Assessment Plan

• No changes to the assessment plan. Scheduled to do interim on Oct 5th and 6th. 
  • Early today, D. Walker and A. Johnson noticed that the state has not turned on access to start the assessments, so there may be a week delay depending on the state. If so, the schedule will just be pushed back one week so it will still follow the same pattern as planned, but by one week according to the schedule.
• School data days scheduled for Nov 6, Jan 29, Mar 25.
  • The academic committee should be able to review the Summative assessment results in either June/July depending on how quickly results are received.
• Question: Would the academic committee be reviewing raw data without teacher interpretation, or should we wait until the November academic meeting, after the teachers can look through interpretive data?
  • C. Boyce and A. Juarez Cordova prefer to review the raw assessment data, and then compare the raw data to teacher interpretation. The Academic Committee will review the raw data as soon as it is available.
• Plan to increase assessment participation: Communication and messaging of the importance of testing to the students; how to use the interface; support staff to support students to participate
  • The reason that most families/students chose to opt out is that they don't feel like assessments are necessary. Many students are SPED and/or have test anxiety.
• Issue: Last year, the SBA interim tests were all the same and were not adaptive. This might detract from the student's ability to practice/grow in test taking.
  • Action item: A. Juarez Cordova will follow-up with B. Luu to see what she is seeing at other charter schools. How are other schools approaching interim assessments?
  • C. Boyce recommends framing the fact that the interim tests are not adaptive as a strength-- how might taking the same interim assessment be an opportunity to demonstrate growth over iterations? 

Academic Committee Meeting report

• Excused and Unexcused Absence policy and procedures were reviewed
  • Based on the recommended policy from the state
  • WA Charters had a comment on how many excused absences should be allowed before the communication/alert system kicks in-- it was initially "within each month" but was changed to "each semester"
• The Community Engagement Board - requests for volunteers were sent out in the WIHS newsletter along with online application last week - the recommendation is to have a few volunteers.

The attendance and Truancy Requirements Plan along with the Internal Action Steps document, and attendance tracker spreadsheet were reviewed.

Internal Attendance Process:

1. Teachers take daily attendance; Skyward sends automated call/email to parents when student is absent
2. Front Desk secretary calls/emails families daily about unexcused absences
3. Director of Operations (Eric Zamora) pulls weekly attendance reports and as applicable communicates and schedules meetings with families.  DOO mails out attendance letters and follows Truancy procedures
4. DOO collaborates with Director of Education (Dawn Walker) and the MTSS team to ensure other needs of students are being addressed

New front desk staff person, Cypress, was hired on Sept 6th and started their Skyward training. Cypress visited each classroom to remind everyone to take attendance

C. Boyce recommended a few attendance-taking strategies and systems for teachers: 

• take attendance as students enter classroom;
• teachers have seating chart, and notice empty seats--could be an efficient method for attendance taking.

D. Walker will pass on the recommended strategies to the instructors.

Curriculum: No updates to report

WIHS School Overview for September 2023 was reviewed.

• 72 students currently enrolled as of 9/22
  • Breakdown by grade:
    • 9th grade: 7
    • 10th: 20
    • 11th: 22
    • 12th: 23
• Prospective students: 26
  • How many 9th-grade students are among the 26 prospective students? -Dawn will report this at the Board meeting.
• A few students were absent due to covid. The average student attendance is 89%. C. Boyce recommends continuing to present the data week-by-week, and documenting reasons for absences (ex. covid, what's going on during the week, etc.) 
  • D. Walker might present week-by-week attendance data as a line graph to map trends over time.
• Upcoming events were shared
• Enrollment updates including intent to return and demographics (race/ethnicity and gender identity) were reviewed

Question: Is there anything missing that the CSC wants us to review?

• The Commission wants to see consistency over time - we just need to show that we are documenting attendance consistently. Communication aspects are now being documented in a central location. D. Walker will meet with the whole staff team soon.
• Last week, D. Walker worked closely with staff to focus on implementing the new attendance policy/procedures.

Question: Gaps or challenges in the flow of the attendance process?

• Working with students who have demonstrated a pattern of chronic absenteeism - what works in order to meet with parents, and what are some positive strategies to support families, especially with students who have challenging situations? Some suggestions from the committee include:
  • Call students' cell phones directly instead of parents;
  • At least two staff people go to the house (if cleared with the parent) and bring them to school directly;
  • What is the preferred method of communication of students? Can we leverage social media apps (TikTok, IG, Discord, etc.)? Incentivize students to share fun things via apps that their absent peers are missing out on.
• If a student is absent, the first thing is there is a call and email to parents/guardians. If an excused absence, then no call/email. Keep track of the # of excused absences.
• If unexcused, staff talk with each student individually to build relationships and trust with students. 
• Student clubs are starting now, which might encourage students to be on campus.

D. Walker and her team are working on bringing Indigenous ways of knowing into the curriculum. They have set up a few different pathways to get to overall work. Universal Design for Learning training is scheduled for staff soon, staff training on anti-bias in curriculum, and Whiteswan Environmental to partner in curriculum development, field trips, etc.

C. Espina shared about the upcoming fundraising event: Showcase and Silent Auction - November 17th. We are seeking donations for the silent auction and sponsors for the event!