N/A - no members of the public provided comment.

N. Keough and F. Reyes reviewed quarterly academic data with the Board and presented updates on the academics at Excel MA, as summarized in the enclosed academic update slides, including the following highlights:

• Our schools have started the school year well, and we believe they are all trending in a positive direction.
• Non-academic data across our schools is strong and reflects our early efforts to set a strong cultural foundation.
• Our academic data is trending positively and is on track to meet many of our goals. We have some areas of long-term concern that we are acting on.
• Staff culture data revealed challenges with change management and people leadership in our middle schools. We are addressing these by increasing transparency, holding one-on-one discussions, and actively responding to feedback.

S. Zrike asked a clarifying question regarding context and historical background for decisions about Interim Assessment providers in past years, which N. Keough provided. N. Keough noted that prior Unit Assessments were not aligned to MCAS standards, and so the school has been working to align IAs to MCAS standards more closely.

S. Zrike asked for more information regarding who develops our assessments now. N. Keough noted that unit assessments come from our curricula and that interim assessments are developed internally and are closely aligned to MCAS standards.

S. Zrike commented that it can be challenging to do staff surveys multiple times per year, and in his experience, spring survey results can tend to be more negative just based on the time of year. The Committee and Network Academic Team discussed next steps that school leaders are taking with their staff on campuses that had lower staff survey results in the fall. The Network Academic Team has been providing intensive coaching and support to school leaders in conducting follow-up 1:1 with staff following the staff survey.

T. Griffith Walker asked for clarification on how we define school-based leadership and whether it could include teaching staff with administrative staff in contexts like this. In her experience, it can be helpful for instructional staff to be involved directly in reviewing and responding to the data and presenting back to their colleagues. It can be a helpful method to align everyone as leading in service of Excel.

S. Zrike commented additionally on the importance of reporting back explicitly the feedback we heard and actions we took in response.

T. Griffith Walker asked for more context about how we do student surveys as well, which N. Keough provided.

List of documents used in the meeting:

• 9.26.24 meeting minutes
• Quarterly board academic data dashboard
• 12.9.24 academic update slides

List of documents used in the meeting:

• Meeting agenda
• 9.26.24 minutes
• Academic Update Slides
• Quarterly Board Academic Data Dashboard