001Good evening. It's um what day is it? November 3rd, 2025 and I am calling the curriculum committee meeting, the GR board of ed curriculum committee meeting to order. Um and it is 601. So in attendance um for board members we have Mike Whitney Whitney, Dr. Andrea Arian, and myself, Adrien Johnson, and [snorts] um we also have Ann Marie Mancini, uh the assistant superintendent. And then from uh Fitch High School, Matt Brown, Amy McKenna, and Cara Hajj. So, um, first order of business is to, uh, review the, um, the October 22nd, 2025 meeting minutes. So, um, Mike or Andrea, do you have any comments or corrections to the minutes? >> I'm okay. >> I'm fine with him. >> All right. I have I have no comments either. So, we'll um we'll approve those minutes. Um or
002there it is. All right. And the um the next item on the agenda is to um we have a presentation from the high school which um I realize this was a lot of work to put all this together. There was a lot um there's a lot of information here. I really appreciate you uh you putting everything into this putting all that work into this and I'm excited to hear about it. Um but we're going to start off with um world language opportunities um at Fitch High School and which may go into middle school a little bit too. >> So who wants to start with that? >> I'm sharing the presentation. I was just wondering if everyone can see it. >> Yes. >> Yep. >> And so I'm going to turn it over to the high
003school team. I want to just start off by um again, you know, reiterating what you said, Mr. Johnson. There's a lot of work that the high school team put into this uh preparing the presentation for today. I want to thank them for being here tonight. They are going to uh lead a lot of this presentation and I am going to be here kind of to jump in and um you know kind of support any of the uh their responses or uh any part of the presentation that they need. But I'll be here to um you know uh present the uh the document and uh I will turn it over to the high school team at this point. All righty, Mr. Brown, you want me to go ahead and present the web part of it? >>
004Thank you, Karina. Great. >> All righty. Okay. Um, is someone I guess someone is uh flipping through the slides as we speak. >> Go to the next one. >> Okay. >> Next one. >> All right. So, let me just start um this and I'll I may answer some of the questions that were asked through email um for us to respond to and then uh this is one of them. This is the chart um that many of the departments not just the world language had created um this a while ago. This needs to be updated. We've had um curriculum coordinators and department chairs in place for quite a while. Um this is the first year that we have neither. And so as an assistant principal in my role um I am doing my best to enhance
005both the curriculum coordinator role and the department chair. So to say I this one needs to be updated. Okay. So, this is not accurate. Um but um there are some things in place. We do have uh the languages that we have in our school is the Spanish um language. Um we have the French uh language and we do have the ASL although it's not IB certified. Um we do have the ASL uh language in place. Okay. Um, and just to reiterate, uh, this is the American Sign Language, um, enrollment. Uh, each of the credits, uh, are one credit for each of the world language courses that we have offered at Fitch High School. We have ASL one, which is the beginner's class, the Yukon ASL 2, and if you just happen to be in any
006of those classes, whether it's ASL 1 or honors ASL 4, uh they're not only popular, but there are classes that requires our students to be very attentive. um if they miss anything, any uh sign, any um communication, uh they they probably will have a hard time. But these classes uh are classes that our students are doing really well in. The initial requests for these classes um at the time of enrollment ASL1 was 65 and mostly from our not only our our 9th, 10th and 11th grade grade uh students but also our incoming 9th grade students. So eighth grade students um entering our ninth grade uh CS ASL as popular so they enroll as well. Our Yukon ASL 2 class um has been popular. Um this is one of our dual enrollment classes um where students
007also get college credit for. Uh then we have our honors honors ASL 3 class. Uh 28 students have requested to enroll in that. And then we have our honors ASL 4 and eight students have requested to enroll in that section or that course. All right. because we only have one teacher. Um we have we've had to limit the number of sections that we have. Um but they continue to be popular. She's a great teacher. Dr. uh the kids call her Dr. Ra. Um and she loves those kids as they were her very own. All right. French. Um we have French one. um initial requests were 16 at the time of enrollment. Um we have one section of that. Again, we have one one French teacher. Um so she has a variety of classes that she
008has to teach including French 2 um in which 11 students initially requested honors French 2. Three students requested, French three, 17 students requested and honors French three, 13 students requested. We are uh keeping French one and French 2 as well as honors French 2. Um uh we are keeping those uh courses although they're the very introductory courses. Um we have the transate community and so those students uh who are military who have yet to take in a language or in a maybe level two a level three uh will have the opportunity um to still enroll and gain the credit once they um arrive to Fitch High School and eventually graduate from Fitch High School. Uh okay. uh French. Now we get into our higher level courses in French. We have French 4. Um and as
009it says in the future plans, we do uh uh encourage and continue the plan is to continue to increase um the enrollment of all these classes um including our French honors French 4. Um we we don't have um currently uh we don't currently have IB abionio French 1 or IB abionio French 2. We do have IB French language BSL 2 in which students are enrolled. That is a great class to observe too. I recently observed that class and all of the students are communicating in French. No one uh is speaking English except me when I ask questions. Um IB French language B SL12 um only one student uh requested that class. And then we have Spanish. Um Spanish we have five different teachers um and they are awesome as well. Spanish one again, Spanish one,
010Spanish 2, honors Spanish 2. We're maintaining those courses or those classes because of our transient community. Um, if they decide to or transfer with some Spanish credit, we still can provide them the next level if they choose to do so. So, uh, Spanish 1, Spanish 2, 24, 27 respectively. Honor Spanish 2 initially requested was nine students. Spanish 3 153 students and we're going to talk more about that. This is where ninth graders have come in to play in our AR Spanish 3 145 students. Um again we uh move on to our high higher level classes. Spanish 4. We had eight students initially requesting um to take this class. Honor Spanish 4, 11 students initially requested Spanish for the workplace. One student um requested that is a class that we hope to incorporate within our career
011pathways as we develop our career pathways even more. that will be one of our classes um that students will be be required to take um IB abinio Spanish one IB abinio Spanish 2 and those are IB classes if you're not familiar with those classes those are stu those are classes that students take who have not um taken any language but they offer the beginnings of uh for uh in the IB program Dr. I recommend you have a question. >> I do. Do you want questions now or do you want them later? Um, but that's not my question, but >> that is a question. >> Um, I can take it as we go. >> Okay. Uh, I don't know what Spanish for the workplace entails. Can you kind of get me acquaintance of what that would
012be? So that's more uh again this it's a course that would be one of the options if students were to enroll in the career pathways. It's a course um for those students who are entering like the hospitality field um uh the food services. >> What what the what would the curriculum look like though? The curriculum is uh where they would go to um Mar Margaritavville and then they speak um uh the targeted language to um maybe service but it's for the workplace those students who have internships whether it's in the motel hotel. So they learned um the language that is specific to um supporting customers. Um >> I think that curriculum was was written probably five years ago >> around um >> yeah it was a big >> and uh but uh you know just
013really getting them to communicate uh in in that language uh in whatever workforce they're they're in. the that was approved and and and the curriculum was written probably five years ago, but unfortunately the you know the number of requests for that class are not not that high. So we haven't been running it um that often. I don't I don't know. It's been a couple years since we've run that class. >> We run it. Yeah. Yeah. >> So I guess how does it differ from Spanish one? >> Spanish one is just learning the language just just uh vocabulary. Um, >> and Spanish for the workplace, you are communicating entirely in Spanish >> entirely. >> And I think less focus on grammar and and things like that >> more dialogue. >> So would a student who took
014that be um Spanish be their first language? >> Uh, not necessarily. >> Yeah, not necessarily. I guess maybe maybe we can have an offline conversation about this because this could take forever for me to to really get it as I understand, you know, do they always go to like Margaritavville for example? >> No, that's just that's one thing that they used to do. Again, the class hasn't uh um been part of our ports catalog in a while or been offered in a while because of the students signing up. But that's just one example. They've been to um many of field trips. Um >> Carina, can I jump in because my former my former district offered a course like that and I know one of the things that they off the uh curriculum really in uh
015emphasized was um in alignment. I know that also at Fitch we als we offer an EMT uh course. And so our Spanish course for the workplace um uh really helped to those students that were interested in EMT and medical careers. uh medical terminology in Spanish, helping those students that wanted to go into medical careers prepare and be able to um converse with students or I mean with um with adults that were Spanish speakers if there was a medical emergency. Um preparing uh uh students that um want to go into the medical field. What happens if you encounter a patient that only speaks Spanish? How do you um how do you communicate with that individual? So those types of things in that class. I don't know if that helps you, Dr. Aman. >> Well, in in
016a way, maybe car and I can talk, you know, another time. Maybe you come over on another Sunday someday and and like you did for the u IB course and and I really got it then. So, maybe we can talk about it then. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. Should >> we go to the next slide? And then we have our uh continue our IB and uh IB Spanish language um BSL. Um we have two 15 students in there. Um and our future plans also is to increase enrollment there. Our Spanish for Spanish speakers uh level one is for students who are native speakers. Um, the fortunate thing about that class is uh or unfortunate could be, but I I am very pleased to see that more of our native speakers are enrolling
017in the Yukon Spanish for Spanish speakers too. And there they are um speaking of course the targeted language but there is more writing d development more reading um instead of just trying to refine their um their native language. So that is a really really good class. Um this will be an elective. Um this is not part of my so the hope for the 26 27 school year is to create this course as an elective. Um, so it won't be in the uh sequence of our NYP classes. And so, um, the ask was to discuss the survey that was administered a while ago. Um, and this brought back to me my memory, uh, of why this was administered. Um when we discussed as a department and as a district of what other courses can be offered,
018these are the courses that parents and students um selected and it was Spanish then ASL then French and then ma mandrian. Um then the student survey says Spanish as ASL, Japanese and French. Um, we currently and continue to teach Spanish, ASL, French. As you can imagine, it's difficult and looking for uh and hiring folks who speak, let alone Spanish, ASL, and French. But to hire and find someone who can teach um Japanese or Mandrian, Mandrian is even more difficult. Um, so here are the results. Uh, what languages would your student be interested in learning? Um, parents said 60% of parents said Spanish. Is that 60% 80%. >> 80% of >> Okay, thank you. Um, >> 88.6. And um uh that was a pre preK through the fourth grade. But for the fif fifth grade through
01911th grade um 67% of uh parents um u selected ASL um of languages for students that they'd be interested in learning. 42.2% said French and then 29.5% said Chinese. And this was administered in the 2021 through 2022 um world language department students selected Spanish 70% 70.1% um 51.5% for ASL 37.9% uh they selected Japanese and 24.8% 8% they selected French. >> I don't know if you want to take that as an opportunity. You know, we're finished with this first section on world language offerings. I know Dr. Aiman has already answer or asked some questions, but if anyone else wanted to ask some questions before we transition to the next part of the presentation, I think this would be a good opportunity. Mike, >> hi. Thanks. Um, actually, thank you for incorporating one of my questions
020right in the presentation. >> Um, my I is Spanish 5 currently a course? Is it going to be a course? What are the plans for that? Maybe it's just on there as >> I'll answer that. um Spanish 5 it is in our in our uh program of studies but uh because we offer so many you know we we already offer the IB um Spanish class Spanish one and Spanish 2 uh it's very difficult for us to run Spanish five um otherwise we would you know it would shrink the the class sizes even more in all those classes it would just get more spread thin so usually if a student chooses Spanish 5 they would end up going into the IB Spanish path. >> Does that make sense? >> Yeah. Yeah, that does. Thank you. Um,
021so that that kind of goes along my my next question. So, uh, if I understand this correctly, the incoming freshmen this year, a lot of them went into say Spanish three and, uh, and I know the state requirements are a certain amount of language credits and our requirements for high school are too, but I know a lot of colleges are looking for, uh, three years of college level uh, high school level credit in um, you know, well, high school level credit in the same language. So is the intended pathway for the or one pathway for freshmen to accomplish that this year would be they take Spanish 3 next year presumably Spanish 4 honors Spanish 4 something like that and then transitioned into IB. I'm just wondering how they get their three years. >> Yes, that
022is exactly right. That's that's exactly right. The the goal is for students and and we talked about this. I don't know if uh in as a department we've been talking about this how we're going to get our students um from level four to to IB. Um that was the and that's what we chose instead of choosing an AP direction. They the department members who know better than I feel that the IB level uh uh 11 and 12 um gives a more broad um understanding and gives students more an opportunity to learn the language and do well in the exams and and the scores show that the Spanish IB class always and and the French they always do well in th those uh those exams. And I I would just chime in on that too, Mike.
023I would also um you know, seeing that we're going to have that many more that are taking Spanish 3 right now, um there'll be more of a demand for for the you know, Spanish 4, Spanish 5 at later on down the road. Um, so I think when we get down to that that level, if we have the opportunity with a high demand of of choice at Spanish four or Spanish five, um, then we might be able to make that option of offering a Spanish 5 because we have that that many kids that are already, um, at that level and we might then they might be able to have a little more choice than um, you know, just taking IB or or taking the Spanish 5. >> Thanks. That's a good good view on that. um
024like an additional view. Um >> yeah, >> so currently uh freshman some freshman are in Spanish 3 and then the sophomores are in Spanish 3 because they kind of came in in a different regime. Uh so we're going through this transition, but in your view is Spanish 3 now this year taught at a lower level than it was before at the same level that it was before? I'm trying to figure out how two fundamentally different cohorts are together in the same class and and what happened to the class. >> So to look at the curriculum and you know and I joined some of the curriculum writing it is at a higher level. um the students who were in previous uh Spanish 2 um there's a bit more support, there's a bit more challenging for them,
025which is good, right? Because challenge is not bad. Um but I would say I would definitely say that the Spanish level three is is a bit more challenging than than they've experienced um um previously. >> This is the first year. Yep. This is the first year that we've transitioned all, you know, them all at this level. So, there's going to be some overlap. And so, the incoming ninth graders um should have already received the instruction in Spanish, too, with a completed curriculum. And um they will be prepared for next year's Spanish level three. >> Thank you. I guess I'm maybe missing something. I I know there's been the effort for, you know, earlier language introduction, but um the sophomores, a lot of them or some of them uh took uh high school Spanish one and
026could elect to have credit. Were they did they have less preparation those um after 8th grade than the current eighth graders or the current ninth graders do? So basically in one in one year um the did the preparation that the eighth graders leave middle school with change that drastically that they uh instead of going to Spanish 2 they go to Spanish 3. So um I I don't remember exactly what year it started but in 2022 um the district uh received the DODIA grant that brought in world language at the elementary level and those students that are coming through the system now um at some point started uh uh world language in the third grade. So students had have world language now third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, and then uh into the middle school. So
027at the middle school level, grades six and seven, students have um world language, they study it for, I believe, 40 minutes each year, and that counts as their Spanish one. 8th grade, they actually have it for 80 minutes, I believe, every other day, similar to the high school model. So that counts as their Spanish 2, which um uh when the students get into ninth grade, that brings them to to that Spanish three year. So I believe the current ninth graders, different from the 10th graders, they had that different model in which at the middle school level, they had sixth and seventh grade at least um 40 minutes a day making up that Spanish one year and then the eighth grade as Spanish 2. And uh again, I think there's a difference between their middle school
028experience, the current ninth graders, and the current tenth graders. And that's that's that's what accounts for that change. >> Thanks. That that's all my questions. It's nice to see we're as a school system and the students are both reaping the the benefits of earlier foreign world language uh introduction. That's um always helpful. Thanks. >> Welcome. >> All right. All right. I have a I have a few questions, too, but just to just to clarify um and because I know you were just talking about this with Mike, but is Spanish um 2 in 8th grade as rigorous as Spanish 2 that now might be taken by a sophomore or a junior? So, will the will the preparation be the same, you know, expected in that in that Spanish 2 level class? >> I would say yes.
029I'm I'm no longer the curriculum coordinator. So, I'm not I I'm not involved in the eighth grade curriculum. Um >> from from what I understand and I sit on the in on these I I obviously can't uh commit my entire day when the teachers are working on curriculum. But, um the times that I've spent the when they're working on curriculum, the units are the same regardless if the students are taking it in eighth grade or if the students are taking it in ninth grade. Um, so Spanish 2 is Spanish 2. Spanish 3 is Spanish 3. Um, so that's a good question, but yes, that's and I actually double checked with the uh the person who's been working with them on the units and she said absolutely. >> Yeah. All right. All right. All right. Great.
030Um so at the middle level um since uh IB doesn't like recognize ASL as a as a world language um can is that why we don't offer it? Does well I should say does um does my require that we have foreign language for middle school children for all middle school children or is it optional? My does require that we have world language for our middle school students. Yes. >> So that's so that's why we don't offer ASL for middle schoolers. >> I don't I don't know if that's the case. I you know I have to look into that. I'm not I'm not sure that's the case. >> I would need to look into that. >> All right. But if we did, it would be as a um was as an elective in addition to Spanish
031or French. >> I I would I would have to look into that. Um, I know that we're I know that IB does not recognize it as a world language. Even the Connecticut State Department of Education just recently in the last I don't know what what the year was. It took them a long time to recognize it themselves. Um so you know I I know a IB now is late coming to the party on this but um I would have to look into it in terms of you know if we offered it at the middle school you know the fact that we um that we offer it at the high school now I I think would not prevent us from offering at the middle school. It might be staffing. I'm not really sure. the staffing to
032me the difficulty in finding you know uh I think ASL teachers we could find as as a challenge as well. >> Um >> can I just >> actually [clears throat] it's really all the languages but but I think especially ASL >> when I was the curriculum coordinator Mr. Johnson, there was ASL for like I believe one year and I think it did become difficult because the staffing we at that time um the current ASL teachers was spread thin between the two schools. >> Yeah. All right. Yeah. I mean just um I mean the the reason you know well one of the big reasons I've got a few questions on this so I'm really happy that we're going over the whole thing but one of the big things is and the reason I brought up this
033survey from March of 22 um and then I rewatched that um meeting so this survey was administered in the beginning of March in of 22 um and then uh it was reviewed in in um a regular board meeting in March 28th 22 um but um But ASL, I think m I don't know if it was surprising to everyone else, but um surprising to me how desirable ASL um ASL was in that meeting. And um you know, and at the time that was the year where we had kind of cancelled Latin, you know, as the I guess it would be the fourth offering of you know, the fourth foreign language. So my my understanding was that that possibly um to help to show that there really wasn't as much desire for Latin. Maybe that's why that
034[clears throat] >> that survey was done. Um but we see from the results that ASL is very desirable. Um it's accepted by the state. Um you know Yukon teaches it, you know. So, I don't understand why if if students are desiring to to do it at at a pretty high rate, I mean, just under Spanish and well above, you know, French, Japanese, you know, Mandarin. Um, why why haven't we tried to increase the ASL offerings? So, I, you know, I mean, I haven't seen that we've actually tried to hire somebody either as far as like keeping an eye on the website. Oh, you're muted. Andre, >> I'll jump in and and say to you what I' I've said to you u before is I think this high school team would gladly uh try to uh
035hire a new uh ASL teacher. They recognize that uh students are very engaged in this class and and like ASL taking ASL um but are would be hesitant um and would not post for a teacher without board approval um and knowing that they have the support in terms of uh the budget. >> Yeah. Well, I agree. I think um you know from my stance if if um if we have this much of a desire from from you know our students and our faculty or and our and our parents um and kids I mean from I you know I'll just say publicly I two of my kids are in ASL and and um this isn't going to affect them at all um because they're already in it but um but it affects a lot of a
036lot of students that can't get into it. Um, I just asked uh my younger child this um before this meeting cuz I I was under the understanding that you couldn't sign up in in 8th grade. So, sign up to be in a nth grade. And and um she said to her recollection she couldn't. She had to get special permission to be able to sign up. So, it wasn't just like one of the options that you could pick as an eighth grader um to take in 9th grade. And and I'm guessing that's because, you know, the desire is is there. Um, one other thing from watching that meeting, I figured I would just mention um, this survey was um, really well responded to as far as um, there was 94 respondents and 464 from 5th to
03711th grade parents and and high school parents in general. Um, it seems like the survey respondents are always pretty low. So th So this is a pretty good sample size to to say where where our community is at and and for me I I would be supportive um if of um of increasing the ASL offerings and and actually trying to hire that additional teacher. Um so I I'd be curious to see what the um you know what the others on the committee feel about that. Um you know and maybe we can make a referral to the board to to discuss that if the administration also agrees. So, Andrea. >> Yeah. Um, come or Matt, I guess we're truly being honest. What's the draw? What's the draw? Not only do we have terrific teacher, he is
038terrific. Um, I I I I think it's I just think it's a great class. To me, it's challenging. I I know my attention span is of an NAT is challenging, but the students who are in there, they do a great job. They re I am really every time I observe that class, I'm impressed with that class. And these >> take great pride in it. And I feel like it is some like the demand for it isn't just a a Fitch High School thing either. I mean, look at how it's it's, you know, uh, gained strength at Yukon and so forth as well. Um, >> and the abilities are the abilities in that class. >> I see that and I my question still is to me I because I don't know anything about it. >> Um,
039it's not like learning really learning a foreign language. um like learning Latin teaches you all kinds of aspects of language itself but this is entirely different and I'm just wondering if that's the draw that you know you don't you don't really have to you have to learn this new thing which is a wonderful thing um and parents love it and kids love it and I'm all for increasing it but I think let me let me rephrase that I'm just wondering why. But I'm not I'm not opposed to increasing it. I'm just looking at what's the real nefarious reason behind it. Dr. Aman, I it's Amy McKenna. I think in terms of generationally right now in this moment and the teenage brain and everything that this cohort of teenagers has been through over the past 5
040years, I think there is a huge appeal to risktaking in that learning environment that makes it different from any other learning environment. Um there's just something about it. There's something very special and unique about that class. Even at our holiday concert, all of our ASL students stand up in front of all of their peers to do like Frosty the Snowman or something. I just think there's something about ASL and the amount of risk that they take because they are up in front of each other. So, they're presenting very clearly. It's not like you can hide in ASL class, but they are unafraid in ASL class. There's just something really unique and special about it. And I don't know if I c if I've captured just a small slice of that, but they they love it.
041And I think it's generational. I think it has a lot to do with where they were in their learning uh with with the pandemic and everything else. I think a lot of it is where they are in the digital age. It's it's very interpersonal and you they're not behind a screen and I think it appeals to something in in in the kids. They just love it. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. That was a >> a very insightful answer and it it opened up my thinking. >> Yeah. If I can just say like a little bit on my opinion. Um I think that kids really enjoy the class. Um because it's so interactive. Um I can tell you from my children um they practice at home together. Uh maybe not as much this year
042but last year they did a lot. Um so they really enjoy the enjoy the class. Um and for me we're talking about um you know as a separate topic reducing credits and reducing foreign language you know from two credits to one but ASL may be a solution um to making kids want to take more classes um and come to school in the first place because um the teacher is phenomenal. Um I I'll have to say that I' I've heard from so many different people um that we we are very fortunate to have have a great teacher for that program. Um, but so also there's there's, you know, a high percentage of students that have um some sort of some sort of language disability that might make Spanish or French really difficult for them. So ASL
043is is perfect for that. Um because, you know, because that types part of the brain can work different for for different kids and we know large percentage of the population, at least 20%. um and and probably a lot more once you once you include everybody into that into that disability. Um but um but one neat thing about it is um there are no words spoken in that class from day one. Um the the teacher walks into the room and it is all sign language. So it it's pretty interesting and to see some of their projects. So, so I'm in support of of increasing this for, you know, many reasons like we've been saying. Um, you know, but but mostly because our community really wants it. Um, you know, in a significant portion of our community
044>> and I agree with you and I I am in support for that for those reasons as well. >> All right. Um, I had some other Oh. Um, so when we were going through, um, I I understand why we're going to be increasing, um, Spanish 3, four, and then, and then five in a couple of years, which I think is great, but one thing I was thinking is um, if we get ninth graders that didn't come from our middle school, now they're it seems like they're going to be stuck in a track of um, you know, of college prep or general level classes, and they can't really get out of that um because they're going to have to start at Spanish or French one then Spanish or French 2. So, it seems like we don't
045offer like an honors level or a more difficult one or two. Now, is that is that intentional? Is it is there any way around that or is that just the way it's going to shake out? >> I I think it's it's going to be like unfortunately I think that is a it's going to be a challenge. I think we're always gonna have to offer obviously because of our population is always going to have new kids coming in but at the same time you know with uh for Spanish we have five five Spanish teachers right now um so you know to offer the honors level of Spanish one and Spanish 2 and college prep level I I just don't think is realistic um given the number of Spanish staff that we're going to have. >> Yeah.
046So that that's my next question. Are there any staffing changes planned um you know from we'll say last year to in a couple of years as as the changes you know like you know work through the schools with IB with my I can't answer that. I'm not sure. I don't know. Something we definitely need to think about. >> Oh no. No, I'm just thinking I'm just talking about um I mean are are we going to need any more teachers just to give what you've proposed tonight? Um because it says some some classes we're going to try to increase enrollment in Spanish and French, which I understand um because of that my but have we thought about um whether the staffing that we have is going to is going to meet that need or if we're
047going to need more staffing >> and I where it says increase enrollment basically in the in this presentation. >> No, that's okay. I just I included increased enrollment because uh um just the the the maximum enrollment in some of those classes is 22. So that's that's where >> 25 >> or 25. Thank you. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Oh, all right. I took I took it as to mean that we're expecting increased enrollment. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um >> no, I think I think we'll have less, you know, we won't need as many Spanish twos. you know, obviously Spanish ones as we proceed. So, we'll have more of the higher level classes. >> Um, but we're always gonna have to offer at least one >> um of each level, I believe. >> Right. Right. Right. >> And
048the hope that the Spanish 3 would move into Spanish 4 and eventually IB to continue. >> All right. So, for right now, we don't we don't know of any staffing changes, you know, in foreign language or at least we're not planning for at the moment. >> Correct. Not at the moment. >> All right. Um All right. Let me see if I had any um Yeah. Um I mean my other question was ASL has a Yukon level two, but then you go back down to um you know, so which is a prerequisite for ASL 3. >> Yeah, >> that's a that's an honor. >> It's unfortunate. >> Um is there are is there is you know Yeah. Yeah. So, it just seems kind of um you know, odd that it would go from from a more
049difficult class down to an easier class. Is there any talk about is I mean is there an ECE like ASL 3 level class or something or or is that not >> I think the reason we we offer or we we give the ASL at the at the two level is to give more kids the opportunity of getting that college credit. >> Exactly. >> Um they wouldn't earn credit for a different class. it would be the same class that they get from Yukon. Um, so that's that's really why, you know, we're awarding the the ECE credit in ASL 2, but it's if if we were to award it in ASL 3, it would be it would be the the same exact Yukon course, >> right? >> Hopefully I answered that clearly. >> Yeah. All right. Um,
050All right. Are there any other questions on foreign language? All right. So, let's um let's move on. >> All right. I'll give you a break, Carita. >> Thank you, Mr. Brown. >> You can go to the next slide. >> All right. So, this this uh so we're going to go over today. We'll go over the AP results. Uh then we'll go over the IB results and then um and then our ECE enrollment and and the results from from the last few years on that. So this first slide, I know there's a lot of information on it, but um if you look through the English column, so the lefth hand column, uh that that first number, the 2.54 is the average that we we scored um last year. That's uh the average of 222 kids that
051that took the exam. 110 of them scored a three or higher. So it was at uh percentage being at 49.5. Compared to the previous year, we had uh 2.31 uh as an average. And we had a lot le well not a lot but for 43 less students take take the uh exam uh in 2024 if that makes sense. All right. So in math uh we had 61 take the exam last year compared to 54 the previous year. Our score uh average was a 2.38 as compared to a 2.80 in 2024. Uh we had 22 students that that got a three or above. So our percentage was 36.1 and in science uh our score average was was very similar to the previous year 2.19 as compared to 2.25. Uh we had 100 students take the exam
052last year which is a increase of 19 from the previous year uh so 39 of them of the hundred uh passed with a three or higher. So that's exactly 39%. And in social studies, uh, we keep seeing really solid, uh, increases in the number of exams taken. And the average is is increasing as well. As you can see there, it was at 2.87 last year compared to 2.62 uh, from 2024. Uh, and our number of exams increased from 285 to 301 uh, at a pass rate of 57.8%. And then the arts column, uh, I incorrectly labeled that column. It should have been other because it's not really arts. It's it was uh really it consists of the music uh appre uh music theory class AP music theory uh our computer programming uh and then um
053AP drawing uh and so combining those there were 20 29 total exams taken. Eight of the uh test takers got a three or higher. So our average was a 2.07 compared to 2.80 in 2024. Uh this is just a visual to show the the uh number of kids each year that got a three, four or a five on on the exam. So in 2024 is the left hand the gray uh bar of each on the bar graph. And then the red is 2025. So we saw uh I think solid increases in English, science, and social studies. And then we did see a a dip a little bit in math where we only had 22 as compared to 28 the previous year. And then this is showing some some of the same data except this is
054percentage of students scoring a three or higher. Um and this just goes back uh to 2023 as well. Uh so if you um looking at each of the graphs uh we've shown increases percentage- wise in English. Um math has shown a decline. uh science has shown a decline um as compared to uh to 2023 but increased from previous year and then social studies uh the increase has been um nice uh going from 31% in 2023 to 57.8 last year and again the great thing about that is the number of uh test takers has increased as well really in all of the subject areas. So uh and I think the next one's IB. So if we want why don't we stay here for a second and if you want to ask some questions about the AP
055we could do that now and then move forward to IB or whatever you guys want to do. Um, I have more general questions, so I'll I'll just wait. >> Okay. >> Until we're through both of them, but >> sounds good. Andrea, you have a question? >> Yeah. >> Uh, I I just the qu the question is why, you know, why do we see these uh significant declines? You know, why why do you think, Matt? I think uh I mean first and foremost uh they're not really declines either. I think um in some of the subst is a little bit of decline. The first response would be they're different kids, right? So each year you're looking at a different set of of kids and it's not >> Archie Archie Swindell if you'll remember him from the
056board like I don't know 15 20 years ago said and he's a Fiser scientist as I recall u that should not matter. Well, >> I remember him distinctly saying that about when this that kind of question was asked and he said the the number the the the the kids being the same or not the same should not matter statistically. >> Well, it I I would argue against that to be honest with you. You know, they're different kids and we don't have high numbers. You know, we're not talking about a thousand kids taking the test at a time or even 300 in in a lot of cases. Sometimes like for math As an example, we were talking there were 30 kids in 2023 and now there's 60 taking the test, which is great. We're showing great
057increases, but you have 30 totally different kids that you're comparing with now 60 totally new different kids. I think there there is going to be uh you know there's going to be variation between the scores. Um that's and that's just one of the things. I think another another reason why you're going to see there are the increases or the decreases. One one thing is we we now offer the ECE credit uh for classes. So a student will get Yukon credit for let's just say for example for AP calc it's now AP Yukon calculus ECE. So by being in that course as long as they get a uh you know a 75 or above they get the college credit. So now when they're taking that test in May for AP, the incentive to do really really
058well isn't as as much as it once was when they didn't get the the credit no matter what, you know. So the incentive of of the test meaning everything doesn't really mean as much anymore when when the kids can actually still get the credit through Yukon. Um and then the last thing is the we're challen you know we're asking our kids to challenge themselves and take take challenging qu uh take an AP test take an AP class and we've increased for example in in math we went from 30 to 60. So that's should be you know celebrated that we've we've doubled our numbers of AP math test takers in the last three years. But when you have an increase like that, you can't expect um to maintain the scores. In fact, I I am extremely
059proud of, you know, uh English and social studies for not only increasing our numbers year-toear. We're we're really expanding uh the number of kids that are taking the the test or taking the class. We're not but we're also showing uh increases in the percent that are passing it as well as a percentage. So to me that's that's pretty amazing that the departments have have been able to achieve both increasing the quantity and increasing the scores. Um and the last part I'm going to you know I was a math teacher. I take a lot of pride in math uh and you know science but they're challenging courses uh you know and and I think that needs to be factored in um and understanding you know so for a kid to challenge themselves in taking an AP
060calculus uh you know in experience that class and and all the rigor that goes into it uh I I would applaud that kid even if they they didn't do perfectly with a three four or five on on the exam. >> Can I just add also Mr. Brown? >> Sure. Um for the past few years, remember we have partnered with equal opportunity schools and that was the objective you know and our district prescribed to that that we were to increase the numbers in our classes right in our advanced level classes. And that's what we did. And it didn't take into consideration what those students would score. The idea was just to increase those numbers so the students can learn the skills that are required whether they were collegebound or not. And so we've done that and
061we continue to see the numbers increase in those advanced level classes. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I appreciate the answers. Thank you. >> Yeah, Mike. >> Thanks. thanks for this part of the presentation as well. Um I like the both you know it's nice to see the focus on this year's scores but also the you know the the where we've come from and so I I do really think it needs to be highlighted as you as you have said like the number of students that have access to an AP u class and uh and then can take the test is has increased and that's that in and of itself is a is a great accomplishment. Um I have a question. Uh I have a couple questions. You've already answered uh some some or people have
062already asked them but um some others but uh one question I had was um in the AP classes um do all the teachers currently teaching it or taught teaching it last year, do they all have that AP training that um is offered during the summer? I don't know if that's required for AP or not, but I'm wondering if if our teachers do have the training. >> Yeah, I I think the majority close to, you know, all of them have had the training. They've definitely had some sort of whether it was through Nimsy, National Math Science Initiative, um or they they went out uh to training. Um I know we we sent um a bunch of our teachers to Boston over over the summer. We've had uh another teacher actually went and scored uh the exams,
063which I think is is a great eye openening, you know, way for them to learn how to to teach the the the uh content uh you know, and get their students to do better on the test. Um I feel like, you know, we try to get them as much training as they want. Uh and I feel like the majority of our or I don't know the exact data, but the majority of our AP teachers are AP trained. and they you know we've also combined uh you know most of our courses now are not just AP but they're AP ECE um or Yukon so whatever school affiliation each course is connected to they're required for training uh in those those with with that university or college as well and that's usually on a yearly or or
064two-year basis. >> Thanks. And um do you feel uh sort of in teacher development funds um there's enough in the budget or is it something that we might want to pay attention more attention to uh next year? Basically is is the amount of uh teacher development funds limiting uh the ability for people to get training? It sound like maybe one of your comments is saying it maybe it wasn't. I just want No, I think I think we need to uh I mean the big thing is with the the increased numbers, we have a higher demand of teachers that are needed to teach AP and the ECE. Uh you know, so with that demand and and with the demands of of having the dual enrollment classes, they're constantly going to need the training. Um so if
065we're going to keep maintain these numbers and so forth, I think we have to keep that in mind when when building the budget for uh for what they need. >> Got it. So it's not like I was envisioning as a our current teachers teaching it, but you're saying enable to have basically an AP workforce or teaching force. Uh you have to provide for that. >> Yeah. And we're we're you know we're getting more and more sections of our AP classes. Um so we need more and more teachers to be able to >> but if I can jump in, one thing that um is allowable in our we get an entitlement grant every year called title four. And one thing that is an allowable expense that I've been budgeting for since here since I've been here
066is that um uh we can uh devote funds in that particular grant for uh a AP and IB training materials um you know materials for students, materials for teachers. So last year as Matt mentioned we sent a bunch of the social studies I I think almost the whole department went to the AP conference in Boston in the summer and this year I've also uh worked with the team so that um if anyone wants to attend uh any of the AP conferences um they can attend. So, you know, we're we haven't identified which teachers will be um going, but they can, you know, we've already um allocated money in that title 4 budget for that. >> Thanks. And then my my next question is about like how just in general if there's um a big variety
067in how closely an AP course at Fitch sort of follows the is able to complete the AP curriculum. some subjects that's just very very challenging to do, others it's a little more straightforward and and then um how closely it sort of follows that AP model with students engaged in um I think it's called AP classroom and then I should know these things um during assessments and assignments through the year having um the the short response questions I think that's the SRQ and then the DBQ the dreaded database questions which helps with critical thinking of first. Um I've noticed some variety just from a parents perspective in in how closely um that's followed. And I'm not I can see the pros and cons of it, but I'm just wondering if if the AP teachers come together
068sort of as a unit and and uh periodically, you know, year to year or whatever, discuss their approaches and and best practices. Uh they definitely do and and you know I think that like a lot of our common common unit assessments that they're using are are like free response questions or DBQs that they they will bring to the t you know they assess their kids. Let's just take AP US history for example. Um we have multiple teachers teaching it but they'll and even just US history not even AP US history but exposing them at the ninth grade level with AP type questions. they're doing it and they're they're having their kids uh respond to it and then they're they're calibrating their grading with their their colleagues. Um I think our our staff does a really
069good job of of collaborating on that. So kind of answer that part of your question. I I think they're we we do do a great job with that. um you did you know the getting through the curriculum and getting you know giving them the enough opportunities to with for testlike experience and so forth is extremely a challenge. Uh and you know that might even way back I know um our AP classes used to meet for one and a half blocks uh you know it was it was every day for the first semester and then every other day after that. Um so the amount of hours that we have to to teach especially uh an exam that they they take in May where you know we start in late August September uh is a is very
070very difficult for for any teacher that's in the northeast but >> thanks I have one more question and and uh I want to preface it by saying that you know we are looking at AP test scores and it is a metric of of student performance, but um it's just one small part of like um kind of teaching success um learning in in the classroom. Um, and so but but since we are talking about scores, I'm I'm going to ask about uh some of the classes with with lower scores, the ones that uh basically >> I'm hoping Mike that we if we could just talk in g generalities or you know like departments specifically. >> Um just >> absolutely. >> Yeah. And thank you. Uh absolutely. Uh so there's some course and and this is a
071very general question anyway. There there's some courses and they tend to be anyway in the science and maths um that um you know um less than a third are getting a three or above and there like three or four courses probably in there that um there are a lot of um uh ones and in the score. So w with even recognizing that math and science is a harder subject those scores are going to be generally lower. Um I was struck um by the scores and I was wondering if there's like um you know some extra level of if intervention is [clears throat] the right word or or like an improvement plan like we have a school improvement plan but for for these courses um either either for the school alone or just talking about it
072amidst other schools as well. um because I'd like to see those scores come up recognizing that there are real challenges in that for many many reasons. >> Yeah, I think one thing I'll I'll start with, you know, I think part of our teacher evaluation system um makes, you know, a good good conversation with with teachers, especially if they're new to AP um or whatever the the class may be. But like for a class like AP where they're taking this exam and it's hard to predict. One thing that that we try to do a lot of times we have a conversation with with teachers about you know doing their their grade predictions both in IB and AP uh each teacher predicts what they think their each score is going to be. So, one thing that that
073we like to do is is, you know, ask the teachers to look at what they predicted the grades to be compared to what the actual grades are and just have a conversation about that um as they challenge themselves with whatever goals they're going to set for the year on on how their kids do on the AP exam and so forth, I think, is one thing uh we're doing. And we're, as Amarie said, you know, we we are pushing our our staff if they want the training, any type of training, we're going to find ways to get them to anything that they can. Uh if we can get opportunities for them to collaborate with other AP teachers uh within that same content. Um we we try to create those avenues for them and a lot of
074that happens from going to the conferences and so forth to to get a team of teachers and through Nimsy. when when we had the Nimsy training, a nice part of that was getting collaboration throughout the nation for like all your AP Cal teachers or whatever the subject may be. So, I think those those are some of the areas that we're we're trying to, you know, get the the teachers the support they need to to have their students do well. Um but uh you know and then just experience the the more uh you know the first year you're you're teaching a course sometimes it you know you get better at at it after a few a couple years. >> Thanks and and thanks for all your your answers. Um just uh one statement I' I'd like
075in uh hopefully in the minutes if we could append the um uh the course level AP and the course level IB uh documents that were were in in our packet in hard copy. Uh but but not included in the the online packet. Um I I'll I'll make sure that I'll hope to remember that for the next curriculum meeting, but I'm saying it now so that maybe others will remember it as well. So, thank you. >> All right. Um, >> while we're here, I'm just gonna ask um one question. I mean, the math the math obviously the math scores are probably the the >> the biggest decline and I'm sure the, you know, the biggest worry and they seem to correlate um with when we had, you know, the school changes in the new middle school.
076Um, and I'm wondering if um, and I know there's a lot of challenges in the middle school, but do we feel that kids coming into nth grade are as prepared now for math as they were maybe prior to, you know, opening the middle school? I mean, one one thing I'll say, and I know we were we're not supposed to be allowed to say this anymore, but it's it's 100% true, is, you know, our our juniors and our our so, you know, these kids were during COVID. Um, that's when they were building their number sense. uh you know like fifth, sixth, seventh, fourth grade those are important years and in uh developing the number sense and and and just mathemat you know the basic mathematics in general. Uh, I don't think these a lot of our
077students have that foundation like they they used to have. And I I hope it we can get back to it, but I think that that's something that's probably true for every school, but um I think really I know it sounds like an excuse, but I think it's impacted um our math students. >> Yeah, I appreciate that because that's that the the ripple effect down the line is is what you're what we're seeing. Yeah. And that sounds like a um that sounds like it could be a strong correlation. You know, not necessarily the cause, but but certainly a correlation. So, um yeah, I appreciate that. All right. >> All right. All right. So, I exam results and go to the next slide. All right. So, this shows you um really our scores over the last three
078years. Uh I'm not sure why I went the way I went. It should have probably gone the opposite way so like you read a book. But uh the most recent numbers are on the left hand side. Uh so our average score in English was a 3.86 last year. Um in individuals in society a 3.77. Uh you guys can see the rest 3.19 for math. HL and SL combined. Um sciences was at a 2.90. Um, so our IB scores, uh, compared to the previous two years are were a lot lower. Um, I'm not going to sugarcoat that by any means. I, you know, uh, they they were lower than than they normally are with the exception, uh, of world language. Uh, ended up with the the highest score that they've had um, over the three years,
079but but, you know, staying in the high high fours, which is was pretty awesome. Um, but the other ones they did show dips in scores. The the world averages are uh there for 2024 and 2023. The reason I didn't include them for 2025 is because they're not out yet. Um, they haven't they haven't shared those the average scores yet. Um but uh again the I I will uh say that our numbers you know we only had 21 test takers for English uh 13 for our social studies group. Um so the numbers of test takers were pretty low. So it is you know it's expected that you're going to have variation from year to year because because of the numbers are statistically so low. >> All right. Um, one, so one thing that I did I
080did a little math today on uh and we'll I we'll hope it was accurate, but I went to Yukon's site um to see because I know that um you know that it states that uh for the most part I think IB it's four and higher is accepted and in AP it's three and higher. Um I went to Yukon and obviously they're a little bit um you know above the average for difficulty in getting into the school so they're going to be a little bit uh more stringent but um but I went um and I'll talk about AP and IB here because I did the the numbers on both um in going through Yukon changed the way they accept IB where now a lot of the SL classes you don't have to have the IB diploma
081to get IB to credit um but some of the easier SL classes that are probably um you that we probably know to be more like honors level, you know, as far as hard, they'll require a seven. Um, but but I went with Yukon's um I went with Yukon's, you know, standard um and looked at total number of tests taken and and then total number of credits earned based on our scores out of that. And out of 103 IB tests, um, there was eight that actually made the, you know, made the grade for for counting as a class at Yukon. So if one of our, because I think we have fair amount of kids go to Yukon, right? It's probably the most common school like 15 or something like that or 18 or something. Yeah. >>
082So that's that's why I feel like it's a good because it's probably these same kids that are the AP IB level like higher achievers is probably half of that group that goes to Yukon or something like that. But but um but you know so that was that's a little concerning that um you know out of 103 tests only eight actually made it to where it would have would have transferred in as a Yukon credit. Um, some of those might be um, and I didn't actually separate it out, but some of them Yeah, some of them are eight credit um, classes. So, um, so it's a two-year like an HL. Um, yeah. >> And then I did that for I um for AP as well. >> And although I got one different, I had 712 CLA
083uh, tests taken. We had 187 um, that that made it into that Yukon category. So, so roughly 26% were were actually transferable credits into Yukon. Um, so is that something like the you know to me it seems like if you're I mean clearly you know they're we're trying to just learn and it's not all about credit but a lot of a lot of you know parents want credit you know they would like to pay for a little bit less college if possible. Um yeah, so that's something that we take into account in um like what the you know what the kind of the the the where the rubber meets the road like how effective these classes are and how effective they are in passing. >> One question I would have like so when you looked
084at those numbers for AP uh specifically um that was just kids that got a four or five or three four and five. >> Yeah. So um so I'll just I'll go to um the AP. We'll go to um I'll go to one where we had a lot of kids that was a good representation. Um all right. All right. Here's one where we did really well. Um so US government and politics um we had 137 students take that um that test and then 51 of them scored a three or higher which is or I'm sorry it's a four or higher for that class at UK. >> Okay. >> So we had so that I would say is is pretty successful. What's that like 40% or something or >> All right. Yeah. So, that was that was
085my question then. So, if it's four or higher then then you you're you're probably totally correct with those numbers. Um >> Yeah. So, because they the because with AP it's almost all four or higher at Yukon, but with IB it's all over the place because like IB chemistry is really difficult. So, it's a lower a lower bar. But like um the IB you know math SL um they require a seven to get credit. You have to you have to you know it's only top score. It's not four, five or six. I do uh I think one thing that you know and this is kind of nice because it's the it'll be the end of the presentation but uh the last slides can help I think too because because we're we're turning a lot of our
086courses into AP ECE or IB Yukon um they're they're still going to earn the the credit through the ECE portion um which I think is is something that's pretty desirable. Yeah, that's kind of a leadin to um because I saw the ECE numbers um look really good. >> Yeah. >> But but I just as long as we're explaining to um students and families kind of like the success rate um you know that you're going to like how much is you know what are the chances that this is actually going to benefit you um when you get to college. Is it going to make college less expensive? I mean I there's you know it might be that IB does a better job preparing you for college. um which is valid if it does. Um but um
087but you know we also should tell them the reality of of um you know that that how many credits you're going to end up with that realistically. >> Yeah. But I would I think you hit the nail on the head uh with you know the preparation. Um the IV students do go to you know they when they return they always say how well they're prepared. Um that's almost an automatic. So, I think the experience they get like like we I think we all agree that's the most important part as compared to the the test or the in IB there's a couple factors that go into their final grade but but um but I think it does prepare them. I think we we can be very transparent with um which credits they'll earn that way. But
088I also like the idea which we've already made a lot of great work um in making our core you know as much as possible when we can make a class AP ECE or IB uh ECE I I think it's a win-win for us to making sure that they get as many credits as possible. Um and I think we've made some nice steps in the last few years in in doing that. Uh which I think is going to help a lot. Yeah. All right. So, with that we can we can is there any other questions? Andrea or Mike? Mike. >> Mike. >> Yeah. Thanks. I was wondering um it looks like there about maybe 12 or so tests. How many sections of each class are there for that? Is it typically one section? >> Yes, it
089is. >> Yeah. Um I with the except like for math that's really two sections because there's an HL and then there's a although this year we only have one section. Um uh but you know like if there if there's two two different levels then then there could be two sections. But for for English I believe it was one section and then uh next year or this year we currently have two sections. Um but if it's under you know if it's around 20 then we we usually will only run one section. that psychology that that's a class of 13. Um, so most of them are just one section. Obviously, this the French and Spanish are two different sections because it's two different subject areas. >> Thanks. and and I do appreciate um you know to to
090where possible the the attempt to align an IB section with an AP section or a dual enrollment section because um there we always um when when eyes are on the budget and class sizes these IB classes come up because they're smaller and they're specialized. Um, and now if they saw the the test scores and the the kind of uh uh unlikely route to to earning class credit, um th those would be all uh you know like marks against IB, but if if they're combined with IBAP, then that that that's going to increase the class sizes and it's going to increase the u the pathways for um um success um in in these metrics. And again, as you and Adrian pointed out, like there are other metrics here, like actually feeling prepared and critical thinking and
091everything that IB does kind of uh focus on, but but I I do like just in a vacuum um the the IB scores are are troubling. So >> yeah. >> Um the other I just while it's in my head uh we are we are making lots of efforts to to increase these number like uh for example the English I feel like we we've gotten a a much higher I think it's we're in the upper 30s this year for enrollment in the IB 11 English 11. And then another thing that uh we're working on in in the math section is is uh uh algebra 3 u which is probably a course that only only uh we offer. I don't think many people offer that but we're going to um combine that with the SL with the
092IBM math. So the numbers really should be increasing in the next couple years and you can hold me to it if they don't next time I give this presentation. Thanks and thank you for the presentation and and um and this does not have to be answered now or after the meeting or or even um in the next coming months, but uh maybe at some point it'd be a good idea to look at the other schools in Connecticut that are IB. They're all different. And see if they're sort of experiencing the same same things because uh you know have some context. Um uh and then uh my my question that could be answered now is does IB itself um say what levels passing or not? I I couldn't find anything necessarily. Um I was just wondering
093about that. I don't I I was uh I always thought it was like five, sixes, and sevens, but um >> Or four or four. >> Four. Yeah. But again, I think like Adrienne said, I think it's it's different for especially for a lot of the colleges at different levels. I don't know. I I'd have to look that up, Mike. >> Oh, thanks. That's that's fine. I couldn't find it when I was looking, so thanks. >> Yeah. All right. Um if it's okay, we'll go over the ECE numbers now. And uh yeah, go to the um so what we have here I have three graphics. The last three slides are are three different graphics um for each of the last three years. So the this is from last year's uh data. Uh ECE we had 328
094students enrolled in ECE classes. Um in order to get the the college credit, they had to have a 75 or higher uh in the course. Um, so we had 217 get an A, so that's 66.2%. Um, 72 students got the B at 22%. And then 23 uh students got the C. Um, so some of those students actually earned the credit if they had above a 75 or not. Um, and so the data shows that we had 95% of our students earn college credit through that ECE course last year. Um, which is 312 out of the 328 kids. Uh the previous year we had 241 kids enrolled. So uh we we showed a lot of good solid growth in the number of kids taking the ECE classes. Uh and you guys can can see the numbers
095there, but we had 140 get the A and so forth. I'm not going to go through them all. Uh but we had 218 out of the 241 get the ECE credit um from the 2324 school year. And then the last slide, we had 159 students enrolled that year. So, we've basically doubled the number of students enrolled in ECE courses over the last two years. Um, and in this year, we had 151 that received the credit. Uh, 95% enrolled. So, as you could see, I mean, really through ECE, we're getting 90 to 95% of our kids that are enrolled in the class are getting the college credit. Uh, which is, I think, really good news. and and something that we I think it's a something that we need to to continue building. >> Um so I
096have a I have a question. Um and this maybe uh Mr. Brown for you just because it's math related um but it's also ECE related and it it's on a specific class but um but calc um calc BC we used to require honors um calculus before you could take AB I shouldn't I'm sorry I didn't mean BC y >> I mean before you could take AB um and now I know that we have an ECE honors calc which is Eastern Connecticut um calc, you know, one and I actually don't know what it's called if it's just calculus one. Um, yeah, >> but um in that in and then BC, I believe you would take the AB test anyway at halfway through the year and then the second half at the at the end of the
097year. So why uh you know, I'm just thinking of that um you know, the the AP class. I'm wondering why we're running both of those and um because the ECE one it uh meets a prerequisite for calc BC. Would it be better to kind of pair those together and just have the kids take the ECE one without um calc 1 or >> I think I mean we we used to >> we used to run offer honors calculus that was not AP um at all. Uh, and really now we're at the we we only we offer the AP Calc AB or the AP Calc BC. Um, and I I don't know if I think that a lot of our kids that that do have success in AB, um, I I'm concerned. I think they would they
098would really be challenged taking that that BC course is a is a bear. Uh, it's it's a tough class to take. um whereas I think the a the AB is a lot a lot more manageable and and the kids can get the credit and so forth. So I don't know if every kid uh that takes calc AB would be as successful taking the BC part of it as well, but I think some kids could take the AB portion and then um and then the BC portion. >> No, my question goes to like the um honors calculus and the AB. Um, wouldn't it to me it just seems like they could be combined. Like rather than taking AB, you would just take the ECE honors calculus. >> They are prepare you for for B. >> They
099already are. That's our our AP Yukon calculus. Is is is that they're getting both the ECE credit and and they're taking the AP exam. >> Oh, right. Because so honors does as well, though, right? I'm just thinking that it's a little bit more manageable. But um you know because the honors is also the prerequisite for BC. >> The honors Yukon calculus is is the AB calculus class. >> Oh no, it's EC. They make a um it's um it's not Yukon. It's um the ECSU. >> Yeah, I'm sorry. That's what I meant though. Sorry. Yeah, I should have separated it out because there's two separate EC credit classes. They get they get the uh ECE for pre-calc now as well. I don't know if that's what you're but the the calculus class itself is is um
100the honors calculus is is the AB calc as well. >> Yeah, but well they're two separate classes, right? It's you can take AB or the honors calc one in >> I think they're the same. Oh, I >> pretty certain. >> Yeah. Well, the honors calc one, I know because my kid has that right now. Um, yeah, and it's ECE where AP offers calc, you know, AB they call it, but calc one. >> Um, and they're, it seems like they're a little bit redundant and they, you know, so I'm just wondering about that, but >> I don't think we offer both separately, but uh, and I'll I'll look it up for you. I'll send I can send you something. >> All right. All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Um but I'll also just say that
101um that this is great to like the Yukon ECE classes um in general, the success rate that we have here um you know which clearly shows that students are learning. Could you um actually if you don't mind to just do a quick explanation of um you know how it equates to a Yukon class because it's not just the end of the year test um like how we kind of equate it to being a Yukon class. >> Amy or Carita, do you >> Yeah, I can do a better job. >> Okay, >> sure. I'm happy to help with that. Um so any Yukon class um every instructor has to um have all of their credentials reviewed by the chair of that specific content area department. So they have to apply like any other any other adjunct
102instructor would. And then after that sort of transcript and credential review once they're accepted to be part of the Yukon ECE adjunct team um Yukon will require content specific professional development either on a two-year cycle or a one-year cycle. Um we submit our syllabi every year to the Yukon um content department chair and they also do site visits. So whatever is going on in a high school ECE course is kind of I don't want to say the word monitored because it sounds very big brother Adrian but there is a close partnership between um Yukon's ECE high schools and each um university department. So that relationship is ongoing. I know that we're growing our ECE courses, but there are some ECE courses at Fitch that have existed for quite some time and that that partnership is
103pretty strong. We've had members of the Yukon departments come out and observe our classes, give us feedback. Um it's it's great. They're they're a great partner in all of our content areas. >> Yeah. Yep. Yeah. I I do. And these numbers are fantastic like how how many kids we're getting college credit for. So, I appreciate that. Yeah. Welcome, >> Mike. >> Thanks. I don't have any questions, but I do I do want to say just taking all together, the AP, the the IB, and the ECE. Um it's, you know, [snorts] just adding up like the 300 or so from ECE and a similar number of successes at AP and um whatever Adrian's numbers were for the um the IB, it's like it's like close to 700 success stories just in this narrow metric of rating
104student success. And um and it's it's a growing amount. And so um that uh it it helps students consider college um uh makes their time easier in college and uh it's exposure to advanced level classes and just the idea of um uh even even if they didn't succeed in getting a three or above an AP for instance uh there's they're still getting that that next level of rigor uh that will help them I would think in their their lives going forward. So, thanks for the presentations and thanks for all the efforts. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any other questions? Andrea, you >> No, just to to say how much I appreciate this uh presentation. So well done, so thorough. Um and and the answers to the questions that certainly satisfied me and as I
105heard the other questions asked certainly satisfied uh whatever questions been stirred in my mind. So it was anticipatory as well. Very very well done. Thank you. >> Thank you Andrea. Yeah, I I I'll just say again, I really appreciate. I know this was a lot to put together. Um we covered a lot of stuff. It's been kind of a long night, which I which I appreciate. So, we can kind of We're hopefully done with the uh the two curriculum meetings a month now. Um but I I really appreciate you guys putting all of this all of this together for us so we can so we can review. >> Um >> All right. Um, with that I think um we can move the meeting on to um future meeting topics. >> Thank you guys >> from
106the high school. We're we're all set. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Yep. >> All right. Um so there are there any um so we didn't do the referral tracking sheet tonight. I think there was talk about doing the referral tracking sheet tonight. Um but because we had um so much information to get through um Amry and I kind of talked about it and we'll we'll do that in December um just so it doesn't end be too late of a night. Um so are there any other um like future meeting topics that we'd like to talk about or >> I don't have any right now either. >> I I'd just like to knock one at least one off the referral list. [laughter] >> Oh, I don't have it. Oh, >> it's fine. But just like for
107our next meeting that that just be my my preference on the agenda, we we take what something from the referral list. >> When you see the when you see the referral list um next month, you'll see that we have been knocking off several um and it's too bad that we we didn't have the opportunity to show you, but um I recently printed it and have been putting dates next to uh each item. You'll see that we have been we have been addressing some >> that that's great. I just like for the next meeting if if we don't have any other topics the uh they're more pressing. If we could just continue knocking them out that'd be great. We'll be the success committee. [laughter] >> Yeah. I Yeah, I know. Um yeah, like I said, we
108wanted to um to try to keep this meeting from going too long. So that's that's the only reason we figured we'd wait until next month to go over it. >> Well, then you ready for me? >> I think we are. Well, then motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> All right, we're adjourned. Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. Have a good night. >> All right. Bye.