Honors For All at Garfield

There was a request from a reader for information on how Honors for all is going at Garfield H.S. I don't have any updates myself to report. I'm hoping someone else with boots on ground has something to share with the community.

School Assignments for 2017-2018

The acceptance letters have now been sent out for next year. If you haven't heard the online assignment tool  http://www.seattleschools.org/admissions/registration/assignment_lookup_tool/ has been updated with the open enrollment data as well.

Waitlist: http://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/Admissions/School%20Choice/2017-18%20Waitlist%20Report/201718WaitlistSummary_0417.pdf


This year the standout numbers are large wait lists at

• Ingraham (41)
• HIMS (42 across grades)

No optional placements appear to have been processed yet at Decatur/Cascadia. When done there should geenrally be a wait-list at most at only one school for the same grade.  I'm waiting for confirmation but it appears this won't occur until 5/31.

Thurgood Marshall SS Update

Anna Birinyi will head Cascadia

Dear Cascadia community,

I am pleased to announce that Anna Birinyi has been selected as the new principal of Cascadia Elementary School. 

Anna Birinyi was one of multiple candidates interviewed by a hiring team that included Cascadia staff, parents and community members, school leaders, and central office staff, before being recommended for the consideration of the Superintendent and Chief of Schools. During her interview, the hiring committee recognized Ms. Birinyi for her extensive experience with the school, staff, and students; her critical understanding of students who are identified as “twice exceptional”; her student-centered voice; and her collaborative leadership.

Ms. Birinyi has most recently served as the Assistant Principal at Gatewood and Lafayette Elementary schools, where she engaged with teaching staff as a member of the Equity team working to eliminate opportunity gaps for students; worked closely with the school communities to address truancy; and participated in data-driven learning decisions to inform instructional plans.  Her prior experience also includes time as the House Administrator at Cascadia and as a first and fifth grade teacher at the APP (now HCC) at Lincoln program.  Throughout her teaching and administrator career, Ms. Birinyi has had a passion for teaching writing and science and incorporating the arts into the classroom, while striving to create an inclusive environment where all students feel welcomed.

Ms. Birinyi holds her Principal Certification from Seattle Pacific University, her Master of Arts in Teaching from the Teachers College, Columbia University, and her bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University. She is also a Seattle Public Schools alum, having attended Coe and John Muir Elementary schools, Washington Middle School, and graduated as a proud Bulldog from Garfield High School.

Ms. Birinyi’s position will become effective on July 1, 2017; however, she will begin working with interim Cascadia principal Kathy Jolly and Decatur principal Rina Geoghagan this spring to ensure a smooth transition to the new school building. She is excited to work together with the community to build an emotionally supportive environment where each Cascadia student continues to grow and become independent thinkers.

Thank you to Kathy Jolly for her leadership as interim principal. Please join me in welcoming Principal Anna Birinyi to Cascadia Elementary.

Sincerely,

Larry

Dr. Larry Nyland, Principal

April '17 Open Thread

Since last month, the levy cliff has been rolled back and we're on the cusp on having a two tier busing/school start. So overall this has been a great period for the district.

• SBAC testing is coming up. Are you planning to opt out or not?  Feel free to share your reasons.
• The April meeting HCSAC meeting will take place tomorrow evening 5/4 in the Garfield Library at 6:30 pm. Kari Hansen, Director of Student Support Services, will be at our meeting. She was unable to attend last month, so she will be there to discuss advisory and advocacy opportunities.

Future meetings to be held include:

May 2, Hamilton International Middle School Library

June 6, Madison Middle School Library

• There was another poorly written article about advanced learning in the Seattle Times which they keep tweeting about every few hours: https://t.co/GRNSWHufei There are real issues here with equity but this was not fairly or intelligently argued. I've talked about the imperfect system we have here in Seattle before but I also don't believe any district has really found the right answer to this problem.  Several of the logical fallacies were troubling enough that at the risk of being overly defensive I'll enumerate them below:

Quick Stream of Issues with the Seattle Times

1.   Are Asians a minority or not? The first  sentence includes them so it can say minorities are almost half of the student population in the state. By the third sentence they're gone and the ratio of minorities that are underrepresented in the state is 1/3 of the population.  
2. The piece then continues to blue the line between AP class participation and HCC programs paragraph by paragraph despite them not being the same.  So its hard to say what's being referred to in quotes like this "Whites occupy 66 percent of the seats in Washington’s accelerated classrooms, and Asians much of the remainder."  In our district for certain but I believe this is generally the case AP classes are open to everyone and don't require being in a gifted program.
3.  The focus on Federal Way AP, IB participation is interesting but as the article admits "And even now, after years of funneling more kids into Advanced Placement courses, only to watch two-thirds fail their end-of-year A.P. exams, the district’s new superintendent Tammy Campbell is doubling down on basics like third-grade reading"    The followup quote: "Campbell still believes that participating in demanding classes benefits students in the long-run, and over 90 percent of those in Federal Way’s accelerated high-school courses pass their classes — if not the final test."  begs the question how rigorous are the classes now?   Unfortunately, the article didn't dig into what's going on any further in its model district.
4.  Then there are several quotes from Nancy Herzog at the UW Robinson Center and Pedro Noguera an academic at NYU. The one from Dr. Herzog claims high IQ doesn't necessarily mean giftedness. First of all we don't have a gifted program in the state, we have a highly capable program. Secondly, under what conditions does a high IQ not indicate a need for advanced material?  The one from Dr. Noguera casts doubts that testing results indicate anything other than economic advantage.  The inconvenient fact here is that IQ type testing is fairly stable over time per individual and has a long  documented correlation with achievement.  Worse, there is no good replacement beyond the various national tests the various districts use that doesn't come with its own series of trade offs.There are real issues here with equity but this was not fairly or intelligently argued
5. There's a quick hit piece on private testing that follows. Its a privilege of wealth despite the district offering it for free to anyone qualifying for FRL.   Note: test prepping exists for group tests like the cogat also. There are several test centers in Bellevue that offer sessions for this.
6.  There's a criticism of the fact the district identifies in Kindergarten without realizing that its a state requirement that every district must follow.
7.  The section on Rainier scholars talks about how they only select students outside the HCC program which is patently false.
8. The section on TAF again is interesting but there is no data to back up its approach vs what occurs in an entire school district.  I really like what TAF is doing and an article on it going into depth would actually be interesting. I assume they are a lot more promising than Federal Way but again in a selective much smaller pool.

Workshop

Be A Change Agent for Your Gifted Child

Using the Latest Neuroscience and Physiological Research

Saturday, May 20, 2017

9:30am - 5:00pm

Effective advocacy for gifted students requires both knowledge and skill. This ground-breaking workshop delivers both in one sitting!

Presented by nationally recognized experts in the field of giftedness, you will start the morning by learning the latest neuroscience and physiological research on giftedness. In the afternoon, you will learn to put that new knowledge to work with proven techniques that will make your advocacy efforts a success.

You'll walk away understanding: 

• What giftedness is and how it impacts your child's experience in the world
• The neuroscience behind gifted traits and behaviors
• How to overcome perceptions of elitism when advocating for gifted students
• How to drive change using industry-proven project management and change management methodologies

$99 adult registration ($75 for a second family member). 

MORE INFO & REGISTER HERE: 

http://tinyurl.com/groworkshop 

Lunch and workbook included.

Two Tiers

"It looks like the city is giving the $2.3 mil needed for SPS to move to the 2 Tier bell schedule. They are also giving $300,000 or so to fund crossing guards at 100+ locations around the city! It still needs to be officially adopted by the Levy Oversight Committee and council, but that's a formality"