March 15, 2013

SCIENCE:

• Online classes:   all science specialists will be trained as online facilitators in August.  If you want to facilitate online classes please let me know and I will submit the names to Sandy.  There will be a rotation of facilitators.  All will be trained but everyone may not facilitate.  Also think of kits and rank them in the order you would like to facilitate. 

• From Sandy: Let me know if you have any suggestions: 

From:	Ledwell Sandy J (sledwell@ALSDE.edu)This sender is in your contact list.
Sent:	Tue 3/05/13 10:20 AM
To:

Good morning, everyone!

I need your help in identifying a teacher(s) in your region you feel would be good presenters and who are implementing literacy strategies in the classroom. Or, you could designate yourself if you feel you have particular talents in incorporating literacy in the classroom. Please see below for information – that’s all I know about the Summer Academies as it relates to science at this point. Keep in mind, everyone who is submitted will not be asked to lead a session, but I didn’t want to arbitrarily submit names without consulting you guys.

Everyone:

• PreService Training:  Either after our staff meeting or at 2:00 I need to discuss PreService Training with Kay, Amber and Tara.  I had a long conversation with Sandy, Tod and Shelia and have some updates. 

• From Steve:
  The blip that Change the Equation put up about us doesn’t seem overly positive. We currently have a link to it on our AMSTI home page. Looks like there are places for people to make comments. 
  It would sure be nice is some folks went to the comments section and included some positive comments.
•  
• One of the latest objections to the College and Career Ready Standards is that implementing them will drain money that should go to AMSTI and ARI:   Well, as much as we wish there was a bucket of money to come our way, here is the answer from Steve:

In 2009, as a result of the economy, AMSTI took a significant reduction in its budget (cut by approximately 1/3). To date, funding has not increased back to the former level. This reduced funding has hurt expansion. AMSTI continues to serve all previously trained schools with equipment and materials, additional professional development, and on site support (coaching and mentoring). AMSTI is also supporting all schools by helping teachers better understand and implement the new College and Career Ready Standards.

As an initiative of the State Department of Education (SDE), AMSTI supports the work of the SDE as it has been restructured under new leadership. Examples of AMSTI supporting Plan 2020 include collaboratively planning with each school district for focused support during the current or next school year, and provide training to administrator and teacher leaders concerning College and Career Ready Standards. This support is customized based on the differentiated support requested.

 

AMSTI Schools have shown tremendous growth in ARMT scores which assessed the former state standards. However, our growth on assessments like TIMSS which used different, more rigorous standards, has not been as strong. The new College and Career Ready standards will likely result in major increases on this assessment in the near future.

 

AMSTI is standards-based, so its program has always been designed to support whatever standards are adopted by the State Board of Education. The initiative has always based its work on the current educational research and best practices. As a result, many AMSTI schools feel better equipped to implement College and Career Ready Standards than those that have not previously participated in the initiative.

 

The role of AMSTI is to help teachers teach the state standards to their students in an effective and efficient manner. AMSTI is not responsible for what standards are selected by the state, but is charged with helping teachers deliver instruction on whatever standards are adopted. With the recent adoption of the more rigorous College and Career Ready standards, AMSTI has undertaken a retooling to specifically address these standards.