What Is Spectrum - And What Is Not Spectrum

There has been a lot of confusion over the years about Spectrum - What is it, Whom does it serve, and Why do we need it.

This confusion has been entirely the District's fault. The District created Spectrum. The District defined Spectrum. The District is responsible for the placement of Spectrum programs. But the District has been completely irresponsible when it comes to monitoring the quality and efficacy of Spectrum programs and the District has been completely irresponsible when it comes to enforcing the elements of Spectrum that define it.

These failures by the District have recently come to a head at Lawton Elementary. All of this trouble - at Lawton and elsewhere - is entirely the District's fault.

First, let's be clear about what Spectrum is. Spectrum is a program designed to meet the special academic, social, and emotional needs of academically gifted students. These students are identified by the District when they demonstrate that they have quantitative and verbal cognitive abilities in the top 5% and academic achievement in the top 10% nationally for reading and math. Spectrum classes are taught to the Spectrum grade level expectations which are, generally, one year advanced beyond the regular grade level expectations when it is developmentally appropriate. In addition, Spectrum instruction is supposed to be compacted - teachers don't teach material that the students already know. Spectrum instruction is also supposed to be more rigorous than regular instruction - more ambiguous, more open-ended, and exploring concepts more deeply and applying them more broadly. While the expectation is for work one grade level ahead (generally and when developmentally appropriate), special care is taken that there is no ceiling on student exploration and that students are supported as far as they can go.

All of this - except the grade level expectations - may sound just like good teaching, and it is. Nothing more or less. It can - and should - happen in every classroom for every student. The one distinguishing characteristic of a Spectrum classroom, however, is that it is full of District-identified Spectrum-eligible students. Spectrum is a self-contained program.

At many schools, and particularly in the primary grades, there are not enough District-identified Spectrum-eligible students at a school to form a complete class. In such cases, the school is supposed to select high performing students, that the teachers believe are ready and can succeed with the Spectrum curriculum, to fill out the class.

The self-contained classroom is what defines Spectrum and makes it different from an ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunity).

Please refer to these documents on the District web site:

Advanced Learning - Increasing Understanding

Spectrum - Program Description

The self-contained classroom has been universally recognized - by a large number of experts in study after study - as the best way to serve the greatest number of gifted students. However, some people, mostly for political rather than pedagogical reasons, dislike the self-contained model. A lot of those people work for Seattle Public Schools. This is the root of a lot of the animosity towards the gifted programs in Seattle.

Now comes Lawton. Lawton is the designated Spectrum site in the McClure service area. The staff at Lawton, however, apparently doesn't want the self-contained model. The staff at Lawton are trying to dictate to the District how they will organize their Spectrum program.

Please see these two letters on the Lawton web site:

11/18/10 Letter from Principal Helm

Message from Principal Helm RE: Lawton Open Community Forum

Let's be perfectly clear: if it does not pursue the self-contained model, it is not Spectrum. They can have it, they can do it, it can be beneficial for students, they just can't call it Spectrum.

Just for laughs, I suggest you also read this page on the Lawton web site: Advanced Learning. It is rife with misinformation. It demonstrates Lawton's apathy towards the program.

Here is Lawton's CSIP. There is no mention of Spectrum anywhere in it. Nor is there any mention of advanced learners or advanced learning. If using the advanced learners in mixed skill-level classrooms is supposed to be a strategy for helping the other students you would think it would be mentioned here. It's not.

Perhaps Ms Helm should just ask the District to designate another school as the Spectrum site for the McClure Service Area and organize her advanced learning program however she would like.

Comments

Anonymous said…
hopeful,

You make some good points - communication was not made to any parents at Lawton about the change back to "healthy groupings". The district apparently left it up to the new principal to make the communication and I'm not sure she realized what a hot issue it was at the school. The staff should have seen this coming, but maybe they too didn't think it was so big an issue. There is more discussion and a committee forming next week to advise the BLT. The principal is making an effort to engage and we'll see what happens. One problem is that the district has given only provisional permission to go to split groupings, so even if the Spectrum kids are split next year, it will almost surely continue to be an issue.

also hopeful
Anonymous said…
Charlie,
I think that teachers opposition goes beyond political or philosophical. In a school such as Lawton. the Spectrum classes, as they fill up, become what they are designed to be: a place for those students to work towards their capabilities. The problem is the other one or two classes get all the rest of kids and that ranges from above grade level, but not Spectrum qualified, to way below grade level. Not being able to spread out the kids who needs help, as well as the special ed kids(excluding twice exceptional) leaves these non-spectrum classes harder to manage and slows down the progress of the grade level and above kids. If Spectrum kids are blended in they allow the teacher more time with the needy kids and theoretically allow the level of instruction to rise. The problem is, of course, that the Spectrum kids miss out on the self-contained experience and that opportunity to move further.
So, in fact, Spectrum does hurt the other kids at the school if it's self-contained, but blending hurts the Spectrum kids.
I think that this is what has teachers concerned as well as some parents. One solution I have heard is to ask Spectrum parents to help tutor in the non Spectrum classrooms.
I'm curious if you, Charlie, have heard how the other Spectrum schools deal with the program and if there are any parents from other Spectrum sites who could comment.

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