Curriculum

• Dawn Walker gave an update on the curriculum development for 12th grade. They are looking at separating history and science to help out with numbers and to offer more things like environmental science 
• Teachers are being paid over the summer to develop 12th grade curriculum. 

New courses for next academic year: 12th gr English class, civics class/Contemporary or Current World Problems, and another course.

• Discussed electives at WIHS, which have included Spanish as a foreign language, Ethnomusicology, film analysis.

Is there an art pathway through electives? 

Action item: Cate Boyce will investigate if art can be a pathway. Currently, at WIHS, no instructors are CTE certified b/c they need work in the field. Dawn was looking into offering online classes taught by CTE-certified teachers in WA State. 

Does Art fall under CTE certification? Cate will investigate CTE certification requirements to investigate pathways for the High School & Beyond plan.
 

Dawn is exploring a Career Explorations class for 9th graders to begin High School & Beyond plan. 

Attendance

• Dawn plans to link attendance tracking more closely with the MTSS group to follow-up with students more consistently - more analysis of attendance. Dawn is working on building more structure on attendance. 
• Percentage Attendance Rate (previous rates): high 60s (check May School Update). There were an average of 33 absent students per day between the dates of April 24th through May 24th.  
• Discussion on attendance policy. 
• Discussed CSC's concern about half-day attendance. There is one half-day every other week. This past year, half days were on Wednesdays for Wednesday Wellness for PE and Health credits. 
  • Dawn is working on course guide for Wednesday Wellness with WA Charters. On the half-days, all teachers are teaching something. 
  • The other half day is used for staff professional development. 
  • For SY 23-24, the days will be on Mondays b/c it fits better with Running Start schedules.

• Discussed student growth based on state tests and interim assessments
• SBAC Participation has increased since last year. 
  • There were no students who opted out to take either SBAC Math or ELA tests, but some did not take both parts due to absences, etc. 
  • Three days of make-up tests and individual sessions were offered to accommodate student absences. All students who started a test (CAT or PT) completed that individual test. 
    • 100% Grade 10 students took SBA ELA completed both tests
    • 78% of Grade 11 took SBA ELA completed both tests
    • 79% of Grade 10 took SBA Math completed both tests
    • 92% of Grade 11 took SBA Math completed both tests 

Graduation Cut Scores for ELA and Math for Grades 10 & 11 were reviewed and discussed

Overall, ELA remains stronger than Math. Dawn Walker discussed with teachers about ways to incorporate math into different areas of the curriculum to boost math scores.

Cate brought some questions about comparison metrics.

10th graders now last took a test in 8th grade right in the middle of COVID. It's difficult to compare tests. Do interim scores give a good indication of how student will perform on SBAC test? Cate recommends looking at interim tests vs. test at the individual student level. Interim tests could be helpful information to teachers, and comparing performance on SBACs.

Cate recommends comparing individual student scores rather than aggregate year-to-year. It is taking some adjustment as COVID threw off assessments for current students.

Cate asked about disaggregated data by race. Dawn has not yet analyzed SBAC results by race or SPED. Cate recommends looking at our Latino students because they are the largest BIPOC group at WIHS.

Students are being offered pathways in addition to testing - College Running Start classes in math. WIHS does not have the capacity to do CTE classes and pathways. They are exploring AP Spanish classes for next school year, AP Statistics, AP History and will begin scheduling ACT or SAT testing. Dawn will double-check if these AP courses will meet graduation requirements. 

Committee discussed ACT vs. ASVAB vs. SAT to meet math standards as well. Last year, the state discouraged schools to steer away from solely administering the ASVAB to every student.

The Committee discussed the plan for current students who will be 12th graders in SY 23-24 who haven't passed ELA or math. Several current11th graders have expressed interest in Running Start, and Dawn has advised them to take a math course >100 level to meet the math requirement. 

Dawn Walker is trying to figure out a guidance counselor position for next school year. Guidance counselors need to review transcripts every semester and counsel students according to their choices (vocational pathways, etc.)

The Committee agreed to cancel July's Academic Committee meeting and re-convene on August 14th, 2023.

The tentative agenda items for August's meeting are:

• Discuss SY 23-24 attendance plan
• Review Assessment plan and calendar for SY 23-24
• Invite and pay a few teachers to share the new 12th-grade curriculum they've developed
• Update on CTE certification and Art pathways (Cate Boyce)