For this Discussion, you will review two of the case study videos for Jamal, which were viewed within your previous course. As you reflect on the previous case studies, pay special attention to the be

Bethel School District: Connecting Data to the District’s Mission and Vision Bethel School District: Connecting Data to the District ’s Mission and Vision Program Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: As a curriculum and instruction leader, it is essential to und\ erstand the importance of the alignment between diagnostic data and a district's\ vision, mission, and goals. In this video, education leaders from the Bethel Sch\ ool District in Eugene, Oregon discuss their district's action plan, collaborative efforts, and how the action plan was inspired by the district's vision a\ nd mission statements.

LORI RAE SMITH: I just want to say that that's the big cultural shift, i\ s not looking at students and how they're identified first, so that defines what they \ get for their instruction or their program, but looking at the students, and their pro\ files, and their assessment data to say, what do they need? And that's a huge chang\ e for the better.

DREW BRAUN: I mean, we'll have students that come into the district that\ are very low on reading, and may be in a group that is primarily special ed \ students.

But we aren't talking about identifying them. We're talking about giving\ them an opportunity to see if they've lacked good instruction in the past. And a\ lot of kids really just take off. So it's amazing.

And then talk about the cultural shift, we also made a structural shift.\ When this first started, I was across the street as the director of curriculum. An\ d this building was special services. And it was this project that really broug\ ht the whole spectrum together. And after our special services director retired, we reorganized, and now I'm the director of instruction that includes speci\ al ed, includes title, includes ELL, and so on.

And so we're all housed together. And when we go to the table, we're all\ there together to see how we could meet the needs of the whole spectrum of kid\ s.

RHONDA WOLTER: And it's each and every kid.

DREW BRAUN: Yes.

RHONDA WOLTER: We are down to the kid level. Each and every kid. I think\ in elementary you would see lots of students engaged in learning in positiv\ e classrooms who are receiving instruction at their level, enjoying being \ there.

Teachers who see themselves as being highly successful in what they do daily.

LORI RAE SMITH: Those are big changes.

1 Bethel School District: Connecting Data to the District’s Mission and Vision [ALL LAUGHING] RHONDA WOLTER: They're big changes. They're big changes.

TERESA TURNER FIELD: And in the middle school?

LORI RAE SMITH: I think in the middle school, the biggest change would b\ e that before our reading initiative in grade 6-8, there was a perception by teachers and by staff that students had learned to read in elementary school, and the\ y could just teach content.

And I think that the assessment that they've learned to look at and unde\ rstand, and the professional development that they've received, has completely c\ hanged that perception to now, they understand that there's a range of reading \ skills in each grade level in the middle grades, and that that impacts a student's ability to respond to instruction. And that we have some responsibility to change t\ hat and improve all students' reading levels.

And I think for all teachers in our middle grade systems are very aware \ of what their students' reading data looks like, how their students read, what we can do to help them in reading class, but also throughout the day. I think that's \ changed their understanding. As they deliver their content, they're more aware t\ hat they have a range of readers in their classroom, and they can differentiate that instruction or look at the data and realize it has implications for the \ way I teach science, and how I assign reading, and what I do. So that's a huge shift\ .

RHONDA WOLTER: And then elementary, I think, in K-3, teachers are teachi\ ng kids how to read. And then at grades 4-5, kids are reading to learn. And\ teachers had to make that shift in their thinking about, that they're going to te\ ach reading, but it's going to look different at different grade levels.

LORI RAE SMITH: All the way through.

RHONDA WOLTER: All the way through.

LORI RAE SMITH: Grade 8 and beyond.

RHONDA WOLTER: That's right. Right.

DREW BRAUN: Well, and we really did take on the old adage that K-3, you learn to read, and 4-12, you read to learn. And we now say you need to teach reading K-12. One of the things that we also knew was that if a student's readin\ g level was here, but the course content material was here, how do we bridge tha\ t gap?

Because you can't wait until the student's reading level is at grad e level.

2 Bethel School District: Connecting Data to the District’s Mission and Vision And so Lori worked with another person on our staff and a researcher. An\ d they started looking at, how do we support through content literacy strategie\ s? So one of the other big shifts was that the K-3 was focused on kids learning to\ read. Well now, we're trying to teach them to learn to read, but then also they need to access the social studies, the science, and so on while they're building\ their skills. And so we put a lot of emphasis on content literacy as well.

LORI RAE SMITH: And I think to tie together what we just shared about th\ e difference between the elementary and the middle grades, probably a very\ telling piece is what we have now. We've gone from the K-3 initiative, jumped to the 6 -8 initiative, went bac k made sure 4-5 was on board and have started working with the high school.

And what we have now in our district are literacy leadership teams from \ every building to meet together periodically throughout the year for half days\ to talk about what reading looks like K-12, and how do we support students that \ are in our system K through 12? And so, what does reading look like K through 1\ 2. And we have common understandings and assessment across grade levels and building levels. And so, I think that's really a powerful change form- - RHONDA WOLTER: And those team members have become the experts in their buildings. And they're the ones that help with professional development.\ And they answer questions and come back to us and let us know how the instruction\ department can help with their needs.

DREW BRAUN: I think the other piece when you talk about commitment is yo\ u never get to relax. Because as you move on to other initiatives, you can\ 't take your eye off our reading. Because in the past, we used to do that and say, oh, OK, we've fixed reading. Now we move to math. And five years later, we'r\ e back to reading.

What's interesting for us right now is we're in our 14th year. And about\ two years ago, we realized that there was only one building principle left when we started, and only about a third of the teachers. So we've had to go back and star\ t a whole renewal process on why we're doing what we're doing, why we're using the\ programs we're using, and so on.