Amy shares homework data - our goal is 75%:

She highlights that 7th grade is doing excellent and again we see a correlation between high homework completion and high academic achievement. 

Homework was not a factor during the pandemic so we need to get back on track and reengage families around the importance of homework. We are naming homework as critical as we are seeing direct correlations with homework and achievement. 

Amy talks about the whole staff professional development that took place on Tuesday 11/8. All educators engaged in a deep dive into MCAS data. Every teacher in the school looked at their current students' MCAS data and they made charts for each student and mapped where they were with their last MCAS scores with the goal of doubling achievement this year. When you map each individual student within this framework you are able to set individual goals and map where teachers hope students will land at the end of the year. 

There was great feedback from staff about the PD day. Many left feeling inspired and enthusiastic about getting back to the work. 

Rachel framed the importance of getting kids to grade level now because we now have this great early college high school program and we need to prepare our students in middle school so they are ready and equipped to take advantage of all the high school program has to offer. 

We will look at these charts again at our PD day in January and track progress. 

We are getting refocused on practices that have worked for us in the past and making sure that all teachers are aligned with who we really are and what we really do. 

Rebecca emphasizes that this is really what this committee should be focusing on and we should talk about how to bring this information to the Board - follow a cohort of students. 

Attendance has been an issue for us this year. We have 35% of students who have been chronically absent this year and if students aren't coming to school, they can't get what we're giving and we can't make progress. We have to reemphasize the habits around school and how important everyday attendance is. If you miss one day you fall behind 6 hours in instruction and at a certain point, you can't make that up. We are also providing other options for students who miss a day during the week like Saturday school. 

Rachel mentions that currently our biggest pain point is staffing shortages. We know we have the tools to make progress but teachers are absent, they are leaving midyear, etc. We are trying to figure out this piece on a daily basis. 

Lisa asks for an update about hiring someone who can look at and analyze our data. 

Rachel says we have not hired anyone yet and we've been having some issues with our PowerSchool platform for the high school that has taken away from our ability to focusing on hiring someone for data. Right now we are in crisis mode around getting progress reports out. Seth and his team at Open Architects is helping us create progress reports. When we get through that, there is someone on Seth's team who is very familiar with PowerSchool and will help us with reconfiguring the system. We will begin working with Open Architects to fill some of our gaps around data. (Share with the Board under the data heading of "Grades")

We have lost quite a few high school teachers and Rachel attributes this to bad hires. The committee discussed the current talent shortage in education and other issues related to it. 

Amy shares ELA ANet data with the committee. 

There is a bright spot in 7th grade. We have found a correlation between their high achievement and their high homework completion. Special Education students in 7th grade performed the highest as well. 

We have also identified that 8th graders are struggling the most. 

Jonathan adds that in comparison to the network, every grade was higher except 8th grade which was 1 percentage point below. 

Ann asks about how this data compares with previous results?

Amy says 7th is trending better, 5th and 6th are trending similar and 8th grade is trending lower. 

8th grade is the class who has been most impacted by the pandemic as well as had the most turnover of teachers. 

Rebecca asks about how these 8th graders performed in the Spring 7th grade MCAS?

Amy says they weren't the lowest so this is concerning that they have fallen further but we do believe this is a direct correlation to the staffing issues that grade has faced.