By Polly Mikula
The Agency of Education (AoE) announced Oct. 15 the next phase of its 2024 Listen and Learn Tour, which now invites the public to participate in community conversations to inform how the Agency delivers services and supports to Vermont’s education system.
The first stop on this new public engagement phase of the tour was Tuesday evening, Oct. 22, at Woodstock Union Middle/High School.
“These public engagement sessions will help the Agency develop its strategic plan and ensure that its work is supporting the educational priorities of communities across Vermont,” the AoE stated in a news release last week. “Following a series of data reports and regional planning sessions with more than 250 education leaders, the Agency is eager to expand these conversations to include educators, parents, students, and community members across the state.”
There are seven in-person public engagement sessions and two virtual ones scheduled from Oct. 22-Nov, 6. Each will take place from 6-8 p.m. at the following locations:
Oct. 22: Woodstock Union Middle/High School
Oct. 23: Mount Anthony Union High School
Oct. 23: Stowe High School
Oct. 28: Montpelier High School
Oct. 28: West Rutland School
Oct. 29: Lyndon Town School
Oct. 30: Enosburg Falls High School
Nov. 4: Virtual Meeting (ASL interpreter available)
Nov. 6: Virtual Meeting (ASL interpreter available)
“Every session will begin with introductory information and data to support more in-depth conversations, followed by breakout sessions on topics related to student achievement and support, career and college readiness, and school budgets, among other emerging priorities,” the agency explained in the release.
“The Listen and Learn Tour is a critical part of developing the Agency of Education’s strategic plan to ensure our efforts support Vermont’s short-term and long-term educational needs,” said Interim Secretary of Education Zoie Saunders at Governor Phil Scott’s weekly press conference on Wednesday, Oct. 16. “Hearing from educators, parents, students, and community members is essential to developing a plan that reflects Vermont’s values, promotes measurable academic improvement, and maximizes state resources to achieve our collective hopes and dreams for students. This work is happening at a critical time when state leaders, including the Commission on the Future of Public Education, educators, and community members are contemplating changes to how we deliver a quality education to every Vermont student in a way that is sustainable. The Agency is fully engaged in this work and is committed to supporting our educational partners to create a high-quality public education system at a cost taxpayers can afford,” she said.
The state’s Listen and Learn Tour has five main goals:
To align AoE’s work to regional and local priorities by engaging stakeholders with immediate knowledge of the challenges that students and educators face every day, the agency will be better able to tailor support towards effective solutions.
To help identify a shared understanding of how the agency can most effectively support high quality teaching and learning.
To use a collaborative process to inform changes that expand students’ access to high-quality educational opportunities.
To review data and share innovative best practices, identifying key opportunities for improving student achievement.
To develop a strategic plan that meets the state’s immediate priorities while supporting the future statewide vision for public education in Vermont. Immediate priorities include supporting landmark legislation, helping struggling school districts, and providing training and support for this budgeting cycle.
“The Listen and Learn Tour was designed to be a methodical, data-driven, and participatory process,” Saunders summarized.
First phase recap
Phase 1 of the Listen and Learn Tour involved collecting and analyzing data. The agency published the State Profile Report in August, the first in a series of reports to support planning. The report included student performance data, enrollment, staffing, expenditure, and more aimed at elucidating an understanding of the current state of Vermont’s education system.
The report reinforced some commonly understood trends and also illuminated new questions that need further investigation, Saunders said highlighting the following data points:
Compared to other states, Vermont has very small schools, the highest staffing levels and the highest expenditure per pupil;
According to the National Assessment for Education Progress, Vermont students perform high in reading compared to other states (though that trend has been declining); its students perform average in math;
Overall enrollment in K-12 public education has decreased by over 14% since 2004;
The biggest changes in enrollment and academic performance occurred before the pandemic; and
The report also compared trends by size of supervisory union/school district and found that the smaller supervisory unions/districts tended to serve higher-needs students and, due to budget constraints, tended to pay their teachers less.
The State Profile Report will be re-released soon to reflect additional context gathered through stakeholder feedback, the agency stated. It will also release regional reports, district reports, education finance reports, and other topical reports over the coming year.
Through the first phase of the tour, agency staff facilitate regional planning sessions with over 250 education leaders across the state. Discussions focused on important education topics, ranging from academic performance, college and career readiness, student mental health, and data needed to inform budgeting decisions.
Several common themes emerged:
Need for reliable, accessible, and easy to use data;
Focus on expanding access to college and career readiness;
Need to balance local autonomy with clearer direction from AoE to support academic outcomes;
Recognize that student mental health needs reflect community needs and require integrated solutions;
Issues related to housing, affordability, loss of industry/jobs also impact schools in terms of teacher recruitment and student enrollment; and
More guidance is needed on short-term cost-containment strategies and how to design and measure long-term transformation for the education system.
“We hope you will join us for the Listen and Learn public engagement sessions, starting on Oct. 22,” said Saunders. “We look forward to the ongoing collaboration. Together, we will build a brighter future for all Vermont children.”
While not required, pre-registration is encouraged using the online registration form at: Tinyurl.com/VtEdTour.
