Monday, February 4, 2019

Feb '19 Open Thread

Open enrollment has started: https://www.seattleschools.org/admissions/registration/school_choice


Note for those commenting on the online learning policy changes: 
"FYI, BAR Policies Nos. 2024 and 2420 have been pulled tomorrow’s Leg. Mtg. By Supt. Juneau and myself to be referred to the C and I Committee for more discussion, community engagement and potential unintended consequences.

Thank you for your input and conversations - stay tuned.

Leslie Harris
Director, District 6, President
leslie.harris@seattleschools.org"

Registration for UW Robinson Center summer programs opens today:
https://robinsoncenter.uw.edu/programs/summer/


Ingraham IB Information night has been rescheduled to Tue 2/12 at 7PM in the auditorium.


Senate Bill 5354-2019, a multi-issue hicap education bill, needs your help to advance. Please forward this message to friends and family in other Washington districts.
Among other things, SB 5354 requires ALL counselors and principals to get at least 2 hours of in-service professional development and student teachers to get pre-service training. The bill is getting a hearing tomorrow (Wednesday, February 6), but the Senate Education Committee needs to get a LOT more e-mail asking them “to bring the bill to executive session and to vote a Do Pass recommendation.” Please contact them today. Committee e-mails are below—click on a link for a predrafted message:
More details here: https://blog.hicapseattle.org/2019/02/05/e-mail-needed-to-support-sb-5354-2019

What's on your minds?

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now that we've used our two snow days and with the forecast calling for more snow, what happens if school is canceled again? I can't find that info on the website.
Thanks!

-Clueless

Anonymous said...


Congratulations to all middle schoolers and some elementary students that took part in the Seattle/Shoreline chapter Mathcounts competition and good luck to those students that moving onto the state round. It was very inspiring to see two girls get the number 1 and 2 spots at the chapter competition.

Also wanted to say good luck to all the middle and high schoolers taking the AMC 10 and 12.

-n

Benjamin Leis said...

@clueless - to meet state requirements either extra days are added onto the end of the year or sometimes breaks or in service days are clawed back.

On an unrelated note: I added a link about SB to reform the HiCap laws at the top. For those unfamiliar with the state legislature, not all bills make it out of committee and the legislative sessions are short.

Anonymous said...

The correct bill number is 5354. The link was already correct and lands on the right bill page, but just note that it's 5354. Sorry for the oversight!

Erik

Benjamin Leis said...

I added info on the rescheduled International Baccalaureate (IB) info night for Ingraham HS.

Anonymous said...

So I asked the JAMS principal at the open house if it was possible for kids to take math classes more than 3 years ahead. I was kind of expecting her to say no, for logistical/scheduling reasons. But she said no, for social reasons. Interesting. (She seemed angry that I asked. But, hey, I wouldn't want that job.)

-oh well

Anonymous said...

@Oh well: it is possible to be 3 years ahead in middle school at JAMS: instead of jumping from grade 5 not into math 8 and not into Algebra 1 (followed by Geometry then Algebra 2) you’d go straight into Geometry (with 100% 7th graders likely), then as an 7th grader you’d take Algebra 2 with 8th graders, then you’d have to walk to precalc at Hale next door for 8th grade (again, I know for a fact this was done last year). Or, homeschool/on line for that.

If your kid is not socially confident or has issues that you feel would make him/her not successful in a group of 1 year older peers, then don’t do it. If your kid would have no problem, & you are confident they’ll handle all of the middle school transition (supposedly more homework and movement between 6 classes & 6 teachers) easily, stick to appropriate math placement and don’t cave.

By the way, there’s virtually no homework at JAMS.


Because it’s an HCC school, there at least are the Alg & Geo courses blocked with younger kids.

jaguar

Anonymous said...

No, geometry is with 7th and 8th graders(mostly 8th), and no, students who took precalc last year in 8th grade could not go to Hale because their block schedule prohibits it. People do take the class online and just leave early. All 3 of those classes have pretty important material, so you probably should take a class online to skip over the summer if that is what you want. But do remember that you can't access Running Start until 11th grade, and calc BC can be hard to schedule(not a lot of sections) so you may be setting yourself up for a scheduling headache sophomore year.

Signed,
Parent of 2 kids who did or are doing the algebra-geometry-algebra 2 path

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info. Very helpful! I don't think we're even going to bother trying. Math will just continue as always to be an outside-of-school thing (maybe until college? If scheduling is that hard). But it annoyed me that the principal was so passive aggressive about it instead of being straightforward about what the school can (or is willing to) provide. Why pretend it's in the kids' best interest? That's silly. There are plenty of other things that are not in the kids' best interest that we accept (like, say, large class sizes). And she flat out stated that no one has ever been advanced more than 3 years and that it is just a vicious rumor that anyone ever has--which it sounds like is not true.

I mean, it's great that JAMS is able to provide the 3 years ahead option, and all sorts of other great stuff. Languages! Guitar! I'm not trying to be negative about it.

-oh well

Anonymous said...

We know of multiple kids who have advanced 4 years in math. Once upon a time it was possible to go to Hale and take a course when you were a student at JAMS, but with start time changes and block schedules it not longer works. Our friend who did this in the past said that finals schedules, assemblies, etc. also proved a challenge for scheduling between the HS and MS. Now, if a student wants to advance an extra year, families must do that on their own time either in addition to a JAMS class or by skipping a period altogether. Each high school has a limited set of offerings, though. So even at the schools like Garfield or Roosevelt that offer 3 AP math classes, a student will run out of math options for grade 12. Then it just becomes a matter of finding a running start or extracurricular option, which is doable, but can make high school scheduling difficult, as the poster above said, because some classes are only offered one period a day and can conflict when out of sequence with grade level peers. It's really hard when your child is in 5th to know what they will want to do by their senior year, but there is definitely time before high school starts to do an extra class over the summer. Make sure that whatever you do is approved by SPS or your specific high school before you sign up for something outside of the district.

RF

Benjamin Leis said...

I wanted to chime in that if you're considering trying to go outside the regular math sequence or even trying to jump up to a course actually offered at a school its a really good idea to talk with the math dept. first.

I know of one case just this year where a course was taken at UW over the summer without informing the school and they then refused to honor it.

There are often multiple pathways and its to your benefit to figure one that's realistic before spending time and money (or even if you want to argue your case - do that on the front side not ex post facto).

Anonymous said...

Okay, since everyone is being so helpful, I'll keep asking questions. My 5th grader is already doing Algebra 2 (outside of school), so if he kept doing a course a year and somehow miraculously could get those classes on his schedule in high school (which sounds unlikely), he would be done with BC calc and AP stats after 10th grade. So the issue with high school is that you need the 24 credits and a certain number of math credits? Is that why you need to get approved for out of school things, so you can get high school credit for them and be allowed to graduate? And can you just test into, say, BC Calc as a 9th grader? Or do you need some other proof? What do kids usually do if they're too young for running start but need more advanced courses? (Sorry for the complete ignorance about high school. On the one hand, it feels early to think about high school, but on the other hand, I don't want to find out a few years from now that nothing my kid did up until 9th grade will count for anything. My first mistake was letting him onto khan academy....)

-oh well

Anonymous said...

Wow, refusing to honor a UW course. That's hardcore. How could they justify that?

-oh well

Anonymous said...

Speaking for Roosevelt only, my kids have both used Robinson Center courses to opt out of a high school course. But, they were taken before high school started and used for placement, not credit/grade. RHS will NOT 'test' kids out of a class. It is the burden of the family to provide proof of completion of a course, and the math department offers a list of approved classes, though I'm sure someone could ask about a course and get clarification as it's not a long list. Doing something on your own, like Kahn Academy is not enough 'proof'. I am sure, especially with kids 3+ years ahead, they want to make sure the kids are solid in the subject as they WILL run out of courses and will be the youngest in their class. It is then on families to figure out how to get math outside of school as upperclassmen and how to present this when applying to college. Running Start is an option for some, but many kids also want to stay at school for music/drama/sports so that is not optimal for everyone, though of course, depends on scheduling at the CC. 5th feels early to make these decisions, but if your student is really breezing through their classes when they start MS, taking a course over the summer or online is a pretty simple thing to do before high school.

Every high school may be different. Lincoln/Ingraham/Ballard may have their own set of policies. For now, I think Ballard, Roosevelt and Garfield all end with AP BC Calculus and AP Stats, so a school with fewer options like Hale may be less willing to have kids opt out of courses as they would only run out earlier.

Anonymous said...

Adding to post above at 9:01. My kids also used CTY online courses for high school placement. I am aware of other students using BYU online and APEX learning courses to skip math classes in SPS.

AP

Anonymous said...

Oh, he's doing Art of Problem Solving Academy now (mostly 8th and 9th graders in that class), not khan academy. Khan academy is just how we ended up in this pickle. I think what we'll probably do is just have him cruise along in all the normal math classes and do his real learning unofficially, like he's always done. But curious about the other options. I'll have to ask about the (Lincoln, I guess) math department's list of approved classes for future reference. Thanks for the tips!

-oh well

Anonymous said...

Good time to revisit "The Calculus Trap" by Richard Rusczyk, from Art of Problem Solving:

https://artofproblemsolving.com/articles/calculus-trap

Anonymous said...

@ oh well, we were in a similar boat years ago. In middle school, kid took 3 years of math online since school didn't offer them (AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC, and Multivariable Calc). We did math through CTY and EPGY. Kid did NOT take a math class at middle school--that would have been way too frustrating--so instead either had late start of early release, or took an extra elective if break had to be mid-day (since it's not feasible for kid to leave campus for a period mid-day, and they would not let kid work independently in school library or another classroom during the day).

CTY and EPGY require testing to get in and aren't cheap, but are way more affordable than private school. You also get transcripts, which can help down the road. My kid found these classes to be MUCH more in-depth and challenging than traditional high school classes (based on an Algebra II class taken earlier at a high school, then repeated for logistical purposes via CTY), and found the AP Calc BC test very easy when taken in 8th grade (via an SPS high school, but I don't think they'll let you do that anymore and you may have to go to a special testing site). When you enter high school with a high score on an AP Calc BC exam already, I would assume it's harder for the school to deny you math credit. They are also required to honor home school classes, so armed with that knowledge, a transcript from a gifted program, and an AP score or two, you should be fine.

It looks like your kid is on a trajectory to perhaps finish AP Calc BC while still in middle school, so may actually run out of HS options prior to 11th grade (when Running Start becomes an option). You could try to slow your kid down a bit--that's what SPS tries to do, after all--but even then, if they end up at a HS that doesn't offer AP Calc BC, your kid could still run out of options early. In our case, we just acknowledged the fact that kid would not take any math in SPS middle or high school, and that we'd have to cobble together our own solution. There were a few twists and turns along the way, but it worked fairly well. My biggest gripe was that math had to become an extracurricular activity because the school was not accommodating. That would have been fine if it was just 50 minutes a day, but when you're taking AP classes independently it requires more than that, sine you have reading, proofs, long exams, etc. It's a shame they can't use a portion of the school day to get started.

As to the principal's concern about social issues with skipping, I assume she thinks it's hard for the younger kid. In reality, it's often harder for the older kids--having someone so young in their class, for whom concepts come so easily, can make it awkward. My kid had an awesome teacher years before who explained the importance of letting other kids try to answer first. Teacher explained that he knew my kid already knew the answer, so there was no need to raise hand--let a few other kids try first, and my kid could answer if they weren't getting it. That seemed to work well for the other kids, and taught my kid a valuable life lesson, too.

Best wishes!

Anonymous said...

The board will be voting this week on changes to the policy that covers classes taken outside of SPS. Here’s a link to the document that’s on the agenda: https://www.seattleschools.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_543/File/District/Departments/School%20Board/18-19%20agendas/February%2027/A02_20190227_Policy%202024%20BAR.pdf

Middle school students will not be allowed to earn high school credit for classes taken online. This is a problem if your student is advanced enough that they will not be able to take three years of math in high school.

EPGY and CTY classes will not be eligible for high school credit.

College courses will not be eligible for high school credit if the class is available at the student’s school.

Classes that do not fulfill a graduation requirement will not be eligible for credit.

These limitations are too stringent and do not consider the needs of highly capable students.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Thanks for the heads up - effective the summer term of this school year, if approved. It sure seems focused on students seeking credit recovery rather than advanced course options, which leads to unnecessary restrictions for AL students.

Work Group recommendations:

- Make all out-of-district credits for first time credit appear on high school transcripts as pass/no pass, rather than a letter grade.

The reasoning: "The High School Policy Work Group was concerned that it was inequitable to allow these out-of-district courses to impact GPA, because students whose families can afford out-of-district courses can “shop around” for the easiest course in a particular subject, and use it to raise their GPA...Given that, the work group advised that it would be more equitable to make out-of-district courses appear on transcripts as pass/no pass, so that GPA will not be impacted."

...Furthermore, principals in the High School Policy Work Group flagged concerns that middle school students are currently taking out-of-district math classes so that they can take more advanced math classes in high school. This is problematic, given that out-of district classes often do not prepare them adequately for the more advanced high school courses.

And wanting to take more advanced coursework in high school is problematic, because? Sheesh, where to begin. Our kids have done online coursework, in summer to advance in a world language (our child said it was adequate preparation for the subsequent class at HS) and another time to access a more advanced science option (it was definitely NOT taken as a grade booster). We also part-time homeschooled in middle school, and could care less about getting the high school credit, as it was more about laying a solid math foundation and accessing faster paced and more challenging material than was available in MS. BUT, that does not mean I agree with restricting HS credit options for MS coursework - if families are part-time homeschooling, it may not even be consistent with state law to impose such a restriction (I'd contact the WA State Homeschool Organization with questions).

The proposed changes are very concerning, especially for students who rely on some combination of online coursework and part-time homeschooling to create a make-do kind of solution to what can't be offered even in HC. Under this policy, even full-time Running Start students could be prevented from outside coursework ("In-district courses are defined as courses offered by Seattle Public Schools to actively enrolled students. This includes state and/or district approved dual credit programs such as Running Start and College in the High School."). And not giving a letter grade for what could be a core course?? That is disadvantaging any student planning on attending college.

The internal auditors completed audits of online learning at Franklin High School, Cleveland High School, Center School, and Rainier Beach High School during the 2017-18 school year. Their findings prompted the Department of College and Career Readiness to engage the High School Policy Work Group to look deeply into 2024SP.

And there you go. That could be part of the issue. What about Garfield? Or any north end HS?

Anonymous said...

The Work Group memo states this change will "benefit less wealthy students" so "They will not have to compete for scholarships or college admissions with students who may have inflated their GPAs with out-of district courses". Additionally, "In the revised procedure, out-of-district courses would not be used for GPA calculations, and this would level the playing field".

This policy change is based on Department of Racial Equity and Advancement's suspicion-posed-as-fact that students can “shop around” for a course that is known to be easy, instead of taking the course through SPS". Signed off by Juneau.

Policy change based on speculation about ulterior motives?

Where is the evidence supporting the shopping/easy theory?

So Long

Anonymous said...

But SPS students aren't just measured against other SPS students for scholarships and college admissions, they are compared with thousands of other students who actually have grades for their courses, not just some pass/fail notation. Colleges look at individual courses, and grades in those courses. Who are you more likely to take a chance on? A student who took an online course and got a hard earned "B" or a student who has nothing more to show but a pass/fail grade? The idea that they are somehow leveling the playing field is absurd. Colleges need evidence that a student is likely to be successful once admitted, meaning actual grades.

Anonymous said...

I'm not seeing how these new guidelines are really that likely to hurt HC students. Can someone explain further?

Why does a middle school student need/want high school credit for classes taken online? If the student is so advanced they will not be able to take three years of math in high school, for example, they'll be able to take math for credit elsewhere. It's only if the student's school does offer that level that taking it elsewhere wouldn't be allowed for credit.

If "classes that do not fulfill a graduation requirement will not be eligible for credit," is that a problem? You still need a certain number of classes in certain subjects, and until you get those, they'll count. It's only the above and beyond that won't count for HS credit, but they don't need them for HS credit, so what's the big deal? Say you take LA in 9th and 10th, then take 2 semesters of LA in 11th via Running Start. Since those likely each count for a year, you're technically done with your HS LA requirement. If you take more LA in 12th, that's just icing on the cake. You don't need it, but you may want if for college applications. You can still submit your RS transcript to colleges, can't you? Even if the college coursework doesn't show up for credit (or at all) on your HS transcript, you can get/submit a college transcript as well.

I, too, am skeptical of that "shopping around" idea. Someone down at JSCEE seems to be paranoid. Board policy changes should be evidence-based. Where's the evidence? Board policy changes should also involve a full analysis of the potential impacts (positive and negative). The Board should insist on better understanding this issue before voting.

data seeker



Anonymous said...

An online provider should provide a transcript and grade which could be submitted to colleges, so even though a student has a pass/fail on their SPS transcript, they would still presumably have a grade to put on their college app. I'd be curious how colleges handle the SPS/school GPA - do they recalculate it?

As for courses taken in MS, as long as a family files a Declaration of Intent to provide Home Based Instruction, they should be able to access any online provider of their choice. SPS can't dictate what a family does for home school coursework. The bigger concern may be how individual schools determine next course placement following online MS coursework.

If the policy gets approved, the new limitations on providers would be most restrictive for HS students. It could limit options for those needing more advanced alternatives in 9th and 10th grade (before they can access RS).

Anonymous said...

You're correct about the transcripts. My children submitted transcipts from their district (one SPS and one Highline), BYU online high school, CTY and the UW when applying for college admission.

Fairmount Parent

Anonymous said...

The High School Policy Work Group was concerned that it was inequitable to allow these out-of-district courses to impact GPA, because students whose families can afford out-of-district courses can “shop around” for the easiest course in a particular subject, and use it to raise their GPA. Students whose families cannot afford to pay for out-of-district courses do not have the same option to raise their GPAs.


Principals in the High School Policy Work Group flagged concerns that middle school students are currently taking out-of-district math classes so that they can take more advanced math classes in high school. This is problematic, given that out-of - district classes often do not prepare them adequately for the more advanced high school courses.


The internal auditors completed audits of online learning at Franklin High School, Cleveland High School, Center School, and Rainier Beach High School during the 2017- 18 school year.

All three of the above statements (and many others) from the BAR make it abundantly clear that the High School Policy Work Group looked at this through a very limited lens--their work was biased from the start, looking only at one side of the issue. They were concerned with the possible problem (real/theoretical? widespread/limited?) of students shopping around for easier classes outside of SPS. Does that ever happen? Maybe, I don't know. They did not provide any evidence that it does. Are online of other out-of-district classes easier? I have no idea--and again, no evidence. It's pretty funny, actually, that they think this will somehow make grades more equitable, when the same classes within an SPS school can be vastly different in terms of what's covered and how it's graded. There are easy teachers and hard teachers for the same class, and it's ok for those to go into the same GPA calculation.

Where the Work Group absolutely failed was in their failure to look at the converse situation--where students are taking out-of-district classes because they want harder, not easier, classes. Many SPS students, particularly HC students, will take outside classes to be able to cover something in greater depth, and/or to move faster, and/or because they want to keep moving forward over the summer because they actually like (!) learning and want to do more of it. Again, SPS wants to slow these kids down.

The high school audits were conducted at schools that typically do not have a large number of highly capable identified students. These are also high schools that do not offer some of the most advanced classes, such as AP Calculus BC. They were not looking at the use of out-of-district classes for deeper learning. Every student I've known to take such classes did so because they wanted more challenge, not less. Why was the Advanced Learning dept not involved in this decision? Why were HCC pathway sites not included? Why were HCC families not engaged?

I also find the Work Group's work on this, and/or the district's write-up in the BAR, to be incredibly irresponsible and inflammatory. The clear messages are that families of means try to cheat their way to better grades, and that students who take out-of-district classes are doing so because it's the easy way out. I don't know if the Work Group and staff members working on this issue are just thinking too simplistically and don't understand that students may take such classes for a variety of reasons, or if they are actively trying to further division based on income.

The Board should reject the Work Group's recommendations, and this BAR, as incomplete. Until they ALSO analyze the potential negative impacts on students who take out-of-district classes in search of harder, not easier, work, this recommendation if faulty and may do more harm than any supposed/hypothetical benefit.

That said, the idea of a decision tree for consistency across schools re: access to outside classes is a good one. Too bad they didn't share that.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Anon@8:48, who said "If the policy gets approved, the new limitations on providers would be most restrictive for HS students. It could limit options for those needing more advanced alternatives in 9th and 10th grade (before they can access RS"

Under this proposal, a 9th or 10th grader who needs something higher than AP Calculus BA or AP Stats will not be able to access a math class until they can do Running Start in 11th grade (if they can make RS work with their schedule at that point). OSPI has a list of approved online providers, and AP Calc BC seems to be the highest math classes go.

When I asked OSPI, years ago, about why EPGY and CTY weren't on the list of approved online providers, they told me that it was likely because they hadn't applied for OSPI accreditation. Why would they bother? The students who want more challenging, honors-level math classes are probably going to take them anyway, regardless of whether they are on the OSPI list anyway. But the idea that EPGY and CTY classes--which require admission, are developed for gifted students, and, in our experience, go much, much deeper than SPS classes--are somehow not legitimate classes is absurd.

If it were me in that boat, I'd "part-time homeschool" and take the online class I wanted, then continue with math in Running Start. You'll still get your 3 years in, since one semester of college math counts as a year of high school math.

Best wishes!

Anonymous said...

Even better, it’s actually a one quarter community college class that’s equivalent to a year of high school math.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many (HC) students are even taking online classes outside of school? Math seems to be a concern here. However, I don't get the impression this is a large percentage at all of overall HC middle or even high school kids. In fact, we were surprised in recent years at how many HC kids in my students peer group are only 1 year ahead in math. I think years ago there were many HC kids 3 or more years ahead in math. However, in recent years they really slowed them down at the middle school level and changed how they test them & criteria. The majority we know are only 1-2 years ahead now, but there are still some that are 3 years ahead. There are also more students now outside of HC that are 2 years ahead. We are in the north end.

Benjamin Leis said...

I keep rough tabs on this and I think the overall numbers of 6th grade Algebra takers is actually as high as it ever was. However, the kids are now split between multiple buildings rather than all at one (WMS) I suspect the 7th grade Algebra cohort is equally large but again split around given that everyone bubbling up from the HC pathways is on that sequence and that is also at a high water mark. At the same time the number of kids who are HC qualified but coming from ref schools is also higher than ever. So its very possible to have large #'s of friends in any of these pacings. (There are definitely building to building differences in the ease of getting a higher placement)

I've seen some usage of classes like the ones at the Robinson Center in MS to skip up a year.



Anonymous said...

Policy 2420, High School Grade and Credit Marking Policy, is also being revised. Additional explanation for changes:

...regarding the changes to high school credits for middle school students who take out-of-district classes, equity was strongly considered. When students take out-of-district courses, they must pay for them. Students from lower income families may not be able to afford these classes, and thus lose out on one of the ways to earn high school credits while in middle school. By deciding not to award high school credit for these out-of-district classes, we are taking a step towards leveling the playing field for students from different income levels.

...The change regarding preventing middle school students from earning credits for out-of-district courses would benefit students in that it would protect them from taking online classes that may not sufficiently prepare them for the rigors of high school work. High school principals who were involved in recommending this policy change noted that students often take online classes in middle school, then move into more advanced classes when they enter high school. Often, the online class has not prepared them for the higher level high school course, and they struggle to do well in that high school course.

Anonymous said...

"High school principals who were involved in recommending this policy change noted that students often take online classes in middle school, then move into more advanced classes when they enter high school. Often, the online class has not prepared them for the higher level high school course, and they struggle to do well in that high school course."

Often? I'd like to see some evidence of this. If they've truly researched this, they should be able to identify how many students took online classes in middle school so they could jump up a level in high school, and how poorly those students ended up doing in those high school classes compared to their peers. Is this true across the board, or for certain classes or subjects? Is it true at the other high schools they didn't include in their audit, such as Garfield and north end high schools? If there truly are low-quality programs out there that middle school students are using to unsuccessfully advance, shouldn't they let us know which programs they are so people can avoid them?

Conversely, how often do students successfully make the jump? Which online providers did they use? I have a very hard time buying the idea that all the OSPI-approved providers are awesome, and that those not on the approved list aren't. Do I believe that sometimes parents push a student to take another class to try to move ahead? Sure. So there's a simple solution--have a student pass a placement test to skip a level.

All this rationing of rigor is driving me

batty

Anonymous said...

@Benjamin I have a current 9th grader. My kid entered HC in middle school, 6th grade, but was very strong in math all through elementary. Tested on two tests to be 3 years ahead in 6th but was counseled strongly to not move ahead more than 2 years. There was also a change that year in that kids had to take two tests instead of one. One test was given in school, then some kids moved on to take a second district placement test. We definitely had the feeling they were trying to slow down the HC kids by a combination of multiple tests to go beyond 2 years as well as placement counseling.

In some cases HC parents we knew also had curriculum concerns about their kid skipping more than 1 year, concerned they would skip over material. There was a bubble of HC kids in this age group, but I really don't think as many are 3 years or more ahead as years ago. Majority seemed to be 2 years ahead with less three or more or one year ahead.

Anonymous said...

Leslie Harris posted this on another blog in regards to the proposed changes to accepting online credit.

"FYI, BAR Policies Nos. 2024 and 2420 have been pulled tomorrow’s Leg. Mtg. By Supt. Juneau and myself to be referred to the C and I Committee for more discussion, community engagement and potential unintended consequences.

Thank you for your input and conversations - stay tuned."

Leslie Harris
Director, District 6, President
leslie.harris@seattleschools.org

Anonymous said...

@data seeker "I'm not seeing how these new guidelines are really that likely to hurt HC students. Can someone explain further?"

I can offer one example of how this new policy as recommended could hurt many students. If the course is "offered at the high school" the recommendation is to not allow online course credit unless for specific circumstances as outlined in the document. However many students for example take health online, so that they can have room in their schedule for taking multi year foreign language, band/orchestra etc class or an academy/career related program such as at Ballard that is multi year. This recommendation would possibly disrupt those multi year elective courses that many students are taking year after year.

MathWorried said...

Hi, I am looking for advice and couldn't find this info on the SPS site. My kiddo qualified for AL in K, just shy of the HCC cutoff. For a variety of reasons we didn't go the appeal route. Is it possible to retest again (currently on 4th)? I am starting to worry about the math he will have access in middle school as just AL.