IIC Minutes for January 16, 2020

IIC  Committee Members

Alexia Ritchie, Larry Pratt, Kendra Knowles,  Anna Collins, Becca Burns, Kim Trutane, Yael Bloom, Joanna Totino, Fiona O’rourke, Hengyue Lian, Laurie Roberts

• Approve Minutes from 11/21/19

• Unweighted GPA Discussion

This was first presented in December. We are trying to encourage students to take courses based on interest rather than the GPA bump.  There have been several studies that show that unweighted GPAs are better indicators of college readiness. We do plan on limiting AP courses at this time.  We just want to make clear that the GPA bump should not be the reason for students taking particular classes. We do not know yet how to deal with Juniors that have begun taking AP courses.  Do we wait until this current Junior class graduates? Data shows that the majority of the staff supports the move toward reporting unweighted GPAs. Can students technically calculate their own GPA?  Yes.

How are we thinking about those students that may need extra motivation to push themselves harder.  The thought is that there are other ways to motivate these students.

Kim:  It seems like this may be a more truthful/accurate method of reporting.

Talking to students, it seems like

George:  Many students were not enthusiastic about this change.  This was discussed at a recent leadership meeting and a common sentiment was why bother?  If this does not address the core issue of “College Admissions” Then, why bother?

AP classes that are available in Science and Humanities isn’t balanced. 

Taking away weighted grade may not solve the problem of added stress, but it may prevent students from taking a course that they do not want to take.

I want to acknowledge that we are attempting to change the conversation to follow your passion and whatever college you end at is probably the right fit.

I would like to see some real steps that would be promised of how we are going to educati

• Review Timeline of Specified Agenda Topics (Past and Present) as Time Permits