Together we can make a difference!
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Meade
We are looking for parents, teachers, and students who support advanced and gifted education for Rochester Community Schools in Michigan. Please subscribe to Rochester SAGE to receive updates.
Also, please visit the "How to Help" link in the upper right.
Reminder on Contacting the School Board
I know we all live busy lives juggling many things on our plates, so I just wanted to send out a reminder to let the Board of Education know that we would like advanced and gifted education in our schools. If you have any specific preferences, such as magnet schools, IB schools, pull-out programs, partial acceleration, or other methods, please let the Board know. The Board of Education will not act unless they know that this is an important issue to us.
To write the Board, go to the Contact the Board web page and fill out the form. Thanks for taking a few minutes to help make a difference!
Also, I will be speaking during Public Comment at the beginning of the meeting this Monday to encourage the Board to bring the International Baccalaureate program to K-12 for Rochester Community Schools. This has been a highly successful program in the Bloomfield school district, but only about 25% of Rochester students who want to go are chosen in the lottery. Why should the other 75% miss out when RCS could offer the same experience for our children?
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Rochester Supports Advanced & Gifted Education!
College Readiness: Good News & Bad
The Detroit Free Press has a helpful tool for assessing college readiness of graduating seniors based on their ACT scores. The good news is that two of Rochester’s high schools rank in the top 15 metro high schools in college readiness and the third falls just outside. The bad news is that their percent of seniors who are college ready are 46.1%, 34.9%, and 28.6%. Even though these numbers are in the top 10% of the state, they are still abysmal for an area that needs to be technologically adept in order to revitalize the economy.
The Detroit News compared graduation rate to Michigan Merit Exams for selected schools. The Michigan Merit Exams include the ACT and other criteria. Unfortunately, some of the other criteria, particularly in science, appear to be just as misleading as the current MEAP cut scores for proficiency.
How do schools rank in college readiness and how do their Michigan Merit Exams scores compare? Find out by clicking Read More
Movie: Race to Nowhere
Oakland Schools is screening the movie Race to Nowhere on March 10 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Typically, there is a discussion period afterward. Free tickets can be obtained at http://rtnoaklandschools.eventbrite.com/ but they are limited in number.
Many reviews say this is the antithesis to Waiting for Superman. It appears to focus on whether academic rigor and over-scheduling of activities are causing stress and psychosomatic illness in our children. There may be some validity to these concerns. Read more…
Contacting the Board of Education
I spoke with a couple members of the Rochester Community Schools Board of Education before the School Board meeting this evening. Both of them told me that they need to hear from community members supporting advanced and gifted education. Most board members I’ve spoken with believe that the Pyramid of Intervention currently meets the needs of advanced and gifted children.
Please take a few minutes and go to the Contact the Board web page. Fill out the form and ask them to support advanced and gifted education in the Rochester Community Schools. If you wish to mention that you are a member of Rochester SAGE, please do! Anyone who supports advanced and gifted education in Rochester Community Schools can consider themselves a member. (We don’t have dues, initiation rituals, or even an official membership list.)
Please also forward this to others who support advanced and gifted education. The board will not act on implementing district-wide advanced and gifted education unless they know that it is an issue needing addressing. Without a district-wide policy, it will be up to each parent to try to get an accelerated pace of education for their child. Let’s make a difference!
Higher MEAP Cut Scores and what still needs to be done
The Michigan State Board of Education has raised the MEAP Cut Scores to be more in line with the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress). This is a very good thing, as it will more adequately let parents know which schools are failing to properly educate their children. Schools that once could claim that 80% of their children were proficient in math, reading, science, or social studies now may have only 40% proficient under the new standards. If your child is the group that previously was listed as proficient but now is not, that will probably make you question whether your child has been adequately educated and if he or she wasn’t, why weren’t you notified earlier.
But raising MEAP Cut Scores only solves part of the problem.
A Nation Deceived
Like many of you, I’m relatively new to the advanced and gifted education arena. I became involved because I want my children to be educated at a pace appropriate to them. Learning about advanced education has been eye-opening. One of the best introductory texts to advanced and gifted education is A Nation Deceived. It primarily focuses on acceleration as an inexpensive method for providing advanced education. Take an hour and read it and then pass it on to others including parents of gifted children, teachers, principals, and school board members. Many myths found in current thought are exposed by this report and it needs wide distribution.
I had initially thought that the largest barriers to gifted education would be lack of funds and lack of teachers. Unfortunately, I discovered that much of the opposition comes from prevailing attitudes found in colleges of education in regards to educational equality and acceleration beyond one’s age group.
Article in Rochester Patch
Thank you to Heather Mir and the staff at Patch for the excellent article on how we are working towards getting advanced and gifted education in our schools. (See Dad Champions More Options for Gifted Students in Elementary Program)
If you are not familiar with Patch, it is a site that features local news for a number of communities. The authors are local, the topics are local, and there are local volunteer opportunities. For most of us, our local issues are Rochester-Rochester Hills Patch and Oakland Township Patch.
What should an Advanced and Gifted Education program look like?
I’m soliciting community input on this one. Whether you support advanced and gifted education or not, please comment on this. I will be compiling input from this and other questions to present to the Rochester Community Schools Board of Education.
- What do you believe the ideal program for advanced and gifted students would be for elementary, middle, and high school?
- What do you believe should be the program for Rochester Community Schools?
- Should this be implemented in RCS and when?
If you feel comfortable with doing so, please also post whether you are a teacher, parent, student, or have another role in the community.
The Meek MEAP
Meek: 2. spineless or spiritless; compliant
Do you believe that your school is doing great because 95% of the third graders or 82% of the seventh graders are proficient in math according to the MEAP? Well, the MEAP is lying to you. The standards of the MEAP are spineless and compliant to schools that wish to claim they are adept at teaching your children. What is considered proficient for the MEAP? Well, according this site, in 2009 a math score of 33% for third grade and 34% for seventh grade was proficient! These sample MEAP math questions have three answers. A score of 33% (proficient) can be obtained by random guessing. How is that proficient?
Read more…
Advanced and Gifted Education at your school
Rochester schools vary on what they offer for advanced and gifted students. Some provide differentiation in reading only, while others have more advanced math for some students. What does your school do? (Please name your school, the grade(s) cited, and the school district if not in Rochester Community Schools.)
Rochester SAGE - Supporting Advanced & Gifted Education 