Attendance is holding steady, this is the first week of in person instruction, with higher levels of engagement.

Ms. Clark shared an update on grades. All grades across subjects are averaging above a 1.75, which is equivalent to a C-. The 5th and 6th grade class (as has been true all year) do have lower averages in Math, and the 7th grade Math data has declined, which was surprising and not following the trends from earlier this year, so the team is digging into root causes there, especially in light of interim data that corroborates this.

The committee posed the question- how do we know/do we have a system to have a full picture of how students are doing big picture (both academic and social emotionally) The team has been administering the PEAR survey and can look at this year's data compared to last year.

Big picture, this year has stamped that we need to ensure that students are doing more of the thinking in instruction, to keep up the strong practices that were supporting students prior to COVID (and make adjustments where necessary), and to leverage tech tools and lesson learned from this year to maximize learning.

It has been an exciting week! We are already seeing students producing more work, higher engagement. Teachers collected a list of everything that is going well and videos of 5th grade for the 6-8 grade teachers PD this week. Students have been wonderful about safety protocols. About 65% of 5th graders are in person (that will be similar to 6th and 7th) There will be less in person in the eighth grade class, which will be around 45% when they return.

Mr. Swan joined to update the committee on the SPED and ELL reviews, with a focus on EL (as we focused last time on SPED). The process requires a self-assessment as well as an audit of 8 students records. They review what policies, procedures, and guidance that we have in writing for faculty and staff. Marissa spent much of her time documenting the processes we have in place in preparation for the review. DESE also spends time with the team, and looks at data to determine the effectiveness of supports for English Learners.

The draft findings are very strong- there is only 1 area that we will need to make adjustments for, which is to ensure that we have a system to ensure that we have a system of offering and tracking PDPs (professional development points) that are required for teacher licensure requirement. While we do offer the professional development, a system of tracking and documentation is needed and will be put in place, especially before our charter renewal.

Important to note/reiterate that the draft findings in all other areas were very strong. There will be some adjustments that we will make based on what we found ourselves, and Mr. Swan will return to this meeting to share the findings when available.

The guide for renewal was released. Ms. Romano discussed this process that is grounded in the Common Criteria. It is an opportunity to reflect, for DESE to do a comprehensive documents and data review, have a site visit in October/November (focus groups, classroom observations, etc) re-write our accountability plan. As the team writes each section of the report, they will bring it to the larger board to ensure alignment and coherence leading up to the Fall.