Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Hicap topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parents and students urge clearer Middle School plans as district phases out clustered HiCap social studies and science
Summary
Students and parents told the Northshore School District board that moving middle-school science and social studies from clustered AAP sections to an integrated model has left some highly capable students without differentiated reading and writing instruction; parents urged a clearer replacement model and more supports before broader rollout.
Several parents and a student told the Northshore School District board on March 9 that proposed changes to middle-school highly capable services risk leaving identified students without consistently accelerated instruction.
Millie Wu, a student who will attend Kenmore Middle School next year, said she had not received separated or differentiated instruction in writing or reading during the last three years and that she "felt bad because I feel like I could have been a better writer." Her father, Jeremy Wu, referenced state law (RCW) provisions about access to accelerated learning and framed the conversation as whether the district is ready to ensure differentiated instruction continues through middle school.
The comments followed a string of public speakers representing the HiCap parents council and the HiCap council who said the district's elementary-level integrated model has produced mixed parent satisfaction and may not provide the same depth of instruction as a clustered AAP experience. Ashley Watts, president of the High Cap Parents Council, summarized multi-year survey results she said show parent satisfaction with ELA declined after pockets of integration: "Over the last 4 years of parent surveys, we have gone from mid-sixties and seventies percent of parents of students in the EAP program saying their student is receiving appropriately challenging instruction in ELA to only 29 and 39 percent" in the integrated model.
Board members and administration did not adopt policy changes during the public-comment period. Superintendent Dr. Justin Irish acknowledged the district is still refining parameter language and recommended the board consider structural supports before making system-wide shifts. Marie O'Connor, a HiCap council member and parent, urged the board to review survey data and stories where integration had not worked before applying the model broadly to middle school.
The public speakers asked for: clearer, communicated plans for middle-school HiCap services; documented measures that demonstrate accelerated instruction in ELA and writing; and structural supports—such as staffing or cohorting—that would make an integrated model consistently effective.
The board did not vote on a change to HiCap service delivery at this meeting; public comment concluded and the board moved on to consent and action items. The issue was raised as part of the community comment period and will likely reappear on agendas as parents and the HiCap councils request additional data and clarity.
