Minutes from 4/16/2019 Meeting

4/16/2019 Hicap meeting

• Pre-AP
  • College board now requiring those who use pre-AP name to use their definition and curriculum
  • Current pre-AP classes are not the same as college board
  • College board version seems to be gen-ed and should be freely available for all students without barriers
  • Will we go with new Pre-AP rules or just call our current pre-ap classes something else and stay the same?
  • Inglemoor will offer 2 hicap sections each of pre-IB world history and pre-IB English
  • What about Woodinville and Bothell? Is Pre-AP more rigorous than pre-IB since hicap kids in pre-AP and in special sections for pre-IB?
• Middle school families (all except Leota)
  • Received a letter asking them to reregister for 7^th and 8^th grade again
  • Split out the challenge and gen ed classes
  • Descriptions for Challenge and gen ed are identical except one extra project for challenge history listed
  • Curriculum, content, grading (strange grading for aap kids, not attainable)
  • What’s the difference between gen ed, challenge, aap?
  • Transitions between elem, ms, hs
  • Math, Algebra readiness: understanding content of 6^th AAP and 7^th challenge (repeating 7^th grade math for half year), if they don’t test into algebra what do they do? Are gen ed 5^th graders getting scaffolding and backfilling to fill holes?
  • Understanding of learning disabilities in MS
  • Will block schedule change next year?
• High school
  • Principals saying no hicap in high school - that's illegal
  • Inequitable to have various schools offering different hicap paths and options
  • Clear plan for math triple jumpers – lack of a plan affects middle school registrations
  • Curriculum and course descriptions – how do kids know what to take
  • No way off the math train if you find you don’t want to take higher level calc. no options for sr level math other than calc except AP stats
  • Will we have blocks next year? Will the intervention time continue?

Joined by Admins, principals

• What are the possibilities for hicap kids in 9^th and 10^th grade for next year?
  • Jen will send a memo with what those possibilities may be
• Some Admins, counselors, etc. saying no hicap in the high school
  • Jen will communicate to buildings that hicap services continue into HS
  • Use different language explaining what the hicap trajectory in high school and options might be
  • Website says clustering happening, but not happening in any HS that we know of
  • Need to balance clustering with elective preference
  • Council has created a guide for high school for WHS and BHS for hicap learners. Can district use these, add for inglemoor and North Creek, and distribute to families?
• How many APs are too many?
  • Some counselors are telling hicap kids they shouldn’t take too many Aps
  • Common app will ask how many APS are available and how many did you take
  • Should have a listing of what is in the class so kids and parents can decide what is best for the kid. Syllabus should have info like – will read these books and will write this number of papers
• Kids who stretch have no way out
  • Have to take an F to laterally move to another class (not possible to move from pre-AP to gen ed version of same class without taking an F in the pre-AP class)
  • No scaffolding or help for these kids who struggle after stretching into a more challenging class
  • Is there a way to have mentor in older kids to give info to younger kids?
  • Counselors offering no help – doesn’t have a list of math tutors for example
  • If kids are automatically opted in to more challenging classes, will they be allowed to opt out after being in the class for more than 10 days?
  • Exactly what supports will be offered to kids who are “forced” to stretch?
• Differences from High School to school
  • Different class offerings
  • Different way to teach even the same class from school to school
• Math
  • Parents of girls saying they won’t put them in Algebra even if they pass the test with flying colors
  • 5^th grader in gen ed 5^th class will be missing 6, 7 and 8^th grade math to go into algebra
  • How will holes be filled?
  • Who will they be in classroom with?
  • May just choose 7/8 challenge and have half year repeat for EAP kids
  • Kids not as worried about middle school but worried about high school math trajectory. May not want 3 years of Calc. no way off the calc math train since no other math options to take except AP Stats
  • Dr Reid says district Will offer higher level calc when there are enough kids to fill the rooms
    • What is “enough” kids?
    • When will these be offered based on current numbers?
  • Kids being told they will top out in math, so maybe don’t take the higher math early
  • Need to reassure families there will be classes for the kids to take when they get there
  • When will district offer these higher-level classes? And what do we do with the kids before it’s offered district wide?
  • Is Apex available for kids now? (Dr reid says Apex is the option for current students)
  • Looking at Microsoft: using zoom differently – elementary teachers may use this for higher level math
• Confusion about pre-AP classes
  • New college board program: no decision yet whether district will use it
  • Don’t know how curriculum will compare to current curriculum
  • North creek will have all 9^th graders in pre-AP English – says will offer supports
    • Potentially have a hicap English and social studies version to go along with pre-AP. NO gen ed
    • Option to opt out – no one opted out!! (Were all families notified in native language that opting kids into pre-AP is a change from last year? Did families really have access to info on how to opt out or really know they could? Seems very odd that NO ONE opted out.)
    • Expects kids will rise to what is expected of them
    • SEL supports, (what is this?)
    • Racial disparity in who are previously enrolled
    • How do you identify struggling kids? What supports are they offered?
  • Does this mean the pre-AP classes at north creek isn’t as rigorous as the pre-AP at woodinville? If the hicap sections are needed that is implied.
  • Jen says Maybe anyone can register for hicap English 9…not just hicap kids.
  • Does the opt in versus opt out really help minorities? Did they send info and/or robocall to families explaining this is a change from last year and the process to opt out? Did they do this in the parent’s native language?
  • No safety net. No way to opt out later if you’re put into this class. Getting F tells the kid they aren’t good enough and they don’t want to take Aps in the future.
  • Need to know what these supports are, specifically

• Middle School math
  • Only using ITBS math for algebra readiness not the Orleans Hanna
  • Girls thinking of not taking Algebra spot
  • What’s the ultimate path for these kids
  • How will they fill the holes?
  • Are students marked differently in the system if they were EAP or not? – jen says yes
  • Need to communicate to families making algebra decisions now that there will be advanced math options for them when they get past Calc BC.
  • Need to tell the families how many kids are in their cohort of 5^th grade triple jumps so they know they aren’t alone
• AAP middle schools – same curriculum as challenge and gen ed
  • Different grading – impossible to get a 4 for AAP kids where challenge or gen ed kids can get 4s on same test
  • No differentiation of curriculum, same teacher, no info on how to perform at AAP level to get the 4
  • No pd for hicap teachers – teachers choose not to take the hicap pd
  • Same curriculum makes it hard to teach differently for gen ed/challenge/aap
  • Enrichment materials for hicap classes could be added in – would require springboard to be compacted
  • Maybe cross building communication and information sharing would help hicap teachers
  • Hicap middle school teachers expect hicap kids to not have 2e issues…which isn’t correct
  • Advisory was supposed to teach social emotional lessons once per week. Team has pulled back on this and realized it’s not good in a 30 minute class, better taught throughout the day. Still looking at programs to use.
  • Brain function may not be developed, keep teaching it but it may not stick. Teachers need to recognize the differences and help these kids to turn in homework and such.
  • Teachers need to know these kids develop asynchronously
• Why is there double and triple jumps in math, and single jumps in ela for eap?
  • And why is there no jump from 5-6^th grade, go back to grade standard in 6^th
  • Some 5^th grade teachers are told they can’t use 6^th grade curriculum for EAP since they will have 6^th grade again in middle school (different company, but still 6^th grade)
  • Can’t use the 6^th grade books because they will read them again next year
  • Jen will communicate to these teachers that they can use 6^th grade and higher level books
  • Piloting new ELA curriculum next year k-5
  • Using benchmark, lucy Hawkins, adding different novels in elementary EAP
  • Inconsistencies between schools – if you’re lucky enough to be in the right school
• What really is the difference between gen ed, challenge, aap?
  • Some different novels available but maybe not too many for differentiation
  • Seems there is no difference in novels and curriculum
  • All books kids read in school seem to include death. Can we have kids read something that’s not so dark?
  • Can we have a clear definition of the difference of gen ed/challenge/aap? Descriptions?
  • Jen says she will look into the course catalog descriptions for hicap classes
• Jen will update us on if hicap testing will be reopened for 8^th graders since there are now hicap sections of the ELA and history classes at some schools
• Next meeting: Doodle to determine

Minutes from the 3/4/2019 Meeting

• Snow closures impacted hicap testing and notification dates
  • Website dates are under review and will be adjusted
  • Hoping to know final dates by end of March
  • Anticipate being done by Monday March 25^th for large group testing, may be more follow up after that for stragglers from oversight and mistakes – not makeups. NMS is last on 25^th
  • Tentative dates: convene MST on March 19^th, which is before end of testing to set internal thresholds for already tested kids. Start notifying kids the week following spring break. As kids test those kids will be categorized as Passed, DNQ or Need a look from the MST. All Notifications will go in backpack mail this time, not email. Emails are sent in batches and this confused families who got the robocall but no email yet. Then robocall will go to qualified families saying they got a letter in backpack mail. Then phone call to qualified families if they don’t respond.
  • Appeals: 10 business day window and reconvene MST (No extension). May hear about appeal by first week in May.
  • Backpack mail has a unique link to accept services, no sharing links
• Grades 8-12 - closed
  • Not testing these grades, portfolio review only
  • Process has ended as of end of February. 6 families will be reviewed and get results first week in April by email.
• Non-enrolled students – opens today till june
  • Non-enrolled students- on website
  • Must register as an NSD student first
  • Second – get ID number to submit in step 2
  • Waiting till May or so might give the student more info in the portfolio for MST to consider
  • District team will consider items from a menu of items plus anything else
    • Standards the child has been learning should be submitted
    • Want child to be in a classroom to learn things they have not yet learned
    • What has your child already learned?
    • Jen cannot ask for info from the school, parent has to get that info
• Kindergarten
  • K is done and data is updated
  • Holistic status has been assigned and services have started
• Spring portfolio review Grades 1-7
  • Absent, illness, not on campus, family missed the permission window
  • Left makeup inclusion up to schools
    • School may choose to put absent students in a later testing date, but hicap dept is not making this choice
    • Some schools have many testing days and may have extra space in classrooms and have capacity to do this
    • Other schools are smaller with less space and cannot do this
    • 1^st graders can only test with 1^st graders, 2^nd-5^th graders can test together
  • Late April for parent notification of portfolio review determination
  • Online under eligibility and testing – form to request portfolio review online
    • They will email all families to ask if they want to have a portfolio review if they were absent, etc.
    • They do not need any info for the portfolio, they have it already
    • Teachers should not write letters of recommendation
    • Outside testing will not be considered for Appeal or for Portfolio review
  • For portfolio review, student only has current grade info to consider where tested student has grade above test…how can current students with portfolio review look like they are ahead when they are not tested a grade ahead?
  • Jen can only use the data points of district administered assessments – reading is only Fall and June… can we get a winter assessment added? Can ask the assessment committee.
• Middle School   
  • Students gave permission for testing and see other students testing and wonder why they aren’t testing
  • Wanted to reduce required testing as much as possible
    • If step 2 in 6^th or 7^th grade had 95 or above on SBA, they did not need to take IOWA for that content area
    • 94 or below would still take the IOWA in that content area
    • High correlation between IOWA and SBA performance
    • Hicap dept missed that communication telling parents. Will double check then respond to parents. If a mistake was made by hicap dept they can retest week of march 25th
  • AAP
    • Does not have a separate curriculum
    • Start with assessment, then compact, increase pace, reduce repetition. This gives time to add additional projects, add a novel in ELA, go farther in springboard
    • In class where Challenge kids were added, it’s more difficult. Need to differentiate
    • Microsoft Teams can be used for building teachers to share ideas on how to differentiate in these mixed ability classrooms
    • Rubric seems to imply that the highest grade cannot be achieved unless extra outside work is done…equity issue. Should not require Saturday participation or NHD for example.
    • Jen and Asst. supers will determine the composition of Middle school classrooms next year
    • Next month we can invite curriculum and instruction asst supers to talk about this.
    • ‘Challenge for all’ being expanded to all middle school grades makes it even more important to make AAP a unique level that is not infringed upon.
    • If middle school teachers expect hicap students to be organized and academically advanced without any instruction on basic executive function they are setting them up for failure on more than just their performance on a test. Need to teach teachers hicap kids aren’t necessarily advanced in social emotional aspects and executive function
    • A couple of years ago the descriptions for gened/challenge/aap in a catalog were slightly different. NHD was required for AAP but not others, AAP had an extra novel required. Now the catalog does not have these differences
    • Canyon park says single subject qualifiers will be placed in aap class as space allows
    • Counselor visits to elementary and tours at middle schools
      • No equity in school tours and visits from middle schools for EAP kids not in feeder elem
      • Middle schools don’t seem to remember they have EAP kids coming from schools that are not their feeder schools
    • Newly qualified 5^th grade kids need a transition to Math 7/8. Should be doing tenmarks 6^th grade standards to bridge the gap.
• How is math being handled in neighborhood schools for EAP kids with no EAP classroom?
  • Professional learning communities within the buildings to look at data of grade level to implement strategies for increased results
  • Hicap dept is charged with fixing math model in elementary
    • Some small schools are small enough to do walk to math
    • District math committee recommended walk to math for fall of 2020
    • 5^th grade has issues: technology access, one building teacher that teaches higher level math, Minecraft for education – M$ partnership is working on this. 6 schools, 25 teachers trained march 28^th April 1^st, may be able to get a surface for every kid in those classrooms. Minecraft has been aligned with WA state learning standards for math up to 7^th grade standards. Hope to do full implementation in fall. All kids can be assigned appropriate level and all work in the environment.
  • April 16^th 10am next meeting