I took a look at the Jefferson test scores. Jeff students outperform the PPS averages in gains in virtually every category except for students who exceeded benchmarks. Jeff has had a bad press because it is attracting students who come in with lower test scores--students looking for more challenging classes choose to go somewhere else. This is a self-reinforcing problem because high achieving students rightly seek high achieving classmates. As Cynthia Nguyen pointed out in her letter to the Oregonian last week, most capable students don't like being in a classroom where the discussion regularly slows to a crawl so struggling students can be "caught up".
But the school is doing an outstanding job with the students it actually has--except for the highest performing students.
It would be great if there are some Jeff parents or other people on this committee who can come up with ways to serve these high performing students more effectively in their own neighborhood. We will know whether the program is truly an effective program because students will choose to join it--they won't be forced in to it. No one likes being a captive audience either. I am wondering whether Jeff might not want to consider the Middle Years International Baccalaureate program. This is designed to end at 16 and would be a natural fit if middle schoolers do end up there. The final two HS years could be the PCC/Jeff program.
Did you know that while PPS is closing five schools, Evergreen in Vancouver is opening five new schools? Evergreen has good gifted programs, including Running Start. I recommend it to parents fairly often. Parents with jobs in Northeast Portland probably prefer to live in Evergreen if they have gifted children.
This is another example of the way that the chronic neglect of high-achieving students can snowball and hurt the entire district. No one wants to see Jeff close down.
Margaret
