WASC Focus Group Minutes

16 Nov 04

 

Attendees: Danell Hepworth, Marsha Silva, Cathy Moretto, Pam Armstrong, Seija Anderson, Joy Woodman, Jack Hepworth

 

1)    Looking over the 'charts' so that we can comment on them

Mobility- Our school meets the immediate needs of parents/students (i.e. high school students can 'catch up' on credits, tailor curriculum to meet special needs, graduate early.) Parent may find that they cannot be the 'teacher'. Connecting Waters isn't for them.

County population- The effect of Heritage Family on the student population of Connecting Waters, there are more students in San Joaquin county in CWCS than Stanislaus (more population in general in San Joaquin County.)

Ethnicity- Are we representative of the public schools/are. Look at the ethnicity of the area that we serve.

2) Academic information- Our performance is better, overall, than Waterford U.S.D. in English/Language Arts. Our scoring is affected by the fact that much of our student population is made up of under-performing students that transfer to our school. Can we compare student scores from public schools to us, and compare ourselves with independent study or alternative schools.

A-g courses, are the ES's moving students away from a-g classes? Are the students capable of a-g courses? Are the parents capable of teaching an a-g course?

 

Math- our scores are lower than WUSD. We won't see proficiency for 10 years. How many of our students come to CWCS because of math proficiency problems? (Math & science tutor - Ron McMurtry.)

A group of students were bumped up to Algebra with no Pre-algebra.

 

3) Testing- How can we improve the percentage of participation?

Work permits- send a note to the employer with the dates of testing and importance to the student they attend.

Cal-Grant is partially based on STAR performance.

For students that don't take STAR seriously- prepare a script for the test proctors, that describes the importance of testing to the school.

What should the ES response be if the parent asks if we can test the student at home?

Can we tie results into graduation? Can we tie participation into being able to receive a work permit?

CAHSEE- Important to note that the math portion requires solid math skills, not so much Algebra. It can be passed if basic math skills are there. Edusoft 7^th grade has general math skills testing.

 

4) Post graduation survey - Peace Corp/Americorp

 

5) Reasons for choosing CWCS- more parental involvement and individualized curriculum. Needs to be specified if the parent wanted to accelerate or decelerate curriculum.

 

6) Satisfaction- Change 'Want a new ES?' to 'Are you satisfied with your current ES?'

 

Eliminate duplicates on chart.