ELA Committee
Meeting Agenda
Thursday, September 27, 2007
3:30 - 5:30 P.M. @ Central Office
Committee Members in Attendance:
Rie Kittredge, Sue Folsum, Debra Butterfield, Donna Whalen, Sonya Larrame, Amy Whitman, Sarah Brown, Kris Canning, Alma Ranslow, Cynthia Snow, Mary Jo Stevens, Cheryl Lukens, Sue Shepherd, Judi Morin, Karen Moody, Howie Tuttle
Many thanks to all for sharing their thoughts, and for the clarifying discussions!
ELA Assessment Timeline Discussion (Current Time Line Is To Be Followed)
Consensus on all assessments must be meaningful and timely
Kindergarten teachers will discuss the addition of a Phonemic Awareness Assessment and what (if any) should come off the plate. (Historical Note: 2005 we used the LPA- Language Processing Assessment. Kindergarten found that it was not useful.) Question: Does the Fountas & Pinnell assessments in the beginning of the binder meet this need?
Re-word- K-Spring-4th quarter to read: If student is at Level C in Reading, the Letter ID, Concepts of Print, and Rhyming do not need to be given. Teachers will document when these items were attained.
Add MS & HS component
MS- all students given the SRI in Oct- if score low then do DRA as additional diagnostic piece
DRA Discussion
A discussion is needed at grades 1-5 grade level mtgs about the best time to give DRA’s; Fall vs Spring (i.e. K will give it in the spring due to the nature of the learners.) A straw vote at this meeting indicated that Fall would be best. (Please gather input from your colleagues and be prepared to have a formal vote at our next meeting Oct 15) The thought was shared that administering the DRA relays valuable information to the teacher in planning instruction. Getting the scores in the fall without that info may not help advance a teacher’s understanding of specific student needs.
Keep in mind that DRA’s are already calibrated for Fall & Spring time periods. (Not calibrated for a January administration)
Keep in mind that Title I does them each Fall and Spring anyway-reducing the number of DRA assessments classroom teachers have to complete.
Revisited giving DRA twice a year. (Historical Note: we have discussed this before and realize that a pre and post test is often valuable data points, yet we have other data points (running records) that can provide equally valuable info without the considerable time spent on assessing, especially at the upper elementary levels.)
A need for more test books was shared. (Gr 4-5 are readily available, Gr K-3 we may not be able to get because they are phasing out of that kit.)
Fall/Spring Writing Prompts: Sample prompt ideas were distributed-feel free to use/discard/ change as needed.
HS prompt is modeled on the SAT prompt genre. (They are given a phrase and must respond to it.)
Prompt will be generated by the HS ELA department
MS prompt is modeled on the MEA “Persuasive” prompt genre
Prompt will be generated by the 8th grade ELA team
ELEM prompt is modeled on the MEA “Personal Narrative” prompt genre
Prompt will be generated at grade level meetings. Each grade level will choose their common personal narrative prompt. All students at that grade level will have the same prompt.
Scoring Writing Prompts
Fall Prompt Nov 19-30 Send Scores to Building Principal
Principals- Scores due by Dec 14 to Howie Tuttle
Spring Prompt April 28-May 2
Principals-Scores due by May 16 to Howie Tuttle
K-5 will continue the use of the Writing Continuum Rubric
K-2 teachers, (Sonya, Kris), will share a highlighting strategy for the Writing Continuum rubric.
Gr 6-12 will continue to use the MEA Rubric
Anchor papers are extremely important to the scoring process. Student exemplars/anchor papers may be shown to students prior to the writing prompt to keep the goal in mind.
Students who do not write to the prompt will not be penalized in their score.
All grade levels will use the anchor paper discussions (grade level or department meetings) to calibrate teachers for the scoring of papers. Papers that teachers have questions about can be double scored. This will allow teachers new to the district an opportunity to talk w/colleagues and get assistance with the scoring process. [Teachers may ask a colleague to score their papers or score their own. They may double score all papers if desired]
Score Sheets will be sent to each teacher. Student names and ID’s will already be there. Please record each student’s score and performance level using capital letters (DNM, PM, M, E). Please use only these designations-no small case, no other abbreviations, etc.. ) Thanks!
The time frame to administer the prompts will be consistent k-12; one 45-minute writing session with the option of an additional 15 extra minutes if needed. (Up to 45 minutes, but not to exceed 60 minutes.)
Teachers are to send their scores to their building principal. The principal will verify that all classes and students are accounted for before sending them by the final deadlines to Howie Tuttle.
Curriculum Committee Membership
Howie has reviewed the budget and shared his plan for streamlining the curriculum committees while providing valuable sub-committee work time (paid).
Howie shared a handout showing the representation plan.
Each grade level team will decide who will represent their grade level at the curriculum committee. The prior expectation that all teachers serve on a committee has been relaxed.
Communication with all teachers will need to be enriched and is the goal!
Sub-Committees
Curriculum Review & Alignment with New MSLR Date: TBA
Debra Butterfield (to share an “un-packing” process)
Melissa Cheeseman
Sue Folsum
Rie Kittredge
Sonya Laramee
Assessment Date: TBA
Cynthia Snow
Kris Canning
Amy Whitman
ELA Curriculum Review
Howie share his new version of the format for the board information. The wonderful work already done over the summer will be incorporated into this new format.
A CCC presentation is also scheduled for January 28, 2008.
The ELA Committee will choose two representatives to attend CCC meetings. To be decided at our next meeting. (Oct 15)
Next Meeting- Monday, October 15 @ 3:30 P.M. in the Central Office
Respectfully Submitted:
Judi Morin