UAI Staff News
Volume XI
Issue 08
October 9th, 2023
It is without a doubt that we have a LOT of work to do this year. Our data definitely underscores that!
June 2023 Regents Scores. We saw in June the outcome of our June 2023 Regents. While many of our students scores >50, thereby satisfying a graduation requirement, the overwhelming majority of our students scored <65 - which is extremely reflective of our students' literacy struggles. On top of their literacy challenges, last year our overall attendance rate was 84%, which meant that most of our students were missing over 30 days of school - and critical learning moments in class last year.
It's super clear that we have our work cut out for this year. More than ever, it is super clear that we all have to find ways to work together to collectively develop student literacy and capacity in all of our classes.
This is precisely what the Middle School Team has done since we first found out last spring that our school was put on the CSI list. In the face of such gut-punching news, they circled their wagons, pulled together and found ways to implement changes, interventions, and lift up expectations & raise student performance.
Through that collaboration, they encouraged and pushed more students to take the exams AND surrounded our neediest students with the interventions needed to make sure they thrived. Together they rewrote what should happen in learning labs and developed and executed a comprehensive intervention plan that targeted individual student learning needs. That plan was successfully launched at the start of this year and is already doing great work with kids.
As a result of pulling together and doubling down - the MS team increased proficiency significantly (nearly 4X better than 2022-23 in both ELA and Math!!). Every teacher on that team stepped up, pitched in, and found ways to help students, and nearly every student in the middle school thrived as a result! This improvement is so phenomenal that I'm feeling extremely hopeful that their efforts will pull us off the CSI list after just one year.
The MS team is a true testament to what we can do as a community when we are united. We do have much work to achieve across all 7 grades and we do have a significant amount of work to do in the upper schools (grades 8-12) in particular. But there is so much talent and commitment in all of UAI, that I have no doubt that we will pull together, and just like the MS did, we will pull our way through.
Thank you to the MS team for their commitment and to Phillan's incredible leadership of the team! It's a model that we can turn to find ways to thrive as a whole school, and we are lucky to have them as resources, inspirations, and models for what we need to do with the rest of the school!
Important Upcoming dates
- Wednesday, 11OCT23 - 2nd Day of Elevate Study Skills in 6/7 and 8/9 Learning Labs
- Saturday, 14OCT23 - The next check on the Outreach Log
- Monday, 16OCT23 - Spirit Week Kicks Off!
- Monday, 16OCT23 - PD - Teacher Work Time & Reflection on Goals
- Monday, 23OCT23 -
- Wednesday, 25OCT23 - Girls Volleyball Home Game
- Tuesday, 31OCT23 - Halloween - Wear your best costume - themed outfits are the best!
- First Marking Period Benchmarks are coming the first week of NOVEMBER
- Wed, NOV 1st - ELA & Theater Benchmarks
- Thu, NOV 2nd - Science & Spanish Benchmarks
- Fri, NOV 3rd - Social Studies & Computer Science Benchmarks
- Mon, NOV 6th - Math & PE Benchmarks
Announcements & To Dos
Progress Reports. OK - I *think* it's fixed. Student gmails have been associated, and if your Google Classrooms follows the UAI grading policy, grades should transfer. The one hiccup that you may be encountering is with Missing or Excused work. If you're having problems transferring, try putting in a 50 for missing work. If it is excused, unassign it from the student, and see if that works for the transfer.
I did a test run on the progress reports and clicked a button that said "email to students." I thought that would generate a file that I could then email to students, but it *might* have actually sent an email (I'm still trying to figure that one out today). If students actually received it, please let them know that's not the real progress reports.
Go ahead and get your grades in by Friday (for REAL'S this time!). Then we'll send out the progress reports for next week.
Consultation Committee Outcomes. We had our first consultation committee meeting on Thursday morning. Here are some of the outcomes for that meeting:
- Space for Sub Paras and Sub Teachers to Keep Belongings. Regular Sub Teachers & Paras should pair with a teacher to store belongings in a classroom closet. Teachers should definitely reach out to Sub Teachers & Paras to offer space in classroom closets. We have extremely limited storage space. If folks cannot easily find space in classrooms, folks are always welcome to store whatever they need in my office or Jen/Annie's office. Itinerant subs will be able to store their belongings in the main office closet for the day.
- Teacher's Lounge Improvements. We'll be moving the copier machine back into the main office space this week to give more space in the teacher's lounge. I also donated my microwave to the lounge for a 2nd microwave (I have zero idea what happened to the old ones).
- Advance Ratings. Many folks had questions about advance ratings outcomes. We did a default option last year for the ratings, so folks associated to a regent course was evaluated on the regents. Those folks not specifically associated to a regent were bundled to their discipline (e.g. Social Studies) or if they are not officially part of department (e.g. PE) they are bundled to the entire school.
Prior to the pandemic, our MOSL ratings have always been effective. This is the first time that we had MOSLs in a long time, and the outcomes were very surprising and not good.
Our students are struggling and it's appearing on our schools' exam results. There are still specific questions that folks have (e.g why are their variations in the measures for one teacher vs. another). We're tracking that down with specific teachers, and of course, individual teachers always have the option to appeal. I have not idea how those work or what that means, but I do know that our data is showing that we are not performing well, relative to our city and state peers.
It is not easy being branded by a system that seems very intent to shame rather than support. It's quite terrible and really undermining...
But please remember that the brand of that rating is not a definition of who you are, what you're able to do, and most importantly, what you mean to our families and students. It does show that we have much to learn and improve upon - and that is what matters most.
- Per Session Timeliness. Several years ago, a staff member submitted her per session sheets YEARS LATE. Yes, you read that correctly. She one day realized that she forgot to submit her paper work and that she never got paid. Long story short, we ended up having to pay her back log of time off of the current years' budget, and I was shocked that the outcome was that, but that's exactly what it was. When I asked how that was possible, I was given no real answer, but I was told that I can put into the expectation of per session activities that timely submission of per session sheets is a requirement of being eligible for the position - which I have done ever since that instance.
Throughout her time working with us Del (our former payroll secretary) would always complain how much time it took to back track and catch up with folks who submitted their per session sheets late. She had an allotted time frame to submit the per session, and then when someone would turn in something late, she would have to disrupt her work flow to deal with that person's late timesheet. Multiply this by lots of late people - and her work flow got all sorts of disrupted.
So, when you hear Dai saying that you need to be on time with your per session sheets - you need to understand that that is 100% coming from me.
I am not asking a large ask from any individual. It's 10 minutes of your attention and time - but it is saving Damaris & Dai hours, and loads of frustration for each pay period. It's a super tiny ask of you for such a huge benefit for them and for the school. So Please
Put in your phones, right now, an alarm that goes off on the 1st and 16th of every month at 8AM (or a time when you have a break) to remind you to take 10 minutes to complete your per session sheet and submit it via the form. It should not take you more than 10 minutes, but you HAVE to remember to do it on time.
On Thursday, I agreed with the Consultation Committee to give you 48 hours to submit it. So, all per session for the 1st -15th will be due on the 17th at 3PM. All per session from the 16th-31st will be due on the 2nd at 3PM.
From here on out, if you are late more than two times, you will be marked ineligible for any UAI per session opportunity for the remainder of the school year. That means after today, if you submit your per session late two times - on the 3rd time, you will be paid, but you will also be removed from any per session opportunities after that (i.e. you will not be allowed to submit for a 4th time because you will not be approved to work per session after submitting late for the 3rd time).
So, do NOT be late. Set the reminders, follow through, and just take the 10 minutes each pay period to complete and submit the paperwork on time.
PD Calendar. Much of the first marking period PD is launching the work that we are doing for the year. We had three Mondays in September which covered things we needed to do (e.g. work time to set up Google Classrooms, reviewing evacuation procedures, and getting ready for curriculum night). For October, we'll begin to set the stage for our longterm work of the year. Here is the PD schedule for the rest of MP1
- 02OCT23 - Understanding what the MAP says about student literacy & numeracy
- 09OCT23 - HOLIDAY - WooHoo for Indigenous folks and Italian people!
- 16OCT23 - Leveraging the CLASS Rubrics to Improve Classroom Connections
- 23OCT23 - Equity Team Circles
- 30OCT23 - Independent Work Time and Reflection
- 07NOV23 - Subject Team Benchmark Grading & Analysis
- 08NOV23 - Election Day PD (Circles, Benchmark Analysis, Progress Monitoring on Goals)
Weekly Outreach Log Checks. You should have received an email from me with feedback about your completion of the outreach log for the week of 11SEP-17SEP and the week of 18SEP-24SEP. Please remember to complete this week's (25SEP-01OCT) outreach log by midnight tonight. The week of outreach always goes from Monday through Sunday. As a reminder, you MUST document all 55 minutes of remote time. I'll be checking the log twice a month. The next check will be on 14OCT.
Academic Conferences and Office Hours. Please continue to make sure that you have entered Grades into SyncGrades this week. Students should have at least 1 progress grade in SyncGrades, and more importantly, please make sure you are conferencing with students and communicating home about student progress this week. If you have students who have less than a 75 in your class, please make sure you are asking them to attend your Office Hours on Mondays from 2:50-3:30. Please use your outreach time to let families know that you have time to work with students after school on Mondays.
Please Promote After School. Please continue to help promote clubs this week! Here are the amazing clubs that folks have agreed to run:
- Black Student Union - Joanna & Pauline (Rm 411) - Tuesdays & Thursdays 3-4:30
- Arts & Crafts Club - Tiffany & Jennifer (Rm 311) - Mon/Tue/Weds - 3-4:15PM
- Theater Production Club - Noelle (Rm 315) - Tues/Thurs/Fri - 3-5:30PM
- Student Government - Sue, Marsha, Phillan, and Girls' Inc's Kassi (Rm 309) - Tuesdays - 3-4PM
- Youth Leadership Council - Kelly (Rm 307) - Tuesdays 3-4PM
- Photo Club - Tom(Rm 205F) - Wednesdays 3-4:30
- Cheer - Mary & Lia - Various days depending on Game Days
- Anime & Art Club - Adelle & Francis (Rm 409) - Tuesdays & Thursdays 3-5PM
- Running Club with Camryn (starts after the marathon is over)
- Dance Club - Girls Inc - Room 503
We're still looking for folks to advise the following clubs. Please email Kiri ASAP so we can get these clubs up and running, too!
- GSA Club
- Muslim Student Association
Per Session Postings
For ALL per session activities, please complete Per Session Application Form"
After School Clubs. If you are interested in running an after school club, please complete THIS form by EOD TUESDAY 26SEP23 AND submit the Per Session Application Form. Clubs are slated to start next week. Clubs must have a steady roster of at least 8-10 students per week in order to NOT be cancelled. Rosters & Attendance lists MUST be submitted with per session time cards. If your club goes three consecutive weeks with less than 8 students, your club will need to be cancelled (so that we can optimize funds for other uses - so sorry...wish we could fund everything all the time, but unfortunately, we don't have endless sums of funds). After school sessions can be 3-4PM or 3-4:30PM or 3-5:30PM (teacher's choice)up to three days per week. So per session hours can range from 1-7.5hrs per week). Posting Expires 10OCT23.
PSAL Supervision. Posting Expires 10OCT23. PSAL Games are starting up soon. Please submit the Per Session Application Form if you are interested in supervising student spectators. Hours vary depending on games. Each game (basketball or volleyball) is usually 4-6pm (is) so each supervision session is about 2hours. Staff are welcome to sign up for as many games as they'd like. Please see UAI calendar or PSAL website for game dates. Duties include making sure
- students remain safe and orderly during games
- only eligible students are admitted to games
- all students fully dismiss from the building at the conclusion of the games
CSI Planning & Supervision. Posting Expires 10OCT23. This posting if for supervision per session to plan, supervise, monitor and coordinate extra improvement efforts to address UAI achievement gaps and improve student performance in target metrics. Activities include analyzing and reviewing data, planning and executing professional development experiences to improve staff performance, analyzing and editing video footage to improve teacher lesson execution and lesson implementation, and supervising out of school activities - including recruitment, staff planning, and after school activities. Hours vary per week depending on task and work completed. Hours range 1-7.5 hours per week.
Classroom SetUp. All classroom staff are invited to come in to set up and plan for up to 10 hours all together any day this week Monday-Friday 9AM-2PM. Staff must clock in AND out each day, and cannot be in the building after 2PM. Please adhere to guidelines set out in the blog post above. All Staff MUST also apply to this position by completing the "Per Session Application From" - see link above. [Posted 27AUG23] - Posting CLOSED and JOB is over.
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