Principal's Update (school plan)
Interim Prinicipal Sohr scared scome of Barrett's scores on past academic testing.
The scores are improving/ moving in the right direction from last year but not where she would like them to be still, particularly in science and for some "sub-groups" (demographic categories such as divided by race and looking particularly at students with disabilities.
Principal Sohr discussed some possible reasons for dips in scores, including new teaching standards, added challenges particularly for mental health of our students, and needed different training opportunities for particular students and challenges. She stressed the talent of our teachers and progress made towards goals she has set, including leveraging Title I resources, quarterly "data dives" to look behind the numbers, "learning walks" where teachers can see teaching and interventions "live" and stated that the numbers suggest these techniques are making a difference. The faculty and staff are reading a book We Got This by Cornelius Minor (behind Barrett's phrase Ms. Sohr is using this year: #wegotthis) The book looks at how we look at all our kids are going through in aiming to find ways to best reach them.
Principal Sohr also discussed finding and using the best materials, and enriching with outside experiences (she mentioned a third grader who was so excited to go to a forest for the first time and meeting the needs of those students as well as students who have travelled the world, both of which we have here at barrett.
Several parents asked if there are ways we can help support the staff for all students , with materials or time and Ms. Sohr offered to stay engaged with us on that. Ms. Sohr also talked about the early phases of the assessment / potential changes to APS Elementary School Boundaries, showing a video from APS and urging calmness as the phase is in the early stages and she indicates at this point no major changes to Barrett are planned.
Other members of the community noted that some proposals do include potential changes/ transfers for some Barrett students. While Ms. Sohr, reiterated that these are very preliminary, she urged everyone to stay engaged with APS and we can continue to talk as we all learn more. Other parents raised questions regarding whether these changes will help Arlington's issues with integration, which on its surface, it does not seem to do, and noted problems in the past with communication on changes from the county.
Please go to https://www.apsva.us/engage/planning-for-2020-elementary-school-boundary-process/ for the proposals, a survey on the first two big options the county is considering (with details to be worked out after those preliminary decisions are made) , meeting schedules etc. and continue to stay involved. The PTA will continue to monitor this process and keep you informed and Ms. Sohr has offered to host coffees as information becomes more concrete and as we learn the potential effects on Barrett.
Teacher's Update (Katherine Carlisle 4th grade team) Ms. Carlisle shared a bit about the gifted program, answering questions, including the most common one she receives "My child has been identified gifted, now what?" She said the gifted identifier is mostly used as a flag to be sure kids capable of doing advanced work who might not be noticed as such are identified and given tools to succeed and that in practice, particularly in younger grades, there won't be much distinction between what students at advanced levels and gifted groups are doing. Teachers are working for every kid to stride.
Other updates were shared by Hillary Segal of the 4th grade team on teacher-parent teams. There are a few versions of an APS calendar out for vote for next year https://www.apsva.us/engage/school-year-2020-21-calendar/. | 