Verified EESAC Meeting Minutes

Recording Secretary: Sarah Russell

Location of meeting: Dorothy M. Wallace COPE Center, Room 39

Was a quorum established? Yes

Was the meeting advertised? Yes, 09/20/2014

Attendance

Topics Covered

The meeting was called to order at 8:07 a.m. by Alfreida Joseph-Goins in Room 39 of Dorothy M. Wallace COPE Center.

In Attendance: Alfreida Joseph-Goins, Karen Webb, Karla Revere, Dr. Angela Gayden, Constance Gilbert, Yvonne Parchment, Sonya Harrington, Daisy Butcher, Dr. Sandra Billingslea, Kimberly Wilson, Sarah Russell, Sylvia Hadley, Tarika Quinn, Joey McCall, and Robert Glickman

Mrs. Alfreida Joseph-Goins welcomed the members and visitors to the first EESAC meeting of the 2014-2015 school year.

The minutes from the meeting of May 6, 2014 were not available and will be read at the next meeting.

New Business:

Mrs. Goins informed those present that the School Improvement Plan has changed this year. The number one goal is to increase student achievement in all core content areas.

Dr. Angela Gayden spoke on the areas of Mathematics and Science. She is using academic writing in Science via the CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) strategy. Evidence supports the claim that students show significant learning gains in constructing scientific explanations when they routinely use the claim, evidence, reasoning method. Students learn how to analyze scientific information in respect to a specific thesis, and give supporting evidence for that thesis based on scientific knowledge. The goal in Mathematics is to increase the number of students scoring at or above passing for end of course exams. Teachers are using several programs to help students understand and take ownership of their math learning. These include: GIZMOs, Reflex Math, Algebra tiles, Geometer’s Sketchpad, Algebra Nation, and Edgenuity. In addition, teachers are using SmartBoards and Promethean boards to model and have students demonstrate mathematic concepts and problem solving. Also i-Ready technology is being used to allow teachers to diagnose and differentiate math instruction for students.

Mrs. Karla Revere gave a presentation on CTE/STEM. The goal for CTE is to increase industry certification by 25%. She will talk to Language Arts to align with what they’re doing – focus on vocabulary. Certifications can be achieved in all CTE academies.

Ms. Constance Gilbert spoke on the Parent Involvement Action Plan. The goal is to increase the number of parents/guardians that participate in school activities. She explained that Dorothy M. Wallace COPE Center is a Title I school. Each month on the third Thursday parents are encouraged to visit the school (2nd Cup of Coffee Meeting). At this meeting they can ask whatever questions they may have and receive information about the different activities happening at the school.

Mrs. Tarika Quinn presented information about attendance. Attendance is huge for us. Many of our students don’t come on a regular basis. When students are out unexcused three days, the truancy process begins. A meeting is called for the parents to come in and speak with the student and the counselor, at which time an Attendance Agreement is signed. If more absences occur, the School Social Worker goes out to the home.

Mrs. Quinn also talked on Response to Intervention (RtI) follow up procedures.

Mrs. Goins gave a recap of the School Improvement Plan goals: 1. Overall School Goal – increase student achievement in all core content areas. 2. Early Warning System Indicators (EWS) – increase overall school attendance and reduce the number of truant students. 3. Career-Technical Education (CTE/STEM) – increase the number of students achieving industry certification by 25%. 4. Parental Involvement – increase parental involvement at DMW COPE Center.

She also said the Annually Measured Objective (AMO) for 2014-2015 in Reading is 35% and the AMO for 2014-2015 in Mathematics is 46%. We did not meet our targets for Reading or for Mathematics for the 2013-2014 school year. We will focus on Writing skills now. Language Arts and Social Studies will focus on academic writing.

Mrs. Goins next made a motion to approve the goals for the SIP. The motion was approved unanimously.

Next she suggested tentative future meeting dates of November 12, 2014; February 10, 2015; March 10, 2015, and May 12, 2015. These dates were suggested because raw data should be available by then. These dates were approved by those members present.

The next order of business was to set the meeting time. The agreed upon time was set at 8:00 a.m. for each meeting date, by general consensus.

Mrs. Goins also informed those present that she will use ConnectEd to send out meeting reminders, activate a Twitter account at the start of the second nine weeks grading period.

The EESAC meeting was adjourned at 8:47 a.m.