ThoughtExchange Email; Did You Get Yours?

From SPS - apparently all families got this e-mail about ThoughtExchange:
Dear SPS Staff, Families and Students, 

On behalf of the students we serve, we invite you to help us shape the future of Seattle Public Schools by sharing your thoughts on our Advanced Learning opportunities in high schools.

This will help us get a sense of the shared values and priorities of our families. To join the conversation, just click on the link above. You will be asked to share your thoughts through a series of three open-ended questions and then consider and rate the thoughts of others. All thoughts and ratings shared during this exchange of ideas are confidential. By participating, your thoughts and star ratings will be shared with others but your identity will remain private.

Information shared may be used to revise advanced learning pathways in the district’s Student Assignment Plan (SAP). 

We strongly encourage parents to engage their students in this process as well. They can participate by clicking on the link above and registering with their own email address. Please share this link with your student.

Your time spent engaged in this process is really appreciated. Please join the conversation by clicking on the link above!

Sincerely,
Wyeth Jessee,
Chief of Student Support Services
Seattle Public Schools 


Las familias que hablan español pueden participar en español haciendo clic aquí. Other non-English family language groups will be supported through an open house structure. Information regarding the Open House meetings will be posted to the Community Engagement page here. If you need accessibility accommodations please contact 206-252-0200 or communityengagement@seattleschools.org.

Notes about this process:
1. It could take you as little as 5 - 10 minutes to participate.
2. Please complete this exchange by Wednesday October 04, 2017 12:00 PM
3. You can complete questions at your own pace and come back to review your answers at any time.

If you need technical help, please call Thoughtexchange at 1-800-361-9027 ext. 4 or email feedback@thoughtexchange.com.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The district told me it was only sent to families with children grades 5-12, which probably makes sense in this case...

Asked Them
Owler said…
I got the announcement, but not the invite. I ended up emailing SPS to request an invite.
Anonymous said…
I also received the announcement last week but not the invite. I was able to get a link to the survey by sending an email to: communityengagement@seattleschools.org.
Anonymous said…
I think it intended for HCC families only, right?
Confirming
Anonymous said…
We have two HCC kids in 6th and 9th grades, and while we received the announcement, we have yet to get the survey link.

- LinkLess
Michael Rice said…
Here is the follow up.

Dear Seattle Public Schools' Community,

I want to apologize on behalf of Thoughtexchange. It has been brought to our attention that while you were trying to contribute to Seattle Public Schools’ conversation about Advanced Learning Opportunities a software error caused many participants to have a frustrating experience.

The technical issue has been resolved and we are asking you to re-engage. Thoughtexchange is a way for people to exchange thoughts with other stakeholders and build understanding. Due to the software error, participants were not able to see the thoughts of others and fully interact with the tool or other stakeholders. When you log back in, you will be a part of the full exchange experience and have an opportunity to add your voice and respond to other ideas.

Please know that your contribution is extremely valuable to Seattle Public Schools. If you continue to have any technical challenges please email feedback@thoughtexchange.com or call 1-800-361-9027 ext. 4.

You may re-engage by clicking here: http://go.thoughtexchange.com/e/38332/2017-09-28/798hd2/606601837

Sincerely,
Dave
Dave MacLeod
CEO

mobile 250-609-0950
office 800-361-9027 x202
thoughtexchange.com
_______________________________

Thoughtexchange
Suite 404, 9116 East Sprague Avenue
Spokane Valley, WA 99206
Another NW said…
I am skeptical that they will receive the feedback they are looking for (and desperately need) when they seem to be having difficulty even getting it out to families. Problematic with a deadline that's next Wednesday. I have 2 kids in SPS, 8th & 10th, got initial email but not survey. I emailed community engagement and got the links within an hour though.
Thank you, Michael. I queried the district on this and never received an answer.
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Clarification Needed said…
I received the e-mail. Link was broken. I was/am uncomfortable sharing information with a third party. Who is ThoughtExchange, anyway?
Anonymous said…
I also received the initial email from SPS but not the invitation.

Botched process, as per usual. Wonder how much they are paying for this external service.

LakeCityMom
Anonymous said…
Will this be like the 3x5 schedule, where they ask vague questions and then use the answers to support a bad plan, even though the initial communication had zero details about a plan? You are commenting on generalities without knowing any specifics. And parents should not need to email SPS to get a link. That's problematic. Only those reading the blogs will even know to ask.

big fail
Anonymous said…
If I was to reply to that survey, it would only be to say something like "It is clear that the district administration wants ultimately to eliminate any actual advanced learning program while retaining a bit of window-dressing, so any comments or opinions I offer would be wasted."

Scrawny Kayaker

Wow, my Captcha had a photo of the street signs at the corner of SW Admiral and 46th.
Ghost Mom said…
Since they've broken the survey out by school, maybe they'll just see which community seems to hate advanced learners the least and put the programs there?
Anonymous said…
Or just the opposite?

cynic
Anonymous said…
Maybe they should have just surveyed all the high school students to see how many and which ones are clamoring for more advanced learning opportunities. If there are certain schools that aren't providing enough access--that aren't meeting demand--it would be good to know so we could fix that. But without understanding the extent of the problem--if there is one--this is not a helpful exercise.

Waste O'Thyme
NESeattleMom said…
My husband got the link but I received two email, one to look out for survey, second to give us a contact for requesting the survey.
CascadiaMom said…
Here is my experience with Thought Exchange: very frustrating. the questions asked are VAGUE and it's not clear what they want us to say. As you review others' comments it becomes clear that everyone is talking about their own thing and the question targets are so vague as to make it hard to know what they are asking.

In addition the 3rd question is: What questions do you have? To which I have to say that the answer was: ABOUT WHAT ?????

Here is what I sent to community engagement as feedback, since I don't think I was able to express these sentiments in the Thought Exchange format.

Dear Community Engagement:
I just did the thought exchange. It was massively time consuming (I spent over an hour on the site) and the questions were so vague that I had no idea what to say. As far as I can tell this exercise was a total failure. Based on the other comments of other participants on the site, we were all interpreting the questions differently and commenting based on our own perceptions of the questions. Please don’t use this in the future unless you are going to ask a SPECIFIC QUESTION. Don’t ask us to brainstorm about something. Especially when we all know there is no money to do that.

Since I don’t think you will get any valuable information out of it, I would just like to state the feedback that I want to give.
You mingled 2 questions in this thought exchange. What you SHOULD have asked is
(1)how to expand AL opportunities in Seattle for high schoolers (vision)
And (2) How to serve the HCC identified population as state law directs you must (practical decision facing the board)

For question 1: the obvious answer to how to expand AL opportunities in high school is
-to stop dumping kids on Running Start who can’t get the schedule they need to be prepared to apply to top colleges and universities
-and further, make sure that EVERY KID who wants to take an AP or IB class can, and isn’t told that there is no room, or isn’t defeated by a schedule that is so complicated and restrictive that they functionally are unable to participate in AP or IB classes.

For Question 2: how to serve the HCC identified population as state law directs:
-I don’t think that the HCC high school pathways should be dismantled,
-I think that a new north HCC site should be created if people are unable to make Garfield work due to capacity issues

What I fear is that there is no money to do any of that, and we are witnessing the destruction of the best, most reputable, most academically challenging college prep pathway in Seattle schools, and that the plan will be scattering HCC kids to neighborhood high schools to fend for themselves or enter community college at age 15. Overall, under a decentralized neighborhood plan, the Advanced Learning opportunities for high schoolers, both HCC identified and not, will be so dilute as to be meaningless. And, of course, this dismantling harms the low income and minority high achieving students the most.

I guess I have to go to some public meetings now and find out what the ACTUAL questions being asked are, since we all know that waxing poetically on a Thought Exchange about goals for advanced learning has nothing to do with the boundary decision actually facing SPS and the board in the very near future.


Anonymous said…
@ Cascadia mom-- Yes agree with all you stated. However, as the district enrollment staff spent alot of time & energy creating a recommended map H which keeps HCC in neighborhood schools, they have made some confident assumptions they can eliminate it. To not also give options of maps which keep current pathways is the first clue.
- Y
Anonymous said…
My biggest issue with this platform is that you must star every answer to continue, and some survey answers are ambiguous. For example, For my family, the number one priority is to maintain an HCC pathway or option. I could care less where it is. So when people say "Garfield is too far away, put HCC in my neighborhood school," how am I supposed to rate that? 1 star because I'd rather have any pathway anywhere than no pathway at all? 5 stars because my family needs HCC services, so if our only option is our neighborhood school then of course I support having HCC there? 3 stars because HCC services at my neighborhood school are going to be slim and watered down?

How does SPS then interpret my stars? They can take my 1 star answer to mean that I don't support HCC services at my neighborhood school, should the pathway go away. They can interpret my 5 star answer to mean I prefer HCC to move to neighborhood schools, over a pathway. They can take 3 stars to mean I really don't care either way.

As you star other people's answers, you can't skip one. If you choose not to review one, you don't get to continue. There is zero context for each 150 word "answer" that we are reviewing in this star process. I put answer in quotes because what SPS is really having us do is write the survey questions they should have written, so we can't put the blame on them later for giving us a bunch of ambiguous, leading questions.

zero stars
Anonymous said…
@Y, you are right, but SPS didn't include map H and an explanation of what it all means with the survey. Most SPS families won't dig deep into the related documents on the High School Boundary Task Force page in order to decide how to answer a survey they've been told will take 5-10 minutes to complete. And even if they do, there are 9 maps on that page. Only people who attend the task force meetings or read the blogs thoroughly would have any inkling of which map is the "right" one.

zero stars
Anonymous said…
Cascadia Mom, I'm an HCC parent and I mostly agree with you, but this part made me pause: "we are witnessing the destruction of the best, most reputable, most academically challenging college prep pathway in Seattle schools."

This is the misconception that has plagued HCC from the beginning, that good education is a prize only highly capable kids get. HCC is an intervention for these kids because of their learning differences. The pathway is simply a direct line to a school with a critical mass of learners so they have access to an appropriate progression of math and science, and access to more rigorous options in the form of AP or IB. It really doesn't matter if the pathway school is best or reputable as long as the academically challenging part is true.

Where it gets tricky is of course all SPS students should have access to a reputable, academically challenging college prep program. And this is possible without Honors for All or dissolving pathways. In fact, we are fortunate that many SPS high schools do have excellent options for college prep. I just wanted to call out your comment because, while I understand the place it's coming from, it can be misinterpeted by the voices in the district who say HCC is an entitlement, without understanding that it's a fundamental support for these kids.

BP
Anonymous said…
>>>> And, of course, this dismantling harms the low income and minority high achieving students the most.

OMG. Pass me the tissues. Let's all cry about the "harm" dismantling HCC causes the imaginary low income and minorities in HCC. Sniff. Sniff. Whah. Whah!!!! Everybody knows we love them (the "minorities and low incomes") to pieces, so long as they are at other schools.

How Dare They! Surveying HCC with inferior questions!!!! How nervy. Don't we get wine and cheese parties? Isn't that what everyone else gets?

Equity
Anonymous said…
Yet another parent who didn't receive the survey, just an SPS email telling me to "look out for it" in my junk mailbox.

I tried Michael's link but it just had me "sign up" for thought exchange and then once I did so, told me I had nothing in my "account" in which to participate. Evidently you need some long code to access the survey.

Concerned Parent
Anonymous said…
BP,

"A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth – some obvious truth he isn't supposed to say."

Sounds like that's what Cascadia did.

Michael Kinsley



Anonymous said…
@ Michael Kinsley, nope. Sounds like Cascadia Mom has an elementary age student and doesn't yet have a good understanding of middle and high school HCC. "Better" and "more reputable"??? Yeah, right.

nice try
Anonymous said…
Good point, @nice try, Garfield didn't place in the high school rankings this year. Two Seattle neighborhood high schools did. Michael Kinsley, there is no truth to hide.
BP
Anonymous said…
Just took this survey. I have never seen a more poorly designed survey instrument. Being forced to "rate" other peoples' comments with a star system was ridiculous--there was no option to simply pass, you had to put at least one star to move on to the next. And the page often flipped to the next while I was in the middle of trying to duly fill in the requisite stars, so something I wanted to put as 4 stars wound up being only 1 star. Nor did the survey explain what 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 stars even meant.

Echo the comments of others as to how this certainly poisons the well on the information SPS will get and what they will ultimately use the information to do and justify.

So very tired of this.

Plea to community members and parents here: Do attend the Lincoln HS meeting tonight at Hamilton, 6:30pm, with Principal Medsker and others from SPS.

Concerned Parent
magahatter nope said…
What a crock of shit. Who allows this to happen and please don't tell me this is parent involvement.

1. It could take you as little as 5 - 10 minutes to participate.
If you have no interest in responding with a thoughtful response sure. Tweet your inane response.
2. Please complete this exchange by Wednesday October 04, 2017 12:00 PM
So that is a great deadline. One would assume midnight. Is that correct.
3. You can complete questions at your own pace and come back to review your answers at any time. No you can't not if there are hundreds of responses. I am sure all my responses were 5 stars but I will never know. Nor will I go back repeatedly to star those post after mine.

Last time I looked everyone expressed three thoughts: we are confused about all of this. We don't want existing HS students' track broken and we and want HS HC kids to be able to have at least 9 AP choices through HS.

If you search the background of on the survey you will find that JW states nothing really. Or something. Really depends on how you parse his run on sentence explanation versus what you have heard. I have heard nothing so his run on sentence means that this is argh; Who the hell knows!

It has always been that HC was a service and so that can be moved willy nilly... It just has never applied to high schools where the stakes are much higher. Look at IBx and the carrot approach. Now they are all hammers and pick axe handles. They are going to jam you where you don't want to fit no matter what. WHY? Because they have failed us. FACMAC asked for a high school. Nope. Now we have zero capacity at that level. Now this group without any regard to the holistic nature of capacity balancing (and fake waitlist) are once again using HC kids to solve building numbers. I doubt that SpEd are being considered either. Both are basic education. One has federal enforcement.

Kids at GHS this year have moved schools/splits as much as 4 times due only to splits. Roughly every other year. Why? To solve capacity problems. So again we are saying pull them from GHS? Meaning in K-12 they will have been in 8 schools.

North Kid: Neighborhood school K - Lowell - Lowell light- Cascadia - HIMS - JAMS - GHS - Neighborhood high school. Not a good track record considering only 3 supps in that time. You in your neighborhood school need to understand the injustice of this.
Anonymous said…
This is ridiculous. I tried to return to the site this morning to read/rate comments that came in since I submitted and there doesn't seem to be any way to do so. I emailed thought exchange asking for support -- nothing.

Can we pressure SPS not to pay them for this "work"? It is absolutely disgusting that our limited education funds are going to support this kind of thing.

LakeCityMom

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