Vermont Science Teachers
Association
Board of Directors Meeting -
6/21/02
Waterbury, Vermont
Members Present: Kathy Renfrew, Bruce Parks, David White, Claudia
Vanderborght, Judy Corey, Cassie Major, Gail Hall, Russ Agne, Gay Craig and
guest Chris Dermody of Starbase Vermont.
Item: Dispersion of current newsletters: members discussed
ways to get our excellent VSTA newsletter to non-members.
Action: Claudia will offer them to participants in her
³Weather and Water² course for elementary teachers, Gail will give them to
participants in the VISMT Summer Development Institute for Middle and High
school teachers and Kathy will give them to participants in the VSI for
elementary and middle school teachers.
Item: Judy reported that our finances have remained the
same as last month. Two new memberships have arrived. We are still expecting
$272.00 from the Pathways Conference 2000.
Action: Kathy will contact Pam Quinn at VISMT.
Item: Bravo for Cassie who has created another excellent
newsletter filled with information and courses for Vermont science teachers.
Action: Gay will check the discs of membership information
to find the new member letter and membership form. These documents will be sent
to Cassie for inclusion in the next newsletter. Cassie will also include the
news that Gail Hall, a VSTA Board member and excellent science teacher from
Northfield, will join the DOE as a state science consultant. Gail will be
working with schools across the state to design effective science curriculums
and teaching methods.
Item: Dave explained the new testing schedule required by
the federally mandated ³No Child Left Behind² program. Science will be tested
every three years beginning in 2008. Vermont plans to develop its own science
test for grades 3-8 and to continue developing the high school test. The monies
from the federal program will be used to accomplish this work and to help
schools develop local assessments and grade level expectations. Dave feels that
the VSTA could best support its members and the needed work by serving as an
oversight group. Russ suggested that we broker local assessments through an
interactive learning network and the existing list serve. These would
facilitate sharing among schools.
Action: Russ will find out if our VSTA web site can handle a
list serve. The Board unanimously supports the new project and will create a
committee to oversee grade level expectations and assessments.
Item: Chris Dermody of Starbase Vermont presented and
overview of the Starbase program. This program integrates math, science,
technology and good decision-making in learning activities for grades 3-6 and
is sponsored by the Vermont National Guard.
Action: The board granted Starbase Vermont permission to
link the VSTA web page to their web site and requested that they consider
completing a workshop proposal form for the next Pathways Conference.
Item: The Pathways Conference will be held December 2 &
3, 2002 at the Lake Morey Inn in Fairlee, VT. The Keynote speaker will be
Michael Klentschy, the author of research on the advantages of including
journal writing in science classes to improve student learning. His work showed
dramatic improvements in SAT scores for students who wrote compared to those
that did not. The cost for two presentations, travel and accommodations is
$2500.00.
Action: The Board agreed to share the cost of the keynote
with the Leadership Consortium, Vermont Reads, and VISMT. We will need to raise
the conference registration fee to $85.00 to finance the speaker but the Board
felt that the price was reasonable for two presentations by a nationally known
educator.
Item: Advertising that will reach teachers throughout
Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire. We must get the attention of those science
educators who are not members of their local science organizations. We felt
that the 6,000 flyers that VISMT disseminates, the list serve, the websites of
all three states science organizations, and personal contact with at least one
teacher in each school will help but may not reach all teachers.
Action: We need to investigate reaching elementary school
literacy teachers as many also teach science.
Item: Workshop presenters have been contacted and Pam
Quinn has sent out many workshop proposal forms. See the May minutes for a list
of possible presenters. Proposal forms are due August 1, 2002.
Action: Gay will ask Leslie Kanat to complete a proposal
form. Dave and Kathy will have Pam Quinn add the due date to the proposal forms.
The board will review the proposal forms at our August meeting and notify
presenters that meet the criteria and are aligned with the conference strands.
Item: Vendors
Judy contacted Bob
Raskovitz concerning the vendors who participated last year. The list was given
to VISMT according to Bob.
Action: Kathy and Dave will
investigate sending the invitations to the vendors.
Next Meeting: August 22, 2002 in Montpelier (VISMT offices) at 5
PM.