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