Is there an attempt by the administration to define what does it mean by PROFICIENCY? 

• Over the retreat, the term fluent was changed to proficient. By the work done was determined that students could be able to do two of the three (read, write, speak) 
• Fr. Carter asked what is the definition of proficiency for administration. 
  • AB stated that proficiency is dependent upon the language and the standards for that particular course. 
  • Fr. JC asked who establishes the standards? AB stated that those standards are set by the state. 
  • IB is another measurement of proficiency. 
  • Fr. JC  asked if there is something in the report presented by academics that can be put on the board academic dashboard. 
  • AB explained that at the moment the report didn't reflect "dashboard-material" 
  • Fr. JC wants to find out the information that can be quantifiable to track the progress of our students. 
  • AB explained that we have current data from the diagnostic assessment, not the total information. 
  • Fr. JC wants to know how can we measure proficiency in each of the languages. He would like to see that information twice a year. 
  • Fr. JC would like to see the percentage of students that ...
    • IB scores 
    • State benchmarks standards 
  • SR suggested to include July 2017's results on the dashboard
  • Fr. JC Would like to have a clearer idea of the measurement of proficiency. 
  • This committee's goal is to monitor the dashboard and the goal achievement. 
  • AB explained that there is no external assessment 
  • Fr. JC suggested having faculty tell us what is a level 1 (level 2, level 3) proficiency by languages. 
  • AB asked if the information requested is by end of the year or current? 
  • ST suggested that assessment is twice a year, before December break and at the end of the year. 
  • SW pointed back to the World Languages Learning Continuum which establishes the proficiency level including reading, writing and speaking. 
  • ST suggested tabling the "proficiency" part for next meeting. 
  • SR would like to see the results from the testing results from July and how did we start this year. 
  • CA reminded the committee that the process was to review and evaluate if there were any edits that need to be done to the goals and propose those changes to the board at large. 
• Fr. JC asked if the committee wants to change the goals. 
• SR stated that the statement on the dashboard has already been updated, but it was not brought to the board at large to make the recommendation and get it approved by the board.  

Fr. Carter made a motion to add an agenda item. action item to approve additions to Goal 1 of the Academic Program pillar
 to recommend the dashboard with the updates brought by SR to the board. 
SR seconded the motion and motion was carried.  

Motion to update the pillar 1 Goal 1 Objective 1 with the addendum with the objectives and outcomes in the presented document. 

Fr. Carter wants to include in next meeting's agenda a voting item for the rest of the goals 2 and 3. motion RS and seconded ST

ST moved to go back to the agenda, SR seconded and motion was carried



 

 

• Dr. Thomas explained that her questions came about from the board retreat regarding what is great about the World Languages program, what can be different what is the support needed from the board to support this initiative. 
• SW explained that the cost of testing per student would be about $200+ 
• The assessments adopted are tests that other schools in the city are using to assess Spanish and French. 
• CA asked if we have native speakers taking their home language as a foreign language. AB explained that we do have for example Spanish speaking students that may know the language, but are not as proficient in reading and writing the language and they still take Spanish. 
• SR asked if are we "there" yet to the point that the assessments are worth our money. She would like to the results from last year and the assessment for this year. 
• SW stated that we are not there yet, but working in that direction. There are some things that need to be put in place in order for us to increase language proficiency. This movement requires considerable investment on our part and we have applied for Pro-bono funds to create our language lab. The Rex foundation gives money to educational institutions. It is a solid ask now. The ask was for 75k 
  • AB explained that the scores from incoming students will look very different from the end of the year results. She will provide for next meeting. 
• ST suggested that the recommendation to the board should be about the broader view of how are we measuring and monitoring proficiency
• ST is interested in learning how does language instruction work? are Spanish teachers teaching the same thing to the same level classes? do they plan in progression? What do teachers think about the current assessments and what is the assessment they want to use? 
  • AB explained that teachers have planning time together. Teachers have created a robust assessment in collaboration. 
• ST asked what do teachers think they need to make their department better? 
  • AB explained that this year we are purchasing French textbooks, Spanish textbooks. What we really need is the language lab to achieve language proficiency.  
• ST asked about the cost of professional development for teachers. 
  • AB explained that the costs depend on the level of the training that they are going for. An example was given for the IB teachers. Every year things may change and we need our teachers to be up to date on updates and changes. We currently have a 90% of our teachers IB trained. 
  • The only language teacher that is not IB trained is the Vietnamese teacher since it is not an IBDP language. However, there are other trainings that she is set for. 
• ST asked if the goals reflected on the dashboard are realistic such as the language certificates 
  • AB explained that we are not doing language certificates because she doesn't think are efficient 
  • CA reminded the committee that this was something that was brought up in the past and didn't proceed because those certificates are not recognized by the state. 
  • AB stated that the certificates are a good idea, but would like to bring it to the academic team. 
  • The committee discussed motivators for students 
  • ST is interested in knowing what else is the school doing to movitate and create a robust language learner. 
  • SW stated that back in the day when the initiative launched it was to give an "add-on" to the Louisiana certificate. That was 
• A motion was made to remove this item from the strategic plan.

As a result from this discussion, Fr. JC is asking if Administration would like to give a couple of items that can be registered in the dashboard. 
SW stated that for the first Thursday of the month the agenda is ready with attached documents. SW is asking if we can ask questions back from the committee by Monday in order to be ready for Tuesday's meeting. 
Fr. JC wants to know what are quantifiable items that we can keep an eye on for the committee to track progress.  

November - CA is asking that for the November meeting, the committee bring to the board a general idea if the goals will be edited or not. 

Next Committee Meeting: 

• Dashboard suggestions
• Discuss the remaining boards for academic and culture; goals 2 and 3 - vote
• IB scores from July 2017 comparisons to 2015 and 2016. 
• Diagnostic results from August 2017