Month: January 2014

GALILEO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

Leadership Team/Department Heads Meeting

 

 

 

1/28/14

 

 

 

 

Marcus called the meeting to order at 11:20am.

 

 

Marcus said the visitors from Colorado yesterday were very impressed with Galileo—positive environment, liked the academies and pathways.  Marcus thanked those involved in hosting the group.

 

–He talked about the gap in per pupil spending from our district ($3,800 plus add- ons).  The Colorado team has over $6,000 per pupil. Only a 7% of the Colorado students qualify for free and reduced lunch.  Not much diversity in ethnic breakdowns is present in their school system.

 

 

Leadership Team

 

 

 

I.          Testing

 

–Katie went to the Testing meeting last Wednesday.  40% district wide was chosen and we are the only large comprehensive high school that does not have to do the field test.  We could test if we wanted to but we will not.  There is a new tech roll out with a secure server that will be downloaded to individual computers.

 

 

–10^th graders still need to take the Life Science test for federal accountability.

 

–11^th graders who are taking EAP have to take the Math and English and writing.  11^th graders in Geometry are exempt from the Math.

 

–Michelle asked if we could get both of the tests on the same day.  Katie is working on it.

 

The CST will be done over 2 days.  Katie would like to test each group in the English and Math classes.  Students do better when they are with their subject teachers.

 

–Testing window goes from April 7 –May 8.  Katie said it would not overlap with AP” testing.

 

 

II.         Student Access to Wi-Fi

 

–Mat says that since student can access with wi-fi, the now use their phones and there is more phone usage during class.

 

–Lisa said we did not make a technology plan when Ben Chun left, and some of the items Doug Pfifer is not doing as much as he did in the past.  We are the only school in the district where you can’t get immediately to the sfusd wireless.  We are now transition now to the district—sfusd and sfusd guest.  These are all accessing the same wi-fi network.  Soon we will only use the sfusd and sfusd guest and the Galileo network will be gone.

 

–Lisa said it was important to offer students wi-fi so they do not have to use their data plans.

 

–Marcus said teachers will have to be more diligent in monitoring the cell phones.

 

III.       TA Badges

 

–Nancy said the TA Badges are ready for the teachers.  Students will be responsible for wearing the badges.  This is a quick id to prove they are TAs, but they still will be required to carry a pass when they are a TA.  Those who do not have the proper identification have to be held accountable.

 

–Students should not be leaving campus at all.  Nancy will send a memo about this.

 

–Badges have student name, teacher name, period and a school special stamp.

 

–Students keep the badges.  No photos are on the badges.

 

–Alicia suggested that the teachers hold onto the badge.

 

–Marcus said he and the UBC worked on the badges and the procedures.

 

–Marcus suggested people write up suggestions.

 

 

IV.        Master Schedule

 

–Nancy is working on google doc and form. She wants departments to look at the registrations form and is asking for improvements/adjustments. This form is used for students to register.

 

–David said he wants to make sure all departments are treated the same.

 

–Nancy confirmed that English/ELL can be used for graduation eligibility.

 

 

 

V.         Grading

 

–Marcus spoke with two departments but both did not provide additional insights on how there are grading. He wants departments to talk amongst themselves to make some decisions on how they will make changes to their current grading policies.

 

 

VI.        WASC

 

–Lisa is writing up the report. Activity followed asking leadership team members to respond to each poster. Each poster has a need or strength listed in the WASC report.  All responses will be used in the report.

 

 

VII.      Day of Learning

 

–Loan Ly will be coordinating a Day of Learning where all students and educators are invited to attend on Sunday, March 23, 2014 at Galileo. She is asking if teachers can provide extra credit/incentives for students to attend. Everyone must register to attend.  In past years this event was held at Mercy High School but the event has become so popular that they needed a larger venue. Workshops for teachers will be available. Many guest speakers from a variety of local agencies, including students and teachers will present.  

 

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:15pm.

 

GALILEO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

Leadership Team/Department Heads Meeting

 

 

 

1/21/14

 

 

 

 

Marcus called the meeting to order at 11:40am.

 

 

Leadership Team Agenda

 

 

 

I.          Affordable Care Act Enrollment Days

 

–Jessica told the group that on Thursday there will be specialists here to help families enroll.  It takes an hour and a half to get a family enrolled.  The computers in 260 will be used.  The information is going out through the auto dialer today.  This is for any family that has students in the SFUSD.  There are 7 dates for this enrollment throughout the district.

 

–Lisa suggested this be announced on G-House TV.

 

 

II.         Consequences for Cutting Homeroom

 

–Mat said his department is asking what is in place at this time.

 

–Stephen said detention and community service if we are able to catch them.

 

–Some students are going out of the building with loose permission from adults in the building.

 

–Stephen asked the group to tell their teachers not to let students out during homeroom.

 

–Jo said that 3 Us on a report card means students cannot attend dances.  For the seniors if they get a U for a final grade they cannot participate in the graduation ceremony.

 

–Doug said at the private school where his son attends, the teachers record the attendance and the administrators give the citizenship grades based on attendance.

 

 

–Marcus said that TAs will have ID Cards with their names and periods on them.  They should show them when they are in their TA period.

 

 

III.       Dress Code

 

–Kathleen discussed the fact that the hot weather is bringing back the exposed flesh in the girls and the underwear in the boys.  She asked if other teachers are talking about this.

 

–Lisa said they would all take calls and will talk to students who are inappropriately dressed.

 

–Katie said Mr. Rasul talks to kids and gives them PE clothes or sends them home.

 

 

IV.        Newcomers

 

–Kathleen said there will be an ELD Night School for levels 5 and higher.

 

–She also mentioned some of the newcomer students who are just coming to Galileo might not be fluent by next year.  She is looking into the .8 classes to make sure there are adequate class spaces.

 

–Discussion followed about class sizes at the beginning of the semester and then how the classes grow larger during the semester.

 

–Kathleen said if the newcomers come in as Juniors (15 or older), they do not have to meet all the graduation requirements (A-G), but then they cannot go directly to a UC after high school.

 

–Marcus asked how long the students keep the newcomer status.  Jo said 1 semester to 1 year.

 

–Kathleen said they are called “developing,” and this can go either way and it is a bit confusing.  Most of them cannot manage the .6 classes.

 

 

V.         Emergency Preparedness Week

 

–Katie is thinking of the last week in February or the first week in March.

 

–Michelle said the English Department would be busy the last 2 days of February.

 

–Nancy said the counselors will be going to classes between February 18 and March 4.

 

–Katie said she would know the testing schedule after a meeting this week.

 

–Katie did not want to do it the last week of the grading period.

 

–Suggestion was made to do it the week of February 10^th.  We will mix of periods and days and Katie will put it on the calendar.

 

 

Department Heads Agenda

 

 

I.  Master Schedule

 

–Nancy distributed information concerning the 2014 Spring Master Schedule Timeline.  Today begins the period to let Nancy know if there are new classes in each department. She surveyed the group.

 

–Joseph said Mr. Novota would like to offer Beginning Band.  They are making a commercial for G-House TV.

 

–David and Alicia had new course offerings they have discussed with Nancy.

 

 

–Nancy talked about the 2-day training she and Lisa went to about how to build the Master Schedule.  She said it was good training.  She mentioned the timeline she distributed is a DRAFT and the district is working now to put things in place to start building the Master Schedule.  She emphasized that we need to be flexible.

 

–Nancy said Lisa will be helping with the Master Schedule, as Nancy will not be back until October next fall, as she is pregnant and will not be able to come back for the start of the school year.

 

–Counselors will be able to visit 2 classes per period.  We also need to report the number of classes to the March School Site Council meeting.

 

–Doug asked if Synergy would decide which courses a teacher has and when the prep period is.  He spends a lot of time honoring his teachers’ requests. 

 

 

–Ethan said the new plan is already in place at GWHS.  He offered that “work is work” and it needs to be fair across the board.

 

–Nancy said there are no guarantees for who has prep period when.

 

–David hoped that after the computer puts out a program, the department heads would be able to discuss it with the administration.

 

–Question was asked if the system could take into account room assignments so that teacher movement is kept to a minimum.  The answer is “Yes.”

 

 

DRAFT

 

 

January 12 – Ongoing          Begin Master Schedule Priority Discussions

 

February 18 – March 4        Counselors Registers Grades 10 – 12 (for next year)

 

March 10 – March 21           Department Heads Submit Student Placement and/or

 

                                                Placement Revisions

 

By March 21                          Department Heads Submit Teachers 3 Content Area Choices

 

March 17 – March 28           New Student/Freshman Registration

 

April 7 – April 11                  Number of Courses/Sections Are Determined

 

 

March 24 – April 11             Counselors Enter Course Requests

 

 

April 14 – 18                         Build Shell

 

 

April 18                                  Continue Development of Master Schedule

 

 

May 12 – 23                          Round 2 of New Student/Freshmen Registration

 

 

May 30                                   Teachers Are Notified of Courses They Are

 

                                                Teaching 2014 – 2015

 

 

–Kathleen asked if her students could move up in the same logical pattern that is in place now.  The answer is “Yes.”  This will also include team teaching classes that have to be certain periods.

 

–Michelle said that some of the academy people want to have a common prep.  Lisa said they are prioritizing academy programs and co-teaching programs.

 

 

–Ray said that we need to be able to read the IEPs of all the incoming 9^th grade (current 8^th grade) students.  He explained that the only way to know how to place the students is to read the IEPs.

 

 

–Michelle said one of the glitches of team teaching is that the teachers did not have time for discussions.  She would like to know before the end of the semester who will be team teaching and what they will be teaching.  Marcus said they would know before the end of the school year.

 

–Nancy will ask who wants to team teach, etc.  There will be a Google form.  They will prioritize team teachers who want to stay together.

 

 

–Doug asked who would handle those who have issues with what they are teaching next year if they are told on the last day of school.  Nancy said administrator contracts do not end on May 30^th and they will be working on it.

 

 

II         Grade Level Special Ed Problems

 

–Ray said we are still getting 9^th grade students in unannounced enrollment.  He said the placement office is not looking at Special Ed component for students they send to Galileo.  He mentioned that Naomi Gibbons has 15 students in one class, which is quite large for Special Ed.

 

 

III.       Miscellaneous

 

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:10PM.

 

GALILEO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

Leadership Team/Department Heads Meeting

 

 

 

1/14/14

 

 

 

 

Galileo Grading Policy Conversation Day 4

 

 

 

Outcomes:

 

–Surface concerns, issues and strengths around teachers’ grading policies

 

–Challenge or confirm belief systems around grading policies

 

–Create a safe environment to share potentially difficult issues

 

 

 

Agenda:

 

1.  Minute Paper

 

2.  Review Norms—raising hand s, step-up/step back,  assume positive intentions.

 

3.  Framing for the day:  What are your next steps with your departments and as a school?

 

4.  Lincoln Policy

 

5.  Work time – individual – partner – group

 

6.  Next steps?

 

 

 

Lisa distributed a document that was from last semester—Mark Distribution by Ethnicity.

 

Doug asked for a similar document by gender.

 

 

Eric and Myra came for the 4^th meeting on the Grading Topic.

 

Eric reviewed the norms, including assume positive intentions.

 

Myra talked about the Framing for the Day.  Myra and Eric will share what Lincoln’s Policy is and then everyone will work in groups.

 

Eric distributed the Lincoln Grading Policy and asked members to review it and talk with one another about it.  This is a living document.

 

 

Eric asked for feedback from the group.

 

 

–Alicia mentioned the issue of the two students who got the same grade—one came all the time but didn’t do all the work and the other student who didn’t come every day but did the work.  They both got grades of C.  The C says something about each student.

 

–Marc said they wanted to make sure the students gained some mastery and the grade reflects that.

 

–Eric mentioned discussions at other schools.

 

–Stan said we are doing fine on expectations.  What does consistent grading policy?  How do you calibrate grades?  Stan also mentioned the vocabulary in the Lincoln document.  He also mentioned the School Loop Guidelines.

 

–Eric explained how the Lincoln faculty discuss common assessments and look at student work and compare grading standards.

 

–Stan challenged the word calibrated and its definition.

 

–Mat added with calibrated grades there must be a baseline and asked who will set the baseline?

 

–Doug added that if there are enough people discussing, the members can calibrate to each other and do not really need a baseline.

 

–David asked how long this has been implemented at Lincoln.  Eric said this was the first school year it was implemented.  He expressed curiosity about the gains Lincoln will make this year. 

 

–Joseph like the idea of teachers getting together to look at work samples and compare grading policies.  He also liked the words “care givers” in the document.  Joseph also agreed with Stan about the definition of the words.

 

–Joseph also mentioned the disagreement between teaches and the union about the use of School Loop.

 

 

Eric called for a discussion about what kinds of activities you would like to try out in your departments.  How will this affect grading policies.  He referred to the back of the agenda with a piece from our last WASC review.  These are items we were told to work on.

 

 

WASC—“Identification of essential skills and knowledge in all courses and the development of common assessments, grading standards, criteria, rubrics and student exemplars so that teachers can made grading practices more consistent and more accurately communicate proficiency levels to students.”  Lisa added that this is something WASC recommended we work on.

 

 

What are the next steps with your departments?

 

–Share syllabus and discuss individual grading policies

 

–Create common rubric

 

–Discuss and develop no D policy

 

–Plan common assignments or assessments

 

–Discuss late work/revision and develop policy

 

–Discuss the purpose of grades and who is the intended audience

 

–Discuss zeros

 

 

Things to Think About:

 

–How much are assessments worth?  What types of assignments are teachers using?

 

–How much are assignments worth?

 

–Are grades based on meeting the standards of effort?

 

 

 

The members of the group discussed the issues with each other.

 

 

Eric called for feedback from the group.

 

 

–David mentioned the grade break down and the differences in teachers in the same courses.  It is not just a disparity, but also teachers can teach the same course in different ways.  Students know this.  This affects the Master Schedule.

 

 

–Michelle said looking at a particular grade level, the grades can be high, and then looking at the EAP scores, they do not always match in the 11^th and 12^th grades where we are trying to assess if the students are college ready.

 

 

–Mat said he thought this would be a tough buy in as teachers appreciate educational freedom and flexibility.  He felt there would be obstacles.  His department has begun an assessment activity.

 

 

–David does not want to get away from academic freedom, but there must be common curriculum.

 

 

–Doug felt the way David does.  Then he talked about it from a student’s prospective and the differences in easier teachers and higher grades.  There should be fairness for the students.  He referred to the data by ethnicity.  He look at the balance between ethnic groups and it seems more balanced in the seniors.  It is not balanced when the students are freshmen.  He mentioned the differences in being prepared when they enter high school.  He felt his department would understand the need for implementing this.

 

 

–Joseph said this will vary from department to department.  The departments vary in size and the amount of classes/courses in each department.

 

–Kathleen said they have a consistent portfolio in her department that spells out the assignments and the amount of each type of assignment.

 

 

Eric and Myra will be here at Galileo to help support everyone.  Myra told everyone she was ready to provide information.  They both thanked the group for having them.

 

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:15pm.