Curriculum and Philosophy Committee

Minutes from 4/18/06 meeting

 

1)      Present; Dr Hanson, Peter Stackhouse, Bill Perkins,  Sally Oxnard, Lucy Cushman, Kim Casey, Townley Chisholm, monica Greenleaf, Pat Glennon, Sue Garneau, Susan Argyros. John Hazekamp  videodocumenting.

 

2)      called to order 7:08 PM by Sally Oxnard

 

3)      Current  Practices in reading grades 6 to 10

           Grade 6 reading instruction all year

           Grade 7 first semester of reading strategies for all

 

4)      Reading remediation practices

          a)  Grade 7 second semester, for recommended students

             Decisions made on NWEA scores, teacher feedback, IEP’s

             Reading teachers focus on struggling readers and help with content areas in 

                 the teams      

             Title 1 is provided for all eligible students- 2 grade levels behind on NWEA

                  Title 1 is taught by highly qualified teachers, 36 kids in CMS

          b) Grades 9 and 10 literacy labs-

               students are recommended based on Novice on  SIXTH grade NHEAP

               also students who are 2 grades levels behind on NWEA

               currently 7 sections (small sections)

 

5)      CMS special programs

A)    summer program- 70 students with IEP’s eligible, 50 come

B)     Critical reading labs- 24 students per lab every other day-

          Working on fluency, reading naturally, oral interp, comprehension

                             Studenst like these labs and choose to come at other times as well

6)      Questions

A)    can we predict in 6^th grade who needs more help based on 5^th grade scores

B) why are 7^th graders all taking reading?- they all need strategies

C)    why can struggling readers choose World Language instead of reading?

                  D) why can       “              “                     study hall              “

E)     Will the school board support a policy to say that students who are 2 years

         behind  in reading  on NECAP and /or NWEA will take reading and not

         be eligible for World Languages  at the Middle School level. This is

         supported by the staff and administration.

 

 VOTE by the committee to ask the administration to come up with a policy to say that students will be given every opportunity to learn to read, a crucial skill for graduation, and will be directed to reading instead of to World Lang or study hall at the CMS and EHS when they meet criteria such as 2 years behind grade level in reading.

 

 

7)      Family and Consumer Science and Wood Tech/ Power Tech with new HS

              Dr Hanson states that students will be taking most Family and Consumer Sciences in the new HS building, and will be bussed to the SST for labs twice a week perhaps.  Also students in the Wood tech or Power tech courses will be probably starting their day at the SST, have attendance taken there, and have a 10 min window after 2 periods to return to the HS by bus or car.

 

8)      NWEA recap- Peter Stackhouse has been asked to look at how individual students do at meeting their  individual goals on the NWEA. This could perhaps be stratified by students with the top 1/3 of the scores, mid 1/3 of the scores, and lower 1/3 of the scores. He says this data is not easily retrieved, and he is working on it.

 

    9) next meeting topic- HS dropout data  and progress.

 

Respectfully Submitted

Sarah C. Oxnard MD