Voices for International Business and Education
Minutes
Academic Committee Meeting
Date and Time
Monday September 19, 2016 at 7:00 PM
Location
International High School of New Orleans Community Room 727 Carondelet St. LA 70130
Voices for International Business and Education http://public.boardontrack.com/VIBE_1
Committee Members Present
A. Berger, C. Allen, J. Carter, L. Crowe, L. Lopez, S. Retzlaff, S. Thomas, S. Wilson
Committee Members Absent
C. Webb
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
Attendance was taken
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
J. Carter called a meeting of the Academic Committee of Voices for International Business and Education to order on Monday Sep 19, 2016 at 7:03 PM.
C.
Approve Minutes
These are previous years minutes
J. Carter made a motion to approve minutes from the Academic Committee Meeting on 10-08-14 Academic Committee Meeting on 10-08-14.
C. Allen seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. Academic
A.
2015 - 2016 Overview of Academic Year
- Culture
- A report about culture and behavioral intervention was given.
- Data was presented regarding a three year discipline progress
- The School Wide Discipline Process for this year was presented. A "card system" is being implemented to give warnings before getting the student out of the class and intervention to reflect about the disruptive behavior.
- The intent is to focus on positive behavior and allow for reflection of negative/disruptive behavior.
- The focus of this system is to not put a student out right away, but work things out and document behavior incidents
- An advisory period has been adopted this year in order to create more connections between student and adults in the building. Every adult in the building is assigned to co-lead an advisory.
- Advisory takes place during lunch time since there are two lunches 9th and 11th is on lunch at the same time and 10th and 12th
- Teachers get a 90 minutes planning everyday and three duty-free lunches every week.
- Community circles have been implemented for students as a restorative tool
- There are 15 after school clubs so far.
- Morning and dismissal duty is in place so students are able to see an adult in every direction as they come in the building or leave.
- Academics
- The EOC (End Of Course) assessment 3-Year Trend was presented for each of the 6 subjects that students are tested on. Data reflects a decline in scores
B.
Discuss plans for '16-2017 School Year
- For the 2016-2107 year the focus is to increase the number of student scoring fair and proficient.
- The idea was to create units over the summer. A year at a glance curriculum was written broken down in units.
- At the beginning of the year, the curriculum writers handed in those plans to teachers and teachers reviewed and revised it to adapt them to the students in the building.
- A standard test and unit was developed for each class offered in the building. Meaning all students take the same exam at the end of the unit that reflects the end of the year assessment.
- So using backwards planning, they are writing the assessment first and then teach in accordance to that test.
- Assessments are to evaluate the standards required for each discipline
- Data is collected for each assessments and teachers come together to compare and reflect on the results to improve practice
- S. Thomas asked if these common assessments don't raise flags about students sharing information about assessments. A. Berger explained that students can have the same answer but with common core now, students have to be able to explain the answer.
- C. Allen asked what is the relationship between the current curriculum and any textbook material. A. Berger explained that textbooks are not being used in class for the most part, rather teachers use multiple sources to teach. Scope and sequence is not followed from a textbook. Teachers are following standards and creating their own resources.
- This same model is working pretty well with the IB classes
- The IB rubric is being used in all classes. All students are receiving some kind of IB instruction/class.
- Teachers are keeping a data tracker that identifies the baseline collected from the beginning of the year assessment.
- Students get their assessments back and have the opportunity to go over the incorrect answers and get partial credit for the corrections.
- Based on the initial data collected, students were identified to assign to intervention, support, etc.
- A lot more IB assessment technques are being implemented in classrooms. A CAS and Extended Essay coordinator are doing an excellent job in monitoring the process developing the skills necessary to build the content for their projects.
- We want to keep the adults in the building this year. We are implementing the following to make sure we have retainable staff:
- We interviewed different in having candidates sample teach
- A lot of professional development has been implemented to make sure our faculty is receiving the tools they need to be successful. Teachers were asked about what they needed to learn about and PD is scheduled accordingly.
C.
Challenges to daily operations
- Documenting all and every interaction that we have in the building represents a challenge due time constrain
- Class observations are being tracked, a teacher should receive between 9 - 18 in the school year. The data collected will help us make informative decisions for future decisions
- Another challenge are the conversation of what "can be said, or can't be said" due to the current legal process the school is undergoing.
- We are now keeping an extra conscious effort to be intentional about our conversations with people in the building.
- We are being more intentional about following up on writing any conversations had with faculty and staff.
III. Other Business
A.
New Item
S. Retzlaff will create goals for the Academic committee and Mr. Wilson will provide some information for the goals.
IV. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
S. Retzlaff made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
J. Carter seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
L. Lopez