SUMMARY

Ball State University PDS Network Advisory Council
Secondary Schools Representatives
Institute Meeting #18
April 7, 2005
9:00 – 12:30
Tanglewood Conference Center
Anderson Community Schools

Theresa Richardson, chair of the Department of Educational Studies, opened the meeting by thanking everyone for all of the fine work they are doing. Ruth Swetnam welcomed the 31 members and guests and explained the agenda for the day, including the template for the end-of-the-year report that each PDS is asked to submit by June 1.   She expressed appreciation to Alba Rosenman who is retiring this year. Alba has been the liaison for Southside High School and Wilson Middle School.  Ruth also thanked the individuals from Anderson schools for hosting the meeting.

The first hour was dedicated to sharing methods for differentiating instruction that are introduced to Ball State secondary education students.   Alba Rosenman presented ideas from Carol Ann Tomlinson's work that are used in EDSEC 380 classes, shared clips from an accompanying ASCD video, and led the group in a discussion around this material.

Representatives from Muncie Central High School, Anderson High School, and Highland High School shared experiences from their PDS site review visit. Each PDS is expected to host a site review team three years after signing the partnership agreement. For more specific information, Ruth directed everyone to the PDS Handbook located on the PDS Web site, www.bsu.edu/pds.

Following the site review presentations, everyone was given the opportunity to select from the following five topics for small group discussions:

• Small Learning Communities – Tim Ricker, Dave Tuttle, Eric Beebe
• The Learning Assessment Module Project – Jane Hughes, Lesley Schaeffer
• Action Research – Barbara Graham
• What EDJHM 385 Students Learn: Interdisciplinary Instruction – Alba Rosenman
• Cooperating Teachers as University Field Instructors – Karen DeLaVergne, Barb Lumbis

The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 p.m.