2. Guests/Presentations
a. District Improvement Plan
Sabolinski, Edwards, Winslow,
over arching goals for the district, each of the school improvement plans derive from this
only 20% of the teachers are involved with MCAS educational programs and yet that is what the reporting is focused on; don't want to ignore the other 80% of what is done in the schools
next week is the current release for the most recent MCAS data
Literacy a broad-based goal
Math program added, guiding the new frameworks to what is happening in the classroom
new frameworks speak to the 'common core'
new goals reflect focus on math instruction
community engagement part of the focus, relationships to be developed with parents and to the greater Franklin community
looking for programs to foster student learning and extend the partnership outside the school walls
community collaboration required to support the educational requirements
this was achieved with the passage of the debt exclusion for the new high school
this goes beyond the building itself, to the ongoing needs for education
the plan (copied published earlier) includes check lists to mark and report on progress
includes an observation checklist for teachers and parents for use in reporting on what is observed in the classroom and school environment
previous plans were focused on MCAS, this is more broad-based as it goes to address the other 80% as mentioned earlier
Trahan - that was extremely succinct
Rohrbach - when I started this process was not so well formatted and clearly trickle down. Is it available beyond online?
Edwards - it is trickle down but it is also bottom up from the schools individual needs, there is a connectivity that was worked hard to achieve
Rohrbach - I guess it is better to say there is a common thread
Sabolinski - this drives what we do, it just doesn't go into a drawer and sit. It is an ongoing process
Jewell - some organizations will do things better than others,how do you share the goodness? If you have a checklist, how does that feedback come into the process?
Edwards - any parent question goes first to the teacher and then to the principal. Remember that the checklist is a guideline, not everything on the listing will be seen in every classroom. At all the schools there are grade level meetings, curriculum people, math specialists meet regularly to help spread the word. Sometimes there is more information than can be used
Sabolinksi - if something works, that will spread very quickly. Each school will be holding an open house for curriculum night. The teachers will be setting parent expectations at that setting, a nice opportunity for parents to engage with teachers. I am setting my goals with each of the principals.
Mullen - prior plans were multi year, this is a single year
Edwards - there is too much change coming, with changes in standards and curriculum, to keep up with them and be flexible we needed to be focused on the one year plan. It still allows for continuation of ideas but re-focuses them slightly to allow for flexibility and delivery
Sabolinski - we have spent four years training teachers on ELL, we have to go and re-train the teachers
The emergency response plan was dropped in our lap and we are one of the first to have submitted our response so we are in good shape
b. Lifelong Learning Summer Update
Pandora Carlucci
(a copy of the presentation will be added later)
The following document is more Pandora's notes that she used to make her update than a full presentation document.
approx 2500-3000 students for the summer program
"ready, set, kindergarten" - one of the fun programs to observe
held at Oak St, classrooms are set up similarly
Star program - about 1000 students, art teachers doing different programs
Star Plus - the middle school option, a more significant involvement
8 week summer, full day program, theme for each week, activities and field trips, water activities
Legos club is hughly popular
Math Academy - 2nd year
K-6, next summer expanding to 7, and the year after to 8
all the learning is math based, no 'real' names tags, the names were math concepts
each learning approached through math
Summer music program
111 students, participating
music mentors have grown with the program,
music literature compatible with the normal school year programs
a leadership goal set each day, encourage to perform as ensembles during the lunch time
demonstrating different music techniques, etc.
Summer Art Institute
2 weeks, intense focus on the arts
fine arts academy also participated in this
Academic support at the high school
remediation occurs throughout the year rather than wait until the summer time
college essay
3 day workshop first time, this year was 3 x three day workshops
so popular we ended up turning folks away even with three session
looking to address additional needs during the school year
high school experience
approx 2/3 of the incoming class participated
photos and video were captured this year to better show other students what happens during the sessions
Could the advisors be available during the sessions?
The advisors were posted so the students were able to meet them at the beginning
class motto - 1980 last yearbook that had one, seemed to have disappeared since then
what are our guiding principles?
difference between motto and slogan
on the final day, cohorts came up with four finalists
itslearning will be used to vote on the finalists, closed voting to class of 2016 only
inclusive of students who did not have a chance to participate
over 300 students fed via Whitson's help
Mandarin - online learning, 90 distinct lessons
Cisco networking academy, 2 target populations; student not going on to higher ed but interested in technology; also good for folks who are retraining;
mass open online courses (MOOC) - a meet up for anyone in the Franklin area to share what the experience is like; share what they have learned and what the issues are
Adult ed - grown child care provider courses, folks coming from 10 different towns
indoor walking expanded
hula hoop dance cardio workout
Downtown Abbey tea to be hosted, (flyer available here)
McIntyre - I was trying to find the word for you, you are creative and visionary, we are very appreciative of that
Sabolinski - beside visionary, she makes it happen! Pandora is the queen of schlepping things around, she is phenomenal at that!
Carlucci - it is a team, I try to say all the names of those involved, they are the ones who come up with the ideas. We all schlep!
Rohrbach - life long learning is the entrepreneurial arm of the district, it is self sustaining so we need to disclose that.
Carlucci - we'll be posting in Oct for next summer, so we'll be starting soon; I think this is my 15th year
Mullen - "respect, value, and include" really speaks to what you do
