Friday Open Thread
The building design for Hazel Wolf K-8 has won a design award.
I'm going to be attending the Operations Committee meeting today. Here's the agenda but I see no supporting documentation and I don't think that's by mistake. Not good. Important items of note:
1. Discussion: Student Assignment Transition Plan for 2018-19 (A. Davies)
What's on your mind?
LEARNING BY DESIGN has released its much-anticipated Fall 2017 edition, showcasing the nation’s best education design and construction projects, from pre-K to 12 to college and university facilities. Five top education facility design projects were awarded Grand Prize Awards, six Citation of Excellence Awards, and six Honorable Mention Awards.
A distinguished panel of six architects, and education administrators and facility professionals reviewed 68 outstanding submissions and selected five Grand Prize Award-winning facilities that “are simply amazing projects.”
The five Grand Prize awards where bestowed on:
- CTA Architects Engineers, (Denver, CO) for Laramie County Community College (LCCC)--Flex-tech Building (Cheyenne, WY);
- Eppstein Uhen Architects, (Madison, WI) for Waunakee Intermediate School(Waunakee, WI);
- Grimm + Parker Architects, (Calverton, MD) for Discovery STEM Academy(Newport News, VA);
- NAC Architecture(Seattle, WA) for Hazel Wolf K-8 ESTEM School(Seattle, WA);
Also in facilities news, Ballard High School.
- Perkins Eastman DC(Washington DC) for Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School(Washington, DC).
Ballard High School will receive solar installation as part of the Seattle City Light’s Green Up Grants. Seattle Public Schools is one of seven local organizations to receive a grant to support renewable energy projects and education; SPS will use the $150,000 to install solar energy systems in several other schools including Bailey Gatzert Elementary, Denny International Middle School, South Shore K-8 School, Hazel Wolf K-8 ESTEM School and Arbor Heights Elementary.I previously reported on this vote for the district to accept the grant. I note that Hazel Wolf K-8's PTA did contribute dollars to this effort for their school. I did ask the grant if that school's inclusion had anything to do with that contribution but I never received a reply. I also note that only newer schools could get these panels because of the weight the roof has to support.
I'm going to be attending the Operations Committee meeting today. Here's the agenda but I see no supporting documentation and I don't think that's by mistake. Not good. Important items of note:
-
Approval of property acquisition at MLK Jr. Way (B. Skowyra)
-
Approval of the 2018-19 growth boundaries (A. Davies)
1. Discussion: Student Assignment Transition Plan for 2018-19 (A. Davies)
What's on your mind?
Comments
Frustrated in W.S.
asdf
A number of key supports for the district-wide implementation of MTSS during the 2017-18 school year. This includes the hiring of an MTSS Manager and Professional Learning Community Coaches, as well as receiving consultation by a University of Minnesota professor and former school district leader, who will support the District’s MTSS Leadership Team in the development of a multi-year implementation plan.
Incredible. Maybe this explains why this has been taking so long and why they don't have their act together on MTSS after years and years and years of trying... Forgot to create an implementation plan!
oy.
And, they get yet another high-paid person at JSCEE.
https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/washingtons-running-start-program-is-a-national-standout-study-says/
HP
Is anyone here involved in any of these new schools experienced in improving proposed playground spaces? Are you willing to share your experiences??
NW mom
asdf
Curious
-there will be a preschool program housed in one of the Cascadia buildings where Kidsco currently does afterschool programs. Afterschool will continue there. The building was clearly designed as a preschool - very low sinks and toilets and a pre-school play structure out back.
melissa, was this paid for with our K-12 money?
-NW mom
There are many things that need to happen now. A multi year plan isn't one of them.
Meanwhile, middle schools don't have science text books.
Get ready for numbers to start shifting.
-Middle School Math – where three SPS middle schools lead the state in math proficiency for African American students".
-With student walking to and from school/bus stops, the district has had an increase in reports of needles – AKA “sharps” – in and around district properties.
The city will not go on school property to pick-up needles!
"SPU will not go on to school grounds or private property to pick up sharps. Provided sharps containers for schools with additional staff training so that we keep our school grounds safe. • Met with the city’s Homeless Director, SPD and other city officials to collaborate on solutions."
Find gifted pupils where you haven't looked before" in the Times Oct 5th edition page B1 article is encouraging
"Along with the new state edict comes double the money. Officials at the state superintendent's office hope the extra dollars will be used for much broader student screening." How much did SPS obtain for this effort? It is long over due.
https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/find-gifted-students-where-you-have-not-looked-before-state-tells-schools/
Fix AL
http://kuow.org/post/would-you-rather-be-bored-or-receive-electric-shock
Mind Games
Sounds like the state recognized that they better step in or the feds would. Reykal titled his memo "Special Programs & Federal Accountability".
There are protected populations in civil rights laws for a reason. This change was just a matter of time.
About time
At least some money is provided, unlike most unfunded mandates. I'm surprised there has been no talk about what SPS will do to follow through on these obligations. Will they continue testing all second graders in title I schools and claim they are doing enough? And what if they identify more students, but those kids don't want to --or more likely can't -- leave their neighborhood school community? The funding is for identification, not services, so I'm not optimistic this will solve as much as it could. Little local Rainier Scholars and TAF-like programs, starting earlier, would be ideal. The preschool program is expensive, but I expect we will see greater results from any early learning support we can provide than we will see from honors for all and tossing HC high school students back to neighborhood schools with no curriculum or principal support (i.e. Hale).
Fix AL
The cost savings accrued by having a homogeneous group with a relatively high percentage of active and financially generous parents will disappear if hard to teach students with ELL, low SES, or SpEd backgrounds show up in appreciable numbers.
SPS is a bottom line organization. They have to get the most for the buck and HCC is cost effective as it currently operates. SPS knows exactly how many dollars in donations each HCC student's family brings to the district and it's substantially more than average, not because the parents are wealthier, but because the parents perceive an added value in utilizing the HCC, whether that value is real or not.
Side note, apparently SPS is offering HCC level math at a number of K-8 and middle schools. They seem intent on blurring the distinction between the acceleration offered in the cohort and what is available at non-HCC sites.
Great article in the Times and interesting comments as well. Our own Lynn seemed to be commenting in "her" inimitable style, although "she" got spanked pretty hard by an SPS teacher. metaphorically speaking.
https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/find-gifted-students-where-you-have-not-looked-before-state-tells-schools/
anti-matter
SPS knows how much money each HCC family donates? Nope. PTSA's don't track it by HCC status, and they don't turn that type of info over to SPS anyway.
Parents donate more because they see an added value in utilizing HCC? Wrong again. This is part of that effort to suggest these families are getting something "better". They are not "buying" special services. Most donations by HCC families support non-HC students, too.
Re: HCC level math at some K-8s, to the extent that's happening I seriously doubt it's with any specific SPS intent at all. They have no control over, or even much awareness of, who's doing what at individual schools, so the idea that there's some conspiracy to blur some lines is laughable.
Matter
SPS will be in the hot seat to increase identification. "Trying" will not be enough.
Equitable identification and equal identification are not the same. Equitable means the district needs to eliminate the identification barriers that disproportionately impact low-income students. Screening everyone is one way, and we've already moved in that direction. Conducting testing during the school day and at a student's own school might be another, and we should do that. Providing more culturally appropriate follow up and parent outreach for minority students who meet the initial criteria to encourage participation in follow up testing might also help. Some better direction to teachers around what to look for in low-income gifted students might also help, although if we're screening everyone teachefcreferrals aren't as important. Allowing ESL students to test in another language might help with identification, although they might need additional support (for a bit) once in the program if their English interferes with ability to move quickly. Etc.
But what happens if you remove all the logistical barriers and certain groups are still not equally represented? The district could make the case that they've made the identification process fully equitable--that a student who tests at the top of the curve has just as much chance of getting in whether they are high or low income.
The issue of lowering the testing bar for some groups, while you could make the case for or against it, is not necessarily addressed by this new mandate. A district could easily say "look, we've done everything we can to find all the high-scoring low-income kids in our district, there just aren't as many. And given the impact of poverty on early child brain development, that'a not unexpected."
Sunday funday
"The program was originally started to keep upper middle class white parents in the public schools...." -Teresa A
Nope. It was an outgrowth of a UW child development study of "precocious" preschool aged students. It was created to serve the academic needs of advanced students.
The Uncommonly Bright Child (Robinson, 1981)
http://www.davidsongifted.org/Search-Database/entry/A10022
A research and service project focused upon gifted children was initiated at the University of Washington in 1974. Our interest was in the identification and nurturance of very young, highly precocious infants and preschool children...The families come from many segments of the population, though there is a strong overrepresentation of middle-class parents. About one-fifth of the families are from racial minorities...Public-school personnel typically indicate that they cannot handle their children but few appropriate private schools are available and all are expensive. Finally, many parents have been accused of bragging about their children, of pushing them and thus robbing them of their childhood...
...It was soon obvious that we could not simply identify extraordinarily gifted young people and then abandon them....The activities of the Child Development Research Group now include: ...A kindergarten-through-high-school program for children and young people exhibiting extraordinary advancement in academic skills. This Individual Progress Program (IPP) is run by the Seattle Public Schools in collaboration with the Child Development Research Group. It is designed for students who are achieving at least four grade levels beyond the grade appropriate for their age.
fact checker
That's not HCC so you are very misinformed.
HCC is at best two years ahead and was clearly designed to keep white and asian parents in public school.
I say we should just eliminate this divisive, unfair and no clearly illegal use of public education funds.
tiddly wink
JT
So the City will gladly go on school property to take advantage of free preschool space, but not to clean up needles? That's effed up.
Reprinting for Anonymous (next time, give yourself a name)
I can see the City saying, "We don't go on non-public property to pick up needles." But when you can trace it to a problem that IS the City's responsibility AND concerns the safety of children, I think there should be a middle ground. School staff already have enough on their plate.
"This is interesting...many people would rather be electrically shocked than be bored. I wonder of these are HCC parents?
http://kuow.org/post/would-you-rather-be-bored-or-receive-electric-shock
Mind Games"
Extraordinarily unkind, Mind Games. You contribute nothing with that kind of remark and it is not welcome here.
I think that Anti-Matter is somewhat right on the issue of SPS wanting to make things easy for itself and yet then going on about equity. I also think it somewhat possible to know how much PTAs spend at schools if the school budget reflects a PTA grant. It may not be all the money any given PTA raises and spends but it is certainly some of it.
Tiddly Wink
HCC is at best two years ahead and was clearly designed to keep white and asian parents in public school.
You are right on the first count but do tell us how you know about the second one? How do you design a program just for two groups? Again, I ask - why is it that people do not want to consider Asians a minority in this district?
YOu are also wrong about misusing the funds. The program may have design flaws but that doesn't make it illegal. I'd like to know when one of you who hate this program so much will be going to court as it keeps getting stated, over and over, that it's an illegal program.
BTW, if you really don't understand why wealthy and middle class asians are not considered a minority group, well, I'm just
SMH
We left HCC for private, and I can assure you that there is no comparison. Our HCC experience was worse than our ALO school experience, worse than our GE experience (in which we had tiny class sizes!), and much worse than our private experience. If I were to rank our experiences by which was the best value and worth spending money on, I'd go: private, ALO, GE and last of all, HCC.
No joke
No joke
Repeating the same nonsense over and over does not make it true. Highly capable programming is part of basic education. And it's pretty basic in SPS. Plus, "real" gifted and "true" outliers? How does one define/determine that? Are you suggesting tightening the admission standards? Because that is how you restrict enrollment. SPS seems to have little interest in serving the outliers among outliers. Zero interest, really.
nonsense
Sorry, but that game is over. The state stepped in because they were pressured to address the civil rights issues that the mentality you just described violates.
Eugenics lite--blaming it on poverty, lead paint,etc.--isn't going to work in terms of civil rights laws.
They were mandated to find students, not try. SPS has been "trying" for years. They will also have to change the way they identify students (state law already mandates that students should be compared to students of similar backgrounds).
The mandate will give watch dogs plenty to report. SPS will be ripe for a lawsuit if they don't get on board ASAP.
The biggest district in the state, SPS, and their blatant violation of student rights in terms of HC identification was clearly the main driver of this legislation. The state got "woke" that the feds were coming if they didn't act.
About Time
We're dying to get in and keep HCC exclusive, but it's no good
(especially now that it's not going to be so exclusive anymore).
About Time
Gloves Off
No joke
On one hand, they say most of the white or Asian students in HCC don't deserve to be there--they aren't truly gifted, they just got "trained up" by their parents and/or somehow "bought their way in." It's like academic giftedness doesn't really exist. Then they turn around and say that gifted minority, ELL and low-income students who don't score high enough on the screening and full assessments actually do belong in the program, because if they are high scoring within their specific subgroup, that's evidence that they actually are truly gifted--they just haven't had the training to be able to demonstrate that. In other words, for the first group, they aren't born gifted, they learn it, whereas for the second group they are born gifted, even if they haven't learned to demonstrate it. The logic doesn't seem to be consistent. Is it nature, nurture, or both?
Head Scratcher
An approach that was seeking to find actual giftedness and high capability would not be using achievement tests as a cut-off score (they could be included as part of a portfolio for the types of students you mentioned), would rely heavily on a knowledgeable committee for determination of identifcation (which is actually required by state law but is a check-the-box type of committee in SPS) using multiple evidences, would address and recognize the documented biases in cognitive test cut-off scores (and ameliorate them through validated norming or by putting less emphasis on the score in identification--that includes for those likely to score highly due to experience), and would use DeBonte and NAGC best practices.
So far, I have been advocating for underrepresented students within the chaos and parameters called HCC--as long as they have kept their strict cut-off scores as the basic and only measure of HC--while also presenting NAGC and OSPI links that outline best practices (which is hopefully the way SPS is finally headed).
About Time
Are you referring to SPS or just districts in general? And you know this how? What
"legislation?"
About Time, you seem also gleeful in gunning for a lawsuit against the district on this topic. Unpleasant.
You misattribute my reaction. The district, as is well-known by parent of students with IEPs, doesn't do well on compliance unless they are FORCED TO. I am very happy with this latest development...even though it's not surprising. SPS has been blatantly discriminating against HC students from underrepresented groups.
I know they were pressured because there have been multiple visits to the legislature regarding the lack of equity in HC, specifically SPS HC. Many visitors are very savvy and know which words to use to wake up the sleeping giants.
Also, just call me or my response "nasty" next time. I'll also take that as a compliment.
About Time
"middle class Asians aren't considered a minority group"? Wow, that's mind-numbing racism based on complete ignorance of the Asian experience in country of origin as well as those born here. Just more evidence that some of the so-called "progressives" are just as racist as the far right. I'm guessing you have a BLM sign on your lawn even as you oppress Asians with your alternative facts on their minority status and lived experiences. What a hypocrite!
- calling it
Here's another question: you mentioned possibly giving less weight to cognitive scores, partly since some of them are due to "experience." At what point is experience ok to include? I can see that past experience (e.g., better preschool, higher vocabulary exposure, etc.) can be a big factor in the early years, potentially influencing who scores in the top 2% on the CogAT. However, what about in 4th grade? Or 6th grade? I don't see SPS going there, but if we were to retest students prior to 6th grade, would that help? Some of those previously id'd as HCC likely no longer would be, and some of those who had not been previously id'd would be. The presumed "advantage" that some received in early childhood shouldn't be as much of a factor at that point, since their "head start" would be at least partially offset by the subsequent years of having a more "average" intelligence.
https://www.nagc.org/sites/default/files/Position%20Statement/Identifying%20and%20Serving%20Culturally%20and%20Linguistically.pdf
Here is some good information.
Outta Time
Many visitors are very savvy and know which words to use to wake up the sleeping giants.
I find that statement quite interesting and somewhat funny. So just all of a sudden, some people knew what to say to wake up legislators on sped and gifted but who have been asleep at the wheel on funding for schools? I wonder what code words those are (but I think I know because some people think those words make their arguments full-proof).
Progessives are in fact racists in this country ans always have been. Hypocrites all and as you said, so quick to forget the Chinese Exclusion Act,the original Travel Ban, or the Japanese interment of WW II. (OF course that was so the War Propaganda machine could whip up massive race hatred against the Japanese and get the soldiers and their families behind committing atrocities including mass incineration of innocent civilians in Tokyo firebombings and the two Nuclear Attacks)(democrats).
How on this currently green earth critics of the HCC program can say Asians are a dominant group these days is mind-boggling. True dat some or most all universities now limit asian enrollment and give some prference to poor whites for the purpose of "diversity", but not all asians are rich either. The spectrum runs from Hmong in Minnesota to Vietnamese to the Rohingya people of Myanmar who are currently being genocided by their hypocrite progressive icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Genocided by our Hero Aung San Suu Kyi. disbelievable.
fig leaf
So I'll leave this but you need to hear me when I say - NO name-calling.
Because Asians are the highest achieving "race" in the US and, as noted, they are being denied entry into colleges as less qualified white students are getting their spots.
It's just silly to keep saying they are a minority.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/us/affirmative-action-battle-has-a-new-focus-asian-americans.html
Tom
MoveOn
I say they are a minority because I'm pretty sure that when they walk down the street, they know they are. They know because people constantly ask, "Where are you from?"
It's like Obama getting grief because he didn't grow up in a poor part of Chicago. Does he know he's black when he walked down any street when he was growing up? He did.
As for that lawsuit, that's interesting but I'll bet that Harvard takes into account a person's entire background, not just looking at "Asian" checked in a box.
But again, it begs the question - so why do so many students from some/all? Asian backgrounds tend to do well in school?
Fig leaf....and not all whites are the same or rich either! Although I admit Seattle does not seem to have as many ethnic white communities like the East Coast does... Armenians, Jews, Italians, Greeks etc.
Whites also have different ethnicities, classes, religions etc and don't all hail from one country called "white". Some have recent ancestors who were immigrants. Some are poor. Some came as refugees. My grandparents got in a a few years prior to 1924 anti-immigration law that would have blocked entrance. Faced discrimination in US and in country of origin. Worked in sweatshops in the US. Their parents had access to no education at all. Faced pretty horrific conditions of starvation, child labor, poverty & discrimination in their home country. Please broaden your argument.
- diversity
@ MoveOn, why don't you? That was a lot of obnoxious (and flat out wrong) commentary. Totally unnecessary.
APPers who haven't yet squeezed out every ounce of privilege and still have to sit next to maybe 1 black person? They know they got the best education available in SPS paid for by the rest, so no way that's happening.
Wow. For the last time, neither the kids, nor the parents, care the color of the skin of who sits in their classes. If a kid is able to keep up and add to the discussion and whatnot, the more the merrier. Really. Truly. And the "best education in SPS"? That's hilarious. Would working two years above grade level be the "best" education for a child performing several years below grade level? Would it be best for a student struggling to stay at grade level? Would it be best for a student who feels that her GE classroom is currently the perfect fit? GE classes are intended to provide the "best education" for the typical student in that grade. If they aren't doing that, that's a whole different issue to fix. HCC classes are designed to provide a better educational fit for students for whom the GE curriculum is an exceptionally poor fit--because kids already know it or would find it too easy. It's not rocket science to see that what's best for one person is not best for everyone.
There are also a few APP crybabies who think they deserve more and more because "gifted ed is basic ed". Uhhhh???? That means you are entitled to a chair in a class.
Seriously? Try reading the law. It says that for highly capable students, basic education means "access to accelerated learning and enhanced instruction." So no, not just a seat in a regular class. An opportunity to learn.
As it is now, we have CogAT and "achievement tests" written of the white people, by the white people, and for the white people. Is it surprising that the white kids and Asian emulators get the admission ticket to free private school? No, those tests were DESIGNED to weed out the usual undesirables.
Ok, I don't know who wrote the tests, but I do know they don't ask about secret white handshakes or anything. I'm sure it's possible there's some cultural bias, but can you give examples? What sort of things on these tests are designed to be answered correctly by whites but not correctly by Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans? What sort of questions might be included on a test that wasn't culturally biased?
But really, "Asian emulators"? You are really on a roll when it comes to racist rants.
please go
And wrong. I want my GE perfect fit kid in the accelerated class. The most accelerated possible. All kids should get as much acceleration as possible. Did you ever hear of a college that recommends taking the "perfect fit" approach? Of course not. Just like an APP parent to make such a recommendation for those other slower other kids. I don't know a single parent who feels differently. Which is why APP has loved itself to death.
MoveOn
As to the whole "all kids should get as much acceleration as possible" thing, do you really believe that? Should a first grader be assigned 12th grade work? Why not--that would be some awesome acceleration! Maybe we should allow students of any grade to enroll in Running Start, too, right? Clearly we don't want kids to get as much as "is possible", unless by that you actually mean as "is appropriate. " Then I'm with you, and that's what I was trying to say. If the GE program is not providing enough challenge for most students and needs to be accelerated, by all means, we should push for that. All students should be able to be challenged as much as possible at school--school should expand their minds, inspire them, and require them to try things that seem hard. It should be a "stretch" for everyone. The thing is, what's a stretch for one, isn't a stretch for another. I agree 100% that we should try to find every single student with these exceptional abilities and serve them with a program that fits. I also believe 100% that we should challenge every student. This does not, however, mean they all need the same thing.
please go
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2779574/#!po=96.3415
Yes go
Yes go
"If you really believe in equity - then you will advocate for the development of tests that discover the fundamental talent independent of environmental factors. "
If you think that you can take a child - any child - and somehow test them in a vaccum and nothing about their background or environment will influence how they do, then I'd like to see that child and that test. No person exists in a bubble like that. And it's not even about income or race but simple "where you live, what your life is like and how your parents are raising you." It's Everychild.
ALL parents want their child to receive teaching and learning that meets their needs (and goes beyond if that's where the child goes). But I don't believe it can always happen in a single class.
Some people here seem to be making the argument that while we shouldn't discriminate on the basis of race it's quite acceptable to discriminate and profile on the basis of family income and that oh so be nebulous "culture." Simply unacceptable. A public school education is based on a level playing field for all, regardless of racial or economic status.
Calling out people who advocate for equity and the dismantling of current HCC on their tone, while remaining mute on the eugenicist style arguments that find a floor here is mind boggling in this day and age.
For progress
I think we all know that there are many sub-groups of Asians as with any Racial or ethnic classification. Even white people have subgroups. There's ones from down south who talk in such a way that people are always asking where they came from.
Fact is, Asian kids are more discriminated against than anybody by elite private schools. Then whites after that. Blacks, Hispanics, Natives and poor students get the most affirmative action at the privates colleges.
Yolanda
Be Honest
4More Progress
Serving HCC identified (if we must) at their reference schools will strengthen all schools and not weaken them, in addition to abolishing unfair advantage.
We are unlikely to return to bussing, although it worked. It is tragically ironic that the only population who enjoys the advantage of bussing today is the HCC one.
For progress
Different Strokes
The state and OSPI have spoken and have MANDATED that districts identify
more underrepresented students.
All of you who think your own children's brains are exempt from environmental pollutants, think again.
"Living in an older home. Although the use of lead-based paints has been banned since the 1970s, older homes and buildings often retain remnants of this paint. People renovating an older home are at even higher risk."
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lead-poisoning/symptoms-causes/dxc-20275054
Nobody is analyzing the brain damage your children have already suffered.
Get real. You don't live in an environmental bubble. Just because Newsweek and Huff Post aren't busy telling you the bad news doesn't mean it hasn't already (and continues to) happen.
If you're going to go there with eugenics, look at your own house and backyard (literally). Wake up.
About Time
Glass houses, stones, and all that...
About Time
I call out what I consider name-calling and racist and that goes both ways. Saying that lead-based paint is bad for kids is not eugenicist. Saying that poverty influences learning is not eugenicist.
"We are unlikely to return to bussing, although it worked."
Bussing worked? It would depend on your definition of "worked." Were classes integrated? Yes. Were kids all over the city forced to endure long bus rides? Yes. Did it improve academic outcomes? Not really. Did it cost more money? Yes.
I will say again - you cannot expect schools to solve problems outside their control. They can - as was said by one reader - make every attempt to level the playing field. Is SPS doing that? They are not and why they aren't is a mystery that I continue to ponder. But asking schools to fix the wrongs that the city has is going to be difficult and I don't support busing to do that. But I am open to other suggestions.
Readers on this blog have been saying (for years) that more underrepresented students are not in HCC because they specifically have smaller brains from poverty and lead paint. This is a FAR cry from the benign statement that poverty affects learning. You are, MW, in fact, abetting and minimizing this racism and classism (and have been for years) in order to protect the status quo of this indefensible version of HC and giftedness programming.
--The scientists behind these brain studies agree their work tends to be oversimplified in mass media articles and even research abstracts. “For example, they imply causality when we really only have correlational evidence at this point,” says Columbia University neuroscientist Kimberly Noble, who led the Nature Neuroscience study. “Portraying the findings this way often misrepresents the science. The brain is not destiny. I can't predict with any accuracy what a particular child's brain size will be based on their family income.”How much money a child’s parents make is just one piece of the puzzle: Shonkoff points out, “You have kids living in poverty whose brains are perfectly fine.” That’s because poverty is on the one hand just a measure of income.--
About Time
The reason everyone is so angry is that many people feel the system is short-changing their kids. It is, and it's not fair. Maybe if people got together face-to-face and truly listened to each other, open mindedly, we could come together and advocate for improvement. But venting our frustrations at each other anonymously just widens the dangerous divide and seems to be the trend in the US, and the future.
Getting out of SPS has been such a relief. It's been a financial burden, but it lifts other burdens. And my younger kid is in a school with far more AA kids and other kids of color than any public school we've been at. nearly 50% POC, and 50% of that is AA. Also Hispanic, mixed race, and others. So I didn't go private to escape my child sitting next to a black classmate. I went for the smaller classes, better curriculum, and yes, the diversity.
Both my kids' private schools track math, and allow the students themselves to decide what math class is the best fit for them. In the middle school, kids make this decision thoughtfully. I have never heard or felt a "less than" vibe about it. Good teachers know how to guide kids in these decisions and not base their personal worth on it.
Neither kid is at a super academically focussed school--both are at schools that intend to support kids in being well-rounded--but they are both getting far better academic preparation for college than we experienced at SPS.
Civil Discourse
-sleeper
Show me ONE place that anyone said "smaller brains" because I have never seen that. What is being said is that poverty and environment influence development. That can be backed up with solid facts.
NO ONE is saying poor kids can't learn. But it may be harder to find HCC poor kids because of masking from other factors. That's all. There are just as many smart low-income kids as in any other group - but we have to find them.
I am not protecting any status quo; I got into being an activist precisely because Advanced Learning was such a poor program.
Thanks, Civil Discourse, for your story.
Sleeper, I meant to ask Ashley Davies and I forgot. Let me see.
http://www.epi.org/publication/webfeat_lessons20000202/
-JH
-KP
For progress- I have a problem with your use of the term "socially advantaged". If you look at the heat maps where most HCC kids live, they would be put back in neighborhood schools in which students have the same exact demographic as they do! Most of the HCC kids also went to elementary schools in those same neighborhoods. They also comprise a small amount of the total enrollment in the district. Their learning needs are different than the other kids who live in their neighborhood.
Middle income neighborhood schools also have general education kids performing higher than kids in lower income schools. Should we also take away the general ed curriculum for those middle income kids to even the playing field? After all those general ed kids are performing better on tests.
-PR
The heat maps you reference indicate that HCC is an income and class based entity. It's not enough, however, that this already privileged class has a head start economic advantage, it also wants an educational one. Hence HCC.
Off base analogies are just further indications of the terror HCC proponents feel about the soon to be redirection of the service.
For progress
Unclear
HCC supporters are thinking too narrowly in terms of education. It isn't a tiered, limited entity but a process built around engagement, participation and connection.
Free your mind and the rest will follow etc
For progress
"Authentic culture?" What does that even mean?
doublespeak
I am going to end this thread here but I will be starting another one based on one sentence in one comment.
As for "free your mind and the rest will follow,etc."
I'm sure For progress thought he/she was being very clever and that no one else ever listened to En Vogue:
"Free your mind and the rest will follow
Be color blind, don't be so shallow"
If you think everyone here is so shallow and you live in an "authentic" place high above us, then why are you here?
More to come.