MCCPS Board of Trustees

Minutes

Academic Excellence Committee Meeting

Date and Time

Monday March 29, 2021 at 7:30 AM

Committee Members Present

Ellen Lodgen (remote), Jessica Xiarhos (remote), Kimberly Sullivan (remote), Matt Cronin (remote)

Committee Members Absent

Meg Upton, Molly Wright, Sarah Plymate Ragozin

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance and Guests

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

Jessica Xiarhos called a meeting of the Academic Excellence Committee Committee of MCCPS Board of Trustees to order on Monday Mar 29, 2021 at 7:34 AM.

C.

Accept Remote Participation

Jessica Xiarhos made a motion to In light of the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, Governor Baker issued an emergency Order on March 12, 2020, allowing public bodies greater flexibility in utilizing technology in the conduct of meetings under the Open Meeting Law. This committee makes a motion to accept this Executive Order for this meeting of the Academic Excellence Committee, on March 29, 2021.
Ellen Lodgen seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Roll Call
Matt Cronin
Aye
Ellen Lodgen
Aye
Kimberly Sullivan
Aye
Jessica Xiarhos
Aye
Sarah Plymate Ragozin
Absent
Molly Wright
Absent
Meg Upton
Absent

D.

Approve Minutes from 03/01/21

Kimberly Sullivan made a motion to approve the minutes from Academic Excellence Committee Meeting on 03-01-21.
Matt Cronin seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
Roll Call
Matt Cronin
Aye
Ellen Lodgen
Aye
Sarah Plymate Ragozin
Absent
Molly Wright
Absent
Meg Upton
Absent
Kimberly Sullivan
Aye
Jessica Xiarhos
Aye

II. Academic Excellence Committee

A.

Update on Draft Criteria

Compiled draft - eliminate periods, colons under section headings

 

Art update - Draft with Dominique still in Mass State Standards format. Looking to find the right "grain size" with limited knowledge of visual arts. 

 

Matt to send Art draft to Ellen and Jessica

 

"Revised by"? - eliminate; working document. Any future revisions to go through Jessica/Committee

 

2nd page to include contributors (Academic Excellence Committee of the MCCPS Board of Trustees), bookmarked links to subjects, list of committee members, faculty, Mission statement of Ac. Ex. committee

B.

Next Steps - Website?

Learning at MCCPS - when ready, post a link.
Posted under "Family Documents" as well.

 

Work of this committee will shift to alignment.
Training for the Staff. Documenting projects, units, assessments.

 

Presented by Matt (as head of curriculum) to faculty. 

 

How does this become a living document?

 

Portfolios. 

 

For 21/22, use as a planning document.

 

Parents want to see how student is progressing compared to these standards. Standards based grading versus "He got an 'A'". 

 

Grade on an assessment doesn't just come solely from calculation, but scored against use of the standards.

 

Criteria in Schoology. 

 

Spend more time investigating what we want out of assessing students.

 

Mapping out where major criteria will hit. Do we hit all these every 5 years? 

 

"Soft -opening" of document for trimester 3. Have faculty start aligning criteria to assignments/assessment. 2 or 3 main criteria for every assignment, not 20.

C.

Accessibility of Document for Students and Parents

III. Closing Items

A.

Action Items

Jess and Ellen to review Art Criteria

 

Next meeting to be in person April 26th.

B.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 8:25 AM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Jessica Xiarhos
Documents used during the meeting
None