September 28, 2011 ACE Board Meeting
9:00 A. M. @ Billings Hotel and Convention Center

1. Call to Order, Introductions: Allan Sipes called the meeting to order at 9:10 AM. Board Members Present: Al Sipes, Jennifer Hickok, Bill Phillips, Brent Lipp, Mark Brajcich, Andrew Begger
   
   Also in Attendance: Andrea Fischer, Gail Richardson
   Guests Present: Tim Lowe, Patrick Audet, Tobin Novasio, Jerry Scott, Bart Hawkins, Tim Bronk, Kelly Glass

2. Approval of July 27 minutes: Jennifer Hickok made the motion, seconded by Mark Brajcich

Items for Information

1. ACE Budget/Bill Pay: Andrea gave an explanation of several of the items on the Voucher Detail List. She mentioned that there was a discrepancy with Roberts school district that is being adjusted and is in the process of being adjusted.

   Andrea discussed the use of Survey Monkey and the reasons for upgrading so that some of the stumbling blocks PIR day participants encountered will not reoccur.
   The Board unanimously approved the expenses as listed.

   The September PIR day finances will be reported on next meeting when invoices have been sent out, expenses tallied, etc. We are still in the billing and invoice preparation stage.

2. “Did You Know”:
   Andrea shared a fact sheet on MT Common Core Standards that was handed out at the A-Z Meeting. Attention was directed to the time line on the front page. Andrea encouraged ACE to move forward and stay ahead of the time line as best we could as she projects the transition is going to take much longer than the timeline projects, and we need to move forward soon so that we can do a “good” job on the ACE document. Many schools totally rely on ACE for their curriculum alignment, and we need to have something out there that meets that need.
   
   The official adoption of the MCCS (Montana Common Core Standards) is scheduled for November. OPI will be hosting workshops Dec. 1st and 2nd to familiarize educators with the MCCS.
   
   The online Adaptive Assessments were also covered on the handout. There are three assessments: Formative, Interim and Summative that will be available. The Summative Assessments will be paid for by the state and offered to grades 3-8. This is the test that will replace the March assessments now being given. School districts will have the option of utilizing the Formative Assessment Process and the Interim Assessment that can be given up to 4x a year, but there will be a fee per student. The projected fee is $7. At the present time, no samples of these assessments are available.

   Information dealing with the CCS ad MCCS can be found on the OPI website under the Curriculum Assessment link, then the Getting Ready tab.

   On the same handout was a listing of Web Links. The one for PTA’s was particularly noteworthy (http://pta.org). Andrea thought administrators might want to share this with their PTA organization.
   
   The MCCS is basically a reformatting of the CCS with 5% addition of Indian Education being inserted. The released items from the CRT in the future will be those items closely aligned with the MCCS.

   MAP is adjusting to the CCS

3. MTASCD Update
   Set 3 goals: Communication, MEI and Online Professional Development
   Organized the Summer Institute: will have 3 speakers; one confirmed: Ken
       O’Conner who will be addressing Standards Based Grading
   Jerry Scott accepted the position of Director for the MTASCD - he will
       place his emphasis on communication
   RTI - Bozeman and Great Falls shared their documents that Andrea has and will
      copy for any who request. These documents include: Allocated Time
       Sheet, Fidelity Check, E Periods, etc.)
   CCS - Billings is bringing in Sue Genren to address 6th - 9th grade Math CCS
       alignment. There will be no charge for participants

4. ACE Workshops
   MEA Days alternative: offered in Red Lodge. The document containing the listings of the 11 workshops was emailed and within a few days will be available on the ACE website. We are also offering Promethean training in Laurel. These workshops are free to ACE school educators. Nonmembers will be charged $30 per day. Discussion followed on whether ACE should begin charging member school educators for these workshops since to attend MEA days would be very expensive and since ACE is considering increasing its dues. Perhaps the latter would not be necessary if we began charging for this type of thing, plus the lunches and fees for the PIR days, etc. The amount ACE would charge would still be a bargain as to attend MEA or to eat out would be far more expensive. Also stated was that the no-charge for ACE members encourages participation in the offerings that are geared to the yearly professional development goals for ACE. This matter will continue to be addressed at future meetings.

   The first of the 6 Traits workshop sessions has been held and was successful. The final sessions are scheduled for Oct. and Nov. Positive feedback has been received. There is a need for a 3rd-5th-grade trainer. Aubrey Miller from Harlowton has expressed an interest in being that person. Andy Begger feels he would be a good choice.

5. PIR Day follow-up
   Brd mtg. attendees were given a copy of the evaluation summaries for the Sept.
   PIR day.

   Andrea stated that the areas of set-up and logistical matters need to be addressed and improved upon for the next PIR day.
   
   Discussion followed. Suggestions were:
   

   a. Have presenters designate who is paying them (ACE, OPI, no payment due to a contractual obligation, etc.) when they commit to offering a sectional.
   b. Add to Survey Monkey warnings to for participants to note what sectionals and times that they have chosen. Have administrators emphasize to participants their responsibilities to know what they have chosen.
   c. Concern over the number of left over lunches. Andrea felt the count was reasonably accurate, but people change their minds. If we charge for lunches, that may reduce the leftovers.

   March 5th PIR day - Bill Sheskey is the keynote speaker - held at the Billings Convention Center. Discussion followed. Bill will address the audience until 2:00 (lunch break of course), and then Jennifer Hickok suggested that from 2-4, schools should meet in groups to map out how they will/could implement the ideas presented. This is still under discussion. Continued concern that the speaker and breakouts address both HS and Elem. - must be pertinent to both.

   September 2012 PIR Day
   Heidi Hayes Jacobs is not available till Sept. 24th. Her presentation would pull together all the areas ACE has emphasized during the 2011-2012 academic year. Having her would require the PIR day be moved from September 10th. After discussion a motion was made by Andy Begger and seconded by Jennifer Hickok to contract Heidi Hayes Jacobs for the Sept. 24, 2012 ACE PIR day. The motion was carried unanimously.

   The meeting was closed at 11:15 AM



6. Curriculum Reviews
   Andrea anticipates the transition from ACE curriculum to MCCS to take about 4 days. Schools sending a representative to work on this should expect that ONE teacher to commit to all 4 days, be someone who is knowledgeable in the area, capable of carrying back information to the faculty and flexible.

   1st day - Crosswalk between MT’s standards and the CCS expectations
   2nd day - Packing standards - own words and process of transition
   3rd-4th days - Create resources, implementation, adding to CCS (Technology and Creativity segments)
   Tuesdays seem to fit best for most districts
   Schedule an administrators’ day so they know what is going on and become familiarizing with the process - looking at the end of October

   Continue with single day revision for Soc. Studies/PE & Health

7. MITE Mtg. - Promethean users meeting set-up by Trent
   Training modules created by Mark Brunger and Wendy Strauch.

   1. They are creating Materials for ACE, outside of their regular job obligations and time. Remuneration of some sort must be considered. Possibly need to charge for the training they provide.
      
   2. Survey Monkey can be used to get response on what districts need/want.
      
   3. They are looking into creating a trouble shooting guide, work sessions for grade level, or subject area to create a repository of lessons/flipcharts.
      
   4. They are also looking into creating a flow chart of training - to inform educators of the steps they need to move from one level to the next, pre requisites, etc. so that people do not sign up for training that is inappropriate for their level of experience
      
   5. October 25th and 27th have been scheduled for 2, ½ day
      
   6. Next MITE meeting is scheduled for Nov. 4th - for administrators at Huntley Project



8. Website
   Need to have our materials password protected as members are paying for this material and currently it is accessible to anyone who wants to download it. This can be done. Motion by Bill Phillips, 2nd by Andy Begger
   

   There will be a tab added to our website for CCS information. It is in the process of being developed



9. Other
   Suggestions: Conduct/schedule a 5-minute Classroom Walk Through presentation for administrators. Currently in use at various schools Prowl, TeachScape, Mcreal
   

10. The meeting was closed at 10:45. Next meeting October 26th 9:00 AM, Billings Hotel and Convention Center