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Excellence For All Steering Committee Meeting November 20, 2008 Pure Reform attended the EFA Steering Committee meeting at Brookline K-8. Approximately 60-70 people attended (only about 6-8 minority attendance). Also in attendance was Linda Lane, Assistant Superintendent as well as the Executive Directors of School Management (Dr. Barbara Rudiak, K-5 schools, non ALA, Dr. Jeannine French, K-8 schools, Dr. Christina Otuwa, ALA and Middle schools, Dr. Jerri Lippert, Director Curiculum and Instruction and Proffessional Development, Dr. Patricia Gennari, Director Support Services, Carole Barone-Martin, Director Early Childhood Education) Not in attendance was Derick Lopez, Chief of High School Excellence and acting Executive of High Schools. I. Dr. Lane started the meeting with several announcements: a. Starting in January/February, the district will introduce culturally relevant Arts Education, including bringing African American artists to schools. b. Introduction of new fire safety program in concert with the Pittsburgh Fire Chief. c. Review of new detailed Bullying Policy which covers bullying outside of school that effects school. The new policy addresses what parents can do to prevent bullying. II. Carole Barone-Martin Discussed Early Childhood Education: a. PPS has 101 Pre K classrooms serving 2000 children b. 6 hours/day, free of charge c. Funded by grants d. Internal data shows that children entering K are benefiting from Pre K education. 30% of special needs children in Pre K do not need special education in K after participation in program. Questions: What percentage of PPS children entering Kindergarten is attending Head Start? About 50% of district kindergartners are attending Pre K . All of their seats are filled. PPS refers overflow children to other agencies. Is the PPS trying to recruit children that should be at Pre K but are not? Yes, PPS does door to door canvassing leaving flyers. III. Dr. Jeannine French discussed principal development and merit bonuses. Principals undergo performance based evaluation which include: a. Test scores b. # of suspensions c. Use of “scale scores”, comparing PSSA scores of student from one year another. At the High school level, looking at if student is on track to graduate and # of students taking SATs. d. This year assistant princes are added to evaluation e. Method of calculating graduation rates will be standardized by federal government in future. Questions: How can principals be held responsible for student achievement when they do not have autonomy over teacher hiring/firing? Principals do have autonomy in site based hiring. Is parent input considered in principal evaluation? Any parent complaints/praises that the district receives are considered. Also, Hotline resolution rate is considered. How can CAPA’s principal get the highest bonus when their students are selected by the school? Did not get clear answer. What is being done to keep principals from cheating (ie just not suspending students)? They can’t because of the “ethics clause” in the evaluation and because other staff at the school would know if this was happening. Is it fair that some schools have larger classrooms than other when evaluating student achievement> There is no control for class size, but schools with larger budgets have larger site-based money for extra aids. IV. Ellen Estomin discussed the Gifted Program a. Gifted programs will no longer be centralized, but take place at home school. b. Pilot programs taking place in select schools V. Jerri Lippert discussed curriculum a. District is in year 3 of district wide core curriculum development b. Math curriculum is now a Pearson Product called Envision” c. There will be higher level African American Literature and History courses offered next year .

Excellence For All Steering Committee Meeting

November 20, 2008

Pure Reform attended the EFA Steering Committee meeting at Brookline K-8. Approximately 60-70 people attended (only about 6-8 minority attendance). Also in attendance was Linda Lane, Assistant Superintendent as well as the Executive Directors of School Management (Dr. Barbara Rudiak, K-5 schools, non ALA, Dr. Jeannine French, K-8 schools, Dr. Christina Otuwa, ALA and Middle schools, Dr. Jerri Lippert, Director Curiculum and Instruction and Proffessional Development, Dr. Patricia Gennari, Director Support Services, Carole Barone-Martin, Director Early Childhood Education) Not in attendance was Derick Lopez, Chief of High School Excellence and acting Executive of High Schools.

I. Dr. Lane started the meeting with several announcements:

a. Starting in January/February, the district will introduce culturally relevant Arts Education, including bringing African American artists to schools.

b. Introduction of new fire safety program in concert with the Pittsburgh Fire Chief.

c. Review of new detailed Bullying Policy which covers bullying outside of school that effects school. The new policy addresses what parents can do to prevent bullying.

II. Carole Barone-Martin Discussed Early Childhood Education:

a. PPS has 101 Pre K classrooms serving 2000 children

b. 6 hours/day, free of charge c. Funded by grants d. Internal data shows that children entering K are benefiting from Pre K education. 30% of special needs children in Pre K do not need special education in K after participation in program.

Questions:

What percentage of PPS children entering Kindergarten is attending Head Start? About 50% of district kindergartners are attending Pre K . All of their seats are filled. PPS refers overflow children to other agencies.

Is the PPS trying to recruit children that should be at Pre K but are not? Yes, PPS does door to door canvassing leaving flyers.

III. Dr. Jeannine French discussed principal development and merit bonuses. Principals undergo performance based evaluation which include:

a. Test scores

b. # of suspensions

c. Use of “scale scores”, comparing PSSA scores of student from one year another. At the High school level, looking at if student is on track to graduate and # of students taking SATs.

d. This year assistant princes are added to evaluation

e. Method of calculating graduation rates will be standardized by federal government in future.

Questions:

How can principals be held responsible for student achievement when they do not have autonomy over teacher hiring/firing? Principals do have autonomy in site based hiring. Is parent input considered in principal evaluation? Any parent complaints/praises that the district receives are considered. Also, Hotline resolution rate is considered.

How can CAPA’s principal get the highest bonus when their students are selected by the school? Did not get clear answer.

What is being done to keep principals from cheating (ie just not suspending students)? They can’t because of the “ethics clause” in the evaluation and because other staff at the school would know if this was happening.

Is it fair that some schools have larger classrooms than other when evaluating student achievement> There is no control for class size, but schools with larger budgets have larger site-based money for extra aids.

IV. Ellen Estomin discussed the Gifted Program a. Gifted programs will no longer be centralized, but take place at home school. b. Pilot programs taking place in select schools

V. Jerri Lippert discussed curriculum

a. District is in year 3 of district wide core curriculum development

b. Math curriculum is now a Pearson Product called Envision”

c. There will be higher level African American Literature and History courses offered next year

.