January Minutes
Curriculum Coordination Committee
Minutes of the January 2010 Meeting
The meeting of the CCC was called to order by chairperson Stacy Shumake-Henn at 4:00 P.M. on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 in the ITV room. Members present were Barb Bode, Steve Dennis, Krista Eisenhauer, Jimmy Feeney, Linda Grosserode, Melissa Heithoff, Pam Heithoff, Steve Heithoff, Stacy Shumake-Henn, Deb Jones, Brenda Siems, Sue Vanis and Lori Widger.
The minutes of the December meeting were read. Brenda Siems made a motion to approve, seconded by Barb Bode. Motion passed.
Old Business
In old business, Mr. Feeney and Mrs. Bode reported on the outcome of the John Baylor testing done by the seniors in December. It was a consensus that most of the seniors already felt that they had good enough scores on the ACT for it to greatly benefit their testing. Mrs. Bode discussed that possibly it would be a better preparation tool for the ACT when offered to juniors. The juniors will be doing the John Baylor in the spring.
The next item of old business was the Ekberg online assessments. Mr. Feeney stated that all of the tests are ready to be given and students are set up for all classes. Teachers have checked their student rosters according to the Ekberg assessments. Teachers should report any questions to Mr. Feeney.
The last item of old business discussed was making changes in the master schedule for the 2010-2011 school year. Mr. Feeney stated that the schedule is currently being looked at and ideas of new classes to better the schedule are welcome. Mr. Dennis stated that there will possibly be some new class requirements coming out next year. One of those requirements may be students taking a math class or advanced math course during their senior year.
New Business
In new business, members were able to look at the spring 2010 class schedule and the number of students currently in each class. It was also stated that the administration is currently addressing the issue of the different schedule conflicts with Pope John students attending classes at Elgin Public. Students from Pope John are missing many hours of classes at EPS due to several special schedules or activities at Pope John High School.
The next item of new business presented was the Terra Nova test results. Mrs. Bode presented the members with a breakdown of each grade level (3rd-10th grades) that were tested in the fall of 2009. Each grade level sheet showed the number of students and their performance levels (Step 1, Progressing, Nearing Proficient, Proficient, or Advanced). Parents were given Terra Nova take home sheets showing their child’s level of performance on each test.
A replacement of the Terra Nova tests was discussed next. Mr. Dennis and Mrs. Bode reported on the MAP test. The MAP test is an online test that could be taken up to four times per school year. Students would be provided with immediate results. The difficulty level of the questions goes up or down to narrow the achievement level of each student. Taking the test up to four times per year also charts growth in the academic areas over the course of the school year. Each test takes about 30-45 minutes. The MAP test is aligned with the Nebraska state standards and also provides a national percentile similar to the Terra Nova assessments. The MAP test also provides professional development workshops to help teachers differentiate instruction according to students’ strengths and weaknesses. The cost per student would be $12.50 for up to four tests per year. The Northern Tier schools will be discussing the use of the MAP test in future meetings.
The last item of new business was discussion on utilizing the Nebraska Department of Education web site. There are many valuable references on the site relating to the reading and math standards, new social studies standards by 2011, state tests, etc.
The next meeting was set for March 3rd, 2010 in the ITV room at 4:00 P.M. Supper will be served by Pam Heithoff and Melissa Heithoff after the meeting. The CCC meeting was adjourned.
Submitted by Krista Eisenhauer, Secretary