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Equity and Excellence: Another AEI Meeting

November 15, 2009 by SwitchedOnMom

On Thursday evening I lost two hours of my life that I will never get back.  What did do? Why, I attended yet another meeting of the Accelerated and Enriched Instruction (not “GT”) Advisory Committee. Yes, they have resumed (I missed the first one of the year.)

Now I shouldn’t pick on AEI.  Really.  But lordy.  There has to be a better way to  “increase communication among stakeholders and groups interested in accelerated and enriched instruction and a high level of academic rigor in Montgomery County Public Schools” than these mind-numbing, kabuki meetings.  How about holding open forum/town hall meetings around the county where there is no canned MCPS presentation?  How about signing onto the GTA listserv and actually engaging in dialogue with parents?  Heck, how about reading my blog and that of the Parents Coalition and commenting?  Twitter anyone?

The topic of Thursday’s meeting was “Perspectives on Equity and Excellence.”  A potential barn burner, one would think, when the accusation often leveled at GT programs is that they aren’t equitable.

But no.

The evening kicked off with a painful presentation by a representative of the  Office of Organizational Development’s Equity team.  How does asking everyone to fill out a form on “Who Am I?” grab you?  (See, we all have differing multiple identities….)  Unfortunately I have misplaced my notes from the meeting :-( , however my take aways from the OOD presentation are these:

  • When speaking of equity, MCPS is *solely* focused on African-American and Hispanic student achievement.
  • MCPS has embraced critical race theory and has spent five years and who only know how many hours and $$ on infusing these ideas throughout the school system.
  • MCPS sees equity in terms of equal outcomes, not just equal access or opportunity.

Following the MCPS presentation, others had a chance to weigh in.  A person from the MCEF spoke, as did a representative from the Asian-American Parents Association and the Chinese-American Community, and the Gifted and Talented Association.  Curiously, the NAACP rep did not speak. There was no Hispanic community rep.  GTA has posted an outline of its comments here and a fuller write up of the meeting should be forthcoming soon.  To GTA’s credit, they actually did their homework. They offered a real, in the trenches, perspective and specifically tied “equity” to “accelerated and enriched instruction,” presenting a specific action that could be undertaken to promote both.

After those remarks, an inordinate amount of time was spent by MCPS staff going through a two presentations on professional development around equity and excellence.  However rather than being particularly illuminating, they seemed more about running the clock.  And jargon, jargon, jargon.

Posted in Gifted, School | 4 Comments »

More History – Grade 7 (Part 5)

November 12, 2009 by SwitchedOnMom

[A continuation of More History - Part 4. Note, this happened three years ago.]

The meeting with the program coordinator was brutal and we were completely blindsided by the way it was conducted and by what was said.  Two days later, on a Sunday, we received this email from the program coordinator:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. (SwitchedOn)

I wanted to summarize Friday’s meeting with you, your husband, and C.  Thank you for coming in.  I am hoping that C.’s demeanor and enthusiasm have improved since I last saw you.

Purpose of meeting:
To speak to C. regarding rude behavior to Ms. __ on Thursday, and to reprimand her for that behavior.   In anticipation of (upcoming trip), to caution C. that that behavior will not be tolerated. To remind C. of behavioral expectations in the program … which include participation in discourse, courtesy to other students and to staff, and to listen as well as to speak.  To address concerns expressed in parent e-mail that C. is not happy at _MS.

Some ideas/ issues raised in the meeting:
Academic progress is not in issue; however, teachers do feel C.’s current achievement would be better if she were not close-minded about what classes have to offer.  Through her adamant declaration that she already knows all the material, she is deliberately closing herself off from learning opportunities.  C. complained that on some occasions she was not given full directions; teachers claim that C. does not listen to directions.

C.  asked to be placed in 8th grade science, which is not an option. I explained the fact that an independent study in science is also not possible.  I offered extra challenge in science, which C. rejected, feeling she would be receiving punishment for being smart.  I informed C. that I am meeting with the teachers to tell them to refer her to me for excluding herself deliberately from class (as currently happens in science class through C.’s reading at inappropriate times).  I stated that we can agree to work with C. here at _MS or she may return to her local middle school.  At this time, we are not pursuing a change in placement.

Some teachers have claimed that other students are requesting that they are not placed in C.’s groups for school work because she is not open to other students’ points of view, and is frequently bossy or rude to other students. I recommended that C. offer an apology to Mrs. __ for her rudeness on Thursday….

Meeting concluded after one hour.  We had not made much progress with C.’s attitude and demeanor.  Mr. (SwitchedOnDad) spoke to a crying C., while I spoke with Mrs. (SwitchedOnMom).  C. asked if parents could home-school her, and asked if parents would permit her to go home at the conclusion of the meeting; parents did not permit her to go home.  I spoke to Mrs. (SwitchedOnMom), recommending that we continue to try to implement improved relationships between C. and her teachers….

My next step:  At a team meeting with C.’s teachers and counselor, I will discuss the following:  C. may not operate under her own set of rules, and therefore teachers will be informed that any future belligerence, defiance, or insubordination MUST be referred to me for disciplinary action.  At the time of the disciplinary action, consequences will be determined by the severity and frequency of her transgression.  My sincere hope is that C.  will have had the opportunity to think over her behavior and that she will not require any future reprimand for unacceptable behavior….

All this said, I too, hope for a wonderful time for C. in (location of trip), and that upon our return, she will be able to start afresh with a more positive attitude.

Thank you.

The tone of the thing is what struck us.  “She may return to her local middle school.” (As if that were a viable option. I thought that this program was for “students whose needs could not be met at the home school” as part of the MCPS continuum of GT services.)  “At this time, we are not pursuing a change in placement.” “Belligerence, defiance, or insubordination MUST be referred to me for disciplinary action.”   “Consequences will be determined by the severity and frequency of her transgression.”  We were stunned.  Keep in mind, we had never been notified by the school in the previous year and some that there was anything amiss.  WE were the ones who had contacted the school that our child didn’t want to go and seemed sad.

Together with the timing (email from school on a Sunday?), it seemed to us that a case was rapidly being assembled to force her out of the only place that was–at least on paper–an appropriate social and academic placement for her.  We shared the email with several professionals knowledgeable about the workings of MCPS.  All agreed:  They were making a move.

[Continues in More History - Part 6]

Posted in Gifted, History, School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Why So Quiet?

November 12, 2009 by SwitchedOnMom

There are so many things happening at the moment that I am itching to write about.  Good things.  Exciting things.  Giddy-making things even.  But forgive me, dear readers, I can’t–yet.

They’re the kinds of good things that make me think back on how far we’ve come.

Early on in this blog I started a series of posts titled “More History.”   I never got to the end of the “history” because frankly it was just too painful, too private.  Nonetheless, I do feel compelled to continue to tell the story because so few people do.  Silence is what allows things go unchanged, for the system to roll along, for personnel to glide through bureaucracies and never be held accountable.  When people wonder, “How much hostility can gifted kids really experience?”  I can answer, “This hostile.”  Harm was done to my child, to my family.  Even now, when things are good, I can’t forget.  Because “they” were wrong on so many levels.

Posted in Gifted, History | 3 Comments »

Richard St. John’s 8 secrets of success

November 11, 2009 by SwitchedOnMom

I love TED.com and haven’t posted any talks from them in awhile. Here’s one that I liked.

Posted in Interesting, Learning | Leave a Comment »

Why You Should Fill Out that Application for the Highly Gifted Center Program

November 5, 2009 by SwitchedOnMom

Last week I thought I had really put my foot in it with a friend.  She has an extremely bright and creative 3rd grader and I realized that the deadline (Monday, November 9) for the Centers for the Highly Gifted was fast approaching .  So I gave her a call and in the course of the conversation sort of wove in, “So…are you going to apply?”  When she said “No, I don’t know what I would put on the form” I just about had a heart attack.  Reflecting on my reaction, I worried I had seriously overstepped.

But then late yesterday afternoon she sent me an email.  Could I come over that evening to talk about the application?  She and her husband were stumbling on the first question:  “What advanced learning need has your child demonstrated that you believe MAY NOT BE EASILY MET IN HIS OR HER LOCAL SCHOOL PROGRAMS.”   Sure, I wrote her.  She emailed back; another friend was  also going to come over.  By the time I arrived, there was yet another friend there for soup and chat.  (My friend is like that.)  Little did I know that I was going to be the evening’s “featured speaker.”

However it turned out really well.  We had a good, thoughtful discussion about giftededness, MCPS, the Centers, their home school, education.  For my part, it was very informative to hear their concerns about both home school and Center program, and to get their impressions of the MCPS presentations they had sat through.  And they told me they appreciated my perspective and the chance to actually talk this stuff through, because the focus had been so much on the process of applying.

So what were my main points?

  • My starting point for all of this is that the Center might not be great for every GT kid, but at minimum a parent shouldn’t cut off the opportunity by not even applying.  If your child gets in, you can always say no.  If they attend but don’t like it, they can always go back to their neighborhood school.
  • There was some concern that kids in a GT program would get an “attitude,” that they would feel superior to other kids.  My response?  Kids in a regular classroom who are always at the top, who always finish their work before others, are getting no favors.  Contrary to what one might think, condescension (not to mention behavior problems) can actually breed in that situation.  Whereas when you put gifted kids with other kids at their readiness level, they may realize for the first time that they aren’t the best, that there are others smarter than them.  Learning to work and even struggle a bit is a good thing, as opposed to coasting through, never learning work habits and then having the consequences hit them later in life when the lesson is harder and it really matters.
  • Bottom line: Every child has a right to learn something during the six hours they are required to be in school.  They shouldn’t be used as tutors or “good influences” for other kids to their own detriment.
  • Diversity.  Yes, this has been a concern with GT programs in the county–that the Centers and Magnets are overwhelming White and Asian.  Encouragingly, my friend and her friends reported that the parents who showed up at the Center information meetings were extremely diverse.  Which brought me to my next point….
  • I think I planted some seeds of an “aha” moment when I explained that principals have an incentive NOT to have GT kids leave the building, especially minority kids.  Think about it.  Under No Child Left Behind schools live and die by their test scores.  Why would a school encourage a high achieving child–especially a minority child–to leave?  I mentioned it because….
  • I had heard through the grapevine that parents at this particular school had gotten the hard sell from their principal, that “whatever the Center can do, we can do  better.”   Sorry.  Just. Don’t. Buy. It.  In my humble opinion, the “GT” that could be offered would be the thin gruel of a smidge of William and Mary and math acceleration.  End of story.  Whereas at the Centers, students receive substantive writing and writing instruction; use of WordlyWise vocabulary books; creative, content-rich interdisciplinary science and social studies; truly differentiated and appropriately challenging reading instruction.  And of course grouping with peers, and the stimulation and understanding that comes with that, and teachers who understand more about giftedness than the average teacher.  Slam dunk.

Posted in Gifted, School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

What is it about Tintin?

November 4, 2009 by SwitchedOnMom

Is it me, or is there something about gifted kids and Tintin?

We were out of town over the weekend, visiting relatives and friends in Boston, and curiously, a Tintin theme emerged.  Who (or what) is Tintin?  Here’s the beginning of the Wikipedia entry, for those who might not be familiar with him (Tintin has been wildly popular in Europe for 80-plus years but is rather obscure in the U.S.):

The Adventures of Tintin (Les Aventures de Tintin) is a series of comic strips created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi (1907–1983). The series first appeared in French in Le Petit Vingtième, a children’s supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle on 10 January 1929. Set in a painstakingly researched world closely mirroring our own, Hergé’s Tintin series continues to be a favourite of readers and critics alike 80 years later.

The hero of the series is Tintin, a young Belgian reporter. He is aided in his adventures from the beginning by his faithful fox terrier dog Snowy (Milou in French). Later, popular additions to the cast included the brash, cynical and grumpy Captain Haddock, the bright but hearing-impaired Professor Calculus (Professeur Tournesol) and other colourful supporting characters such as the incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson (Dupond et Dupont). Hergé himself features in several of the comics as a background character; as do his assistants in some instances.

Tintin came into our household through my husband, who happens to have been born in Denmark.  As a child he amassed a collection of Tintin books (as well as Asterix and Obelisk) that decades later somehow found their way onto his adult brother’s bookshelves.  After protracted (and intensive) negotiations, Husband Dear regained possession of the beloved books which he in turn passed on to C. and M.

They love them–M. especially.  I couldn’t even guess how many times she has reread the stories.  I just know that there always seem to be a few within arm’s reach of her bed.

So what is the attraction?  Wikipedia speaks of

its clean, expressive drawings in Hergé’s signature ligne claire style. Engaging, well-researched plots straddle a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction. The stories within the Tintin series always feature slapstick humour, accompanied in later albums by sophisticated satire, and political and cultural commentary.

But there are other qualities that would make the Tintin stories particularly appealing to gifted kids.  Tintin is “a clever little guy who outsmarts big bullies,” a theme that no doubt resonates with many gifted kids.  He’s a teenager with a seemingly limitless bank account, no parents, who freely travels the world. (When you’re bursting with big ideas and big dreams who wouldn’t want to be a similarly powerful person?)  And the stories have deliciously rich vocabulary and word play. (You can read why one Brit dad is “Mad about the Boy” here.)

So imagine M.’s delight when she came upon a shop in Harvard Square that was selling Tintin watches.  The following day we were once again strolling in Cambridge and spotted a shop selling Tintin merchandise.  There were mugs, some posters and of course different collections of the books.  We couldn’t resist and bought her an “I ♥ (picture of Snowy) mug.    M. was amazed.  You almost never find Tintin merchandise.  Yet here near Harvard it was seemingly everywhere.  Hmm.  Coincidence?  I think not.

The funniest thing, though, was Halloween.  C. had spent the day with her friend, and we went to pick her up later in the evening.  And what had she and her friend come up with for costumes?   Why, Tintin and Captain Haddock!  Evidently these two frighteningly bright almost 16-year-olds poured through the books looking for a certain scene.  (They also carved a pair of Siamese pumpkins, joined at the head.  Very fitting.)  The friend’s mom mentioned to M. that when her son had a bad day, he turned to Tintin.  “I do the same thing!” M. exclaimed.  Somehow these books were deeply satisfying and comforting to him.

Tintin is not without controversies.  The books were, after all, written in the early part of the last century, and they’ve been called racist, violent and condoning of cruelty to animals.  But I see that as an opportunity to talk about stereotypes and how things attitudes and beliefs can change over time.  In short, there is much to like about Tintin books and I regularly recommend them to mom’s with kids (especially boys) who are just on the verge of reading.  Kids can follow along just by the pictures, but the stories are so engaging that that they are highly motivated to figure out the little speech bubbles of text.  Calvin and Hobbes is in a similar vein, but I’ll leave that for another day.

Posted in Gifted, Home Life | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments »

Irony Alert: Arts Education and the Eastern Magnet

October 27, 2009 by SwitchedOnMom

The MCCPTA just sent around the link to this YouTube video of Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley extolling the importance of arts education.

Meanwhile, those stalwart parents at Eastern Middle School have just notified parents of the status of their appeal to the MCPS Board of Education to reverse a schedule change that precludes students in the Humanities and Communication Arts Program from taking an arts elective. (For a refresher on the case, check here here here here here here here and here. Whew!)

We have two items to report and a decision to make.

The first item is that while the MCPS Board of Education (BOE) was
developing its detailed response (“Decision and Order”) on why they denied our appeal of the class reduction (schedule) decision, and before school started, we submitted a last ditch request for a stay of the decision to the Maryland State Board of Education (MSBE). MSBE denied the stay with a lengthy response from a law firm that nevertheless helps lay out how an appeal to MSBE could be framed if someone were to submit one.

The second item is that the Workgroup received its detailed response from the MCPS BOE. While five members of the BOE supported denial of our appeal, two others — Phil Kauffman and Laura Berthiaume — provided very detailed dissenting opinions (16 pages!) that bring up additional reasons beyond what we said as to why the decision and process were wrong. Various reports have described literal
shouting matches among Board members about this! These two Board members should be congratulated for their courage in standing up for what they believe and for the tremendous amount of time and effort they obviously put into defending our position. Please take a minute to thank them by contacting them directly.

Please also take some time to read these opinions. [Note:  link to document not available at this time.] While the Workgroup “has articulated a number of well-reasoned arguments in support of their position,” as Mr. Kauffman states, these dissenting opinions are truly amazing and go far beyond what our little group developed. Some of these arguments, including the violation of state regulations for some students regarding the need for a fine arts option, were not addressed by the majority opinion. [Emphasis added]

The decision that needs to be made is how to proceed from here. The two
board members’ opinions, plus the framework inherent within the opinion of MSBE noted above, have paved the way for a formal MSBE appeal. *But this appeal must be filed by November 13*….

–The EMS Schedule Decision Reversal Workgroup

Big, Big Kudos to BOE members Berthiaume and Phil Kaufman for listening to and valuing student input, for having the courage to offer dissenting opinions.  And good luck to the Workgroup as they decide their next steps.

Posted in Gifted, School | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Homegrown Genius

October 25, 2009 by SwitchedOnMom

Been busy with some In Real Life GT issues lately and yesterday evening I found myself once more combing through down county school websites.  Out of close to 40 schools, I think maybe four had GT liaisons listed on their PTA websites.  Even more discouraging was to find that some schools don’t even have a PTA website…or even a page on the school’s website that lists some officers and committees or basic parent information.

But in my Web-surfing I did have the chance to stop at the site of Silver Chips, the award-winning online newspaper of Richard Mongomery Blair High School.  There, I read a great feature story about Maneesh Agrawala, a recent MacArthur Fellow “genius award” recipient–and Blair Math Science Magnet alum.

Although Agrawala was shocked to be receiving the MacArthur grant, his entire life has been committed to the creativity and knowledge the MacArthur Fellows Program looks for. Ever since he was young, Agrawala was interested in math and computer science. Agrawala recalls that seeing his father teach computer science at the University of Maryland influenced his interest in the field.

Agrawala took his love of these subjects to Takoma Park Middle School’s Math and Science Magnet Program, where he excelled in math….

From 1986 – 1990, Agrawala continued these pursuits, enrolling in Blair’s Magnet Program and furthering his interests in computer science and math. “The Magnet was really great,” Agrawala says. “The Magnet was able to put me on my set path and helped me understand concepts.”

Agrawala’s residency in the Magnet was quite notable. He was a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search competition and had an interest in writing.

However, his biggest impact on Blair came in 1988. Along with Sven Khatri, Dan Mall and Howard Gobioff, all in Blair’s class of 1990, he took part in the first national “SuperQuest – The High School Supercomputing Challenge,” according to notes from the Board of Education. The team won second place out of 1,480 high schools nationwide, winning Blair a Cyber 910 workstation. What’s more, Blair received its first-ever direct connection to the Internet, making it the first school in Montgomery County to have Internet access, according to the Magnet Foundation. The connection even initiated the mbhs.edu domain that Blair still uses.

Ah, those magnets.  You know, those “boutique programs” that MCPS Superintendent Jerry Weast was talking about back in April.  Wisely, believing that the strong defense is an offense, some magnet parents offered passionate testimony in support of the math science magnets at recent Board of Education-sponsored Community Forums [sic].  You can read their testimony here, on pages 5, 11, 12, 14 and 17.

Maybe their cause will be bolstered with a local screening of the documentary Whiz Kids at the National Academy of Sciences in December.

WHIZ KIDS is a coming-of-age documentary that marks the distinct paths of three remarkably passionate 16-year-old scientists who vie to compete—win or lose—in the Intel Science Talent Search, a program of Society for Science & the Public (and formerly known as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search)….   For a year and a half, they visited high schools around the country searching for teenagers who were engaged in sophisticated research.  The team found students, who at 16 and 17, were already working in university and government labs, sometimes alongside Nobel Prize-winning scientists.  They also found students with fewer resources who were making discoveries in the apocryphal basement or garage lab.  Several traits were consistent among these “whiz kids” — an insatiable curiosity, a deeply felt determination to communicate their work to the public, and a passion to make a difference in the world.

You can see a trailer of the film on the film’s website, www.whizkidsmovie.com, as well as get information on the issue of fostering excellence in science.  Which can start right here in Montgomery County.

Posted in Gifted | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments »

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