November 5 2008
Parent Home Group
WASC Parent Meeting
Hall of Fame –November 5, 2008
Attendees:
Nancy Cobb
Jim Garza
Jayne Pimlott
Patricia Guzman
Gigi Thompson
Leticia Barbosa
Nancy Reimann
Eng Szetho
Edie Rice
Toni Lipscomb
Jenny Davies
Gail Davis
Kathy Dragone
Beth Muraida
Brenda Colbert
Meeting opened at 6:20PM
Chairperson: Jayne Pimlott
Handouts available: Mission Statement, Eagle Expectations, Support Pyramid for Success, Data charts from State of the School, Chapter 1 and List of future WASC Parent Home Group meetings.
Jayne called the meeting to order. Jim Garza began with the Year in Review. He explained the WASC process and how it is broken down into home groups and parent groups. Home groups are the “department groups”. This school year is very intense as we prepare for the WASC visitation team that is due to arrive on Sunday, March 1, 2009 and stay through March 3, 2009. The Leadership team would like to see an increase in the number of parents involved in the parent groups and also the focus groups. Focus groups are made up of teachers, classified staff, parents and students. We need to collect evidence that will support and help our action plan and having more people doing the collecting is beneficial. The visit in March will determine our school’s accreditation for the next six years. There is a possibility that the visit in March will cover our school for the six years,but that is not normally the case. Most schools have a 3 year visit from the WASC team.
In reviewing the State of the School report Mr. Garza was proud to say that we are above the California standard. The Special Ed. group is passing with high ratings. Our African American subgroup has a 100% passing rate.
Term often used is the SES group which stands for Socio economic group. This is a group on reduced and free lunches and is determined by the state. The SES group has its own ratings but as with all subgroups you can find the same students in several of the subgroups. For example, a Spec. Ed. Student could be in the SES group and also be in one of the ethnic subgroups.
One of the key questions that WASC will ask us is:
Are we doing everything we can to meet our ESLR’s .? WASC wants to see that the ESLR is incorporated by the staff and students.
WASC validates our institution and the fact that we are working and striving to improve our teaching and student success. UC’s and most universities will not accept students if their courses come from non-accredited institutions. Even military recruiters look for accreditation. For teachers, accreditation plays a part in their retirement when number of years worked comes in to play.
One area of concern for our school is to increase the percentage of students meeting the A –G requirements.
A question was brought up by parent regarding the requirement to take the AP exam when enrolled in the class and to pay the fee. She asked why other schools do not require their students to pay. It was explained that other schools are under Title 9, but we do not receive that funding. There are states funds available to those that meet the financial need criteria, and we also have funds available from PTA for those needing assistance. If counselors and teachers think a student should be enrolled in an AP class, they will inquire and make sure the money is not stopping them from taking the class.
With the acceptance of the MRC Algebra 2 course as a UC approved course, we are hoping to see a 10% increase in the students meeting the A – G requirements. Also, the Literacy Team is emphasizing to all that if students read better, they will do better across the board.
The WASC Update was given explaining for new members, each of the chapters. Chapter 1 is still being updated. The goal at this time is to have the report completed and mailed out on December 19 before the winter break in hopes to have it reviewed and back in time for us to make corrections before the visit in March.
It was also shared that the Plan for the Action Research was written by Dr. Ray Gen. and is what we use to address our areas for growth. When Mrs. Schlegel was here visiting our school on Thursday, October 30 she was impressed with action plan. She was also very excited to hear that Measure M passed, which shows she is taking an interest in our school and watching us carefully.