Despite having to cancel two consecutive meetings because of snow, Action Team members were able to connect today to continue planning for the next round of action projects. Just how did we do that? Via conference call. Hurrah for technology!
Even though our last meeting was a distant three weeks ago on January 20th, Team members were able to quickly pick up where we'd left off. We'd already determined that our next round of projects would have an MSA (Maryland State Assessment) focus. Today we reached consensus on holding at least three MSA Night events--one at the school and two in the community (most likely at apartment complexes close to the school). Bertram suggested that February 24th would be a good date for the school event.
Why an MSA focus? Well, the Action Team's larger concentration is on student achievement and, as Jane put it, the MSA can be a big hurdle to that achievement. Vineda offered that the MSA is an interesting case study for our group's ongoing conversations about the achievement gap. Tebabu said that his assessment is that, "for immigrant parents the MSA is totally foreign to them." Lora offered that the MSA can be a mystery for many parents. One big goal of the MSA action projects is increasing parental awareness and empowerment.
Our next Action Team meeting is on Wednesday, February 17th. Prior to that meeting, Ray and Tebabu will develop action research questions that Team members can take out into the community to gather MSA feedback. Team members will be dividing into smaller groups to plan each of the MSA Night events. Undoubtedly the community feedback will be helpful to that planning.
There is much to be done in a very short period of time, but as the saying goes, "Many hands make light work."
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