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May 30, 2009 at 3:54 pm #667420
SpeakLoudMemberFrom the Seattle Public Schools web site: Spectrum
What is Spectrum?
Spectrum is a grades 1-8 District-supported program that serves the needs of students who are academically gifted. The program provides a rigorous, accelerated curriculum that challenges students to apply complex thinking skills when working with core skills and concepts. The reading and mathematics curricula are presented at an accelerated learning pace, focus on grade level expectations (GLEs) that are above students’ assigned grade levels in reading and mathematics, and emphasize an advanced level of complexity and depth.
You can read more here: http://www.seattleschools.org/area/advlearning/program_spectrum.htm
Parents can have kids tested in Spectrum during their Kindergarten year then they would start Spectrum in 1st grade.
In doing this research I just found out West Seattle Elementary has Spectrum? I had thought it was just Laffayette. Arbor Heights is trying to get it for the South end of West Seattle so then there would be one school in each ‘cluster’ that had it.
I know there’s a lot more people that have something to say about Spectrum!
May 30, 2009 at 3:55 pm #667421
SpeakLoudMemberMay 30, 2009 at 4:14 pm #667422
timeslidParticipantThere are three programs in SPS: Spectrum and APP (self contained) and ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunities – not self contained). A self contained program needs a critical mass of students in the program to complete a full classroom. This is why there is confusion about West Seattle Spectrum. Lafayette has the only self contained Spectrum student body. West Seattle Elementary only had a handful of students and therefore not a viable program. The same is true for Denny Middle School, but I think that program is close to critical mass currently.
Hypocrisy and the SPS and Advanced Learning programs abound.
“Access and Equity” was the rallying cry for splitting APP. It has done neither, and could be argued it has decreased access. If the district really wanted to campion Advanced Learning it would expand Spectrum and ALO’s through better identification and outreach to both the schools and the families.
The idea of full program access and facilities at every school and then have the nearest school be the assigned school is a no brainer. Unfortunately, this is neither financially possible nor demographically feasible.
May 30, 2009 at 5:12 pm #667423
GenHillOneParticipantBeware of putting too much weight on those WASL test scores…take with a grain of salt and ask questions. Someone correct me if things have changed, but when we were in grade school, only the overall scores were reported. That means that schools with significant Spectrum students’ scores were “compared” to those with significant ESL students’ scores. Guess which one looks like they’re doing a better job on paper. As an example, how are the non-Spectrum students doing at Lafayette? Those numbers really should be broken down to give better information to parents. You should be able to compare Spectrum, ESL, native-English-speaking-non-Spectrum, etc. scores at various schools so that you can apply that to your own student when trying to make a choice. To my knowledge, this information isn’t available.
May 30, 2009 at 5:58 pm #667424
BobMemberSome years ago, someone mentioned to me that High Point (as it was then called) had Spectrum in the same way that she herself had a tooth fairy – they both existed somewhere on the other side of the wishful/reality divide.
Apropos of this, I puttered around on the Seattle Schools home page and found this –
1) Click “Academics.”
2) Under Academic Standards, click the buzzphrase that contains the word “Assessment.”
3) On the left side, click the verbiage that contains the words “Test” and “Data.”
4) Click the button “Select Elementary School” and pick “West Seattle Elem.”
5) Under WASL, next to Spring 2008, click the button “Select WASL Report” and pick “Current Year Summary.”
6) Under Advanced Learning, look for Spectrum. The series of stars there means that there is no data available, or that fewer than 10 students were in that category, thus excusing them from having any results.
7) Congratulations. You have now successfully completed the process of learning about the West Seattle Elementary School Spectrum Program. Thank you.
8) Also under Advanced Learning, look for the line labeled “No.” The numbers on this line are the average scores of all students who were not in Spectrum.
May 30, 2009 at 6:09 pm #667425
BobMemberBy the way, for the government-statistics-challenged, you can conveniently subtract the number of “No” (non-Spectrum) kids from the total number of kids on each page of the report to see that at WS Elementary there were, among the Spring 2008 WASL test takers,
2 (two) Spectrum 5th graders
0 (zero) Spectrum 4th graders
4 (four) Spectrum 3rd graders
and an unknown number of 1st and 2nd graders who were not tested.
May 30, 2009 at 7:24 pm #667426
BobMemberWith a bit of statistical deconstruction, you can determine the secret evil starred-out numbers. For example,
For the 3rd grade math results:
4X% = 33Y% – 29Z%
where X% is the percentage of Spectrum kids who passed, Y% is the percentage of all kids who passed, and Z% is the percentage of non-Spectrum kids who passed. We know Y% and Z%. Solve for X%.
X% = ((33 x 30.3%) – (29 x 20.7%)) / 4
X% = 99.9%
So those 4 kids bumped the entire school’s WASL math score 50% higher, from 20.7% to 30.3%, simply because the four of them passed the math test.
N = 0.207 x 29, where N is the number of non-Spectrum 3rd graders.
Thus of the remaining 29 students, exactly 6 of them passed and 23 failed.
This enhanced view of WASL numbers was brought to you by 7th Grade Math from the middle of the last century.
May 30, 2009 at 9:12 pm #667427
SpeakLoudMemberBob you are so funny! Thank you for all the data but I’m so sorry you have nothing better to do today ;)
From Timeslid >>The idea of full program access and facilities at every school and then have the nearest school be the assigned school is a no brainer. Unfortunately, this is neither financially possible nor demographically feasible. <<
I must absolutly disagree-It IS possible AND feasible-however it is highly unlikely to happen.
Under my “if I ruled the world speech” is the crazy idea that any money raised for the public schools goes into a public schools pot that is equally divided based on the number of children served by the public school it is going to! Shocking I know-I can hear you (not personally) now “but what about MY child-I want MY child to have a music teacher, I want MY child to have low ratios, I want MY child to have a baseball field…..that’s not how I believe a Public system should work.
Great- you want all that for your child-then help raise money so ALL children in the system get it too.
May 31, 2009 at 12:03 am #667428
timeslidParticipantI hear you loud and clear! The only solution is to stand together for more financing for schools to lift the whole fleet not just the for the individual programs or schools.
But the bottom line is some schools need a heck of a lot more money than others based upon who lives in their reference area. Such programs are: ESL support, more Free and Reduced Lunch programs, after school child care, etc… Additionally, some programs, Special Needs and Advanced learning require a critical mass of students for effective learning and as a result you need and all city draw. So, all schools can’t provide the all in one service.
May 31, 2009 at 12:44 am #667429
SpeakLoudMemberMore financing? Oh don’t get me started ;/ The shocking and appauling waste at the district level is enough to make me scream. I can buy pencils cheaper at Target than they can with the ‘contracts’-theres a lot of people making a lot of money on the public school system-money is part of the problem but it is not THE problem!
And your right-some schools do need more than others given the community they serve and the challenges they face-but the reduced lunch wouldn’t change-if you have more kids who need it you get the money to cover them for it-if you have more kids who need ESL-you get the money to cover the kids who need it-if you have a school that does not have those needs then they don’t get that financial support-I really think it would all work out if it was set-up well. I know it’s not that simple-but there is a way!
June 1, 2009 at 5:57 pm #667430
swimcatMemberOh my SpeakLoud, the money that is wasted at the district level is absolutely appalling. I hear a lot about Bellevue school district inner workings, and they are actually very highly regarded (and totally f’ed up, in my opinion!). I can’t even imagine the stuff that goes on in Seattle, since they don’t have the best reputation it seems like.
If more workers with private industry experience went to work for the district, then things might change. Right now it’s just a bunch of beauracrats that have no idea how to do anything very effectively (well, they do know how to waste a lot of money). It’s sad. And I don’t think things will change because the school district has morphed into something that simply can’t because it tries to satisfy everyone, yet seems to make no one happy in the process.
June 2, 2009 at 3:00 am #667431
SpeakLoudMemberSo true dear M, so true.
What would thoughts be on privatisation I wonder? I havn’t really pondered the thought or researched it but I wonder???
June 2, 2009 at 4:06 pm #667432
swimcatMemberWell, I don’t know much about privatizing the schools, except that private school for my daughter is sounding like it might be worth the cost. When you have relatives that work for school districts, you get a different perspective on what is really going on.
I just think the districts need to hire people with different experience- instead of someone with an extensive education background who has spent their life in classrooms, get someone who has actually been in the ‘real world’ who can balance books and make the TOUGH decisions in an unemotional manner. That is generally the only way to get anything done.
Maybe I’m just old-fashioned and not with the times, so maybe I’m out of touch with the education system. But it seems like more people are unhappy with it than satisfied…
June 2, 2009 at 4:16 pm #667433
GenHillOneParticipantAlong the same line, the last time I was really hopeful about where our district was going was when it was being led by (General) John Stanford.
June 3, 2009 at 3:26 am #667434
SpeakLoudMemberGenHillOne:
I couldn’t agree more-it was like a mini Obama era! There seemed to be an excitment at the possibilities-he had a real sense of leadership about him.
M, I think when it comes to designing programs and classroom stuff the people who have been in the classrooms most definatly need to be at the helm. For business matters I think a sensitivity and awareness of what happens in a classroom is essential but business is business and there has to be people with bottom line skills.
June 11, 2009 at 6:48 am #667435
KazooMemberWe were applying for high schools 9th grade. First choice was Garfield, we are wait listed there but rather high on the list, 2nd Roosevelt, 3rd West Seattle we were given West Seattle. We have chosen to attend a private school; West Seattle did not have the coarse load we were looking for. I recommend parents tour schools early, when your child is in the 7th grade to give you more time to prepare for your choice to stay in public or move to private schools, unless we are not given a choice under the new assignment plan you may only need to tour one school.
June 12, 2009 at 9:49 pm #667436
IcapturpixMemberI think the direction this “Assignment” post has taken is classic. Can you say ADD? If I wasn’t so pissed off I would laugh.
Much like Alkidancer my daughter is assigned to West Seattle Elementary and we live a half block away from Alki Elementary. This is a joke… and BTW so are the test scores that come out of West Seattle Elementary. Earlier today after talking to Mary Brown at the SPS I signed my daughter up for private school to ensure she continues to get a good education. I have no faith that they will do the right thing and assign her to a school she could actually walk to. That would make way too much since. There is a fundamental problem when I spend good money on a house in a good neighborhood by three great schools and my daughter gets shipped to a school 30 blocks away. Correct me if I’m wrong but aren’t they closing schools down because of budget issues. Last time I looked the busses ran on diesel, they could start saving money by not shipping kids across the city. Maybe I should go buy a house in the hood so my daughter has a chance of making it into a good public school, WTF. This is a pretty obvious solution I would hate to see how many gross abuses of funds are being made below the surface. (Funny enough as I am writing this I heard the 2:30 recess bell at Alki Elementary.) If you really want a chuckle look at the cluster map for the West Seattle cluster, my 1st grader could do a better job of grouping. How does WSE begin to get placed into this cluster.
Furthermore if I hear one person tell me that next year is going to be better with the new system, I will explode… I’m dealing with the gross incompetence of the Seattle Public Schools this year, next year it will be a moot point!
Am I the only one pissed off?
June 12, 2009 at 10:41 pm #667437
swimcatMember@42- others may be more empathetic to your plight if you didn’t insult them with the ADD comment and then have a bunch of typos. Regardless, I’d be agravated too if I were you. It’s a waste of time for your child to be bussed or driven to school, and it’s mind-boggling that the school district didn’t honor your choice when it is your reference school. I have no advice except private school!
June 13, 2009 at 4:07 am #667438
SpeakLoudMemberI think there are a lot of pissed off people but it is so hard to speak out against the public school system in such a pc city-when you do your berated for not being a supporter but when you support, time and time again you don’t get what you need-even if you do get what you need you know someone elses kid is getting the shaft!
June 13, 2009 at 5:34 am #667439
OliverMemberI’m sorry, 42. That sucks. I’m pissed for you.
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