Staff Bulletin for the Week of February 6

Professional Time

This Wednesday is an Instructional Data Team Meeting for the full 100 minutes.

BE Events for Staff and Students

Notes:  

Admin/Guidance:  504 Case Review

Recommendations must be complete by February 17th.

Home Varsity Athletic Events

 News, Notes, and Reminders

Feedback needed.   I am looking for teacher input on the evaluation process.  I'm serving on the district Professional Development and Evaluation Committee, working with the evaluation subcommittee side.  The group is looking to improve the evaluation system.  I'd like your input because it would help me work with the colleagues on those elements that might need the most work.  I would love your feedback (teachers only please) on this brief survey.  https://goo.gl/forms/VTkMOhbSJET2TxL92 
 
GPA.  I've been asked recently about how GPA is being calculated for students.  For eligibility purposes, GPA is calculated by the quarter (and only includes the quarter grades).  You can use this spreadsheet to help students calculate their GPA.

AP Potential.

At the start of the year, our school leadership team and Governance council were engaged in discussions regarding AP enrollment and AP performance.  A suggestion was made that we try to group students who have demonstrated interest in specific courses and AP potential, but who haven't met the pre-requisite required.   The feedback was that teachers would be more able to keep the standards of AP high but could differentiate approaches more easily if we looked at how students were grouped.  Gathering information in the way we're proposing below will also help us 1) look out for kids who might be trying to take on too much for their entry level into AP and 2) target support for students specifically for AP.

 

We are going to explore this possibility in this scheduling season, so here is what we need from you.

1) Keep an eye out for students who show potential.  If you're interested in the AP potential list we can share that with you, though on our review, we found that our process is more comprehensive and has found more students with potential than their list shows.  Debbie can email you that report.   We're also looking more closely at all of our students in accelerated/academic courses scoring 93 or better in our freshmen and sophomore classes.

2) Talk with your colleagues in your department to know more about each AP offering within the department if you're unsure about recommendations.  AP teachers have been working on providing a more descriptive summary of skills needed as prerequisites for their courses.

3) Enter their name and course on this spreadsheet:  https://docs.google.com/a/bristolk12.org/spreadsheets/d/1eNaooXmpVIawmzBDPRMj97IETa5gledGugEYZYhXTHM/edit?usp=sharing

 

Please keep in mind that your recommendation and this process is NOT a guarantee that they'll be enrolled in the AP course.  It will prompt further discussion among teachers, guidance counselors,  and administration to take a closer look at some of our students who could use an extra push or challenge.  This is just the start of a longer process to achieve our goal of encouraging students to challenge themselves to meet their potential.  We'd love to have your feedback as well, so let's keep a dialogue going!