UAI Cabinet Meeting Minutes
Agenda 20JAN16
- 3:00-3:20 Announcements Grade Team Shares (Updates, Concerns and Celebrations)
- 3:20-3:55 Continued Data Dive - Looking at Survey Data
- 3:55-4:00 Wrap Up and Next Steps
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Grade Team Shares (See Blog Post for the Celebrations). Below are the concerns raised at cabinet by team leaders. In blue are the responses from school leadership.
11th/12th Grade and 10th/12th Grade Teams. Teachers are concerned about progress of IEP students in terms of credit accumulation and Regents passing.
- Analysis of Student Performance for kids with IEPs. This has been a persistent problem at UAI for some time. Last year, we implemented Workout plans in all subjects and saw a correlative improvement in student achievement. This year, workout plans are not as prevalent. I will task subject teams to review the fallout of Workout plans and to figure out why we no longer use them to intervene in student achievement. Additionally, I will task subject teams to review fall unit arcs and activities to evaluate how they have been differentiated and how effective those methods have been to address student needs.
- Targeted AIS. Starting in the Spring, I will create small pull-out groups to directly address students who are below reading level. Using the math benchmarks (both MS and HS) I will also create numeracy intervention groups for pull out. With state assessments only 35 teaching days away for the Middle School, I am prioritizing resources there first. If you click on "Academic Intervention" in the new program, you'll see the groups there (math is still TBD because benchmarks have not yet happened).
8th and 9th Grade Teams. Both teams are looking at consistency. They are concerned about making sure that there is consistency among teachers in terms of setting clear expectations and following through with positive redirection when student behavior falls short of expectations. They are looking for ways to get on the same page.
11th/12th Grade and 10th/12th Grade. Teachers are concerned about progress of IEP students in terms of credit accumulation and Regents passing.
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Agenda 14JAN16
- 3:00-3:20 Grade Team Shares (Concerns and Celebrations)
- 3:20-3:55 Data Dive - Looking at Survey Data
- 3:55-4:00 Wrap Up and Next Steps
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Grade Team Shares (See Blog Post for the Celebrations). Below are the concerns raised at cabinet by team leaders. In blue are the responses from school leadership.
6th Grade: How do we provide AIS support with three separate co-teachers?
- Schedule Change: Starting this spring (02FEB16), we are making some changes to the schedule to address this (and other) issues. Phillan will be the 6th grade ISS Support Teacher (Joanna will be 7th and Christina will be 8th).
- Consistent UR and Conferences: As noted in this week's blog, Tier One Interventions are not happening with consistency. The grade team should support each other (share strategies visit each other's classes) to develop systematic CUR and Conferences for all classes, with double UR and Conferences for students who show High Need or Some Need on the DRP data.
- Workout Plans: The grade team needs to launch workout plans to provide students with activities that build background abilities in literacy and numeracy. These workout plans should be focused on reading and math, but should be available to student in all classes. There are only 35 days from the start of the Spring Term until the first NYS State Tests begin. Example of workout plans can be fluency based (e.g. practice Oral Reading Fluencies, Math Fact Practice, Measurement Activities), stamina based (e.g. timed activities that build the time of focus on a task, e.g. 3 min CBMs to 5 min CBMs, to 7min CBMs, or problem sets that grow in number)
- Scheduled Student Work Review: To keep an eye on the progress of students who struggles, the team should create a weekly agenda item presenting work of students (especially their assessment performance) to review progress. Teams should also review Conference and UR records to track trends in student learning.
7th Grade: Can we clarify the different roles of Admin? How can we make leadership more visible to the kids?
- Admin Visibility: There are several places where students see us and can learn about us. First, we can post our bios from the TO I made earlier this summer on our office doors. Second, hallway and classroom presence is a chance to meet kids and tell them what we do. Finally, full school assemblies is a time where we can assert leadership definitions for students. Are there other ways the team is seeking?
- Teaching Into Admin Roles: Kiri is outside everyday at dismissal for both middle and high school. Given that there are 33 teachers spread across 7 floors, face time is going to be spread thin. To support that, I'm asking teachers to actively support student learning of who does what, by teaching into student questions. For example, when kids ask, "Who is this [admin]?" Teachers should say something along the lines of the following:
- Ms. Kiri is the principal of the whole school. You see her everyday at dismissal and you can find her in room 401, just above Ms. Val's office. Ms. Kiri works with everyone, but she works a lot with the Math & Science teachers as their primary evaluator.
- Ms. Val and Ms. Colleen are assistant principals. Ms. Val is responsible for all the Scheduling and Compliance Work while Ms. Colleen is in charge of Teacher PD and Testing. Ms. Colleen works with all the English & Language teachers, and Ms. Val works with Social Studies, Special Ed, and Breadth teachers (PE and Art).
- Ms. Jen is our Supervising Social Worker and she is in charge of student affairs and discipline. Our deans (Ms. Martine, Ms. Doris, and Ms. Channay) report to her as do our counselors & social workers (Ms. Jennifer, Ms. Sara, Ms. El, Ms. Marni, and Ms. Lori). In addition to supervising all counseling both individual and group, Jen is responsible for things like student discipline, Social Emotional Learning, Student Activities, and Student Recruitment.
- Ms. Kree and Mr. Chris supervise our partner programs (Girls Inc and Carrera)
- We have three lovely ladies in the main office. Ms. Carol is our parent coordinator. Ms. Nancy is our pupil accounting secretary and deals with metrocards, student blue cards, lunch forms, etc. Ms. Del is our purchasing & payroll secretary and helps teachers buy supplies and get teachers paid.
- Ms. Mara is our college coordinator and works with our high school girls to get into college. She also works with our seniors to mentor our 7th & 8th graders.
8th Grade: Can we incentive attendance improvement? What are the intervention protocols? Can Admin relaunch the social norms? What is the deal with the bathroom policy?
- Attendance Incentives: We can incentivize attendance improvement. The attendance committee meets on Tuesdays. We will task them with developing ideas around this.
- Admin Relaunch of Social Norms: Kiri & Jen will visit with the 8th grade team to learn more specifics about this. Will the team email us a time and place to meet?
- Bathroom Policy. The bathroom policy remains consistent. Students should only use the bathroom during work time, and the bathroom is closed the period after lunch. Please encourage students to use the bathroom during lunch when they leave your classroom at the end of 3rd period.
- Intervention Protocols: Here are our interventions:
- Tier One - this is an intervention available to all students. All students should be receiving double UR groups and Conferences. In addition, students in need of AIS need to have modified unit contracts to make space for them to work on Workout Plans to build background ability and foundational fluency.
- Tier Two: Grade Team Interventions. These interventions will vary, but are the result of team analysis of student need (e.g. looking at student work, data like DRP, benchmarks, etc.). Interventions may be things like assigned tutoring (with tutor or para or at lunch), parent phone calls home (with feedback on how to support student learning), SEL strategies, team meeting with student (to develop goals and next steps).
- Tier Three: Admin Interventions. These are major interventions and should be used when all other interventions have been tried and have failed. This is an extended intervention that aims at shifting the mindset and self-concept of students to change persistent negative achievement/behaviors.
9th Grade: Are their 9th digital versions of the locker contracts, electronics policy and other rules for students? What is the follow through on detentions and other consequences?
- The UAI Staff Handbook: This resource has in digital form all school policies and links to forms like locker contracts, exit slips, and electronics permission slips.
- Consequence Followup: Typically, deans and admin will follow up on consequences in Skedula. We're not always perfect, and sometimes miss the follow through. Deans will meet this week (Thursday 21JAN) to review the system and improve reporting back to grade teams.
10th/12th Grade: Is it possible to have hallway supervision on the 5th floor? What is the follow through on detentions and other consequences?
- 5th Floor Hallway Supervision: We usually have 2 ATRs assigned to our school. Lately, it's been Donna (science license) and Carmine (ATR social worker). Martine is assigned to the 5th floor, but often her work pulls her from the floor. Kiri, Jen, and Carmine are assigned to the 4th floor. Donna is assigned to the save room. Doris is on the ground floor, and Channay, Val, Colleen, and Jennifer are all on the 3rd floor. Deans will meet this week (Thurs 21JAN) to revisit assignments and figure a way to get some coverage to the 5th floor.
- Consequence Followup: Typically, deans and admin will follow up on consequences in Skedula. We're not always perfect, and sometimes miss the follow through. Deans will meet this week (Thursday 21JAN) to review the system and improve reporting back to grade teams.
11th/12th Grade: Sometimes people only email announcements to grade team leaders and leaders sometimes miss emails that the team should know about. Can we make sure important emails get sent to the whole team?
- New Group Email Nomenclature: Kiri is revamping the groups in gmail. The teacher groups are now working. All teacher groups begin with "teachers" and then an underscore "_" and then the team name. So, for example, the 11th and 12th grade team would be "teachers_grade1112@uainstitute.org". Student emails are in creations right not. All student emails will be by their cohort. So for example the Class of 2016 will be "co2016@uainstitute.org"
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Data Dive. Using a modified Data Driven Protocol, the various team leaders reviewed the data that we got back from the various surveys. We need more time to put together concrete approaches, but we did uncover some trends and initial ideas to address these trends.
Overarching Trend - Each team uncovered themes that relate to a lack of strong, positive relationships at UAI. Each survey revealed a slightly different perspective, but this is concerning given that we are a small community.
- Admin Team - Parent Survey
- Initial Findings: From parent response, our communication is frequent, but the majority of it is corrective vs. celebratory or empathetic. The majority of our calls home are about not being in school on time, a student is failing/missing work, a student has behavioral problems.
- Initial Ideas:
- When calling home for corrective behavior, use a "Feedback Sandwich" approach so that we are sure to include strengths with each communication home.
- Create Paper Versions of our Newsletters to post up and send home so that parents have more options to see what we do celebrate.
- Make time on the Grade Team Agenda (or have it be part of the Celebrations) to share successful phone calls.
- Subject Team Leaders - Teacher Survey
- Initial Findings: There is a disconnect between teacher views and students views on culturally relevant curriculum. The teachers think we're doing a great job, but the students completely disagree.
- Initial Ideas:
- Develop a survey to better understand student attitudes and thinking
- In subject teams, work to build student engagement in the curriculum
- High light strong female role models
- Grade Team Leaders - Student Survey
- Initial Findings: Students feel that they do not have positive, promotive relationships with their teachers.
- Initial Ideas:
- Focus on small, daily activities to build relationships - e.g. having lunch with teachers, creating time in class for affirmations, using positive language to encourage student redirection
- Plan relationship/community building activities (e.g. field trips)
- Investigate how teacher perceptions/attitudes towards students impact the student/teacher relationships and thus the impact on student learning.
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Wrap Up. Next week's Cabinet meeting will be on Wednesday where we will continue to flesh out plans to address trends uncovered in the Data Dive.
End of Cabinet Notes. In attendance:
- Grade Team Leaders: Meredith, Wendy, Kerry, Danielle, Brodie
- Subject Team Leaders: Meredith, Wendy, Ilyana, Damon, Mike, Elena, Darby, Christina
- Admin: Val, Colleen, Kiri, Jen
- Other Teachers: Erick, Jamie
