Submitted by: Susannah Flicker

At our meeting on 1/11/22 we continued our departmental discussion about collecting best practices for equity and inclusion across the three divisions.

We discussed one example that was brought up concerning using practices in the classroom that truly acknowledge diversity among learners and explicitly discussing this with students regularly. This example specifically was about students who experience stress/anxiety around timed activities, and finding ways to accommodate this while also helping to destigmatize it for students and help them to grow more confident in their ability to handle it.

We then had a discussion about standards based grading in the middle and high school divisions and the ways in which it impacts students with learning differences specifically. We discussed how we have approached grading for students so that they are not graded based on their disabilities, and how to strike a balance between helping them to develop strategies and also making sure that they are being assessed in a way that truly reflects their progress and efforts.

Lower school faculty shared about messaging in reports concerning whether students are performing at, above or below grade level and the impact this may have on students and families.

We decided that in our next meeting we would discuss math support across the divisions, as well as groupings of students and how those are created.