Voices for International Business and Education
Minutes
Academic Committee
Date and Time
Tuesday August 7, 2018 at 6:00 PM
Location
727 Carondelet St. New Orleans, LA 70130 Community Room
Voices for International Business and Education http://public.boardontrack.com/VIBE_1
Committee Members Present
A. Brown, G. Lazard, S. Retzlaff, S. Thomas
Committee Members Absent
None
Guests Present
A. Berger, L. Lopez, R. McGee, S. Wilson
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
S. Retzlaff called a meeting of the Academic Committee of Voices for International Business and Education to order on Tuesday Aug 7, 2018 at 6:00 PM.
C.
Approve Minutes
R McGee is listed as a committee member instead of a guest, that will be changed.
G. Lazard made a motion to approve minutes from the Academic Committee Meeting on 06-12-18 including the edit requested. Academic Committee Meeting on 06-12-18.
S. Thomas seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. Academic
A.
Dashboard
DASHBOARD
The dashboard has been updated with the latest information. The US history scores are not updated as they have not become available yet.
The dashboard has prior year information.
SR requested to include the IB diplomas from previous years as well as numbers referring to HL courses scoring 4 and above.
ST asked about why did we not get any IBO diplomas this year?
AB explained that the caliber of students in the IBDP has changed due to enrollment processes. We are taking the challenge to receive the students we are receiving and setting the standards higher and pushing our students toward goal completions.
Last year's goal was to increase the number of IB students (exposure), we now want to push for retention and more diplomas.
Parents are often onboard with students when it comes to dropping out of IB. That represents a challenge for us as an organization.
Our IBDP students currently go through an informational interview, we still don't qualify or deny access to the full IBDP.
AmBr asked what are we doing to fill the gap between student interest/performance and teacher/class rigor.
AB answered that we have developed systems to support students through the program and incentives for participation.
The IB numbers that are currently on the dashboard are accurate reflecting full IBDP students and course option students.
ST asked if there is anything planned for parents of the IBDP parents? AB stated that there are IBDP-parent meetings that have shown to be successful and they are planning on continuing these efforts.
At this point, we don't have enough information to calculate the SPS for this new year.
LEAP/EOC Results
This is the first year that we are tested on Leap 2025
The results were presented following the information located in the agenda.
ST asked what is going to change this year?
The dashboard has been updated with the latest information. The US history scores are not updated as they have not become available yet.
The dashboard has prior year information.
SR requested to include the IB diplomas from previous years as well as numbers referring to HL courses scoring 4 and above.
ST asked about why did we not get any IBO diplomas this year?
AB explained that the caliber of students in the IBDP has changed due to enrollment processes. We are taking the challenge to receive the students we are receiving and setting the standards higher and pushing our students toward goal completions.
Last year's goal was to increase the number of IB students (exposure), we now want to push for retention and more diplomas.
Parents are often onboard with students when it comes to dropping out of IB. That represents a challenge for us as an organization.
Our IBDP students currently go through an informational interview, we still don't qualify or deny access to the full IBDP.
AmBr asked what are we doing to fill the gap between student interest/performance and teacher/class rigor.
AB answered that we have developed systems to support students through the program and incentives for participation.
The IB numbers that are currently on the dashboard are accurate reflecting full IBDP students and course option students.
ST asked if there is anything planned for parents of the IBDP parents? AB stated that there are IBDP-parent meetings that have shown to be successful and they are planning on continuing these efforts.
At this point, we don't have enough information to calculate the SPS for this new year.
LEAP/EOC Results
This is the first year that we are tested on Leap 2025
The results were presented following the information located in the agenda.
ST asked what is going to change this year?
AB explained that there are a couple of changes that will help us attain our goals. We are adopting a new curriculum and shifting the adult mindset on expectations. We are developing training for staff members to translate into students' mindset regarding rigor and achievement. We are working with the John Hopkins Foundation along with other schools. The principal and assistant principal will be conducting more classroom observations to ensure that teachers are actually teaching to the standards believing and acting that every student is able to achieve all standards.
We are adopting specialist-developed curriculum instead of teacher-developed curriculum.
We are adopting LEAP 360 - diagnostic and interim assessment. This is the same program that develops the test that our students will take at the end of the year.
ST asked how did we measure the double-blocking of Math and ELA last year because the EOC results are not showing much improvement.
AB explained that the double blocking did show beneficial for those students in comparison to the year prior.
SR asked what do we need to bring our SPS up?
SW explained that 75% of our students have to score master and advanced to be an "A" school.
We are adopting specialist-developed curriculum instead of teacher-developed curriculum.
We are adopting LEAP 360 - diagnostic and interim assessment. This is the same program that develops the test that our students will take at the end of the year.
ST asked how did we measure the double-blocking of Math and ELA last year because the EOC results are not showing much improvement.
AB explained that the double blocking did show beneficial for those students in comparison to the year prior.
SR asked what do we need to bring our SPS up?
SW explained that 75% of our students have to score master and advanced to be an "A" school.
IB Numbers
The results for the year were presented with the outline presented in the agenda packet.
There are some personnel changes. Some returning teachers went to IB training over the summer and will now teach IB courses.
In the past we have had a Community, Activity and Service coordinator, this year Mr. Tillman will manage it until another potential coordinator is identified.
The IB score results were presented compared with the last two years.
HL refers to High Level courses and SL to Standard Level courses. Students have to score 4 and above to earn college credit and the diploma on HL courses.
There are some personnel changes. Some returning teachers went to IB training over the summer and will now teach IB courses.
In the past we have had a Community, Activity and Service coordinator, this year Mr. Tillman will manage it until another potential coordinator is identified.
The IB score results were presented compared with the last two years.
HL refers to High Level courses and SL to Standard Level courses. Students have to score 4 and above to earn college credit and the diploma on HL courses.
III. Other Business
A.
Charter
Our priority this year is to review and amend our charter to reflect our current operations.
Our charter is 9 years old.
This committee will take a look at the executive summary and focus on the academic section starting on pg.13 and ends on pg. 53
We need to make sure there is alignment between our strategic plan and the charter.
The committee will read the academic section and bring observations and propose edits based on a new grade configuration adding K-8
Our charter is 9 years old.
This committee will take a look at the executive summary and focus on the academic section starting on pg.13 and ends on pg. 53
We need to make sure there is alignment between our strategic plan and the charter.
The committee will read the academic section and bring observations and propose edits based on a new grade configuration adding K-8
B.
Committee Goals
- Review, Revise and Amend the Charter
- Preparing for expansion
- Monitor the Academic Dashboard toward improving the SPS
- Getting to know our academic community partners
S. Thomas made a motion to Accept the committee goals as presented.
G. Lazard seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
C.
Meeting Dates
2nd Tuesday of every month:
- August - done
September - skip- October 9 - just to vote on the charter, no dashboard 1.5 hour
- November 13 - present update and vote on it.
December- skipJanuary - skip- February 12- to review scores on the dashboard
- April 9 - community partners
- June 11 - Dashboard
G. Lazard made a motion to To approve the committee meeting dates provided.
S. Thomas seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
IV. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
A. Brown made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
G. Lazard 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 7:35 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
L. Lopez