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Community Unit School District 200 Committee of the Whole met Sept. 28.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

The Committee of the Whole meeting for the month of September of the Board of Education of Community Unit School District 200, DuPage County, Illinois, was called to order at the School Service Center, 130 W Park Ave, Wheaton, IL by Board President Chris Crabtree at 7:00 PM.

ROLL CALL

Upon the roll being called, the following were present:

Board Members: Mrs. Chris Crabtree

Mr. Rob Hanlon

Mr. Dave Long

Mrs. Angela Blatner

Mrs. Susan Booton

Mrs. Julie Kulovits

Mr. Brad Paulsen

Also in Attendance: Dr. Jeff Schuler, Superintendent

Dr. Charlie Kyle

Mrs. Melissa Murphy

Dr. Brian O’Keeffe

Dr. Chris Silagi

Mr. Jason Spencer

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Mr. Jason Spencer led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance.

SUSPEND THE RULES AND ADJOURN TO WORKSHOP SETTING

MOTION

Member Paulsen moved, Member Booton seconded to suspend the rules and adjourn to a workshop setting. Upon a roll call vote being taken the vote was: AYE 7, NAY 0. The motion carried 7-0.

Instruction

The Role of FastBridge in Learning Acceleration and in a Balanced Assessment System The Vision 2026 strategic plan includes strategies for learning acceleration. It also includes the tactic, “Implement effective monitoring and assessment tools to measure progress for academics and social-emotional needs of students.” FastBridge is the testing platform that replaced Scantron Achievement Series starting this school year and is being used to measure progress. FastBridge was selected as the district interim assessment after a committee of teachers and administrators reviewed various assessment products during the 2021-22 school year. At the Board of Education meeting on May 11, 2022, the Student Learning Feature included a written report with specific information on FastBridge prior to the implementation for the 2022-23 school year.

The administration presented information about the FastBridge assessment system. This included an overview of the Vision 2026 strategies of balanced assessment and learning acceleration, the academic metrics included on the dashboard related to FastBridge results, information on how FastBridge measures achievement and growth, and how all stakeholders can use the assessment data to inform student learning. Mrs. Melissa Murphy provided a PowerPoint presentation on The Role of FastBridge Related to Learning Acceleration and Balanced Assessment, which included information on the following:

∙ Vision 2026 Core Anchor Strategy - Learning Acceleration

o Four Key Anchors

▪ Instructional Resources/Tools

∙ IM/Math Pilot

∙ MS Math Pilot

∙ ELA Pilot

▪ Training/Support

∙ Institute/PLC

∙ Coaching

▪ Human Resource/Capital

∙ Teaching Staff

∙ Intervention Staff

▪ Data/Information

∙ FastBridge

∙ Data Warehouse

∙ IAR

∙ Classroom Assessments

∙ Five Guiding Questions

o What is a balanced assessment system?

o What is the FastBridge assessment?

o How does the FastBridge assessment support learning acceleration?

o How does FastBridge data inform the ongoing cycle of instructional improvement? o How can all stakeholders use FastBridge assessment data to inform student learning?

∙ What is a balanced assessment system?

o Balanced Assessment

▪ Definition – a system of assessments that work together to provide a variety of evidence to support educational decision-making

▪ Includes: classroom assessments, interim assessments, external assessments o Vision 2026 Academic Excellence Strategy – Design and Implement a Balanced Assessment System

▪ Implement effective monitoring and assessment tools to measure progress for academic and social-emotional needs of students

▪ 2022-23 Workplan: Implement FastBridge in grades K-8

o Classroom Assessments

▪ Purpose – provide teachers feedback in order to modify instruction to improve student understanding and report student progress to families

▪ Frequency – small-scale, short-cycled assessments are embedded within the current unit of instruction and assist teachers in diagnosing where students are learning and identifying gaps in their knowledge and understanding

▪ Examples – assessments that inform the report card, assessments that inform day-to-day teaching, and diagnostic assessments

o Interim Assessments

▪ Purpose – the results can be meaningfully aggregated and reported at a broader level; assist in identifying students in need of support beyond the Tier I setting; allow a school to measure growth over time

▪ Frequency – given in cycles throughout the year, usually every 8-12 weeks (typically 3 times a year)

▪ Examples - FastBridge

o External Assessments

▪ Purpose – used as part of an accountability system (national, state, and/or district) or to otherwise inform policy

▪ Frequency – given one time at the end of a set time period to evaluate students’ performance against a defined set of content standards and to

monitor and track student performance as a group

▪ Examples – IAR, SAT, PSAT, ACCESS, DLM

o Comparing FastBridge and IAR (Illinois Assessment of Readiness)

▪ FastBridge is an interim reading and math assessment given 3 times a year; is a computer-based test and items are all machine-scored; results are available immediately following the administration

▪ IAR is an external ELA and Math assessment given one time a year; ELA portion includes reading/writing computer-based test items; both components contain machine-scored and human-scored items; results are returned several months after the administration

o FastBridge Score Report

▪ Reports scores according to national percentiles; used to compare one student’s performance to that of a larger group (percentage means the student scored as well or better than that percent of students taking the test in that grade)

o IAR Score Report

▪ Divides scores into five proficiency levels:

∙ Level 5 – exceeded expectations

∙ Level 4 – met expectations

∙ Level 3 – approached expectations

∙ Level 2 – partially met expectations

∙ Level 1 – did not yet meet expectations

∙ What is the FastBridge assessment?

o FastBridge Assessment Suite

▪ Suite of assessment tools used for universal screening and progress monitoring of student growth throughout the year (for reading, math & behavior)

▪ Received high levels of reliability and validity

▪ Test items are aligned to Common Core ELA and math standards (IL adopted Common Core standards and referred to as the IL Learning Standards)

o FastBridge Universal Screener & Progress Monitoring

▪ Universal Screener – accurate universal screening sets the foundation for a successful multi-tiered system of support and understanding student risk levels

▪ Progress Monitoring – with this, assessment is used to measure growth for students receiving an intervention. Decision rules provided by the tool tell teachers when they should make an intervention change or if they are being effective in teaching the targeted skill

o Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)

▪ Tier I – essential grade level learning for all students

▪ Tier II – additional supports to master essential grade-level standards

▪ Tier III – intensive support in universal skills

o FastBridge Universal Screening: Reading (Assessments and Grade Levels)

▪ earlyReading (Grades K-1) *results included on Vision 2026 dashboard

▪ aReading (Grades 1-8) *results included on Vision 2026 dashboard

▪ CBMreading (Grades 1-3)

▪ AUTOreading (Grades 4-8)

o FastBridge Universal Screening: Mathematics (Assessments and Grade Levels)

▪ earlyMath (Grades K-1) *results included on Vision 2026 dashboard

▪ aMath (Grades 2-8) *results included on Vision 2026 dashboard

▪ CBM Math Automaticity (Grades 2-8)

o National Usage of FastBridge

▪ During the 2021 school year, FastBridge administered over 34 million universal screenings and almost 10 million progress monitoring assessments in schools in 48 states

▪ Near statewide implementation in Kansas and Iowa

o FAST Demographically-Matched National Norms

▪ The most recent norming study was released in June 2019

▪ Included a match to the demographic characteristics of the US population by gender, race/ethnicity, and percent of students receiving free or reduced lunch (as indicated in the Common Core Data from the US Dept. of Education)

∙ How does the FastBridge assessment support learning acceleration?

o Learning Acceleration

▪ Is about going forward and preparing students for success in the present with a focus on current grade-level standards

▪ Tier I is the primary level to accelerate learning

▪ Additional supports provided to students need to be contextualized within their subject, grade level, and curriculum

o CUSD 200 Core Actions to Accelerate Learning

▪ Adopt high-quality instructional materials

▪ Provide teachers with ongoing professional learning needed to provide Tier I instruction to all students

▪ Use assessments to prioritize learning

▪ Focus interventions on students most in need and create instructional coherence

o Using Assessments to Prioritize Learning

▪ A quote from Instruction Partners on addressing unfinished learning, summarizes much of what is being done in D200 with regard to balanced assessment and learning acceleration

∙ Ensure that all students can access grade-level content

∙ The ability to minimize time spent on assessment and maximize the direct instructional time students need to fill in those gaps

∙ Target assessments so they reveal actionable information that can be used to provide just-in-time supports to students

o FastBridge Normative Data

▪ Reports include information about a student’s performance when compared to other students nationally

▪ This information can be used by schools to identify supports needed by groups of students

o Using Normative Data to Make Educational Decisions (Four Categories)

▪ 85th National Percentile and Above (students likely need enrichment learning opportunities)

▪ 30-84.99th National Percentile (students consistent with where the majority of students are scoring, and should experience success with core instruction)

▪ 20-29.99th National Percentile (students likely need supplemental supports to meet grade-level expectations)

▪ 0-19.99th National Percentile (students likely need intensive supports to meet grade-level expectations, in addition to core instruction)

o Normative Data: Two Purposes

▪ Vision 2026 dashboard and the goal for long-term academic success (students scoring in the 50% or higher on FastBridge assessments)

▪ Used to evaluate how effective universal core instruction (Tier I) is across the district (MTSS)

o Three Reports to Use FastBridge to Prioritize Academic Learning Needs

▪ Percentage at or above the 50th percentile – students performing at or above grade-level expectations (according to FastBridge); students are secure with their learning

▪ Percentage of students scoring in the green/blue – students shouldn’t need pull-out services/lab because they are responding to core instruction. If less than 80%, core instruction needs to be a focus for school improvement

▪ Typical and aggressive growth indicates at least one year of growth – if students score below typical and aggressive growth, considerations for

differentiation, intervention, and coaching supports

∙ How does FastBridge data inform the ongoing cycle of instructional improvement?

o Ongoing Cycle for Instructional Improvement

▪ Administration of FastBridge

▪ Analyze and Interpret Data

▪ Establish Goals and Create Action Plans

▪ Implement and Evaluate Effectiveness

o Administration of FastBridge

▪ Fall Testing Window (8/29 – 9/16)

▪ Winter Testing Window (11/30 – 12/14)

▪ Spring Testing Window (5/3 – 5/17)

o Analyze and Interpret Data

▪ An analysis and interpretation of data happens at each level after each testing session:

∙ District level with SLT, directors, principals, teacher leaders

∙ Building level with principals and classroom teachers

o Establish Goals and Create Action Plans

▪ Action plans and goals are created at each level after each testing session:

∙ District level

∙ Building level

∙ Classroom level

o Using FastBridge at the Building Level

▪ How can we differentiate instruction to provide enrichment for students above the 85th percentile that are not in PACE?

▪ How can we support students from the 30th-49th percentile?

o Using FastBridge Classroom Level

▪ Example of screening to intervention report: reading

▪ Noted next steps needed based on student assessment score/percentile o Implement and Evaluate Effectiveness

▪ Action plans guide implementation

▪ Progress monitor students receiving an intervention

▪ Use classroom assessments to inform instructional needs

▪ Monitor achievement results following each administration and growth results after the winter and spring administration

∙ How can all stakeholders use FastBridge assessment data to inform student learning? o Board of Education

▪ Board Policy 6:15 – School Accountability

▪ Board Policy 6:340 – Student Testing and Assessment Program

▪ Annual administration presentation to the Board on achievement results

▪ The District Dashboard is also maintained for the Board and community to understand student achievement data

o Administration

▪ Monitor achievement and growth results at the district, school, classroom, and student level

▪ Utilize data-based decision-making to drive school improvement efforts

▪ Determine the effectiveness of curriculum and instruction programs

▪ Identify and design services for students

▪ Monitor progress on school goals, district goals, improvement efforts, and instructional priorities

o Teaching Staff

▪ Identify students who are responding well to core instruction

▪ Identify students who may require supplemental or intensive intervention and instructional support as an integral component to an effective MTSS program

▪ Assist in making informed decisions about intervention throughout the entire year at the school, class, and individual student level

▪ Implement a balanced assessment system with classroom assessments guiding daily instructional decisions

o Caregivers (Answers 3 core questions for parents)

▪ 1 - How is my child doing?

▪ 2 - How is my child doing compared to his or her peers nationwide?

▪ 3 - And how have my child’s scores changed over time?

▪ Student normative data results will be uploaded into Synergy three times a year

▪ Principals will notify parents when scores are available to view in ParentVue

▪ A letter will explain the assessment and the results

∙ Recap of the Vision 2026 Academic Excellence Strategy – Design and Implement a Balanced Assessment System

o Implement effective monitoring and assessment tools to measure progress for academic and social-emotional needs of students

o 2022-23 Workplan: Implement FastBridge in grades K-8

∙ Vision 2026 terms

o Balanced Assessment

▪ essential to effectively monitor student academic achievement and growth ▪ an interim assessment plays a critical role in evaluating the effectiveness of core instruction and identifying levels of support for groups and individual students

▪ FastBridge is D200’s interim assessment

o Learning Acceleration

▪ The strategy used to address needs based on data

▪ Is about going forward and preparing students for success in the present with a focus on current grade-level standards

▪ Tier I (grade-level learning) is the primary lever to accelerate learning

▪ Additional supports provided to students (Tier II and III) need to be

contextualized within their subject, grade level, and curriculum

∙ Recap of CUSD 200 Core Actions to Accelerate Learning

o Adopt high-quality instructional materials

o Provide teachers with ongoing professional learning needed to provide Tier I instruction to all students

o Use assessments to prioritize learning

o Focus interventions on students most in need and create instructional coherence

There was additional information/comments on the following:

∙ This was an important item in building the foundation for our strategic plan.

∙ FastBridge is the anchor in our assessment program.

∙ Any time you are talking about the four quadrants at the Board level, you are talking about learning. The key is to take the four distinct quadrants/circles and bring them together.

∙ We are seldom working on one of the 33 strategies alone in isolation that does not have a point of connection to two or three other strategies that are related.

∙ The difference between an interim assessment (like FastBridge) and an external assessment (like IAR) and the reason it takes so long to receive the final results for IAR.

∙ The assessments that benefit us the most would be the interim assessments and the classroom assessments because those students are sitting in front of you when you get the results.

∙ The purpose of the assessment is to inform instruction for an individual student to understand where a student is and how they have grown.

∙ When you are talking about measuring progress and growth of individual students, IAR has limited function – you assess in the spring, get the results in mid-to-late fall (halfway through the next grade level), and another set of results not received until the following year.

∙ FastBridge - developed by a company that does assessments and has statisticians that have validated results.

∙ The only way to get specific comparative data is on the Illinois Report Card.

∙ When the state moved from PARCC to IAR, the state adopted the exact same scoring and the exact same cut scores that applied to PARCC, but it was not the exact same test.

∙ Universal screening means that all students at a grade level take that assessment, and progress monitoring means some students take that assessment.

∙ Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is a system of improvement that describes different levels of instruction. The data collected from FastBridge lets us know what level of instruction(s) students should receive (Tier I, II, III).

∙ Assessing oral reading fluency – this is important information for our reading team to have especially to determine if a student does need intervention.

∙ It is essential in grades 1-3 that we listen to students read as that is when they are learning to read; after that, they are reading to learn.

∙ Noted that the FastBridge earlyReading and earlyMath subtest screenings given in grades K-1 are given one-on-one.

∙ FastBridge updates its norms regularly.

∙ Classroom assessments tell us every day what action needs to be taken with learning acceleration for students.

∙ FastBridge tells us if students score in the 50% or higher, they are likely to be very successful in grade-level learning.

∙ There is a big difference in skills and abilities between a student scoring in the 30% and a student scoring in the 83%.

∙ The idea of a cusp student – the student is learning within the classroom, not being pulled out for any intervention, but needs additional support from a teacher or may receive push-in support from a specialist from time to time. Staff identifies these students as a result of the data reports and helps guide the daily decisions they are making in their classrooms.

∙ Will be reporting on the dashboard the percentage of students that meet typical and aggressive growth, which equals one year’s worth of growth.

∙ We want all students to make a year’s worth of growth.

∙ The importance of tracking the individual progress of students, but also provides critical information for the system and identifying at what grade levels we see problems (what may be happening at that grade level).

∙ Noted the struggle point for current second graders – early learning opportunities missed due to the pandemic and a different Kindergarten experience for those same students. Will need to support and boost this grade level and follow it through the system to review growth.

∙ Mrs. Murphy meets with the reading coaches every Friday, and discussions around what are the interventions we are looking at to support the second-grade group of students.

∙ Dr. Silagi provided an example of how FastBridge is being used at the building/classroom level at Washington Elementary with their fourth-grade team data meeting. Dr. Schuler also witnessed this at Lincoln Elementary with their second-grade grade team during a recent building visit. Both examples show instructional discussions taking place and decisions being made on individual student supports that were needed.

∙ The coach position – the role is critically important not only to new teachers, but to all teachers regarding assessments, supporting staff, and guiding classrooms.

∙ Can visit multiple buildings at the same grade level and see a very similar common high quality experience.

∙ FastBridge reports have many layers and can identify when an entire classroom needs work on a specific skill (whole group recommendation).

∙ Do not want to over-index on one assessment tool.

There were questions and/or additional discussion on the following:

∙ Does IAR allow us to look at gaps between subgroups?

∙ FastBridge is included on the District Dashboard.

∙ Every district we compare to as a board has an interim assessment tool – it may not be FastBridge, however, while they may be using different tools, the information will tell you where a student is performing relative to grade-level expectations and how they are growing over the course of the year.

∙ FastBridge and NWEA Map – both products are research-based and built off of the learning continuum that is the common core learning standards.

∙ IAR assessment has been in place since 2019; Noted IAR had an interruption due to the pandemic and limited participation in 2021.

∙ A request for information on what a teacher does with the data received from assessments.

∙ The dashboard will be updated annually after the spring assessment data is known.

∙ The testing tool captures growth for high-level students – it is an adaptive assessment (adaptive for each student).

∙ District 200 dashboard and the indicators for growth – will be reported in the spring.

∙ The career of students as we continue to get more data – the capability of FastBridge to show growth for individual students (historical data from when assessments began).

∙ Confirmation that teachers are not waiting until the FastBridge data is received(three times a year) to see when students are at a critical point and need support.

∙ D200 new teachers - do they come in understanding this process or do we teach it? Noted learning these things when you are part of a school and a system; D200 also hires a lot of our student teachers; have grade level PLC’s; principals ask questions in interviews related to the assessment process and how the candidates sees this.

∙ The frequency of data-driven meetings taking place – there are data meetings taking place post-assessment three times per year; grade-level PLC’s taking place weekly or bi-weekly; and progress monitoring meetings more often for more intensive students.

∙ The impact on the individual buildings, principals, and teachers when the letters are sent out notifying parents of assessment scores being available in Synergy.

∙ Interim assessment tool for FastBridge – local assessments are given three times a year for grades K-8 in reading and math.

∙ The national standards are updated every five years (norming study), according to FastBridge.

∙ Assessments for other subjects, such as science and social studies?

∙ Are there learning pieces that can be applied to other classes/subjects?

∙ Universal screening for reading – questions based on student grade and skill level – the progression on specific skill levels for reading that you want students to master.

∙ Focus of small group instruction on skill proficiency – put students together that have either the same strength or gap in a specific skill.

∙ The importance of third graders reading at grade level, as this relates to success in later grades for those students.

∙ Any potential for FastBridge to get more finite on the 31-84 national percentile grouping? Noted the concern if too finite over the potential to tailor instruction right where a student is and lose sight of the learning acceleration piece and learning progression.

∙ The timing of the administration of the winter assessment (as it relates to the fall and spring assessments window). Noted the state testing and ACCESS testing that occurs in the spring.

∙ Growth monitoring chart – report on the fall-to-spring growth on the dashboard.

∙ FastBridge provides a window of time for the administering of each cycle of testing; data is normed and not adjusted based on when tests are administered within each testing window.

∙ SAEBRS (behavior component of FastBridge) – working on that to be reported to parents as well.

∙ Reporting out of fall assessment data – when is this expected? Hoping in two-three weeks, dependent on some technical pieces. Noted this is the first time in the first year of FastBridge to report the data to parents.

∙ Description of the information that parents will receive on their student in Synergy, as well as information the teacher will share on each learner with the parents

∙ How to identify a student adept at math, yet testing in a language-based assessment? The importance of classroom assessments and potential accommodations. Noted the same challenge exists with IAR assessment as with FastBridge when it comes to this aspect.

∙ Coaches and interventionists – the District is fully staffed with these positions for this year. Noted the 5-year forecast and will have to make strategic budget decisions in the coming years to provide this level of support (as well as lower class sizes). Currently are funded with federal relief dollars.

∙ The observation that everything seems to be data-driven – making investments and the importance of staffing for support staff and coaches.

∙ The importance of third grade, and how critical early childhood, preschool, and ADK are to the success – should we be doing more? This is a good topic for discussion at an upcoming meeting; a request for Dr. Silagi to provide an update at a future meeting on ADK (All Day Kindergarten); the Early Learning Collaborative as it relates to Kindergarten readiness;

Equity Journey Continuum as it relates to Kindergarten Readiness and where kids come to the starting line.

∙ ADK – any facilities restrictions based on numbers?

∙ Does the data have the ability to show the impact of half-day vs. full-day Kindergarten in later grades?

∙ Classroom size impact on the data.

∙ The assessments will provide the data; the data warehouse will allow us to do all of that analysis.

∙ The rich amount of data being gathered for K-8. Is there anything we can be doing with kids at the HS level? Noted, we do use FastBridge for at-risk students at the HS level; utilize the assessments data/info to make course recommendations for HS; have multiple data points for HS – Freshman on Track, PSAT, SAT, AP/Dual Credit info, and course grades. Getting students to eighth grade and launching students onto a pathway; success in HS related to getting kids into the right path; post-secondary experience and what launches kids here – success in HS classes, participation in extracurriculars, service, work experience; ensuring there isn’t any opportunity that is not available to a student at the HS based on their experience in K-8.

∙ Dashboard metrics – setting targets; these are noted when clicking on the “i” on each of the metrics.

2022 Delegate Assembly at the Joint Annual Conference

∙ The delegate assembly will take place at the conference.

∙ Susan Booton has volunteered to be the delegate representative for the Board.

∙ Copies of the resolutions were provided in the Board green folders.

∙ Board members were asked to review the resolutions under consideration at the delegate assembly before the October meeting, and to identify if there are any resolutions Board members disagree with what IASB is recommending (noted the “my Board’s Recommendation” page to use as a guide).

∙ The November meeting can also be used for discussion if additional information is required on specific resolutions.

∙ Noted the change from years past – all proposals require a two-thirds affirmative vote by the Delegate Assembly for passage.

PUBLIC COMMENTS – Agenda Items & Non-Agenda Items

None

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION

There being no further business to come before the Board in Open Session, Member Booton moved, Member Paulsen seconded to adjourn the meeting. Upon a voice call being taken, all were in favor and the motion carried 7-0.

The meeting adjourned at 9:04 PM.

https://www.cusd200.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=22857&dataid=37586&FileName=Minutes%20Sept%2028%202022%20COW.pdf