Seattle Schools Community Forum

Update 7:03 p.m.: It appears that the amendment to eliminate funding for highly capable programs and full-day K (except for high poverty schools) has FAILED . It is unclear to me whether the highly capable funding is going to still be suspended for this year but we'll probably know this week. There was a sigh of relief last week over the state funding for highly capable programs (called Advanced Learning in SPS). However, the funding is again being threatened. A so-called " striker amendment " introduced by Rep. Alexander has appeared in Appropriations bill 1086. What is particularly onerous about this amendment is not that it cuts some funding; it would eliminate all state funding for highly capable programs. Allocations for school district programs for highly capable students shall be distributed at a maximum rate of $401.08 per funded student for the 2009-10 school year and $401.08 per funded student for the portion of the 2010-11 school year from September 1, ...

UPDATE: Here is the Powerpoint link. Item 8: There was some confusion/frustration over an item on page 12 ( Strategic Plans: Moving Forward ) about the item " School Performance Framework (to include MTSS) . Thanks to Kay who said, "What is MTSS?" Turns out that RTI is now MTSS ( multi-tiered system of support ; a response to intervention) Susan Enfield talked about using what they have learned works and taking it out to other schools. This generated a lot of discussion. The item has its original cost at $8.7M and its proposed cost at $0-3.1M. The focus here has been on Level 1 and 2 schools and the interventions scale-up for all schools. Duggan said that of the $5.2 current budget for 37 schools, they have revenue for $2.1M so they need $3.1M to keep up. But Sherry could not follow the bouncing dollar signs (I couldn't either). Duggan said the $8.7M is in the gap. MGJ said that in a Dece. 15th conversation (I believe it was another ...

Here is info on a talk mentioned by LEV (I'm correcting this because they are not sponsoring it): This Tuesday, the 24th at Highline Community College and LEV calls it: Public Presentation on Gifted Education but Highline calls it Black Youth and Gifted/Accelerated Education The speaker is Dr. Mary Ruth Coleman of the University of North Carolina and the moderator is Dr. Stephanie Wood-Garnett of UW. Here's a link with info at the Washington State Commission on African-American Affairs. There's a free dinner at 6 p.m. and an extended Q&A but seating is limited. They want you to register for this talk. Dr. Coleman gave a presentation to OSPI's Highly Capable Technical Working Group which is working on recommendations about gifted education in Washington state. There's some interesting reading at this link. What I find odd is that LEV makes it sound like this is about general gifted education and the Highline link makes it sound like it's more about outre...