Meeting+36+-+April+'16

** Friday April 22, 2016 (7:15 am) ** ** H103 – BioHazard Meeting Room **
 * Science Department Meeting Agenda **

I. Important Dates Friday, April 22 - Registration and petition forms are due Monday April 25 - Department chairs receive rosters of students successfully registered for restricted courses - Fawzia will pass along to the teachers, we have until June to accept. Fawzia has handed out petitions to the teachers. Be sure to consult teachers involved. - Let Fawzia and Andrey know who to add to the registration list. Notify Fawzia, Andrey and the student if they are admitted. Let know as soon as a decision is made. June 20 – Chairs send updates to Andrey about petitions

II. Updates Offering 1 more section of AP Chemistry due to increased number of students choosing to take AP Chem/Phys/Bio - This year Eddie and Fawzia had numerous Honors Chem students willing and able to take AP Chem. Robb will be taking 1 section of Active Chem. Juniors 2 AP Bio, 2 AP Chem, 2 APES options. This gives us flexibility, so if there are years where we have qualified students for a third section of AP Bio we would be able to adjust.

III. Debrief general PreReg process - changes needed? Issues?

- (need weighted math GPA; indicate more than one first choice for seniors, APC students allowed enrollment in AP1, demand for more AP Physics with Math department changes,) - Physics teachers need a weighted math GPA - Can we have students mark if they are taking 2 science courses? We currently have about 30 seniors every year who takes 2 science courses. - High demand for Physics C – so Seniors taking 2 AP’s did not get into Physics C – this was fixed, but is there a way to delineate in the future? - If someone is in AP Physics C, but decides not to take it, can they automatically level down to AP Physics 1? If you are accepted to the highest course, you are technically qualified for AP Physics 1. Revisit the distinction between AP Physics C and 1. College board paid a lot of attention to qualitative and conceptual assessment in AP Physics 1. How to market and differentiate AP Physics 1. - Google spreadsheet for all the prereg data to see who is accepted, etc. for next year. - If things stay on tract with all seniors ready for calculus – Juniors will be ready to take AP Physics 1. AP Physics 1 is most effective when taking precalc. concurrently and AP Physics C when taking calculus concurrently. - If we have a Junior taking AP Physics 1 – do we now offer AP Physics E & M? AP Physics 2…or E & M version of AP Physics C. There might be an interest in a couple years for this path. AP Physics E & M is a 1 semester courses. Could students taking AP Physics C, take both the AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C exam? Could they get credit for both? The AP Physics 1 exam is 3 hours, the AP Physics C is 90 minutes. - To make room for E & M – is it possible to mesh AP Physics C and E & M into one course? Probably not…some schools offer E & M and mechanics in one year, but we do not in order to go in the depth. - High demand for students to do AP Chem, AP Bio and AP Physics – those that want to be science/engineering majors. They have to double up senior year.

IV. Grades (distribute handout) - Agree upon department policy on A+ - Midterm grade spreadsheets – compare percentages/numbers with the department. - Department policy on A+ - no A+’s in our department. A+ is a legitimate grade. Above 99% is an A+ - some teachers give bonus points and extra credit. GPA effect in AP courses (5.3) – effects the weighted GPA. Regular courses A+ and A is the same GPA wise. A+ stand out on the transcript. - Grade inflation makes it difficult to explain denial of admission into restricted courses - Careful about grade inflations – something to keep in mind, as long as you are consistent with the other teachers taking the courses. Universities are admitting that students are competing with each other from our school – we are messing up the top end kids by moving everyone up higher. Hard to justify and explain if they are getting A’s and they are not admitted into the higher level course. Certain depts.. are better than others. Foreign language and English are brutal, no grade inflation there. Science is probably one of the top three, we are inflated relative to the rest of the school.

VII. Insert letter about science department for Freshman parents - email Fawzia if you have changes to the Freshman letter

V. Looking ahead - Senior Science Awards for Excellence – Fawzia will get an email about senior science awards – look for an email from Fawzia. Look at students taking 2-3 science courses. - Summer Sabbaticals – Andrew – got a sabbatical for broadcasting, learning blast Beta testing today. Kahn Academy with a human face – Gerry. Robotics – teacher for the summer session. The new math teacher will be the robotics coach for next year – he is new and will need to learn everything. Any possibility he will be teaching the Robotics class? - PLC groups – posted in the Faculty room – will be updating the NGSS next year in PLC’s

VI. Time to Review Course Petitions