SSC Minutes for February 13, 2020
Motion to approve minutes from prior meeting was approved
Tom Kearney is a visiting member- he is looking to find more information about the GPA grade bump. Elaine Kearney is also a visiting member to review the weighted GPA information.
IIC is the governing body that will make the decision about the policy and ultimately voting it in or not. THere was a student forum hosted on Wednesday 2/12 (with roughly 150 students in attendance) - it is likely that the next IIC meeting will be open to the public in order to provide information to families who are interested on getting to know more.
Jessica Park, the English Department chair, was the pioneer introducing this idea.
Faculty feedback from the straw poll has been provided.
53 responses of a staff of about 80
Thoughts from SSC in order to provide feedback-
*Parent member is concerned that the number tied to the GPA is not going to be the element that encourages
* students are going to feel stressed to take advanced level courses with out without a grade bump
* another parent feels that the teacher feedback seems like a naive reflection of the system.
* another parent shares that the list of school’s currently being referenced in the FAQs is an inaccurate representation of schools as compared to Albany High School. Colleges are looking at schools and the caliber of the course work that is being offered and at Albany High School the students need to set themselves apart with the advanced level course work. There is a diverse student body here is as compared to other schools referenced. Notes there is an effort to support the arts and questions if this is the underlying tension. There are students that over extended themselves in to AP level coursework- took those classes to prove themselves in their college applicaiton process. Are there students who don’t want to be there and making it harder for all the students to learn.
* The librarian shared her personal experience. And that the first parents expressed concern isn’t a reason against the change.
* Counselor shared colleges will still see the grades
* Board member asked student to reflect on whether or not students choose to take advanced level courses in place of art or music
* Some students shared with the students representative- students should know what their capabilities and should know how much they can handle
* Parent shared that there are many students who aren’t able to know this much about themselves. Also notes the argument that the cushion/safety net of the grade bump. A lot of this discussion has history in that kids who don’t take the risk are more willing/able to try out the new classes.
* Board member feels that it won’t hurt their GPA is a deceipt because colleges are going to look at their overall application and interpret it as they do
* Parent has expressed that when they are applying to UCs there is a range of GPAs to get in- and they are seeing this “4.1 + GPA”
* it would be helpful to bring back Alumni who have gone on an “alternative” and going to a CSU or community college is a bad thing.
* Principal Ritchie shared that we stopped ranking
* Counselor shared that the GPA doesn’t actually reflect student achievement and the number is arbitrary and doesn’t factor in many other
* Parent shares that we need to look at the research from schools that and that the problem of student stress and the different threads identified in the teacher feedback need to be teased out
*Albany can’t fix the inability to access UCs- but fear that unweighting the GPA could make finding a college option that is affordable-
* It could be important to share community college transfer data with student body to help reinforce a lower stress path
* students are concerned with the timeline