Curriculum & Instruction: NCC & SAC Info

NCC Minutes...

...May 10, 2007

May 15, 2007

Northeast Curriculum Council Minutes
Thursday, May 10, 2007
8:10 A.M.

The NCC met on Thursday, May 10, 2007, at the Franklin Community Center at 8:10 A.M. Fifteen members were present along with Kelly Gentry, Curriculum Leadership Institute (CLI) consultant. Members Larry Hill, Roger Horn, and Craig Stokes were absent.

Each member present received an agenda, Northeast NCC and SAC* Dates 2007-2008, Northeast USD 246 SAC Schedule 07-08, and minutes from the April 26th meeting. Note, a correction was made to the April 26th minutes, the words “bad practice” were deleted on page 3, line 20.

Three, one-year term members, Barbara Crim, Kristy Rivers, and Mario Valenzuela, have reapplied and been accepted for three-year terms. There is one vacancy for Certified Personnel Outside the Classroom. Applications will be accepted from personnel who qualify, such as Title 1, Speech, Counselors, Library Media, etc.

NCC By-laws require that a member miss no more than three regular meetings during a school year. Therefore, Roger Horn, having missed three meetings is no longer a member of the NCC. He will be contacted by Nicki Traul and applications will be taken to fill a Parent/Community position thru June 2008. The position will be posted on the Northeast web site, announced at PTO and Site Council meetings. Parents and community members will be invited to apply in person or by letter.

A change was made on the Northeast Curriculum Council and SAC* Dates 2007-2008: Career-Technical SACs will meet on September 27th, and Reading SAC will meet on October 25th. Career/Tech will meet first so that the curriculum can be lined out in time to meet state requirements in order to qualify for Vocational Education funding.

In the 2007-2008 school year, Math and Spanish SACs will begin implementing, while Career/Tech and Reading SACs will start. Math SAC will meet to discuss feedback, 21st Century skills, and make any necessary changes. The 07-08 school year is the draft year for Math and Spanish, so they can make any changes then. After next year, Math and Spanish becomes final.

Reading SAC will consist of: High school - Barbara Crim, Ryan Smith and Piper Richardson, the HS Library Media Specialist, currently Linda Roberts, Kristy Rivers 8th, Susie Polhlopek 7th, Missy Sisney 6th, Amy Christman, librarian, Shari Miller 5th, Kathy Puckett 4th, Shane Wade 3rd, Lacey Likely 2nd, Becky Cobb 1st, Alicia Nunn-K, and Donna Fleury for Title 1 Reading.

Reading surveys will be sent out in May. Nicki Traul will meet with Reading SAC members in order to set the June, 2008, meeting date.

Write Source textbooks were approved by the teachers. The cost was found to be lower than expected. Nicki Traul will take a request for new textbooks to the board.

Mastery and Grading: Feedback from the elementary level concerned limiting modifications. The state allows any modifications that are done regularly in the classroom to also be used on tests. Faculty discussed if Special Ed would be of benefit to more students or classrooms and extended day. Faculty wants consistency concerning what is mastery and what is not. Feedback from the high school was varied and without consensus. Weighting of grades varied by class and teacher.

Lengthy discussion followed about whether or not grades really make a difference. The book, Learning Leader, by Douglas Reeves was referred to for research showing perception vs. reality. Perception was that students with D’s and F’s would not do well. Reality was that grades did not matter. Discussion also involved the mathematical side of grades; should grading be on a 1-2-3-4 scale or based on percentage? If percentage is used, should 50% be the lowest score or should a 0 be given?

NCC members reviewed the sample grade card from the book by Robert Marzano, “Grading to Communicate”, by Tony Winger, and Chapter 1, from Activating the Desire to Learn, by Bob Sullo, which was passed out to all members present. Members reviewed Decision Making Framework Grading/Reporting time-line. Decisions need to be made one at a time and completed by the time the first subjects are implemented.

Break 10:00 to 10:15

Discussion about how long it takes for change to happen and how students and teachers need to be motivated.

Overview of Grading/Reporting item numbers 1, 3, 9, 10, and 12. Kelly will bring samples of number 12. First, establish a need, read background, then discuss the possibilities. Teachers and administrators need to work together to come to a consensus, however, when consensus is not reached, the decision rests on administrators. Trust between teachers, administrators and fellow workers is very important. Members may want to read, The Learning Leader, by Doug Reeves, as it has a lot of information not included in handouts.

Goals/Current Initiatives: Review of the Northeast USD 246 Criteria and Indicators for Teacher Performance handouts were passed to all members. Randy Rivers reviewed the changes that were made and are indicated in the margins. Criteria was found to be strong, comprehensive and required no major changes. The school board desires that the Criteria and Indicators be sent to staff so they can provide feedback. Staff also needs to e-mail between meetings in order to explore ideas which could be brought to meetings.

Spanish SAC is finished. Math SAC meets the week of June 11 and will end when finished.

Geometry books were ordered and have arrived. The book company added free online textbooks.

Career/Tech SAC will consist of 2 people for grades 6-12, 2 teachers and computer lab aide-Brenda Cavin for grades K-5. FAC will have 1 teacher, Industrial Tech will have 2 teachers.

Curriculum Drafts are finished. Kelly will bring copies. They will also be online in PDF format so all can see and print off if desired.

Future Agenda includes: Mastery and Grading, Goals and Current Initiatives--Organization/Academic Honesty

NCC members should communicate with their constituates and bring their ideas.

Meeting adjourned at 11:30