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Parent Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes

March 17, 2015

I. Members Present: Deborah Boyer, Jenn Lyford, Ellen Young, Gail Spears, Mary Lambert, Lynn Davis, Shannon Bartlett, Jacqui McGettigan

II. Calendar review and discussion of activities lead by Mrs. Bartlett:

SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) Practice Testing (week of 3/16)

End of Term 4 (3/18) Term 4 was extended by three days due to school cancellations throughout the term.

SBAC Informational Letters go home with students (3/18) Mrs. Bartlett will be sending letters home to families with information about the Smarter Balanced testing. (Copy attached)

PRHS Cultural Arts Night from 5-8pm (3/18)

Tech Team Meeting (3/19)

All School Morning Mtg lead by Mrs. Lambert & Mrs. Welch’s classes (3/20)

SBAC Testing begins (3/23)—ends Friday before April Vacation

Term 4 Learning Summary Report Cards go home with students (3/27)

Student Council Tie Dye Day (4/1)

April Staff Meeting (4/2)

Project Week Parent Info Packets mailed home (week of 4/6) A packet of information including specific group activity details, itineraries and permission slips will be sent home at this time.

Ashland School Board Meeting @ 6:30pm (4/7)

All School Morning Meeting hosted by Grade 6 (4/17)

SAU Dance-6:30pm @ PES (4/17)

NJHS Induction Ceremony @ 6pm (4/23)

End of Term 5 (4/24)

Spring Vacation (4/27-5/1)

Start of Term 6 (5/4)

Middle Tier Project Week (5/4-5/9)

Ashland School Board Meeting @ 6:30pm (5/5)

May Staff Meeting (5/7)

SAU Dance 6:30pm @ Campton (5/8)

AES Penny Sale (5/9)

NECAP Science Testing-Gr. 4 & 8 (5/11-5/13)

Safety Committee Meeting @ 9:30am (5/11)

Student Council Color Day (5/12)

Term 5 Learning Summary Report Cards go home with students (5/12)

PAC Meeting @ 4pm (5/12)

Project Week Presentation Night from 5:30pm-7pm (5/13) Middle Tier students will prepare interactive exhibits and multimedia presentations highlighting their Project Week experience. AES staff and students will visit the exhibits

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during the day. Parents, guardians, siblings and community members are invited to attend the evening program which will begin at 5:30 pm.

School Nurse Day (5/14)

NWEA Testing Window: K-Gr. 7 (5/18-6/5) Grade 8 will not be testing because they participated in the NAEP testing earlier in the year.

Sports Screening for Gr. 5-8 @ 1pm**tentative (5/18) This date has been confirmed and finalized.

AES Spring Book Fair (5/20-5/22)

Kindergarten Registration @ 3pm (5/18) This is a change in the date. Registration will be set up by appointment from 3:00 to 6:00 pm.

Junie B. Jones (Winnipesaukee Playhouse) Trip -Gr. 1&2 (5/21)

Muffins for Moms @ 7:30-8am (5/21)—See below for more information

Donuts for Dads @ 7:30-8am (5/22)—See below for more information

Memorial Day-NO SCHOOL (5/25)

Spring Concert @6:30pm (5/28)

Ashland School Board Meeting @6:30pm (6/2)

Student Council Freaky Friday (6/5)

8th Grade Class Trip to Boston (6/5)

All School Morning Mtg hosted by Gr. 8

8th Grade Graduation & Last Day of School

Final (Term 6) Learning Summary Report Cards mailed home These dates will be finalized once the School Board and Superintendent have confirmed the last day of school.

III. Updates: Mrs. Avery’s class hosted Selectman Norm DeWolfe & Election Day Activity

Mrs. Avery’s Social Studies class was studying a unit on local governments. Mr. DeWolf spent time in Mrs. Avery’s class answering questions for students about the various departments and services available in Ashland. Prior to his visit, Mrs. Avery had taken her students to observe the town election process. (Copies of recent newspaper articles are attached to these minutes.)

Winter Activities Video Winter Rec refund information

Mrs. Bartlett explained the process for refunds resulting inclement weather cancellation.

Project Week Planning progress Project Week groups are finalizing their plans. Here are the preliminary itineraries:

Sports Management: Learn about professional, collegiate and high school sports management through visits to Fenway Park, TD Bank Garden, PSU and the New Hampton School. Students will meet with representatives from various departments at each stop.

Travel: Students are learning how to plan and organize group travel. Their original itinerary included Portsmouth and the Isles of Shoals. However, due to the

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severe winter, the whale watch company had to cancel their reservations because the boats will be not ready for ocean travel that early in May. They are now planning a trip to New York City. Advisors first spoke to parents and obtained permission before introducing the idea to the students.

Ghostbusters: Students will travel to Salem MA to learn about the Salem Witch Trials. They will also be studying the psychology of scare. What is it that scares people? Is it the anxiety/anticipation?

Food for Thought: After visiting local restaurants and culinary arts programs, students will run three different restaurants throughout the week. There will be a breakfast for staff, an Around the World Buffet for parents and a Warrior Café for students. The café with resemble a coffee shop and students will be encouraged to provide musical entertainment.

Survivor: Students are learning survival techniques and will put what they have learned into practice through a wilderness camping experience.

Growth Celebration & Warrior Awards Sixty-nine students were recognized for exceeding expected growth after completing the winter NWEA test. Twenty two students were recognized for growth in both Math and Reading. All of the student certificates are displayed on “The Walk of Fame” along the ramp leading to the cafeteria. All students in grades K-5 were given T-shirts, color coded by grade. Our warrior award winners were Jeffrey Hladyk (Primary), Cailey McDonald (Intermediate) and Richard D’Ambruoso (Middle).

EDies Committee Visit Thank you to everyone who joined our committee discussion during the EDies Committee visit. Our student tours, helped by Middle Tier student leaders, were a fantastic experience for both the students and the committee members.

Smarter Balanced (SBAC) testing schedule A copy of the testing schedule along with an information sheet from the Department of Education is attached.

IV. New Business: SY1516 Calendar

(Copy attached) Squam Lakes “Save the Endangered Animal” Fund--GOAL ACHIEVED!

Two Intermediate Tier students created and promoted the fund. They have achieved their goal. The money raised will be used to purchase supplies for the NH Humane Society and to sponsor a coyote and river other at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center.

Winnipesaukee Playhouse trip-Junie B. Jones Muffins for Moms/Donuts for Dads—in place of Cook Out

We are going to try something new to recognize parents this year. Muffins for Moms (May 5/21) and Donuts for Dads (5/22) will take place in the library beginning 7:30 each day. Students and the parents will have the opportunity to enjoy breakfast together while visiting the Book Fair.

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8th Grade Trip Planning Update—June 5th The 8th grade will travel to Boston in June. Advisors and students are currently reviewing fundraising and costs per student. There will be a parent meeting to discuss travel plan soon.

Open Positions for SY 1516 The following positions will be open for the 2015-2016 school year: 1) .5 Librarian/.5 Title I Teacher 2) Full time Title I Teacher 3) Intermediate Teacher 4) Custodian/evenings (Beginning 7/1/15)

Mobil Grant AES is the lucky recipient of a $500 grant through the Exxon/Mobil company. The manager of our local Mobil station nominated the school. The funds will be used for science and math related activities.

V. Next Meeting Date: Tuesday, May 12th @ 4pm

Please note: PAC meetings will now be scheduled every six weeks.

New Hampshire children have taken the annual NECAP – the New England Common Assessment Program – assessment each fall for years. The Smarter Balanced Assessment replaces the NECAP and is a big step forward. Here is some background.

Higher academic standards and Smarter Balanced Assessments prepare students for college and career

Today students are preparing to enter a globally competitive world requiring more skills and knowledge than ever before. New Hampshire schools have adopted new math and English standards that set higher goals for what our students should know and be able to do. The new standards will give our students and their parents greater confidence and competence as they prepare for college, career and life after high school.

The new math standards move beyond memorization to focus on gaining understanding of key concepts while learning the standard mathematical procedures like multiplying large numbers or dividing one fraction into another. Students will now be challenged to explain the thinking behind their answers and establish a strong foundation before moving to the next level.

Higher English Language Arts standards build more demanding goals for students’ reading, writing and all forms of self-expression. Students now read more complex nonfiction and literature and get more opportunities to practice writing and speaking using research and evidence.

State and federal law require all schools to give an annual assessment to students in grades 3-8 and once in high school. Starting this year, New Hampshire is using Smarter Balanced for that required annual assessment. But Smarter Balanced is actually a high-quality system of assessments that teachers can use throughout the year to better understand what their students really need. Smarter Balanced Assessments are better at measuring what students really know and can do because they require students to apply the math, reading and writing concepts they are learning to real world problems.

Parents can have confidence that the new assessments will help them understand where their children are on the pathway to college, career and whatever creative challenges they may choose.

A new scoring system Smarter Balanced scores will fall into one of four levels. Students scoring a 4 are on track for college and may even be able to save money by enrolling in dual credit courses in 11th and 12th grade, earning college credit while still in high school. Students who score a 3 are also on target to be college- and career-ready by the end of 12th grade.

A score of a 1 or 2 means that the student should be challenged and supported to progress faster in order to have more options after graduation. Students and their parents can use the Smarter Balanced scores to help plan their path through school.

Smarter Balanced will become an important part of how we help children progress in our classrooms. The new test will be an important addition to the rich information we gather about student learning.

Ellen Hume-Howard, District Director of CurriculumSanborn Regional School District

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What is the new Smarter

Balanced Assessment

all about?

SmarterBalanced

AssessmentSPONSORED BY:

The Smarter Balanced Assessments will be more challenging and the scores will probably be lowerOur schools are now setting higher expectations. So at first fewer students will get high scores on the test. But lower scores do not mean that students have learned less or fallen behind academically. The new scores should not be compared to NECAP because the standards are higher and the assessment is new. Once we receive the results, we will set a new baseline from which to measure future student achievement growth over time.

It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. It’s a new baseline from which to measure future growth over time.

Good accommodations for English Language Learners and students with disabilitiesSmarter Balanced Assessments feature the most complete accessibility accommodations we have ever been able to offer in the annual statewide test. Students have access to tools like Braille, closed captioning, and videos of American Sign Language interpreters to help overcome disabilities, while enabling them to take tests at the same time as others. English language learners will be able to use glossaries and demonstrate knowledge regardless of their level of proficiency in English. Students with severe cognitive disabilities can still participate in an alternate assessment.

Where the NECAP measured basic knowledge, the Smarter Balanced Assessment asks students to demonstrate an array of research, writing and problem-solving skills. Students get to apply their knowledge to real-world problems.

There will be more challenging multi-part math problems to solve. And there will be a new kind of question - a “performance task” – that is really a collection of questions and activities with a single theme. Performance tasks measure complex analysis and other skills cannot be assessed with traditional test questions.

There are many practical benefits to the new assessment. One is that we will administer Smarter Balanced in the spring and, since it is administered online, we will get the results back quickly.

Smarter Balanced is “computer-adaptive,” so the difficulty of the questions is automatically adjusted as the student proceeds. Teachers and parents will get a better sense of how a student is progressing.

And the new test will take somewhat less time than the NECAP for students to complete. In addition, it can be spread over multiple sessions, so students might take the test for an hour or two each day over several days.

SmarterBalanced

Assessment

FURTHER RESOURCESNew Hampshire’s College and Career Ready Standards: http://www.education.nh.gov/instruction/curriculum/

Smarter Balanced: http://www.smarterbalanced.org

Practice Test: http://sbac.portal.airast.org/practice-test/

Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.education.nh.gov/spotlight/ccss/sbac.htm

Privacy and Security of Student Data: http://www.education.nh.gov/spotlight/ccss/documents/faq_privacy.pdf

The new assessments are a step forward