Vida Charter School
Minutes
Academic Excellence Committee Meeting
Date and Time
Thursday August 9, 2018 at 4:30 PM
Committee Members Present
C. Miller, E. Nashelsky, S. Powell, Y. Gagliardi
Committee Members Absent
F. Dutrisac
I. Opening Items
A.
Record Attendance and Guests
B.
Call the Meeting to Order
C. Miller called a meeting of the Academic Excellence Committee of Vida Charter School to order on Thursday Aug 9, 2018 at 4:35 PM.
C.
Approve Minutes
S. Powell made a motion to approve minutes from the Academic Excellence Committee Meeting on 05-10-18 Academic Excellence Committee Meeting on 05-10-18.
Y. Gagliardi seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.
II. Academic Excellence
A.
Overview of 2018 PSSA Results
ELA gains in 3rd grade are strong, and will have a positive impact on the total School Score. Administrators and staff will be using the PSSA results to improve outcomes. Math instruction delivered in both English and Spanish for all students will be reinstated.
B.
Overview of 2018 ACCESS for ELLs results
Twenty seven percent of Vida students are identified as English learners. On the 2017-2018 Access, students score: 6 entering, 8 emerging, 36 developing, 10 expanding, and 6 bridging. Dual immersion model is an English acquisition model. Vida Charter School will hire a full-time ESL teacher to support language acquisition.
C.
Evaluation of the Dual Language programming at Vida
Ms. Miller presents the “Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education” as a resource which can be a foundational document for the Academic Committee in order to align work with research. She also plans to use the rubrics embedded to evaluate the program.
D.
Updates to Instructional Programming
Assistant Principal Elana Nashelsky shared an update on the 6th grade STEM/Robotics programming. The curriculum will integrate English and Spanish Language Arts. Incoming 6th graders will be the first Vida class to participate in an Outdoor Education overnight experience.
III. Closing Items
A.
Adjourn Meeting
S. Powell made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Y. Gagliardi 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 5:30 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
C. Miller