Open thread

Going to be 82F and sunny in Seattle! Beautiful May weather. This is an open thread, talk about anything you like!

The bright side

The discussions here, and news in general, can often focus on the negative, what's wrong and how it might be able to be fixed. That is good and useful, but sometimes it is important to talk about what is going well too.

Let's do a thread with some stories about what is going well in APP. Was your child miserable at their previous public or private school but bloomed in APP? Maybe your kid was bored and doing poorly before APP, but is doing great now? Do you love what's happening in music, math, language arts, or the comradery and community in your school? Tell other parents about it here.

Open thread

What's on your mind?

Declining challenge of APP

In an open thread, some parents were talking about their perception that APP has been weakening over the last several years. Some excerpts:

If APP kids start out ahead of their peers (i.e., they test in the upper percentiles on MAP achievement tests), and if they learn more quickly and require fewer repetitions to master new material (one of the reasons for programs like this in the first place), then why does the gap between APP kids and non-APP kids shrink rather than grow--such that they all end up in essentially the same position come high school entrance? Is it that SPS just doesn't do a good job of tapping into their potential, and providing opportunities for more advanced coursework? Is it that the curriculum is worse for APP than non-APP? Is it that they are learning the same material, but just in much more depth (which we really haven't seen...)? Or are they just wasting time, doing more busy work? Or something else?

...

It's because the district doesn't want to/isn't required to offer appropriate classes in high school. I think Bellevue has the right idea with their high school program for highly capable students.

...

If SPS actually planned and implemented an appropriate curriculum, according to the goals and description on SPS's website, would we be having this conversation? What's concerning is things seem headed in the direction of further lowering the ceiling for APP students, rather than raising it. The newly announced scope and sequence has chipped away coverage of world history and now they may not even have the option of AP World History in 9th grade. It really does make you wonder what's the next thing to go.

...

The AL Dept has no say, and is not watching, how the APP program is being run, or not run. The lack of oversight is why Spectrum has all but disappeared. APP has been being chipped away at for years, and it seems more is happening now. The AL dept is very clear that they only have time to do testing and appeals, nothing more. Bob Vaughan was also very clear that he had no authority when leading AL, and I doubt an interim head has more authority. Those who do have authority over the program, clearly don't like it. I hate to say it, but I see the high school track ending very soon. The more they take away, the easier it is to say high school APP is not needed. It already is not an actual program in high school. I see the district eliminating the high school track and saying needs will be met all at high schools in various ways.

This sounds important, so I'm moving it to its own thread for more discussion. What do you think about this?

New principals at Washington and Thurgood Marshall

Superintendent Jose Banda announced new principals at Washington Middle School and Thurgood Marshall Elementary:

Ms. Follmer comes to Washington Middle School from the International School of Monagus in Maturin, Venezuela, where she has been Assistant Head since 2011. She has a strong vision and a commitment to a healthy school culture and will be a great fit for the Washington Middle School community.

Prior to moving to Venezuela, Ms. Follmer was the Director of the Albright School of Education at City University of Seattle from 2007 to 2011. She also served as a Superintendent Intern for the Highline School District during the 2009–10 school year. Previously, Ms. Follmer has held leadership roles with Evergreen Public Schools, University Place School District, the Kent School District, and the Renton and Federal Way school districts, and she taught English and Reading in Sumner.

Ms. Follmer earned a Master’s of Education from the University of Washington and a Bachelor’s from Pacific Lutheran University. She holds a Superintendent Credential and a P–12 Administrator Credential.

The hiring committee was particularly impressed Ms. Follmer’s understanding of social/emotional development and her focus on technology and its use in educational settings.

-----

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Katie May as [Thurgood Marshall Elementary] Principal for the 2014–15 school year.

Most recently, Ms. May spent three years as Principal at the Seattle Hebrew Academy, a PreK– 8 school. She has a strong social justice focus and believes in building relationships. She will be a great fit for Thurgood Marshall.

Prior to her role as Principal, Ms. May spent eight years at Seattle Hebrew Academy, serving as Director of Student Services and as Head Counselor. Previously, she was the school counselor at Valhalla Elementary in Federal Way.

Ms. May earned a Master of Educational Psychology degree at the University of Washington, specializing in school counseling. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Georgia. Ms. May holds a Washington State Administrative Professional Certificate and an Administrative Credential from Seattle Pacific University. She has attended programs on Improving Schools and on New and Aspiring Leaders at Harvard University.

The hiring committee was particularly impressed with the creative programs Ms. May implemented in her previous school experience, her history of collaboration, and her understanding of diversity in education.

Please discuss.

Open thread

What's on your mind?

Latest at Jane Addams Middle School

By request: "A new thread about JAMS, new teacher hiring there, status of music program, etc? Things are starting to happen at JAMS and I would love to see some discussion about it."

Options outside of APP

By request, a thread to talk about good local options for APP kids near Seattle aside from Seattle Public Schools APP. Starting it off, an extended excerpt from one parent:

Interlake HS in Bellevue houses the district's gifted high school program. The entrance criteria are tighter are more selective than Seattle, but if you qualify and there's space available they take non-residents. It's a smaller program, and from conversations with the director it sounds like it's more accommodating. I asked what they do if a student is more advanced than what they offer in a certain class, and the response was that "we need to figure out how to offer what they need." Can you imagine hearing SPS say that? Their program seems to be a more rigorous combo of the Ingraham and Garfield options, with more Higher Level IB classes offered, and more advanced AP options as well.

Lakeside has the most advanced math of any of the public or private schools we checked out, offering as far as multivariable calculus. We also really liked the small classes that involved a lot of discussion, and the very engaged students. We got the sense that students could really push themselves (and each other), and that for a student who enjoyed a competitive, academic atmosphere it looked like a good fit. There seemed to be some willingness to advance students beyond the typical pathway if they were assessed as ready, as well as a (somewhat more vague) willingness to help figure out solutions for students who might need instruction beyond their highest level class in a subject.

For a much less traditional option, Stanford has an online high school (accredited, diploma-granting). The core courses look pretty interesting, and there's access to some university-level courses (primarily in math and science). We've found Stanford's EPGY courses to be very rigorous. The online HS includes some in-person summer sessions (e.g., science labs), so there's a bit of in-person interaction to complement the online group sessions. Looks like schedules could be very wacky (classes are peppered throughout the day/eve), and this is obviously best for self-directed learners who don't need/want a lot of personal interaction.

Another atypical option, UW's Robinson Center has a couple different programs for those who want to start college early--typically after 10th grade (UW Academy) or 8th grade (Transition School). The RC provides some good supports to help kids navigate the jump, and for those extremely academic kids who haven't been able to find a good peer group elsewhere, this may be the place. Programs are small and draw from the whole region, so it's not easy to get in.

Please discuss these options and add other good options in the comments.

Open thread

Discuss what you like!

Eligibility and appeals

There's still quite a bit of interest in talking about eligibility letters and appeals, so let's open a new thread for parents to consolidate the discussion about that. Please ask questions you might have of other parents and, if you can help someone out with their question, please chime in with an answer.

Open thread

Starting to feel like spring! Discuss what you like!

What a gifted program should look like

By request, a thread to discuss what a "true gifted program" should look like and how that differs from APP.

Starting this off, one parent wrote:

A true gifted program would look nothing like APP in its current form.

Parents fight for the crumbs of APP. I wish they'd fight for the delicious frosted cake of a true gifted program. A cake that would better-serve more students than APP ever will.

Agree? Disagree? What should APP look like? What would a true gifted program look like? And, realistically, what changes can happen and how?

Update: By request, the comments in this thread are unmoderated and the discussion wide ranging. Wade into the comments at your own risk and expect off-topic rants and anonymized personal attacks. Keep your shields up and, despite what you see others doing, please try your best to keep it civil.

Open thread

What's on your mind?

Should you go to APP?

Parents are getting eligibility letters now. Let's open a Q&A about whether APP is a good idea for your situation.

There's been a lot of discussion in the previous open thread on this already. Concerns seemed to be stability of APP in Seattle, whether it is worth moving to the Eastside or elsewhere, whether private schools are better, the extent to weight the preferences of the child (especially very young children), and how worth it is to keep siblings together when one might be in APP and one might not. Let's keep the discussion going here.

Appeals for APP eligibility

By request, a thread to discuss appeals for entry into APP. Let's make this a broad discussion, so let's cover whether it's a good idea to appeal as well as Q&A about the appeals process.

Open thread

What's on your mind?

APP and Spectrum to become MTSS?

Over on the Seattle Schools Community Forum, Charlie Mas writes:

I think I know where Seattle Schools are going with Advanced Learning. They intend to fold them into MTSS, Multi-Tier Systems of Support.

If the Tier I curriculum proves insufficiently challenging for a student then that student will be switched to a Tier II advanced curriculum ... If the Tier II curriculum proves insufficiently challenging for a student then that student will be referred for testing for Tier III. If found in need of Tier III, the student will be assigned to the school in that service area that provides the Tier III advanced service.

This is a new system, but to student families it will look like ALOs in every school and APP all over the District like Spectrum - one elementary program in each middle school service area and one in every middle and high school.

There won't be annual testing using the CoGAT like we have now. Instead, there will be continuous testing - as MTSS calls for frequent assessments. Access will not be determined by cognitive ability but by achievement - that is, a need for greater challenge than the Tier I or Tier II curriculum.

This shift will mean some big changes ... All of the state Highly Capable Grant money, now spent on testing, will instead be spent in ... Tier II and Tier III ... Students will ... be identified by their performance on regular assessments. Students will be able to move in - or out - of Tier II and Tier III advanced curricula at any time ... Schools won't have finite capacity for Tier II ... Every student who needs it should get it.

Please discuss.

Open thread

Discuss what you like!

Principal moved from Thurgood Marshall to West Seattle

Superintendent Banda just moved Julie Breidenbach from Principal of Thurgood Marshall over to Fairmount Park. Thoughts on what that means for Thurgood Marshall, West Seattle, and APP?

Q&A on Garfield and Ingraham

By request, a separate thread to talk about high school, especially parents of 8th graders asking questions, current high school parents answering.

Q&A for new APP parents

By request, a thread for Q&A. Parents considering APP for their children, please post questions in the comments. Existing APP parents, please help the other parents by answering any questions you can.

Another open thread

A new year, a new open thread. How's 2014 treating you, APP parents? Talk about whatever you like!

Open thread

Discuss what you like!

New APP middle school at Jane Addams

Please use this thread to discuss the new APP middle school at Jane Addams that will be set up next year.

New APP elementary in West Seattle at Fairmount Park

Please use this thread to discuss the new APP program (blended with Spectrum) that will be set up next year at Fairmount Park in West Seattle.

APP moves and splits

With the board vote last night, APP will be seeing some changes. The APP AC sent out an excellent summary of what will be happening:

The final outcomes for APP from the Board Vote last night are as follows:

South APP

• The current guaranteed pathway for all APP students will remain the same (Thurgood Marshall Elementary, Washington Middle School, Garfield High School).
• There will be a new optional pathway for APP Elementary at Fairmount Park Elementary School (FPES) in West Seattle in 2014 (a "blended program" with Spectrum, details unknown at this time).
• The optional Southeast pathway and the site at Madison will not happen until some date in the future.

North APP

• APP Elementary will stay at Lincoln (until the 2017 move to Wilson Pacific)
• APP Elementary will share the Lincoln building with AS#1 and the Indian Heritage program (AS#1/Indian Heritage will be housed in the South Wing)
• APP Middle School will be split into 2 cohorts in 2014: the NE cohort going to Jane Addams Middle School (JAMS) and the NW cohort staying (for now) at Hamilton International Middle School (HIMS). Northeast APP students will not be grandfathered at Hamilton.
• The NW cohort will either move to Wilson Pacific Middle School (WPMS), or be split between HIMS and WPMS, in 2016 or 2017 depending on the size of the cohort.

I'll be opening individual threads for parents to discuss the new programs at Fairmount Park Elementary (West Seattle) and Jane Addams Middle School (North). Please use this thread for general discussion of the changes and what it all means for the future of APP.

Final boundary assignment plan

Looks like it is here. There is no information in it about APP splits in the current plan. The document that apparently would cover that, Appendix B, is missing, but several amendments might change the plan. The best that can be said is that the future of where APP will be is unclear.

There are links, in Appendix C and D, to what feedback was provided from the community. For example, 24 responses said, "Oppose spilling APP north MS," 15 said, "Don't add additional APP paths in South/Southwest,", and 15 more asked to delay any action on major splits and moves. In general, community feedback was overwhelmingly against further splitting APP. It remains to be seen whether that makes any difference.

Another open thread

The board is voting on the boundary plan soon (on Nov 20). What else is on your mind?

Open thread

Discuss whatever you like!

Update: This thread is now dominated by discussion of the SNAPP PTA. Feel free to keep discussing that here, we can make this thread about that, and I'll start another open thread.

Even newer assignment plan

Update: Kellie LaRue and Melissa Westbrook, among many others, are now asking board memebers to vote down the plan, saying it does more harm than good and that it needs to be replaced with much more limited and targeted changes.

Original post:

The Nov 6 plan is here.

From the page, quoting the part on APP:

North APP elementary (now at Lincoln) will stay at Lincoln until Wilson-Pacific Elementary opens in 2017. North APP elementary will be located at Wilson-Pacific Elementary as a free-standing APP school beginning in 2017.

Two sites (co-located with attendance area students) have been designated for north APP middle school: Eckstein and Whitman. APP at Eckstein will begin this coming fall. When APP at both Eckstein and Whitman are in place, enrollment data will be reviewed to determine if Hamilton would continue as an APP site. Depending on the number of students to be served, Hamilton APP may be phased out in the future.

Eckstein and Whitman were chosen as APP sites because by far the largest numbers of APP students live closest to those schools. Note that Eckstein, currently very overcrowded, has its current enrollment reduced significantly with the opening of Jane Addams Middle School. These changes will also provide some relief to over-enrollment at Hamilton.

The changes from the last version for APP appear to be in the north and mostly center around reducing splits of APP in the north. APP in the south is still getting split into a lot of little pieces, no change in that plan it appears despite lots of "public input" against it.

If you are trying to find what is happening to APP in the documents, oddly APP mostly only is mentioned in the document titled "Reference materials for the Board".

Please discuss.

Open thread

Discuss what you like!

Update: First comment is on the school board candidates, and this is also a good thread to talk about that, but that can be an issue that generates conflict. Please try to keep it civil, especially if commenting anonymously. I suspect links to news articles and other objective information would be most useful to other parents.

Newest assignment plan for APP

The plan is here.

In brief, there are more splits now, four at the elementary level, six at the middle school level, and three at the high school level. The biggest change from the last proposal is that the north has standalone APP for grades 1-5 and the south is now split three ways for grades 1-5.

For elementary, the north gets a standalone APP 1-5 at Wilson-Pacific while the south is split three ways for grades 1-5 among Thurgood Marshall and two options, one in West Seattle at Fairmount Park, the other in the south at Wing Luke.

For middle school, the north is split three ways (Wilson-Pacific, Jane Addams, Hamilton) and the south is also split three ways (Washington and two options, Madison and Aki Kurose, in the west and south).

For high school, the north is at Garfield with an option of Ingraham. The south is at Garfield with an option of Rainier Beach.

Please discuss.

Update: An even newer presentation appears to seriously open the possibility of standalone 1-5 and 6-8 unified APP in the north. There is no mention of any change in the south, so it appears the plan is still to split the south three ways at both elementary and middle school.

Update: By request, convenient links to a reference document containing capacity projections for APP and showing where APP students live (starting about halfway into the document), which was in the appendix of a "school board action report".

Open thread

Rain, rain. And some rain. What else is on your mind, APP parents?

Change in state law

By request, let's open up a discussion on the changes to state law for highly capable students. Specifically, the Superintendent of Public Instruction wrote:

For highly capable students, access to accelerated learning and enhanced instruction is access to a basic education.

Districts will have a plan for identifying and serving highly capable students Grades K–12 ... Districts must have clearly-defined written nomination, screening, assessment, and selection system procedures in place that use multiple objective criteria for identification of students who are among the most highly capable.

Districts must make a variety of appropriate program services available to students who participate in the district's HCP. Districts must provide a continuum of services to the students from K–12. Districts must review services for each student to ensure that the services are appropriate.

Please discuss. Among other things, as the parent who requested this thread noted, the district's current highly capable grant application does not appear to have a plan for identifying students grades 9-12, but let's please also talk about broader questions and issues around the change.

Options for out of APP

By request, a thread to discuss what might work best if moving out of APP.

The request was from a parent with a 5th grader thinking of switching to Spectrum at Hamilton next year (Hamilton will no longer house APP in the latest district plan) and whether that is a good idea. But let's open this up more broadly for parents to discuss with each other what options other than Seattle Public Schools APP they are considering and pros and cons.

Open thread

Discuss what you like!

Growth boundaries and APP

A thread to discuss the latest growth boundaries proposal (slides and handout).

For convenience, here is an excerpt of a piece specific to APP from the handout:

NORTH
APP middle school enrollment is already too large for one north pathway (large enough for two to three pathways). The recommendation is for two north APP pathways with guaranteed assignments:
• Wilson‐Pacific Elem > Wilson‐Pacific MS > Garfield (or optional APP/IB at Ingraham)
• Olympic Hills > Jane Addams MS > Garfield (or optional APP/IB at Ingraham)

SOUTH
Projected APP middle school enrollment is too large for one south pathway, but not large enough for two. The recommendation is to maintain the current pathway with guaranteed assignment:
• Thurgood Marshall > Washington > Garfield (or optional APP/IB at Ingraham)
• Add APP services in West Seattle as an option for APP‐eligible students in grades 1‐8. Fairmount Park > Madison > Garfield (or optional APP/IB at Ingraham)

Update: For a broader analysis (and some more comments on APP), don't miss Charlie Mas' post, "Growth Boundaries Plan".

Start of school

Let's start a thread to talk about the start of school. Ideally, this would be APP parents helping APP parents with any questions or problems around the start of school.

Please ask questions of other parents in the comments and, parents, please take a look and see if there is anything you can answer.

Open thread

School starts soon.  What's on your mind?

More details on APP splits

A presentation for today's Board work session on capacity has some tentative plans for what will happen to APP over the next few years on pages 17-27.

Briefly, the tentative plan contemplates splitting south APP (putting new APP in West Seattle) and multiple splits in the north (2-3 elementary and middle school locations). It largely leaves Spectrum and ALO unchanged ("continue" Spectrum and ALO, slide 27), definitely not a strong push to attract people to Spectrum (as a way of restraining APP growth).

Please discuss.

Update: Some more details on the presentation and work session.

Open thread

School's out for summer. What's on your mind?

Advocating for APP

The APP AC sent out an an e-mail asking parents to "e-mail the Superintendent, District staff, and School Board Directors as well as the feedback email for the Growth Boundaries", adding "now is the time to let the District staff and Board Directors know how you feel about the current model of APP and the future of the program."

The e-mail goes on to request that your letters say "why the current APP delivery model is appropriate for highly capable students by explaining how and why it works for your student and family" as well as mention that "90% APP families responded [in a recent survey] that they are highly satisfied or satisfied with the current model." They also ask parents to request that any changes maintain a self-contained program at least in elementary and a minimum cohort size of 2-3 classrooms per grade in all locations.

The full e-mail is here. You can view the Google Group for the APP AC and sign up for e-mails from the APP AC here.

Please see also the earlier thread, "APP services will be offered at additional sites", and the discussion there of the possible changes coming to APP.

Open thread

School is almost over, summer is here, the time is right. What's on your mind?

School board candidates

By popular demand, a new thread to discuss the candidates for school board, especially the impact they might have, if any, on advanced learning in Seattle Public Schools. To get us starting, quoting from KUOW:

Six candidates are vying for two Seattle School Board seats in the August 6 primary election.

In Director District 5, which includes Capitol Hill, the Central Area, Beacon Hill and downtown, Kay Smith-Blum is stepping down from her board seat after one term.

The candidates for her seat are Stephan Blanford, an educational policy consultant; LaCrese Green, a retired state worker who also ran for the board eight years ago; and Olu Thomas, an unemployed social worker.

In District 4, which spans Phinney Ridge, Ballard, Magnolia and Queen Anne, Michael DeBell is leaving his seat after eight years on the board.

The contenders in that district are Suzanne Dale Estey, an economic development consultant; Dean McColgan, a former Federal Way mayor and city council member; and Sue Peters, a writer and education activist.

Update: Seattle Schools Community Forum has interviews and thoughts on the candidates.

June Surprise at Hamilton

Still no firm information, but there is a rumor that APP may get partially or fully moved out of Hamilton starting this year (as in at the end of summer). By request, starting a new thread to discuss.

Please see also the April 2013 thread, "Capacity at Hamilton", and the discussion there.

Update: In the comments, a letter apparently just sent to Hamilton parents from Superintendent Banda saying, "We are not planning to relocate any 6-8th grade students to other schools for the upcoming school year."

APP services will be offered at additional sites

On the last open thread, a parent quotes a letter just sent out by Superintendent Jose Banda which says:

We recommend increasing the number of highly capable (APP) elementary and middle school pathways, with guaranteed assignment, to increase access and bring services closer to where students live. If approved, this means APP services will be offered at additional sites – beyond Hamilton and Washington Middle School.

Full letter is here. Please discuss.

Update: Here is the presentation for the May 29 meeting mentioned in the letter.

Update: There is a post, "Preliminary Boundary Presentation", about this over on the Seattle Schools Community Blog that discusses the broader changes.

Update: Melissa Westbrook writes, "AL is being revamped, without input or information." Another parent writes, "The cohorts are likely to be awfully small at some of the locations, and I think the words 'self-contained' will quietly disappear for APP classes. APP will be treated like Spectrum has lately and classes will be filled with school-chosen kids. As a veteran of the last two splits, I don't have hope that the district will make this work, or that they even care to."

Update: Melissa Westbrook live blogs the meeting where the presentation was given. Later, she posted a summary of the meeting.

Update: Charlie Mas also summarizes the meeting where the presentation was given. On APP, he says, "There will be a new delivery model for APP. The District isn't saying what it will be or how it will work ... The determination of a delivery model for APP - including program size - will come after the decision of how many sites to have and how big the programs will be ... They won't even offer the pretense of engagement on it until next year - after they make all of the decisions." On Spectrum, he says, "There will be a new delivery model for Spectrum. It appears to be nothing. For many families this will be nothing new."

Open thread

School ends in a few weeks. What's on your mind?

Bob Vaughan leaving

The APP AC (which, for those of you who don't know, is a volunteer group that works with Bob Vaughan) writes:

Advanced Learning Manager Dr. Bob Vaughan ... announced that he will be retiring from SPS next month. He has been a tremendous advocate for all advanced learners over the years, and has spent decades working tirelessly on behalf of our students. His role included managing not only APP, but also Spectrum, ALO, IB and AP (Advanced Placement) courses and exams, and identification and testing for all potentially eligible advanced learning students.

The APP-AC would like to thank Dr. Vaughan for all of his efforts and wish him the very best in his retirement.

Since Bob Vaughan presided over the dismantling of Spectrum and the chaotic splits of APP, I suspect others feel his track record is a little more mixed, but I will leave that for discussion. What do you think of Bob Vaughan leaving and what are your hopes for the future?

Major changes for APP coming?

Over at Seattle Schools Community Forum, Charlie Mas has a post, "In Which Michael Tolley Reveals The Plan to Dismantle Advanced Learning".

The post is long with a lot of discussion of the plan. But let me highlight this piece Charlie left in a comment on this blog:

The District staff - Michael Tolley and Shauna Heath - intend to fold Advanced Learning into Multi-Tier Systems of Support (MTSS).

Charlie then describes three tiers of MTSS, tier 1 (which is now called general education), tier 2 (working a year ahead in the classroom), and tier 3 (which would similar to APP).

As far as APP, the difference, Charlie writes, is that:

Instead of being in just two elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools, it will be in at least one elementary school in every middles school service area and possibly in two or more in some of them. It will be in every middle school and every comprehensive high school.

It sounds like this plan may fracture APP across many more schools. And, as discussed over on Seattle Schools Community Forum, the APP entry criteria also may change, in particular no longer being CogAT-based, being tested every year, and possibly being harsher.

I don't want to duplicate the discussion over on Seattle Schools Community Forum, so please go over there to read about and discuss the policy in general. But let's open an APP-specific thread here to talk about what to do about this.

Open thread

What's on your mind?