Seattle Public Schools is eliminating its gifted and talented program, which administrators said was oversaturated with white and Asian students, in favor of a more “inclusive, equitable and culturally sensitive” program. .
The district began phasing out high-ability cohort schools and classrooms for older students in the 2021-22 school year, citing racial inequities. School district notes.
This system will be completely phased out by the 2027-28 school year, and the new enrichment model will be available to all schools by the 2024-25 school year.
“This program is not going away, it is getting better,” school officials said on the district’s website.
“It will be more inclusive, equitable and culturally sensitive.
“In particular, students who have historically been excluded will have the same service opportunities as other students and will receive the support and enrichment they need to thrive.”
Currently, in the enrichment program, only students who score in the top two percentiles on standardized tests are placed in high-ability cohorts where they can receive enhanced learning.
Students are then assigned to one of three elementary schools, five middle schools, and three high schools.
But in 2020, the Seattle school board voted to end the program. 2018 survey We found that students in the highly able cohort were 13% multiracial, 11.8% Asian, 3.7% Hispanic, and only 1.6% Black.
Nearly 70% of the students were white.
Kari Hanson, the district’s director of student support services, said at the time, “If you look at the numbers, it appears that our city’s predominantly white children are more gifted than other cultures and races; I know that’s absolutely not true,” she told ParentMap.
The challenge facing school districts is that under a new program called the High-Ability Neighborhood School Model, teachers will have to design individualized learning programs for all 20 to 30 students. Teachers say they don’t have the time or resources. budget deficit of $104 million; According to the Seattle Times.
The district said it is working to provide teachers with the curriculum and the instruction to implement it effectively, but 2020 estimates show that the universal education program will not be fully operational in the first three years. It is suggested it will cost the school district $1.1 million.
One teacher said that under the new program, it would be more difficult to teach math to students with different abilities, and that a whole-class approach would not adequately prepare students for Advanced Placement math and science courses. He said he was worried that this might happen.
Parents also expressed concerns that their children could be overlooked by the new model.
Erica Rubery told the Seattle Times: “It seems to me that children on both extremes are probably underserved.”
Karen Stukowski, who has three children in gifted programs, said each teacher “has a limit to how much they can differentiate.
“Some kids can barely read, and some are reading ‘Harry Potter’ in first grade or kindergarten,” she says.
“How are we going to not only get kids up to grade level, but also challenge kids who are already at grade level and above?”
Some parents of black students in the program opposed ending the program.
“My request is that you consider the disadvantages to minorities who are already in the HCC program,” one father said during a school board meeting to approve the new program in 2020. He said this. According to The Stranger.
“This program is having more of an impact on black children, especially black boys, than it is on their peers.”
But then-School Board Vice President Chandra Hampson countered, “This is a really neat job in terms of tokenizing a really small community of color within an established group.”
However, over the past few years, more and more minority students have joined the ranks of the “high ability population.”
According to the Seattle Times, 52% of students in the 2022-23 school year were white, 16% were Asian and 3.4% were black.
Supporters of the new program argue that because all students are from the same geographic area, it creates a stronger sense of community.
“They bring their experiences and culture from back home. It’s really unique,” View Ridge Elementary School Principal Lina Geogagan told The Seattle Times.
“Will it ever be perfect? No. But every time there’s a change, it’s not perfect.”
