I've been extremely busy but my facebook and website for the School Board campaign are starting to take shape:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/benfortheboard/
Please take a look, like the page and share if you're interested in helping out.
What's on your minds?
10 comments:
Email from the HCS AC:
The Highly Capable Services Advisory Committee (HCS-AC) and HiCap Seattle would like to warmly invite all community members committed to the education of highly capable and twice exceptional students in Seattle to join us for our re-launch meeting this Wednesday (June 12, 2019, 7:00 p.m. in the Cascadia Elementary School library). We would like your input at this kick-off event to engage and unify the hicap/2e community on advocacy for hicap/2e students with schools, district staff, and board members on behalf of hicap/2e students, and lay plans for outreach and advocacy in the 2019-202 school year.
The HCS-AC was founded two decades ago as an independent parent group focused on advocacy for hicap students. Under Colleen Stump, we were transformed into being partners with the district and an official advisory group. In 2016, the chair of the district's Advanced Learning department was invited to participate as a co-president, but the district withdrew from this role in 2018. As a part of our re-launch, we will be merging our equity work, district liaisoning, community building, and hicap/2e advocacy with HiCapSeattle.org as a single organization.
Please join us:
Wednesday, June 12, 2019 at 7 p.m.
Cascadia Elementary School library
1700 N 90th St, Seattle, WA 98103
You may recall last fall that we shared a summary from the community survey on HC/AL. A high percentage of respondents with children in the HCC program shared similar concerns coalescing around these issues:
· Need for equitable identification practices and evidence-based practices in service delivery
· Low confidence in SPS plan for HC/AL curriculum
· Low confidence in SPS plan for operational aspects of HC/AL services delivery
· Poor response/communication from the district
We look forward to seeing you Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 7:00 p.m., at Cascadia Elementary School, to contribute in a reboot to unify and advocate effectively on behalf of all Highly Capable Services students!
Best regards,
HCS-AC
Due to unrecognized scheduling conflicts the HCS-AC relaunch meeting scheduled for this Wednesday at Cascadia is being rescheduled to hopefully early July. More to come shortly.
Robert
How have people felt about the fifth grade at Cascadia? Fourth grade was not a great experience for us, not sure they kid learned too much, the teachers seemed kind of disengaged from our perspective, amongst other things. The previous two years were better for sure, but far from perfect. I know everyone's experience is going to be a little different, but curious if things generally improve. I've no doubt missed the deadline for private, so not clear there are other realistic options anyway, but starting to think about the future.
John
John, you are in public schools. If you want the extra special route, you'll need to pay for it.
This is how the world works.
A Friend
@A Friend, so wanting your kid to learn is "the extra special route"???
Public schools are supposed to be about...educating kids. If "not learning much" is a reasonable outcome, then we need to re-think the system--including whether or not our tax dollars should fund an unsuccessful program, whether or not education should be compulsory, etc.
low bar
@A Friend -- I hear you, and while I think you are overly cynical, I don't entirely disagree.
I've generally tried to support the public schools and have done so by keeping my kids in it, paying for them with my taxes, and of course donating far more than the suggested amounts. The nice thing for me is I do have money for private schools if I need to go that route (though have likely missed the window this year, I assume).
In any case, the teachers this year have fell far short of what I consider acceptable even accounting for the complacency and bureaucracy of the public schools. I'm merely asking if the experience others had is similar and if it improves next year to inform my decision. I've heard anecdotally that the 4th grade in Cascadia is bad, but looking to get other viewpoints.
Also, I very much agree with "low bar", I don't think it's too much to ask to have decent teachers. In the future, I will pay much more attention to the teacher contracts and how they get reviewed. I'm just one person, but I don't think we have to accept mediocrity.
John
I'm curious how people evaluate their child's experience in HCC. What data/factors do you look at when deciding whether or not the school successfully met your (and your child's) expectations?
-datadriven
Good teachers (in no particular order):
- Are excited about their subjects and communicate their excitement
- Are skilled at classroom management and able to engage most of the students in the lessons (without being harsh or punitive)
- Are actually aware of who individual kids are despite their enormous numbers of students
- Come to (504, IEP, parent conference) meetings
- Respond to concerns without getting defensive
- Seem to genuinely like children
- Are flexible when kids have already mastered something and find a way to challenge them or at least let them do their own thing
- Notice when kids are having trouble and work to find out how to support them (rather than just ignoring it or blaming the kid without any attempt to problem-solve)
- Put thought into assignments and give assignments that teach information or critical thinking rather than just evaluating the kid's ability to check off a million boxes or successfully get rid of erasure marks on posters
- Scaffold kids' developing executive functioning skills--even better, actually *teach* organizational skills
I know it's a lot to ask for, especially with large class sizes. I could never do it.
-pieinsky
Private schools also have teachers that are not that great as well. I know people who went private and switched back to public. In fact many private schools teach grade level and we found the public school program more rigorous. When they get to high school a school with lots of AP classes, lots of spectrum & HC kids for multiple grades at least 10-12, or IBX is best bet, regular IB only provides enough challenge for two years. There are honestly no guarantees at all your kid will have a stellar experience in all grades with all teachers anywhere.
Another view
UW recently revised their credit policy for IB - while credits are now given for SL, fewer credits are now given for the IB Diploma (went from 15 down to 5).
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