February 24, 2010 ACE Board Meeting
9:00 A. M. @ Billings Hotel and Convention Center

Present were A.C.E. board members Al Sipes, Tim Dolphay, Andy Begger, Josh Middleton, Brenda Koch, Jennifer Hickok, and Mark Brajcich.

Guests present were Andrea Fisher, Victoria Falls Down, Lanny Stene, Bill Feyereisen, and Terry Grant. Gail Richardson and Jerry Scott were also present.

1. Chairman Al Sipes called the meeting to order at 9:10 A.M. with introductions of all present.

2. Tim Dolphay moved for the approval of January 27, 2010 minutes. Andy Begger seconded the motion which carried 7 – 0.

3. The financial report was reviewed by the board and is on file in the A.C.E. office.

4. The schedule for the March 1, 2010 ACE PIR Day was distributed and can be found on line at mtace.org. Jerry will meet with the sound and projection people on Sunday to set up the two main presenter’s rooms. The board was invited to join the speakers for supper on Sunday evening at 6:00 P.M. at the BHCC main lobby.

5. Andrea Fisher reported that Jay McTighe has verbally committed to come and present on Understanding by Design for the September 13, 2010 ACE PIR Day. Jay’s cost will be $5,000 plus expenses. The day will be followed up with meetings at a later date with McTighe associates. Jerry is working on a contract to hold the conference at Faith Chapel in Billings. The plan would include an hour and a half for those who attend to do lunch on their own. Maxine Mougeot from OPI will schedule bus driver training on the same day at the same location. The board discussed the benefits of attending schools to do a book study for the PIR day. Mark Brajcich made a motion for A.C.E. to purchase one set of books dealing with the PIR day for each of the member schools. Andy Begger seconded the motion which carried 7 – 0. Jerry will work with Andrea on which books to purchase.

6. A list of the 20 people from 5 different schools attending the morning session and the 19 from 5 schools attending the afternoon session of the February 4 MAP testing training in Laurel was distributed along with a summary of the evaluations. Andrea Fisher was one of the instructors and summarized the day for the board. Terry Grant also spoke of the success of the training stating that his staff, as well as the parents, can now see the value of the test data. He feels it answers the questions that they were not able to answer before, especially as to where the kids are. Josh Middleton said there are tutorials on line that are quite helpful. The board discussed the possibility as to more follow-up training, perhaps with Andrea and Linda early in September. Jerry will try to find out if there are any other A.C.E. schools who would like to begin MAP testing in the 20010 – 2011 school year. If so, a summer workshop for new members could be arranged with the schools able to share the cost as they did last August.

7. Jerry reported that everything is set for the 6 A.C.E. members to attend the National ASCD Conference on March 4 – 10 in San Antonio, TX. Those attending will be Jennifer Collins from Red Lodge, Martin Old Crow from Lodge Grass, Patrick Cates from Canyon Creek, Russell Blixt from Fromberg, Gail Richardson and Jerry Scott.

8. Information on a June 22 – 24 ASCD conferences in Orlando, Florida was reviewed. The conference will include Differentiated Instruction with Carol Ann Tomlinson, Understanding by Design with Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe , What Works in Schools with Robert Marzano and Curriculum Mapping with Heidi Jacobs. Josh Middleton said Laurel was planning to send a team to the workshop. No further action was taken by the A.C.E. board.

9. Gail Richardson reported that she is signed up to attend the ASCD pre-conference titled “Classroom Assessment and Grading: Making Standards Useful” by Debra Pickering. (Jerry registered for “Supervising the Art and Science of Teaching: A new Approach to Lesson Observation and Lesson Design” by Robert Marzano but will give his ticket to Jennifer Collins if she can not get in on that day.) Gail said that at this time there is no need to do any more curriculum reviews until the state finishes its reviews. The A.C.E. review schedule for next year can be found on the A.C.E. web site. The schedule once again depends on what the state does. Several people commented on how useful the web site is to them and their staff. However, Gail still feels that there are a number of people who do not look at the site but call her or Jerry instead. There was some discussion on curriculum, the race to the top, federal money, NAPE testing, and the national core standards. If and when those are adopted A.C.E. will align its curriculum with them as well as continue to align with the state.

10. O.P.I now has a gifted and talented instructional coordinator, Deb Poole. Deb sent an email to all Montana schools requesting their intentions to participate in the state’s program. Brenda Koch said Deb Poole did a presentation at the RTI leadership conference and her information was very practical including specific strategies that could be used by schools. Brenda felt that it would be good to invite Deb to do a presentation for A.C.E. and/or the South Central Administrators.

11. Next ACE board meeting … 9:00 A.M. on March 31th at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center.