Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence
Minutes
Academic Excellence Committee Monthly Meeting
October 2021
Date and Time
Friday October 15, 2021 at 1:30 PM
Location
Trustees@mlkcs.org is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: MLKCSE Academic Excellence Committee Meeting
Time: Oct 15, 2021 01:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Time: Oct 15, 2021 01:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 896 9042 1434
Passcode: hrcZh8
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Committee Members Present
Dominic Basile-Vaughan (remote), James Lightfoot (remote), Jennifer Wallace-Johnson (remote), Kiyota Garcia (remote)
Committee Members Absent
None
Guests Present
Abigail Hertz (remote), Diana Yousfi (remote), John Breish (remote), Kendra Salvador (remote), Wilma Tynes (remote)
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
Dominic Basile-Vaughan called a meeting of the Academic Excellence Committee of Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence to order on Friday Oct 15, 2021 at 1:35 PM.
C.
Approve Minutes from June 17th Meeting
Kiyota Garcia made a motion to approve the minutes from Academic Excellence Committee Monthly Meeting on 06-17-21.
Jennifer Wallace-Johnson seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. Academic Excellence
A.
2020-2021 MCAS Data Review
Kendra presented the 2021 MCAS results and Diana presented MCAS and ACCESS results for English Language Learners. Please see attached data slides.
- There was relative equal distribution across 3rd-5th grades in ELA and Math.
- James asked what we do when we have such a large number of students not meeting expectations. Kendra responded that accountability won't be affected with DESE, but we have a lot of work that needs be done with our students.
- Wilma asked about expectations from DESE for this year - we anticipate that accountability measures will be back in place - we are not sure if
- Kiyota asked about disparities between ACCESS disparities in Grades 2 and 3 compared to 1, 4 and 5. 2nd grade was most heavily impacted by COVID - majority of this grade did not come back to in-person learning last year.
- Dom asked about what promising practices were in place in 1st, 4th, and 5th so that we could keep this in mind to replicate moving forward.
B.
Academic Data Update
John shared BOY Math iReady and Reading STEP Data. (See attached data slides)
- Dom asked some clarifying questions about the bar in math and ELA and if it changed from one grade to another.
- Many of the students in the summer program did improve multiple reading levels.
- James asked what strategies are being put in place to help students improve.
John presented the school's plans for addressing this data:
- Daily WIN (What I Need / Intervention) block
- Daily Foundational Reading block (25 min) added to all grades
- Aggressive progress monitoring on specific skills
- Kiyota suggested using after-school time for some additional intervention
- Dom asked about expanding our Wilson reading intervention and asking if there was a need to expand foundational reading training to all of our teachers
- Jen suggested looking at the budget to see if we could expand staffing to help - even on a temporary basis.
- Dom asked about having adequate time to provide the necessary PD and thinking about teacher mental health and capacity.
- James and Dom asked that we see frequent updates on the effectiveness of these interventions.
- John asked about potentially tapping students from STCC to help out with interventions. Kiyota will talk to department chairs and get back to the group.
C.
Academic Priorities for 21-22
John shared the academic priorities for 21-22.
- Maintaining Classroom Management
- Acquisition of Academic Language
- Experiential Learning - 4 trips / experiences per grade
Dom asked about if the focus on academic language and experiential learning should go on the back burner to focus on the WIN block and interventions, and thinking about teacher capacity.
Jen suggested framing these as nested goals underneath the overall goal of academic recovery and intervention with coming up with specific targets to shoot for.
D.
Academic Committee Goals
Tabled for our next meeting.
E.
Future Meeting Topics
The committee discussed trying to meet in person in order observe instruction at a future meeting.
III. Closing Items
A.
Determine Next Steps
Dom will prepare materials for Board Meeting next week.
B.
Adjourn Meeting
There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 3:00 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Dominic Basile-Vaughan