MEMORANDUM FROM: Brian Catanzaro SUBJECT: Cluster Roundtable, May 16 2012 DATE: June 3, 2012 CC: MB Cluster Officers

Summary
Roundtable discussions were held in a World Caf format. Four (4) topics were discussed: Academic Performance, School Closure, Encouraging Students to Attend, Cost / Value of the IB Program. Eight (8) moderators were chosen, two for each subject. These moderators stayed with the topic and the remainder of the participants rotated to each of the four subjects.

Notes
Notes were collected at each table. In some cases the moderator summarized agreement/disagreement. In other cases, the notes were synthesized by the Chair (noted with *).

Simplified Areas of Agreement

Academic Performance Testing is not a universal metric. No metric could be agreed upon. Students should make at least one years growth. Every student is important. No one sub-group (EL, GATE, college bound, career bound, ) is more important than another. Promotion / retention of a student is a parent decision with advice from the site. English proficiency is the top priority in the Cluster. School Closure We want quality local schools. Closure is inevitable. Maintaining a high school in this area is paramount importance. Neighborhood school is defined by where your kids go not where the students live. Encouraging Students to Attend We want students that want to attend (based upon the programs?). Students should be recruited from the entire district and not preferentially from one area or another. IB program should be open to all students. No test should be introduced to select candidates. The programs should be marketed more.

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Cost / Value of IB Program IB program perceived to improve all students at all levels. It is perceived to raise expectations of teachers and students. Costs of the program are unclear so cost vs. value is not possible to assess. All students should take at least one (1) IB course (per year?), but there should be no requirements to attempt the IB diploma.

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Academic Performance
L. Barron Agree All groups agreed that testing kids is out of control. Testing is not an adequate measure of a childs intelligence or potential. Most instruction stops for several weeks during the testing period. In fact, an administrator pointed out that CSTs and tests/testing in general are going to be changed in the near future. Parents felt that instruction was, for the most part, focused on passing tests. There was consensus that EVERY child is important. No subgroupi.e. EL, GATE/Seminar is more important than another group. Education should be tailored to the child and not based on a label/category placed on the individual. English proficiency is very important in our cluster. We can raise academic performance through technology and individualized instruction. Academics and electives are both important to developing a childs mind to think in different ways. Engaging parents and students in the educational system would enable families to see a continuum of their education into college. Continuing onto college should be our expectation for all children in our cluster.

Disagree There was disagreement between parents and administrators in the various groups regarding moving students to the next grade level who are not proficient. Parents thought non-proficient students should not be promoted. Administrators explained that most non-proficient children are promoted due their professional experience and research supporting that holding back children leads to more problems in the future and will not benefit the individual being retained. There were different views on how to raise academic standards for our cluster.Some thought it should be solely site based, some felt the district needs to take the lead.

?. ??????* Agree

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 Disagree

Students should make at least 1 yr of growth (at least at the Basic level). Parent should choose to retain/promote child. School should effectively communicate pro/con to retain/promote.

No group should be ignored. Equal effort to all groups. Top priority for kids to move from basic to proficient. Priority should be determined on a site-by-site basis. Best ways to determine performance: testing, communication between teacher/parent, attendance, graduation rates. Sometimes parents are not aware of bad attendance. Testing is not the best way. CST should not be the basis. Need incentives for students. Student incentive should be promotion to the next grade level. Priorities (in order): English proficiency; CST subject matter; Music / Art / Theater. Students should be well rounded including arts / PE.

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School Closure
J. Brown Agree Disgaree Two of the four groups were open to school closure/consolidation in our cluster and think that it could improve academic performance in our cluster. Two of the four groups were opposed to school closure/consolidation in our cluster and think that it would detract from academic performance in our cluster. We want quality neighborhood schools. School closure is a cluster issue not an individual site issue. Mandarin program will benefit our cluster (no one was outwardly against it.).

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A. Monroe Agree The threat of closure is likely worse than the closure itself weve seen its impact on our sites year after year. The constant threat of closure is extremely hard on our communitys morale, and prevents other families from coming to the community. Last years closure discussions pitted families against each other, but the community feels we came out of it stronger. The adults in our community are far more emotionally impacted than the children they pretty much roll w/ the punches. That being said, we shouldnt bring the students into the closure/consolidation discussions as it harms their friendships (there may be room for an exception at the high school level). Our local population doesnt come close to filling the sites we have. If closure is inevitable (and we think it is), we should get ahead of it, and put our own plan for consolidation together. We agree closure is not only inevitable, but likely good for our community. Closure is permanent and the community would rather see some other plan that allows for expansion later. The IB theme is working, and consolidation should be centered around the pre-K 12 IB programs. Forward, positive momentum is building. The community is HUGELY emotionally attached to the high school. Elimination of the high school seemed out of the question. The community believes our sites are unique because of their location MBHS is the only public school that touches the Pacific Ocean (in CA). A neighborhood school is defined by the school where my kids and their friends go (even though at the high school level 70% of the kids there arent from the neighborhood. Our Cluster has unique challenges language, special needs, etc. We feel threatened by other Clusters (La Jolla) poaching our best students and families, and feel wed have a greater local population in our Cluster schools if the District forced them to stop. They realize this is at odds w/ our efforts to draw students in from other areas. The idea of raising private funds is daunting, and frustrating because the District still dictates how the money is spent even if we raise the funds ourselves. Concerns over what becomes of the YMCA project if we consolidate schools specifically if we move the middle school over to the high school site; our

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 Disgaree

understanding is the YMCA project is predicated on the middle school remaining open. Overall, even though were each attached to individual sites, the community should come together to determine whats best for ALL students, and whats best for PB.

Some feel our [closure] plans dont matter, that the Board/District has already decided for us. Many feel closure/consolidation at this time would harm the efforts made thus far. Cant find consensus on which site(s) to close. The only change (some find) worth considering is the consolidation of the middle and high school. Many (mostly people currently affiliated w/ the high school) feel our community is built around the high school, and wouldnt entertain the idea of our students going to another high school (like Clairemont). When asked if theyd be willing to raise private funds to keep a site open, most said yes. But when asked if theyd rather suffer closure and be able to use those private funds for other things, they often changed their tune.

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Encouraging Students to Attend

S. Devicariis Agree We want families who WANT to attend our schools. We believe that equity in our composition is important The IB programme should and is open to ALL students. Assessments do not play a role in identifying students. Students have access to take one or more classes within the subject areas and vocational Ed classes. Not all students choose to do the full diploma but it is available to anyone that wants to do the work, meet the requirements and passes the diploma exams. We need to market our school more; especially at the secondary level. The goal is to retain more of our local students so that our secondary schools. Recruiting students to ensure that we have a comprehensive high school program is essential to the program offerings at the secondary level. We need to offer a wide range of courses to meet the needs of our students. One strategy to help keep our students within the community is to have the high school campus used for various community events. Also to have the high school students come to the area schools to participate in functions such as math and science nights or family nights.

Disgaree ?. ??????* Agree No placement test for IB open to all students. Assessment is not necessary to be successful in the IB program. It requires commitment / stamina / students willing to do the work. Want students that want to be at our schools. Integration / capacity are the reasons for busing. IB roadshow in the fall to educate Cluster families about the program. Need to market more. None reported.

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Disgaree Should not recruit students. High school students should go to Elementary schools to recruit. Recruitment by geography needs to consider equity and transportation. Recruit from everywhere across the district.

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Cost / Value of IB Program

R. Cadena* F. Hilgers* Agree Disagree Cluster should die on the hill of the IB program. It saved the high school. Entire school benefits. Colleges look at IB program as a better foundation for college. More calibrated than the AP program. IB is very entrenched on the East Coast. Primary years program is less prioritized. Gives the Cluster something unique. Improves caliber of teaching Impacts all student performance levels (Below / Basic / Proficient). Raises expectation and performance and attracts people who want to learn. All high school students should take at least one (1) class or more. Diploma is optional. Dont know the costs. It is hard to determine if the cost is worth the value. Grants as a funding source. Academic performance needs to be better measured for correlation with IB program.

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