Gifted Programs in Seattle area public schools
Hi all,
I'm considering a move to the Seattle area and need information about school districts to research where we should consider living. My oldest son is in 4th grade and is in his school's gifted program. His skill and interest is math/science. My middle son is in 1st grade and it too young to be in the program. The director has told me that he strongly believes this son will qualify when the time comes (they start evaluating in kindergarten). This child's gifts are in the liberal arts, but not, so far art/music. I would like to hear about other families' experiences with districts in the greater Seattle area. Good experiences are preferred, but not-so-good are ok as well. Please give me the school/district/city names as I'm just learning the area and still don't know my way around. I've found the Washington State School website, but it's all based on district and school names. I've already spoken to our district's program director and he's given me some good info on what to ask once I find a district I'm interested in, but I've got to figure out who to talk to. TIA, T, T & T's mom Please TAKEMEOUTOFHERE if you'd like to reply by email. Need a new email address that people can remember Check out the new EudoraMail at http://www.eudoramail.com |
Gifted Programs in Seattle area public schools
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T Murphy wrote: I would like to hear about other families' experiences with districts in the greater Seattle area. Good experiences are preferred, but not-so-good are ok as well. Please give me the school/district/city names as I'm just learning the area and still don't know my way around. I've found the Washington State School website, but it's all based on district and school names. I can give you an overview of the Seattle School District's gifted program. The district has a two-tiered program for "advanced learners," as they call "gifted" kids: APP and Spectrum. The program starts in the 1st grade with kids who were tested in kindergarten. APP was designed to teach kids in the top 2 percent and is primarily based on an acceleration model of two year's curriculum ahead. Elementary APP kids attend a separate school. The Spectrum program is designed to teach those who are not accepted into APP and are in the top 10 percent. These kids receive primarily enrichment activities, although recently teachers have been pushed to accelerate curriculum up to one year ahead. There is currently a variety of delivery models being used (self-contained; Spectrum and "high achievers" mixed; Spectrum pullouts) and controversy over how the Spectrum program should be defined in the future. The original concept was that Spectrum would be a self-contained class (filled entirely with kids who have tested into the program). Seattle School District is currently in the middle of the search for a new superintendent. It's thought that the choice of superintendent could have a profound affect on the future of the Advanced Learning program, especially on the nature of Spectrum program. For more information on Seattle School District's Advanced Learning program, see http://www.seattleschools.org/area/a...ning/index.xml . The information on the web site dates from a recent review of the program and suggestions made to improve it. You may wish to keep in mind that the decisions documented on the site have not necessarily been instituted. Right now, no single vision exists for Advanced Learning in the Seattle School District. From what I can tell, the APP program at Lowell Elementary School is very good, although the school itself is getting overcrowded. The quality of Spectrum at the elementary level varies by location. If your kids end up testing into Spectrum, you'll want to get more information specifically about the school they would be attending. I don't know much about Advanced Learning for middle school students and above. I hope this helps. beeswing |
Gifted Programs in Seattle area public schools
In article , Beeswing wrote:
T Murphy wrote: I would like to hear about other families' experiences with districts in the greater Seattle area. Good experiences are preferred, but not-so-good are ok as well. Please give me the school/district/city names as I'm just learning the area and still don't know my way around. I've found the Washington State School website, but it's all based on district and school names. .... From what I can tell, the APP program at Lowell Elementary School is very good, although the school itself is getting overcrowded. The quality of Spectrum at the elementary level varies by location. If your kids end up testing into Spectrum, you'll want to get more information specifically about the school they would be attending. I don't know much about Advanced Learning for middle school students and above. Based on my experiences of 2 years ago, when I had a 2-month sabbatical in Seattle, there is no chance of getting into any of the accelerated programs if you come in the middle of the school year. You'll even have a hard time getting into your neighborhood school if it is any good---it'll be full and they'll want to bus your child half way across the city to a school that is not full (because it has terrible test scores, usually). The schools near UW are all going to be full. We lived near Lowell Elementary, and I can say that it has a nice playground and is adjacent to a nice park that was extensively upgraded about 1 1/2 years ago (it was closed for that upgrade the whole time we were there). If you arrive in Seattle early enough (in the Spring) for your child to be tested, then you have a better chance of getting into one of the accelerated programs in the Fall. If you are not looking for an accelerated program, but a solid academic program for an average kid, any of the schools near the University are probably good choices. The John Stanford school has bilingual education, but again, it is usually impossible to get in mid-year. We investigated several choices for kindergarten, including 3 private schools, and ended up in Madrona Elementary school, which was temporarily housed in Lincoln High School (they use that building for temporarily housing whichever campus they are fixing up). We ended up with an excellent kindergarten teacher, a diverse student body, and a good 2-month experience. I'm not sure I'd have wanted to keep my son there for several years, as the upper grades had rather feeble math and science programs, and even basic literacy started falling apart after the first few years. (Things may be different now---the principal and assistant principal were making a valiant effort to increase the academic standards of the school and the lower grades were in much better shape than the upper grades, so it may have propagated a couple of years as the kids got older.) I'm interested in details of Seattle schools again, as I'll be doing another sabbatical there in Spring 2004. -- Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels) Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed) Professor of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics Affiliations for identification only. |
Gifted Programs in Seattle area public schools
In article ,
(Beeswing) wrote: x-no-archive: yes I can give you an overview of the Seattle School District's gifted program. The district has a two-tiered program for "advanced learners," as they call "gifted" kids: APP and Spectrum. The program starts in the 1st grade with kids who were tested in kindergarten. APP was designed to teach kids in the top 2 percent and is primarily based on an acceleration model of two year's curriculum ahead. Elementary APP kids attend a separate school. Great info! Thanks. [snip] Seattle School District is currently in the middle of the search for a new superintendent. It's thought that the choice of superintendent could have a profound affect on the future of the Advanced Learning program, especially on the nature of Spectrum program. I've been reading the Seattle area newspapers online and saw what was going on. Is there one candidate who is more "pro AL" than others? For more information on Seattle School District's Advanced Learning program, see http://www.seattleschools.org/area/a...ning/index.xml . The information on the web site dates from a recent review of the program and suggestions made to improve it. You may wish to keep in mind that the decisions documented on the site have not necessarily been instituted. Right now, no single vision exists for Advanced Learning in the Seattle School District. I will surf through. I hope this helps. Yes, it does. Thanks much. T, T & T's mom TAKEMEOUTOFHERE if you'd like to reply by email Need a new email address that people can remember Check out the new EudoraMail at http://www.eudoramail.com |
Gifted Programs in Seattle area public schools
x-no-archive: yes
T, T & T's mom wrote: I've been reading the Seattle area newspapers online and saw what was going on. Is there one candidate who is more "pro AL" than others? Yes, definitely. Dr. Evelyn Williams Castro did her doctoral thesis on gifted education and was principal for 5 years at an elementary school for the gifted. beeswing |
Gifted Programs in Seattle area public schools
I just replied to this by email, but wanted to add publicly that the best
unofficial overview of APP I have seen is at http://www.orgsites.com/wa/appparents/_pgg1.php3 , and there is also some relevant info there about the Spectrum program. --Helen |
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