Upcoming Seattle School Board Meeting

 The next Seattle School Board meeting is this Wednesday, the 16th, starting at 4:15 pm. Agenda here. (Please note, I am still correcting issues from some apparent - and childish - hacker. Links may or may not work.)

As I have reported previously, the Board is moving more and more Action items - meaning those they will vote on - to the Consent Agenda.

For example, the Board will be approving two MOUs with SEA and both appear to affect some Special Education students. 

The Board has changed from having an introduction of a Board Action at one Board meeting and then having a vote of that Board Action at the next meeting.

They are now seeming to do only Introductions with Board discussion at one meeting and then, at the next meeting, moving that Action to the Consent Agenda. 

That means no further Board discussion of that issue AND that issue is lumped with every other issue on the Consent Agenda in a single vote. The Board has moved 15 specific BARs to the Consent Agenda. 

So, you, as parents/public really only have one time to directly address the Board on any given issue. Yet one more step this Board is taking to wall themselves off from parents and the public. 

They have a single Action item but it is an Intro/Action because they are asking OSPI to excuse five missed school days.

1. Approval of OSPI Emergency School Waiver Applications Approval of this item would approve the Superintendent’s application to OSPI, which requests permission for Seattle Public Schools (SPS) to not make up missed school days for Nov. 9, 2021 (power outage), Dec. 15, 2021 (security concern), Jan. 3, 2022 (districtwide COVID testing), Jan. 10, 2022 (staffing/safety), and Feb. 14, 2022 (power outage). Immediate action is in the best interest of the district. (Introduction & Action)

I'll let you know what OSPI says so you can plan your family's calendar. 

Besides the MOUs with SEA, there is also this BAR which deserves attention. 

Adoption of School Board Policy No. 2194, Rigorous High School Course Enrollment

The purpose of this Board Action Report is to request approval of a new policy, Board Policy No. 2194, Rigorous High School Course Enrollment, in order to meet new requirementsin state law. The new law requires the district to automatically enroll students who meet or exceed the state standard on the eighth grade or high school statewide student assessments into the next most rigorous level of course in the sequence, as offeredby the student’s high school. In addition to allowing Seattle Public Schools to follow state law, implementation of the policy proposed in this Board Action Report will contribute to the updated strategic goal key performance indicator (KPI) of increasingthe percentage of African American male students who graduate having completed at least once advanced course.

The purpose of this Board Action Report is to request approval of a new policy, Board Policy No. 2194, Rigorous High School Course Enrollment, in order to meet new requirementsin state law. The new law requires the district to automatically enroll students who meet or exceed the state standard on the eighth grade or high school statewide student assessments into the next most rigorous level of course in the sequence, as offeredby the student’s high school. In addition to allowing Seattle Public Schools to follow state law, implementation of the policy pAllposed in this Board Action Report will contribute to the updated strategic goal key performance indicator (KPI) of increasingthe percentage of African American male students who graduate having completed at least once advanced course.

Adoption of School Board Policy No. 2194, Rigorous High School Course Enrollment

The purpose of this Board Action Report is to request approval of a new policy, Board Policy No. 2194, Rigorous High School Course Enrollment, in order to meet new requirements in state law. The new law requires the district to automatically enroll students who meet or exceed the state standard on the eighth grade or high school statewide student assessments into the next most rigorous level of course in the sequence, as offered by the student’s high school. In addition to allowing Seattle Public Schools to follow state law, implementation of the policy proposed in this Board Action Report will contribute to the updated strategic goal key performance indicator (KPI) of increasing the percentage of African American male students who graduate having completed at least once advanced course.

Across grades and subject areas, large percentages of African American male students and Students of Color Furthest from Educational Justice are not meeting standards on state assessments, and thus do not stand to benefit from this policy. These students are not being adequately served by Seattle Public Schools. The data clearly indicate that staff across the district must continue to enact the Strategic Plan by rebuilding the school system to serve students of color.

Selected excerpts from the BAR with comments from me (bold mine):

- As summarized above, the Rigorous High School Course Enrollment policy requires the district to automatically enroll students who meet or exceed state standards on the eighth grade or high school statewide student assessments into the next most rigorous level of honors or dual credit course in the sequence, as offered by the student’s high school the following school year. Currently, students are typically given the choice to opt into honors or dual credit courses during the registration period, so this new policy represents a significant shift.

Please note that students/families do have the choice to opt out of participation in the automatic enrollment process and instead enroll in a course or courses that align with the student’s high school and beyond plan goals.

- Please note that SPS’s proposed name for School Board Policy No. 2194, Rigorous High School Course Enrollment, differs from the name used in House Bill 1599 and in the corresponding RCW. In House Bill 1599 and in RCW 28A.320.195, the policy is referred to as “Academic Acceleration.” SPS’s proposal to use a different name is driven by the School Board’s recent decision to revise School Board Policy No. 2190, Highly Capable Services, and the district’s shift away from deficit-framed language. Revisions to 2190 included the removal of “acceleration only” in segregated cohorts as the method through which highly capable services are provided to students, in favor of more responsive, inclusive, and rigorous strategies.

Furthermore, as districts return to in-person learning, the term “acceleration” is sometimes being used in language from state agencies to frame student learning from a deficit mindset, and SPS staff is actively working to take a strengths-based approach. As the district works to move towards a more equitable service model, it is critical to align communications and language used in board policies. 

Finally, the purpose of Board Policy No. 2194 is not to accelerate students, but rather to enroll students in the next most rigorous coursework available in their course sequence.

To note, SPS does not have a program for Advanced Learning for high school so there is no "acceleration" in high school.

 Changing the name of Board Policy No. 2194 from “academic acceleration” to “rigorous coursework” mitigates potential confusion for families, aligns with recent revisions to Board Policy No. 2190, Highly Capable Services, and better communicates SPS’s asset- based framing for student learning. While the name of the policy differs, the policy components of 2194 comply with the requirements of RCW 28A.320.195.

- Honors courses are high school level classes that provide an opportunity for students to complete more challenging and in-depth coursework. Seattle Public Schools does not currently have a superintendent procedure that outlines a districtwide approach to honors courses, so as a result, some high schools offer separate honors courses, while others offer embedded honors courses, and some choose not to offer honors courses at all. SPS does plan to develop a districtwide approach, with the goal of finalizing the new superintendent procedure in time for master schedule development for the 2023-24 school year.

In addition, SPS staff met with administrators at Federal Way Public Schools to seek advice on successful implementation. Federal Way has had a similar policy for automatically enrolling students into rigorous courses since 2010.

- The Advanced Learning Department, in partnership with Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction, and the Office of African American Male Achievement will engage students, staff, and the Advanced Learning Work Group on what the district’s approach to honors coursework should be prior to finalizing the procedure.

I will try to track what students and what staff get asked about this issue. You can also see that parents are not included. 

- In order to provide information to students and families who are interested in advanced coursework options, the College and Career Readiness team maintains a webpage listing the AP, IB, and CIHS courses available at each high school. 

- Also note that this policy does not require schools to offer any particular honors or dual credit courses. It only requires that students who meet or exceed state standard on state assessments be enrolled in the rigorous courses that the school does offer. Nonetheless, Seattle Public Schools is committed to providing access to rigorous coursework at all of our high schools, for all of our students.

- This Board Action Report was first introduced to the SSC&I Policy Committee in October of 2021, and Directors requested further engagement before bringing the policy to the full Board for a vote. Staff have engaged and/or reengaged several important stakeholders on how to refine and improve the proposed policy. Staff met with two leaders in this work, Stand for Children and Equal Opportunity Schools, to share the draft policy, and incorporated their feedback into the revised policy and preliminary concepts for a new draft superintendent procedure. 

Staff from SPS and other districts across the state are also meeting with Stand for Children on a monthly basis to check in on progress towards implementing this policy.

I have NO idea why they are talking to Stand for Children which is not a curriculum-based group. Looking at their website, I see they have shifted their focus but I still find this odd. I wonder who at WA Stand got to who on the Board.

- The paragraphs above describe engagement that was done prior to Board introduction. If this Board Action Report is approved, an even more critical stage of engagement involves asking students, families, staff, and the community for feedback on implementation. 

Now here, the Board DOES speak of talking to families but again, which families? Given this policy will involve hundreds of students, you'd think all those families would need to be able to give input. 

- School leaders will be informed of the policy through a School Leader Communicator entry and will be invited to an information session to learn more about the policy and how to implement it. School leaders will be asked to communicate about the policy to their building staff, and central office staff will also develop trainings and resources for key building staff. School counselors and registrars will be trained on how to incorporate the policy into existing practices for course registration. This policy will require changes to the registration process, as students register for their classes in the spring before they take the SBA and WCAS exams at the end of the school year. Registrar and school counselors will be critical partners in determining how to change student schedules to enroll them into honors/dual credit classes when they pass these exams, after the normal registration period has ended.

- Seattle Public Schools will leverage our partnership with Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) to amplify the impact of this policy change and provide necessary professional development to teachers.

To note, Equal Opportunity Schools are largely funded by Chan/Zuckerberg Initiative , Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bezos Family Foundation. I just love billionaires who just have to get involved in public education. 

- For the Rigorous High School Course Enrollment policy to truly improve the educational system for students of color, SPS cannot just enroll the students into the courses and hope that they succeed. SPS must ensure that schools and teachers make the classrooms safe and welcoming for students of color, provide tier 1 supports designed to help all students master the challenging content, and provide tier 2 and 3 supports for the students who need them. 

EOS will provide professional development to teachers to ensure that they are prepared to teach students who are taking honors or dual credit courses for the first time.

This is a huge undertaking but now that it is legislated, it must be enacted. It will be interesting to see how SPS does on this front.

Adoption of School Board Policy No. 2194, Rigorous High School Course Enrollment