May Open Thread

Here we are again. There's a slow moving capacity crunch at Cascadia that will come to fruition next year (and at least one at the H.S. level coming behind it). I was talking with a friend who joked "I could post my senior college philosophy thesis" and if it were labelled as being about capacity in the schools everyone would read it.  There's a lot of truth to that. 

My goals at this point are to daylight as much of the staff's thinking as possible along the way, push to have a decision voted on as soon as possible and forward any interesting ideas we as a community come up with on.

Teacher Appreciation Week

I thought this article was fairly interesting: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-ewing2/appreciating-teachers_1_b_9807046.html

"The teaching profession needs two things in order to thrive—respect and trust. The two go together. You can say nice words and be grateful to teachers, but if you do not trust them as professionals, you are not showing them respect. Trust means giving teachers (appropriate) autonomy in their classrooms, but it also means giving them influence over policy—real influence, not a few token teachers on some committee—and it means giving them control over their own professional growth. We need to stop fixing teachers and create environments in which teachers themselves fix their own profession. We need to trust them to do so."

Lincoln High School Updates:

Design team blueprints and notes are up at: http://bex.seattleschools.org/bex-iv/lincoln-building/school-design-advisory-team/

Math Culture:

Congratulations to Edward who is a 7th grader at Lakeside.  One of my passions is increasing our district's participation in more of these events in Middle School and High School.

Administrativia

Google informs me that you can now use SSL and connect to the blog via https://discussapp.blogspot.com

What's on your minds?

Cascadia PTSA Round Table with Flip Herndon and Rick Burke

I'm just back from the general PTSA meeting tonight at Lincoln. Very generously, school board member Rick Burke and Flip Herndon the assistant Superintendent in charge of facilities and capacity came out to answer questions and hold a community round table after the general business was completed. For those hoping for new information about all of the impending capacity issues, the short answer is that not much has shifted since the last time I saw Flip in person.  All the key decisions, geo-splits, boundary zones etc. are still up in the air and won't be resolved until next Fall at the earliest.

However, there were a few interesting points raised. During  the principal talk, Rina announced next year's confirmed enrollment for Cascadia is currently at 732 which is actually down from this year although the window to join is still open.  We talked again after it was over and she made a special plea for those families who haven't officially committed to enroll as soon as possible. This will make the staffing and budgeting process easier for the staff.  She also mentioned that she is involved in the K-5 English/Language Arts curriculum adoption process. I hope to look into the materials further at some point and post about it.

I had mentioned here that Flip had three children enrolled in the district. He added on tonight that one of his kids was involved in the HCC qualification process this year. If its any comfort to those of you who also went through the process, the senior staff share your pain: Flip mentioned missed screening deadlines and late status notifications.

On the subject of whether Cascadia will split, there was little new information but his tone made it seem likely.

• Apparently the district is trying hard to avoid portables on the new site. This was stressed.
• The new K-3 teacher student ratios have further reduced the capacity of the building absorbing all the flex spaces that were planned.
• The 660 capacity numbers are the "right size" for the building.
• If there is a split, the district will try to identify a cohort of  around 150 students. Note: for comparison Fairmount Park has about 164 HCC students.
• The only possible site that came up by name in his talk was the Decatur Building. 

There was a brief mention also of the Hamilton Capacity issues for next year. The district is still trying to get permission from the city Landmark Commission for a one year placement of 2 double wide portables on the blacktop. This will be decided hopefully by mid May.

High Schools were talked about as well. Flip mentioned Garfield is projected to reach 2400 students in a few years without adjustments being made. He also said conversations were being had about whether to make Ingraham the default High School placement for the north end rather than an option despite this year's enrollment issues.

Finally, in a brief comment Rick Burke mentioned that the district is 11 curriculum adoptions behind and doesn't have the budget to get those done as quickly as he would like. So any HCC specific materials are very unlikely and that instead the adoptions are being done with an eye towards textbooks that will serve both the gen-ed and advanced learning communities.

One editorial note: If you're planning ahead its best to make peace with the lack of certainty and assume that you will be geo-split. The capacity  and budgetary constraints are only getting more severe.

Sixth Grade Math Placement Policy Redux

Recently I had another conversation with the Math Coordinator for the district while looking into the opt-up form and at that point the old policy still was intact. However, events have moved forward and it looks like placement will be a more site based  decision after all.


From Principal  Paula Montgomery at JAMS:

"Since there is no longer the use of MSP and MAP data, we are attempting to create an equitable and clear process to get every student in the most appropriate math course.

Our intent is this:

-          We value 5^th grade teachers recommendations but at the same time we want to make sure that students are not overlooked in non-HCC schools and that 5^th grade teachers are not over-burdened with recommendations. At JAMS we have a few students from neighborhood schools who are in Algebra and are quite successful. About 1/3 of our HCC population comes from neighborhood schools.

-          We are finding that SBAC scores are coming back to us within a few weeks. Even last summer, we were able to use 5^th grade SBAC scores as one of the measures for students requesting a higher math placement.

-          We also want to  respect parent decision to have their students not take the SBAC, but need a consistent measure of the students mastery of specific skills.

-          At JAMS, we believe that all students should have mastery of 7^th grade math standards prior to Algebra. We have a small group of students who move from “7^th grade math” to Algebra. The above criteria is in-line with the same criteria that we are using for our current students in Math 7.

We have collaborated with Hamilton and Washington so that we are similar in our placement decisions, but I am not sure how completely align/ed we are as all schools are now moving quickly since receiving our 5^thgrade information. JAMS is a bit different than both school as we group our students by level and by grade level. For example, we have a 6^thgrade only algebra class. Our 6^th graders in 8^th grade math, have only other  6^th graders in their classes. "

I'll see if I can get the equivalent policies from the other Middle School buildings. If anyone has any information please add it on.

2016-2017 Ingraham IBX Admissions

I'm setting up a separate thread for discussing admissions to next year's ninth grade class at Ingraham.
What I know so far:

• At least 30 families were waitlisted and assigned to their neighborhood reference school rather than Garfield.
• Some other number may  have been just assigned to their neighborhood school.
• The official district policy on the website which has always been followed up until now:

The IBX (Accelerated International Baccalaureate) program at Ingraham High School is currently available to all students identified as HC. Eligible students who wish to exercise this option, need to complete a school choice form during Open Enrollment, but not later than May 31st. Students who apply during Open Enrollment, are guaranteed seats. They may also apply after Open Enrollment; however, in this case, assignment would depend on space availablility. If a student applies for this program and is not assigned, the student’s default assignment will still be in effect (unless they apply for and are assigned to another school)."

https://www.seattleschools.org/students/academics/advanced_learning/open_enrollment_information/

• Enrollment is a district function, so the people to  possibly contact are:

1. Enrollment
2. Advanced Learning
3. The district ombudsman.
4.  Board Members.

I've sent out a few inquiries of my own. Please add any information that you discover and if anyone is organizing any group action. In addition if you are not on the waitlist I'd like to know just to get an idea of the total # of people affected.  I'm  still hopeful that this will be amicably resolved since no procedure was followed to alter any of the policies. 

SBAC Testing Season

Spring SBAC testing is starting fairly soon for most students.  Based on the data last year most HCC students did not opt out despite some  more vocal statements of opposition. (See: 2015 Testing Results).  As this is a subject that I'm very concerned about I thought we should have a thread on it. Here's a sample of the two poles of opinion on the subject.

Opt Out

https://dianeravitch.net/2016/04/11/why-every-child-should-opt-out/

"Want to end the obsession with standardized testing? Opt your children out of the state tests. Ignore the threats from state and federal officials. The tests today have taken over too much of the school year. Teachers should prepare and give tests that cover what they taught.


What if all students opted out of testing? That’s democracy in action. The elected officials who mandate these tests would take notice. They might even discover that no high-performing nation in the world tests every child every year.


The tests today are pointless and meaningless."

https://iamaneducator.com/2016/04/21/off-the-deep-end-the-swim-test-vs-the-standardized-test/

This one's from local educator Jesse Hagopian:

"Parents and teachers across the country have united to demand an education system that recognizes children’s needs aren’t satisfied by filling in bubbles on an exam. So, before we throw our schools into the deep end, let’s demand authentic assessment now!"

Opt In

http://edexcellence.net/articles/draft-essa-regulations-a-mixed-bag-for-educational-excellence

"Before ESSA, a No Child Left Behind provision required all students to take the same tests. As it was interpreted by both the Bush and Obama administrations, the provision also barred material from those tests that was significantly above or below grade level. As a consequence, most current assessments do a lousy job of measuring academic growth by pupils who are well above grade level. They just don’t contain enough “hard” questions to allow reliable measurement of achievement growth at the high end. In other words, the ceiling on those tests is so low that most advanced students can pass them even before the school year starts. 

Thankfully, ESSA allows computer-adaptive tests (CATs)—such as those developed by the Smarter Balanced consortium—to be structured and administered in ways that measure growth at every level, without overburdening any student with a ridiculously long paper-and-pencil test. And if combined with a real academic growth accountability model—one that holds schools to account for ensuring that all their students make progress over the course of the school year—this can finally create incentives for schools to attend to the further learning of their high-achievers. Making sure that every state allows for above-grade-level testing is critically important as we implement ESSA."

Some Facts:

• Advanced learning had initially publicized that starting next year you will need to take the standardized tests in order to qualify but not to maintain eligibility in AL programs.  Even that seems to have been rolled back.
• If you want to opt-out the usual procedure is to email your teacher and sometimes building coordinator or principal.
• 5th grade SBAC data is being used by some Middle Schools for math placement although there are alternatives.

April Open Thread

Open issues I'm monitoring

• The tail end of the testing season.
• Capacity decisions related to Hamilton, Cascadia and Garfield.
• The West Seattle HCC Pathway
• SBAC Testing season.

Articles

A high level analysis of the outcomes for students where tracking is more prevalent. 

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/brown-center-chalkboard/posts/2016/04/04-math-class-tracking-equality-sablich

"The second section investigates whether tracking in eighth grade is related to Advanced Placement (AP) outcomes in high school. Tracking, the practice of grouping students into different classes based on ability or prior achievement, is a controversial topic. Critics argue that tracking creates or reinforces social inequities. Middle school is when students first experience tracking, typically in mathematics. In eighth grade, the tracking question currently boils down to whether high achieving students who are ready for a formal algebra course will get one—or whether all students will take the same general math course.

Is middle school tracking related to either AP participation or test scores? State-level tracking data from 2009 and AP data from 2013 are used to tackle the question. States that had a larger percentage of eighth grade students in tracked math classes produced a larger percentage of high-scoring AP students four years later. The heightened AP performance held across racial subgroups—white, black, and Hispanic. There was no relationship between tracking and AP participation. Taken together, these findings suggest the heightened performance was not a result of increased selectivity into AP.  "

Update on Robert Eagle Staff Middle School:

As work continues on the new Robert Eagle Staff Middle School, we are excited to announce that Marni Campbell has been appointed as the new principal who will lead the final year of planning and the opening of the school in September 2017. Since this new school will draw students from multiple programs throughout the Seattle Public Schools northwest region, as well as a few schools in the northeast region, we are sending this announcement to families in both regions.
Throughout the coming year, Ms. Campbell will work with students, families, community and staff to build a vision for the new middle school, hire the core administrative and instructional team, meet with students and families of the schools feeding into the new middle school to ensure a smooth transition, and closely monitor all aspects of the construction and opening of the new building.
Ms. Campbell is returning to Seattle Public Schools, having served as the executive director of instruction and innovation for Highline Public Schools since 2013. During her time with Seattle Public Schools, she served as an assistant principal for Mercer Middle School, principal for Eckstein Middle School and Nathan Hale High School, and as an executive director and assistant superintendent supporting the Teaching and Learning and Special Education Departments.
A current doctoral candidate at the University of Washington, Ms. Campbell holds a master’s in teaching and learning from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, a master’s in English literature and a bachelor’s in English from Brigham Young University.
Ms. Campbell brings a constant emphasis on equity to her work. She has a clear understanding and dedicated focus on Special Education, English Language Learners (ELL) and Advanced Learning programs. Ms. Campbell’s attention is on all students, not just some students. She has a strong desire to connect the students, school and community to the legacy of Robert Eagle Staff and the lands the school will occupy.
We will set up opportunities for building staff, students and families to meet your new principal. Thank you for the high expectations you set for every student, and for all you do.
Please join me in welcoming Ms. Campbell to Seattle Public Schools and the McDonald International Elementary community.
Sincerely,

Stephen Nielsen, Deputy Superintendent
Seattle Public Schools

Teaching and Learning Oversight meeting

The slides for the upcoming teaching and learning board meeting have quite a few Advanced Learning pieces

http://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/15-16agendas/04212016/20160421_OSW_Teaching&LearningPartII_Packet.pdf

Opportunities Slide:

• Increase efficiency in eligibility identification process
• Increase program and process accessibility 
• Meaningful services that meet the academic needs of Highly Capable students available at all attendance area schools 
• Opportunity to identify and serve students who are Highly Capable in a single domain 
• Streamline and condense the eligibility testing window
• Facilitate secured parent/guardian access to student information and progression through identification process 
• Increase equity and diversity through the approval of the proposed modifications in 2190 SP

Risks Slide:

• Continuing dependence on outdated, antiquated and unsustainable data systems
• Inconsistent achievement data collection
• Turn-around and accuracy of score reports from testing provider
• Equity and diversity initiatives hampered by inability to update 2190SP
• Existence of Spectrum identification diverts energy from Highly Capable identification and services
• Time and resources used to address, often repeatedly, misinformation disseminated throughout the community
• Potential Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act violations

I will comment that after this years events in my opinion the departments inability to understand and follow regular procedures for updating policy are the real block to making any changes to 2190SP.  Likewise, poor communication on their part is the primary reason for most discrepancies or misinformation. 

What's on your minds?

2016 Testing Results Thread Part 4

This is the 4th part to this thread continuing the discussion on the test results for this year. 

Thread Part 1

Thread Part 2

Thread Part 3

Update: Test Scores on The Source

"Eligibility decisions are being made daily. When the Multidisciplinary Selection Committee makes a decision regarding a student’s eligibility, test scores are posted in The Source. Families who have not yet received a decision letter can access their student’s scores on The Source."

I found the new AL page on the left hand side under the Library and Schoology options. It only seems to show the status i.e. HCC/Spectrum and not CogAT scores.

As of 3/28 CogAT scores are now there for at least kids who took the full test.

I'm hoping this will be the final installment in this year's testing saga. 

Differentiation Discussion

There was an ask to setup a dedicated thread to talk about differentiation.  Currently the trend in the district is towards in classroom differentiation rather than self contained classrooms for advanced learners. This is most clearly visible in the reworkings of Spectrum. but it also is occurring at the Middle School level as well.  If you look through the official advanced learning policy the phrase "appropriate differentiation, flexible grouping and/or acceleration" often shows up.

Here's some articles I've looked at recently discussing the issue:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/01/07/differentiation-doesnt-work.html

"The biggest reason differentiation doesn't work, and never will, is the way students are deployed in most of our nation's classrooms. Toss together several students who struggle to learn, along with a smattering of gifted kids, while adding a few English-language learners and a bunch of academically average students and expect a single teacher to differentiate for each of them. That is a recipe for academic disaster if ever I saw one. Such an admixture of students with varying abilities in one classroom causes even the most experienced and conscientious teachers to flinch, as they know the task of reaching each child is an impossible one."

http://www.nsgt.org/differentiating-learning-for-gifted-students/

"Differentiation is a term that is widely used in educational circles these days. There has been a noticeable increase in recent years in staff development offerings on differentiation strategies; schools’ goals and missions often use this concept in their statements; a great variety of educational literature addresses this topic. Yet, effective differentiation for the gifted student remains elusive and in too many cases, nonexistent. This article will explore some of the reasons for the current status of differentiation and offer some solutions as well." 

http://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/12.99.pdf

"IN THE PROCESS OF IMPLEMENTING STANDARDS-BASED reform, it is important to remember that the charge to provide all students with challenging mathematics and science requires consideration of high ability students. Today’s heterogeneous classrooms will include students who have advanced abilities and talents. It is essential that the needs of these gifted students not be overlooked or neglected as teachers strive to help others reach high standards

Key Components of Mathematics Curriculum for the Gifted 

■ Content with greater depth and higher levels of complexity 

■ A discovery approach that encourages students to explore concepts 

■ Focus on solving complex, open-ended problems

■ Opportunities for interdisciplinary connections (Johnson, 1993)

Key Components of Science Curriculum for the Gifted

■ Significant and deep content 

■ Emphasis on understanding concepts rather than memorizing facts 

■ An inquiry approach with students as active investigators 

■ Opportunities for interdisciplinary connections 

■ Investigating real problems and situations 

■ Guiding students toward scientific habits of mind (Van Tassel-Baska, 1994)" 

A quick skim of any of the comments here shows a lot of skepticism about the effectiveness of differentiation. On the other hand those parents who are satisfied with how things are going don't often speak up on the blog.

Questions

So with that introduction:

• How is differentiation actually working for your student?  (Please include which school you're at)
• What do you think would improve the implementation?
• Is this the right strategy for the district to pursue? 

Choosing a Middle School

We've done a High School and Elementary School Thread. By request of a parent, this is a thread for Middle School for those still struggling to make a decision.

We are trying to decide where to send our daughter for Middle School . She qualified for HCC in Kindergarten but we have kept her at Wedgwood. We live walking distance to Eckstein and many of her friends will go there. However, two of her closest friends will be at JAMS and the teachers seem to be universally great there. I have not heard the same of Eckstein. She may do music but that is not certain. She is very into reading, writing and drama.

Any advice for the parent from those who know either or both of the schools? Feel free to add any other MS questions here as well.

Hamilton Capacity Issues 2016-2017

We were already discussing  Hamilton on the the http://discussapp.blogspot.com/2016/03/52-hcs-advisory-meeting.html thread. As indicated there the principal Tipton Blish was still looking for ways to deal with next year. Events have moved forward and the following update was in the most recent HIMS newsletter.

Update on Hamilton Capacity Planning for 2016-2017
As previously discussed in our newsletter, Hamilton will be pushing to upwards of 1,200 kids this fall. Although it’s not much consolation in the near-term, the numbers will decrease the following year with the opening of Robert Eagle Staff Middle School.
To handle the overload, Seattle Public Schools is looking at two options:

Putting portables on the outside playtop. 

Adding a Highly Capable Cohort (HCC) to one of the North Seattle middle schools, like Whitman, as a precursor to the opening of Eagle Staff. Seattle Public Schools has stated that this option is unlikely given the expense of setting up an HCC cohort

Update for Hamilton Highly Capable Cohort (HCC) Students
For the 2017-18 school year, Seattle Public Schools has indicated that HCC students who live in the Robert Eagle Staff and Whitman service areas will move to Robert Eagle Staff when it opens in the fall of 2017. Grandfathering for students may be possible subject to space availability at the middle schools they are attending, however, there will probably be no room at Hamilton.

District Info on Capacity:

Hamilton capacity on page 8: http://bta.seattleschools.org/assets/Uploads/documents/20150701-2016LeviesReport.pdf

110% rule on page 6:
http://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/Migration/Departments/Capital%20Projects%20and%20Planning/itcmfaq10242011.pdf

City Permitting Status:

http://web6.seattle.gov/DPD/permitstatus/Project.aspx?id=6147629

This does seem to confirm the final occupancy inspection never was finished.  Following up with the city I've been told.

• The record shows a gymnasium with an allowable occupant load of 1149, a commons/dining hall of 957 and a fitness center or 56. These are the only areas which carry a limit.

I still have a followup question to see if there are any other fire safety related limits.  Interestingly I seem to have triggered an inquiry in the planning department. The inspector said he would be contacting the district and would email back any more info.

Cohort Size

According to  district estimates this year's 5th grade cohort is approximately 189 students at Cascadia. The 6th grade cohort is ~325 at HIMS and JAMS together. That shows how the cohort roughly doubles in size going into middle school as HC students join from neighborhood schools.  A rough estimate for the number of REMS 6th graders for next year would be in the 180 student ballpark.

2016 Testing Results Thread Part 3

Due to the large number of comments and to make it easier on mobile readers, I'm starting a 3rd part to this thread to continue the discussion on the test results for this year. 

Thread Part 1

Thread Part 2


Update: One parent  reports 3/10 that "AL office replied: "We mailed over 2,000 eligibility decision letters yesterday afternoon and continue to make eligibility decisions."

Results seem to be going out finally. So I expect we'll move into the appeal process soon.

5/2 HCS Advisory Meeting

This week's meeting occurred at Hamilton Middle School and the principal Tipton Blish attended and gave a talk.  I arrived a few minutes early and was able to ask him about the annex discussion which has gone on all year. As I mentioned in the open thread, he indicated there was no update on any Annex possibilities for next year and that  Lincoln did not have space so it was not very likely to be used.  Since there really isn't anything obvious besides Lincoln near by that means its likely that the building will have to work one more year until Eagle Staff M.S. opens. He also indicated that he is still working on the issue so that does leave the window open for late changes.

During the formal talk Tip indicated that 2/3's of the students at HIMS are advanced learners either in Spectrum or HCC. From his perspective the teachers are doing an amazing job. After the split in a year, he expects that the program will stay at the building and in the north end roughly even groups of HCC students will go to all 3 middle schools (JAMS, HIMS REMS).  He also has no part in the feeder patterns and offered no updates on how the split is going to work out.

One nice part of having him there is that it was mentioned in the intro that the LA/SS alignment meetings were going on with participation from all middle schools except Hamilton.  That was news to Tip and he indicated he would follow up on it. So we'll see if something develops here. He then took a series of questions:

• On Spectrum vs. HCC he feels the differences are mostly seen in skills i.e. more complex writing and higher expectations while the content can be similar.  In a followup he stressed that Middle School was also more about building skills versus specific content and that he expected differentiation to occur in each room.
• He directly called out the narrative from Garfield parents that HIMS students are less prepared than WMS ones "I think its false"
• Currently the district is projecting 1176 students next year.  That up about 80 students.
• There was a secondary discussion about capacity where the fire code was brought up. Basically, the assertion is that the fire safety limits are way beyond the buildings current students and the fire department will not prevent overcrowding. 
• There was also an interesting question about Spectrum Science which is not currently offered. The science teachers present mentioned that HCC science is 2 years ahead rather than advanced so there is no concept of honors science to do currently.

At the very end there was a quick update from the Ingraham representative. I asked a few questions here. They have decided to go with a honors physics option  for 10th grade rather than an AP one. One question which I asked but this was probably the wrong audience was whether there had been any though about how the Lincoln H.S. rollout would affect IB students. Hopefully, students will not be assigned out of their program but this is an issue to keep an eye on.

March Open Thread

We're almost out of the testing season.  Hopefully the final updates will be arriving for everyone shortly.  Please keep discussing them on the test results thread and thanks again for all the updates everyone has given. I'm also hoping many of you will keep reading and commenting afterwards (although under less stress).

Part of the slight delay for this thread was that I attended HCS advisory meeting last night at HIMS and will with any luck put up a longer posting soon. There were no representatives from the AL office present so I unfortunately have no news from there. The most interesting point I took away from the meeting occurred while chatting with Tipton Blish.  I asked about an annex for next year at Hamilton.  His response was that while he had and continued to pursue any options that it looked very unlikely at Lincoln due to the lack of the space.

Also on other fronts, there was the recent Madison Middle School HCC startup outreach meeting. If anyone has any further impressions of what occurred I'm sure everyone would be interested to hear about it.


There's a thread on the Save Seattle Schools blog about the current HCC testing season: https://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2016/03/about-highly-capable-dear-directors.html
I generally think its good to express your opinion and more individual letters would make a more powerful statement. That said, a group letter on the testing process if people would be willing to sign their full name might also serve a purpose. I could see setting something up on change.org.

What's on your minds?

2016 Testing Results Thread Part 2

Due to the large number of comments and to make it easier on mobile readers, I'm starting a new thread to continue the discussion on the test results for this year.

Thread Part 1

I'll repeat my main advice for for those waiting on results to try not to panic. While this is clearly frustrating for many:

1. You will not lose a spot at the HCC school regardless of how late the district processes the scores. Just make sure to follow the procedures and register for it during enrollment (which is ongoing until March 1st). On top of that, you actually have until May 31st to reconsider and still go to the pathway school. 


2. There is no point trying to send in appeals prior to receiving the initial decision. I would recommend emailing after posted deadlines for decisions and following up until they are answered. I don't believe the office has the capacity to manage out of order paperwork and I'd worry that it would be more likely to get messed up.

And thank you to everyone who has posted updates as they've received communication from the district.

Update: latest schedule is mid March for all the letters.

"While we expected to have all eligibility decisions communicated by Feb. 29, technology-related obstacles have delayed the process. We are working diligently to make and notify families of eligibility decisions. We anticipate that nearly all families will be notified (by at least one means) by mid-March. For quicker results, some families will receive an email with their students’ eligibility decisions (without names or scores) prior to their letters being printed and mailed. We appreciate your patience as we continue this work at a pace that allows us to make the appropriate and careful decisions that our students deserve."

Update:  this is the latest mailing from 3/4 

Thank you for referring your student for Advanced Learning or Highly Capable eligibility. We have completed the testing schedule and are in the process of mailing eligibility letters to families. If you have not yet received your eligibility letter, we anticipate that you will receive it by mid-March. 

The Open Enrollment for School Choice window closed March 1, and we noted in a previous email that you could enroll your child during that window even if Advanced Learning/Highly Capable eligibility had not yet been confirmed. If, however, you did not enroll during this time, we want to provide the following information: 

ALO/Spectrum for Families of Students in K-4 All students deemed eligible for Advanced Learning are eligible to participate in Advanced Learning Opportunities (ALO) at their attendance-area elementary school. No Choice form is required, and ALOs vary by building. If you would like your child to participate in a Spectrum program at a Spectrum-designated elementary school, you will need to fill out a School Choice form. You have until May 31 to submit the form. Assignment is based on space availability and tiebreakers, and it is not guaranteed even if your form was submitted by March 1. 

ALO/Spectrum for Families of Students in 5-7 All middle school students deemed eligible for Advanced Learning will automatically be assigned to Spectrum at their attendance-area middle school, although a seat is not guaranteed. No Choice form is required. You only need to fill out a School Choice form as an “opt-out” – if you wish your child to attend a different middle school or K-8 for Spectrum, for example. You have until May 31 to submit the form. Assignment is based on space availability and tiebreakers and is not guaranteed.

• Exception: Newly eligible students in grades 6 or 7 who have chosen to attend a middle school outside of their attendance area must submit a Choice form to return to their attendance-area middle school for Spectrum. Assignment is based on space availability and tiebreakers and is not guaranteed.

Highly Capable Cohort for Families of Students in K-7 All K-7 students deemed eligible for Highly Capable services are guaranteed a spot in the Highly Capable Cohort (HCC) in their pathway elementary/middle school. You will still need to complete a School Choice form in order to enroll them in the cohort at the pathway school, but it is not due until May 31. You also have until May 31 to enroll them in the cohort in a different cohort school (not in your pathway), but that assignment is not guaranteed. It is based on space available and tiebreakers.The School Choice forms posted to the School Choice page provide more details on the enrollment process: http://www.seattleschools.org/admissions/school_choice 

2016 Testing Results Thread

This notice showed up on the SPS website today:

"Mailing Error Halts Advanced Learning Test Result Distribution 

Due to a mailing error, 348 letters of student test results were mailed to wrong addresses. The error, identified and reported by a Seattle Public Schools staff member, occurred at the beginning of a mailing of an estimated 1,200 letters from Advanced Learning.
The letters contained the following information: student name, school district student identification number, and the student’s test results and eligibility status. No other personal information was released. The district is conducting a full review of systems used to sort and mail letters with student information."

At this point at my workplace we would probably schedule a post-mortem meeting to analyze the string of mistakes, look for commonalities and see what process could be improved for next time.

At any rate, we were overdue for a thread discussing the testing results and perhaps questions about appeals. Right now, its very helpful for the other families to know when the  letters start arriving.  So if you're comfortable, please post when you receive any notice and include when your child was tested.

Robert Eagle Staff Middle School Principal Hiring Meetings

Here's an update from a parent on the new middle school. Note: there are still 2 more meetings coming up next week on the hiring process as well.  I expect enrollment choices i.e. rollup vs geosplit to be made about 12 months prior to opening.

"Long story short, the Robert Eagle Staff Middle School (opening Fall 2017) is expected to serve

      1)     ALL students who live in the newly established Robert Eagle Staff service area (Greenwood, Olympic View, Northgate, Broadview-Thomson, Daniel Bagley).  This includes students who want to take part in the HCC program as middle schoolers.

      2)     And ALSO all students who live in the Whitman Service area who want to take part in the HCC program as middle schoolers.

All families of students grades 4, 5 and 6 who might meet this description are welcome to attend the Principal Planning meetings.

Robert Eagle Staff Middle School Principal Hiring Meetings - UPDATED!

In September 2017, a new middle school will open in the NW Region.

Robert Eagle Staff Middle School will serve all students from Greenwood, Olympic View, Northgate, Broadview-Thomson, Daniel Bagley attendance areas as well as middle school students who are enrolled in the HCC program and who live in the Whitman service area.

Meetings to discuss the hiring of the planning principal for this new middle school will be held at four sites. Parents of current 4th and 5th grade students are invited to attend to hear more about the hiring process and the planning that the new principal will lead during 2016-2017 to ensure a successful launch of the new school. These meetings are intended to address the hiring of a new principal and will not address questions regarding enrollment, boundary questions, and so forth. Those issues will be addressed at meeting to be scheduled at a later time.

Parents of 6th grade middle school students who live in the areas served by the elementary schools listed above are invited to attend, as are parents of 6th grade HCC students who live in the Whitman service area.

Meetings are scheduled on the following dates and times:

Thursday, Feb. 18 at Northgate Elementary (7 PM to 8 PM)

Wednesday, Feb. 24 at Greenwood Elementary (7 PM to 8 PM)

Thursday, Feb. 25 at Cascadia Elementary Auditorium (6:30 PM to 7:30 PM)

All meetings will take place in the lunchroom unless otherwise noted at the school site. Spanish language services will be provided at Northgate and Greenwood. These meetings will be hosted by Jon Halfaker, the Executive Director for Schools in the NW Region.

Learn more about the new school on the Seattle Public Schools' Building Excellence Program website"

Making a decision about HCC Elementary School (Cascadia, Thurgood Marshall, Fairmount Park)

Now that tours are starting up, its time for many new families to make decisions about whether to choose their HCC pathway school. To start things off  I have a request from a parent for opinions about the program at Cascadia.

"Specifically, I want to learn more about experiences with the project-based learning model and environmental stewardship (at Cascadia)."

Tours

Cascadia

2016 Cascadia Information Evenings will be on Wednesday, February 24 and Thursday, April 7 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in Cascadia's Auditorium.

Advance reservations for the Information Evenings are required and are for adults only. Please sign up for an evening if you have kindergarten through 4th grade students who you think will qualify for HCC.Tours are extremely large, so we ask that you not attend tours if your students are younger than kindergarten age. This program will only be in the Lincoln building until June 2017. The District Open Enrollment is Wednesday, February 17 - Tuesday, March 1, 2016.

Thurgood Marshall

Principal Katie May and the Thurgood Marshall PTA will be hosting school information sessions and tours on five days this winter and spring, including one session specially focused on the HCC program. No RSVP is needed, but you must check in at the Main Office upon arrival. Please email pta@tmlink.org if a family member needs a tour in a language other than English, such as Spanish or Vietnamese. We will do our best to accommodate you.See tour dates in the Calendar section.

Fairmount Park

February 11th :
9:00am-11:00am – kindergarten tour.


February 17th :
9:00am-11:00am – kindergarten tour.


February 24th :
9:00am-11:00am - school tour for all grades


February 25th :
9:00am-11:00am - HCC tour

General school orientation for families unable to attend during regular school hours:

February 25th:
5:30-6:30pm meeting in the library


Please call the office at 252-9300 to reserve your place on a tour.

Keep the questions comings and hopefully the rest of us can offer some useful advice.

Flip Herndon talk at Ballard High School on Capacity Issues

Another evening, another adventure in a Seattle Public Schools building I haven't been inside yet. I found myself tonight in the packed library at Ballard High School.  At first the evening started with a normal PTSA meeting. There were minutes to be approved and budget items to discuss. You could sense the anticipation in the room through all of this. The principal Keven Wynkoop even joked that while usually his speech was the highlight of the night, he knew the everyone was really waiting for Flip Herndon to speak, While Flip, the assistant superintendent in charge of facilities  was being introduced, the PTSA officer mentioned that Flip's own children attend Ingraham which I hadn't realized. It always makes me feel a bit better to find out the central staff are also parents.

His talk started with a brief mention of the general capacity issues and how all the high schools are full with the exception of Rainier Beach. For those in the SE Quadrant, he also gave a shout out to the IB program there and its successes which one could interpret as an official sign of administration support.

Onto the real meat of the talk:

• Assuming the current BTA and Operations levies pass, we will build the 500 seat addition to Ingraham High School.
• Lincoln will have an additional 1600 seats which when completed in combination with the above space will just meet the immediate needs in the next few years for the north end.
• The district actually still needs one more comprehensive high school which they really want to place near Queen Anne. The current first choice is to build on the Memorial Stadium site in the Seattle Center. However, this is governed by a covenant with the city that will have to be renegotiated. (And the city really wants the land back)
• There are no decisions yet on the boundaries or a rolling start vs. an immediate geo-split. This was probably the most emotional topic for the crowd since many were worried about having to move their kids potentially even in the Senior year to the new high school.  The district wants to have these decision made 18 months prior to opening and will start planning this 10-11 months from now.
• Interestingly Flip has gone back to the 1970's boundary maps as a starting point back when the district still had 12 high schools and ~75000 students vs. our current ~54000.
• The total cost of the renovation of the Lincoln building is now around 75 million dollars.
• In the meantime all the overcrowded schools including Ballard, HIMS, Garfield are just going to have deal with being overcrowded. There's no interim plans to help out at least for now.
• There was also a discussion about the fields spaces. The district is renegotiating its master agreement with the park department. That includes discussion on the use of lower Woodland Park for Lincoln High School. For those worried about crumb rubber fields the district has heard parent concerns but is apparently waiting on more definitive research, They also have not put out bids yet for the work on various sites and so may still change their ultimate decision. Unfortunately, I didn't find out if that included the Wilson Pacific site.
• Flip gave the first official confirmation that I've heard that Cascadia may be split due it being too large to fit on the new site. This decision will be made sometime this Spring and there is no idea about what other sites could be used (mostly because everywhere is full).
• I also asked at the very end about the Decatur Building. Currently there is no plan yet for how it is to be used.

On a lighter side before the meeting started I was able to see some video from the recent Ballard High School production of Carmina Burana. It was very impressive.  I definitely encourage you to take a look at:  https://vimeo.com/149092851


Note: The capacity crunch tend to produce the most heated discussions. Please keep the conversation constructive. 

Questions about Spectrum

There's a lot of discussion of Spectrum on the Open Thread so I though it would be worth breaking it out into a separate post.

Some General Points:

• Spectrum is a building by building program and can vary quite widely in implementation.
• One thing to bear in mind when asking about Spectrum on this forum is I assume most parents have moved to HCC instead because they found it wanting and you therefore are less likely to get a balanced picture.
• If you're a prospective parent, definitely take advantage of the upcoming tours at the Spectrum sites and ask your questions there. Yes many schools are full but you never know what will happen in the open enrollment lottery so I wouldn't rule anything out based on that.

Some Larger Questions:

• There's a lot of uncertainty about the future of the program.
• I personally have questions despite having a Spectrum qualified child myself about whether 3 tiers of education is the best model for how to do things.
• I've thought in the past and this recent conversation has made me consider it again whether this blog should more directly focus on all advanced learners including Spectrum.  I'm not sure if that would dilute focus and if it would be too much work but I'm curious as always what others think.

The conversation thus far ....

Many of the comments I've read on this site are quite negative about the Spectrum program.

Is it pointless to put a Spectrum qualified child into the designated Spectrum school? (Lawton, in our case). My Kindergarten daughter isn't getting a great education where she is as the curriculum is moving too slowly for her, but from reading the comments on this site I'm not sure moving her will make much of a difference?

Thanks --

Coe parent

 Lynn said...

The first problem is that Lawton is over capacity - so your child will not be able to transfer. In a school where Spectrum students aren't in a self-contained class, seats are offered to students from outside the attendance area only when space is available.

The quality of a cluster-grouped Spectrum program is dependent on the ability and willingness of your child's teacher to differentiate instruction and the make-up of the classroom that year. This is exactly what you'll get in your neighborhood school. I don't think it's worth moving even if you had the opportunity.

Might she qualify for APP?

  Anonymous said...

Does Coe have walk to math? Isn't that kind of all you get from Lawton in Spectrum these days? It's been awhile for us so I hope someone with more recent experience will comment.

asdf

February 2, 2016 at 12:42 PM

 

 Anonymous said...

What type of advanced work have Bryant ALO students received?

- New to Bryant

  Anonymous said...

So are there any Spectrum or ALO schools that anyone thinks IS doing a good job meeting the Advanced Learners needs?

NB Parent

 Anonymous said...

NB Parent - My son is at Lafayette Elementary, which still has self-contained Spectrum (although who knows how long that will continue). He's only in first grade, so we don't have a lot of experience with Spectrum yet, but this year they are covering both first and second grade curriculum so they will be ready for third grade work next year. If they decide to get rid of self-contained classes, we'll be first in line to switch to Fairmount Park.

-Lafayette Mom

 Anonymous said...

My HCC qualified child has attended both Coe and Lawtom. Coe has an excellent ALO program. There is a math specialist doing dMany of the comments I've read on this site are quite negative about the Spectrum program. 

Is it pointless to put a Spectrum qualified child into the designated Spectrum school? (Lawton, in our case). My Kindergarten daughter isn't getting a great education where she is as the curriculum is moving too slowly for her, but from reading the comments on this site I'm not sure moving her will make much of a difference?

Thanks --

Coe parent

 Anonymous said...

@Former Coe parent. Thanks for your comment. That's interesting. Do you mind if I ask why you didn't put your child into Cascadia? Are you going to as you are unhappy with Lawton?
--Coe parent

 Anonymous said...

It used to be that Bryant was one size fit all and the ALO program meant an occasional extra worksheet in the homework. This year they're trying to differentiate a little more seriously. There's talk of a year of growth for every student. My second grader has an embryonic walk to math once a week (but not for 3rd grade math) and they do a walk-to reading group by level as well. There's been some experiments with blended math learning earlier this fall. Overall, most advanced learners leave Bryant over the math and that still is not as good as options at other schools. We'll see if they add more next year.

 Anonymous said...

There is more talk about advanced learning lately at Bryant but for whatever reason it doesn't seem that they are able to implement any meaningful changes. They had attempted to fund a staff position that would take on some of the administration of walk to math and other extensions but without it, the staff has not moved beyond a very skeletal version of basic programs that other schools (see Coe above) are able to implement without extra staff. My feeling is that there is something about the building and staff philosophy that is contrary to implementing a meaningful structure for work above grade level and that isn't likely to change. They do have both the resources and the student capabilities despite their protests.

 Anonymous said...

NB parent-- You will find that parents all have differing opinions about how well their child's needs were met in spectrum & ALO schools. My child attended Loyal Heights, an ALO school. It was awesome for her, not one bad teacher or experience. But you will hear from others who will complain their child was not challenged. Granted my kid is highly self motivated. She was a stand out student, but it built her confidence and identity as a "smart" kid. Solid walk to math program. Great to be at a neighborhood school, great kids. I felt she was very well prepared for HCC in middle school. She did stellar on the private school admission test, which affirmed our confidence that she received a solid education. We have never done any tutoring or subject supplementing outside school. She was offered admittance to Lakeside for 6th, but we chose HCC instead.