SIT Meeting Minutes
October 27, 2014
In attendance: Jan Siesser, Julie Lynch-Allen, Liz McCall, Jon Rismiller, Erika Mjelde, Travis Geving,
Christina Hall, Juliet Perry, DeAnne Fuller, Heidi Maurer
Meeting started at 3:15 PM and was held in the CH Library. Ending – 5:15 PM
Agenda:
1. iReady Data: (20 min)
a. Jan Siesser will share the ELA trend data and the plans to address what is revealed in the
data.
b. Travis will do the same with the Math data.
2. ELL Model and the impact on our Tiered Intervention Program- (20 min)
a. Heidi will share information from a meeting with the Director of Multi-Lingual Education
and seek input on how to move forward.
3. SIP Plan Review- (20 min)
a. We will review the SIP Plan that was submitted and identify any additional changes that
need to be made.
4. Review the current working draft of the PD plan and provide input. (10 min)
5. PLC Progress
a. Each DL will share out the focus of their PLC work for the first few weeks and identify
any supports needed.
i-Ready Math Data: Travis shared the data for Math. 43% of our kids in 7th grade are on grade level. 39%
of the kids are meeting standard. Geometry is lagging behind - Based on 7th and 8th grade common core.
In Geometry, Core kids, 72 are > then one level behind in geometry.
Intro, 8th grade core, again geometry is lagging behind. Geometry strand is the lowest bar. As a math
team, they looked at this data and the scope and sequence to find out when geometry is taught. During
PLC they found that these are two units that no one gets to, so the units have been moved up. Both tier
2 and 3 are diving in too. A lot of the problems with tier kids is the vocabulary. Once they know the
vocabulary things will become easier. Plan is to dive deeper into the data. Even geometry students were
low in geometry! Team will prioritize. A few questions were asked. Most of the intro to algebra – 8th
grade core – have never passed the MSP. There are a few passing, but barely? Intro kids are a chronic
problem district wide. Members of the team continued to ask questions about how the test works etc.
i-Ready Reading Data: Jan shared the reading data. We realize that we have work to do. There are so
many students below grade level – even in honors. 100% of the tier 2/3 8th grade students are several
grade levels below standard. ELA team will discuss the data during PLC and determine what should be
done next. It has already been decided that vocabulary and comprehension are needs. The team will
also begin to focus more on Literature rather than Informational.
The data should be shared with students and parents. So how do we send the data to the parents?
There are three ways we could send the data. Send home via the kids. Also, do a robocall and a skyward
message so the parents know the data is on the way. Parents will be able to digest the information and
be prepared to discuss it with teachers at conference.
The information will be sent home a week before conferences. Teachers should print and send with
students on the same day. Siesser and Geiving will work together to print a smaller version – perhaps we
can print one that has math and reading on the same print-out.
Professional Development – Heidi reminded the SIT team that we rated the indicators and we agreed
that we wanted to focus on Student Engagement. We also have the PSWP – build time to support this
SIT Meeting Minutes
October 27, 2014
work. Some of the PLC work will fit with this perfectly. Based on the data from i-Ready, PSWP, Student
Engagement - how does the PD calendar look and how might it be revised? We are trying to cover too
much. Suggestions to move some of the items, like DOK, and then have staff bring in some work to
analyze.
Change: DOK levels on November 4th – Heidi will change and send new PD to team. Heidi explained test
environment – common assessment, every 3 to 4 weeks, and daily assessment. We must be more
strategic about our assessment planning so we get the most information from formative assessment.
Classroom based assessments (formative) have the largest impact on the student learning. We need
common assessment every 3 to 4 weeks on different standards. This will really impact the learning.
Basically, drill down.
Travis – can you do that in i-Ready? It does have progress monitors, but not diagnostic.
Jon - Science is in a conundrum – they are teaching new standards, but are being tested on old through
MSP. Prioritize standards. Why are the test scores going down? Narrow down and frequent assessment.
Mike and Heidi could facilitate new methods.
SIP Goal – Focus on ELL – 18% of students were making standard. The goal is 79%. Our ELL is stagnant.
What’s been done – District office did an audit and gave a huge amount of data. That has been boiled
down to this – ELL has to be taught correctly. ELL are in Core and with ELL teacher – lessons based on
what the kids need. This model is working.
Impact – Ell out of Liz’s class would turn the tier class into a special education class. ELL out of the tier …
now our Sped kids have no kids with cognitive strength. This will cause a huge problem in the ELA tiers.
Research suggests – Tier 2 - all learners should be in core with 90 minutes targeted learning per week.
When a kiddo struggles he is pulled out of the classroom (electives).
Discussion – about common core, IEP goals should be aligned with the common core. We could start by
pulling kids based on IEP and the supportive goal too.
Needs:
More elective classes
From which periods would we pull?
More PE classes?
Open 3 electives and 3 core
Thinking about Liz and Annie – Some of the classes are blocked with Annie and Liz
Could this be something that we could do next year?
Liz – we could probably do this at the Semester
Is Christina going to be the only ELL teacher?
Will Liz be the only person pulling the kids?
It may be difficult to make a connection with the students – “You’re pulling me out of my elective – I
don’t like that.”
Jon – if you can make it happen then you should jump on it.
Liz – would like to be able to support the teachers when they are having problems.
Jon – worries about the reduction in electives, because the kids really need those skills
Discussion: homeroom time where we can work with kids who need extra help
Contract issues can be a problem, but SIP can work it out.
Heidi – Asking for guidance – People way in on the suggested changes with ELL and tiered intervention:
Liz – yes; Jon – if you can make it work staff wise with a different schedule; Erika – yes as long as they
don’t have to do “health” twice; Juliette – as a parent I do support the time out of the day to work with
kids; Travis – He’s not sure about it logistically, doesn’t understand how kids get pulled out etc. still
struggling with how it will work; DeAnne – All for it because the tier we have now doesn’t work and they
SIT Meeting Minutes
October 27, 2014
need to have fun too and have PE, she feels all paras would be onboard; Christian - all for it and she
feels the GE kids need sensitivity training; Jan – For it, but only if everything is planned out first.
The key is everyone needs to do common formative assessment – Then reassess … How do we convince
all the ELA teachers to do common formative assessment? This is something that needs to be addressed
prior to beginning the change.
Heidi adjourned the meeting at 5:15