Curriculum Committee Meeting Minutes.
February 9, 2011
Present: Karen Hatter, Elissa Cascio, Joe Phelan, Marvin Kreps, Deirdre Burns
1. High School Profile.
· Committee reviewed draft of redesigned Profile and made suggestions.
· Ed Davenport has asked Janet Stetson at Bard admissions office for feedback on it as well.
· Working with RHS Art Dept. to design.
2. College recommendations for seniors.
· Janet Stetson has offered to do a workshop for guidance staff and high school faculty to offer insight into what colleges are looking for in terms of form and content. This will be scheduled for the end of this academic year or early next year.
· Discussed that recommendations must be typed. Why are we not using Common Application on line for all aspects of the college application? The committee noted the importance of the District’s responsibility to do our best job in assisting our seniors with their college applications.
· The committee will anticipate updates on this issue at the end of this school year and/or the beginning of next year.
3. PLTW/Gateway to Technology Curriculum.
· Marvin shared the curriculum for year one units with the committee for review. There was agreement that the curriculum is an exciting opportunity for our students. The documents will be brought to full BOE for approval.
· Marvin will be looking into the possibility of a BOCES COSER, either through the BOCES near RPI (Monroe2) or locally because both Millbrook and Arlington also use PLTW curricula.
· Joe was invited to an IBM event promoting their community service efforts. Bringing IBM engineers into our schools – in our technology classes – could be a valuable resource for us as we roll out GTT.
· Discussed need to communicate our plans for this curriculum change and how it would be funded. Joe will post information on the web site.
· Discussed that while traditional woodworking is being eliminated, design and build and hands on elements are a meaningful part of the curriculum. Done correctly, the program teaches sophisticated design and build skills that are useful for students who want to pursue work in the trades.
· Discussed need to monitor the quality of the program as we roll it out.
Future agenda items:
1. Race to the Top update – implications for our curriculum.
2. Future of Eco-Initiative.
3. Return of 5th grade grouping in math.
4. Grading at CLS – transition to digital reports/impact on specials report cards.
5. iPads/Kindles, etc – are we being deliberate in our use of technology?
6. Review inventory of RHS electives.
Next meeting: March 2, 2011, 1:30.