Tech Academy Meeting Minutes

April 15th, 2009

Intervention Data

• Data from the 2007/2008 CSAP was used to develop our goals and strategies. We probably won't receive the 2008/2009 scores until the end of summer.
• Some teachers have seen growth in our focus areas (such as the SCR) in their classes.
  
• We need to find more frequent and standardized indicators for collecting data next year (maybe the District Benchmark Exams).
  

Next Year

• Freshman should be introduced to SCRs immediately.
• Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors should be introduced to LCRs immediately.
• Staff Party!
  • Let's celebrate the beginning of the school year.
  • Teambuilding opportunity.
  • Begin on a positive note.
• Intervention strategies
  • Spend intervention time on the 'All School Read' program with reading logs
  • Work one on one with students who are failing our classes
  • How does the mentoring period fit into the new schedule? What will passing students do during that time? How pure will the academies be? We need clarity before we can be expected to develop any viable intervention strategies for next year.

Discussion concerning new schedule and teacher support

• What did we vote for? Several teachers expressed strong disagreement to teaching 6 classes. Several missed that meeting and did not get to vote at all.
• What happened to the "Teacher of the Month" program?
• New "School Culture" group may help us take the first steps toward a more positive school culture.
  

February 25th, 2009

Brainstorming Professional Development topics for rest of the school year...

January 28th, 2009
Short meeting because of preceding staff meeting in the Library.

Mizani
SCR:
All team members read an article and wrote an SCR. We traded papers and graded them using the 4-point rubric. A discussion followed concerning the Detail/Explain portion of the rubric. We agreed that in order to receive full credit, students should explain the detail from the text - it is not good enough to only include a citation. This will encourage higher order reading skills. All Tech Academy teachers will use SCRs in their classes and will grade them using the following rubric:

LCR:
The English Department will focus on Long Constructed Responses (5-paragraph essays) this semester. All Tech Academy teachers received the LCR grading rubric in case they want to try assigning LCRs in their classes, but LCRs are not mandatory.

December 3rd, 2008

Linkous
Professionalism: Be respectful of each other at meetings.
Highlights: First wave are currently being returned from Steve. Since this is the first feedback we've received, no additional highlights are due this month (a total of 2 should have been completed this semester).
Call Logs: Keep making calls and email Steve your log every week.

Wall/Kelleher:
Data Team Process: Goal of discussion is to clarify direction and establish some uniformity between the 3 tech teams.  We've all collected and analyzed data and determined we should concentrate on writing.  This semester we focused on Short Constructed Responses. Suggested lessons include guided reading, critical thinking activities and using WICR/AVID strategies. We all use the same four-point rubric for SCR grading. There is some ambiguity concerning expected growth (probably 8 percentage points).

LCR discussion:
Spring semester we are shifting focus from SCR to LCR (Long Constructed Response / five-paragraph essay).

Outstanding:
All teachers need LCR training from English Dept. to establish consistent teaching methods and grading rubric.
How many LCRs should students write next semester, what classes should they write them in, and will teacher input be considered in these decisions?
What is our goal (% LCR growth within our classes, % CSAP growth)?