LISD Academic Advocates

1. Call to Order and Pledge. C. Cavalli called meeting to order at 7:03. Those present recited the pledge.

2. Minutes & Correspondence. Minutes of the April 21 meeting were approved as printed.

3. Appointment of audit committee. E. Mittag, M. Hosier and C. Kay were asked to serve as the audit committee.

4. Scholarship presentations to 2004 winners. Scholarship awards in the amount of $500 each were presented to James Doehring (CPHS), Clark Smithson (CPHS), and Joshua Blackwell (LHS). Staff grant awards in the amount of $500 each were presented to Mike Johnson (CPHS) and Nancy Young (CPHS)[in absentia]. Congratulations to all.

5. Speaker: Dr Vickie Phelps, Superintendent, Taylor ISD: "Working on the Work : Engaging Students in School." Dr. Phelps discussed the activities in Taylor ISD in the context of school reform. The basic beliefs underlying the WOW framework include: One of the primary tasks of teachers is to provide work for students: work in which students engage and from which students learn that which it is intended that they learn. A second task of teachers is to lead students to do well and successfully the work they undertake. The focus of this effort is around organizing the school around students rather than around adults and the work of teachers. Students are volunteers. Their attendance can be commanded, but their attention and commitment must be earned. Differences in the level and type of engagement affect directly the effort students expend on school-related tasks. Effort affects learning outcomes at least as much as does intellectual ability. Students have five basic responses to school activity with the lowest being rebellion. Retreatism, ritual compliance and strategic compliance are other levels of involvement in their work with true engagement - high attention, high commitment where the student understand the value and inherent meaning of the activity - being the highest response. Studies have shown that students who are profoundly engaged do much better in higher order testing situations than those who merely memorize or 'play the game" through ritual or strategic compliance. The core business of schools is to provide students with high-content, engaging schoolwork: - that is challenging to students, with which students persist when they experience difficulty and from which students gain a sense of satisfaction.

6. Announcements.
Check the website over the summer and watch e-mails for continuing activities.

7. The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Erika Mittag
Secretary