May+2010

May 5, 2010
 * Curriculum Council Minutes **

Nancy Alibrandi, Bill Carozza, Steve Chamberlin, Sally Codd, Mark Dickson, Liz Durant, Chris Sousa,Trish Underwood ****Minutes** **-** Nancy Alibrandi
 * Members Present:**
 * Place and Time: MSS 3:15 - 4:15


 * Items Discussed:**
 * Database of Projects** - Nancy Alibrandi
 * We updated the Year One (Implementation) column of the 2009-2010 database of projects and Year Two (Implementation) column of the 2008-2009 database (Thanks, Trish Underwood for your help!)


 * Update from Math Task Force** - Steve Chamberlin
 * The power standards have gone through the vetting process
 * Most of the Early Release days this year were connected to Math
 * Looking ahead - Math Task Force will be looking at 5 programs to see if they are better aligned to our power standards than our current program [Glencoe-Math Connects; McGraw Hill-Every Day Math; Scott Foresman-Envision; Saxon Elementary; Singapore Math)
 * Next year the task force will be discussing their "parking lot" issues and will produce guidelines for Homework and Calculator use
 * Summer Curriculum/Math Academy 2 work is planned (Aug 12, 13, 14th)
 * Student Support Task Force has begun meeting to plan for tiered supports


 * Cycle of Curriculum Revision Checklis**t - Nancy Alibrandi
 * Created a Cycle of Revision checklist (page 1 | page 2 ) to help curriculum task forces keep track of what needs to be done each year in the cycle
 * Will also help Curriculum Council to keep track of where in the cycle each Task Force is and what still needs to be accomplished


 * Ability to Manage Multiple Program Areas in Cycle of Curriculum Revision** - Are we being realistic? - Nancy Alibrandi
 * Discussion took place about a need to take a second look at our schedule for Cycle of curriculum revision (page 1) . When it was first created it was recognized that there was a need to be flexible - that circumstances could arise which might require changes to be made in the sequence of order
 * When the Cycle of Curriculum Revision was developed we were not thinking in terms of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and creating common assessments or tiered learning supports; that time was not factored in
 * The cycle of revision impacts elementary teachers very differently than middle/high school teachers (teaching multiple subject areas vs. one subject area)
 * Need to take into consideration not only the teachers who are on the task force, but also the impact on the classroom teacher and the resulting work that the task force is asking them to do for that year (multiple task forces not only multiplies the amount of work but requires them to learn/do new things in many subject areas - is this effective?); several grade levels now have only three teachers to complete the work
 * Liz Durant used a bicycling metaphor to describe the level of effort required depending on whether you were leading (serving on task force), drafting (learning/receiving information), recovering (from just serving on a task force)
 * Bill pointed out that Year One seems to require only a small group; vs. a larger group Year Two
 * Steve emphasized the importance of having a teacher representing each grade level for summer academy when power standards are developed
 * Mark suggested that Art/Music/PE be moved up to 2010-2011 on the cycle; then Reading 2011-2012; then Social Studies to 2012-2013 [[file:CurrRevisionSidep1.2010.5.5.doc]]
 * Leadership Team will be discussing this further

Next meeting: Wednesday, June 2nd at 3:15 MSS Conference Room

Summer Curriculum Schedule for Cycle of Curriculum Revision
 * Proposed Agenda:**