Discussion of Executive Function (EF) Article/Slideshow: Executive Function in the Gifted
Helpful way to review key concepts
Helps parents reset expectations in helping children deal with deadlines
Saw a lot of parallels with o2n student and article validates parent effort to teach EF skills
Discussed Austina’s chart showing how cortex thickening/pruning (maturation) is very different even at a moderately high IQ
Smart kids have developmental differences
Struggle isn’t due to poor instruction; the brain isn’t ready to capture this information yet
Tough love won’t improve the situation
Tricky part from Amity
You don’t know when the child’s brain catches up
A lot can be going on
It can be rocky for a long time
Delayed maturation isn’t the only thing that can go wrong with EF
Advisory can help, but middle school teachers often see demonstration of EF deficit as an attitude problem
Not every student is taught how to plan (write down assignments, plan out work)
Should help every student get a planner
Wondered which schools, particularly secondary, provide planners
Students still need to be reminded to use planners once they have them
Where are we on the AVID pilot (was this just in middle school?)
Sometimes AVID has a negative connotation: you only take AVID if you have a problem/need help
AVID in the high school only teaches one method of organization: binders
Appointments
We have received questions, but no one has submitted a candidate statement for NVP
Karen Smith sent in candidate statement for Kenmore EAP rep
Motion to appoint Karen Smith as Kenmore EAP: Hillarie Windish
Second? (Not sure we had one)
Motion passed
Amity updates
Beginning screening
Had to wait until after COVID batch testing started
Will begin with Universal screening
Kindergarten: to be finished by winter break
WA Kids is due by the 2nd week in November
Naglieri due by winter break
Can be completed on iPads; instructions just sent to teachers
No typing involved for Naglieri
1st grade:
Also got iPads
Screening info sent out to teachers
5th grade:
Will need to balance with the required 4th grade SBA testing and iReady← They have a LOT going on!
They have until October 15th to complete screening
Referral window closes on October 15th at 4 pm
Will start proctoring referrals after universal screening grades are done
Single-qualified (“automatically referred)
Don’t have to screen
Do need permission for testing; would prefer parents to grant it before the Oct 15th deadline
Try to be flexible if it fits within the testing timeline
Amity sent out a Blackboard reminder
This sends text/email/phone call in English and Spanish
Other languages are less than 1%, but if someone sends in a request, they can provide translation to other languages
Made a FAQ of most frequently asked questions to hicap@nsd.org
E.g. 1: Why do you need permission? State Law
E.g. 2: Ask for sibling transportation
Resource to be used by council and sent out by Amity after the meeting: Basic HiCap FAQs in NSD
NVP update
Secondary seems to be going smoothly
There is still a waitlist; they hope to figure out by Monday if they can accommodate those students on it
Primary is hard
State required 70% synchronous time; this is a hard ask for this age
Also working to catch students up
Math Edgenuity is NOT the same as what NVP is getting; also for Single Subject qualifiers they did a lot of front loading and work to align it to the Core Focus curriculum
Working to help align Edgenuity more
Question: Is there hicap for all middle school subjects or only just math/English?
Amity will have to look into this
Looking at Science and Social Studies there don’t seem to be HC sections here; appears that students were placed in challenge classes
Split class of 4th-grade gen ed & 4th grade EAP
Why not 3rd/4th EAP split?
Report was that so far that family’s EAP experience is good
Guess that split was probably dictated by enrollment numbers
Challenge when some teachers send kids to a breakout room to work on Edgenuity
How do teachers reach kids who are struggling before the topic changes
Students often need someone else to explain topics that they don’t understand and this is currently falling to parents
Amity and Megan are discussing this and working to make positive changes
Mechanics of Edgenuity in NVP have different issues/struggles
Professional Development (PD) Plan
“EAP 101”
Met with about 30 EAP teachers before the year started (mix of experienced and new)
Amity give a quick overview of EAP
Amity gives teachers the month of September to meet their students
Meet again in October to discuss grading practices
Try to get this done before conferences
They only grade differently in reading and math, since they are not tested in other subjects for EAP placement (other subjects are evaluated at grade level)
Now working to get writing level instruction to be a grade level up, but the grading will still be on the same level
Some experienced teachers come every year and they also help the new teachers during this time
Surveyed teachers to see what PD topics they’d like; Results:
How does hicap fit into Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)?
What are EAP teachers doing in the district?
Knowledge about hicap identification
Equity
Differentiation
Early intervention of dyslexia based on screener (rapid automatic naming test + iReady to look for deficits)
Many would like to meet before school for PD since elementary schools get out so late
PD is not required for new EAP teachers and we are not able to require it
Council request of hicap reading list to help match appropriate content with student reading level
Amity has some teachers she can ask
Austina said we have also had some lists created over the years
Lyn Trier reported that Geometry & Algebra II/Trig students at Canyon Park don’t have to take iReady math tests (made sense since iReady isn’t used in high school math and these courses are taken in 10th & 11th grade if on jump free math track)
Would love to see this CPMS policy to be spread to other AAP students
iReady is used as a screener, so Amity needs students to take it seriously, especially now when we don’t have SBA scores to back it up now
Some kids need multiple ways to qualify
Seems iReady is a necessary evil for elementary
Question from council about what PD occurs for middle and high school teachers/staff
Amity says it is on her agenda for this year but she is just getting started with it
Reports of teacher concerns at the middle school level that could be helped with PD
New science teacher at CPMS has the same assignments for all levels (gen ed/challenge/HC) plus extra for AAP
Same teacher is also requiring students who didn’t complete lab during class period (CPMS went to 6 period days M-F; no more block schedule) to come finish lab at lunch
Teacher offers no other time to make up work
Some students need to buy lunch and don’t have time to do that and get back so this might require them to skip eating
Students are also not allowed to eat in science rooms, so even if students have lunch, they cannot eat
PD request from council: Social-Emotional training for hicap teachers
High School Common Core Catalog Meeting
Meeting is scheduled for September 29th at 1-2 pm at district building
Because is in person, only council high school reps can attend
Draft agenda has been sent out; would like to add 3 items
1. Look at prereqs for classes and how they are implemented
2. College readiness
PSAT auto-scheduled for students at 3/4th of comprehensive high schools; should have a uniform policy
Request hosting of SAT/ACT tests in district buildings; doesn’t happen now and students have to travel long distances to take tests and this becomes an equity issue that we could help fix by having tests in the area
3. High-level math plan for triple jump kids:
Consistency for math visual path (maybe two: one covering the AP schools and one covering the IB school)
Hope that requiring consistency would force the district to find the differences in math class offerings
Council is thinking about starting a non-monetary award to recognize the work of hicap teachers in the district
Thinking of 1 for each category: EAP, Hicap in non-EAP class. AAP, HS
Asked about award criteria
Suggestion that could be that someone writes something to nominate teachers for the award
Imen Hannachi volunteered to help get the process set up
Concern about jointly taught English and Social Studies classes at Skyview
Classrooms have a dividing wall that is open with varying frequency depending on the subject so that one teacher can instruct two classes, however, in the circumstance seen (6th grade), one class is hicap and the other is now
Skyview rep stated in a previous email that the assignments are different for each class and that this practice happens in 6th-8th grades primarily in history, perhaps starting with virtual learning (Skyview has a new principal this year)
Imen stated she needed to find out more about KMS to see if it was happening there as well
There is a problem with asking a higher level of performance from hicap kids based on the same level of instruction as challenge (or possibly gen ed.): legally, we are required to provide advanced instruction to hicap students
Frustration that if a kid doesn’t want to share what is going on, we won’t know if this is happening in a middle school
Concern from parents that we don’t know what it means to be hicap in the middle school level so it is harder to find out if we are meeting our legal requirement
Amity was made aware of this situation via email and is still looking into it
Questioned ways of qualifying for taking Algebra early if a student isn’t a good test taker: Austina suggests that maybe the student could do math in summer school to skip ahead, which they could do after 5th grade
Question about following up with current 6th graders in Algebra to see how they do; perhaps hicap students don’t need to be tested?
Observation: We are really impressed with what kids can do when allowed to struggle a bit.
It is okay to step back from triple jump and take algebra again in middle school
Students who come from to hicap from neighborhood school are often sufficiently challenged by jumping straight to algebra and might sometimes be better served in 7th-grade challenge math; however, this should be minimized by the implementation of Edgenuity for single subject qualifiers
Terri Kashi reported that her daughter’s Algebra II/Trig teacher at Woodinville told students that if they weren’t aiming for the highest math class offered then they were in the wrong place
Amity and Angie were finished and left the meeting
Bylaws update vote
Debate on whether we want to update bylaws to allow us to have up to 4 members-at-large on the council
Pros
Nice to have the option
Allows continuation for people with experience who might otherwise not be able to serve
Don’t need to have 4; total number is at the discretion of the council
Cons: Council is getting large; already added new positions for NVP, Wellington, Shelton View, and Kenmore (EL)
Modified bylaw wording to specify that at-large members would be appointed by the council
Motion to approve bylaws as written by Gavin Doyle- made by Lyn Trier
Seconded by Myriam Juritz
Motion passes
Advocacy goals: Austina shared the list of ideas (generated at our last meeting) of things we wanted to work on this year. Those present at the meeting were asked to pick their top three goals and post them in the chat. We were asked to consider having a goal that helped each level (elementary, middle, and high school). Those who were not present were to be asked to email Austina their goals. We will limit choices to the top three at the end of our next meeting. The list of goals follows the end of the minutes.
Meeting Adjourned
Advocacy Goals/Priorities for the Coming Year
(during the parent-only meeting we will pare this list down to max 3 top advocacy priorities. Each priority will need to have a council member willing to spearhead it.)
Common High school course catalog, alignment between high schools in course content, course have same name, description, etc. Equitable offering across all high schools. (Make sure high level math course gets decided)
Writing curriculum at all levels (elementary, middle, high school)
Single subject qualifiers social support, share with each other, connecting parents & kids
Single subject qualifying for reading – better support. Teacher just expects kids to reach 4 on rubric, rather than giving more instruction/depth.
Elementary libraries – better support for HiCap readers in school libraries, remove grade-limits on which books kids can read
Clustering students in a building, clustered in the same classroom
More in depth curriculum for social studies
More in depth curriculum for science
Check in with middle schools to make sure they are really doing hicap courses as hicap
Professional development for administrators and teachers. Clear expectations of what to expect from HiCap students. (they don’t all get 4s)
Issues with curriculum. What does it mean to be hicap? Is it breadth? Is it depth? Get clarity on what it is. Especially for social studies and science.
Survey for middle schoolers, get feedback from kids
Trouble with certain middle school teachers, how best to address this?
Kindergarten/first grade teachers – better professional development, guidance for supporting HiCap students, some sort of real curriculum/programming for HiCap students, not just challenge packets
Converting elementary hicap math curriculum to Beast Academy
Highlighting programs that are going well.
Awards program for hicap teachers that are doing well. (EAP, in-school, AAP, high school)
Do something about iready. Parents don’t like it.
