Walter Stiern Middle School
English Learners Advisory Committee
(ELAC)
Minutes of April 19, 2010
1.0 Opening/Roll Call: The third meeting of the English Learners Advisory Committee was called to order at 10:15 a.m. by Chair Araceli Arce. The meeting was held in the Walter Stiern Library. Quorum established.
Members present: Araceli Arce, Maria Loza, Kevin McGrath, Maria Perezarce, and Jan Smith.
There were no guests present.
2.0 Minutes: The Minutes of April 7, 2010 were read. There being no corrections, Motion was made by Kevin McGrath to accept the Minutes as read, seconded by Maria Loza, and passed unanimously.
3.0 Old Business:
3.1 Legal Requirements of ELAC: Kevin McGrath referred to the list of legal requirements printed at the bottom of our Agenda. Five of the legal requirements were met at our previous two ELAC meetings, and the remaining two requirements will be met at this meeting.
4.0 New Business:
4.1 Principal’s Response to ELAC Suggestions: Kevin McGrath presented copies of the ELAC April 7, 2010 letter to principal together with copies of Ms. Short’s Response to ELAC parent classroom observations, dated April 19, 2010. Ms. Short responded to each observation point by point. Her response has been sent for translation, and the translation will be mailed to our ELAC parents.
4.2 Review/Revise B-Laws: Kevin McGrath explained By-Laws are the rules by which ELAC is governed and asked if there are any changes or updates to be made. Maria Loza requested the definition of LEP as it appears in Section 2 of Article II: Purpose, which is the acronym for Limited English Proficient. Kevin McGrath suggested the last sentence of Section 4, Article VI: Meetings which refers to mailing of agenda and minutes, be stricken. Motion was made by Jan Smith to amend and accept as amended the By-Laws, seconded by Maria Loza, and passed unanimously.
4.3 AYP/API Data Review: Kevin McGrath referred to the 2009 Adequate Yearly Progress Report (AYP) and Academic Performance Index (API), copies of which were provided each member present, explaining API is the state indicator which includes all students, wherein the AYP is the federal indicator which includes only proficient and advanced students. School wide we achieved 100% ELA and 99% Math participation rate and met the 2009 AYP criteria for all significant sub-groups.
Regarding our Annual Measurable Objectives (AMOs), school wide 26.8% were proficient in ELA and 23.3% proficient in Math. We did not meet the 2009 AYP criteria. However, with 16.2% of our Students with Disabilities subgroup proficient, we achieved safe harbor. Our 2009 API growth was 628, not our goal of 800. We did not meet the 2009 API criteria. Mr. McGrath explained achieving 100% proficient and advanced will be very difficult to achieve because every subgroup must meet the 100% goal.
4.4 Elect a DELAC Member: Araceli Arce advised how much she has learned through ELAC and SSC involvement, and explained the purpose of DELAC. Maria Loza expressed an interest in being our DELAC representative. Motion made by Maria Perezarce to elect Maria Loza as our DELAC representative, seconded by Kevin McGrath, and passed unanimously.
4.5 Language Census Review: Kevin McGrath referred to the language census report provided to each member present, explaining of the five levels, the greatest number of students cluster at L3 which is social language. L4 and L5 are more difficult to master because it is academic language. Students that achieve L4 or L5 are redesignated. This year approximately 68 students have been redesignated.
4.6 Decision to Delegate or Not: Kevin McGrath explained we can continue to meet as ELAC or delegate the responsibilities to School Site Council. Discussion ensued regarding the need for more parent participation in ELAC due to the fact two of our current ELAC parent members are also members of our School Site Council. Araceli Arce is supportive of delegation to SSC because so few parents are involved here at school. Motion was made by Maria Loza to delegate ELAC responsibilities to School Site Council, seconded by Kevin McGrath, and passed unanimously.
5.0 Announcements:
5.1 Next ELAC Meeting: Due to the decision to delegate to SSC, ELAC will reconvene in two years.
6.0 Public Comments: There were none.
7.0 Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the Committee, Motion was made by Kevin McGrath to adjourn the meeting at 11:50 a.m., seconded by Araceli Arce, and passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
_____________________________
Araceli Arce, Chair
_____________________________
Jan Smith, Secretary
Walter Stiern Middle School
English Learners Advisory Committee
(ELAC)
April 7, 2010
1.0 Opening/Roll Call: The second meeting of the English Learners Advisory Committee was called to order at 11:09 a.m. by Chair Araceli Arce. The meeting was held in the Walter Stiern Library Conference Room. Prior to the meeting, members and guest toured campus and observed classrooms.
Members present: Veronica Castañeda, Leonardo Fernandez, Araceli Arce, Maria Loza, Kevin McGrath, Maria Perezarce, and Jan Smith.
Guests present: Teresa Castañeda, parent.
2.0 Minutes: Minutes of the March 22, 2010 meeting were read. There being no corrections, Motion was made by Leonardo Fernandez to accept the Minutes as read, seconded by Kevin McGrath, and passed unanimously.
3.0 Old Business: There was no old business to discuss.
4.0 New Business:
4.1 Parent Monitoring Walk-Thru: Kevin McGrath advised that after discussion of this morning’s walk-thru observations, he will submit a letter to our principal, Julie Short, with this committee’s suggestions regarding improvement. Kevin called for observations and discussion thereof.
Members were impressed with student inter-action in the classroom’s; teacher use of ELL strategies such as sentence frame and wait-time, which allows students time to process and think; as well as group settings in which students can discuss within their group and then share ideas. Too large of class size is an ongoing concern.
Veronica Castañeda was impressed with student group setting, but noted two students were alone at their group table due to absences. It was suggested these students should be added to an established group in order to achieve full participation.
Leonardo Fernandez also observed good student participation and noted Ms. Beurmann’s strong, clear voice projection. Kevin advised of teacher use of microphones and speakers to aid with teacher voice projection, and more classroom microphones/speakers are being installed.
Ms. Short stepped briefly into the meeting to thank parents for their participation and advised how much Stiern appreciates and desires community input and looks forward to the report Mr. McGrath will be submitting.
Kevin McGrath added that over the last two years Smart Boards have been installed in every classroom and it was good to see their extensive use, and advised that Stiern is upgrading the audio and video capabilities of the Smart Boards in order to increase their effectiveness in classroom instruction. Teachers receive professional development on Smart Board use. Mr. Fernandez was impressed with teachers’ command of use of Smart Boards.
Maria Loza is impressed with the 6th grade team teacher format she has observed when visiting her child’s classroom, and appreciates the removal from classroom of any distracting student.
Kevin summarized the discussion as follows, which will be submitted to Ms. Short:
- Teachers had good presence and control even in large classrooms.
- Good use of technology in all classrooms.
- Good student interaction with each other and the teacher. Overall, students were attentive and participating.
- Class sizes too large.
- Students arranged in groups is effective, but when students are absent in their group, the remaining one or two students should be moved to another group for the day.
- Some students were not participating in the learning process.
- Can there be increased training for teachers to become more effective?
4.2 School Site Plan: Kevin McGrath reviewed Stiern’s School Site Plan contained within each member’s binder. The first ten pages have been translated into Spanish. Kevin explained this Plan is a rule book as to what we can do throughout the year, and how we can pay for it, and gave an overview of the Plan’s contents. Page 3 of the Plan contains a three year comparison of state CST data for English Language Arts and Math.
Page 4 is AMAO graphs of the annual progress of our EL students and shows our steady improvement over the last three years. AMAO1 graph indicated in the 06/07 school year, 31.3% of our EL students met the annual growth target on the CELDT; 57.2% in 07/08 school year; and 58.4% last year. There are Levels 1 through 5 on CELDT, and our goal is each student to advance one level. AMAO2 graph indicates the percent of EL students attaining English proficiency on CELDT. In the 06/07 school year, only 9.7% of our students attained proficiency. In the 07/08 school year, we significantly improved to 26.4%; and last year we reached 31.5%. Results on this graph will always be low in comparison with AMAO1 results because students are re-designated when they exit from the EL program. This year approximately 67 or 68 students were re-designated.
Page 11 sets out our Restructuring Plan wherein we state our goals, and how we will accomplish them. Beginning with page 25, we set forth how we are going to pay for the improvements. Page 32, for example, lists Smart Board upgrades for 34 classrooms at $2,400 a classroom, and teacher computers in the total sum of $14,000, etc. What we purchase and how much we spend is limited to what is contained within this Plan. The School Site Plan is created every September and submitted to the District in October. Input from teachers, ELAC, and SSC are implemented into the Plan. Reduction of class size, however, is out of our control.
4.3 Feedback for Principal on EL Program: Kevin will prepare and submit to Ms. Short, as well as the School Site Council, the ELAC recommendations, observations, and concerns.
4.4 School Site Council: Kevin explained the School Site Council (SSC) is the ruling committee that is responsible for overseeing the educational program at Stiern. ELAC is an advisory committee that can only give SSC suggestions. ELAC has no control over the ultimate decisions on spending. Parents are urged to join SSC, and three of our current ELAC parent members are also SSC members.
5.0 Announcements: Our next scheduled ELAC meeting is April 12. However, due to a conflict with our CST Olympics assemblies on that same date, our next ELAC meeting is hereby rescheduled for Monday, April 19, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.
6.0 Public Comments: There were none.
7.0 Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the committee, Motion was made by Jan Smith to adjourn the meeting at 12:25 p.m., seconded by Maria Loza, and passed unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
_____________________________
Araceli Arce, Chair
_____________________________
Jan Smith, Secretary
Walter Stiern Middle School;
English Learners Advisory Committee
(ELAC)
March 22, 2010
1.0 Welcome/Opening: The first meeting of the English Learners Advisory Committee was called to order at 10:50 a.m. by Kevin McGrath. The meeting was held in the Walter Stiern Staff Meeting Room 102.
Parents/Staff Present: Kevin McGrath, staff; Maria O. Loza, EL parent; Jan Smith, staff; Araceli Arce, EL parent; Veronica Castañeda, EL parent; Maria Perezarce, staff.
There were no guests present.
2.0 Purpose of ELAC: Kevin McGrath explained schools with an enrollment of at least twenty-one pupils of limited English proficiency shall establish a school level ELAC. Inasmuch as Stiern has an enrollment of over 500 EL students, we meet the criteria to establish an English Learners Advisory Committee. The purpose of ELAC is to observe how Stiern is instructing our EL student and how the funds we spend supports this EL instruction. .
3.0 Parliamentary Procedure/Officers: Kevin reviewed the Parliamentary Procedure handout, the three officer positions and duties, as well as Robert’s Rules of Order for presenting motions, debate, and vote and advised of the importance for all to be heard.
4.0 Voting in ELAC Committee/Officers: Kevin advised that the parents are to vote in the Committee. Leonardo Fernandez, an EL parent, has expressed in interest to be a member of ELAC although unable to attend this first meeting due to prior commitment. Motion was made by Araceli Arce to accept Maria O. Loza, Veronica Castañeda, Leonardo Fernandez and herself as Committee members, seconded by Maria O. Loza, and passed unanimously.
Motion was made by Araceli Arce to accept as non-parent members Kevin McGrath, Jan Smith and Maria Perezarce, seconded by Maria O. Loza, and passed unanimously.
Upon further discussion as to the duties of officers, Motion was made by Veronica Castañeda to elect Jan Smith as Secretary, seconded by Kevin McGrath, and passed unanimously.
Motion was made by Kevin McGrath to elect Araceli Arce as Chairperson, seconded by Maria O. Loza, and passed unanimously.
Motion was made by Kevin McGrath to elect Veronica Castañeda as Vice Chair, seconded by Maria O. Loza, and passed unanimously.
5.0 New Business:
5.1 Legal Requirements of ELAC Meetings: Kevin McGrath reviewed the legal requirements to be covered by ELAC, and went over each of the seven points printed on the Agenda. Three of the seven points have been covered by today’s meeting. Kevin reiterated that ELAC is an advisory committee to the School Site Council. The next School Site Council meeting is April 8, 2010.
5.2 Attendance Report: Maria Perezarce reviewed and explained the March 19, 2010 seven month Attendance Report for each grade level, a copy of which is provided in each member’s binder. Maria discussed the importance of student attendance. Student attendance incentives were discussed. Veronica Castañeda suggested grade level pizza party by month, instead of by semester. Also suggested was recognition for yearly perfect attendance, as well as highest grade point average.
5.3 Parent Monitoring: Kevin McGrath announced that at the next ELAC meeting, members will go into classrooms in each grade level and each subject area to observe instruction and the use of technology such as Smart Boards and Elmo Cameras. The Committee will then return to discuss their observations.
6.0 Announcements:
6.1 Next ELAC Meetings: April 7, 2010 at 10:00 a.m., and April 12, 2010 at 10:00 a.m..
7.0 Public Comments: Araceli Arce called for any public comments. There were none.
8.0 Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the Committee, Motion was made by Maria O. Loza to adjourn the meeting at 11:45 a.m., seconded by Maria Perezarce, and approved unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
_____________________________
Araceli Arce, Chairperson
_____________________________
Jan Smith, Secretary