HiCap Parents Council Meeting
9:00 am-11:00 pm
Reading/discussion today: Imposter Syndrome
Sources
Podcast (30 mins) https://ourgiftedkids.com/036-overcoming-imposter-syndrome/
Blog post from Ian Byrd with tips at the end https://www.byrdseed.com/the-curious-case-of-impostor-syndrome/
Forbes article, with adult impact https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannecroteau/2019/04/04/imposter-syndrome-why-its-harder-today-than-ever/?sh=699b21299ac5
Most only listened to the podcast
We identify with the podcast
Helped a parent to understand their high school junior and she shared the article with her son
It was new to some to see that perfectionism causes you to freeze and not start until the last minute
We were struck by the fact that when we compare ourselves to others, we only look up, not sideways or down
Liked the quote, “Great can be the enemy of done.”
Two-minute mountain: the physical anxiety response lasts about 90 seconds and you need to grit your teeth and get through it
Seth Perler tip for starting homework: you can choose to do 1 problem, 2 problems, or 3 problems; regardless of what you pick, you have already committed to starting
Often when you get done with one problem it is easier to keep going; you have effectively gritted through the 2-minute mountain
Where does a kid get the idea that this is not enough and how do we combat that to get to 80%
Can come from social acceptance
We compare grades without even thinking
A student perspective: education here (vs. Denmark) is more focused on grades than learning
Here we focus so much on ranking and measurable data
ILHS’s recent Mastery Learning presentation: might be a good topic if it was recorded and we can view the recording
Podcast format seemed to work well, so we might try to focus on this format
It is nice to have a safe place to discuss the source of anxiety and pressure without the assumption that this pressure is always coming from parents
Amity Updates
Identification process update
MST letters are going out probably on Monday for appeals
All appeal decisions have been made
There may be 4-5 more if missed opportunities or are coming later
Don’t have final decisions on schools hosting EAP; HR and business are working on this
Will encourage schools to reach out to newly qualified students once decisions are made
We want this communication to happen at the same time for all schools/students
It is great to get even a small amount of communication from welcoming school
Lets families know that the school knows their kids are coming
Algebra readiness (this process is owned by Curriculum, but Amity still gets a lot of questions about this)
The Algebra readiness image below can be shared on Facebook and in school newsletters
Sent text and phone call to check email
Amity advised teacher to talk to families about their ability to reject Algebra placement where desired/appropriate
If students without previous acceleration want to take Algebra, they need to do 7th grade challenge math in summer school
We are the only district that allows and encourages kids to take Algebra in 6th grade
Example: Mercer Island Math acceleration
There is some smaller percent of students that might do better to slow the math acceleration dow
Remember and remind people that this is a family decision and that it is easier to make adjustments or repeat a course in middle school
You can also adjust your choice in the first few weeks of middle school (in high school you have 10 days to change a course before it affects your GPA)
Accelerated experience includes: walk to math, Edgenuity, or schools where they have an accelerated math class in their school
Testing Results
Image accounts for all first-round, makeup tests, and appeals
Numbers are a little lower than last year and within 10 of the previous year
Qualifying requirements
95th+ percentile in reading and/or math on IOWA
95th+ percentile NNAT for 1st grade ONLY
Taking summer math does NOT confer a highly capable designation (even if these classes get students to the same level as the HC double/triple jumpers) whether or not parents say this
Interesting connection in NNAT3 Scores and Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN) testing used for dyslexia screening (some of dyslexia screening is through iReady and some is person to person)
RAN testing looks at color, objects, patterns, and numbers
We may be able to connect the RAN to the letters/numbers part of the NNAT to find kids who need support
The portion of iReady test that is used for the dyslexia screener is helpful as a screener
If students score high on the NNAT3 and low to middle on RAN this may be a sign of more stealth dyslexia
Testing rapid reading (rapidly reading letters, numbers, colors and objects off of a page) correlates to dyslexia (reversing letters/numbers does not correlate to dyslexia)
We are trying to better identify dyslexic kids who learn sight reading, but not phonics
We might see these students in elementary as terrible spellers
The struggle in middle school when they can’t sound out novel words
Decoding and encoding is the same core skill set that is affected by dyslexia
Goal is to find kids with hidden (or stealth) dyslexia in HC to help feed them into this early intervention
Dyslexia is not about vision
RAN is a proxy measure for phonological awareness
Test available on thepasttest.com
This is a totally free oral screener that directly measures phonological awareness
Works for ages 4-Adult
We might look more at students who display poor (middle to low) spelling to see if this is a sign of dyslexia
Dysgraphia may be diagnosed if the issue is really dyslexia (when the problems are seen in spelling skills)
Speech is maybe a sign of input issues, but there can be other output issues
Currently, dyslexia testing is limited to K-1
Will likely pull 2nd grade into screen process
This year, we needed to train staff, gather data, and figure out what to do with the data, so started with a smaller group
Dyslexia screening is done for the year
Amity spoke at a Canyon Creek General PTA meeting on 03/22/22
She is available to speak at other schools, but she needs to have an idea of what the goal of her talk will be
At Canyon Creek
Amity talked about HC and why we serve these students
She also shared about LAP (Learning Assistance Program) and the Multi Lanugage programs (ML) for which she is also responsible
It was helpful to know that at most schools that house a hicap program the majority of the students who attend the program come from that neighborhood
This is why these locations are chosen
Amity has the numbers and can share them if requested
Overall, kids are closer to their middle school feeder pattern
Council Updates
Updates on Council Priorities/Work groups
Imen & Terry: HiCap Teacher Spotlights
Will share an active link with everyone
After the spotlight requests are collected they will talk with people about compiling
How can we share the link?
Send an email on the HCP list
Share on NSD HiCap Discussion Facebook page
Could possible share via school/PTA newsletters
Spotlight process is also open to general education teachers who teach single subject qualifiers
We need to think about how this will be introduced
Specify at the beginning that this is not only for HC teachers
The following minutes are presented courtesy of past secretary Steven Rubenstein who filled in when Carson had to leave at 10 am.
HiCap Parent Councils Meeting
3/25/2022
Carson – Exit stage left
HiCap teacher awards (Imen & Terri)
Austina – Suggestion to drop Subjects the teacher teaches
Agreement to drop grade
Discussion about whether to drop “Other” option from teacher type
Should we let people nominate anonymously? Decision: No
Separate name and email fields
Austina will work with Imen to make language more consistent
Motion to move forward with teacher awards: Terri Kashi. Seconded by Terra Droney. Vote: Unanimous in favor.
Combined: Writing curriculum at all levels
Terra - We should discuss why we need and want a writing curriculum since there is no writing curriculum that works across all grades
Terra - Should narrow the goal to make progress. Hillarie - Very deep. Difficult to make headway. Need to prioritize, probably by grade.
Austina - New ELA curriculum for K-5. Should consider focusing on middle school where new elementary curriculum leaves off.
Amity – That is all the elementary school will be able to do for a while as it will be the focus of professional development. Agreed with Austina’s suggestion to focus on middle school. Caveat: Higher up the grade, the more teachers are stuck on using their existing content and resistant to change.
Should we be putting effort into writing curriculum at all given new K-5 curriculum?
Amity – Grades 4-6 are core for writing development. Middle school Springboard is reading curriculum. Some parents have concerns about whether kids are writing enough in middle school. Middle schools not currently looking at new writing curriculum. Teachers may not have a formal writing curriculum.
High school alignment, course catalog, etc. (Myriam)
No updates unfortunately
Math trajectory diagrams are still different for each school. (Visual is different too, not just content.) Bothell is same as last year. New district-wide math pathway diagram is not being used.
Few changes to class descriptions
Next step? Amity - Need to determine what is realistic. What are the barriers? Will do some research.
Myriam – Many parents are not aware of equity issue and that class offerings differ across high schools.
Austina – Main issue is some schools are not as rigorous as other schools. That is the core problem we are trying to fix. Perhaps there is another approach than focusing on course catalog.
Terra – Expand upon online course catalog to make it easy to see differences among the high schools.
Steven – Inglemoor person who creates catalog was unaware of our efforts. Should we just focus on raising Bothell?
Amity – Opportunities in this district are immensely better than the district where her kids went. Yes, there is room for improvement, but appreciate how much better each high school is than others.
Investigate: professional development (Audrey)
Subcommittee met.
Can reach out to building principals they know. Come up with a mini-survey or a few questions. Asking teachers their PD needs. Basically, in phase I: gathering information.
Phase II: Use committee and council to help bridge gap between existing resources / knowledge and un-met needs.
How can we promote HiCap PD with teachers?
Also want to advocate for parents in addition to teachers. Newsletter, blog, facebook, etc. Goal is to communicate existing resources to parents.
Terra – Have we ever discussed having HiCap website being referenced from NSD site like PTA sites are from individual schools?
Amity – On a bunch of PD committees. Trying to figure out summer PD offerings. Will look into adding council link on NSD HiCap site.
Summer welcome events
Need to start thinking about it. No discussion on it though.
Elections
Let Austina know if you would like to continue if up for election
If still have a year left and cannot / do not want to continue, let us know before elections
Should we split Innovation Lab and NFP into separate positions?
Will there still be a virtual program next year? If not, should get rid of position.
Meeting ended at 11:05 am.
