Minutes from 12/10/24 Meeting

 HiCap Parents Council

December Meeting

District Office

12/10/2024 - 10 AM - 12 Noon

In Person Attendance: Amity, Elizabeth, Angie, Carson, Ashley, Jen

In Person Late: none

Zoom Meeting Attendance: Terra, Holly, Elisa… (I didn’t get everyone because I didn’t look at the notes format until afterward - so sorry!)

Zoom Late: none

Secretary: Jen C.

Zoom Liaison: Ashley

Next meeting date: Tuesday, Jan. 7th, 2025

Discussion: NAGC Conference

Conference Notes Link

• Council sharing NAGC24 experience, take-aways, etc.:

• Very informative overall with information and resources

• Ashley, Jen, Holly, and Carson spoke to specific speakers and take-aways

• DEARA model; care and feeding of the gifted brain

• Resources and book references

• Neuro-Myths (book)

• What is the difference between 2e (focusing on the negative) vs gifted (focusing on the positive); undiagnosed differences? What is the specific diagnostic criteria for 2e? A speaker was differentiating between “gifted” and “hard workers”? 

• What is the value of giving a student a label? 

• Students will give themselves labels regardless of external labels; a diagnosis moves this away from self judgement. 

• Amity: meet each student where they are.

• Funding can be an issue for diagnosis, so inequity of services.
  
  

• Teacher training and more MTSS would be positive; however, how much are we expecting from teachers? Strength-based training/teaching? Amity: each teacher is different and connects with students differently; unfair to expect every classroom to be the same.

Discussion - Amity Updates

• NAGC Update

• Attended research-based sessions focused on professional development

• Pitfalls, strengths, path forward for NSD

• HiCap Task Force Update

• Met once: first meeting was to set the stage and get directions

• Students are wonderful, very unique perspectives (wanted to meet on their own, very excited about the group)

• Elizabeth (Timbercrest Rep) is the HiCap Parent Council rep on the Task Force

• Variety of participants, about 30 people

• Developing small groups: policy and procedure, state law (Amity providing NSD stats from Angie)

• Not discussing identification process; looking at middle school service delivery

• Curriculum is included, but not math (has its own trajectories)

• 2nd and 3rd grade Accelerated Math Scope and Sequence

• Who: 2nd grade teachers who have been teaching EAP, plus an EAP 3rd grade teacher who teaches 4th grade 

• Looking at the 4-5th grade curriculum and how to teach this with more teachers working with EAP students

• Compacting concepts from 2nd and 3rd grade curriculum (place value units, as an example, and bring it back to review in future units)

• Spent all day last Friday discussing kids who qualify in 1st, entering 2nd grade

• Using AI for scope and sequence, linked all standards and curriculum and then adjusted presentation

• The goal: using Math Expressions, develop a curriculum that eliminate the  concept of “skipping”:

• 2nd grade: 2nd and 3rd grade compacted math

• 3rd grade: 4th and 5th grade compacted math

• 4th grade: 5th and 6th grade compacted math

• 5th grade: pre-algebra (6th and 7th grade compacted math)

Council Questions/Updates

What things can we do to help with upcoming transitions and course registrations

• 5th grade parents deciding on 6th grade math

• HiCap info night on Zoom: February 4th, 2025 at 5:30pm: info night for 5th and 6th grade math for incoming 6th graders and parents

• Amity presenting, Patti Stephens to assist

• Will be recorded

• Currently 693 5th graders have a HiCap math designation (large crowd, so multiple  presentations may be necessary)

• Choosing a HiCap designation

• Parents should think about three things when deciding to agree to HiCap math:

1. Does your child love math? 

2. Are they motivated? They don’t need to take all the difficult classes (colleges may not need that), like Calc AB, Calc BC, etc.; other classes can count toward math classes (physics, etc.)

3. Can you provide extra support at home?

• Amity will Zoom “new to EAP” group, as well; expecting it to be small; Pink group and Orange group (different schools are color coded): new to integrated model, Jan 28th and Jan 29th, 2025, in the NSD board room. Share slides with voiceover.

• Action item: council members need to assist with signup sheets and microphones.

• High school math choices: Carson shared a Facebook HiCap HS question; Inglemoor HS specific question (HiCap vs IB); family doesn’t want to do IB, so how can they transfer to another HS that offers more HiCap classes? 

• Look at HS/post-HS goals as an 8th grader family. 

• IB program begins their junior year, so the student has to be patient and take accelerated classes in the last two years. 

• IB diploma carries a lot of weight, and it is a challenging program.

• IHS cannot staff more math classes (there has to be a full class, at least 20 kids, in order to consider offering a class); waivers aren’t a possibility at this time. 

Secondary Math: this is a question about collocating the knowledge of middle and high school counselors. Are counselors the best resource when it comes to HiCap? Carson and Jen to work together on this. Amity has resources and info. 

Amity: After 12/9 board meeting: comprehensive counseling services video from the study session (6-8pm); interesting to watch; two elementary, one middle, one high school counselor

Secondary Math Pathways website: not live yet, to be included on the NSD site, created by Patti Stephens. Based on Cater requirements (for math), which are on the wa.gov site.

Coffee with the Council on Dec 18th to create more connections with parents and hear more about issues that are out there. Space is reserved, but limited. If tickets aren’t available or time doesn’t work for families, another date will be offered. Ashley, Jen, and Carson will attend, other council members can attend, as well. Next Coffee with the Council will take place early February after Amity’s Zoom meetings.

Action Items

Publish/share the upcoming “Coffee with the Council” ASAP in school newsletters.

Next month Agenda/Meeting

Minutes from 11/13/24 Meeting

HiCap Parents Council

November Meeting

District Office

11/13/2024 - 10 AM - 12 Noon

In Person Attendance: Amity, Ashley, Angie, Carson, Allen, Terri, Mairead, Faustine and Elizabeth

In Person Late:

Zoom Meeting Attendance: Liz P, Terra, Hong, Veronica, Jen, Mairead

Zoom Late: Elisa, Holly (11:30)

Secretary: Liz P.

Zoom Liaison: Mairead

Next meeting date: Tuesday, December 10th 10 AM - 12 Noon

Reading: The Class Ceiling

• Great article in pointing out the need and how many HiCap kids there are

• Lacking on the how-to for teachers

• How do we get teachers and community members on board that there is a great need and that HiCap education is basic education.

• HiCap kids need study skills.

• What about enrichment versus acceleration? Article is about acceleration moving forward. Maybe there is a need for more depth?

• “Differentiation is a PROACTIVE approach though, not reacting to just challenges AFTER they arrive, but DESIGNING learning experiences with individual differences in mind from the beginning. Teachers need to anticipate variance among learners and plan strategies that address those needs before they become barriers.” - Terra

• 
  

Discussion - Amity Updates

• HiCap Middle School Task Force

• Letters going out to selected committee members.

• First step will be orienting these new members so everyone is starting off with the same basis.

• Already combating the idea that we are overidentifying students

• There are parents who are still stuck in the stigma. There are parents who think this is all about test prep

• How can the HiCap Council interact with this taskforce? ACTION ITEM

• CMAC field testing?

• 5th to 6th grade math path

• Amity: Seems like the issue is communication, not the jump.

• Maybe can have notification in ParentVue

• The issue could also be late identification (students identified as 5th grader)

• Many families do not say this is just a communication issue. This is an issue of whether the triple jump is appropriate for all families.

• Can we change the middle school registration form?

• Amity: I cannot unilaterally alter the registration forms. These are unique to each school and are then funneled through cabinet.

• Data shared about math grades 

• Lots of students are using tutors, so please do not use this as our only metric to determine success of program

• Elementary Reps could be more involved in helping families with math selection.

• What does it mean for classes later?

• What does it mean for high school transcripts?

• Can we engage some college counselors to understand how this impacts acceptance rates?

• Side Note on tutoring

• In Asian culture, many elementary students are being tutored NOT because they are struggling, but because some families want to advance their kids as far as possible.  

• There are students that are struggling though and do engage with tutors

• And the dynamic often switches in high school. Tutoring at that level often is to guarantee a good grade for transcripts.

• Elementary HiCap ELA

• 2nd grade students will be graded on a 2nd grade level. These students are not receiving 3rd grade curriculum.

• However, parent conferences are coming up. Parents can ask, “How is my HiCap designated child receiving education that fits their needs” and “how is HiCap ELA different than for GenEd students even if the curriculum is the same?”

• Amity encourages families to ask these questions. Teachers should be able to answer this (ex. Rigby readers).

Council Questions/Updates

• How can we engage families to share more of their stories or invite them to meetings?

• Library, coffee shop

• Start with all families rather than broken up by region

• Maybe start with an evening zoom one?

Action Items

• Amity: How can HiCap Council be a part of the Task force? Can we offer readings? Can we join in a meeting or a day when we discuss parent experiences?

• Elementary Reps: Please educate 5th grade parents about their math choices

• Mairead & Faustine: They will start the process of planning a meetup for HiCap families

Next month Agenda/Meeting

• Faustine had an unanswered question. Curious about the distinction between the district and schools with the PTA. (Ex. PTAs seem to not get opportunities to talk to families at school events). How is this at other members’ schools? What are the “rules” about these separations?

• How are we rolling out the information from our supplemental meeting? Working Groups? How do we get started?

Minutes from 10/2/24 Meeting

HiCap Parents Council

October Meeting

District Office

10/02/2024 - 10 AM - 12 Noon

In Person Attendance: Ashley W, Carson S, Mairead, Amity B, Elizabeth W, Liz P

In Person Late:

Zoom Meeting Attendance: Terri, Allen, Veronica, Karen, Lyn, Holly, Elisa, Beth R, Ekta, Sean Q, Hong, Iman, Jenn C, Nikhat

Zoom Late: 

Secretary: Liz P.

Zoom Liaison: Mairead

Next meeting date: Tuesday, November 5th at 10 AM

Guest Speaker: Dr. Craig Foster, Director of Research and Evaluation

• Speaking on I-Ready data and HiCap students

• The way data is analyzed is to compare students to themselves over a year

• The data on HiCap students shows that students compared in the 2022-2023 year vs 2023-2024 showed no significant difference. It was also segmented out by the schools, grade levels, and their type of service delivery,

• His conclusion: Service Delivery did not matter 

• Can we clarify and say, “Service delivery does not affect academic outcomes for Gen Ed and HiCap students”?

• This means that GenEd kids don’t appear to have a boost; HiCap students don’t appear to have a drop

• Could we look at the students who moved from self contained to integrated classrooms?

• Lots of data, lots of variables

• Might not be the priority

• Amity will look at how many students and consider if this is a good population to look at

• Remember, NSD is always looking at this type of data.

• There has been some Social-Emotional data gathered, including the big project Amity did last year interviewing students from throughout the district

• Study sessions where more district data is reviewed can be viewed on the district page. Here is the September session.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hcYwMWqtO0

Discussion - Amity Updates

• Professional Development day yesterday

• All day. ELA morning, Math in afternoon.

• Attendees: Canyon Creek, Fernwood, Lockwood, Elementary - 3rd grade teachers. About 20 people in the room. Will receive 15 clock hours.

• Reviewed lots of information on integration, scheduling, Thinking Classrooms (including activity)

• More PD days coming for other groupings of teachers (including some mid-year with Emily Kircher-Morris)

• Ultimate goal: All kids receive an appropriate level of challenge in a safe environment, so they can meet those challenges later in life.

• HiCap Task Force Applications and Dates

• Charge of this task force will primarily be Middle School

• Begin in November - October 2025

• Tuesday evenings, 5 - 7 pm

• Goal of 30 people - 8 teachers (2 4th/5th grade), 4 administrators, 6 parents, 2 counselors, 4 high school students, family engagement specialist, Andrea (curriculum)

• Can we have at least 1 person be a HiCap Council member?

• End result will be a recommendation made to Superintendent

• Skyview

• Skyview Middle School last year wanted to integrate kids in science and social studies. There was resistance to this.

• Ultimately, changes did happen this year to science and social studies. The classes are integrated. However, the HiCap kids’ school schedules are being listed as “HC” even though the class is integrated.  

• Children’s screening and assessment dates?

• 1st grade families: Screen by teacher in classroom during school day. 9/19 - 10/11. Date and time determined by school and teacher. 

• Everyone else plus 1st grade: Do not know dates of testing until 1 week before. We need to wait until the referral deadline 10/11. This determines how many kids need testing, how many proctors, etc. 

• See Elizabeth’s HiCap Office letter below for more information.

Council Questions/Updates

• Spring 2024 HiCap Survey Results

• Biggest difference is ELA satisfaction in an integrated classroom. Also, slight decline in satisfaction and related questions for integrated classrooms.

• Terri will try to set up a meeting at East Ridge, from where we received good feedback about the ELA model. Ashley will attend.

• Fundraising need is high

• Amazon Smile?

• Mairead will send ideas from the chat over to Carson.

• NAGC logo needs to be promoted. Must include official logo. 

Action Items

• Mairead - NAGC graphic for newsletter, social, and website; will send fundraising information over to Carson

• All: Please send priorities: what went well, what needs improvement

• All: please send headshots if you haven’t!

• September: Do we need better descriptions on our website of what the Integrated model is?

Next month Agenda/Meeting

• Potential reading for next month: The Class Privilege article from Amity