Baltimore County Public Schools



4800600-114300Baltimore County Public SchoolsCitizens Advisory Committee for Gifted and Talented EducationApril 4, 2018Location: BCPS Greenwood Campus, Bldg. E, Room 114MEETING MINUTESGT CAC members present: Julie Miller-Breetz (chair), Jessica Paffenbarger (immediate past chair), Karen Syrylo, Joyce DiRienzi, Charles Kassouf, Sharon SaroffCommunity members present: Nina RoaBCPS staff members present: Wade Kerns, Douglas Handy1. Career and Technical Education (CTE) – Douglas Handy, Director, BCPS Office of Career and Technology Education and Fine ArtsNotes / Action steps: How do CTE and GT complement one another?Nick Calvert spotlight: BCPS Face of the Week. BCPS student Nick Calvert’s profile is a good case study of how CTE can work very well for a GT student. Potential and aptitude can extend across many different areas. For students who are passionate about pursuing a non-college pathway or who just want to try something out to see if they like it, CTE can be a very good fit. Many CTE students describe themselves as entrepreneurs. CTE wants students to follow their passion.BCPS CTE Programs of Study and Electives 2017/18. CTE can be a pathway for students who want to be either a plumber or a doctor. By completing a CTE program, students will be prepared for both college and career. The goal is for students to graduate with as many options as possible -- four-year college degree programs, a community college certificate or associate degree programs, registered apprenticeships, and/or industry certifications. A CTE graduate will be on track to pursue a four-year degree, if that is desired; when finished with the CTE program, the student can end up with transcripted credits from partner/affiliate universities (such as UMBC, Towson University, Stevenson, and CCBC) that may serve as encouragement to the student to continue their education. Construction and other trades want employees who have academic and interpersonal skills, who can break down problems, and who can come up with innovative solutions. Multiple trades are in great need of a pipeline of trained workers.There are 10 CTE cluster areas: 1) Arts, Media and Communication; 2) Business, Management and Finance; 3) Construction and Development; 4) Consumer Services, Hospitality, and Tourism; 5) Environmental, Agricultural, and Natural Resources Systems, 6) Health and Biosciences; 7) Human Resources Services; 8) Information Technology; 9) Manufacturing, Engineering, and Technology; and 10) Transportation Technology. Within the clusters, there are different pathways, two of which (Engineering and Biomedical Sciences) are done through the instructional program, Project Lead the Way (PLTW): within CTE have rigorous professional development. Many of the teachers come from industry and BCPS helps certify them as teachers. Many of the teachers still work in their profession while also teaching. It can sometimes be difficult to find instructors, particularly in certain areas.Internships (work-based learning) also fall under the CTE umbrella, although a student does not have to be in CTE to do an internship. For example, the BCPS Teacher Academy CTE pathway includes an internship for every student, but this is not necessarily the case for other CTE pathways. Every high school has a work-based learning coordinator to help students find appropriate internships; internships are typically done in the senior year for 10 hours/week. Some internships are unpaid while others are able to pay minimum wage. Right now, there are about 15,000 BCPS high school students who take at least one CTE course -- about 25% of those complete an entire CTE pathway. Additionally, there is a 99% graduation rate for students who complete a CTE pathway. For students struggling to graduate, BCPS’ Career Research and Development (CRD) program, which is available in every comprehensive high school, has been very successful.BCPS has formed an exploratory group to look into expanding CTE to other schools; there is a sense that there are students who are interested in CTE pathways, but don’t know how to get there. The CTE office is currently in year 2 of a 5-year expansion plan. There are 10 CTE cluster areas and the CTE office wants each BCPS geographic area to have access to each of the clusters. They are working closely with school counseling offices in order to better advertise and increase awareness about CTE programs and how they are not designed for just one population of students. The CTE office would like to have CTE programs in more schools and for these options to be fully shared with all students, college-bound or not. Work continues on communicating effectively about CTE programs in BCPS. BCPS has recently started a 6-year plan that begins in middle school so that students and families can begin learning about, and planning for, high school options earlier. Currently, communications about CTE options come through school counseling offices and through the annual BCPS Magnet Exposition. Also, there are some middle schools that conduct a “high school option” night. Many parents, however, get no information coming home to them from schools or don’t go to the Magnet Expo, so awareness about CTE is still significantly lacking. Potentially the new learning management system, Schoology, which will begin being used in the 2018/19 school year, can be utilized to better advertise CTE options.More information about CTE: BCPS CTE web page and MSDE CTE web page2. Parent and attendee concerns Notes / Action steps:The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have meant a redesign of the BCPS science sequence, which can make doing a CTE pathway and maintaining elective classes, such as music, difficult. It used to be that ninth-graders would take Biology, which paired very well with the Biomedical Sciences CTE pathway. Now, however, Biology (now known as Living Systems) is taken in 10th grade and Earth Systems is taken in 9th grade, meaning that Biomedical Science students lose the big connection between these two classes that previously existed. Additionally, there are some high schools that have students taking both Earth Systems and Living Systems as ninth-graders, which makes scheduling other classes required for graduation, the CTE pathway, or any electives quite challenging. Some students are being forced to drop classes, like music, that they would really like to take. There is also concern that the new Integrated Physics and Chemistry (IPC) class does not provide enough content for a student to then jump to an AP Chemistry or AP Physics class and be successful. Other schools in MD are implementing changes required by the NGSS differently and are still offering biology as a freshman course. The BCPS science department has not been receptive to concerns. It takes someone at the school who can really work with the student to get things scheduled in such a way to make sure the CTE and graduation requirements work out.3. Updates from Advanced Academics office – Wade KernsNotes / Action steps:The Division of Research and Accountability (DRA) has identified 22 pilot schools in which universal screening with the CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) among all 3rd-grade students and 22 comparison schools in which universal screening without the CogAT among all 3rd-grade students will occur. These schools have now been approved by the cabinet. The pilot will occur in the autumn of 2018, data digested in the spring, and analysis will follow to determine if the CogAT should be implemented throughout the school system. The GT CAC has requested to be kept in the loop as data is collected and analyzed.Extra duty assignment (EDA) pay has been negotiated through TABCO and approved for the 2018/19 school year for Advanced Academics facilitators at each BCPS school. This will allow the AA office to direct facilitators to do particular tasks, such as track data or attend facilitator meetings instead of it being voluntary. The facilitators will still be accountable to the school principal, so the AA office will need to make sure principals are aware of the activities the facilitator should be doing.Accomplishments that have occurred in the recent past as a result of the GTCAC and the AA office working together: New e-learning staff added to better reach and support GT home and hospital students and students in high schools that may not have enough students to fill an entire GT or AP section; EDA pay approved for AA facilitators;CogAT pilot approved;Three new full-time staff positions for the AA office (waiting to be approved by the County);Supplemental text budgets approved for the AA office and piloted ELA books for middle school and ninth grade added to the curriculum for the 2018/19 school year;Policy and Rule 6401 revised and approved. Highlights include: the retention of the word “gifted” in the title; the wording more closely follows Maryland statute and regulations; twice-exceptional students are defined and specifies that students’ educational disabilities will not prevent their participation in Advanced Academics; increases accountability and data reporting measures.4. Updates from chair – Julie Miller-BreetzNotes / Action steps:6401 Rule is now available. Of particular note are that 2e students and their needs are specifically addressed and specific references to data requirements by schools to report on the implementation of Advanced Academic procedures and provide disaggregated data on student participation in AA programs and services are included. BOE meetings – focus of presentationApril 17: will likely talk about GTCAC accomplishments and the real growth that has occurred on GT issues and also mention our April 17th CTE meeting.May 8: 2e (to reflect our May 2nd 2e meeting).Future meetings – Developing a presentation on educational technology software and its use with GT studentsCalendar:May 2nd; Twice Exceptionality (Greenwood location) – Wade Kerns, BCPS AA Office and Laura Baker, 2E parent advocate in Fairfax, VALaura Baker is a parent in the Fairfax County, VA school district who started a 2e advocacy group – goal is for the GT CAC to get an idea about what has/hasn’t worked for her and to help us think about what we might want to do to support 2e going forward. What dedicated action do we want? Do we need a new 2e group? Should it be a sub-group of the GT CAC?June 6th; Business meeting (Greenwood location); GT CAC election; have Wade do a brief Schoology demo; think about GT CAC recruitment effortsPreliminary ideas for next year – Data meeting with Dr. Russ Brown; combined meeting on the literacy initiative and the new SAT (which is no longer so narrowly focused on narrative literature text and now has more of a focus on literacy within different disciplines – e.g., science literacy) with Interim Executive Director of Academics, Megan Shay; listening post; status report on science in regard to NGSS implementation (1 year in); educational technology software.Dates for next year: September 5, October 3, November 7, December 5, January 2, February 6, March 6, April 3, May 1, June 5 – does not conflict with any Jewish holidays; still need to check against BCPS calendar and Muslim calendar.Ad hoc communications group -- will attempt to meet in May.HB1110 – Health and Safety Issues (Screen Time) of Devices – directive to MSDE to develop health and safety best practices for use of digital devices to provide to each county for consideration and adoption.Letter of support from the Baltimore County PTA ()Update from Charles Kassouf re: Towson Incubator “Potential of Ed Tech” meeting – Charles was unable to attend the meeting, but synopsis of it is here (). Would the GT CAC potentially want to work on putting a meeting together that could look into best practices for ed-tech in the classroom for those with specific learning needs (gifted, 2e, etc.)? Does software that is differentiated for GT kids exist, and if so, what is it? How is software any different than textbooks and enrichment material that are differentiated for different student groups? The GT CAC has heard that there are GT students who find that the GT curriculum is not challenging or deep enough. Also need to be careful about balancing time on devices so that students are not spending inordinate amounts of time during the school day on them and that they still have plenty of active time with the teacher. (Note: Wade reports that the average Dreambox use at school right now is 62 minutes per week for each student; about 12 minutes/day). Perhaps the best approach is to, as a group, discuss how technology should be part of a gifted child’s experience through the K-12 progression. Then, based on that, think about where the holes are, what’s missing, what things the district is currently using that aren’t working for gifted children and what may need to be replaced. This leads to questions about how software is chosen for the district (is it anything like textbook adoption procedures?), how decisions are made about what is, or isn’t, being purchased, and how software makes it into the curriculum that teachers are using. (Note: Wade reports that Dreambox for math and iReady for ELA, while used by the district, are not written into the curriculum or mandated for use.)5. NominationsNotes / Action steps:Julie Miller-Breetz nominated for chair position. Charles Kassouf nominated for vice chair position. No nomination received for secretary.6. Focus going forward? Notes / Action stepsList of issues from Listening Post: Pacing of instructionCommunication2EAccelerationUse of devices/softwareDo we want to make these our focal points for the 2018/19 school year? How do they track with the areas of growth and recommendations that were made to Interim Superintendent White in December? Are these the most important, salient points to work on? If not, what are?Different ways about categorizing these and thinking about approaches. For example, pacing of instruction, use of devices/software, and acceleration all broadly fall under the topic of curriculum. Alternatively, 2e issues, acceleration, and use of devices/software could all be seen as PD issues that the AA office could work on. Pacing, which relates to curriculum compacting, pre-assessments, and delivery of content could fall under a teacher training umbrella.Will continue to look at review meeting topics over the next few meetings; please take some time to think about them. ................
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