Intersession/Intervention Planning Committee Meeting Minutes

November 14, 2001

Members present: John Frieden, Rick Loy, Scott McKissick, Kay Ingham, Bruce Bufe, Jan Tandy, Jay Marino, Diana Allen and Mike Oberhouse

Minutes:

· Meeting began at 9:00 a.m.

· Discussion regarding the creation of a model intervention program for students took place. Participants reviewed the questions raised during the last meeting and dialogued accordingly.

· Participants discussed how intervention funds may be utilized and distributed:

· Each building will be provided an opportunity to utilize funds for academic intervention purposes in their building. Schools will be asked to complete a brief proposal on how they might utilize funds to create an effective intervention program for their students.

· A general District framework for academic intervention activities should be adhered to, regardless of where the activities are taking place. This framework should provide general standards, expectations and some consistency throughout District intervention programs to enhance equity, consistency and alignment.

· District academic intervention framework draft concepts:

§ Academic intervention will be provided primarily to students who are at-risk of failing or not being promoted. Possible criteria could include: academic warning/below standards on ISAT, low achievement on local District competency tests, and other District assessments or by teacher recommendation.

§ Enrichment activities should be a secondary focus or based on a fee to recover costs. Primary focus for these funds should be to bring all students to meeting basic academic standards.

§ Activities that schools implement need to include a plan for measuring the success and effectiveness of the intervention. Data collection will be necessary for intervention program evaluation.

§ The intervention program needs to be connected to other District systems of intervention (summer school, District competencies, etc.) so alignment is achieved.

§ Effective instructional strategies should be utilized such as: small groups (12:1 pupil/teacher ratio), thematic instruction, brain based/multiple intelligences, and other best practice instructional strategies. Skill building, homework help, and instruction that are different from the regular school day should be developed. An emphasis should be on literacy.

§ Other framework considerations: Programs should have focused staff, motivating curriculum and instructional strategies, different from the regular school day, interesting, hands-on, and engages learners, etc.

· It was also discussed that other “best practice” models for academic intervention should be explored. The committee would like to look at other successful programs to be able to share ideas with the District teams that will be applying for the intervention funds. The committee would like input from the other administrators who may have implemented such programs or have knowledge of programs that we may want to consider.

· Funding formulas of intervention programs was discussed. Mr. Oberhouse and the business office will help identify possible funding formulas to help distribute academic intervention funds equitably to buildings. This information will be shared at our next meeting.

· The committee would like to have a brief application that schools could use to apply for academic intervention funds to implement programs in their building. This draft form will be shared at the next meeting.

· The committee also mentioned the possibility of using summer school/Saturday academy materials for intervention activities. This will be further studied.

· Next meeting will be on 12-5-01 at 9:15 a.m. in room 23 of the Administration Center. All are welcome to attend.

· Agenda for next meeting:

· Review academic intervention proposal application and edit

· Review possible funding formula scenarios and budget information

· Review other ideas or models for academic intervention that have been shared