Minutes - Elementary Science Committee - 2/28/02

(These minutes are a draft. Please send any changes in the minutes to Jay Marino)

The elementary K-6 representatives from the science committee have come to consensus on a science materials selection. The data driven decision that was made incorporated feedback from K-6 staff and committee members after reviewing both McMillan/McGraw-Hill and FOSS. After much discussion, deliberation and analysis, the recommendation from the committee is to adopt McMillan/McGraw-Hill K-6 science program. In addition, the committee recommended that the District purchase and implement FOSS hands-on kits where it appropriately fits into the McMillan/McGraw-Hill program (and IL learning standards) and where the FOSS kits will provide instructional hands-on activities that support the curriculum. In essence, McMillan/McGraw-Hill will be the backbone science program and a combination of FOSS and McGraw-Hill hands-on science kits will be purchased as the “hands-on” portion of the curriculum.

Point of Contact

Time was spent discussing the concept of a science Point Of Contact (POC). The POC's (K-12) would meet on a regular basis to support the science curriculum in the following ways:

P.O.C. Responsibilities

· Information sharing and dissemination

· Mentoring/support in the area of science

· Demonstration lessons of best practice

· Material management strategies

· Materials available for science experiments/Sharing and restocking kits

· Meeting regularly with the POC committee

· Suggesting professional development in the area of science for the district

· Publishing a monthly newsletter highlighting teaching strategies, ideas, experiments, web sites and other teacher resource

Next Steps of the Committee

· How do we get the Point of Contact initiative up and running in our district?

· What gaps (if any) still exist in the selected materials and curriculum?

· What concerns need to be addressed regarding the selected materials?

· What professional development needs to be put into place to support the new science curriculum?

· What core activities and assessments need to be included?

· What are the timelines and action plans to roll out the science materials adoption?

Next Meeting is scheduled for April 24th from 8:30am - 3:30 pm in the Administration Center, room 23

Meeting Evaluation 2-28-02

Plus

· Point of contact & website

· Making change w/ modern science

· Good leadership

· Jay is very diplomatic & very fair

· A decision was made on how to proceed forward.

· Everyone got to share his or her opinions.

· Great feedback & decision-making.

· Kept agenda moving.

· Good discussion/outlook on choosing a curriculum.

· Questions answered honestly & directly.

· Good discussions.

· Listening to each other’s point of view.

· Much accomplished.

· I think we are moving in the right direction.

· Everything went very well today. I think we all work well together.

· Impressive use of the consensus process. Really liked seeing all the Quality Tools used in the meeting format.

· Good ideas & discussion.

· Good compromise.

· Thanks for lunch!

· Dialog/Meaningful.

· Good leadership toward consensus.

· Comfortable meeting site.

· Books/Program selected.

Delta

· Domination of some voices.

· Different food.

· There was a little pressure that didn’t last long on the decision of the ordering of materials.

· Too much conversation based on personal beliefs instead of large group representation.