Open Thread Friday
Attended the Town Hall last night with newly-elected State Senator Scott White, Sherry Carr and Peter Maier. Pretty interesting and I'll do a write-up today.
What's on your mind?
What's on your mind?
Tuesday Open Thread
The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested. It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio. (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Comments
See: Architecture 101 for details.
Here's a particularly ludicrous observation:
"Many of the schools were more worried about not being selected given their student demographics (north end schools), than those worried about workload, district roll outs etc."
Yeah, the south end schools are just trying to survive MGJ's wacky initiatives.
Race for RTI
Has anyone had any exposure to such methodology or success with overcoming the significant issues with dyslexia?
What do you need to do to get a student assessed for a LD?
http://www.broadresidency.org/student/207_Cordell++Carter.html?page_filter=0&src=student/map%7Cstudent/alumni%7Cstudent/alumni.html
Cordell Carter
They are school directors, who took an oath of office to support the constitution and laws of our state and these are crimes.
Charlie speaks from minute 29 to minute 32 here.
That is Ammon McWashington's old job (he retired last summer.) He was paid $125,000 in '07-'08.
I was just reading the state constitution and ran across something that made me go "huh?"
Article II section 28 Special Legislation: The legislature is prohibited from enacting any private or special laws in the following cases:...7. authorizing the apportionment of any part of the school fund... 15. Providing for the management of schools.
What might might "violations" of these two items look like in real life?
Does SPS have available any tutors that teach the Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Method (or one of its variants) for dyslexic students. Has anyone had any exposure to such methodology or success with overcoming the significant issues with dyslexia? What do you need to do to get a student assessed for a LD?
I don't have all the answers here, but will tell you what little I know from working with a language disabled child.
1. I don't know if the SSD has any Orton Gillingham folks, but this is the heart of the pedgogy at Hamlin Robinson School (currently housed in the old TT Minor building). Even if you don't want to look at that as an option, you might want to contact them for SSD information. Because they get so many kids referred from public schools, they may know what the Orton-Gillinham resources are, who to talk to, etc. Also, based on laws that require public schools to pay for private education if there is not a public school solution, my understanding is that SOME (not all) dyslexic kids can actually get a referral (and financial resources) to attend Hamlin Robinson, though I don't think this happens often. They have a high rate of success, and their model contemplates that most kids spend two to four years there -- and then successfully return to regular schools.
You may want to have your child "assessed" for Hamlin Robinson, even if you don't think that will be a solution. They have arrangements with Orton-Gillingham trained folks who do a screening assessment (to confirm that the child has the sort of disorders that the school works with). I don't think that that assessment is "formal" enough to qualify you for SPED services within the school district, but they are pretty good at figuring out whether there is a disability that the O-G method can help.
And finally, either the O-G screener, or the Hamlin Robinson School, may have very useful referral names for folks that CAN do the kind of work up that will qualify an LD child for SPED services. I realize that the School District is supposed to, and presumably will, do this for you for free, but I have found their services to be unreliable (sometimes, they accurately and adequately assessed problems, and sometimes their assessments concluded that everything was "fine/normal" when it blatantly was not; and in any case, their assessment was extremely shallow, in comparison with what a good private evaluation will get you.) In my experience, ALL the SSD has looked for are enough data points to drive an IEP and the services under it. Comprehensive understanding of the nature of your child's strengths and weaknesses is not (at least was not for us) their concern. For every stellar special ed person who worked with my child (and there were some!), there was at least one who seemed to be "pushing" the diagnostic findings toward whatever services they already knew they could provide cost effectively (and toward whatever level they wanted to provide them at) and at least one more who was just "pushing paper" through the system, so as not to violate federal law.
In the end, I did most of my testing outside the SSD (either before seeking services, or at the same time the District was doing its assessments). So, I cannot speak definitively to the process for assessment, though I know others know this stuff cold.
Finally -- lest this seem too much like an endorsement of Hamlin Robinson, it is not, and we did not stay a second year. Nonetheless, I think that the method can be extremely helpful for many dyslexic kids, and I suspect the school can and does work very well for many children --just not for my child (and some of his classmates), for various reasons.
SPS Parent
http://www.seattleschools.org/area/budget/SurveyOpenEnded_3.pdf
This comment leapt off the page, it was tagged that it came from a Principal.
What struck me about this comment is that this principal thinks APP/Spectrum should be eliminated at the middle school level, not elementary.
Boy, I hope that this principal is not running a MS that has an APP or Spectrum program in it, as it is obvious she/he does not support the programs to the point of destain!
"APP and Spectrum should be done away with at the middle school level. If we are truly committed to serving ALL students, why can't ALL students be in ALL classes? We are giving mixed messages by allowing certain groups of families have an entitlement while other families do not get access. When we say all students do we really mean all? No-because we have programs which allow families and students to be "more than" at the expense of those who are given they are "less than"-if we really believe in differenciation, why can't that happen at the middle school level?"
and
I don't have all the answers here, but will tell you what little I know ....
and
I have a friend....
and
So I was reading all the comments from the Budget survey....
I love this blog!
Thurgood Marshall's Head Start preschool is also very good, as is the one at Emerson. There are both full-day and half-day Head Start preschools. Here's the link: http://www.seattleschools.org/area/headstart/locations.htm
I believe South Share also has three-year-old preschool spots, but I could be wrong. It's been some time since I was there. You may want to check the Refugee Women's Alliance on MLK, they run a free preschool, obviously for ESL families. Also, I know of an ESL family with a child at MLK Day Home Center run by Catholic Community Services. They are very happy there.
There is a testing company called ABCD Educational Testing (or ABCD something) that I have heard generally has good testing resources (I think Dr. Provenzano worked from there at one point, before I knew him). Or, ask your pediatrician (especially if they work in developmental pediatrics), or call the Experimental Education Unit at UW (a school run by the U for disabled kids -- I would bet that EVERY ONE of their kids has had testing done!) and they know whose assessments are solid, and whose are weak. Waits for these folks can be months long (I have been told there were times when some of these practices have been closed to new patients altogether) but if they have no availability, they may also have a good referral to someone who does. All my best names came from my child's speech and occupational therapists (along with a name or two of people to avoid at all cost -- priceless information). If your experience is like mine, from a decade ago, you will find that the educational LD/testing community is small and interconnected. They all know and work with each other -- and they all tend to know who is good.
I see nothing wrong with that principal's thinking. In my book Spectrum is an artificial contrivance to convince some that some are more above average than others. In my day, the students that excel had some ALO, but we were not "self-contained". Use this money for saving those that may slip through the non-existent safety net.
Scoffer
P.S. Let me guess there'll be 165 comments tell me to got to h*ll
The class will be performing an original play:
Rainier Beach TeenSpeak: Two Truths and a Lie
Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011 at 7 p.m.
Rainier Beach High School
Free (please RSVP to 206-443-2202 x1043)
"How do truth and lies blur together to become an accepted reality? How much of reputation is made because of truth and how much because it sells news? For several months three teaching artists have worked with a drama class at Rainier Beach High School through Seattle Rep's TeenSpeak program, using theatre as a forum to discuss their lives, their school, and the rumors surrounding it all. Taking their words, reactions, and stories, Seattle Rep Education Director Andrea Allen wrote Two Truths and a Lie for these students to perform. Embracing the scary, the silly, and the awkward, these teens present the truth of their lives. Or is it lies? Come and watch to decide for yourself."
"Are You Afraid to Come to Rainier
Beach?"
If students working beyond grade level - which is not a particularly rare or remarkable thing - cannot reliably get an appropriate academic opportunity in a general education classroom (and in Seattle it is not reliable), then it seems appropriate for them to have a program that offers them a better chance at an appropriate opportunity.
The mistake that the principal makes is in thinking that Spectrum is something more, when it is just something different.
Again, if we could reliably deliver differentiated instruction, then Spectrum would not be necessary. Since we cannot (or at least do not) reliably deliver, then Spectrum is necessary.
Sounds like that internal auditor that quit (wandering). MY ear at the district says they were like two peas in a pod.
SPS keeps the Auditor in business all by itself.
If we could find a way to fund it.... SPS could keep a team of private investigators and two attorneys busy, unless it changes its MO.
If you have a child at Lowell, can your incoming kindergartener get into the regular program during open enrollment as a sibling? Then hopefully test into APP the following year.
Rethinking Advanced Placement
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09ap-t.html?src=me&ref=general
SPS Parent
SPS Parent
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/edlife/09ap-t.html?src=me&ref=general
SPS Parent
I know people who have gone through Graham Hill too and they can't say enough about it. The Montessori preschool is in high demand, though, so she may have trouble getting in. I also know one of the former teachers in the SS preschool-also an excellent program. The Refugee Women's Alliance might also be able ot help your friend with placement and other of the many issues non-English speaking families face. Their preschool is another very successful one.
I've been saying for YEARS though, please do not judge the S. Seattle options through the lens of those who think the entire area is "failing" a la the RVP. It's not, and there are some good options for your friend.
Lowell is already over capacity. What does this mean for next year? And when did this change? Or am I misreading the plan?
Signed What's Up
I'm not sure what you are looking at, but my guess would be that this would be either for the general ed program at Lowell or for families in the Lowell walk-zone who would normally be assigned to Thurgood Marshall, but want to go to Lowell instead.
I went to one of the NSAP meetings and I didn't hear anything about removing the guaranteed access to APP. I'm sure I would have noticed if it had changed.
From the Draft (bold added):
If more students apply for a school than space is available, tiebreakers determine assignment and waiting list status. There are two types of tiebreakers:
1. Tiebreakers for assignment to general education at schools
2. Tiebreakers for assignment to some other programs at schools, including:
• Montessori
• Spectrum
• Accelerated Progress Program (APP)
Both types of tiebreakers have already been approved in the NSAP (“NSAP Tiebreakers at Full
Implementation”). During the transition period, interim tiebreakers (“Transition Plan Tiebreakers”) are used
in some cases.
What's Up