percentage of students who are making aggressive growth um in middle school, it's very it's very different situation than in elementary. Um the the skill level and increase in each one of the assessments is very narrow. Compared to an elementary school, there's a lot more growth. So to see aggressive growth for students below grade level on this particular assessment is very difficult. So that's why we would typically see the percent making aggressive growth at middle school would be lower than in the elementary school just based on the trajectory of reading development. >> Thank you for I didn't think about it. Um and one more it's uh I didn't see science uh for MCA. We don't have any um in our um goals for that in our plan. >> Yep. So for the 24 Yep. Sorry. For the 2425 um uh district goals, we didn't have science. Typically, we haven't included science. If you remember long time ago when we had um No Child Left Behind and AYP, all of the um all of the assessments that they were focusing on were just reading and math. So, we typically haven't reported those for a few years. However, with the new MCA4 coming out in 2526, we will be adding those to our goals um because it it's a different assessment and um we have we have some room to grow. >> Thank you. >> You want to track? >> Go ahead. >> Are you building on her questions, though? Because if you are, it can be in sequence. Okay. All right. Thank you. This is this is a lot and and I do think it's really important to underscore that this is one snapshot in one thing and that we really need to um as we look to interpret right that we're that we're thinking about all things um and that remembering that this is satellite um a a technical question um I was really excited to see about the second about opening up OG for our second grade teachers like what's the uptake on that is that is it being wellreceived and what will we do with who's receiving it and who's not and how we can get better. >> Yeah. So, um we really maybe Austin if he wants to jump in on this one. We went round and round on this because it's it's intended for their youngest learners. So, a K1 um but knowing our two so it is optional for our second grade teachers and the struggle we always have is um to do the training during the school year means they are out of the classroom and it is intensive training. So, it's several it's it's a good chunk of time and we break that up over the year. Um, or we offer it in the summer and we and we pay teachers to do it over the summer, but we are asking them to then give their summer. So, it's always a ying and a yang on how we get this accomplished. And I don't know, Austin, do you know the exact percentage? >> You know, I I I don't I hate to hazard a guess because I could sure >> I can look that up, get back to you. I'll let you know for sure. Um, it's, you know, it's on the less than half side for sure, but working. >> Yeah. So, we'll continue to to offer that in second grade. Um, maybe another summer of that. We also continue to try and figure out where we can squeeze more hours out of time. And I don't know what that would look like, but um we continue to work on that and collaborate with Rachel Falcowski on what could that look like? Are there other options? Are there weekends or you know, how do we get that training in? Um, and then we've also made sure though that any new K1 teacher has also been mandated to take that training as well. So, we have been working on that. Um and uh the human resource department technology were great this summer when we knew teachers who were hired in April and May. We were able to onboard them early so that they could participate in the summer's training and that has been huge as well. Good. >> Good. Well, and that is good to hear. It's a it's a bummer that it's maybe not as wellreceived, but maybe it is. I I feel like we often run into our second grade families that are thinking, "Oh, they're just a little bit slower, right?" And they're doing that and and there's word from education professionals and medical professionals and mental health professionals. just give them time in that development, but then it becomes super crisis at at second and third grade. And so the extent to which we can encourage that and support that and create an infrastructure. I look at the create infrastructure financially and and in training wise to do that, it seems like it's an investment worth making. >> And I think I'll add on that too, the the other end that's not part of our goal reporting, but that really should be your issue. We really working tightly also with our early learning um programming because the sooner that we can get to our students, especially those who might struggle with some of those um basic skills that are foundational for our reading, the better we can do. And so um we've really worked with our early learning team. They too have got the readact training. Um teams now with our early learning, they PLC um my win then is working with with that group of teachers um and professionals as well. Um and and we're really thinking about also how do we reach out to our community um early learning programs and partner more deeply with them on what are the skills that all of our kindergarteners have and we're we're toying around with this summer like how might we provide that instruction also to those providers um because we know not all of our students go through our early learning specific Zetta program but if they can come in with those foundational skills and so um some of the training that we're doing there we're trying to go that way as well so that we and impact that before second grade hits. >> So that upstream is good, right? And and now I'm going to say probably something that you've heard me say before um which is that this is far from just awesome, right? I mean, this is this is really the numbers that we're seeing on this paper and for some of our populations is is completely unacceptable. Um and and I I have a firm belief that that we're trying really hard and I have a firm belief that we're making an impact if we if we disagregate our each and every there's many every um that are doing that are doing better and that are doing well. Um there's lots of eaches that still aren't. Um and and so my question for you is for you both is as we look at this um I I heard a few things, but what gives you hope, right? Or or what what are you holding on to in that this is this is something that we've got to pay more attention to to move it forward? Um and and what are you really driven to to do right now? Um so that we don't keep having these meetings every year. Can I your story? >> Yeah. Let you guys weigh in on this. >> So, I think you've heard us say many times there's and you saw the slides. There's lots of different things within our system we do to respond. Um, I just want to share an anecdotal story from today just that when you think about what gives you hope. I had a conversation with one of our instructional coordinators Ann Farenbach who was in one of our buildings today and share with me stories some of the things that we're doing specifically in kindergarten and she was a former kindergarten teacher so she has a unique perspective um to understand appreciate the work that's happening um and they're integrating some of those tools we're talking about the OG looking at a new curriculum looking at the ways we support teams and supporting their students and she said from the teacher perspective teachers were saying I've never seen my kindergarteners at this point in the year this successful and doing so well um across the board of the team of teachers of that building and then she said in talking with students right and just talking with them about what they were learning the excitement they had around their learning the success they were having around the learning just filled her heart so um just an anecdotal story that shares a little bit about what we're seeing where we're seeing successes and things that are going to take time to show up on the big board of the standardized data and district level data um you know you look at any any change you you make takes 3 to 5 years. So over the last few years and we're like wondering when are we going to see that bump. We do have to remember it's only been a few years since the read since a lot of things we've been trying and so you know again hope's not a strategy but we are seeing some of those things already here now dayto-day in our classrooms we're finding that success. So >> let the guys Well, I'm just thinking you're you know Yeah. I'm going to echo something that Dana says often. The PLC process is an ongoing never- ending process and we are committed to that process and we're starting to see the fruits of our labor. The heaviest lift is for our classroom teachers in our system and working together that collective efficacy that belief that what happens as an outcome is because of what we do intentionally. Just because our students is successful doesn't mean that it just happened on its own. It's because of what we did what we did that was different and what we did that was done differently. So that collective efficacy piece I think is starting to show up and we are most excited and and hopeful that the supports and the structures that we provide to our course alike teams our grade level teams is going to show up in the results that we see. Um another anecdotal um observation, we've seen a change in how we talk about students. Instead of saying my students in my class, as a third grade teacher to our third grade students so that when we have to differentiate, we can work collectively as a third grade team and say, how about you take this group of students and work on this skill that needs a tier 2 level of intervention or perhaps even a tier three level inter. I'll take some students and extend their learning because of one teacher can't do all of it together. I'm really excited personally about the work that we're doing in math. It's you've those of you who are in the community of the board um have heard me say many times it's math's turn now and so we are digging in and really identifying what are the skill areas and there this is where some of the MCA data is very helpful. We can dive into specific benchmarks and skill areas where we see our students excelling and celebrating and seeing how can we replicate replicate that in in areas where we need to do better and looking at patterns across our system. If we have nine elementary see is there a pattern that we notice across our buildings. Is there a pattern that we notice within our building and how do we build on that success? Our five math specialists in our nine elementary buildings are engaged in some phenomenal work. So, I'm really excited to hopefully bring that um at an upcoming board meeting to share with you as well. >> Thank you. >> I I I think also then thanks to to both of them because I knew they're they work more tightly with our coordinators than than I would and have that hands-on, but I think we are, you know, Aubrey is a tool. So, it's just that, but it has the potential to be to to lend to a transformational change. And so being able to get something in our educators hands, we know we're, you know, we know the research and sometimes we don't use that well enough in education, but we know the two most important factors are the teachers in the classroom and the principles in the buildings. Those are the two folks that we need to support the most. Um, and we do that by getting tools in their hands that make them successful and have them deeply understand. So I think this has been um it's just really exciting. We had um one of our instructional coordinators and one of our principles at an elementary principal meeting. I'll tell that one. One of our principles who's a veteran principal um got emotional and teared up over the presentation on Aubrey because she said I'm giving a little bit away there, but she said it's it's one of the first times in my career that I've seen something that actually could really really impact what we're doing in the classroom and make a transformational change. It's a heavy lift for us. Um it's a heavy lift for the tech department, but it is the right work. I think if you couple that with CEL that we've continued to invest in and really deeply about how we support from a central office and we're boostering that this year, how we support our principles, instructional leaders, how our principles calibrate on what they see in the classrooms and we give them time to be instructional leaders because that's their skill set. That's what gives me hope and passion. So, I think we're heading on the right road. And I've said this before and I'll say it over and over again. And if there's a school district that's going to close that achievement gap, because it's not I mean, we have one of the high we have the highest gap in the country in Minnesota. So, we're not alone in this. But darn it, if there's a district that can close it, it should be Weisetta because where we start from because of the high quality teachers that I interact with every day, they're just phenomenal and our principles right there beside them. Um, I have hope that and then yeah, not a strategy, but I have a belief. It's bigger than a hope. I have a core belief that that this is something we can do here. It won't happen overnight, but we can do that. >> So, I will echo what Sarah says. It's hard to see the persistent gap. And every time we're presented with it, you guys hear me in the committee meeting going h again. Like, it's it's hard. And I know it's hard on educators as well because you're working so hard and on the big board it still shows that it's not there. But each and every student is each and every student and we can get them their gains. Um I I'm thinking about it too Sarah is is is how are we finding ways to improve this and how are we finding hope in this work because we need to um and we need to find ways forward to to improve. So as I'm connecting a whole bunch of pieces here, right? Because we come to this table and we hear a lot of information and it's over the course of time and then we get the data and um our systems it feels like our systems are in a good place. Okay, our numbers are not there but our systems are in a good place. And so as I think about we're looking at our lowest testing groups in whatever area that is and we see a huge gap between our lowest testing group and our highest testing group, right? And then what you guys end up doing and our teachers and our schools, you end up differentiating for each and every one of those students to identify what the core issues are, right? Because within a a certain minority group, there could be different issues that are driving it, right? It could be that a student is an English learner or it could be that the student is a special ed student or and it could be both, right? Like so there's many different configurations and and that's why the individualization is so important. Stay with me. >> [laughter] >> So, and and so you're identifying all these barriers and as you identify the barriers for each and every and you start having different ways like our culturally responsive tools and our PLC's and all of these systems that build upon each other, it's going to impact every student, not just our students that are scoring low, but it'll help every single one of our students. And that's what a successful system does. And so I just want to say for me, I'm starting to see how this all comes together and why all of these pieces are so critically important for us. So thanks for all of the information that you've given us throughout the year building up into this. We only get to see the data once a year, which is tough I know sometimes because we want to know like how's it going? How's it going? Um but but the high level data can only come once a year so that we can modify and make our goals and set up for the next year. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, so both of you I have two questions and one comment that may result in a question but let me ask you the questions first. You talked about the read 180 the reading support. Do you have any data that you have accumulated so far and if so what what does that tell you? What is it showing? >> Yeah, they collect that data at the building level specific to individual students. Um so where we would see it is as those scores rise on this level but we have not at a teaching and learning level peeled that back because it's really about responsive. So the teacher in the classroom is responding to those individual scores at the moment. >> It's kind of new right though also. Um, no. Read 180's been around for >> new to the high school, >> but it's new to the high school. Yeah, >> we had it at middle school. Um, but we made a change a few years ago. Um, but it's only at the high school right now. It's been around for a long time, >> but not necessarily here in Weisetta and in our high school level, right? >> Uh, yes. Really, we've been using it since I've been here, so for at least the last four to five years. Um it's really about it's a tool that's really highly rated researchbased and effective when implemented correctly in the high school model as far as it block schedule is it really is really conducive to that type of a tool. Um so again as Dana said the the data we have is individual student level but it is a highly effective research based tool. >> Okay. Uh the second question I have is about participation in MCA testing. >> Um if you improve participation let's say it's 100%. you're also able to get that would will what would you expect that to result in as far as the scores MC scores are concerned overall will they go down will they go up or >> well um so we only reported on grades three through eight um so we didn't report on the high school um in order for their results to be representative of the high school program they would need to have at least 90 90% participation um so it's really difficult to know based on on the results that they had in 2025. Um the percent proficient how that would change if we got a higher participation rate. It it would just be a guess um on whether it would go up or down. >> Sure. Participation is important but we also need to know what it does to the scores, right? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. So the last thing I want to do is make a comment that I have been making every year. I I don't know if you remember achievement and integration presentation. I always worry about not just Yisetta the state and I find out now that it's it's a problem in the entire country and I will quote you something from 74 million education instit the the organization it's the it's the graduation rates that are at 98% when we know that achievement gaps exist >> kids many of them probably can't read or cannot do math and we still graduate them because I think the department of education requirement for graduation does not tell you what grades they have to get. They have to take only a certain number of credits. >> Mhm. >> Right. So I think that that's I think is a is again something that I I'm always concerned about. And then this 74 million um I can share this with you later on but that organization I'm just going to read the headline. Many young adults barely literate yet earned a high school diploma. Okay. Functionally illiterate high school graduates may have been passed through the school system without gaining needed skills. So this is obviously you know a a countrywide issue not just by Zetta or the state. I know you guys are doing making a lot of effort to change that and I appreciate it. it's still not happening and that really really concerns me. Why what are we producing? >> Mhm. >> When they graduate, they go to college. We don't even know what happens. So, I'm not saying we we are we are better than most other districts, I think, in the entire state, right? As far as as far as the achievement gaps, we are much better. Uh our our results, our achievements, uh you know, the scores are for the same demographic, we are definitely better than other districts and overall in the state. >> But that's something that I am still concerned about. Mhm. >> So that that's my comment. It's not a question. If you have an answer, I would like to hear that. >> I have a follow-up question to that. >> I thought you had to take a certain number of credits and pass. Is that correct? >> Yeah. So, one thing our our diplomas would be indicative of if students have have received a passing grade above. Um I don't want to get into a grading conversation too deeply, but you know, we used to have or we tried here in the district, I believe, before my time to do a standard our students have to know it at a 70th you know 70% or above. So the because that's not and you can earn credit at a let's say a 61% or above then yes you can earn credit for a course and maybe not have accumulated some of this the essential knowledge of that course and still have credit which I would argue personal and immediate that that's one of the struggles with our antiquated grading system in the country that we do on a Carnegie unit is because we are saying you can graduate with maybe missing 40% of what we're assessing at. We can also have an argument if what we're assessing at is what the students need to know. And that's why if we look at our ACT scores and our high growth in that, it would suggest to us that we're doing pretty well for our student population in that uh Mr. Gingler comes at the years and shows, you know, his data on how we are doing better with some of our specialized populations. um how we're closing some of those Stacy showed tonight how some of our achievement gaps are closing. Um and I'd be curious me I saw that article actually cuz you know a nerdy teaching and learning person is going to be dri you know drawn to something that says but it's also asking then any good research on what are we using to mark illiteracy versus functional literacy versus not all of our kids go to a four-year college. So what what is our marks of success? There's just it's very loaded and convoluted and so um always areas that we can do better but there's a gap between graduating and being illiterate. Yeah. >> Um for sure. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That's all I had. Anybody else comment question? Yeah, Valentina. Go ahead. >> I actually appreciate your question. I heard it last year. I'm hearing this year. Um I have tough time understanding it because when I was at MSB it was interesting to hear rural area uh board members they know each other they actually know even I mean uh what kind of specialties uh high schoolers are getting into they know each other's phone numbers and all it was what was interesting to hear they were saying that their college like uh uh technical college would be complaining do you know can you do better with high schoolers. Your high schoolers are coming. They cannot measure, they cannot do basic things. So yes, it is it is happening. I am I mean uh I'm glad to be one of a parent proud parent who is doing far better but at the same time there are quite a bit of students in our district who are not there and when we are saying for each uh student this is not for each student and when we're graduating uh students with that kind of um results we're not doing any favor neither to uh to them neither to our society to be honest. I would like if somebody comes to my house, I would like them to be able to measure I mean to do a basic skills. So it's I to me it's still uh mindboggling when you see graduation uh rate number and when you see u MCA test results and um I I haven't seen uh science results even though I went to uh Minnesota ed obviously too. Yes. um when we're saying we're doing for each and every we would like to see growth in that site uh for students also. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh Dr. Lakner, Dana, Austin, and Abby. Thank you all for coming and presenting this. The next one is in November, right? >> Correct. Yep. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So this completes our work session for this evening. The time is now 7:37. The Visetta Public Schools Board of Education work session for Monday, October 27, 2025 is adjourned.