Goodbye APP - Hello Highly Capable Cohort
I'm not complaining about changing the name; I think people were forever getting APP and AP mixed up. But why is Spectrum now "Advanced Learner or Spectrum." Pick a name.
Uh, I see this about the webpage: "...remove unnecessarily repetitive or outdated material,.." Meaning, we got rid of a lot of historical information that might have explained many things. Don't worry, we're still here at SSCF.
From SPS Communications:
Service and program name changes
More information on the District’s Advanced Learning services and programs may be found at
www.seattleschools.org/
Uh, I see this about the webpage: "...remove unnecessarily repetitive or outdated material,.." Meaning, we got rid of a lot of historical information that might have explained many things. Don't worry, we're still here at SSCF.
From SPS Communications:
SEATTLE-As
school begins and the nomination window for Advanced Learning services
opens, the Advanced Learning Office has initiated several enhancements
to benefit Seattle Public Schools
families: changing some service and program names and streamlining its
series of web pages.
These
changes are designed to help the Advanced Learning Office more
effectively communicate with families of current and potential advanced
learners. Strengthening school, family and
community engagement is the third goal of the District’s five-year
Strategic Plan.
The
Advanced Learning nomination window for eligibility testing opened
Sept. 1, with an information packet, including required forms, available
for download at
www.seattleschools.org/
The parent permission form deadline for eligibility
testing is Oct. 2.
Advanced
Learning is rolling out several name changes, transitioning over the
course of this school year. The most prominent change is the phasing out
of the name Accelerated Progress
Program, or APP, which is frequently confused with the unrelated
Advanced Placement (AP) program of college-level coursework offered at
District high schools. Name changes and additional rationale include:
Highly Capable (formerly Academically Highly Gifted)
Highly Capable is the designation assigned to students whose achievement test scores are at or above the 95th percentile and whose cognitive test scores
are at or above the 98th percentile. The renamed designation more closely matches language used by the state in reference to these learners.
Highly Capable Services (formerly Accelerated Progress Program)
These
are the services offered to all students who meet eligibility criteria
for a Highly Capable designation, including but not limited to
enrollment in self-contained
classrooms. The new name more effectively conforms to Seattle Public
Schools superintendent procedures that define “services” as
required offerings and “programs” as optional, and it reflects
recent Washington Administrative Code regulation updates that require
districts to serve Highly Capable students at all schools.
Highly Capable Cohort (formerly Accelerated Progress Program)
The
Highly Capable Cohort (formerly APP) refers specifically to the
self-contained classrooms offered in a limited number of schools and
providing a rigorous curriculum
for students who meet the Highly Capable criteria.
“This
new name demonstrates our commitment to maintaining the self-contained
delivery model which has long been the centerpiece of our services for
Seattle’s most
highly capable students,” said Stephen Martin, supervisor of Highly Capable Services.
This
commitment has been affirmed by the Advanced Learning Task Force, a
group of educators, parents and community members who met over the past
school year. The
task force, in its August 2014 recommendations, unanimously supported
the continuation of self-contained classes and the name change to Highly
Capable Cohort as a way to distinguish the self-contained model from
other Highly Capable Services offered Districtwide.
Advanced Learner or Spectrum (formerly Academically Gifted)
Advanced Learner is the designation assigned to students whose achievement and cognitive test scores are at or above the 87th
percentile but who are
not eligible for Highly Capable Services. This is the eligibility
threshold for the District’s Spectrum program. (The name Spectrum will
remain in place.)
Web page enhancements
The
Advanced Learning web pages on the Seattle Public Schools website have
been streamlined to reflect the program and service name changes, remove
unnecessarily
repetitive or outdated material, and improve access and understanding
for all readers as the District strives to enhance family outreach as
part of its Strategic Plan.
The
Advanced Learning Office will continue to update and enhance the web
pages. The office welcomes feedback from the entire Seattle Public
Schools community.
Comments
Renaming things is shuffling deck chairs. It's not actually getting anything useful done.
So we have a couple cleaned up Web pages. Total effort what - a day? There's a new name. Wow. There will still be self-contained APP. Contain the restless masses.
BUT BUT BUT the program itself is weak and Spectrum is worse. It is non-existent.
Where is the help for twice exceptional? Where are the resources for highly asynchronously gifted? Where is the curriculum promised years ago and never delivered? Where is the commitment to diversity of economics and race?
And the one that particularly sticks in my craw, why is last year's MAP still the criteria when the district is throwing out the test? MAP was not designed to be a threshold test for access to services of any kind. Bogus that SPS did not change the criteria for testing prior to this school year. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of kids will be left behind again this year when they should be academically catapulted ahead.
Highly Unimpressed
(vs. Highly Capable)
The name change/website are not the only things that have changed. I see in my first day elementary packet a flyer on testing for advanced learning translated into 7 languages. I am pretty sure they have never sent out flyer let alone translated it.
I believe the district has found that the program requires change to be more scalable and inclusive. I welcome more school development and oversight especially as they are committed to keeping what works well in place.
3inAPP
CCA
New HCC parent
Yes, they have had sent out flyers before but I don't know if they were translated.
CCA, the difference is Highly Capable is the designation for those students who test at that level. Highly Capable Cohort are those students at that level who are IN self-contained classrooms.
HIMSmom
Highly Capable Services is the new element.
CCA
But I recall when my kids were in SPS in elementary, receiving one in the mail. Of course, that was a long time ago.
Deadline is too early. Parents of youngsters are just trying to assess if the current classroom is meeting the needs of their child, and have received no report cards, when they need to decide to nominate.
Too Early.
~new and confused
I think that you are seeing the manifestation of the dismantling of the advanced learning program throughout the district. At this point we have spent approximately $6000 to supplement the nonexistent curriculum in the APP program. Maybe by assembling the kids into a cohort the parents can more effectively file a class action suit against the district. I for one, would be on board with that.
~old and cynical
Class wise, your APP (now HCC, though Source uses acronym AHG) student should have Physical Science and Language Arts with an "H" designation. I think Spectrum and APP are mixed for LA/SS this year at JAMS...
Math is supposedly ability based and not linked to APP designation, but the default APP math pathway is Algebra in 7th.
ap
-APP(HCC-whatever)parent
~new and confused
But I really don't know if this is just the way it is in Seattle schools, or if APP is especially messed up and we've entered at a time of serious decline.
"Last spring as we were developing the master schedule we were forced to “unblock” our Language Arts and Social Studies classes (students no longer have those classes back to back – usually with the same teacher) to meet the needs of our students.
Hamilton has both the luxury and the challenge of offering students a multitude of options in our elective programs. We offer five (5) levels of Spanish and Japanese (from traditional language classes to immersion continuation), five (5) different levels of band and orchestra, three (3) different choirs, drama, art and PE all in addition to three distinct core academic tracks and six (6) levels of math. We have several students who take classes that are only offered once a day and it became impossible with the constraints of a blocked Language Arts and Social Studies class to create a schedule that also permitted students to pursue a world language, music and in some cases advanced math studies.
As the principal, I made the difficult decision to “unblock” those classes so we could continue to offer the rich electives and advanced math classes for students to take."
-Mom
I'm guessing schedule flexibility is more important to some students - with separate LA and SS classes it is easier to schedule the language and music you want. There might be more scheduling issues at JAMS because the LA/SS classes are blocked.
For teachers, blocked schedules mean fewer students. You have 90 some students instead if 150 some students. That means a lot fewer essays or tests to grade at one time.
ambivalent
HIMSmom
Parents received the Weekly News this morning.
Curious to see if HIMSmom is right about people don't care that much any more about LA/SS because it was already such a mess before.
-Mom
This is what we experienced at HIMS as well. We are more concerned about what is getting taught (or not taught in many cases) than if the LA and SS are scheduled back to back. I think one concern is once the classes get intentionally separated schedule-wise is that on a program level the integration of LA/SS material may also be lost.
ambivalent
HIMSmom
How does that address the fact that the 8th grade "curriculum" had NOTHING to do with what APP should be?
That's why parents don't know what to say about the change. It didn't do anything to assuage the actual problem. Blocking at younger ages, especially 6th, is really important for the transition to MS.
open ears
While it's great a flyer went out, I found it to be a joke personally. It's poorly presented since it references the need for high MAP scores, which of course kindergarteners don't yet have. The deadline to apply isn't very obvious. And the need to go online to download the form is an unnecessary barrier (I wish they would just print the Parent/Guardian Permission Form on the reverse side of the flyer). And last but not least, the URL on the flyer only works if you include the www in the URL. If you type in seattleschools.org/advlearning you get a 404 page error. Minor maybe, but a block nonetheless.
I hate that the testing is opt-in on a short timeline in the first place. I am doubtful that this flyer catches many families who weren't already tuned in to the AL testing process.
I understand no email / computer / not up to your liking URL... but no phone?
Most experts aren't even convinced that k testing is relevant. The state believes it is, so to my understanding a concerted effort will be made to bring all K teachers up to speed on identification so that those students can receive services that school year. A big change but still dealing with 5/6 year olds so IMHO you need to think about this in perspective.