Members present: Tom Dittus, Dave Eagle, Bill Elder, Carol Heller, Linda Kissane, Sue Mellon, Karen Pound, Nick Round, Trista Tallon, Roger Wells

AIS Teacher-Guests present: Michelle Elder, Kim Everts, Vicky Greene, Judy Judge, Bonnie Schmidt, Jan Simmes

AIS teachers were welcomed and the basis for the meeting became discussion of how we handle our labs, including good and bad points as well as some suggestions for change. Handouts included a questionnaire (and summary) sent to and received from area schools regarding how they handled their AIS labs.

Overviews of our AIS labs:

§ Social Studies – students assignment based on recommendation of teachers in 10, 11 and 12 and recommendation of teacher plus State Math 8 testing for grade 9 teachers.

o 7^th Grade Team – share labs during scheduled lab time for all 7^th graders

o 8^th Grade – no social studies AIS labs. Reading teacher may give students help when needed.

o Trista Tallon (9^th grade global) has three periods of labs with 9^th graders only. She knows the work students are doing, but hard to plan what each student’s needs are. Classes average 5-6 students. However, there are so many labs that some days are very busy. Needs more help, which Michelle Elder has picked some students up this 10-week period.

o Michelle Elder (10^th grade global and head of department) has taken on extra labs to help out the department, which includes 9^th and 10^th graders. Since global studies is a two-year program leading to the Global Regents at the end of the 10^th year, it is works for this teacher (better than if the curriculums were completely different). Labs are low-key so that students and teacher can "re-adjust" to a busy schedule.

o Rob Tefft (11^th grade US history) has labs for 11^th graders only and he likes the schedule as it helps his students who need extra help before the 11^th grade US History and Government Regents. He prefers labs after class.

§ English

o 7^th Grade Team – share labs during scheduled lab time for all 7^th graders

o 8^th Grade – no English AIS labs, but students are assigned to reading class as needed.

o Judy Judge (9^th grade English) has several labs with 9^th graders only and can help her students with whatever they are doing. Drawbacks include – there are so many labs and so many students who need labs but have no room in schedule; and she has very little time for planning or break time. Her classes run 1-2, 4-5 and 8-9 so labs are between classes and she has little time to plan, run errands, etc.

o Bill Elder (11^th grade English) has labs for 11^th graders only which work well to help students prepare for the 11^th grade Regents. Both he and Rob Tefft’s labs are used, for the most part, as writing classes working towards Regents success.

§ Recommendations – students go to music class three days and AIS one day; size of lab – take in consideration of only 40 minutes to help 8 students would equal only 5 minutes per student – if 4 students the teacher would have a 10-minute block per student; ELA AIS labs to not cross grade levels as curriculum for each level different; would like to have students before class so help could be given to students who are having trouble or need help with homework before class.

§ We need to service 1’s and 2’s, but some parents have asked for their "3" student to be assigned AIS. Is this fair to the students who need the time? The school must assign students with 1’s and 2’s to AIS but we are not mandated to service 3’s.

§ Math

o 7^th Grade Team – share labs during scheduled lab time for all 7^th graders

o Vicky Greene (8^th grade math) has math 8 labs daily during either 2^nd or 9^th period as students can fit in schedule. This works well; she goes over homework first half of period; second half she goes over skills needed for State math 8 exam. Has one AIS per day/ does not do a lot of prep-time because they are her own students and has a great book for skills in which they work. She has taught math labs in another school and her own "paper trail" for students, which is by using a simple notebook with check sheets for each student to keep track where he/she is at.

o Nora Buck (not present) has 9^th and 10^th graders for class and has only her own students for AIS, which she is happy to have because she can obviously help students with the level math she teaches.

o Kim Everts and Bonnie Schmidt (mixed levels) have several levels of students in AIS labs. Labs are hard to accommodate all students, as teacher may not teach the level of math student is taking. Bonnie for instance teaches high-level math and has none of her students; all students in AIS are algebra 1 or 2’s and although she knows the math, she does not have the time to "teach" the math.

§ Recommendations: Helps to know 8^th math test results but needs to know 8^th grade teacher recommendations. Assessment reports are not clear. It is always best to assign students to AIS with the teacher they presently have, who knows their needs and their present work. Because there are so many students who could benefit from small group support in math, a math AIS person available throughout the day may also be considered to supplement the present math teachers and to meet the needs of students who cannot be scheduled.

 

Further discussion and ideas:

§ Special education teachers who have resource rooms are over-scheduled. Some days they have full class of students with needs and a "504" student might come in who needs time and a half to do a test. For this reason, if another person were hired for AIS, could 504-help be included?

§ Could teachers be surveyed to see if anyone would want to come in early to teach a before-school AIS lab (for a stipend)?

§ Since there are two TA’s who come in at 7:30 for some student help, could some of the students who are in the building early be added to their group of students? This might help lesson the load of later scheduled AIS labs and also allow some students to increase or take band/chorus.

§ Is it necessary for special education students who are receiving resource room help to be scheduled for reading and/or AIS labs?

§ Tracking – how should we do it? Who would be in charge of keeping it? Need sample writing/math skills of prior year; need communication with prior teacher; need to communicate with parents.

§ Should AIS teacher be responsible for comments on report cards/supplementary reports?

§ Labs work best when the teacher has his/her own students; especially math. Exception would be Global, which is doable.

§ Class size – fewer than five preferred.

§ Large need in math – possibly another person be hired – just for math AIS.

§ What does State require? Could guidelines be given to each teacher? What tracking record should be kept? Add to our Action Plan.

§ Can TA’s be used or does it have to be a certified teacher in the subject area? Can honor students be used for helping, also?

§ Could guidance print out a list of students who are presently taking AIS labs to see exactly how many students are included? (Note: 43 students were reported to STEP last year for taking at least one AIS lab. Students were counted only once even if they took a combination of ELA, math, foreign language and/or social AIS labs.)