Focus Leader: Nancy Record (Theresa Meyers as substitute)
Secretary: Joanne Gregg
Focus Group: Mountain
The Mountain Focus Group met Monday, Nov. 15 in Angels Camp with our school's director also in attendance. They had many suggestions and requests expressed in their Focus Group meeting this month.

  1. They would like clarification of just what the CBEDs acronym means.
  2. They appreciated the labors taken in preparing the graphs that were reviewed at our meeting. We suggested that the summary paragraphs/box be better linked with their specific graph, rather than requiring turning the page to read about the previous graph.
  3. They also expressed appreciation for the language preparation in the benchmarks.
  4. They felt that all ESs needed to be alerted to the fact that Algebra 1 is now an eighth grade level subject and should be assigned accordingly.
  5. They also felt that all ESs should be notified that regarding the Saxon math texts, to be up with the California State Standards: the appropriate grade level of the Saxon math text is one number less than the last number on the cover of the text. For example Saxon 5/4 is a third grade math text.
  6. Rave reviews were given about the Singapore Math and Singapore Science series. They are "self" vendors.
  7. Our group noted that the STAR and CAHSEE tests were especially low in math.
  8. We were alerted that the math courses were poorly attended so a solution was discussed for improving our math test scores--- Distance Learning - CWCS supplied online math courses. We agreed that these classes needed to be in
    place at the beginning of school, with the option of all who desire to attend online. We agreed that they needed to be accessible through a password feature, and possibly have a 'chat' feature. The instructor would have the option of selecting his curriculum for each grade level, he would post the lessons, students complete the lessons and possibly email or post their answers.
  9. We decided that this math tutor/instructor would need to schedule regular and plentiful hours of access, be paid a regular teacher's salary, be computer proficient, and be willing to be there for the students.
  10. We also discussed the value of the BYU curriculum and their online math courses. However since they are no longer a vendor, we wondered what it would take to have them returned to our vendor list. No one seems to know why they were removed in the beginning and several ESs are requesting their services.
  11. We discussed the Post Grad Survey and requested the "Other" category be removed from the top of the list and at the least placed last on the list, but rather be changed to a more specifically named category.
  12. We all thanked Jessica Walker for her great ESLR creation, and discussed a " Short Version" of a one page ESLR for the parents to have on hand for ready reference and discussion.