Baltimore County Public Schools



4800600-114300Baltimore County Public SchoolsCitizens Advisory Committee for Gifted and Talented EducationMay 2, 2018Location: BCPS Greenwood Campus, Bldg. E, Room 114MEETING MINUTESGTCAC members present: Julie Miller-Breetz (chair), Jessica Paffenbarger(Immediate past chair), Joyce DiRienzi, Marlena Pearsell, Jason Dowell, Sharon Saroff, Charles KassoufCommunity members present: Jennifer Hano, Aviva Goldman, Rebecca Harrington, Tracy McMahon, Ellen Stein, Brenda Hopkins, Chonda Young, Lan Miller, Beth Wolff, Kristen Cooper, Karen Shrager, Tara Thompson, Eric Morris, Matt Gresick, Kim Parry, Megan Stewart-Sicking, Deepashri ThatteBCPS staff present: Wade Kerns1. Twice-exceptionality – Video conference with Laura Baker, mom advocate in Fairfax County, VA and Wade Kerns, Coordinator of BCPS Office of Advanced Academics GT (60 minutes) 7:00 – 8:00Notes / Action steps: Question from Laura: What does BCPS currently do in regard to 2e students?Response from Wade: Policy drives practice. In Baltimore County, this refers to Policy 6401 which was just revised and passed with help from the GT CAC. In the revised policy, 2e students are now explicitly included by the specification that “students shall not be denied access to advanced academics programs and services based on their race, special education status, disability, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity (including gender expression), English learner (ELL) status and/or socioeconomic status.”. In the superintendent’s rule that accompanies Policy 6401, 2e students are defined and it is specified that a “student participating in advanced academics who also has an individualized education program (IEP) or a section 504 plan shall receive the program modifications, accommodations and/or services required by the IEP or 504 plan. Educational disability shall not preclude student participation in advanced academics programs and services.” If a student has been identified and has an IEP or 504, regardless of what academic level they are in, that student should still get the accommodations they need.Policy 6401: 6401: , identifying 2e students is really difficult to do. There is no wholly approved agreement on how to identify GT students and even less of an agreement for 2e students. Sometimes disability will mask giftedness and sometimes giftedness will mask the disability. Students’ scores regress towards the mean in testing so, for example, WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, an IQ test) tests can often miss 2e students.BCPS tries to follow best practices which includes using a multidisciplinary consultation model in identification (i.e., they have a whole group of people who look at the students so they aren’t limiting themselves to just one perspective) and a multidimensional approach that includes a variety of data sources (such as writing samples, teacher surveys, and test scores), along with pre-service and in-service training of teachers in the characteristics of 2e. BCPS doesn’t have much control over the pre-service training as many teachers have never had a class that discusses 2e students – even in special education classes -- in their teacher preparation programs, but BCPS does provide professional learning opportunities for teachers once they are in schools. BCPS will also monitor their data (which has also been strengthened by the revision to Policy 6401) and specifically look for 2e data and trends. Finally, BCPS can provide support to schools by hosting professional development opportunities and having AA/GT office personnel sit in on IEP meetings and perform student observations.About Laura: She is a mother of two students (9th grade and 6th grade) who attend school in the Fairfax, VA county public school system. There are 25,000 special education students in that school district, but her experience has been that there has been very little available to 2e students in terms of policies and services. She began looking into 2e issues in Fairfax County and found that a number of direct recommendations had been made to their gifted association and ACSD (Advisory Committee for Students with Disabilities) and reports on 2e students dating back to 2004 had not been implemented as of 2016. This gave her a good starting point to meet with leadership in Fairfax County Special Services who have been eager to work with parents. Laura was able to develop a chart highlighting recommendations that had been made that wouldn’t cost any money to help 2e students and began there. Over the last two years, she has worked her way down the list trying to get the recommendations acted on. She also did a survey among approximately 100 other 2e parents and made a chart showing issues that came up about IEP development, delivery, etc. She has networked, surveyed, made charts, and eventually formed TEAM (Twice Exceptional Advocate Moms) which hosts meetups on 2e issues in the Fairfax County area.The Fairfax County Public Schools has an Advanced Academic Program (AAP). All students in 2nd grade are evaluated using standardized tests and work samples, among other things. Decisions are made by a central committee about the student. Levels 1 and 2 provide differentiation within the classroom. Level 3 is usually acceleration in one topic or class such as math (a once-a-week pull-out) while level 4 students are bussed to a separate school. There tends to be a big gap between L3 and L4; L4 historically has been treated as the “golden ticket”. The model in Fairfax County has every school submit who they feel is gifted. In Fairfax County gifted is defined as acceleration. The program is not designed for asynchronous learners like 2e students (who may only be gifted in a particular area). Middle schools have honors level courses which are open enrollment and also have Level 4 services, where enrollment is decided by a central selection committee. In high school there are honors, AP, IB, and dual enrollment opportunities available. Parents find it important to get their children into level 4 in elementary school so that it continues into middle school and beyond. About half of the parents in Laura’s 2e group have children on the autism spectrum and who also have the most trouble accessing advanced courses because of the need for behavioral support and inclusion. About 25% are dyslexic, about 20% have ADHD, and others have trouble with executive function skills, have sensory issues, or problems with language development.Questions and answers with Laura:Q. Do you have any data to let you know what percentage of 2e students access each level?A. NoQ. What is the percentage of children in Level 3 and Level 4 that don’t have any disabilities?A. About 3%Q. Are there supports in the classroom for L4 children? A. There are supposed to be. There are L4 centers for each of the 5 regions, but there is some variability among the centers. They have had issues with some of the centers discouraging or turning away 2e students.Q. What are examples of actions you and your group are doing now to help meet the gap for 2e students?A. In the process of getting Fairfax County to put a manual online for 2e students. They have recently rolled out a very successful handbook on dyslexia, which goes over policies and so are working on a 2e handbook now. There will be two or three parents and several staff on the committee to put the book together and they have already mapped out some of the categories. There are problems wherein school staff don’t seem to know the programs they have in the county (such as an executive function program) and schools don’t know there are these services available to support the teachers. They are going through special education liaisons to communicate with schools.Q. Even though testing is done in middle and high schools, as well as in 2nd grade, can a parent request testing outside of these windows? A. Yes, appeals can be made every year if a student doesn’t get in one year. If a student transfers into a school, they will test in that new school. Once students are in high school, they can just select higher level classes.Q. If there is a small group in class that starts on AAP later in school year, how does a child catch up? A. This can be a problem in math but typically it is math and science students that get into level 4 and they can catch up in the summer. But are some that can’t do it.Q. Can you elaborate on how your group operates and what kinds of events you put on, how often you meet, and how you communicate with the school district? A. The initial parent group that started was called Team Plus. It was a Meet Up group (which is a website/social platform), because we wanted to find a way to connect with other parents of 2e students. We didn’t know how many parents we would find. So, the entry point was to find other parents. Once there was a critical mass of parents, they started a private Facebook group and that has been a great way to communicate about the issues at school, since the discussions aren’t visible to the school or anyone outside the group. They have had a book club and have gotten the students together, which has turned into a very nice support for each other even though this wasn’t originally intended. It’s been a nice thing because it’s hard to join a gifted group or a disability group as a 2e student. Q. Who handles 2e -- is it more the special education office or the Advanced Academics Program office? A. At the administrative level, there is not a 2e coordinator. They want one, but with budget issues they haven’t been free to hire anyone. Right now, it’s the parents doing it. At the school level there is even less communication between the two departments and it is up to the parents to get the two departments involved and talking to each other.Questions and answers with Wade:Wade overview – In Baltimore County, we don’t have an office or individual responsible for 2e. Sometimes the AA GT office will take a call (from a parent, teacher, administrator…) with questions about a student or sometimes the special education office takes the call. If it involves 2e, the two departments will work together. AA GT office staff have gone out with special education staff to do student observations, sit in on IEP meetings, etc. The research says you have to have a multidisciplinary approach to something like this.Q. Are there any in-service offerings around 2e? A. Yes, in the past couple of years our AA GT office has provided professional development (PD) for IEP chairs and a lot of PD with the AA facilitators in each of the school buildings, whom we meet with on a quarterly basis. We have done specific PD at schools and we held a conference a couple of years ago. One of the challenges which Laura mentioned is the downside of working in a large school district. The Office of Advanced Academics GT has four people plus Wade in the office, but there are a lot more people in the special education office. Across a system our size, there will always be inconsistencies in implementation and communication. Trying to get information out about what services are available to all 16,000 teachers is a challenge.Q. Are there any level 4 schools in Baltimore County? A. No.Q. Is math acceleration the same here as in Fairfax County? A. BCPS’s math acceleration is compacted – starting in grade 4, advanced students learn all grade 4 math standards plus ? of grade 5 math. Then, in grade 5, the advanced math students will learn the rest of grade 5 and all of grade 6 math. In 6th grade, students will then take GT math 6 (which is GT pre-algebra). Or, if a student is in the Head and Shoulders program, they are accelerated even a year beyond this, so Head and Shoulders students in 6th grade may be taking GT algebra 1, which is normally taken in 7th grade.Q. What 2e resources are available? A. There is an “Unstuck” app which is a free app that helps you focus on and think differently about a stuck moment so you can move forward. It’s like having a coach on hand whenever you’re feeling stuck about a life situation. (look for it in the iTunes app store: . There is also an “ontarget management” app: about organization and getting work done. Perhaps the special education office has other things to offer.Q. At what grade level does the Head and Shoulders program start? A. From kindergarten onwards. We will assess a student at any time and look for these criteria: (1) the student has to be at least two to three grade levels beyond his peers and (2) the student doesn’t have a peer group to work with in their grade level. Wendy Ingalls (a resource teacher in the Office of Advanced Academics GT) goes to the school and does an informal screening designed to test mathematical knowledge and mathematical thinking.Q. How are students able to make it through 4th grade and half of 5th grade math, if they are in an advanced 4th grade math class?A. Teachers spend less time on each concept because they have compacted the curriculum to get through it in one year. In 8th grade there may be an opportunity to do two concurrent math courses (algebra and geometry) so a student can move further forward at a later time in their school career. For 2e students in an advanced, compacted math course who may understand the concepts but have difficulty with the quicker pace, accommodations can be made to help a slower moving student. Q. What about accommodations/acceleration for subjects other than math? A. We do not subject accelerate in English Language Arts (ELA); there is no Head and Shoulders type program for ELA as there is in math. ELA is significantly different to math. Math is based on sequential learning and building on prior knowledge while in ELA the learning is recursive, meaning that in 1st grade, students learn standards about the main idea and then are still discussing this (at a much deeper level) in 11th grade. It happens year after year after year, but students use texts which progressively provide greater depth and complexity. Students who need ELA acceleration are given more complex texts in their current grade so they don’t need to accelerate to the next grade. It can be a challenge -- sometimes students end up with no peer group in their class if they are given more complex texts, and it can also sometimes be difficult to find appropriate texts for young reader as the content might not be appropriate even though the reading level may be. But there are thousands of texts written for young readers and teachers just need to find them. At the secondary level, students can accelerate because science and social studies aren’t necessarily sequential. For example, a student could take 8th grade US history without having taken world history in 6th grade (if the student ended up skipping 6th grade); they may end up with a knowledge gap, but that may not be worth holding the child back. Additionally, students can be whole-grade accelerated.Q. The number of 2e students not being appropriately identified as GT is large. We can’t get the school to evaluate the student; administrators seem to be just looking at a grade and if the student is doing fine, then administrators are not worried, even though the student may be getting lots of support at home that the administration is not aware of. How can we make administration aware of this population and policies?A. We have about 13,000 students with IEPs (not sure if this includes 504s) in Baltimore County and we have approximately 25,000 identified systemwide as GT. Out of the 13,000 students, how many are identified as 2e? About 2%. About 2% of gifted students have IEPs (or possibly 504s. Wade isn’t sure about this). There is no solid research to say how many 2e students nationwide are in the school age population. Estimates range from 2% to 5%; some estimates even say as many as 50%. But percentages don’t really matter at the individual level and we don’t know how many students we are missing; it is really difficult to identify many 2e students. Susan Baum, a leading researcher in 2e, identifies three kinds of 2e students: 1) a student whose strengths mask their weaknesses so they tend to be identified as gifted but not have their learning challenges recognized, 2) a student whose weaknesses mask their strengths, so only the learning challenges are seen and not the giftedness, and 3) a student whose strengths and weakness cancel each other out, so they may not have their giftedness or their learning challenges recognized since there are no red flags and it appears the student is getting along fine. Finding these last set of students is very difficult. Having parent advocacy is so important; it would be great to have parent advocacy just for 2e (SECAC and GT CAC focus on so many issues).Related conversation: If parents are interested in starting a separate 2e group, please email the BCPS GTCAC or reach out via Facebook. Please pass this along this information to parents who couldn’t be here tonight. Q. What do you do if you child has teachers who have experience teaching GT students, but who know nothing about 2e students and are not used to teaching students who have other issues? How can I best advocate for my child?A. No teacher wants to not know what they are supposed to do. They feel like they are supposed to be an expert, and many believe that they do know even though they often don’t, particularly with the 2e population, which is a very small percentage of the overall population. For many teachers, that child may be the first 2e student they are aware of and may not really know what to do, so they fall back on what they do know: you are a gifted student so I expect you to get As, turn in work on time, write long essays, etc. In advocating for your child, you have to go through the chain – the teacher, the principal, the assistant principal (AP). If there is still no real change, then you can go beyond the schoolhouse. It would be rare to talk to a school administration who hadn’t heard of 2e, but if they don’t know what to do, there is a good chance they will call the AA/GT office or the Special Education office. If your administration hasn’t done that, that is something you can suggest. Sometimes, if a teacher/administrator says GT is the wrong spot for a student, there is a whole exiting process to go through, particularly at the secondary level. The school needs to go through the written process; the parent has the right to appeal the school decision to remove the child from GT and the school can’t take the child out of GT until the appeal procedure has been gone through.Q. What are you doing to educate teachers about the policies? A. Teachers, particularly classroom teachers, dealing with all the classroom level stuff, are not going to be aware of every policy and rule in the school system.Related conversation: The Special Education Citizens Advisory Committee (SECAC) has been advocating to increase number of special educators in schools for the past several years. More special educators would allow for helping more students and also teachers in the schools and promote better knowledge of policies. And FYI, SST’s and 504’s do not fall under special education.Q. How are the AA facilitators in each school chosen and what are the expectations? A. This has recently changed, since facilitators are now receiving extra duty assignment (EDA) pay instead of just volunteering for this position. The principal decides who it is (and it may not always be someone who has an interest in gifted education.) Because facilitators are now being paid, Wade can now require facilitators to do things whereas in the past, he might simply be only able to suggest what he would like them to do. For the 2019/20 school year, there will be a list of tasks the facilitator will need to do to be paid for the job. The AA/GT office staff have been working on a list for elementary, middle, and high school level facilitators, including collecting data and conducting PD at the school level based on things that they have learned at the quarterly meetings the AA/GT office conducts, among other things. There is a list of all the facilitators on the AA/GT office website.Q. Would the GT facilitator be a good link in the chain to advocate for your child? A. Generally, no. The facilitator is not supervisory in any way, and even though they are going to be paid a stipend next year, they will still be just a classroom teacher for the most part; only sometimes are the facilitators also administrators. It would be up to the administration to involve the GT facilitator. Questions about the GT program would be appropriate to ask the facilitator about, but not about concerns in the classroom.Q. What criteria places students in AA? A. MAP and PARCC scores, any other testing scores, curricula assessments (unit assessments), student work samples (particularly those done in the classroom, i.e., done under controlled circumstances), teacher and parent surveys, report card grades. Third and fifth grades are when some schools send home parent surveys, although there are some who don’t. Unknown why there are schools who don’t send the surveys home. Related conversation: It is important for parents to become educated because it makes it easier to get your point across. Also, the special education office has resources for 2e students -- people who can visit schools as well as board certified behavior analysts (the special education department had one last school year and added three more this school year). Parents can make a request to the administration to have someone go out and talk to their child.2. Parent and attendee concerns – (15 minutes) 8:00 – 8:15Notes / Action steps:N/A4. Updates from Advanced Academics office – Wade Kerns (15 minutes) 8:15 – 8:30Notes / Action steps:Waiting for the budget to be approved to see if the three new positions for the AA GT office will stay in. Should know sometime in June.5. Updates from chair – Julie Miller-Breetz (45 minutes) 8:30 – 9:15Notes / Action steps:BOE (Board of Education)Board presentation on May 7 will be about 2e.Future meetings – no suggestions about subjects for future BOE presentations.Nominations – still seeking secretary nominations for the GT CAC.Calendar:Dates for next year: September 5, October 3, November 7, December 5, January 2, February 6, March 6, April 3, May 1, June 5; room 114 has been requested.Preliminary ideas for next year – data (BCPS’ Dr. Brown); literacy and new focus on non-fiction reading/new SAT (BCPS’ Megan Shay); Next Generations Science Standards status report (one year in -- how is it going?); new learning management system, Schoology and how advisory groups might be able to use it; listening post; meeting with superintendent; curriculum being delivered via technology.June 6th; Business meeting/GT CAC election (Greenwood location) – make it into some kind of meeting with BOE candidates? Will poll GT CAC members and see what the reaction is and the feasibility of getting something together by next month.6. Focus going forward? – (30 minutes) 9:15-9:45Notes / Action stepsList of issues from Listening Post/GT CAC identified areas for growth/recommendationsCurriculum (use of devices/software, acceleration, pacing of instruction)Communication2eDoes this change/inspire ideas for meetings for 2018/19 school year?Conversation: If we make the decision to create a new 2e group that exist separately from the GT CAC and SECAC we will need to get Board and/or Superintendent approval. A new 2e advocacy group would operate independently and would be able to prioritize 2e problems to get them solved. Wade suggested starting with Renard Adams to ask about the process for creating a new advisory group. There are 2e Facebook groups (both BCPS and non-BCPS centric). Those groups may be a good place to go to gauge interest in creating a new 2e BCPS citizens advisory committee. A focus to consider for next year is growing the GT CAC group. We are more likely to get people involved with the GT CAC through establishing personal connections with other parents. Wade could also perhaps ask GT facilitators to send information about the GT CAC out to parents twice a year. Another suggestion is to ask parents what they would like to see changed – for example, the curriculum. That would get parents involved with what they like/don’t like that is going on at the moment. Also, the group would still like to hear from software people re: education technology and the GT student.6. Anything else? (5 minutes) 10:00 – 10:05Notes / Action stepsN/A ................
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