Dear Students and Parents,
On behalf of the High School Faculty, I would like to welcome you to the 2021-2022 school year. I hope you have had a restful, enjoyable summer and are looking forward to the coming school year! There’s lots of information to share.
As you know, we will begin the year virtually. Please watch this introductory video to orient yourself to our virtual learning environment. Apologies in advance for the length of the video. There is much to be said!
It is my pleasure to introduce you to the new members of the high school faculty:
Asta Reiff - EAL
Doug Mabie - English, Social Studies and TOK
Jeff Killmer - Math
Karen Killmer - Counselor
Sabrina Kim - EAL
Sarah Anjum - Computer Science and Robotics
Also joining us in new capacities:
Sagaya Mary - Chemistry
Margaret Carsello - Visual Arts (after a year away)
Chris Galaty - Associate Principal and AP and IB Coordinator
Dr. Cathy Curtis was introduced to the community in May. She will serve as our 12th grade college counselor this year.
I hope you will join me in welcoming them into the AISC HS community!
New Student and Parent Orientation
To help welcome high school students and their parents who are new to the AISC community, we are hosting our second ‘Virtual’ New Student and Parent Orientation on Monday, August 2nd.
Our High School students and families will begin the day at 9:00 am with a welcome and orientation with me and Associate Principal and AP/IB Coordinator Chris Galaty. Students will then spend a hour with the Raptor Agents, our HS student ambassadors. Students will then have time to meet with their counselor before lunch. In the afternoon, Math and World language placement test will be given. Ms. Priya will be sending you Zoom invites if you are taking a placement test, and will be working with you with an alternative time based on timezone needs.
Technology resources, forms, handbooks, and other information will also be accessible to all participants. The full program and resources will be available on our new student and family orientation website this week.
HS Student Orientation
Tuesday and Wednesday, August 3rd and 4th will be dedicated to all student virtual high school orientation.
The first day will be spent reconnecting after the holiday. We will begin with our annual welcome assembly. Students will then have time in Discovery Crew and grade level groups to reconnect, learn together and laugh together. As a reminder, we place students in mixed grade level “Crews” that meet throughout the year as a community within our larger community. Crews will be a key touch point in our virtual program. Students will also attend our virtual Club Mela. Leaders our many clubs will share highlights of each clubs activities. Students are urged to join one or two clubs to get connected within our school and with our Chennai community.
The second day will focus on preparation for virtual schooling. Students will be briefed in using organization systems staff and students have created to manage virtual and hybrid classes and they will attend various “bootcamps” that cover relevant AP and IB information.
A detailed orientation schedule with all meeting links will be emailed to students (school Gmail account) on the 2nd of August.
Thursday and Friday, August 5th and 6th will be the first days of classes. With Module 1 starting on Monday, August 9th, this first day of class will be focused on building community and previewing the course and the modules ahead. The daily schedules
PowerSchool/Schoology Reporting Dates
Families will receive regular updates about academic progress throughout the year. Progress reports with scores and comments are sent home and posted online in the middle of each semester. Report cards are sent home at the end of each semester. Approximately once per month in between these official reports, teachers will update their marks in our new student information system Schoology for your review. We call this a “Progress Update.”
For your information the reporting periods this academic year will be as follows:
September 3 – Progress update
October 13 - Progress report with comments
November 19 - Progress update
January 21 - Report card with comments
January 28 – Progress update
February 5 – Progress update
March 5 - Progress update
March 30 – Progress report with comments
May 6 – Progress update
June 8 – Final report card
Student Schedule Changes
As we are beginning the year virtually, we have extended the drop/add period for schedule change until Monday, August 16th at 4:00 pm. This deadline is in place to help students settle into their classes as soon as possible. Students who wish to change their schedules should contact Ms. Priya (spriya@aischennai.org) to schedule a meeting with their counselor. Please note that priority will be given to students without a full schedule. After all students are fully scheduled counselors will begin meeting with students about changes.
Schedule changes made during this time do not require parents’ signatures. This means that it is very important for families to discuss potential schedule changes before the student seeks out his or her counselor. If a family feels strongly that no schedule changes should take place without written parent permission they are encouraged to contact the appropriate counselor.
Please note that it is our expectation as a school that students would have made wise choices regarding their schedules last spring during the registration process. As such, we expect students to pursue schedule changes only when truly necessary. We will not entertain changes motivated by a desire to be in class with particular friends or to seek out a particular teacher. Our counseling staff works very hard to balance our schedule such that no class is overloaded or too small. This is to everyone’s advantage in terms of student learning.
A copy of the master schedule for planning purposes can be found here.
Communication is Key
Each week I will update my Principal’s Notes, an online newsletter that shares important information with students and parents in high school. The Head of School, Andrew Hoover, also publishes notes weekly. Please do your best to read these notes weekly so that you are as informed as possible.
There will also be opportunities throughout to meet virtually. Most months I will host a Parent Coffee that will help you to gain greater access to what goes on in our classrooms. Student/Parent/Teacher conferences take place twice yearly (October and April). Please do refer to the community calendar so that you do not miss these important opportunities!
Welcome to another great year at AISC! I am looking forward to working with you in the coming year as we continue to build a learning community that helps our students develop into knowledgeable, caring and responsible citizens of the world.
First Parent Coffee
Our first high school virtual parent coffee will take place on Tuesday, August 31st, from 8:45 - 9:45 am. This coffee is aimed to get parents new to high school up to speed on our Standards-Based Assessment and Reporting system. While returning parents in grades 10 - 12 are welcome to attend, please note that no new information will be shared.
Two-week Module Schedule
As was indicated in the introductory video (linked above), we will be following our regular school timetable organized by two week modules. All of the required information for each module will be reflected in PowerSchool/Schoology. Modules start on a Monday at 8am and close at 4:00 pm on the Friday of the following week.
Regular, Crew, Early Release Wednesdays and Wellbeing Daily Schedules
Attendance Expectations
Teachers design each module with engagement expectations clearly stated. Those assignments that generate feedback are required to be completed during the module for attendance purposes. Students can expect 2-4 such assignments per module. Additional assignments are expected to be completed in the module for full engagement. As you are aware, our school policy is to require 85% attendance in order to be eligible for credit in a course. In a virtual space, attendance takes on a form and our focus is really on engagement rather than physical presence.
The following is an example of the of attendance expectations in Week 1, Week 2 and for
full engagement in a Module:
Attendance Communication and Intervention
At the end of Week One, teachers will take stock of student progress and mark students who are not on track as “IE” or “insufficient evidence.” Students who are following the pacing guide will not receive an attendance code. Thus, no news is good news. Attendance will be posted by the end of the day on Monday of Week Two. Students (and their parents) with an IE will receive a notice from the HS office to indicate that there are Week 1 responsibilities to attend to. Students marked “IE” will also receive a follow up email from their teacher.
At the end of the second week the module will come to a close at 4:00 pm on Friday. Students will be marked “AB” or “absent” if they do not meet the engagement expectations outlined by the teacher. Attendance will be viewable by the Monday night following the close of the module. The teacher will also assign the student to the next available School Monitored Study Session to get caught up and will reach out for a conference to touch base. Students have until the Friday of that week to complete the previous module’s responsibility, or the absence becomes permanent.
Students who are absent in more than two courses, or who accrue two absences in one course will be assigned a Case Manager to help them with their organization and to expedite connecting them with further support as needed.
Students who are absent for more than two modules in the semester will lose credit as they will not have been present for at least 85% of the course. In truth, with so many checkpoints along the way, no student should reach this point if the student is actively engaged in his/her studies.
Here is the updated flowchart that defines our overall Intervention Plan. Upon review you can see how this plan is linked in with attendance to ensure we are accounting for the engagement of all students.
Schoology
We are beginning this year with a new Learning Management System (LMS) called Schoology (through Powerschool). In Schoology, students will be able to access and work within their modules and receive and submit assignments. With Schoology, teachers, students and families will be able to track assignment submission and performance on assessments more easily. More information will be shared with students in HS Orientation, and at parent tech orientations/Learning Dialogues.
Much of the above is a continuation of our practices from last year. The differences:
Crew and Wellness are on new days and times
2-4 assignments required for attendance purposes; additional assignments for full engagement
Schoology replaces Unified Classroom as our LMS, and all required engagement expectations will be assigned within Schoology, so that teachers, students, and families can access student performance efficiently.
Once again, welcome to the 2021-22 school year, and we all look forward to connecting soon.
Sincerely,
Mike Malone
High School Principal
