CWCS October 2006 ES Agenda

Please read the agenda, along with each of its links (all links available in ES Manual for future reference).

The agenda quiz must be completed in your ES WEBfiles BEFORE 3:00 pm the work day before your ES meeting.

 

1) Dates to Remember and Dated Duties

a) November 1st: STAR Site Selection- Students will be assigned this week to a test site based on their geographic location. If you need to make a change, please enter it into WEBfiles after October 22nd when most of the sites will be available in WEBfiles. We need you to do this by November 1st in order to help prevent overcrowding at the sites.

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b) November 5th: Portfolio Assembly- Assemble your portfolios now so that you can collect any missing 1st semester samples at your next LR meeting. Remember to collect the required Writing Prompt sample. Refer to the Portfolio Information, Portfolio Review, Portfolio Sample Q&A's, and the Portfolio video for assistance! New ESs may bring a sample portfolio for the advisor attending their meeting to review.

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c) November 9th: ES Evaluation Goals for last year-Enter into WEBfiles, on the ES Detail Screen, by this date for your Advisor to review, a brief written progress report on how you have met your ES evaluation 2006 goals to date and what you expect to do next semester. If you are a new ES this year, this will not apply to you.

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d) November 13-17th: 2nd Quarter Benchmark Exams and Required Writing Prompts- Provide and explain to parents during this week or at the learning record closest to these dates, and collect at the following learning record meeting. Thank you Michelle Andres for a link to some helpful Graphic Organizers to print and give to your parents for the specific prompts they are working on (will be linked to writing prompts page in ES manual for future reference).

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e) November 17th: 2nd Semester Student Agreements- Plan early! The 2nd Semester Student Agreements will need to be postmarked to IEM Student Records by November 17th. Another Assessment Confirmation form is NOT required for the second semester, just the student agreement. Please remember to staple the two pages together to help the records department. Thank you!

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f) November 30th: Grad Packets will be due! If you have a potential graduate that does not yet have a copy of their final and complete transcript in WEBfiles, please be sure to ask your advisor for assistance in how to obtain a transcript from a previous school.

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g) December 12th: Graduation information- Graduation participation forms are posted on the CW Forms page for 8th Grade Participation, Senior Participation, and Cap and Gown Orders. Please give these to your potential December and May graduates now, as they are due no later than December 12th. Thank you! (Remember to mark in the database if they are participating or not when you collect the forms.)

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2) Things to Do

a) Agenda Quiz: Last month, some of the September Quizzes were accidentally spoiled when additions were made to the test files by other schools. When completing your Agenda Quiz this month, do not set it up in WEBfiles until you have read through the agenda and marked your answers on a printed quiz page…then you can create the quiz in WEBfiles and mark your answers all in one Citrix session. This way, if another school makes any additions to the test file your quiz should not be affected.

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b) Grade Levels Changes for Remedial High School Students: Remedial high school students should have their grade level evaluated at the beginning of each semester. If the grade level changes mid-year, the advisor must approve, and assessment cwcsassessment@connectingwaters.org and student records studentrecords@ieminc.org must be notified so that the correct STAR tests can be ordered and the database updated.

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c) October Newsletter: Remind your parents about the October Newsletter posted on the CW Website.

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d) Collecting Materials:

-When a student drops from the school, please remember to collect ALL materials: those ordered for them, any materials received from a learning center, writing prompt booklets, and any material given to them at Intake. If a family is no longer using the materials given to them at intake (English and Math curriculum, writing prompts, etc), please collect these and return them to the MLC where they can then be used by future students.

-If you have materials that are not currently in use, remember that they belong to CWCS and should be made available to students that need materials. Please bring them to the learning centers for use by others or bring to your ES meeting to share with another ES. You may request that the ES return them at a later date.

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e) CAHSEE MATH

-Intensive Math: CAHSEE Intensive Math course. We have 126 students who have not passed the math portion of the CAHSEE! Please read the above link if you have a high school student who still needs to pass the math portion of the CAHSEE. If you have an 11th or 12th grader who has not passed the CAHSEE, you must use the words "CAHSEE PLIP" in the learning record with specific activities that are being done to help the student reach the goal of passing the CAHSEE: CAHSEE prep course, etc.

-CAHSEE Math Tutors: Debbie Kutz is working on obtaining and training college students to serve as math tutors (approx. $15/hr), specifically for the CAHSEE. She’d like to get a general idea of how many tutors are needed and in what areas. Please email dkutz@connectingwaters.org if you would be interested in using these tutors. Include how many of your students would need a tutor, and the cities in which your students are located.

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f) Student Paperwork:

Please remember that your Parent Checklist in WEBfiles should have been completed by September 29th.

Also remember to mark the Scantron testing on the Student Checklist.

The IEM office would like to remind all ESs to please not mail in the first meeting information sheets and grad requirement sheets. These are required forms, but need to be kept in your student files. They are also getting a few CWCS Charter summaries mailed in, and these are no longer required, but may be used if you desire and may be kept in your student files.

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g) E-mail Etiquette:

- You MUST respond to all work related emails within 24 hours as stated in the ES job description. This includes emails from other ESs, parents, and office staff, as well as your advisor, the school director, etc.

-When e-mailing IEM or school departments like Special Ed, please be sure to use your work email address so that the office knows which school the e-mails are coming from. It might be good to add a signature to your email page that includes your ES number, your work number, and the school name. For Microsoft Outlook, this can be done through tools/options/mail format (see your e-mail programs help file for instructions). Student numbers are also much appreciated!

-When you are sent an e-mail from the office, you need to "reply to all" so that all parties included will know that the issue is taken care of.

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h) ES and Parent Listserves: According to the Listserve policy, please read and respond to any listserve messages within 24 hours, and inform any parents not on the parent listserve of information that pertains to their student.

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i) Transcript Requests: This is not a new policy, but as a reminder, when you receive an e-mail from student records requesting that a transcript be reviewed. Review the transcript carefully within 24 hours (making sure that all classes and credits are correct and in order, no duplicated courses, etc.), and reply to all (cc your advisor) that the transcript is ready to go.

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j) Agenda Announcement: A new request has been added to the Agenda Page in the ES Manual regarding the ES Agendas. "An Agenda Announcement is sent on the ES listserve monthly when the new agenda is posted to this webpage. Please read through the agenda within 24 hours after having received the email as time-sensitive information may be included".

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k) ES Suggestion: Thank you Lisa Bender for your time saving suggestion! Lisa hands out ten copies of each student’s grade level standards to the parents and one copy of the framework which explains the standards clearly. She asks the parents to then return one copy each month with the standards highlighted that the child has covered that month. She says this has cut down her learning record time, and it has resulted in the parents being much clearer about what they are covering each month.

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3) Training Items

a) New WEBFfiles Student Drop Form: Drop paperwork alerts the student records department that the student is to be dropped from the school database. A drop form must be completed for every student leaving this school who has been enrolled for any number of days. There are two types of drops in WEBfiles. Both are found by going to "view" active students, and then clicking on the student number ("view detail").

1) The "Regular Drop" option is for a student that is withdrawing as a regular drop or a drop out and is not associated with graduation or completion. (see drop status guideline and truancy policy for more information). Please specify the reason (code) for the drop on the drop form as we are required by law to track this information. If a student is truant, please also mark this box. When the drop form is completed for this type of drop, the ES does not have to mail the paperwork in, but must mark the "drop ready to process" button. Email jbaker@ieminc.org if you need to change any information on a drop form that you have submitted.

2) The Graduation drop form is also in WEBfiles, but is a form that must be printed and included with the Grad Packet.

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b) AESS Students: Many students will need AESS services from their ES in order to be successful in our school. According to the AESS policy and procedure, each ES must be willing to service a minimum of 5 AESS students if asked by their families. The intake ES, Sherri Nelson, and/or Mary Halter will often recommend AESS and put the recommendation on the student’s intake information. The ES must present these families with the option, and if they would like to have the service, the ES must service them unless they already have 5 AESS students. We have done some research to determine how many ESs service AESS students. If a student requests AESS, but you do not want to service them, then you will need to lower your student count. We need to do everything that we can to help these students succeed. If a student does not have enough funding for AESS, but would like to have the service, submit an Instructional Funds Request for additional funding.

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c) Requests for Instructional Funds: The Request for Additional Instructional Funds policy needs review. These requests can only be made for core courses a high school student needs for graduation or to pass the CAHSEE. The student’s regular IF must not have been spent on other types of items (non-core courses, activities, and materials) for this student prior to making this request. The primary purpose for this form is for new high school students who enroll late in the year or for seniors who need help with CAHSEE prep.

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d) Rollsheet Checklist: The Rollsheet Checklist needs review. Each item must be precise and accurate in order to pass our audit. Therefore, you should check each rollsheet carefully, and if you tend to make little errors, have another set of eyes look for you too before mailing them in! If an ES makes continual errors, they will be asked to start sending their rollsheets to their advisor and it may be reflected on their ES evaluation.

The Attendance clerk asked specifically that we watch for the following: (Many CW ESs already do this correctly, but some do not.) Please make sure that the beginning dates and the ending dates match the actual dates on the rollsheets at all times. If you have pre-printed a rollsheet, and end up meeting on an earlier date, you must change the ending date by neatly crossing out, initialing, and writing in the correct date to match the actual last date on the rollsheet.

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e) Nicenet and Elluminate:The Nicenet and Elluminate information given to all ESs at the August meeting, as well as the email with additional tips for using these programs, has been posted in the NCLB section of the ES Manual. Each ES should try to do this on their own, so that they can assist any students who are having any difficulties logging in for the first time. Jamie Tinley is investigating to see if previous classes can be made available to students in these programs.

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f) IEM Contacts:

-Tecla Shaffer was an IEM employee in the payroll department. Her last day will be October 13, 2006. Any emails that you send to Tecla between now and then also cc to Randy Gaschler randyg@ieminc.org so that he is aware when he takes over.

-Be sure to refresh your browser's link to the IEM Contact page for the latest IEM contact information.

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g) Bloom’s Taxonomy Chart: Thank you ES Lisa Bender for this creative chart of the Bloom’s Taxonomy.

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4) Messages from School Departments

a) ASSESSMENT

- ES Notification of Parents: A new section has been added to the ES Manual under School Information/ Assessment: ES Requirements/ ES Notification of Parents. Please review and note that this is now required of all ESs. Many have routinely done these duties in the past, and we thank you!

- WRAT: The new WRAT kit has some changes in the testing procedure. Please familarize yourself with the new test before attempting to give it to a student. Please review the WRAT policy. The RAW scores are the only ones necessary to send in (along with the student information). The Standard Scores are not necessary. New directions included for finding and reporting the grade equivalent to the parent.

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b) CURRICULUM

- Content Standards Correlations: Lori Freeman has been researching vendors that have correlations to CA Content Standards on their websites. She has compiled a list for your use and it is posted on the Curriculum page under Curriculum Resources, “correlations”.

- K12: K12 has submitted correlations also, they have been posted with the other correlations at the above link, as well as under “K12 Ordering” on the CW Curriculum page.

- McDougal Littell is the vendor for larsonmath.com, which offers online tutorial for intermediate grades and PreAlgebra. The phone number for ordering subscriptions is 800-462-6595. This is a good supplemental program for a struggling student. The explanations are visual, auditory, and interactive. More information and a demo of the program can be found at www.larsonmath.com.

- Global Student Networking: Shoni Johnson is our ES representative for Global Student Networking. She has created an information page to help with any questions that you may have on this subject.

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c) GUIDANCE: October News from Mary Halter

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d) SPECIAL EDUCATION: Michonne Taylor mtaylor@ieminc.org, is Maria Carr's new assistant. Please cc her on any emails that you direct to Maria Carr mcarr@ieminc.org. Thank you!

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e) IT

- Graduation Button: The graduation information that must be completed using the graduation requirement agreement, has been moved to a separate button on the student detail screen to make room for the viewing of additional phone numbers. The old Filemaker was able to show them in a dropdown, but this version needs a separate field for each number, thus the need for the change.

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f) VENDOR RELATIONS

- Columbia College bookstore: New College Bookstore Vendor

- PO Reminders from Accounting:

Use of complete box for service POs: Please mark the "complete" box on service POs when you are ready for us to start billing the vendor, not necessarily when the class is complete. When you look at your service POs, be sure to look at the “date signed off” field. If this file remains blank and you know the student finished the course please contact Accounts Payable at ap@ieminc.org. This will help in keeping your accounts current. If we have not received an invoice from a vendor and it has been 90 days since the service PO ended, you can be sure that something is wrong. Here are some helpful hints to expidite processing of payments and keeping your accounts up to date.

1. This year we will be processing payments exactly how the PO is written. If it is written per session, per month or if specific dates are designated we will be following your lead. Make sure the PO is written for correct dollar amounts per session or month. If the PO is underpriced, a new PO may need to be created. If classes fall between the PO dates and a student attends before the next approved PO then the student may end up having to pay for those dates attended without an approved PO.
2. When checking in product PO’s make sure that you mark an item Back Ordered or canceled in the packing slip layout. Do not mark the complete box until all items are marked correctly. We here in accounts payable use your information as a guide line when receiving and invoice to make sure that we do not pay for an item that has not been received or that has been canceled. If you have a student that has dropped, please cancel any open service POs and any product POs that have not yet shipped.
3. It is a good idea to check on all PO’s periodically for activity and if there has been none for 90 days and you have not received any postings this could be a problem. It could mean that the PO was never received by the vendor and you will not receive your items. It could mean that the Accounts Payable did not receive the invoice and you may have funds coming back to you.
4. Contact the AP office for any questions regarding payment of your accounts or postings the you feel are inaccurate.
5. Contact vendor relations for any processing , missing items or item return questions.
6. When creating a PO in please make sure that all information is correct before you select done. This saves time not having to back track and cancel POs that have just been faxed.

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g) CONTRACT PROGRAMS:

-Any changes to CP’s must be made through cp@ieminc.org and NOT VR Inquiries.

- If you have questions on how to set up a CP course, please consult your advisor and not cp@ieminc.org. (You may email cp@ieminc.org if you have any changes that need to be made to an existing course.) Thank you!

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5) ES Networking

a) Curriculum Options for students enrolling late in the year. Because of the way funding is allocated (based on ada as shown in the IF chart), many newly enrolled students have very limited funding. Discuss amongst your group and ideas that you have for meeting the needs of these students that you have found successful, and if not currently listed on Ideas for Newly Enrolled Students, have your AF submit your suggestion for inclusion.

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b) Writing Curriculum:

Writing is a difficult subject for many parents to teach. Our Curriculum Specialist, Lori Freeman, recommends Holt as it is standards based and has tests at the end of each section. Our STAR results from last year indicate need for all grade levels in writing. ESs can use the STAR CST Blueprints and the CST Released Test Questions from previous years, to give their parents concrete ideas of what to expect in future STAR tests. (These two webpages can be found in the ES manual under Assessment/STAR/Important info). All parents of 4th and 7th grade students should be given the website for The CST teaching guide for CA Writing for 4th and 7th grade. Terry Souza has provided a page of writing standards by grade level.

What writing curriculum seems to work best for you and your students?

Are your families using writing curriculum?

What do the writing strategies cover?

What is tested? 

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c) How are ESs meeting the needs of at risk students? Each ES should let the group know what they are doing... AESS? Tutoring? CP courses? Network amongst the group so that others ESs can hear what works for you.

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d) K12 Training: AFs will be showing a video on "Offer a New Education Option to Your Students”. All ESs will view and discuss.

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