BOARD CURRICULUM COMMITTEE

MEETING MINUTES

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2007

                                       

Members of the Board Curriculum Committee met on Monday, February 12, 2007, at 6:30 p.m. in the Education Center’s Dining Room. Present were Curriculum Committee Members Anthony R. Villani, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and Richard Agretto, director of special education; and Board Members Rosario Amato, Judith Dexter, Dr. Craig Haytmanek, Charlene Koch, Loretta Leeson, and Diane Rowe. Also in attendance were: Dr. Joseph A. Lewis, superintendent of schools; Thomas Washington, director of student services; Kathleen Bast, coordinator of literacy 6-12; Mary Katona, coordinator of English language arts; Dr. Joanne LoFaso, coordinator of literacy K-5; Julie Victory, supervisor of mathematics; and representatives of the press.

 

Mrs. Rowe called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.

 

COURTESY OF THE FLOOR TO VISITORS (15 minutes allowed)

 

Mr. Stephen Antalics, 737 Ridge Street, Bethlehem, spoke regarding non-residents not being allowed to speak at Courtesy of the Floor.

 

READING UPDATE

 

Mr. Villani introduced Kathleen Bast, coordinator of literacy 6-12, who spoke regarding Literacy Interventions and Read 180 plans for the upcoming year.

 

Regarding Read 180, Mrs. Bast noted that the district is upgrading to a new version called the Enterprise Edition. She noted that this new version is currently in place at Marvine Elementary School, and the Regional Academic Standards Academy is receiving the upgrade. The administration is looking to upgrade to the Enterprise Edition in additional grades at schools where it already exists and as more funding becomes available, they are looking to continue to target sub groups and put it in additional buildings.

 

Mrs. Dexter inquired how the district is measuring progress and how the district knows it is having outstanding results. Mrs. Bast explained that she took results from the beginning and mid- year Scholastic Reading Inventory and compared mid-year results with beginning year results. She quoted specific numbers that showed increases with student performance at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

 

Mrs. Dexter noted that Read 180 is not up and running at the Career Academy. Mrs. Bast replied that she will check with Mr. Arbushites to see if it can be up and running by the end of this week.

 

Mrs. Leeson noted that the program has been in place for four years and inquired if we have seen this type of results from the beginning. Mr. Villani explained that year one was mostly just to get the program up and running and that results were not noted until year two.

 

Mrs. Leeson also asked if the district is targeting some of its problem areas. Mr. Villani replied that the district’s hope is that, with additional funding, it can continue to expand to sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, special education classes, and ESL classes.

 

Mrs. Bast then explained that the district is currently exploring the idea of additional reading/literacy courses and curriculum. She noted that this work is a result of collaboration among both high schools and other key people. She noted that this will address several of the root causes listed in the Corrective Action Plan. It is part of the first tenet of Project 720 to “Ensure that every student graduates ready for college and/or career.” It also supports the “Rigorous Coursework” mantra inherent in the Career Pathways Model. She quoted and paraphrased from Reading next: A Vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy, “Inevitably, this will require for many students teaching them new literacy skills: how to read purposefully, select materials that are of interest, learn from those materials, figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words, integrate new information with information previously known, resolve conflicting content in different texts, differentiate fact from opinion, and recognize the perspective of the writer – in short, they must be taught how to comprehend.” A majority of older struggling readers do not need instruction in decoding, they need instruction in comprehension. “Students who do not acquire these skills find themselves at a serious disadvantage in social settings, as civil participants, and in the working world.” She explained that, in creating additional reading courses, the Bethlehem Area School District will be meeting an internal need as well as one that is documented in the research. The district will be “strengthening the chances for striving readers to graduate from high school as strong, independent learners prepared to take on the multiple challenges of life in a global economy.”

 

Mr. Amato agreed with Mrs. Bast’s program but asked if the district should not be moving it to grades kindergarten, one, and two so that when students leave grade two they should be up to the state’s standards.

 

Mrs. Rowe pointed out that there are different skills to be learned at the secondary level.

 

Mrs. Bast noted that the administration’s recommendation is to implement Reading and Literacy courses for eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades.

 

Dr. Haytmanek asked how short the district is on staffing to implement this program. The administration replied that the district would need an additional seven and one-half teachers to staff the program beyond eighth grade, thus they would like to phase it in.

 

Mrs. Leeson inquired when the district will be starting this new program, and what are the priorities? The administration replied that they will be meeting next week with building principals to begin working on staffing. The new program will likely be implemented in the eighth grades and will continue in ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades as staffing permits.

 

Mrs. Leeson inquired if this program will fit into the daily schedule of students at the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School? Mr. Villani replied that the administration is currently discussing these issues with the administration of the Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School.

 

Mrs. Dexter noted that at the last Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical meeting she attended, a competition was held and students did well in the skills portion but lacked comprehension skills. She asked if Read 180 covered secondary levels? Mr. Villani replied that Read 180 is designed to bring students up to grade level.

 

Mr. Amato noted that he had spent some time at Liberty High School in the business/technology department and had actually sat in on the yearbook class. He stated that he was very impressed with what the students were learning regarding putting together and printing the school’s yearbook. He remarked that all of these students are prepared for the real world and would be capable of earning a living in this field.

 

Mr. Villani then introduced Dr. Joanne LoFaso, coordinator of literacy K-5, who discussed the Reading Recovery program. Dr. LoFaso noted that the Reading Recovery program has been in place in the district for 15 years. Dr. LoFaso distributed and discussed copies of the Reading Recoveryâ Site Report Guidelines with Complete Tables and Figures for Bethlehem for the 2005-2006 School Year. She noted that this information is collected by the National Data Evaluation Center located at the Ohio State University School of Teaching and Learning in Columbus, Ohio. She noted that data was collected for all children served during the school year by Reading Recovery, even if a child had only one session. Reading Recovery children were then assigned to one of the following intervention status categories:

 

1.     Successfully discontinued series of lessons

2.     Recommended action after a complete intervention

3.     Incomplete intervention at year-end

4.     Moved while being served

5.     None of the above

 

She also noted that the following research questions guided the annual Reading Recovery evaluation at Bethlehem:

 

1.     How many children were served, and who was served in Reading Recovery?

2.     What was the intervention status of children served by Reading Recovery? How many had their series of lessons successfully discontinued?

3.     What was the progress of the Reading Recovery children on literacy measurers?

4.     What proportion of Reading Recovery students scored in each national achievement group for each measure of the Observation Survey?

5.     What were the gains from exit to year-end testing of Reading Recovery children whose lessons began in fall and were successfully discontinued?

 

Dr. Lewis then asked Dr. LoFaso to explain the upcoming Reading Recovery Cost Benefit Study scheduled to take place in our district next year. Dr. LoFaso briefly shared the procedures, design, and timeline which would only involve the first 20 weeks of the 2007 school year. She also stated that she would contact Professors Schwartz, Lose, and Schmidtt (the researchers) next year to possibly invite them to review the study's findings.

 

Dr. LoFaso then discussed the MacMillan roll-out for grades three through five, and the Professional Development Schedule for 2006-2007, which included the following:

 

1.     July inservice

2.     August inservice for training teachers

3.     Fall after school Flex for reading specialist, special education, ESOL, and teachers for grades three, four, and five

4.     Building visits

5.     Principal meetings

6.     General parent meetings

 

Dr. LoFaso also noted that the district will be providing a district inservice day on Friday, February 16, 2007, for all teachers.

 

Mrs. Dexter noted that last year the board approved a reading program implementation for grades kindergarten through fifth. She noted that it was implemented in grades three, four, and five and asked what happened to kindergarten, first, and second grades?

 

Mr. Villani responded that when the district instituted a new math program in the high schools, there was not enough money to fund both the math program and the entire reading program, so a decision had to be made. The administration decided to fund the math program and also the reading program in grades three, four, and five. Kindergarten, first, and second grades’ reading program would be implemented from the next year’s budget. Board members then asked if such circumstances occur in the future, that the administration make the board aware of the situation so they would have the opportunity to rearrange priorities so books can be purchased prior to approval of other expenses. Dr. Lewis noted that Mr. Majewski was notified by the state of additional funding for these books but the funding came in too late to purchase the additional books.

 

DISTRICT ACTION PLAN UPDATE

 

Mr. Villani reviewed a Summary of Initiatives, a monthly update he will present to the board regarding the district’s Action Plan. He noted that on Performance Tracker, parents from Governor Wolf Elementary School, Northeast Middle School, Hanover Elementary School, and Nitschmann Middle School will be online this semester, and the district hopes to have all schools online by the fall.

 

 

 

HIGH SCHOOL PSSA TESTING SCHEDULE

 

Mr. Villani informed the board that, with the help of the high school principals, the administration has agreed to create a testing schedule for high school PSSA testing. He noted that part of this new idea is to reduce the number of students per proctor, have students select a proctor whom they know and feel comfortable working with, and have a pre-meeting so students are aware of what the testing will entail. He also noted that letters explaining the new schedule will be sent home to parents and will also be posted on the Web site.

 

OPEN FORUM

 

Mrs. Dexter inquired as to the class size for next school year. She noted that the target use to be 28, but some teachers are being told to schedule 30 for next year. Mr. Gross replied that this information did not come from his department. He noted that, especially in the high schools, the target is 28, but due to last minute enrollments of new students, some classes have to be larger to fit students into main subject classes instead of putting them in study halls.

 

OTHER

 

Nothing to report.

 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

 

Minutes Prepared By:

 

 

 

Charlotte L. Zimmerman

Administrative Assistant to the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction