HiCap Parent Council
Meeting
March 21, 2023
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Hybrid: In-person & Zoom
Discussion
Topic – Topics about 2e: Gifted Support Group Getting to the Root of
2e: Beyond the Usual Suspects
1.
Identified a
lot of great issues
2.
Auditory and
vision can both manifest as headaches
3.
Ear filter simply
delays input to even up the timing. Does not filter sound.
4.
When
transcribing audio recordings, led to fewer mistakes.
5.
Made wrong
the first time up to 20% of the time. If sensory issues persist, ask them to make a new one.
6.
Can work
great for sensory kids – if they are willing to try it.
7.
Create a
mold via a local audiologist, and then send to company in CO.
8.
Auditory
issues is often the problem when kids are having problems concentrating, focus,
paying attention, etc. that nothing else seems to solve.
9.
Glasses can
also help with headaches even if child has no vision issues.
10.
Focus on
kids being high-functioning at expense of not realizing they may have other
problems.
11.
Similar
struggle with kids getting 504 plans in middle schools if kids doing well
academically.
12.
The answer
is individualization, but implementing that is not possible.
13.
There is no
single resource that covers what was in the talk. Bits and pieces are covered
in dozens of different resources.
Amity Updates
14. 4 new
EAP school sites next year, mostly to help with enrollment demographic issues. Will
add 4/5 as kids age, so will eventually have full EAP.
a.
East
Ridge – full 2nd and 3rd.
b.
2/3
split at Arrowhead – need to keep school from losing enrollment so they don’t
lose teacher resources (PE, library, etc.) because many go to Moorlands
c.
West
Hill – full 2nd and 3rd. Will provide some relief for Canyon
Creek
d.
Frank
Love – full 2nd and 3rd. Puts some relief on Lockwood.
15. No
boundary changes necessary
16. Crystal
Springs stays at Canyon Creek because no room at Frank Love or Crystal Springs.
17. 3rd
graders will be moved back to home schools unless waiver to stay at current
school. They are the only impacted students. They have already been notified.
(Process was to notify school board, then teachers union, then affected
parents.)
a.
28
kids shifting back to East Ridge
b.
16
going back to West Hill from Canyon Creek
18. 4th
and 5th grade students will continue at current site.
19. There
is not an ability to make sure each new site has at least one experience EAP
teacher, but will have professional development to help with that.
20. HiCap
is a hot topic as a bargaining topic, for better and for worse.
21. This
is not a cost-saving measure for the district unless moved all kids back to their
home schools at one time. But it was a cost-neutral measure. Will eventually be
a cost-saving measure in 3 years once all kids are back at their home schools.
22. Pilot
Testing Updates
a.
Having
difficulty finding correlations between IOWA and Naglierri. Do not have
national norms for Naglierri or local norms for IOWA. iReady math is only
correlation with Naglierri. Do not necessarily need to have a correlation
though.
b.
Raises
possibility that kids who have early math exposure are not necessarily the kids
who qualify.
c.
No
decision on whether to move forward. Would we find a different group of
students? What is the purpose?
d.
Very
conceptually rigorous test
e.
Test
is not proctored. No waiting period. Kids go at their own pace. No vocabulary.
No word problems.
f.
Test
does not have instructions since tests believes it is not necessary. But it
might actually require instructions.
Council
Questions / Updates
23. Summer homework: It's
listed in the course catalog -- how to verify if they have to do it and what
the district policy is?
a. Very different across
schools
b. We have asked it to be
listed consistently in the course catalog.
c. AP exams are in May, but
NSD does not start until September. Many schools in other states starts in
August and give AP in May. That is one argument for summer work, at least for
AP courses.
d. Homework policy is not
consistent across high schools.
e. Equity issue, not HiCap
issue.
Cathi Davis Update – Principal at Ruby Bridges
24. Updates on their original
pre-opening plan to implement walk-to for single-qualified students.
25. Difficult to get started
since first year opened was COVID and 2nd year was post-COVID.
26. Experience a rich
environment of belonging
27. More responsive to
single-qualfied students and ensure students all get the same experience
28. As an inclusive school,
working to ensure all students get what they need when they need it.
29. Implemented consistent
schedules across each grade band.
a.
2/3 and 4/5 each have similar master schedules for Math and
ELA. Delineating between core and acceleration learning times.
b.
Intervention and acceleration times happen 4 times per week.
c.
Core master schedules build more structure, which allows
more flexibility
30. Benefit is flexibility to
engage students in areas where they have needs, but also accelerate them where
appropriate.
31. Intervention is different
for 2nd and 3rd graders than for 4th and 5th
graders, especially for math where they are jumping grade-levels.
32. Above district average and
iReady for percentage of growth for students in reading and math. 122% as a
building, but 230% for HiCap reading and 199% for HiCap math.
33. Students have social-emotional
opportunities for peer friendships since with different groups of students, not
just the same class all day, every day.
34. Connection between
universal design for learning as an access tool, regardless of whether in HiCap
or not. Depth and opportunity is important. Not just one way.
35. Heterogeneous homerooms,
but walk-to for math and ELA.
36. Encouraged as this is
capable of being more responsive to changing student demographics. Looking at
it holistically at each grade level.
37. Expects data to be better
this year and last year. Getting better at managing this, not just getting
lucky.
38. Q – How does movement
transition work when kids are switching classrooms?
a.
Building is flexible
b.
Has capacity among teachers/staff to teach different levels
c.
Each room is themed to dispense with labels, which are not
conducive to fostering a sense belonging
d.
Sometimes just split kids into groups within the same
classroom
e.
Groups are re-done every 6 weeks to be responsive to kids’
needs
39. Q – K-1?
a.
Similar model in terms of intervention and acceleration
b.
K: 2 groups in each classroom. Can be more responsive to
kids despite lack of HiCap designation.
40. Q – What are barriers to
rolling out this program (other than covid) and resistance from staff?
a.
Parents want to know how any change will impact their child.
Barrier beliefs around ways that students can receive acceleration, special
services, disability-related issues.
b.
Needed to prove the model, which benefited from support from
Amity and superintendent.
c.
Challenge to build a culture, especially starting from
scratch as a new school.
41. Q – Is this more
time-intensive for teachers? No, just different time. Shift to a whole-grade
level team is less isolating than being responsible for just one class.
42. Does not have more staff in
the classroom than a normal school. But have flex spaces.
43. Not always just the hicap
kids that are pulled out to a different room to avoid labels.
44. Q – Could the model be
rolled out to other schools? Yes, but takes time. Cathi is teaching other principals about
master scheduling. Complex system to implement, which includes buy-in from
parents and teachers.
45. Ruby Ridges was not
explicitly built to do inclusive things. Standard building, albeit with
interior hallways. Not a huge open concept. Rooms that are extra space exist
because of the way the building is run, not because there are more rooms than
other schools. Interior hallways make it easier to implement a walk-to model,
but not absolutely required.
46. Q – Does having master
schedule create issues with specialists like music and PE? Sharing specialists
across schools makes it possible to have multiple specialists at a single
school at the same time.
Council
Business
47. HPC Budget - How is
fundraising going? Are we able to pay for the insurance now?
a. We have $274 plus $150
raised today.
b. No budget for insurance.
c. Need to reach out to PTAs
for funding.
d. Best option for quick
fundraising is to reach out to parents directly
48. Donation Link for Council
Webpage -- the giant donate PayPal button is a bit confusing, but the smaller
one above works.
