Morris Community High School District #101 Board of Education Curriculum Committee met October 4.
Here is the minutes provided by the Board:
I. Call to Order At 4:30 pm
- by Principal Kelly Hussey
Roll Call: C. Danek, J. Roth
- also present were; S. Shannon, J. Brodbeck, and K. O’Malley
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag
II. Curriculum Committee Session
A. Department Meeting Updates
- Mr. Hussey updated the board on our current process of finding maternity substitutes appropriate for our needs, especially in difficult areas like Spanish. He also gave them a sense about the changes in Special Education and our expanded use of “Easy IEP” to incorporate 504 plans and deliver more information about students and their accommodations to their individual teachers.
B. ACT/(EPAS) Longitudinal Data
- Mr. Hussey demonstrated past to present longitudinal data about MCHS and ACT scores, and then turned his attention to a brief overview of what ESSA will look like in Illinois. Current indicators demonstrate that MCHS is in good standing with regard to ESSA expectations, but that we must always work toward ongoing continuous school improvement.
C. PSAT 11 October 11th, and PSAT 8/9/10 Updates
- Here, Mr. Hussey made sure that the committee understood our current 5 part high school testing pattern under the new use of College Board assessments and the SAT which includes; 8th grade PSAT, 9th grade spring PSAT, 10th grade spring PSAT, 11th grade fall PSAT (and the initial step for elite students to enter the National Merit Scholarship Competition process), and the 11th grade SAT (required as our Illinois State Assessment for all grade 11 students).
D. MCHS Keyboarding to Technology Requirement Proposal
- Mr. Hussey updated the committee on the past two years of work put in by our Rising Star Leadership Team, and the current proposal to change our high school graduation requirement from “Keyboarding” to a the more current all encompassing category of “Technology.” This will allow us to shift the instructional burden of teaching keyboarding skills to our K-8 feeder school partners in line with the Common Core/Illinois Standards for this area. This will then allow MCHS to provide high school students with additional necessary opportunity to learning more in the overall realm of digital literacy; areas like advanced presentation software, online safety, business software, and more.
E. Math Department Frosh Entry Assessment Data
- Mr. Hussey shared data results from our first ever entry skill assessment, which was recently used to share discussion about strengths and weaknesses in our math partnerships between our K-8 and High School math departments. It is our hope that this will extend the current discussion and concerns about our overall percentage of successes with students in math, and bring about additional ideas and solutions to those who are not being reached at all of our levels.
F. STEM Update
- Mrs. Shannon, Mrs. Brodbeck, and Mrs. O’Malley gave the board a overview of our current STEM curricular initiative covering everything from the original concept to the goals, partnerships, curriculum, student entry, and the physical classroom possibilities. The presentation was followed by a few questions and answers. The consensus in the room was one of excitement and anticipation.
G. Items Not Known at Agenda Preparation Time
III. Public Participation
- There was no public participation.
IV. Adjournment at 5:17 pm
http://www.morrishs.org/vimages/shared/vnews/stories/48b594968e681/2.5.10.04.2017%20CurrComMtgMinutes.doc.pdf
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