Overview of Board's Response

The Board respectfully wholly disagrees with this finding. No credible evidence exists to substantiate this hnding. The Grass Valley School District has established a very strong and effective teacher collaboration model. Article 3 of the Agreement between the Grass Valley School District and the Grass Valley Teachers Association, clearly outlines the efforts of the district to provide an effective and intentional time to collaborate. Early release collaboration days are provided for teachers every Wednesday. This dedicated time for teachers to work together is outlined in the agreement. It also clearly outlines that collaboration teams will examine and analyze data from district-wide benchmark assessments and grade level assessments and develop a plan for re- teaching, remediation or extension. it further states that collaboration will follow the best practices of Professional Learning Communities. The language also clarifies that a team of teachers will work with district administration to develop a collaboration calendar framework and Professional Development schedule for each trimester. as needed. The district has fully implemented the language in this agreement. Teacher curriculum leaders have been identified at each school site, and these leaders meet on a regular basis with teacher leaders from the other school sites in the district. The plans and strategies developed during these meetings are articulated to the other teachers in the district during the Wednesday collaboration days. The effectiveness of these collaboration and professional learning communities has been clearly demonstrated in the California Dashboard Report, which shows that students in the Grass Valley School District have increased in student proficiency on both thc English Language Arts and Mathematics state assessments. Based on all the foregoing, the Board wholly disagrees with the Grand Jury's finding that the failure of the school districts within the county to identify teacher leaders and coordinate teacher collaboration and articulation negatively impacts student opportunity. Findine 2: There is an apparent lack of Professional Learning Communities in the areas of English Language Arts and Mathematics in the nine school districts in the County. Response to

The Board respectfully wholly disagrees with this finding. No credible evidence exists to substantiate this finding. With respect to the Board's concerns regar:ding the information it received from the Grand Jury in support of this conclusion, please refer to the explanation provided under "Response to

The Board respectfully partially disagrees. There is limited evidence to substantiate this finding. Each month the superintendents of the nine school districts, and the Nevada County Superintendent of Schools, meet to collaborate and discuss issues relating to educational programs in their districts. The superintendent of the Nevada Joint Union High School District regularly shares information regarding the high school programs and discusses articulation between the feeder programs. Each year in the fall, the high school facilitates a day for 8th grade students to visit the Nevada Union High School campus and provides an opportunity for the Sth graders to visit the classrooms, talk to teachers, and learn about the academic and extracurricular programs at the high school. In February of each year, counselors from the high school visit Lyman Gilmore Middle School and provide information to students and parents regarding the Nevada Union High School programs and assist the fainilies in cnrolling in the high school. The counselors also give the Lyman Gilmore teachers opportunity to provide