Report to the Academic Committee of the Board
Jennie Schmidt
May 17, 2002


The following is a routine report plus specific information discussing the inquiries made through recent email.

Because my position was greatly scaled back this year (and especially this semester) much of the “update” I have to offer stands at it did earlier in the year. The year is ending well, with many of the staff returning next year. Currently we are looking to hire people to fill vacancies in the following areas: physics/math; Spanish; ESL; writing; curriculum/learning styles issues; technology. There are a number of strong candidates who have applied and we are positive about the pool of resumes we’ve received. It looks like there will be less “new” staff next year and that should ease with the transition into the new school year.

The year is ending strong, and has been a successful year in terms of interesting and innovative curricula developed and taught. Among the highlights are:

Currently, a one-month elective on the Underground Railroad is being taught. We’ve received a fair amount of press on this, which has been great. See the information. The teacher teaching this course has placed updated information on the web – see this – it’s cool. (Recommendation: more teachers should learn to do this – it’s great for PR and great for families).

Here are some curriculum highlights from the Spring:

  • During the one-month trips, 4 students rode their bikes up from Natchez, MS and another group of students headed west to do service on the Rosebud Reservation and in Grand Junction, CO.
  • The freshman class has had their science and humanities learning experiences joined through a study of the natural world and writings about the natural world of the Southwest. The last two blocks study of this centered around a week-long trip to Canyonlands and Moab, Utah.
  • In the winter, the Juniors studied religion through an in depth look at messianic imagery in literature and film.
  • A linguistics course is currently being taught using the Elf language from the Hobbit as a jumping off point.
  • An upper level Humanities course is being taught about the Great Gatsby and American society – attempting to look at the themes of this novel in contemporary spaces.
  • An upper level social studies class is looking at the issue of bias in textbooks and the reporting of history.
  • A one-month elective was taught about the African-American experience in Chicago.
  • A film class from the fall had their film accepted into the Brooklyn Friends film competition.

Portfolios: As reported all along, the portfolio process is still alive but greatly in need of direction. To this end, I am recommending that a set of 1-2 workshops regarding issues of assessment and the nature and use of portfolios be planned to happen before Scattergood Day next year. I recommend this because most of the staff here now are either/both a) not the ones who participated in the original workshops/decision to have portfolios b) coming to us without an ed. School background. My hope for this workshop would be that it would help begin an ongoing discussion about assessment and the goals of a Scattergood education. This could lay the groundwork for tasks to be done as part of the upcoming ISAACS recertification process.

Staff Development: The progress made towards having universal participation in outside development should be continued. In addition, I am strongly encouraging our staff to present at upcoming conferences, particularly the ISAACS conference in the fall. There are a number of curricula developed by the staff that are worthy of sharing. (see above)

ESL: We are currently looking to make modifications regarding the admissions process and ESL students in order to better accommodate the issues which arise when such a large number are enrolled. These adjustments will seek to give us more information about the proficiency of the students before they enroll in order for us to plan ahead. In addition, the adjustments seek to help us modify the coursework a student is enrolled in with regard to their level of readiness. The goal of these adjustments is to maximize the learning process for English language learners.

Effect on community: I can only offer one opinion, however, I believe that the whole community would benefit if there were ways to integrate this population more. Community meeting is now about _ non-English as a first language and some feel this has had an effect. Perhaps native speakers could be paired up as “buddies” to accompany students to meeting for the first 6 months? Also, although there is a positive role that affinity groups can play and all recognize the need for our second language learners to “get a break” – I observe there to be a lot of “ghetto-ized” seating at open-seating meals. To change this would involve working towards greater awareness of this behavior on both parts – i.e., it would be great for our international students to actively seek to be immersed in English AND it would be great if our native English speakers would actively seek to integrate this population. Because of large clusters of same language speakers among our ESL group this year, I have observed there to be a slower learning curve regarding English fluency…students have had more opportunities to speak their first language.