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M.L. Professional Studies Committee
Minutes from meeting of 10/15/2009
Connecticut Association of SchoolsMiddle Level Professional Studies Committee
Minutes
October 15, 2009
1. Introductions and Committee Charge: Chairman Fred Baruzzi welcomed ten members of the committee to the inaugural meeting for the 2009-2010 school year. They were Kevin Brough, Matt Daily, Susan Dumas, Ida Hickerson, Leo Lavalee, David Russell, Ann Starr, Deborah Sullivan and Earle Bidwell. Karen Habegger arrived later. The committee charge is to explore new and innovative educational trends, develop themes and publish position papers. The committee also administers the “exemplary practice” recognition program
2. Exemplary Practices Pending
a. Suffield Middle School for “Teaming”
b. Visiting Committee: Rich Dellinger and Bernadette Hamad have agreed to make the site visit sometime in January. New members are cordially invited to accompany them. Interested new members should email their desire to do so to Earle Bidwell
3. Exemplary Practices: Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Rubric: All the data has been gathered and now it is time for the next step. The rubric, written by many hands over a two year period, needs a common language and format. It is currently too long and unwieldy. A two member sub-committee is needed to agree on a format and to coax the language.
4. Middle Level Athletics: A draft “Guidelines for Middle Level Athletics” has been prepared by a group of middle level athletic directors. A four to five member sub-committee is needed to work with representative A.D.s and CIAC staff to ensure that the final version is reflective of middle level philosophy and best practice.
5. New Directions: Earle Bidwell shared the results of the Middle Level Member Survey conducted in the spring. It has implications for the work of this committee as it indicates which CAS services members view a critical, very important, marginally important and least important. The full results will be posted on the website after they are presented to the board. As a result, the committee will concentrate their efforts on three areas: Secondary School Reform, Advocacy and topics of general interest.
a. What is needed: Committee members are needed to research and write articles or position papers, or create tool kits on various aspects of Reform; write articles on advocacy and general articles for member schools’ newsletters
b. How to proceed: Members will work independently or in pairs. Each submission will be reviewed by the committee who will offer commendations and recommendations. The articles will be revised (or not) and published in the “members only” section of the CAS website.
c. A sub-committee sign up sheet will be posted as a Google Document (click on link below). Committee members who were not in attendance at the first meeting are invited to sign up in one of the blank boxes for the committee of their choice.
Link for Google document:
https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AdyTzRdSEGZXZGhkcGhjazRfNmRtanprNmhz&hl=en
6. Adjournment: 6:00 p.m.
Next Meeting: November 19, 2009
