Save Our Challenge Program: November 10, 2015 Academic Subcommittee Notes

Notes from November 10, 2015 Academic Subcommittee Meeting taken by Angie Hancock

Comments from 10-27 meeting

Are we listening to understand or to argue?
Use protocols with more small group discussion and processing time
Observers - your role is to listen quietly but you should not interrupt the flow of the meeting in any way. Meeting materials will be provided upon request. Committee members commented that observers were disrupting the meeting

What problem was Bellevue School District trying to solve?

How do we enact a social justice agenda and create a system that gives each and every child a truly college preparatory education while simultaneously challenging each and every student with a rigorous education?
Both/And thinking - Take something away while adding something else

Talk about 3 articles in groups

Snippits of discussions overheard about articles

M agreed that ability grouping leads to lower achievers taking on leadership roles
M said he didn't believe that higher achieving kids will do most of the work when put onto a group project with lower achievers
M agreed that differentiation is hard
J said it was beneficial to allow kids to select their own grouping within heterogeneous classrooms to be with peers
Heard many people say "That's not true" about these articles...didn't hear them argue anything about the AMLE articles...seemed to believe all of those
Summaries from various groups about articles: (agree means they agree with the statement. argue means they don't agree with the statement.) See Photos at bottom.

Agree that AAP have unique needs
Agree that ability grouping can work with clear purpose.
Agree that differentiation works best with diversity
Agree in Growth Mindset
Argue that differentiation is impossible
Argue that teachers aren't given enough credit for the differentiation they already do in their classrooms. Teachers do different groupings for each activity. Social emotional, creativity, caring. Lower achievers have good ideas. Article says tracking doesn't hurt lower achievers but shouldn't they be progressing? (editor note: the same can be said for high achievers in heterogeneous classrooms...doesn't hurt them as far as test show but shouldn't they be progressing?)
Argue that differentiation doesn't work

M says that using grouping as a classroom management strategy (putting lower achievers with higher achievers so that group projects get done) isn't true. He says teachers don't do that.

AMLE guideline photo

P talks about teaching challenge and gen ed classes:

Teaches both challenge and gen ed
uses same Springboard curriculum for both
Challenge classes have same range of abilities as gen ed
Challenge has strugglers and so does gen ed
individual feedback makes for individual curriculum
gen ed chooses to opt-out but when you give them challenges they rise to it
give them all a safety net to take academic risk
in her old school they used tracking. In the lower track students felt like less and parents wanted to move them to higher tracks
teachers made mixed track classes and kids and parents felt better

L talks about teaching challenge and gen ed classes:

currently uses same curriculum for both challenge and gen ed classes
originally challenge had fun activities, gen ed had drudgery.
She changed to use the fun activities of challenge in gen ed classes
clusters in challenge for higher kids and gives them extra challenges. all students could do them if they wanted to
teaching all challenge stuff to gen ed classes now
gen ed pushed back at first and didn't want to do the harder work
She added more parent communication
challenge kids are motivated but have varying ability levels
challenge kids knew what they were signing up for
Gen ed are now rising to the challenge and parents like the communication from the teacher

A. talked about social emotional well being

Counselors: social emotional, feel challenge is parent driven and only some students are motivated.
Parents Don't want their kids to be with "Other kids"
Get the good peer group if I put my kid in challenge
kids are stressed out because the track makes it hard to get into challenge if you don't start there
More depression, more suicidal thoughts
Extra pressure from self-select
gen ed class kids not feeling good enough
a 9th grader hates school because she's in gen ed and all of her friends are in challenge.
moving to 6th grade for Middle School and will increase pressure from parents and friend groups earlier now
start to track earlier and foster fixed mindset
counselors seeing too much depression and stress with self-select model

L says:

eliminating challenge wouldn't change anything for her. she does the same thing for all her classes now, gen ed and challenge
Special ed inclusion: after a few months a special ed kid was one of her top scorers. Good to have special ed kids in with gen ed population.
used to work in Forks where kids didn't come to school to learn. Here in our district kids are at school ready to learn.

B says pressure of challenge classes isn't good. Maybe for 6-8 grades self select isn't developmentally responsive.

J says maybe use scores to determine who goes into challenge.

What's developmentally appropriate for this age?

O and K presented data on demographics at their schools:

Data shows more females take challenge
data shows less Free and Reduced Lunch students take Challenge
at their schools, all English Language Learners were in Gen Ed
Learning Center students are usually average learners so should be in Challenge at same rate but aren't
Mid Level students aren't average so not expected to be in Challenge at same rate
for 6-8 it might be developmentally appropriate to not let them self select, there's too much pressure
9th grade seems to choose Pre-AP/IB classes at higher rate than 7th and 8th choose challenge
At last board meeting Board asked about F&RL difference in Challenge and Gender difference in Challenge

Menu