Minutes from 12/18/19 Meeting

HiCap Parent Council Meeting
with Amity Butler and Angie Hancock (Student Data Analyst)
December 18, 2019

10:00 am – 12:00 pm

1. Testing progress – Currently in makeup phase of testing. Capturing different students at different locations today and tomorrow. District make-up day at HQ on Friday morning. Also opening a testing window in January for Kokanee. They are chasing down kids who were sick or missed the test. 40-50 kids left.
2. Issue from a parent that a child was given both tests when already single-qualified. Evidently there is sometimes confusion during testing lots of kids and sometimes kids are given the wrong test. And there is no Stop Sign after the Reading test ends for the 1^st graders. It just stops – no next button, no nothing. Very confusing and frustrating. First graders also have trouble sitting for two long tests in a single session.
3. 504 plan accommodations – will send extra proctor to test kids in a separate room. Follow SBA recommendations. EL is more difficult. Accommodating translation is really difficult, especially for emerging EL. Heavy text is a problem.
4. Results from testing:
   1. Lots of first graders dual qualified, more than single qualifiers. The number of single qualifiers for math was surprisingly high, given that the numbers include only those who did not qualify based purely on Naglieri.
   2. Capturing ELL students, but not a lot of Low-Income or 504.
   3. Parents and students have not yet been informed of the results.
5. How are proctors found, trained, conflicts of interest?
   1. Trained at district office
   2. Do not proctor at building where they have a child
   3. Asked schools to send a paraeducator if possible. Works best because they know the kids and the kids are comfortable with them.
   4. Proctors are often substitutes or other district employees.
   5. No volunteers. They are paid. $19 per hour for at least 4 hours.
   6. Difficult time finding proctors. Not well paid. Mostly word of mouth.
6. Number of kids who have taken IOWA so far:
   1. 1^st grade: 571
   2. 2^nd grade: 435
   3. 3^rd grade :371
   4. 4^th grade: 279
   5. 5^th grade: 693
   6. 6^th grade: 160
   7. 7^th grade: 111
7. No data yet on kindergarteners. Need to combine with WA Kids data first.
8. EAP Locations for next year:
   1. Confirmed: Lockwood, Moorlands, Canyon Creek, Sunrise and Fernwood
   2. Still discussing: Feeder patterns for Kokanee and Wellington (to Liota). Concern about taking kids out of their middle school feeder pattern. And west for Shelton View, West Hills, Maywood Hills.
   3. Trying to avoid moving kids again. Contingent on multiple programs that all need space and might move. Plus moving music into the school day.
   4. EDTF meeting was cancelled and moved to January. Dr. Reid will make decision based on cabinet, probably in January. Survey was very helpful.
9. Survey Results
   1. Many parents are willing to move their child to a new EAP site if closer to home
   2. Sibling waivers are important and can be a priority depending on the principal, but they are often difficult to guarantee.
   3. Contractual issues about class sizes
   4. Need to determine the priorities to use when making the decisions about placement
   5. Need consistent policies about class sizes and whether promoting non-qualified kids into EAP to balance class sizes is appropriate.
   6. If a student is promoted to EAP, evidently it does not change their actual classification in the system. Unclear what happens about enrolling them into EAP/AAP classes the following year, whether they should be tested.
   7. To make students feel comfortable with a transition to a new school, parents prefer an evening open house event for families and a daytime field trip for students.
   8. Discussion about how to make a field trip happen for kids who are moving schools and how to coordinate a single district-wide day for the event.
10. Discussion about gaps in math for kids new to EAP. Teachers need to be aware of which students are new and not up to speed in math.
11. High School course offerings
    1. HiCap only classes? How that does mesh with IB and AP courses?
    2. No communication with parents. No decisions.
    3. It seems transcript will not change. Not a different title.
12. High school discussion
    1. Incoming numbers of identified HiCap students doubling next year. Are the high schools ready?
    2. When will course offerings start to match (such as advanced math options)
    3. Recap of the high school info night--there were about 30 attendees, lots of questions about how to know what to register for
    4. High school reps should have individual meetings with the high school principals
    5. Ideally, the high schools would all put out documents similar to the BHS and WHS documents we made (with info about 4 year course plans)
    6. Could high schools email the documents to the HiCap identified 8th graders?
    7. Could the high school counselors read the documents as well?
    8. Jennifer to host high school discussion at her house to get all the high school reps (and other interested parties) on the same page to have similar asks of the 4 high schools
13. Next meeting is Jan. 15--talk about the EAP info night
14. Could the council sponsor an "Outstanding HiCap Educator" award, similar to PTA educator awards. Not necessarily money (see below). Promote the positive stories of in-class services (and a way to solicit stories of specific actions--which can then be shared with others) and show appreciation to the teachers.
15. HiCap parents council is very low on funds (treasurer not present so exact amount unknown). May run out of money to pay for Mail Chimp, website
    1. Bear Creek PTA is dissolving and disbursing their funds, possible that they would grant us money?
    2. Send another fundraising email to HiCap list?
    3. Can Game Day be a fundraiser?
16. Game Day is on for Feb. 9 from 2:30 - 5 at the Brightwater center.
    1. There will be a fee, and this is not a drop off event. Tickets to go on sale in early January.
    2. Put up signs around Game Day of what positive things the Parents Council has done.

Minutes from 11/19/19 Meeting

HiCap Parent Council Meeting
with Amity Butler and Nancy Johnson (AP at Moorlands) and Tamorah Redshaw (Fernwood)
November 19, 2019

10:00 am – 12:45 pm

1. Started testing today at Timbercrest and Liota for IOWA, 6^th and 7^th graders. About 30-35 minutes for reading, 30-35 minutes for math. All middle schools should be tested this week. Very space dependent. Canyon Park Middle may be after Thanksgiving due to lack of library space availability.
2. Middle school kids are all referred kids.
   1. 6^th: 162 students moved forward from referral (plus the 30)
   2. 30 dual qualified 6^th graders based on SBA. No further testing required.
   3. 110 7^th graders referred (plus the 24)
   4. 24 7^th graders who are dual qualified based on SBA. No further testing required.
   5. 8^th graders not tested on IOWA. Use portfolio review instead.
   6. Missing permissions for 40 kids, but they are trying to follow up.
3. If referred child, they are taking IOWA. Cost-based decision to avoid Naglieri as an unnecessary test and expense.
4. Worked hard to test all kids, including those who were absent.
5. Elementary referred stats:
   1. 2^nd grade - 443
   2. 3^rd grade - 379
   3. 4^th grade - 290
   4. 5^th grade - 722
6. Naglieri is simple and flexible testing. Can test any kid thru June. Riverside and I-Ready are not flexible. Testing window is enforced. Hurdle to get kids uploaded into the system. Based on norms used to score the test, including age of child and time of school year. Worked hard to accommodate kids who travel and miss school thru most of December.
7. Interviewed Friday for a data analyst. Waiting for a reference check, then can hire that person.
8. Robocalls – 7 separate robocalls. Learned a lot. Much more specificity if they can. Some specificity is possible, some not. Have to say the grade, but cannot say child’s name. Perhaps can insert child’s name in an email. Responded to ~300 emails. Changed scripts and numbered them, so it’s ready for next year.
9. Some first graders accidentally received 2 calls, which was confusing.
10. I-Ready scores are all over the board. Not consistent with expected results, but often used because they need a second data point, especially for first graders. Expect I-Ready to be useful eventually, but there is a calibration period. Hopeful it will even itself out for mid-year and end-of-year assessments. Considering whether there is an alternate 2^nd data point instead of I-Ready.
11. It turns out only half of schools have written plans for kids to have access to I-Ready at home. Had expected all schools. Can skew I-Ready data, which can then skew HiCap designation. Can also get a student ahead. But it’s not a curriculum and should not be used as such.
12. Concerns because I-Ready gets harder as you answer more questions correctly. Wrong questions lead to easier questions. But the test can take a long time when you get to harder questions, especially when it is a lesson the student has never seen before. Not clear that students are actually supposed to have wrong answers, so the test will eventually end. Upsetting for students to get answers wrong.
13. Not sure which schools use I-Ready and which do not. Big question is whether that will impact January I-Ready testing results.
14. 85^th – 94^th percentile on Naglierir OR 85^th on I-Ready moves on to take IOWA. 95^th percentile on Naglieri automatically qualifies and skips IOWA.
15. EDTF Meeting – Mostly about Bear Creek neighborhood situation. Moving Bear Creek mostly to East Ridge and the rest to Cottage Lake. Did not address EAP locations. EAP is on the list to discuss at the next meeting. Goal is to have an EAP site in each middle school region. Trickiest site is Canyon Park because Lockwood is not in CPMS region. Frank Love may be an option but FL is not in CPMS region either.
16. Meeting with Joe of EDTF after meeting addressed the need for a survey. Amity will encourage the district to implement the survey. Joe was worried about the transportation questions because they are not all readily achievable. Goal is to get survey out before EDTF meeting on December 16.
17. Should make sure that District employees and even HiCap board members should be introduced at EDTF and other meetings so parents know who is there.
18. Writing Instruction question from Amity:
    1. Wants to create an EAP handbook with expectations for EAP classrooms, teachers, etc. Starting with Common Core standards, partly because for math progression to work, have to compact curriculum. Need expertise from existing EAP teachers to know where compacting works best. Easier to do in some grade levels than others. Will also help with kids who qualified after 2^nd grade, so they may be behind.
    2. Reading portion is harder to document, but going to try. Linda LaPonte will help.
    3. Writing is the complicated issue. Asking HiCap Council for feedback. The district does not test in writing. Many kids are good at speaking an argument, but not so good at writing. They do not receive writing education to get ahead. Super important for high school. 1 year for reading, 2 years for math, but zero for writing. Want to start in elementary, but haven’t figured out how yet. Looking for ideas.
       1. Suggestion for a typing program to help kids learn to type
       2. Suggestion to let kids choose a topic to write about instead of providing a topic
       3. Give teachers more flexibility
       4. Should this happen in elementary school or middle school instead?
       5. Is this an issue for EAP students or all students instead?
       6. 6+1 Traits of Writing – focuses on elements, tone, mood, etc., one piece at a time. Less overwhelming and stressful to focus on one issue at a time.
       7. Worried about social-emotional component as well and making sure kids don’t get stressed out or start to hate writing, especially in elementary.
       8. Is it the mechanics (handwriting, spelling, grammar, etc.) of writing that cause students to struggle or the actual process of writing?
       9. Easier to excel in reading than in writing, so that can be frustrating for students who cannot perform in writing at the same level.
19. Training – Will training be repeated next summer? Austina will be training at CPMS in January. Schools are responsible for Professional Development. How can it be rolled out across each school. Question about whether there is funding for teachers to get HiCap training during the summer. Edufest is in Idaho this summer and they will be going. HiCap budget gets drained with paying for testing. Dr. Reid will add funds for PT if requested though.
20. In Synergy, it says “HC” for HiCap designation. Working on making it easily accessible so that teachers can differentiate between students who are single or dual qualified. Basically, changing it from just “HC” to specify reading, math or both. Teachers are generally not aware of newly qualified AAP kids in middle school who were in GenEd thru 5^th grade, so they can know they are not up to the same standard. Can Synergy add a star or other indicator for first year?
21. Request to inform parents that kids will not run out of math classes in high school. The district is working on it.
22. Private school families – Need to enroll in private school by January. Amity does not want to open a separate window for testing private school kids because that is unfair to district-enrolled students. But want to be fair to private school students too. Can take SBA in district, but that is in May after the deadline. In future, could let private school kids take IOWA during district testing window. And district kids cannot use SBA to qualify for HiCap for the next school year, but can for year after that.
23. Scheduled HiCap Council meeting with Amity for January – June 2020
    1. January 15
    2. February 4
    3. March 3
    4. March 31
    5. April 30
    6. June 4
24. HiCap Game Day Event – Scheduled for Feb 9 at Brightwater
    1. Discussion about whether to make it free, request donations or charge
    2. Discussion about whether Austina’s talk should be free, NSD only or charge
    3. Room can hold 250-300 people
    4. Cost $400-$500 to run the event
    5. Can use EventBrite to register and donate
25. Discussion about meetings among elementary HiCaP reps and middle/high school HiCap reps

Minutes from 10/22/19 Meeting

HiCap Parent Council Meeting
with Amity Butler and Tamora Redshaw
October 22, 2019

10:00 am – 12:45 pm

1. Enrollment numbers chart.
   1. Not broken down by race or ethnicity. Kindergarten is the only grade that matches the demographic for HiCap. Concern about “capturing the kids and keeping them.” No easy answer.
   2. Enrollment numbers have practically doubled in the past year. 4138 HiCap kids out of 23,284 total enrollment, or 17.80%.
   3. Amity spoke with EL students at all grade levels. Most were happy and thought it was a good experience. But question about how to not overlook kids who are quiet and well-behaved.
2. District did a robocall to single-subject qualifiers last week to request permission for testing. Will call people who have not given permission. Will talk to principals about scheduling dates and rooms after have final numbers for kids in each school. Discussion about whether parents whose kids did not qualify will get notified as well. And how that message should be sent – email via Synergy, robocalls, notice sent home with child. Need to ensure parents understand percentage cutoffs and their child’s score.
3. Does not want to use i-Ready unless necessary. It’s a diagnostic tool. She does not want kids to use it at home and get ahead but ignore the instructions. It’s only used if a 1^st grader is sick and misses every opportunity for testing. It is just a backup, last resort tool. Plus there is an equity issue since not every school completed the paperwork to get the instructional tools as part of the i-Ready program.
4. Kindergarteners will know nothing until January so they do not freak out. WA Kids deadline is October 31, so that is a bigger priority. Will notify kindergarten parents in late January.
5. November 8 -- screening ends for 1^st and 5^th graders.
6. Elementary – Mentors for new EAP teachers. Concerns about the new Lockwood 5^th grade EAP teacher. Open to any teacher that wanted mentoring. Split-classroom teachers especially wanted mentors.
7. Curriculum pilots starting at elementary level. Possibly doing a small pilot at Wellington and Bear Creek. Focused on math. Goal is to figure out how to better-serve single qualifiers. Slow process. Need to be cautious to make sure it’s successful. Involves tech working in the back of the classroom. Currently considering Edunuity (all computer) and Beast Academy (books & computer, books optional). Very different programs.
8. EDTF meeting about Bear Creek neighborhood projections – November 4 is next meeting. No predictions at this point. Hoping next meeting will be more productive. Decision on GenEd is basically made, but no decision on EAP.
9. Middle School – All registration forms are supposed to look like Leota’s. All kids should be able to choose between GenEd and Challenge. Should be distinct AAP courses.
   1. HICap kids are spread around middle schools. It’s a struggle to get middle schools to come to 5^th grade EAP schools with the proper registration forms.
   2. Some principals don’t even know which middle schools their kids are even attending.
10. They do have some AAP teachers interested in piloting new curriculum. Science first. Probably not math yet. Then will move into ELA.
11. High school principal meetings – had a meeting with all 4 principals. They need to talk to their staff about ELA. Social studies curriculum is set by state. ELA, especially English 9, that principals will talk to their staffs about proposals to make it more attractive to HiCap students. Need to vet thru staff – different curriculum vs different in-class options.
    1. Pre-AP English is difficult at Inglemoor and North Creek, but easy at Woodinville. Concern about whether it is too difficult for GenEd kids since there is no separate GenEd curriculum. The goal is to challenge all kids and offer appropriate support where they would do better than in a regular GenEd class.
    2. Concern about whether the results are being monitored and evaluated. North Shore is trying to pilot de-tracking because it is very inequitable for kids who are not identified.
    3. GenEd concerns are outside the scope of the HiCap board though.
12. Suggestion to bring high school counselors on board into registration process since there is a disconnect between what counselors are telling the kids and the reality of what kids can take. There needs to be a district document so that parents know. Will also help with the equity issues. Families need more time before registration. Perhaps counselors could meet with each student after registration to review the decisions, but not sufficient time before. Probably impossible for counselors to have a relationship with each kid.
13. Info Night – Amity spoke at Fernwood PTSA. Did not feel prepared back in September. Answered a lot of questions from parents and teachers.
    1. Amity is Happy to speak at elementary schools. Would be nice if schools had combined meetings to avoid 20 meetings.
    2. Dr. Reid did not want a few large events where there are space issues and too many parents to ask questions.
    3. At Fernwood, parents sent in their questions to teachers ahead of time and sent to Amity so she knew the most common questions, topics and concerns.
    4. Downside to smaller events if HiCap board used to collect a lot of names at the big event.
14. Curriculum concerns from HiCap Board:
    1. For English classes in middle and high school, almost all books that kids read have death as a theme. As we look at new books, can we find more uplifting books?
    2. New curriculum pilots creating a guide for single-qualified kids. There are Challenge questions from the Math Expressions book. Goal is to make it available to single-qualified kids.
    3. How to ensure teachers are aware of single-qualified kids in their classroom. How is it possible a teacher does not know? It is in Synergy and is impossible for teachers to not know.
    4. Advanced math classes in high school for triple-jump math classes – There are no math options for 9^th graders because they will run out of math by 12^th grade. Need to inform parents that there will be an option in 12^th grade.
15. Website still says student ID is required, but the form is fixed.
16. Website says is single qualified, that qualification stays with you “as long as you stay in good academic standard”. That phrase should be removed.
17. Concern from a parent about whether EAP status could be revoked because they were accepted on an appeal. The only way to lose their EAP status is if their child un-enrolls in the district or parent explicitly requests it.
18. ParentVUE – “Holistic” designation does not show up for kindergarteners as a designation or special service. Different qualifier than HiCap or EAP designation because “holistic” is a different designation. There is no curriculum difference and “holistic” is not a subject they get graded on. But State requires identification of HiCap K’s and holistic is basically HiCap designation. So it should be reflected.
19. EAP sites for next year
    1. Woodmoor will be losing EAP in 2 years. All parents at Woodmoor want to stay at Woodmoor. Parents were very appreciative about being heard.
    2. Bigger issue affects lots of individual schools – can we survey families to let parents be heard? How can we make transition easier? Do you want to move? If you have to move, what would help? Make parents aware of tradeoffs. Transportation is a big issue.
    3. Is it worth surveying parents if their responses may not actually be considered in the decision?
    4. EDTF should survey HiCap parents (and was supposedly going to, but didn’t) about their preferences, especially about transitions and tradeoffs.

Amity leaves at 12:00 pm.

Other post-Amity business items:

20. Board Game day – BrightWater donations did not meet costs. Zulu’s was well-attended, but limited to 25 people and could not interact. Should try again at BrightWater since now HiCap is a non-profit. Jasmine and Bonnie will co-organize.
21. Taxes – Austina will file 990N. Fiscal year goes thru December. No November deadline.
22. Minutes – Approved minutes from August and September meetings with modifications to remove inaccurate statements.
23. iReady discussion –
    1. Some schools are doing nothing. Some kids come home with scores. Kindergarteners are not using until January. Consistency and equity issues. District will be going out to schools and training the schools. Everyone has access though. Not all schools have it evidently. Some use at school and some use at home.
    2. Original point was lightweight monitoring in advance of SBA. Can be used for HiCap which is a bonus. But Amity does not believe the data is robust at recognizing HiCap kids.
    3. Confusion about what the score actually means since there is no explanation.
24. Is the district concerned about the high numbers of HiCap kids as a percentage?
25. Are we still identifying and serving under-represented kids who are traditionally not identified?
26. Is cutoff next year 85^th percentile still?
27. Discussion about merits of professional development vs curriculum development. Curriculum is probably more important, but there is generally not a district-wide set curriculum.
28. Can we gather data on kids coming into AAP who were not part of EAP? Not an easy transition, especially if kids are held to a higher standard than GenEd kids who have never been held to a higher standard.
29. Not a lot of emphasis on writing ability, particularly for high school kids. And not just in English, but also Science and other classes that require lots of writing. Concern that HiCap kids may be held to a higher standard for writing despite lack of difference in curriculum. Also concern that just going into more depth is not a different curriculum, so it does not matter to colleges. That doesn’t mean it’s not serving the kids though.
30. Discussion about having an evening meeting with just the HiCap Board. Previous years, the group would meet with the district every other month.

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Minutes from 9/17/19 Meeting

HiCap Parent Council Meeting
with Amity Butler
September 17, 2019

10:00 am – 12:45 pm

1. Amity - 2018-2019 Highly Capable Eligibility Process Report, which will be submitted to NSD School Board on Monday
   1. NNAT3 screening results
   2. Low Income based on Free & Reduced Priced Lunch
   3. Final Qualification Decisions probably includes kids who qualified via portfolio review
   4. Question: How many kids qualified but had a score of 94 or less on Naglieri?
2. Amity - Working thru website feedback to fix the problems
   1. Explaining unclear data, including timelines, processes and FAQs
   2. Trying to clarify October 25 date
      1. Want permission as soon as possible because if a child passed thru screening process, not a lot of time between screening and assessment.
      2. Need permission prior to assessment.
      3. Will robocall parents for permission as necessary.
      4. Do not need permission from K parents since all K kids are tested anyway
      5. 1^st and 5^th grade – permission not needed until after screening.
      6. Oct 25 mostly for students new to NSD or whose parents referred children
   3. 7^th grade is still missing on the drop-down list in the referral form
3. Amity - Testing
   1. Proctor training: October 11
      1. Request to inform proctors no music, yoga poses or other distractions.
      2. Clarity on whether kids should guess on the tests.
      3. Amity asked principals for name of para-educator from each school to train as proctor
   2. Screening deadline: October 16. Kids who enroll after October 16 will need portfolio review
   3. Permission form will add first and last name. Entering Student ID is super helpful and saves a lot of time.
   4. Request to send robo-call to parents of single-qualified HiCap kids to complete permission form
   5. Confusion about whether SBA test matters to middle-school kids, and that the results may be used to determine algebra or other placement.
   6. Only test that every child will get this year is I-Ready, 3 times per year: October, January and May/June. Star is teacher and school dependent. SBA will occur in the spring.
   7. Naglieri – Problems with color-blind children. Should add a color-blind checkbox to the permission form
4. Planning to pilot for single-qualifiers math (467) pick a few schools to do online capabilities where students login to work on accelerated math if not already have a program set up in building. Some buildings have something set up, others do not. Will pick schools willing to work with them and teachers. Could be during I-Ready time. Software is Edgenuity. Teacher would become facilitator. Not necessarily giving the lessons. Considering Beast Academy for AAP classrooms. Concerned about instructional component needed for Beast for younger grades. Trying to make this as self-contained as possible for non-EAP teachers. The struggle is every school does things differently. Driven by Katie Byornstad. Designed for credit recovery more than acceleration.
5. MineCraft pilot last year – Does not work on ChromeBooks. Very intensive on teachers to create the worlds to create a good math lesson. But some kids was fun enough that non-HiCap kids would be jealous.
6. Why is walk-to math not a priority at elementary schools? It’s a contractual issue. Scheduling is another issue, especially when there are lots of classrooms for a single grade. Clustering is officially recommended by the district, but not actually implemented by individual schools. Can you hold schools accountable for not implementing the district policies? Is it official policy or just a recommendation? Sometimes it’s a teacher accommodation since a class with some HiCap kids is easier for teachers than no HiCap kids. This is a particular issue at Moorlands, but not unique to Moorlands.
7. EAP sites for next year:
   1. Question about Fernwood EAP classrooms for next year? No idea right now.
   2. Boundary changes are not finalized. October 7 is first meeting of EDTF.
   3. Questions about whether kids at some EAP sites want to stay at current site or move to home schools that now that EAP. Parents are split.
   4. Bear Creek – Anxiety among families. Would like to know where kids will end up. EDTF decision on EAP due by October and GenEd assignments by November.
   5. Parents would love to see consistency of testing and placement. But there are real costs to moving kids around and no way to please everyone who have different priorities: commutes, going to neighborhood school, staying at current school, keeping siblings together, keeping friend groups together, etc.
8. NorthShore Family Partnership
   1. HiCap qualified students are not getting services
   2. Similar to in-school services, but different because NFP has electives.
   3. District provides curriculum to do the work at home
   4. Is there an acceleration option for NFP?
   5. Big question – What is the policy for HiCap kids in NFP?
   6. Should we be adding an NFP rep to the HiCap Parent Council?
9. Middle School AAP
   1. Canyon Park -- Challenge kids and HiCap kids in same classroom. They are teaching a HiCap curriculum but with some selected Challenge kids who “qualified”. Teachers were originally confused about which curriculum to present.
   2. SkyView – HiCap kids are spread around.
   3. Would like to see consistency across middle schools
   4. Leota – Interest in piloting HiCap science curriculum.
   5. All AAP curriculum changes happen by piloting, for all subjects.
   6. Part of the problem is there is no AAP curriculum
   7. Amity will reach out to teachers to see if there is interest in piloting
10. High School
    1. Families have not been informed there is a HiCap class. Not entirely clear there even is a HiCap class.
    2. Woodinville and Bothell have GenEd and Pre-IP English
    3. All 9th grade students are automatically enrolled in Pre-AP English 9, with the exception of 2 HiCap only sections of Pre-AP English, and a small group of Learning Center English students. Inglemoor is doing the same approach, except their course is titled, "Pre-IB English 9.
    4. No idea if curriculum is different
    5. Concern is no communication to families about any of this
    6. No descriptions or syllabus for courses, let alone consistent titles, for parents and students to make informed decisions about which classes to register for
11. Integrating 6^th grade classrooms
    1. Math clustering is not happening
    2. Problem with 6^th graders being in class with 8^th graders

Post Amity Discussion

12. Missing By-Law signatures and pictures on website
13. High school
    1. We should try to communicate early about registration issues
    2. Website has tips for Bothell and Woodinville HiCap registration
    3. Nothing for Inglemoor or North Creek
    4. Suggestion for parent education night
14. Discussion about Naviance as a schedule planning tool, particularly for college
15. Suggestion for high school guidance counselors to have all HiCap students instead of assigning them by last name
    1. Not a priority
    2. Could cause issues within schools
    3. Not enough support
16. Priority for Dr. Reid and HiCap Board is developing curriculums for single-subject HiCap, EAP and AAP. That will help with consistency among teachers and schools.
17. Discussion about non-academic criteria for identifying HiCap kids, such as creativity. But creativity is not always an indicator of HiCap.
18. Concerns about English class novels all being about death and conflict.

Minutes from 8/27/19 Meeting

HiCap Parent Council Meeting
with Amity Butler
August 27, 2019

10:00 am – 12:25 pm

1. Introduction by Amity Butler

Title = Director of Accelerated Models & Programs

Reports directly to Dr. Reid

2. Other major re-organizations? Student Services, e-learning vice principal
3. Amity’s background overview
4. Parent council rep introductions
5. Scheduling
   1. Tuesdays 10 am – 1 pm
   2. Tuesday, September 17
   3. Tuesday, October 22
   4. Tuesday, November 19 – Look at scheduling later meetings
   5. Tuesday, December 10
6. District is currently working on last-minute appeals. Transportation is a challenge. Some kids with dual qualification that were receiving in-class services are now being offered EAP services, but no established procedure for that. Transportation and sibling waiver challenge. Next year, will send a letter to all families March 1 to ask them to decide by March 15 whether to switch from home-school services to EAP to avoid last-minute chaos. Parent should email hicap@nsd.org for appeals.
7. Support and training for new teachers – Amity will be meeting with EAP teachers 4 times per year. 9/30 is the first planned meeting, during the school day. 33 EAP teachers total. 7 new to EAP or new to district. Will put together slides from Austina’s presentation for EAP teachers to share with parents at curriculum night.
8. Amity met and spoke with EAP teachers, especially how to teach 4/5 split, especially math and for students new to EAP. Going to accelerate and try to fill in the gaps for new kids if necessary, but figure they tested it and should be fine.
9. i-Ready – New online assessment tool. K-5 students will all be tested at beginning of school year. Maybe middle school. Will take between 40-90 minutes depending on student. For reading and for math. Will be given 3 times per year. Will show teacher growth data on each child. Adaptable test, but unclear how far beyond grade level questions will go. Unclear if EAP kids are being tested at grade level or EAP level.
10. EAP Class Sizes – Look “pretty good” and was considered with waivers. Waiver list that was denied “was huge”. Close to max capacity at every location.
11. Shelton View concerns have been addressed. The 2 new EAP teachers will be going to training on Bainbridge Island. Retired EAP teacher as mentor can help. Can be difficult especially for 4/5 split: middle school registration, different middle schools, 5^th grade camp. Ask parents to be patient and supportive. They need to hook up with other 5^th grade teachers.
12. Transportation – Have a proposed plan to streamline for next year. When newly qualified families get school assignment in March, they want transportation form to be ready. Do existing families need to fill out transportation form every year? Transportation needs to know about music. After-school transportation also an issue, but not EAP-specific. More communication department issue than transportation. Will look into letting communication department take over the forms.
13. Busing can still be 90 minutes for some EAP kids. West Hills and Maywood Hills kids are getting bussed to Moorlands. No feeder pattern to middle schools. Will there be room to create an EAP site at Frank Love after the new Maltby elementary school and Canyon Creek expansion opens?

Bottom line – what is the plan for next year, including for Bear Creek? NorthShore Family Partnership may be taking over Bear Creek campus while both EAP and GenEd classrooms will be moving to other schools.

14. We should survey parents to ask whether they prefer shorter bus rides, fewer transitions of moving kids to new schools, sibling waiver issues especially for transportation, etc. Part of the goal is to make the process less stressful for parents and make them feel like they are part of the process and their concerns are being heard. Maybe offer them transition assistance. The survey would preferably be done by the school district, but the parent council could help if necessary. It would be better coming from the school district though.
15. Middle School Issues – There is an emergency meeting today about Challenge-for-all classes where AAP kids are not separated. They are looking at trying to separate the AAP kids into separate classes. Also concerns about mixing AAP kids from grade 6 with non-AAP kids from other grades instead of keeping 6^th grade AAP kids together. Complaints about AAP kids being in GenEd classrooms but being required to get higher scores on tests to receive the same grade as a GenEd student. Music causes a scheduling problem too.
16. Screening & Assessment – Proposal for this year is not much different than past year, except perhaps for timeline.

New online referral form is open to anyone for permission to test a child if they move beyond the screening process, regardless of grade. Two forms —one for a parent and another for parent/teacher/counselor/community member that does not have parental rights.

Universally screening K, 1 & 5 – not all grades. K is state requirement, 1 because EAP begins in 2^nd, and 5^th because it’s year before middle school. All will be screen with Naglieri between 9/25 and 10/13. Most worried about supporting kindergarten teachers since it’s a whole new process for students.

10/30 thru 11/8 – Naglieri test for new-to-district students and referred students if necessary. Can skip screening if have sufficient data. Other data will be considered since Naglieri was not a perfect indicator. It captured kids in kindergarten really well, but not older grades.

11/8 – 12/20 – Iowa for those who screened 85% on Naglieri or need more data. Also includes single-qualified students. Testing at 1 grade level up. Option for make-up testing for kids who are not at school that day. The goal is to identify most kids via universal screening of K & 1, and screening grades 2-4 will fill in gaps, but hopefully parents already know about the process.

i-Ready is a backup screener, not an assessment tool since no experience with it yet. Will stick with Iowa at 95% and exceptions for SES students.

If new to district after October 18, will due portfolio screening since they will have missed the testing windows. Could potentially do a 2^nd round of testing at another time to catch these students.

Everything should be done by winter break.

Private school – They do not screen private school students, only students who are already enrolled. Portfolio assessment is used. Absence of data means the student should be tested, but not easy to test them. Is there any communication to students new to district about HiCap? Right now, no but there should be.

17. Numbers from last year
    1. 2690 students were screened in across K-5, meaning they scored 85% on at least one test, e.g., IRR, SBA, etc. That qualified them for Iowa.
    2. Total number qualified after Iowa were 2,328
    3. 1,291 were dual qualifiers
    4. Math-only: 1478
    5. Reading-only: 709
    6. Numbers do NOT add up though
    7. Unclear if universal testing has successfully identified under-populated classes of kids, such as English-language learners and low-income students.
18. In-class services for single qualifiers. Walk-to model for math, but not all schools do. Many schools do not cluster HiCap kids. Will add to agenda for next meeting.

Council Ammends Bylaws and Approves Non-Discrimination and Anti-Racism Policy

The HiCap Parents Council, at the board meeting on 7/2/2019, amended and approved the bylaws.

Additionally, a Non-Discrimination and Anti-Racism policy was adopted.

Please visit https://hcparents.blogspot.com/p/files.html to read these documents.

Minutes from 7/2/2019 Meeting - Council only

Hicap meeting 7/2/2019 – incoming and outgoing board members

• All new and ongoing hicap board members need to sign the last page of the bylaws
• Familiarize new council with Group Norms and Nonprofit Intro (from the files page on website)
• Someone needed to finish paperwork for Amazon Smile. Anyone interested in that?
• Board votes for how to spend money
• Cannot get involved in political campaigns
• Maintain confidential info and don’t leak it or we will lose our privilege of getting advanced info
• Individual and group duties: Listed in bylaws
• Karen has background in fundraising, willing to look into that
• Look for hicap council history timeline on facebook and put it on website

Mailing lists

•  Large mailchimp list with 3k people
• Smaller lists for individual classes (EAP) or schools (AAP)
• We don’t get any contact info from the district

Where is council going? What are we doing?

• Up to council what we advocate for
• PD for hicap teachers is on the list
• Bring info from around the district to the admins
• Disperse info from admin to the families
• Get on the calendar of the principal from the school
• Reps can ask to be on the interview committee for new eap hire

Facebook:

• who wants to be admin?

• Sreeni
• Yongqian (John)
• Carson
• Accepting new members – determining if they are legit or trolls
• Anyone can answer questions on the page. 
• New members don’t have to answer questions if they aren’t comfortable doing so.

Elections for Exec board

·        President

o   Veronica nominates Austina

o   Unanimous yes

·        VP

o   Sylvia Nominated Jenifer Spanton

o   Unanimous yes

·        Secretary

o   Karen nominated Stephen

o   John nominated Bonnie

o   Unanimous yes for Co-secretaries Stephen and Bonnie

·        Treasurer

o   Jennifer nominated Lauren

o   Unanimous yes

Nametags

• ·        Carson makes motion to purchase new nametags, Jennifer seconds, Unanimous yes

Proposed amendments and policies to bylaws

• ·        3 amendments – discussion and some edits
•       Carson motions to accept new amendments with changes, Norma seconds, Unanimously passed
•       Will put amendments on website integrated into bylaws

·        Anti-racism policy – Discussion

• Veronica motions to ratify the anti-racism polity, jasmine seconds, 1 abstains, all others vote yes
• Will put policy on website

New Hicap director

• Amity Butler – new director of Advanced Programs – reports to Super
• Worked with Dr. Reid in the past
• Was principal at K-6 school previously
• Working on getting post card out – will have EAP dates and our mailing list

Connect with your counterpart to exchange info

Adjourned

Welcome your newly elected 2019/2020 Council Members

Your new elected HiCap Representatives are:



Bear Creek EAP: Jasmine Fry

Sunrise EAP: Norma Rodriguez

Lockwood EAP: Carson Sanderson

Wellington EAP: Jennifer Reagan

Woodmoor EAP: Jennifer Sherer

Fernwood EAP: Yongqiang Li

Shelton View EAP: Steven Rubenstein

Leota MS: Karen Grieser

Timbercrest MS: Patrick Kozel

Kenmore MS: ** Open **

Bothell HS: Myriam Juritz

Woodinville HS: Austina DeBonte

North Creek HS: ** Open **

Inglemoor HS: Brenae Brix

North Creek Regional: Sreeni Gorthi

Bothell Regional: Bonnie Plottner

EAP Feeder Pattern for Newly Qualified Students 2019/2020

https://www1.nsd.org/schools/programs-services/highly-capable-services/services-programs/eap

Minutes from 6/11/2019 Meeting

6/11/2019 Hicap meeting

Jen’s last day is June 25^th, Suriya will help with transition. Tolley will be the supervisor over new hire.

Hicap dept won’t be making decisions in July and maybe August as new person will need to be getting up to speed.

Suriya will answer phones and email, but decision making won’t happen in July until new hire is settled.

EAP

• Qualification 2.0 – added 175 kids to EAP sites. 550 total added in 2.0. 8 schools with 30 classrooms. 2400 newly qualified kids total in 1.0 and 2.0 single and dual 1-7 grades.
• Sites will go live today (Bear creek (kokanee/wellington removed), Sunrise (2/3, 5), Woodmoor (rollup, 4, 5), Moorlands (4 classrooms and growing, 2,3,4,5), Lockwood (no new kids), Fernwood (neighborhood kids only), Wellington (kokanee/wellington added, 3 classrooms), Shelton View (2 classrooms of Shelton view, Kenmore lockwood))
• 1.0 and thought you know, or 2.0 and waiting, everyone should look at the website (programs and services, elementary, eap) with chart to where kid is placed. 1.0 and 2.0 newly existing families will get robocall today.
• Waiver process
  • New qualifier and prefer a new EAP site – Reviewed in August
  • Existing family who wants to move to a newly formed site (maybe home school) – Reviewed in August – moving to home school has priority over others
  • Email Jen and principal to do this, not a waiver hicap@nsd.org : Family who declined services at another school, but now their home school has a site, may want to take the spot in their home school.
  • If families don’t want to take the spot based on new feeder pattern, they should email hicap@nsd.org to request a change
• Families who may not look at website to know where they are assigned will receive communication from the newly assigned school.
• After school Open houses are not going to happen now since everything got pushed out
• Summer events will not likely be well attended since we don’t have the lists of families new to program
• Can summer park dates be added in the email from principals to new families? Jen will look into this
• Transportation process for EAP? Jen will ask
• Laurie will help with Transportation this summer
• Info session video is now online – programs and services – elementary – eap https://www1.nsd.org/schools/programs-services/highly-capable-services/services-programs/eap
• Deadline for portfolios for non -enrolled students is June 14^th
  • Portfolios submitted After June 14^th will be reviewed in August
  • Non enrolled students who are offered placement and turn it down will have it honored for at least one year
• Hicap math – Minecraft in testing at schools
• ELL and low income were subgroups. Dr Reid will present this info to the community on how many kids were included in this. State law says schools need to prioritize low income students

Dr Reid:

• Director of Student Services position posted
• Need to write the new HiCap position for Jen’s replacement
• How to make sure the work is distributed appropriately
• Some philosophical disagreements from Admin to boots on the ground
  • Too many times it’s school specific and teacher specific
  • Regions implementing things differently
• Sometimes after meetings where you think everyone got it you see later that maybe everyone didn’t get it unless you check in and watch closely what happens
  • Doesn’t hear sometimes until things are off the rails
• HiCap parents council may be on hiring committee for HiCap director position
• How can appropriate hicap teachers be hired? Will they be getting PD? Required?
• Edufest for the summer? Jen says there’s no money, dr Reid will look into this
• New Pool of HiCap teachers listed on nsd job website
• Hicap training is for new to NSD teachers…but existing teachers often transition, so they need training as well

Middle school

• Creating AAP classes in middle school and backfilling with high IOWA kids. Memo was sent and signed
  • All middle schools principals have a letter from Jen to communicate to the families to explain the AAP/Challenge placement
• Math is different due to math path. Working with counselors to do clustering.
  • Newly identified 5^th graders didn’t take the algebra readiness test, so path is 7^th grade challenge. Registration will be automatically updated to be challenge 7/8 math. Contact counselor to make changes.
  • Plan working on how to address gaps
• Looks like there are opportunities to create full AAP classrooms for the most part
• Can auditing be done before September to see if this happened? Request of the new director
• Need to get the description for Gen Ed/Challenge/AAP difference. Add this as agenda item

Testing

• State requires 2 data points to move from step 1 to 2. WE don’t have enough info without naglieri and Iowa to do that.
• Want to reduce testing and make good use of data we have
• Lower naglieri standard this year, How many got in this year that wouldn’t have gotten in the year before?
• Need to be made clear to parents that SBA is used for program placement in the future

High school

• Hicap sections at North Creek and Inglemoor for History and ELA
  • No communication to parents on this from the schools
  • What will the class be called on transcript?
  • Opt out?
  • What will the difference be between the 2 classes?
  • Can students opt-in or will it be only HiCap designated? – No, only designated
  • What about families who didn’t do portfolio review in 8^th grade because this class didn’t exist when portfolio review was open
  • What about families coming from other schools who didn’t bring their hicap designation with them?
• 504s will transition to the new Director of Student Services posisiton

Feeder patterns

• 2020 alignment with high school feeder patterns?
• Canyon creek added as EAP site in 2021 when building is finished
• Maywood feeds into moorlands now, previously at lockwood and woodmoor
• Westhill feeds into moorlands
• Transportation has multiple busses going through neighborhoods because schools have been sent to different places for EAP over time
• EDTF needs to be part of the EAP team to minimize disruptions and maximize bus usage
• Might want to look at all students out there and see if you can bring them back to home school.
  • Use waiver process to bring kids back rather than forcing them
  • Some families want to stay in placement rather than home school

HiCap advisory will continue with new director and Gaylon Lynch and team.

Hicap Council only

Voting: Motion by alison to extend the nominations to Friday 14^th midnight and open voting Sunday morning 16th close voting 21st, Jen seconded it. Unanimously passed.

Currently only

Leota

Woodinville HS

Fernwood

Bear Creek

Timbercrest

Bothell

Sunrise

Woodmoor have nominations

Wellington

Shelton View

Lockwood

Kenmore

Inglemoor

North Creek do not

Minutes from 5/14/2019 Meeting

5/15/2019 HiCap Meeting

Jen Spanton, Bonnie, Laurie, Angie, Lisa, Austina, Sylvia, Kristi, Lauren, Allison, Xiaoying, Brenae, Norma

Notifications of eligibility

• Letters sent to families
• 4300 to step 2, letters to all
• Sent at least by the 26^th, Friday in backpack mail
• All got robocall about letter
• 2 more robocalls about services for families that qualified
• If they didn’t get a letter email Surya hicap@nsd
• Only 120 families who didn’t respond to accept services
• Non responders: principals can pull who is qualified through the system, can also receive info on non-responders,
• Plan 2: sent to family liaisons to make personal phone calls to these families, cannot guarantee EAP or AAP for non-responders but will give services in-school.
• Last week all EAP and AAP classrooms were settled
• Still some space in various places for new summer move-ins
• Added a lot of classrooms
• Moorlands add 4
• BC 10
• Lockwood 4-5 classrooms
• Sunrise roll up 4^th to 5^th , maybe new BC kids move to sunrise
• Fernwood 2-3 classrooms of home school kids
• Some Fernwood families chose in-class because they didn’t want to go to BC and now want Fernwood EAP, may be able to accommodate, but maybe not
• Class size Is usually no larger than 25-26, maybe 27+ in higher grades

Feeder patterns

• Jen has Sheet with feeder patterns – can we get this? – says will be on website
• Only Woodmoor 4^th and 5^th grade students will stay (full), all other grades at Woodmoor will go to Moorlands
• If they missed the permission window it’s hard to get them into classrooms, especially the ones they want

Siblings

• File waivers to try to get siblings together. They will try to get them in same EAP schools
• No priority for siblings, capacity issue
• Waivers reviewed in August
• Possibility of one family being at multiple different schools for EAP, can we put them together?
• New kids get the priority for placement
• Siblings on bus, decisions are being made later…more like August-October
• Waiver for sibling first, then transportation will decide

Appeals process

• 10 days to submit appeals, business/calendar days issue, will reconvene MST for last few appeals.
• Met on 8^th, heard 120 appeals, read them all, looked at all data and portfolio
• MST made final decision, all families will receive letter early next week, US mail
• Some were approved
• Will try to get them the same services as all accepted on time
• General population Threshold is 98%, below that would have accepted 30% of those tested (didn’t we want 30% to qualify? Or however many we actually have?)
• The higher criteria cutoff creates the test-prep craze. Is this what we want?
• This changes the makeup of the program to a higher academic program rather than a higher IQ program
• Different thresholds for different sub-groups were set by the MST (ELL, FRL, IEP, 504)
• We don’t know who is on the MST…don’t know the qualifications of team members, don’t know their personal philosophy
• MST is made up of Building psychologist, Spec Ed, principals, admins. Group of 15 people
• Do we have the demographic breakdown of who got in? Lucy is working on that info
• Is this a change in philosophy?
• Were students notified that SBA could be used to keep them out of HiCap?
• May adjust tools we use and process next year, maybe cognitive shouldn’t be used as first step

Every year the program assessment may change based on analysis of previous year. Data will continue to be analyzed and testing tools will be re-evaluated. SBA is one of the tools that may be used to qualify or disqualify students. Portfolio process uses multiple data points.

Are there tools to bring newly qualified kids up to level over summer?

• They already qualified so they are advanced already
• When they jump into EAP later on, teachers determine where they are, compact, reduce repetition, and eventually get to EAP grade standards.
• Can they get password for online text book for what they will miss?
• Going from 5^th grade gen ed to 6^th grade AAP may skip grade levels of math and should look into IXL math and Kahn Academy

Minecraft for education, Starr, I-Ready

• 12 teachers piloting this in east region
• Some using with gen ed some with hicap qualified
• Can use it for any levels of math, specific for each student
• Starr and I-Ready are also being piloted across the district
• Assessment and instructional tools
• Not available to kids jumping over summer

Open House

• Info session on Monday 13^th at Bothell HS
• Only for newly qualified students
• Robocall to just those families, kept it under the radar
• Did not invite the HiCap Council
• EAP principals joined in facilitation
• There will be welcome back events in August and other open houses
• Historically arranged park dates, play dates in summer for new families. Council doesn’t have any way to invite them or to have them vote in the elections. How do we get these new families to sign up now?
• Can HiCap dept send out an email to new families telling them how to sign up for our mailing list? Jen says maybe not because that would be an endorsement of us, which she can’t do.
• No Parent panel, no open houses, no info night for all…so that leaves us with just the summer park dates and transition events.
• Can Jen and principals invite newly qualified EAP students to come to EAP school after school one day to tour and meet the Council rep?

High School

• Guides: Nicky and Jen working through those solidify as models then will make 2 more for other schools
• Counselors: Nicky and Jen will talk to them about Hicap enrollment, what students should register for
• Classes: All 4 have hicap courses offered, maybe separate class or separate section for ELA & Social studies 9^th grade. IF the school already had a separation for hicap/gen ed then no change

Next time

• Families leaving based on one particular EAP teacher. Can we do training, or selection
• Next meeting June ?? Austina will put together a Doodle

Council only

• Elections
  • open nominations on May 20th
  • close nominations on June 12th
  • prepare voting on June 13th
  • open voting on June 14th
  • close voting June 20th
  • announce June 21st
  • put facebook blurb telling people to sign up on website to get the nomination and ballot link
  • Austina will email regionals, etc. for continuing their term
  • Bonnie moves to hold elections as listed, Lauren seconded, unanimous vote
• Math survey
  • Lauren sent it to the group, will send again
• Facebook
  • Need qualifying questions to see who can be in group
  • What questions do we need? Do we keep people out?
• How will high school students know there are hiCap sections or classes for ELA/SS in Inglemoor and North Creek?
  • Can principals call every student? Or notify them in some way?
  • Brenae will draft email asking how communication is going to happen
• Board meeting after Memorial Day Dr. Reid will announce what EAP will do in 2020
• Should Woodmoor EAP parents put together a petition or something saying they want to go to Moorlands? Send results to Dr. Reid