tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post5353416558606073288..comments2024-03-29T02:41:52.718-07:00Comments on Seattle Schools Community Forum: Boundaries Work SessionMelissa Westbrookhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17179994245880629080noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-29004070757043377542013-05-31T14:42:25.081-07:002013-05-31T14:42:25.081-07:00I think this is Shauna Heath making it up as she g...I think this is Shauna Heath making it up as she goes along again. Here is the information presented last spring on international education at a work session. My beef at the time is, based on the Venn Diagram on pg <a href="http://www.seattleschools.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/1583136/File/Departmental%20Content/school%20board/11-12%20agendas/050212agenda/20120502_Presentation_IntlEducationWorkSession.pdf" rel="nofollow">3 of the Presentation</a>, why aren't ALL schools "international schools". Another thing that was a laugher was the incredibly small data set (n = 27) they used to "prove" that learning math in Mandarin improve student growth. Finally, as is well-known among special education families, the numbers for JSIS reflect the fact that it is essentially a SpEd-free zone; no programs of any meaningful value are present to serve students with disabilities. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.seattleschools.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/1583136/File/Departmental%20Content/school%20board/11-12%20agendas/051612agenda/20120502_Minutes_WorkSession.pdf" rel="nofollow">Work Session minutes</a>mirmac1https://www.blogger.com/profile/10183460709639638172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-53014529899663369352013-05-31T13:57:58.183-07:002013-05-31T13:57:58.183-07:00Tami is right. There really isn't an immersion...Tami is right. There really isn't an immersion program at middle school--it's just a single class. If you happen to have a conflict with another class you want more, you're out of luck. Until there are enough elementary immersion programs feeding into the MS, the problem will persist. The current JSIS Spanish 4th grade class, for instance, has fewer than 20 students, and MacDonald does not yet have a 4th grade Spanish class. If this cohort loses a kid next year, then a few others peel off the following year to attend other middle schools, there won't many left to fill up a class at HIMS when they get there, even if the schedules all worked out perfectly (which they often don't). You need a critical mass of kids in the pipeline to really make the immersion pathway work.<br /><br />HIMSmomAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-13716452965064635822013-05-31T12:36:28.109-07:002013-05-31T12:36:28.109-07:00“Carr asked if you can have international educatio...<i>“Carr asked if you can have international education without immersion. Heath said yes. But then, Heath said that all the students at the international schools are part of the program. That is not the understanding that we have heard before.”</i><br /><br />At JSIS in 2000, when there was just K and 1st grade as dual immersion classes – the rest of the school had an international education plan. Hamilton had a great International Education Coordinator – Sue Raney. The district might not have supported it, might not have marketed or advertised it well, but it did exist. My understanding from Karen Kodama is that the same international perspective is supposed to be used in teaching at all international schools. However, it my experience, SPS can name a middle school or high school “International,” but it can’t make the school embrace it. 13 years on I wouldn’t say that all of the HIMS staff love the concept.<br /><br /><i>“Libros said on the operational side that you get attrition at the upper grades with not enough heritage speakers.” </i> <br /><br />I would argue that the attrition in the higher grades is not due to the loss of heritage speakers (in my kids’ 10 years at JSIS, the number of heritage speakers was less than 20% per class), but due to the fact that the immersion/international program is so weak at the middle school and high school level that it is not criteria that families use to choose a school. In the north, HIMS offers 1 language immersion class per grade in Spanish and Japanese. There are so many other programs, APP, Spectrum, Orchestra, etc. that it’s difficult to insure that a student gets the schedule s/he wants. Next year, Ingraham will be an International School, but I haven’t heard that the language program will be doing anything different for the immersion students – which means that there is no reason for the international/immersion program to use that as criteria for choice.Tamihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07668988205856305809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-35281754630106802782013-05-30T22:34:36.955-07:002013-05-30T22:34:36.955-07:00One other question. How the heck do you put an APP...One other question. How the heck do you put an APP elementary program in a school? Do you put it in Whittier with one of the few self-contained and waitlisted Spectrum programs, or Lawton which had a brewhaha over self contained and now does...well, something positive but not really sure what, or Adams,Loyal Heigts? Who is going to be happy to see APP show up at their school? Even parents with qualified kids who stayed put or returning families, ouch, this could be awkward.<br /><br />WAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-33592739005074674352013-05-30T22:23:42.354-07:002013-05-30T22:23:42.354-07:00APP north is going to a 3 middle school plan in tw...APP north is going to a 3 middle school plan in two years,and APP south to 2, that is certain. <br />Elementary APP schools are not yet indicated in number but one could assume one to feed each middle school.<br />Maybe Immersion will be started at other schools to siphon off non SAP kids from JSIS.<br />Will APP come to a HS in each middle school zone as well?<br />Will option programs like Immersion be available more widely and be programs within schools?<br /><br />Wondering<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-21967678356084147822013-05-30T21:27:03.540-07:002013-05-30T21:27:03.540-07:00So much and so little going on all at once.
1. Bo...So much and so little going on all at once.<br /><br />1. Boundaries: looking at the current boundaries (http://www.seattleschools.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/1583136/File/Maps/boundarymaps/pdfs/SD_ESMS.pdf?sessionid=11dc51889f7dd1fd8c64895904aaa03c)<br /><br />There is little change to the Hamilton boundaries. I though Hamilton was overcrowded. Moving APP out (or reducing the size of the cohort there) won't change enrollment much. Eckstein will get big relief.<br /><br />2. Elementary schools are part of middle school clusters,so the middle school boundaries imply change to elementary baoundaries. Little talk of that yet. The Wilson-Pacific / Whitman boundary line seems to run down the middle of both the Broadview-Thompson and Viewlands enrollment areas, and it looks like a fair bit of redrawing in the NE. <br /><br />3. APP - the cohort was just split! Another split is damaging to the program. If APP is moved from Hamilton, as it seems it needs to be, let it move together into it's own middle school. Wilson-Pacific seems ideal. Isn't the "plan" (a term SPS uses very loosely) for this cohort to go to Ingrahm?<br /><br />-confusedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-84648407166448995542013-05-30T18:07:31.448-07:002013-05-30T18:07:31.448-07:00Still not sure why they are talking about changing...Still not sure why they are talking about changing existing APP, option schools, and international learning at all.<br /><br />The problem they are trying to solve is capacity. That can only be solved by opening new schools. The district staff should be focused on opening new schools and what programs (like STEM and Spectrum) might attract people to those new schools.<br /><br />District staff shouldn't be spending time trying to mess up or move existing programs, especially existing schools and programs that are doing just fine where they are and being left alone where they are. <br /><br />Sometimes I really wonder about Seattle Public Schools. As if we didn't have enough problems trying to educate kids using scraps of funding, we have these administrators messing up anything that is working and creating new problems for all of us.CapacityCapacitynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-68330892394211337132013-05-30T15:35:17.883-07:002013-05-30T15:35:17.883-07:00With elementary schools as crowded as they are now...With elementary schools as crowded as they are now, how is a proposal that includes additional self-contained elementary APP sites doable?<br /><br />MCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28765366.post-75976784927963417942013-05-30T15:11:16.125-07:002013-05-30T15:11:16.125-07:00Is there no talk at all about where the other nort...Is there no talk at all about where the other north end Middle School APP programs would be?<br />Hamilton and....?<br />I do think that where APP lands would factor into parents decisions about where they send their kids.<br />MissyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com