Meeting presentations
Missed a meeting?
The slides are all here.
Every PAACT community meeting, with the slides as they were presented that night and anything we handed out. Newest first.
Every meeting is open to everyone. You do not have to join PAACT to come.
Meeting 2 · August 18, 2026
Back to School
A back to school night for parents, built around three windows into your child's year. The classroom: what BPS teaches with and what on track looks like. The data: PowerSchool, Schoology, M-STEP, and i-Ready, all of it already yours. The channel: how to work with your child's teacher, from curriculum night through conferences. It ends with a checklist for the first weeks of school.
- WhenTuesday, August 18, 2026 at 7:00 PM
- WhereBaldwin Public Library, Jeanne Lloyd Room
- PresenterResource presenter April Imperio, Birmingham Public Schools
- Slides18
Loading the slides…
Use Prev and Next under the slides, or click the slides and use your arrow keys. The square button opens full screen.
Back to school guides from this meeting
Plain-language guides to what your child is doing in class. Each one covers what the program is, what a lesson looks like, what your child is expected to do, and the questions that get useful answers at conferences. These are written by parents, for parents. They are not publications of Birmingham Public Schools or any curriculum vendor, and classroom practice varies by building and teacher. Your child's teacher is always the best source on how any of this runs in their room.
Elementary, K through 5Illustrative MathThe K-5 math curriculum, and why your child says the teacher doesn't teach.Arts & LettersThe K-5 reading and writing curriculum, including how phonics fits alongside it in K-2.Ready to LearnThe skills teachers say matter most, and what they look like in a real classroom.
Scan: BPS K-12 Core
Instructional Resources
Instructional Resources
Reading & Writing
Arts & Letters
Great Minds | K through 8
EL
K-8
Knowledge-building literacy: weeks on one rich topic with real books, daily writing. K-2 pairs it with a daily phonics program, Magnetic Reading Foundations. High school English runs course by course, English 9 through AP and senior seminars, all listed in the district course catalog.
Mathematics
Illustrative Mathematics
Illustrative Math | K through 8
MA
K-8
Problem-based math: students work the problems first, the teacher names the math at the end. High school runs an integrated sequence, Integrated Math 1 through 3, into Precalculus, Calculus, and Statistics.
Science & Social Studies
FOSS, IQWST & TCI
Named programs by level, MI standards aligned
SC·SS
K-12
Science runs FOSS kits in elementary and IQWST units in middle school. Social studies uses Meet Michigan in third grade, the Michigan year, and TCI's Alive! series after. High school runs the Merit Curriculum credits.
Measurement
i-Ready & M-STEP
3x a year | Once each spring
TEST
K-8 · 3-11
i-Ready is the district's benchmark, three times a year, and it's your best window into your own child. M-STEP is the state's once-a-year accountability test. More on both later tonight.
Window One · Middle School
Scan for the BPS
MS Course Catalog
MS Course Catalog
Reading & Writing
Argument Becomes the Job
Arts & Letters, grades 6 through 8
Discussion gets structured: students respond to each other, not just the teacher, and defend claims with textual evidence. Writing shifts to argument and analysis. "We debated the book today" is the program working.
Math
The Same Design, Turned Up
Illustrative Mathematics, grades 6 through 8
The problem-first structure continues, now applied to ratios, proportions, expressions and equations, and geometry. Eighth grade lays the pre-algebra foundation the high school sequence builds on. Group work stays central, and so does defending your reasoning out loud.
Normal · By Design
What You'll Hear at Home
Less paper comes home than elementary; the work lives in Schoology. Group work is constant and deliberate: carrying a role in a multi-day project with classmates they didn't choose is part of what's being taught.
Why It Matters
Discussion Needs a Steady Room
Both programs run on structured discussion and multi-day group work, and that only functions in a classroom with steady norms. A derailed period ripples across every student in it, five to seven periods a day. Classroom culture isn't separate from the curriculum here; it's the delivery system.
Window One · High School
Scan for the 26-27
HS Course Catalog
HS Course Catalog
The Fixed Part
The Required Spine
2026-27 BPS High School Course Catalog
The Michigan Merit Curriculum sets 18 required credits: four English, four math, three science, three social studies, two of the same world language, plus PE/health and an arts credit. Four more are student choice, for 22 total to graduate for the Class of 2028 and beyond. Math runs Integrated Math 1, 2, and 3, then a fourth math or math-related credit.
The Chosen Part
Standard, Honors, AP
2026-27 BPS High School Course Catalog
Most of the spine comes in multiple versions: standard, honors, and AP. Around them sits a wide elective range, from fine arts and music to career-focused courses like accounting, programming, robotics, and medical science. The catalog lists every course with its credit value, prerequisites, and grade levels. Some courses run at only one high school, with a shuttle bus available.
The Process
How Choosing Works
Each year, students select courses for the following year. Counselors, assigned by student last name, provide the materials and the deadline, and each school's College and Career Center supports the planning side. The counselor conversation is where the schedule gets set, and the catalog is the reference for what each course requires.
Why It Matters
Selections Carry Weight
The catalog itself says it plainly: selections determine class sizes, staffing, and budgets, so choose carefully. Under-chosen courses can be canceled, prerequisites determine what's reachable later, and once schedules are issued, opportunities to adjust them are limited. One catalog, read with your student before the counselor meeting, is the whole reference.
PowerSchool
Grades & Attendance · The Scoreboard
What It Shows
Grades as teachers post them, attendance, and enrollment forms. For middle and high school this is where academic standing is intended to live all semester, not just at report card time.
Getting In
Parent access codes come from your building's front office in about five minutes, and the portal is linked from the district's Current Parents page. If you set up nothing else this fall, set up this.
Know This
Scan to
Open
Open
Teachers post on their own cadence and use these tools differently; learning each teacher's system is part of the setup. A quiet gradebook for a couple of weeks is normal; a quiet gradebook for six is a fair, friendly question.
Schoology
Assignments & Classwork · The Early Signal
What It Shows
Assignments, due dates, classwork, and teacher materials. Missing assignments are intended to show up here first, weeks before they surface as a grade. When a teacher keeps it current, it's the earliest warning system that exists.
The Habit
Ten minutes, once a week, with your student driving the mouse. A shared Sunday check builds their tracking skill; a nightly parental audit replaces it. You're coaching the habit, not running surveillance.
The Pattern
Scan to
Open
Open
One missing assignment is a Tuesday, and a blank page may just mean this teacher posts elsewhere. A pattern of missings in a class the teacher keeps current is the conversation to have now, with your student first and the teacher second, months before conferences would have caught it.
Window Three · When the Window Isn't Enough
OK2SAY · Michigan's
Student Safety Tip Line
Student Safety Tip Line
The Order
Start Closest to the Classroom
Teacher, then principal, then central office, then board
Each level will ask whether you've talked to the one below it, so going in order is faster, not slower. Put it in writing, keep it specific, and keep copies. Most concerns resolve in the first two steps when they arrive calmly and in order.
The Method
Ask Good Questions
Questions open doors that accusations close
Don't just disagree; ask why. What problem was this solving? Who had input? What would it take to revisit it? A good question is often more powerful than a complaint, and it leaves the other person room to move.
Meeting 1 · June 1, 2026
First Community Meeting
Our first meeting, two months after PAACT began. Who we are and what we had done so far, what the first public records request showed about behavior and discipline, four years of climate survey results, five gaps in the Code of Conduct, the district's finances and the bond proposal presented to the board, how a school board is meant to govern, and the PAACT Parental Pledge. Figures are shown as they stood that night.
- WhenMonday, June 1, 2026 at 7:00 PM
- WhereBaldwin Public Library, Jeanne Lloyd Room
- SpeakersResource speakers Margaret Murray (MAMA and Wait Until 8th) and Hayley Cason Grobbel (Michigan Alliance for Families)
- Slides19
Loading the slides…
Use Prev and Next under the slides, or click the slides and use your arrow keys. The square button opens full screen.
Parent advocate and community organizer
MAMA and Wait Until 8th are here to share information and resources. There is no pressure and no agenda. Just tools that might help you make better decisions for your child.
Michigan Alliance for Families
Michigan Alliance for Families provides free information, support, and education to families of children with disabilities throughout Michigan. If this is relevant to your child, we encourage you to connect with Hayley tonight.
Want to be in the room next time?
You do not have to be a member. Any parent, teacher, or neighbor is welcome at a PAACT meeting.
PAACT · PO Box 626, Birmingham, MI 48012 · paact.birmingham@gmail.com