June Open Thread

The last few weeks of school are finally here and summer vacation is nipping at our heels.

Items I'm Tracking

1. District plans for 24 credits to graduate High School.
2. Social Studies related changes instigated at Thurgood Marshall.
3. The Cascadia Elementary split.
4. IB Program Funding.
5. West Seattle HCC program at Madison Middle School.

HCS Advisory Meeting

The June meeting for the Highly Capable Services Advisory Committee will take place tonight/:


Tuesday, June 7, 6:30 - 8:00 pm
Garfield High School Library
400 23rd Ave 98122

The agenda will include:

- Assistant Superintendent Flip Herndon talking with us about capacity issues and the Highly Capable Cohort

- Report from the Advanced Learning Office

Lincoln High School Community Outreach

      Seattle Public Schools invites you to a Community Meeting

      for the Lincoln High School BEX IV Project

      Date: Thursday, June 23, 6:30-8:00 p.m.

      Location: Lincoln High School Auditorium, 4400 Interlake Ave. N., Seattle WA

Dear Lincoln High School community:

Seattle voters approved the Seattle Public Schools Building Excellence IV (BEX IV) Capital Levy in February 2013, which includes the project to modernize and open Lincoln High School. The meeting will be presented by representatives of Seattle Public Schools BEX IV capital projects team and Bassetti Architects and will include information about the project’s early design progress.

You will be able to learn more about the project scope, schedule, existing conditions and design exploration. You will be able to ask questions and give us input and feedback. We hope that you will be able to join us! For more information, please visit http://bex.seattleschools.org

The Seattle Public Schools BEX IV Capital Projects Team

Summer Course in Data Analysis

Data Analysis Academy is excited to announce its intensive, week-long summer course for rising 11th and 12th graders called Seeing the Big Picture: An Introduction to Investigation Through Data. The course aims to introduce students to techniques used across a variety of fields in a way that sparks their interest in data analysis and amplifies their future education in quantitative fields.

The Data Analysis Academy believes anyone can use data to inform and refine their critical thinking skills in an increasingly numbers-driven world. The curriculum reflects a data-centric approach to solving business problems honed by the former Managing Director at TGG Group, the quantitative consultancy formed by the world's leading economists, including Freakonomics author Steven Levitt and Nobel Laureates Daniel Kahneman and Gary Becker.

The application deadline is June 30th. To find out more, visit https://dataanalysisacademy.org or contact the program Director, Janet Moehring, at janet@dataanalysisacademy.org.

I'm also probably going to stop and reflect about the state of this blog in an upcoming post. In the meantime what's on your minds?

High School Schedule Changes

These talking point come from one of our commenters. I've chatted with some board members on the subject and it sounds like the high school changes are fairly far along with no alternatives even on the table. So time is short to make improvements here. The recommendation was to send mail pointing out problems with the plan. I'll also summarize all the comments here in a letter to the board at a point when there are enough to makes sense.

3x5 schedule talking points:

The district is considering changing all high schools to a 5 period, 3 trimester schedule (3x5) as a means of helping students meet the new 24-credit graduation requirement in WA State. Instead of a classes meeting 180 days a year for 6 periods a day, classes would meet 120 days a year for 5 periods a day. In theory, students would have the ability to take more classes per year and thereby increase their opportunities to meet the 24-credit graduation requirement. In reality, the 3x5 schedule poses many challenges, and may limit the class options for students. 

How would a 3x5 schedule work?

A class that would normally meet 180 days is compressed into 120 days over the course of two trimesters. A traditional 6 period schedule allows for (6) 50-55 minute classes per day; a 3x5 schedule might have (5) 60-65 min classes per day. A typical course would last two out of the three trimesters, though not necessarily consecutive trimesters. 

How does a 3x5 schedule increase credit opportunities for students?

If students filled their schedules each year, they could potentially earn 30 credits over 4 years, or 7.5 credits per year, compared to the current schedule that allows for 24 credits over 4 years, or 6 credits per year.

What challenges would a 3x5 schedule pose?

> Course content would likely be reduced. A3x5 schedule attempts to cover the same content with 33% fewer classes per year. While classes are slightly longer (60-65 min. in a 3x5 schedule vs. the 50-55 min. in a typical 6 period day), it would be a challenge to cover the same material in 120 days compared to the current 180 days. It would be especially challenging for math and science classes that are paced for covering a topic a day.

> Course continuity would be compromised. A class might meet first and third trimester, with a gap in the second trimester, and no guarantee of the same teacher each trimester. There could be an 8-9 month gap year over year if a course was covered in first and second trimester, then in second and third trimester of the following year.

> Students may not be able to schedule the minimum 6 credits per year, or meet IB diploma requirements, due to the scheduling restrictions. AP and IB classes, with national and international exams on fixed schedules in May of each year, would need to meet in the first and second trimesters of the school year. Students would not only have fewer days of class to cover a significant amount of material, but they would need to self study for the May exams. There would be limited opportunities for year-long electives such as music, or even a needed 6th credit, as the schedule would be full in the first and second trimesters. 

How do other districts manage a 3x5 schedule with the demands of AP and IB classes?

Very few districts with a 3x5 schedule offer the same number of AP and IB courses as Seattle area schools. Some districts schedule an optional zero period (lengthen the school day), or offer AP and IB study sessions outside of the 5 period day.

Here's a link to the official page from the district: https://www.seattleschools.org/families_communities/committees/graduation_requirement/

Social Studies at Thurgood Marshall and its Rippling Effects

If you've been following the proposed Social Studies changes in the Thurgood Marshall building you'll remember how at the last HCS Advisory committee meeting (See: http://discussapp.blogspot.com/2016/05/53-hcs-ac-meeting.html) the AL staff indicated it was explicitly against policy to blend the classrooms.  On the bright side, it looks like everyone is paying attention to the policy this time. On the other hand, the solution now has ramifications for HCC as a whole. I haven't seen the proposed changes yet but its not hard to see how this argument could be extended particularly in  the context of Middle School.

"Dear Thurgood Marshall Family: 

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about Social Studies at our school.  Why? Let me give you some background…
When I first came to Thurgood Marshall after being hired in April of 2014, I met individually with teachers to get a sense of what they thought was going well with our school and areas for improvement. What came from these meetings was the idea that Thurgood Marshall was more like three programs in a building than one school.  Each teacher mentioned that students in different programs had little opportunity to get to know each other or to interact across the school day. From this, the idea of “Building Bridges” was born – an effort born in the 14-15 school year to reach out and make connections between various student groups within the school and to help our various parent groups feel connected. We want everyone to feel that they have a place at Thurgood Marshall. 

In the spring of 2015, our school became one of nine school accepted to participate in the first District Race and Equity Team.  As we received training in this area, we begin to think more about the impact our school’s design on our students. Our three programs – PEACE Academy, General Education and Highly Capable Cohort - are all designed to serve the needs of three different groups of students, but could there be points of intersection between these groups? 

Teachers began to think about integration and how this might be beneficial for our students, both for social needs and to support their academics.  Fledgling efforts had been made in this area – “Friendship Days” for 1^st and 2^nd grade classrooms where students participated in literature-themed art projects in mixed classroom groups, multi-age classroom partnerings for Reading Buddies, and “Mix it Up Day” where students were encouraged to sit by someone new in the lunchroom. Teachers felt these projects were a success, but because they happened sporadically, we were not seeing relationships between students develop outside these projects.  One notable success story was happening in our Fifth grade.  Students from our 4 classes – 3 HCC groups and 1 General Ed group – were blended into groups with students from each of the 4 classes to study moral dilemmas each week. Students spent time thinking together about how they would solve problems they might face in middle school. And from here, we began to see relationships take root that carried over from the classroom to the playground. 

Where this stands now…
The district currently has a policy in place (Procedures 2190SP) about self-contained learning in HC classes that states: “Highly Capable Services are designed for students identified as Highly Capable to provide advanced curricula as well as support their social and emotional needs from identification through graduation. Highly Capable Services include a self-contained path called the Highly Capable Cohort, which provides a rigorous curriculum in language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. The curriculum is presented at an accelerated learning pace and/or advanced level of complexity and depth, requiring students to perform significantly above grade level. 

After discussion with Advanced Learning, the department of Curriculum and Instruction, and principals of elementary and middle school HC sites, a change to this policy has been proposed that will allow slightly more flexibility in the study of social studies and science.  This is something that the school board must consider and vote on before our school is able to move forward. While we have had some discussions as an Equity Team, a staff, and at PTA Parent Equity meetings about the possibility of integrating Social Studies, at this point, we are on hold until we hear back from the central office. 

Why Social Studies?
I would like to propose that we consider our goals for social studies education.  On our district social studies page, the following is excerpted from OSPI:

What is social studies education?
Social studies in Washington State contributes to developing responsible citizens in a culturally diverse, democratic society within an interdependent world. Social studies equips learners to make sound judgments and take appropriate actions that will contribute to sustainable development of human society and the physical environment.

Social studies comprises the study of relationships among people, and between people and the environment. Social studies recognizes the challenges and benefits of living in a diverse cultural and ideological society. The resulting interactions are contextualized in space and time and have social, political, economic, and geographical dimensions.

Based on appropriate investigations and reflections within social studies, students develop distinctive skills and a critical awareness of the human condition and emerging spatial patterns and the processes and events that shape them.

If we are undertaking the study of social studies to develop “responsible citizens in a culturally diverse, democratic society,” what better way to do this than to teach social studies to groups of students who look like the culturally diverse, democratic society we are preparing them to live in?  Our General Education and HC programs are aligned to the same standards. We believe that the unique experience each of our students bring to this study will actually enrich their learning and push all students to think more deeply.

• In the spring of 2015, third grade teachers decided to blend their classes for a social studies unit on Pacific Northwest Indians.   The success of this experiment, encouraged us to think about trying this on a larger scale.
• Social Studies is a smaller part of our core content.  At the elementary level, most classroom time is spent on reading, writing and math. The curriculum for reading, writing and math is advanced 1-2 years in our HC classrooms; social studies curriculum is the same across programs.

Questions/Concerns that have come up:

• How will we make sure that students are being appropriately challenged at their level? This endeavor, like any classroom instruction, will be taught with an eye to differentiation to make sure that students are engaged and thinking deeply about the topic. Differentiation is already taking place in each of our three programs so that students are able to access the curriculum. The departments of Advanced Learning and Curriculum and Instruction have each offered their support in helping our teachers prepare for blended classes and to make sure that each student will be challenged. The professional development we plan to do around this will benefit our teachers in planning for their regular classrooms, too.

• Is this change being initiated by the school or by the district?  The idea to teach social studies in a different way came from staff at Thurgood Marshall, to address the learning needs of the students at our unique school site.

• Is this an effort to reduce services to HC students? Absolutely not! We care deeply about meeting the needs of all of our learners.  We want to be sure that students are appropriately challenged at their level. HC exists to serve the learning needs of students who need something beyond the typical classroom, just as we have special education resources for students who need more support to access the curriculum. On the contrary, we feel that teaching social studies in this way will actually provide our students with another level of challenge as they consider more diverse viewpoints.

• Is this a permanent change? As a school leader, I do not think that I go into any new and innovative situation with the expectation that something is permanent.  Instead, I like to think that we are pushing our thinking and learning forward (as both adult and student learners!).  With any new initiative we take on, we try it knowing that we will make refinements and improvements as we go.  I understand that this question comes from a distrust of past district practice – when a group has felt the need to strongly advocate for their children, they are wary of losing any ground.  I understand this – and I can tell you that this effort is coming not from the district, but from grassroots efforts of Thurgood Marshall staff and parents involved with our equity work.

As with all of the work we do, this is a conversation I want us to engage in together.  Our School Board will meet to discuss a revised policy in early June.  Once we hear their thoughts, I will schedule a meeting so that we can talk together about our hopes and wishes around this topic.
If you want to dig in a little further, I have added some resources below you may find interesting.
Sincerely,
Katie May, Principal
Thurgood Marshall Elementary

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/does-integration-still-matter-in-public-schools/

https://tcf.org/content/report/how-racially-diverse-schools-and-classrooms-can-benefit-all-students/

The radio program “This American Life” did a two part series on the topic of segregated schools:
Part 1:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with

Part 2:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/562/the-problem-we-all-live-with"

End of the Year Achievements

This is an experiment inspired by Maureen:

"Note that an Ingraham student placed first in the U.S. in the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad. Second place was also from Seattle (Lakeside). 

Results from the Invitational Round of the Invitational Round of the 2016 NACLO: The top four US students include Laurestine Bradford (Invitational Round winner) of Seattle, Washington, James Wedgwood of Seattle, Washington, Erik Metz of Ellicott City, Maryland, and
Shuheng "Nelson" Niu of Cupertino, California. The next four US students are Margarita
Misirpashayeva of West Windsor, New Jersey, Wyatt Reeves of Fort Worth, Texas, Jack
LaFleur of Washington, DC, and Nilai Sarda of Atlanta, Georgia. 

Congratulations Lola!"

What accomplishments are you excited about from this year?  I'm sure all the kids have done interesting things (this doesn't have to be an official award) that parents in other buildings don't know about.

5/3 HCS AC meeting (Thurgood Marshall, Race and Equity)

Thurgood Marshall / Social Studies

Most of the meeting revolved around a discussion of minority representation in the program. The staff rep from Thurgood Marshall volunteered to extemporaneously talk about what's going on in the building and in addition a parent who participated in the Race and Equity Committee came and added some thoughts. There have been a series of race and equity conversations that have been ongoing since last year among the TM community.  First, kids in the 4th/5th grade student council complained about being labeled. In addition, during what was described as an uncomfortable meeting, parents from the building also expressed dissatisfaction that HCC was elitist/racist. Side Note: if you were following the recent  Blanford/Peters exchange see: http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2016/04/highly-capable-work-session.html#more this is very relevant.  So the Race and Equity Committee was formed to explore how to better integrate the student body and also to explore the HCC qualification process.   Apparently, PCP's i.e. gym/arts/music were too logistically complicated to joint schedule and so the proposal moved to Social Studies which has a non-differentiated curriculum i.e. the 4th graders study the same material in gen-ed and HCC classes.  There are still several practical issues here. Social Studies becomes much more academic in nature in 4th-5th grade moving from exploring the local community  to WA state history. The HCC kids outnumber the gen-ed ones in the building 3:1 and Social Studies is the most short-changed of all the core subjects in terms of actual time devoted to it.  Interestingly, already the 5th graders are doing a UW Philosophy department led class in a blended environment.  The teacher mentioned that the principal was very committed to making a blended class happen so he thought this was likely to occur.

At this point, Janine Madaffari the AL representative present pointed out that the policy governing HCC 2190SP explicitly states that all the core academic subjects including Social Studies will be self-contained. I'm not sure on review if I can find this particular language. The closest I see is the "service model is self-contained in Grades 1-5"

Then the parent who was active on the committee by coincidence arrived and spoke a bit. She reiterated the harsh impression of the program from the other members of the building. They apparently are very interested in out reach to minority communities to increase participation in HCC. She explicitly mentioned trying to get parents to the kindergarten orientations at individual schools to give out information and trying to have members of minority communities reaching out to prospective families who have been identified to encourage them to opt in. Most of the speakers present were sympathetic to these goals. There are various restrictions on who can talk to parents and under what conditions. But I see this as the least controversial element of the evening.  One interesting statistics mentioned by the staff. Apparently: White/Asian and all other minorities are all admitted at almost the same rates in the initial process ~8% but the appeals process which has an over 50% success rate skews the numbers towards the White/Asian students. It was fairly easy to infer this is driving part of their push to limit them.

Editorial Note: I'm still reserving judgement on whether this affects the integrity of the curriculum or not until I find out more. This along with whether a heterogeneous environment would serve all students well forms the crux of the issue for me. The program's weakness in terms of defining a distinct curriculum particularly in the humanities sadly make these discussions harder to have. 

IB Programs

There was also a discussion of the future of the IB program at Ingraham. The recent grant to Rainier Beach (Seattle Times Story) to help out their IB program does not provide a systemic funding solution for the program as a whole.  The Ingraham staff rep pointed out all the surrounding districts directly fund their programs and don't rely on parents to raise several hundred thousand dollars or short change the whole school several staff-positions to run the program. 

There was some confusion why enrollment was being capped this year even among the staff present. So at this point two issues are still outstanding:

1. If a spot Ingraham is not guaranteed there is no clarity on the default pathway if you don't get a spot. AL feels this is governed by enrollment. There needs to be clarity here before the next open enrollment.
2. Secondly, We don't have any insight into what is driving enrollment caps.

I believe both functions fall under the heading of the Operations Committee. If you're interested in advocacy this along with the sorry state of the funding would be something to lobby the school board members to improve.

Cascadia

I did a little bit of personal lobbying to see if the HCS advisory committee would send a letter advocating for a minimum cohort size if any splits occur. The response was that a previous task force had already made recommendations. I'm hoping that the committee will still send a letter referencing the previous recommendations during this current decision making process. If you agree you might also talk to your building representative on the committee and make the same request.

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.