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
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:
Does your child love math?
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.)
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
