General Body Meeting Summary-10-15-2014

Summary

This month we met with Dr. Tyler, Director of Research and Superintendent, Dr. Williams. We discussed plans for LCPS, Equity, and the Gap.

Agenda Items

Welcome

Opened meeting with a welcome from MSAAC Chair
Representatives include LCPS Administration, Principals, Assistant Vice Principals, Teachers, School Board Members, and Parent/Delegates

Meeting Minutes

May and September meeting minutes presented to the General Body and approved into the record

Cluster Report

Heavy emphasis on Breast Cancer Awareness, PSAT/SAT prep, Homecoming Events, Big Rival Football games, upcoming 5K run, and charity events

Excellence - Equity = Elite, Chair Person, Zerell Johnson- Welch

Important to create equity for all children. Equity doesn’t mean equal. And honor the difference and respect those differences. Our educators need to be equipped to teach to those differences.
Membership provided with an article to read. “We should not Kid Ourselves: Excellence Requires Equity- Bradley Scott. M.A,
Five Goals of Education Equity- first goal discussed this evening/ analyze the data.

State of LCPS- Dr. Tyler

There are challenges, but we are well equipped to handle it
Parents/Audience was warned that the data will either confirm their thoughts or provide insight
What groups do you think of when you think of gaps in achievement?

At a point it becomes unacceptable and you have to start implementing different approaches that yield different outcomes.
Different outcomes are not acceptable for different students….it should be Equitable across the board

Chart 1 – new rigor testing but overall relatively high over the last 3 year. Chart just had year over time…2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 proficiency
Chart 2 – LCPS continues to outperform other nearby Districts, PW, Fairfax, etc.
Chart 3 – Achievement by Student group
More clarity and obvious that ELL and Hispanics remain about 20-25% lower than Asian and White students
How are certain families/subgroups getting certain outcomes and what can other subgroups be doing differently to change the outcome
With proper instruction, all students can learn
We have a persistent gap

Subtle opportunity or environmental gaps
Family factors and engaging learning environments
John Hattie study to provide extensive insight towards concentrated, persistent, and engage opportunities to close the gap
MSAAC will revisit this issue; membership was asked to select what factors they felt most contributed to the success of a student. Feeback will be tabulated for discussion at the next meeting.

Conversation with Dr. Eric Williams- Superintendent

Are we doing our best at engaging, connecting, challenging, and supporting our students
Show’d picture of Dr. Williams connecting with student when he was a teacher in Connecticut
What do we need to engage all students
Change the course
What are we going to do
Are we doing our best at attracting, retaining, supporting, and recruiting teachers, that are responsible for leading our students. Do we have a diverse staff to meet our diverse student population?
Chair mentioned current efforts underway with MSAAC and Asst. SuperIntendent For Personnel Services, and Director of Personnel, Secondary (Dr. Hough and Dr. Asia Jones)
Recapped briefly meeting on Sept 30 and continued discussions with outcomes to follow
Vision 2020 – Strategic plan in process

What can parent do?
What deliberate actions is the District doing to recruit and retain and attract
Dr. Williams – being new didn’t overcommit before understanding the full needs in LCPS- however, he mentioned that it was just commissioned and they will likely pick 5 target areas, to build upon. He shared that MSAAC should be part of the conversation and the development of such a plan.
Dr. Williams mentioned even though schools developed their SIP, the District 2020 Strategic Plan will draw parallels and connections. This plan will engage, augment school’s SIP.

Announcements/Events- Vice Chair - Jamie Johnson

One Last Thing- Membership watch a short video- How to Help your student stay Organized.

Action Items

Parent/Delegates please download the meeting summary under the Meeting Summaries/ PowerPoint Presentations link on the web site https://www.lcps.org/Page/117454 and email to your principal and PTO- please wait a day or so for the summary to be posted
Email the MSAAC Secretary at dcaulk@modalinc.com with your email address so that you can be added to the MSAAC email list
Stay up to date via:

Minority Student Achievement Advisory Committee