HiCap Parent Council
Meeting
November 1, 2022
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Hybrid: In-person & Zoom
1.
National Association for Gifted Children
a.
Coordinator Award to Amity Butler
b.
Administrator Award to Dr. Reid
c.
Conference is next week in Indianapolis. Amity and
Austina will be presenting.
Discussion Topic –
The Myth of Average
2. Where
did they get the stat that 4% of dropouts are gifted?
3. Technology
is not always the solution
4. Universal
design is used well for products, but not for schools, meaning schools do not
adapt well to individual needs.
5. A
lot of learning is designed around testing. Testing is about measuring.
6. Interesting
concept that a program designed for the edges will also get the middle.
7. System
assumes that most will succeed, but others cannot. Some must fail.
8. High
schools have gotten better at offering higher math so kids do not run out of
options.
9. Author
advocates for restructuring college away from simple seat time to get a degree.
But removes group work.
10. Misunderstanding
of what colleges are looking for. No longer looking for well-rounded kids, but
rather “spiky string” (deep focus) on an area. Message is not getting thru to
high school counselors, parents or even students.
11. Shift
in homework requirements at high schools, including Woodinville. Some high
schools are focusing on minimizing homework, but North Creek does not. They do
suggest not taking more than 6-8 AP courses throughout high schools. (But top
colleges do not abide by this theory.)
12. Different
cultural attitudes about academic rigor and homework, particularly from Asian
immigrants who are used to more competitive environments.
13. How
does teaching community feel about universal design? About half of district has
had professional development on it. Most administrators have, pre-covid. It is
a good thing, but not much different from previous efforts. Just a new name.
Inclusive practices and having more student choice would be great, have made
progress, but not quite there yet.
14. Allowing
choices enables kids to develop a spiky string. Kids should have opportunities
to explore to figure out what they like and what they don’t like.
15. It
should be relatively easy in elementary schools to give students choices of
what the output is.
Amity Updates
16. Updates
on testing and how is proctoring going
a. Going
well so far. A few holes tomorrow and Friday at Canyon Creek and Skyview.
b. Issue
with kids not starting at same time, is that kids want to know how long they
have left.
c. Skyview
has testing on Friday and needs people.
d. NorthShore
Middle on Thursday has 3 people and could use a fourth.
e. Problem
in non-teaching classrooms with turning around desks because the back bar is
too long for taller kids.
f.
Minor problems with Sensory kids (at Lockwood) and
other kids who do not yet have official accommodations.
g. If
there are issues, do not argue with students, parents, teachers or
administrators. Just make a note of it and let HiCap department deal with it.
h. Makeup
students – Will try, but depends on proctor availability. Would be great if
schools could do their own screening without proctors since usually just a few
students.
i.
Screenings of 1st and 5th is
mostly done. All students moving onto IOWA in 1st and 5th
have received a robo-call. Will send notices to students who qualify purely
from NNAT3 later this week.
j.
Start screening early primarily for middle school
registration. There are deadlines for transportation, hiring teachers, EAP
placements and parent decisions.
k. Very
early for testing some 1st graders, whereas January is when they
really start to pop. Is that too early to ask parents to make a decision? But
PACE has an early deadline too and binding decision. Also deadlines for private
schools.
l.
Issues with early deadline for parents, some of whom later
forget that they responded already. Or too early for some to make a decision.
17. WAETAG
Conference
a. Was
a great conference. Presented many issues regarding highly capable services
very well.
b. A
bunch of middle school teachers attended, including a Timbercrest teacher who
presented.
c. Amity
paid for substitutes if the school paid for registrations.
d. No
district-wide debrief of the conference for teachers. Cannot be required for
teachers.
e. Learned
about professional development in surrounding districts, including Kent which
has TOSAs -- teachers on special assignment -- who coordinate hicap teaching.
NSD previously had a TOSA who left and was not replaced. Could hire one but
would have to take it out of HiCap budget.
f.
Cannot post videos to public site because that would
violate the WAETAG rules.
g. Kent
focuses on depth, which is a core request about enrichment instead of just
acceleration.
18. High
school summer work update
a. Ideally
there is not supposed to be any.
b. Choir,
band and other classes that require summer work – can add a sentence to the
catalog
c. Being
behind before you show up – Thought this was eliminated district-wide. Might be
that principals did not get the message.
d.
Not even a good central place to
look to even find if there is summer work
e.
If summer work is required for kids
to be successful, then perhaps it’s ok if communicated properly. But generally
not necessary.
19.
WSDA conference: WA Schools Director
Association
a.
Around November 18
b.
Amy Cast and Sandy Hayes are joining
with Pasco, Summer/Bonney Lake about implementing universal screenings so other
school boards are not afraid to do it too because of complication or expense.
c.
Universal screening actually
simplifies things and is cheaper.
20. I-Ready
update
a.
Tests reading up to 12th grade and
math up to Algebra II. Lessons stop at Algebra.
b.
Kids still have to take i-ready for
algebra II. Good to know if we are growing our HiCap students even if above
grade level.
c.
I-Ready has both lessons and
assessments. Some teachers use the lessons more than others. All use
assessments. (Not necessarily bad.)
d.
SBA vs I-Ready. Completely different
tests. I-Ready is more frequent. Also more babyish / cartoonish.
21. Proctor
Training for IOWA: Tuesday, November 15, 10 am – 11:30 am
Council Questions
/ Updates
22. Can
we move council meetings to evenings, after work?
a.
We have done parent-only meetings in
the evening, but avoided them in general because of district personnel
preferences. Amity is willing.
b.
Too late for December, but perhaps
evening meeting in January
23. NNAT3
Update -- will try to get makeups done right away
24. Lockwood
Issues:
a.
Admin was encouraging teachers to do
the referrals, not the parents. How can we make this more transparent to
parents, and make sure that parents are aware of HiCap? School has limited
capacity regarding gen-ed, PACE and HiCap. Are those challenges specific to
Lockwood or in general?
b.
Proctors have seen parent pressure
for their kids to qualify for HiCap. Teachers hate that if the child freezes or
stresses out because of it.
c.
Kids perform better on the tests if
they are prepared for it, at least having seen the question format ahead of
time so familiar with it.
d.
Lockwood has a particularly
difficult numbers game due to disparities in class composition. It is a focus
of union leadership.
e.
Perceived lack of equal resources
for each group.
f.
Many parents knee-jerk reaction is
to drop special programs and put everyone in Gen-Ed. But that is a horrible
solution that does not meet the needs of all students.
25. Related
discussion about placing single-qualified students into EAP classrooms
a.
Single-qualified kids getting put into
EAP classrooms — often done to avoid having split class. Ok if pulling in
single-qualified math students, but not single-qualified reading students
because difficult to keep up with accelerated math.
b.
How does that affect GenEd students
who are “left behind” with students who may not care as much about education?
Important issue, but complicated.
c.
Kids put into EAP one year but not
the next year — generally kids are not kicked out of EAP the next year. Middle
school Math qualifies for math and science. Reading for english and social
studies.
d.
Assumption that HiCap kids are good
role models, but they generally are not especially if the HiCap child’s
abilities are way beyond a typical child. Too intimidating. Need a role model
that is within reach of the child.
e.
If leave HiCap kid unchallenged in
GenEd classroom and they perform perfectly without effort, that is not a good
model for typical students. Teaches children they should be able to perform at
same level with no effort.
f.
Also a disservice to the HiCap kid to
not challenge them since they won’t know how to rise to a challenge later in
school/life.
g.
NSD does more than any district to
identify HiCap kids regardless of socio-economic situation.
26.
Insurance for events
a.
Just the one company: AIM. All PTAs generally
use the same insurance company.
b.
Is the HiCap coordinator personally
liable? No one knows.
c.
We may need to fundraise to pay for
insurance policy.
d.
$1M of coverage = $180 per year for
the basics.
e.
Need media policy if have Facebook
or other social accounts.
f.
If organized by district or have
staff member, then district insurance covers it
g.
KP and Monique volunteered to help
with fundraising for insurance.
h.
Goal is $1600. $2000 for annual
target to build in a cushion.
i.
Could raise gobs of money and
provide grants to teachers like in some other districts.
27.
Teacher
spotlight -- should start planning for this in December/ January
