Monday, June 5, 2017

June '17 Open Thread

Its finally the last month of the school year.

There's a thread on the Honors For All presentation over @
http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2017/06/garfield-honors-for-all-update.html   Once again this highlights the difficult in objectively evaluating a program or curriculum.

Personally, after three years this will be the last two weeks I run the 4th/5th grade math club. Although I look forward to volunteering at the Middle School level (Talk to me if you want to join a Math club at JAMS)  I'm finding the end to be bittersweet.

Invent Washington Contest and Teacher Training
http://prodigynw.org/celebration-of-talent/

"Prodigy Northwest launched “Invent Washington” in 2013 with its first state competition held in Spokane, Washington at St George’s School on June 2nd, its second state competition held at Gonzaga University on May 17, 2014, its third competition on May 30, 2015, its fourth state competition on May 14, 2016 and it fifth competition on May 13, 2017. A total of over 240 dynamic inventions created by students in grades one through eight were on display for each of those competitions. The 2018 Paul G. Allen Invention Convention state competition has been scheduled for Saturday, March 24th, 2018."

PSA

School budgets are being set right now and it really helps to have accurate enrollment counts. If you know you're not going to attend next year please contact the office/registrar and let them know.


Article: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-america-turned-against-smart-kids/  This comes from a fairly conservation political viewpoint and I don't agree with everything here but this quote at the end stuck out at me:

"The accelerated-math community is abandoning public schools and turning to private enrichment camps, creating, as a recent report in The Atlantic described it, “a new pedagogical ecosystem—almost entirely extracurricular—that has developed online and in the country’s rich coastal cities and tech meccas.”"

What's on your minds?

75 comments:

Benjamin Leis said...

I added a reminder about the HC advisory committee meeting tonight.

Anonymous said...

Anyone going to the meeting tonight?

Anonymous said...


I caught some of the meeting so looking forward to the minutes. Madison is now the West Seattle pathway with <60 6th graders; and some of those assigned there want to go to WMS. This is after optional pathway language has been used for two years. This may not be news. It was to me. Anyone else asked about this? Was it a task force recommendation? It was not a ALTF recommendation as you are going to back-fill classes to make this happen.

Also, a lot of finessing about high school placement. Based on that and other data points, get ready Magnolia and Queen Anne as you are going to help start the next HCC HS at Lincoln.

I see four pathway high schools when Lincoln opens: Ingraham, Garfield, Lincoln and Chief Sealth. If you live in West Seattle and are in HCC you should look closely at Sealth -IB as a four year plan.

It is not our district; we just send our kids there 180 days a year.



Anonymous said...

When you keep increasing the numbers in HCC exponentially, what do you expect?

You can't have your cake and eat it, too, people.

The problem is thus: You have loved this public school outlet to death.

Complicating/mitigating factor: HC State Law (moral: Be careful what you wish for.)

Go private or know your party is on borrowed time. Most of your kids will graduate before it all hits the fan. PHEWWWW!!!

Read history. Know things change, especially when the law steps in and demands a little equity.

It was cheap while it lasted.

Lynn said...

Thanks for the info anon @ 11:12 PM. The HCSAC does not keep minutes of their meetings so it's all we're likely to hear.

West Seattle High School is expected to be the HCC pathway school. I'm more hopeful about that now that Roosevelt's principal is coming to West Seattle.
Here's the background on the pathway change: http://sps.ss8.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=15318574

Anonymous said...

Are we making predictions? I predict IB at Sealth will be dismantled. Administration has proven that they have no commitment to funding IB, and if it can't be funded by wealthy parents it will be scrapped. As well, administration has proven to be hostile to any choice assignments and is slowly dismantling choice schools in general. And, while the district claims "equity" is their primary lens -whoever controls the purse strings is planning on giving all the money to buddies in the computer software and hardware industry, and fellow EDs rather than pay for an extra counselor at a "South of the ship canal" title 1 school.

I also predict that bringing Roosevelt's principle to West Seattle High is in preparation for making West Seattle High the AP pathway for the region.

First Fairmount Park, then a few years later... " you cannot attend Thurgood Marshall" then Madison and no more access to Washington, next West Seattle High and no more access to Garfield.

Madison will only have 1 and a half sections for HCC kids next year so classes will need to be blended with Spectrum or upper grades. The year after that they will have 3 sections, but that is the biggest cohort coming through in the near future. Washington middle will be decimated, and will eventually be closed as an HCC site, sparking anger in some, but the neighborhood will want HCC gone because it is too white and Asian anyway.

Perhaps Magnolia and Queen Anne can be assigned to a "West Side" pathway once 99 reopens to relieve pressure on the north side of town.

If anyone has any sense in Admin. They will build a K-12 HCC school on the OakTree property with mixed age walk to classes in math, language arts, science, history and everything else, as needed and, and partner with North Seattle Community College to allow all the students to get a basic education for 12 whole years, and AA degree to boot. ... There are plenty of eligible students in the North of the ship canal region to fill it. That vision would be 10 years off at best anyway I bet.

Also, Seattle should suggest that if they do use Microsoft products that Microsoft needs to open a post secondary technical education school to teach software coding, network and database design, development and management, and web and app development and design, partnered with paid internships at regional facilities for our area's high school graduates, and provide scholarships for our lower income families. Gates foundation could take that on as an educational reform project.

Predictions, Fears, Wishes.

Lynn said...

Thanks for the info anon @ 11:12 pm. The HCSAC doesn't publish minutes of their meetings so we're unlikely to hear anything more.

West Seattle High School is expected to become the pathway school - not Chief Sealth. Here's the background info on the West Seattle Focus Group: http://sps.ss8.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=15318574

Oddly, Thurgood Marshall is still the pathway elementary school for West Seattle - placement at Fairmount Park is not guaranteed.

Anonymous said...

It's hopeful that now teachers are able to recommend students for HCC testing at the end of the year after they have gotten a chance to see their performance and capibilities. I don't think most gen ed teachers know about this. If we are looking for equity then there should be some sort of mandate that all teachers in gen ed classrooms recommend at least 1 student for testing every year. This would ensure that even those students who are unlucky enough to be assigned to teachers "philosophically opposed" to advanced learning grouping or differentiation have a chance to be tested. It would also ensure we are getting referrals from title 1 schools, and encourage ethnic minority referrals. The referral system is pretty biased, so we need to continue targeted universal screenings, and allow students to self-refer, or refer other classmates. What if a child knows they are bored, but are labeled as a troublemaker by others? Everyone student needs to be humbled by challenging work sometimes.

Anonymous said...

How many K and early elementary students have enough self awareness and understanding to think, huh, this is easy, I should self-refer for testing? How many more are inclined to think, huh, school is easy, I guess that's just what school is like? If it could be funded, universal screening is really the most objective and most equitable process.

Benjamin Leis said...

This is my reminder to please use an authenticated account or add a moniker the end of your posts so conversations can more easily be followed.
Thanks

Anonymous said...

I appreciate the short recap of the HCC meeting. Would you be able to elaborate on the high school discussion?

When looking at pathway schools for HCC, I hope they are considering IB schools as options, not default assignments. IB is much more limiting than AP and depending on the way it is supported and delivered by a given school, can really restrict math and science options.

Lynn said...

I agree that all students should have access to an AP school - but we should remember that many general education students are automatically assigned to IB schools. If you want students to be able to choose between AP and IB programs, Ingraham, Sealth and Rainier Beach must become option schools.

Anonymous said...

If a significant number of Ballard and Roosevelt area HCC students choose their established neighborhood school, or IB at IHS (will they continue the cap of 90 IBX students per year, even when they are opening a 500 student addition?), over some possible HCC program at Lincoln, will there be a large enough cohort at Lincoln? Looking at the heat maps, it's hard to tell.

https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/Enrollment%20Planning/Maps/datamaps/2016-17/HCC/HCC_eligible_9-12.pdf

Benjamin Leis said...

My feeling is that the path of least resistance tends to dominate. As long as the district auto-assigns every eight grader to a pathway high school they will generally go there in large numbers. Even right now, with all the fear, uncertainty and doubt about Garfield the largest number of the cohort continue to attend it.

Assuming Lincoln opens, is the pathway for HCC in the north end and is minimally welcoming I assume that the families will generally follow and its likely the so far small uptick in students choosing area reference schools will reverse.

We'll see in a few years how this really plays out.

Anonymous said...

"Even right now, with all the fear, uncertainty and doubt about Garfield the largest number of the cohort continue to attend it."

What about this year's 8th grade cohort? IBX was capped for the first time this year. 44 were waitlisted at IHS/IBX. Roosevelt HCC numbers are trending up, but we have yet to see the numbers. For families in the north end, a strong, established neighborhood school may offer the path of least resistance.

Anonymous said...

"Also, a lot of finessing about high school placement. Based on that and other data points, get ready Magnolia and Queen Anne as you are going to help start the next HCC HS at Lincoln. "
Anonymous June 6th at 11:12- Why would they just take HCC from Magnolia and Queen Anne to put at Lincoln, leaving the entire north end Ballard and Roosevelt HCC to attend Garfield when it is further away? The traffic is terrible to Garfield and only getting worse.

It makes a bit more sense for north end HCC (Roosevelt & Ballard HCC) to attend Lincoln with Magnolia and Queen Anne HCC to remain at Garfield.
-HK

Anonymous said...

@Lynn- "West Seattle High School is expected to become the pathway school - not Chief Sealth. Here's the background info on the West Seattle Focus Group: http://sps.ss8.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=15318574"

A West Seattle friend with an HCC student headed to Garfield had told me the latest news is that a West Seattle HCC AP pathway was not going to happen, they had determined not enough HCC kids.

Also, my own hunch is the district will keep an HCC AP pathway at Garfield and they would need to draw more kids than only South Seattle.
-PL

APP Dad said...

That was me before discussing the HCS AC meetings (sorry for the missing name). The AL office contained a review of programs and where the kids were coming from that went to Garfield in a general sense. What was presented was a fairly large range of AP/IB offerings. My take away was that what was once a Garfield predominance in those offerings is now much more equally distributed with Roosevelt and Ingraham on par With GHS. I hope the thought is to make 4 regional high schools.There is also a likelihood they say: you stay in your neighborhood because every schools is ready to offer X amount of AP/IB classes. Change is coming though. I believe that change includes a West Seattle HCC high school pathway. Why else would they force it to happen at Madison with less than 60 kids next year when Washington is losing so many to Meany. I was just guessing it was going to the Sealth because of IB. But what many of you have said about West Seattle is strong too. QA, Magnolia and north of the ship canal will "chose" between Lincoln or Ingraham. Garfield will be taken off the table.

Over the years we will see what that means to Garfield and Washington but I agree with the posters above it will be hard work to maintain a HCC pathway considering the current tension with both administrators.

Anonymous said...

" My take away was that what was once a Garfield predominance in those offerings is now much more equally distributed with Roosevelt and Ingraham on par With GHS".

The issue I hear over and over is not that AP classes at various high schools such as Ballard or Roosevelt are not "on the books". The schools offer only 1-2 sections of any AP class. They do not offer anywhere near the amount of sections as Garfield, making it much harder to schedule your classes. There needs to be intention and a critical mass for it to work. It they direct all HCC eligible kids to those schools and eliminate Garfield and Ingraham as pathway it could possibly work.

-LA

Anonymous said...

For the upper level classes, even Ingraham has a hard time offering a single section. IB Computer Science HL has been dropped. They may have only one section of AP Computer Science in a given year. They don't offer AP Calculus BC, and are unlikely to have enough students to continue offering IB Further Math. They may or may not offer IB Physics HL.

Anonymous said...

It would be great to hear from parents at Ballard and Roosevelt to know what the story is regarding access. Anecdotally I've not heard of kids who aren't getting access to classes at Roosevelt, our neighborhood school. Over the years, I've heard more issues from Garfield parents about having enough language teachers, and access to electives for freshman in particular are not guaranteed. So, how do ms parents really know how to plan? On paper Roosevelt and Ballard do have a lot of AP, honors and college in the high school classes, as does Garfield. But could it be that while Roosevelt and Ballard are seeing an influx of HCC kids that would have attended Garfield, that those schools will continue to offer more sections of higher level classes and Garfield might start to reduce? What will happen to Garfield's number of sections once Lincoln opens and more kids are divided? I think parents of 7th and 8th graders, like our family, are having to make some tough decisions without any guarantee of what will be offered at any high school in 3-4 years.

Anonymous said...

" But could it be that while Roosevelt and Ballard are seeing an influx of HCC kids that would have attended Garfield, that those schools will continue to offer more sections of higher level classes and Garfield might start to reduce? What will happen to Garfield's number of sections once Lincoln opens and more kids are divided?"

Garfield has offered enough AP sections for HCC kids to create a schedule that works for a very long time, prior to the enrollment boom. Garfield as well as (recently) Ingraham have hundreds of HCC kids attending, a good portion of their total school enrollment. In comparison, Ballard and Roosevelt have had ONLY about 25 HCC kids per grade per year year attending. Funding strongly plays into creating additional sections of classes. I suspect with HCC enrollment so strong, even with a split, Garfield would continue to offer enough AP sections.

I have managed programs based upon critical mass. The other neighborhood schools would be alot more tricky. There would need to be accurate projections, intentionality in HCC pathway enrollment, planning and funding for additional AP sections etc. In addition, they may not have the staff to offer more AP sections and courses.

-LA

Anonymous said...

I wish I had asked how the courses were aligning with local high schools, and if kids were given the option to take classes for high school credit over at Madison.

West

Anonymous said...

From the handout at the meeting...

Garfield had about 72 AP sections
Roosevelt had about 62 AP sections
Ballard had about 40 AP sections
Hale had about 26 AP sections
Franklin had about 24 sections
West Seattle had about 22 AP sections

Numbers

Anonymous said...

Which meeting? HCS AC?

I don't understand why Ballard and Roosevelt have such different numbers of AP sections. I know Hale has a different philosophy about advanced learning(and I don't know Franklin and WSHS very well), but I always thought of Ballard and Roosevelt as pretty similar schools.

Does anyone anywhere know how many rising HCC 9th graders stuck with their Garfield assignment this year?

NJP

Anonymous said...

Roosevelt has or had AP Latin, Spanish Lit, Human Geo, Psychology, Statistics, and Physics.. Ballard didn't have those, but Ballard had Macroeconomics, Drawing, and Biology and Chemistry that Roosevelt didn't have.

But... the number of sections would be greater if 2 sections or more of the same class is filled. So if there were 30 kids taking AP world History then that would be one section, but if there were 90 or 100 kids taking the class then that would be 3 sections.

You generally need enough students to sign up for a class to justify the classroom and the teacher, or it's cancelled. That's why there is an HCC pathway.

For instance Center school only has or had about 6 APP sections altogether. They can't really provide much for an advanced learner.

Numbers

Anonymous said...

Yeah, HCS AC.

Anonymous said...

Roosevelt, one of the largest high schools, requires all students to take an AP Human Geography class and an AP Lit and Comp class. The numbers are skewed because of this. A better comparison would look at the number of sections for specific advanced math and science classes, and take enrollment numbers into account. If one high school has 600 more students than another, they may be in a better position to offer more sections.

Anonymous said...

What is Hale's philosophy on advanced learning?

I'm not a huge fan of AP classes in general. They seem to be heavy on memorization and most colleges seem to have a pretty low cap on AP credits that will transfer anyway. It seems like to ensure enough sleep, and plenty of family and hobby time, there needs to be a cutoff on flash card courses for a healthy teen.

Oh, the required AP courses would skew numbers. To me the Roosevelt and Ballard AP offerings look pretty comparable in general. Does Ballard require AP courses too? I bet these required AP courses are a pretty poor choice for most students, or they are pretty poor AP test prep courses for those who want the college credit.

West

Anonymous said...

How many unique AP classes are offered at each school, not just number of sections? These are questions that need to be answered in the design and opening of Lincoln.

Also, as an fyi, a presentation on the building design of the IHS addition will be @IHS this Thursday, 6:30.

Anonymous said...

Unique AP courses... estimates

Center 5
Cleveland 7
Hale 11
West Seattle 12
Franklin 15
Ballard 16
Roosevelt 18
Garfield 19

Ingraham IB and some AP maybe 30 courses?
RainierBeach IB maybe 13 courses?
Chief Sealth IB maybe 16courses?

More numbers

Anonymous said...

The number of sections does make a big difference for getting the class you want.

More sections means that the class you want is offered at more times and more likely to fit in your schedule, and if there are 10 more students than expected then all the sections could be overloaded and all 10 kids could get to ale the class, but if you have just 1 section then just a couple kids can be overloaded and then there are too few kids left to hold a class for, and 8 kids don't get the class they signed up for.

West

Anonymous said...

Excuse my grammar. I can't type and think sometimes. West

Anonymous said...

To anonymous at 11:11am, I believe Garfield has all sophomores take AP World History in the same way that Roosevelt has students take AP Human Geography. So I assume both Garfield and Roosevelt have more AP classes than a school like Ballard because of that, both equally inflated. Kind of like honors for all, maybe?

To LA, you are saying that Garfield has the most AP classes, but above it doesn't look terribly significant compared to Roosevelt. How do you find the information about what classes are "on the books" as you say? I'd love to be able to track it myself next year. Will Garfield be able to retain the same number of sections once Lincoln opens? Will Roosevelt or Ballard for that matter? A few hundred kids leaving each school, plus movement of the teachers with the skills for some of these more unique AP offerings could change things quite a bit in two years. For those of us with 7th and 8th graders, we are making decisions about where to send our kids to high school without a clear picture of what our kids might be able to take by the time they are juniors and seniors.

Anonymous said...

Some schools have their master schedules posted online, so you can find out how many sections of a given course are being offered for a given year.

Good point about the movement of both students and teachers with the opening of Lincoln. Offerings may change because of the availability of teachers. One teacher has already advised my child's class of the possibility of moving to Lincoln once it opens. It was very helpful to have that information when penciling out course options for the next few years.

Benjamin Leis said...

All the high schools publish their course catalogs online. Just google search X High School course catalog if you just want to see what's offered in theory.

Anonymous said...

So... is it decided that HC is going to Lincoln or is that still up in the air? Perhaps they will offer their 5 sections of AP like Center and call it good.

West

APP dad said...

Nope. Conjecture based on the capacity issues at Garfield.

Anonymous said...

Dealing with this district reminds me of an old song,

"I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles.
Such are promises, all LIES in jest!
Still, a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest."

West

Lynn said...

Garfield does not require every sophomore to take AP World History (which is a full year class). The alternative is a semester long world history course.

Here's a link to the second semester class schedule: http://garfieldhs.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_7283/File/Academics/Master%20Class%20Schedule%202nd%20semester%202016-2017%202.8.17.pdf

Anonymous said...

APP dad, yes it's conjecture, but it's not only based on capacity issues at Garfield. The proposed boundaries for Lincoln leave more than 700 open seats at the school. It's unlikely those seats would sit empty.
BP

Anonymous said...

I had inquired with both advanced learning as well as a counselor at Ballard high school. Advanced learning told me that Ballard and Roosevelt offered almost as many AP classes, but many less sections. Last the advanced learning rep had checked, there were a "few" single section AP classes at Ballard.

A counselor at Ballard confirmed this information and told me:

"How many sections we offer of something depends on a variety of factors. I have been here for 5 years and there have been years where we offer 3 sections of AP Bio and other years that we offer two. Same goes for AP Spanish, AP Chem and a few other AP classes. We offer 1 section of AP French, AP Comp Sci, and AP Calc BC. Every other AP class we offer, has around 2 sections.

In addition, I was told seniors get "priority registration for classes which include AP classes". So if you have an HCC student lack of sections and ease of making a schedule could be problematic.

Benjamin Leis said...

I added a notice on top about enrollment.

Anonymous said...

There was something in the HCC policies or procedures or some other district document a year or so ago that said HC-identified high school students had priority access to AP classes. Does anyone remember where that was? I can't seem to find it.

DisAPPointed

Anonymous said...

To DisAPPointed's point above, do HCC students have priority in class scheduling? My child is entering Garfield as a 9th grader from out of state (private school). Child is entering as Gen Ed, not HCC, but with ERB/CTP scores in the 99th percentile. My child would qualify as HCC but we haven't pursued it, understanding that HCC designation didn't matter after 8th grade unless needed to transfer into Garfield. We bought a home in the Garfield zone specifically for kids to attend Garfield.

FNH

not mc troll said...

fnh - not believable. but you will be fine. next year no ap classes available. the next might be tougher. but then lincoln opens. you will have all the ap classes you want to have for jr. sr. years.

Anonymous said...

not mc troll - thanks for your reply, but I'm still curious to know specifically if students are not getting into the AP courses they want, and whether HCC students get priority access.

FNH

Anonymous said...

Don't you need a critical mass of students wanting AP classes, permission from the district to offer the given courses, then enough qualified staff to teach them, in order to have choices? Why would there be greater availability once Lincoln opens? Isn't it possible there will be fewer AP options, as fewer students may be assigned to Garfield? If some AP classes are reduced to one section, it gets harder and harder to schedule. Also, who do you think is going to staff Lincoln? Won't teachers from SPS schools have priority in hiring?

@FNH, I'd contact the district about testing your child for HCC - if it's too late for this coming school year, then at least in the next round of testing this fall. Boundaries will change, and who knows what will happen with program placement once Lincoln opens (your child's junior year). Best to have the HC designation if he qualifies for it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the advice. Thanks to this blog I'll revisit the Advanced Learning office. My understanding was that my rising 9th grader was no longer eligible, there is only testing of 8th graders if entering Ingraham. I have late April '17 ERB/CTP scores in hand and if we can/need to take the COGAT test we will add it to the list of tests we already plan to sit for. August will be a busy test-taking month for our kids.

FNH

Lynn said...

There is no CogAT testing for high school students. The AL office reviews their grades and test scores and a writing sample. The prompt is something creepy along the lines of "Share your feelings about being different from other students and how this has affected you."

I could not possibly get one of my kids to write an essay about such a personal topic for strangers to read. There's no chance staff at Garfield will give HC students preference for anything anyway - this would be a waste of time.

Anonymous said...

True, HC standing may mean little to nothing once at Garfield. Going through the identification process could very well be a waste of time (I, too, cringe at the suggested writing prompt). But I've also been with the district long enough to take nothing for granted. Not knowing what's planned over the next few years, for Garfield or HCC, it may be prudent to have the identification on file.

Anonymous said...

The essay may be comparatively insignificant when considering what students may need to share as part of the team building/bonding and yet to be determined curriculum in their advisories next year.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Garfield, or any SPS high school for that matter, is there any plan for implementing the 24 credit requirement for the class of 2021? The task force recommends a five period day on trimesters - is that going anywhere?

Future Lincoln? HCC parent

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the plan is to award a bunch of credits for the new required counseling period.
West

Anonymous said...

Depending on what page of the SPS FAQ sheet you read (!), summer AL testing either is or is not available to new students entering 9th grade. On the first page, it qualifies "*Summer testing is available for students entering 1st - 8th grades only," and on the second page the table notes:

*Summer testing is available for students entering 1-9th grades only. Newly tested HC 9th graders do not have a guaranteed pathway, but may apply to Garfield High School or the IBX (accelerated IB program) at Ingraham High School. Both programs are based on space availability.

Welcome to SPS. Deadline for submitting the form is August 11, 2017.

https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/advancedlearning/SummerInfoPacket2017-18.pdf

Anonymous said...

In the Superintendent Procedure 2190SP, they provide info on referrals for "Students currently enrolled in high school grade 9-11."

Students currently enrolled in high school grades 9-11 can also be referred for highly capable services for the upcoming school year through a similar (not identical) set of procedures. The high school application packet will include the following...

https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/Procedures/Series%202000/2190SP.pdf

Based on Washington State Law (WAC 392-170-078), students who are identified as Highly Capable will receive a "continuum of services" from the time that "services are started" through grade 12.

Eligibility continues through high school. If your child is not yet enrolled in 9th grade, then it seems they would be eligible for summer testing. The process may be similar to what they list for high school, including a writing sample (with a district supplied prompt), but there is a process, nonetheless. What "services" are provided is the question.

Anonymous said...

Thanks! Monday will see me at the SPS downtown office talking to someone and taking notes, and signing both kids up for the HCC test. Even if it currently makes no difference to have the HCC designation in high school, I'm quickly learning that policies here change on a whim and better to have it and not need it, than suddenly need it and not have it.

FNH

Lynn said...

Notes from the June 1st meeting of the High School Boundaries Task Force:


Ms. Davies stated families might be making choices to go elsewhere based on programs and their availability at certain schools. It would be good to have the programs at each of the schools.



Data

1. Queen Anne and Magnolia separate.

2. Data showing impact on Lincoln if Queen Anne and Magnolia attend Lincoln.

3. Capacity noted for each of the high schools.

4. 331 at Ingraham High School (outside of area); pop coming up.

5. What is the Running Start data? (If high school AP classes ended, could affect Running Start attendance.)

6. A scenario showing the high school boundary starting downtown.

7. How many high school students are downtown?

Soap Box
1. We could look at option of ending HCC pathway at Grade 8.
2. We could right-size high schools by ending pathways/discontinue HCC after grade 8.

3. Shrinking Garfield boundary depends on attendance area.
4. Lincoln zone not big enough to right size.
5. Option B&C unnecessary disruption.
6. Boundary changes that include Queen Anne/ Downtown high school – plan now for then.
7. Address the capacity solution for HCC population.


There's a new map (Option D) in the June 19th meeting materials. If that's the way they go, I expect they'll pull Queen Anne into Lincoln and end HCC high school pathways.

If they're discussing ending AP classes in high school, that will have been Ruth Medsker's input.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Lynn. Having just read through all of the posted meeting minutes (wow, lots to discuss there), a glaring issue is the lack of discussion around academic offerings. From the minutes:

Lincoln’s specialization has not been determined...Advance Learning is having conversations about whether Lincoln will be HCC...If high school AP classes ended, could affect Running Start attendance

It is not the role of the HS Boundary Task Force to determine academic offerings, yet without someone making decisions around programming and AL offerings, how are they going to right size high schools? And "If high school AP classes ended?" The largest district in the state, and they'd actually consider ending AP classes? Is it just a numbers exercise, or are they actually entertaining the idea of ending AP classes??

murray said...

Does anyone know whether first graders are given COGAT Level 7 or whether they get Level 5/6...I read somewhere that the test level corresponds to age but I'm not sure whether this is actually the case.

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

They are actually discussing ending high school AP classes? Let me guess: for equity sake. I guess that's one way to reduce the achievement gap.

Sad

Anonymous said...

That makes no sense. Why would SPS "end offering AP classes"? I envision they will expand AP offerings at more high schools and perhaps add more sections due to demand. Are AP classes more expensive to run? If not, I highly doubt this will happen.

-B

Anonymous said...

Look at the district distribution of HC qualified students and ask if AP offerings would expand equally at all schools if the HC pathways ended. Which schools would potentially see expanded AP offerings? Ballard and Roosevelt.

http://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/Enrollment%20Planning/Maps/datamaps/2016-17/HCC/HCC_eligible_9-12.pdf

Anonymous said...

All schools should have access to AP offerings. If the classes are full, a new section should be added. Is this feasible at all schools? I don't know. But all kids should have access to AP or IB courses if they choose. If the high school cannot support the kids who want/need AP courses, those kids should get to attend a high school that can accommodate them.
-B

Anonymous said...

I think/hope we are reading something into the minutes that isn't there. They include pictures of the handwritten notes, and this is what they actually wrote down about ending AP classes:

"Running Start Data
All HS AP classes ->pgm impact on HS
If opted to end that, does theoretically have comparable pgm"

Two things of note:
1. It's written directly in between two bullet points about Garfield, so it could also be a reference to AP classes/HCC pathway at Garfield.
2. The antecedent of "that" might be "the situation where all High schools offer AP classes" vs "All AP classes in the entire district"

deciphering

Anonymous said...

@ deciphering, that might be the case. I emailed Jon Halfaker about the AP classes issue since he was at the meeting, and his response was this:

There has been no discussion of ending AP classes at high schools. I can't recall that specific comment off the top of my head but I can be clear that ending AP was not a discussion point.

Asked Jon

Benjamin Leis said...

I added a quick link about the new Lakeside micro-school.

Anonymous said...

From the Fairmount Park newsletter. How does this compare to what is currently being done with ELA in HCC?

"We received scores of boxes containing the new English Language Arts
(reading and writing) materials recently adopted by SPS. The staff is excited
because it’s been 17 years since the last language arts adoption. Our entire
teaching staff will be meeting during the summer to learn more about using
the materials. All three principals of HCC sites decided to use the materials at
one grade level above for our HCC students. Because the majority of our HCC
students are at or just above grade level standards in writing, we weren’t
comfortable accelerating students by two years. It’s far easier to accelerate
reading instruction than to decelerate writing instruction."

- Wondering

Anonymous said...

I can confidently say my 3rd grader did very little reading and writing compared to in 2nd grade--both years at Cascadia. I think he did more in first grade at his neighborhood school, in fact. This year has been all about Ruler so far as I can tell. :-/

Looking forward to 4th grade with new teachers, new curriculum and a new school.

Anything will be an improvement.

Bring it


Anonymous said...



yeah you heard of two forward and one back. sps hcc/app since mgj has been two back and and occasionally one forward. paired with two back for spectrum and never one forward.

good luck folks.

Anonymous said...

For those with students on the IBX pathway - best of luck. They are effectively truncating the program to 3 years for next year's seniors (and the next couple of cohorts until IBX is no more?). It's bleak. Had students had more advance notice they might have had options - possibly apply for college early, plan full-time Running Start or a gap year, or even switch back to the neighborhood school during open enrollment.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 3:53pm, can you please clarify? Do you mean that for this year's incoming seniors on the IBX track they are essentially done, that IHS doesn't have anything else for them? Were there classes they were told they'd get this coming year that they now won't? What is going to be different in the next few years than how things have always been re: IBX?

Anonymous said...

When the Class of 2018 enrolled in the IBX program, a 4 year prospective course of study suggested they would offer 12th grade, post-IB English and social science courses taught by college faculty. For math and science, they have the option of AP Stats or AP Calc, and an IB science course. The course of study also suggested they could take a 5th or 6th year of World Language (IHS is a pathway for language immersion students).

When enrolling for courses this spring, they were told they don't need to take a history class as they've already met minimum graduation requirements, and no college in the high school SS course was offered. They have the option of taking an IB elective, so still workable for most. For the past few years they had a 12th grade British Lit class as an English option, but it won't be offered next year. Disappointing, but they were told they could sign up for a yet to be created 12th grade college in the classroom English class. Sounds okay, but they've just been informed only one section will be offered - capped at 34 students - and it just happens to be offered at the same time as band. If there is a scheduling conflict, they have been told they can take a class online (they are on their own finding and paying for the class), enroll in Running Start (difficult to schedule and enroll with counselors gone for summer), or take the non-honors 12th grade English. For World Languages, some students were told they couldn't take a class junior year if they had already taken the IB World Language exam their sophomore year. I'm not sure how that played out and what they are offering for senior year.

Families knew going in that senior year was loosely defined, but at the time there seemed to be a sincere effort on the school's part to offer a 4 year program, with advanced English and SS offered for IBX seniors. There is now a concerted effort to shift HCC students to a traditional IB pathway in 11th-12th grade. The cohorts who entered when IBX was the default, however, are feeling left in the lurch with a piecemeal senior year (was it better in previous years?). It was suggested they have technically met state graduation requirements with the IB diploma work, meaning they don't have to offer much at this point (?), even though they haven't met minimum 4 yr college admission requirements.

Bottom line is that the IBX cohorts will be even smaller for the next few years (until it is no more). Come 12th grade, it seems unlikely IHS will have much in the way of advanced English/SS course options, or more advanced math and science offerings, for those completing the diploma in 11th.

Anonymous said...

Can you please clarify why they would not have met four year college entrance requirements having completed the ib diploma? What would be missing?

Anonymous said...

Ben, can you please post this webinar event...perhaps in body of July open thread:

https://www.cysalesteam.com/seng/event/social-and-emotional-development-of-twice-exceptional-students-what-does-the-research-say

"Social and Emotional Development of Twice-Exceptional Students: What does the Research Say?"

July 6th, 2017 4:30pm - 6:00pm (PDT)Cost: $40.00

Presenter: Megan Foley-Nicpon

High ability students with disabilities may have unique social and emotional profiles in comparison to their peers. In this webinar, Foley-Nicpon will review the research regarding common social and emotional difficulties twice-exceptional students may face. She will also discuss the psychosocial components of talent development and how these domains may manifest differently among high ability students with disabilities. Research-based strategies and interventions also will be discussed.

Foley-Nicpon is the highly respected Associate Director of the Belin-Blank Center.

@2e