November 30, 2016 LSAT Minutes

Present: Chris Cebrzynski, Alicia Garfinkel, Aaron Hanna, Vicki Otten, Sara Heist, Emily Kallaur, Lauren Miller, Karen Abrams and Adam Riggs.
Meeting was called to order at 5:35 PM.
Adoption of the Minutes from October – Sarah made the motion to approve the October minutes, Adam seconded the motion – all approved

Principal
1. Mr. C spoke about the new chancellor and a phone call he had with him and other DC Principals.
2. We hope he will have the chance to visit Murch soon

Intervention/Enrichment
1. What is RTI? How is it different from I/E?
  1. RTI à The program/plan/method that identifies and tracks students as at risk or below grade level; very specific – lots of assessments and coordination; RTI comes in 6 week cycles – if the intervention is not successful, it can be modified, or moved to getting an IEP
  2. I/E is based on data and all students participate
  3. Another way to think about it – “A student who has an RTI plan will receive an RTI during I/E, but a student in I/E doesn’t always have an RTI plan.”
2. The Murch I/E Program – What does it look like? (Murch Mindcraft)
  1. Looked at handout by Stefanie Berger
  2. Aides implement the Enrichment, classroom teachers do the Intervention (groups are mixed within the grade-level based on need); Math Specialist and Enrichment Coordinator help too – 12 adults help during each grade level’s I/E block
  3. Math – 10% are in the intervention block – grades 3 -5
  4. ELA – 17% are in the intervention block – grades 3-5
  5. 2^nd – 5^th grade have 30 minutes per day (1^st grade has a different model)
  6. STEM competitions starting in January to add more Science and Math to I/E
  7. Most cycles are 3 weeks – number of days a week depends on groups/grade level
3. Responses from teachers & aides on I/E
  1. 72% of teachers responded that a challenge is that there is not time to meet to discuss I/E
  2. (School-wide Enrichment à Ms. Bentley – separate from I/E block (based on their interest survey); 2^nd – 5^th graders will all have an enrichment project with her.)
4. Discussion of articles and information on other I/E programs
5. Going forward
  1. Coming up with specific Goals and Objectives of I/E block
  2. Communication with parents about the I/E block
    1. Section on the website about it?
6. Get 3 or 4 measurable/achievable goals
  1. Would help get all grade levels more on the same page
  2. Enrichment à Clarify what we are doing – not pushing to the next grade-level, but exploring creativity and curiosity
7. Make a scope & sequence for I/E block?
  1. At the end of the year, look back at projects and see overlaps in grade levels and see how to connect them and what to use again next year.
8. Discussion of budget considerations to help with this more
9. Time set aside on PD days to plan for I/E
10. One idea – Once a month, grade-level teams get a full day to plan with specific goals
11. This work is being done to be utilized for next year.
12. Future thoughts à Utilizing parents with knowledge in specific areas to help (ex: meteorologists)

A small group will meet to work on creating a draft of goals (Emily, Karen, Vicki, Aaron, Lauren).

Miscellaneous
1. Computers
  1. Adam talked about the issues we are experiencing with laptops at school
  2. Suggested sending out a survey to all teachers – is everyone having this problem? Can we reach out to HSA about fixing this?
  3. Mr. C will put Adam in touch with the DCPS person in charge of technology to discuss if we can use Chrome Books.

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