HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-04-22-LHS-min\O Vs Mop
a -- Lexing Hi h School
g 9
3 a�
APRIL 19" � 251 Waltham Street .;. Lexington, Massachusetts 02421
XI NG"�
To: The Lexington High School Council
From: Lisa Dahill
Re: April 22, 2013 Meeting Minutes
Approved on May 20, 2013
LHS School Site Council Meeting was held April 22, 2013, from 6:00 -7:40 PM in the
LHS Guidance Conference Room, 154.
Members Present: Laura Lasa, Ellen Hilsinger, Paul Breitenfeld, Lisa Dahill, Kim Effron,
Eileen Jay, Katherine Murphy, Hyesyung Park, Walter Richardson, Bob Ruxin, Nancy
Shepard, Jill Smilow, Dave Wininger, Jessica Zhu
Members Absent: Miriam Lipschutz
Approval of March 18 minutes
• Minutes approved with no changes.
IL Global Connect
• 11
• A Global Connect update was sent to inform parents on how the day at
school went following the Boston Marathon tragedy over April vacation;
overall impression was that the day went well.
IL New business 6:10
A. 2012 -2013 School Improvement Plan (SIP) — Feedback
Goal 2: If we implement technology -based home - school communications
processes, then parent support and student accountability will increase, resulting
in improved student academic performance.
Embed the implementation goals elsewhere in the 2013 -2014 SIP; most of
the targets have been met
Goal 1: If teachers expand their use of student data to discuss student
progress and select effective, instructional strategies, then all students will
achieve at higher levels.
• This is a district goal
• PLC Evolution Committee is a volunteer committee formed and will
continue as a support to teachers, to curriculum work, to overall
collaboration
• Focus of PLC teams this year was curriculum design work.
• The school will move towards a "Data Team" approach to providing
timely interventions for students
• PLC teams need training to develop an understanding of effective
data /student work that can be analyzed
• Goal this year and next is to finish the curriculum design work before
beginning the work involving data, and to foster faculty leadership
within the PLC structure
• Common assessments are used to evaluate and monitor what is covered
in class
• Teachers use the common assessment as a tool to structure lessons and
develop future lessons; continuous adaptations occur
• Departments are also looking at what challenges students are facing
and using a more holistic approach to address those challenges
• Progress in PLC teams this year:
• focused conversations
• asking students to demonstrate learning
• common assessments produce stronger assessments
through review and discussion, making the assessment
more equitable for students
• assists teachers in setting collaborative goals
• Ultimately, teams want to be able to use time collaboratively to help
students struggling with concepts and /or skills
o All curriculum work is being recorded in Atlas Rubicon
(mapping tool) with common learning targets for the course curriculum
o SPED liaisons can use this to help students see the "big
idea /enduring understandings" for courses
❖ Making good progress on teachers implementing technology to
enhance student learning.
Goal 3: If we increase student pro - social behavior and resiliency, and reduce
sources of unhealthy student stress, then student academic performance and
wellbeing will improve.
• Extended Homerooms have been established to address Goal #3
• Teachers would like some guidance on what to do during the regular
10- minute homeroom
Need to address the sources of unhealthy student stress [i.e., academic
course level and expectations, college, school climate, resiliency and
coping skills]
• Trying to find a mechanism to survey students on stress, and what the
actual stressors are.
III. Advanced Placement 7:15
• Considering limiting the number of AP courses a student may take,
but need to determine the number
• If the number of AP courses is limited, how does that affect levels for
courses? Should the number of Honors level courses increase?
• Can LHS articulate the difference between AP and Honors classes?
• It may not be the AP label that makes the class challenging
• Question as to whether an AP course benefits the students and
teachers in the best way possible
• Colleges are looking at AP classes in the context of the individual high
school environment
• Some Level I classes can be as stressful as AP classes (student report)
• Great deal of peer pressure to take AP classes
IV. Adjournment 7:40