Each year some of your PTSA dollars go toward helping teachers get additional supplies and equipment that they’d have to do without otherwise.  This year just under $9000 was awarded to over 30 teachers who asked for grants ranging from $85 to $1570.  The average request was $272.  Your PTSA membership makes a real difference in the education your children receive.

See the complete list after the jump.

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Full Inclusion Committee

October 26, 2009

Purpose: The purpose of the Full Inclusion Committee is to review research and data regarding full inclusion and to make a recommendation to Eckstein staff and families for the ‘10’11 school year.  This movement would only affect Language Arts and Social Studies; Math would continue to offer Honors classes.

Attending: Kara Golgert, Liora Minkin, Kathy Sherman, Eric Miller, Ruthann Allan, Josh Hanson, Kim Whitworth, Miriam Hart, Stacey Norman, Jodi Gedansky, Terry Elrand

Summary of Meeting: At this meeting we read an article out of Education Leadership that outlined the rational to replace tracking with heterogeneous grouping in schools.  This helped us identify benefits and challenges to this model.

• Benefits:
  • High expectations for all students
  • Differentiated instruction that meets the needs of all students, including advanced learners
  • Our science and elective classes are already heterogeneously grouped
  • Acknowledgement that students come with multiple intelligences that are not identified in our current advanced placement testing
  • Students who didn’t get into Spectrum but are highly capable would be better served
  • This addresses working on 21^st Century skills
  • Many of our students are already coming from a full inclusion model
  • This model moves us closer to fulfilling the Districts philosophy of social justice as well as Eckstein’s philosophy of inclusion for all

• Challenges:
  • There would be more pressure for teachers to articulate how they are meeting the needs of all students
  • We would need to provide ongoing professional development for teachers in the areas of differentiation and rigor
  • We would need to ensure that the classes are balanced in terms of the program ratios
  • Parents will want to have their children in a pull out Spectrum model regardless of our assurances that we will meet the needs of students in a heterogeneous model

• Next Steps:
  • Gather feedback from the full inclusion pilot we’re doing at Eckstein
  • Look at more research on heterogeneous grouping
  • Gather input from Language Arts and Social Studies teachers
  • Get information out to families via, PTSA meetings, website and listserv

• Calendar:
  • November 9 – Share our work with PTSA in an open meeting
  • November 23 – Full Inclusion Committee meets to share information on benefits and challenges
  • December 14 – PTSA Parent Forum
  • Parent and Staff survey during this process

Supporting Documents

The Case for Untracking (.pdf)

Tracking and Ability Grouping in Middle Level and High Schools (.doc)