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Greetings,
I want to tell you what's happening in DC right now, and it's not good news for us.
Yesterday, the House appropriations subcommittee on Labor/HHS/Education met to mark up the fiscal year 2006 bill; the subcommittee allocated $0 for the Javits program. There were no winners in the bill due to very, very low overall spending numbers that the subcommittee was working with. Indeed, NCLB was cut by $800 million compared to current funding. The subcommittee spent $1 billion in long-overdue funds to take care of the shortfall in the Pell program, but that's the only "winner."
So, what do we do? The full committee is expected to mark up the bill next wednesday (6/15). It seems the only chance we have is to find a republican willing to offer an amendment to restore the funding. I'm working with several of you (and others) to find said republican. The tough part won't be to find someone who supports g/t, but rather, find someone who is willing to cut something else to pay for the Javits program.
I've also contacted Pam Clinkenbeard in WI, asking her to contact the ranking democrat on the committee (David Obey). If Mr. Obey were to put the javits program into any amendment that he is planning to offer, we can at least show the committee that this small program has supporters -- no matter what happens with the amendment.
If none of this pans out, we'll be forced to put all our eggs in the Senate basket. You should know that the $$ allocated to the Senate Labor/HHS/Education subcommittee is as low as the House numbers (the $$ levels are called "302(b) allocations"). So there isn't much money to work with there, either. I know that we have 27 Senators on the record as supporting the Javits program (via the Grassley letter), but we'll have an enormous job ahead. The Senate subcommittee isn't expected to mark up their version of the 2006 bill until after the 4th of July.
I'll keep you posted, of course. If some brave republican comes forward, we'll have to generate calls to committee offices on Tuesday (6/14). Coincidentally, CEF's legislative coordinators will be walking the Halls of Congress on Tuesday, so we'll get some added support there.
Have a good weekend, and send positive thoughts to DC!
Jane
Jane Clarenbach
Director, Public Education & Affiliate Relations
National Association for Gifted Children
1707 L St., NW, Suite 550
Washington, DC 20036
202-785-4268
202-784-4248 (f)
www.nagc.org
NAGC 2005 Louisville "Setting the Pace"
November 9-13, 2005

Friends:

Today's Oregonian carried some letters from Irvington students concerning school funding including a letter from Michael Rodriquez. the letter read in part:
"Our school will lose three teachers, our librarian, our TAG program--which I participate in weekly--and our classes will have close to 30 kids....I really like TAG and it will be a big loss for me and my friends who also participate in this program...."

This is not the first time I have heard comments like this. Whenever budget cuts are made (an almost annual process it seems) we hear from parents and students that their TAG program will be cut.

The only way this can happen is because of the complete ignorance of schools and families about what TAG is. Please help us to explain that this picture is completely incorrect.

TAG is NOT a special once-a-week fun class. TAG is not really a "program." TAG is a legal requirement that TAG-identified students in addition to all other Oregon students receive appropriate instruction during the school day across the academic curriculum. TAG is the law! Schools can no more decide that they can cut TAG then that they can close school every Monday. If all they are doing is offering a once-a-week class they are already in flagrant violation of the law. If they are in fact providing appropriate instruction at every student's rate and level of learning in every academic subject, then they do not need an extra weekly class to satisfy these legal requirements but they shouldn't be telling families that they are eliminating the TAG program. Either way, the school is either dishonest or ignorant and is misleading children and their parents.

How can a school provide TAG services in a cost effective way? The only effective way in a district with large classes is to group gifted students by mastery level. In a large class, teachers simply don't have enough minutes per student to differentiate instruction individually as is legally required, and most of our teachers don't have the training they would need to do this effectively. Study after study has found that "full inclusion" classrooms including gifted students simply don't work. Ability grouping can include classroom clusters, advanced classes, separate classes, and acceleration, which places individual students in classes at their level of mastery. Except for classroom clustering, all these forms of grouping have been found to be very effective in improving achievement among gifted students. Students who exceed benchmarks make the lowest achievement gains of any group, and minority/low income high achieving students are particularly harmed.

It is especially sad that these students and their families are hearing this at a point when a judge has just found that the Oregon Department of Education erred in finding that PPS was in compliance with the TAG mandate. This is prima-facie evidence, if any more were needed, that PPS has not done its job in educating schools and families about the law and its requirements.


Margaret DeLacy

7356 SE 30th. Ave.
Portland OR 97202

503-774-7017

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Dear School Board members:

I will not be able to attend the school board meeting on Monday night, and have not been able to obtain a more detailed copy of the new high school graduation requirements beyond the e-mail that was sent out which is pretty sketchy.

I did review and testify about the proposal to change the state graduation requirements last month. During the hearing it became clear that they had never considered the problems these might pose for highly capable students, so I am writing this to ensure that you have taken these into account.

In principle, I support increasing the rigor of high school instruction but I am also concerned about holding students in high schools if the rigor is not there and they are not learning. There is a large volume of research now addressing "senioritis" and the extent to which students waste their senior years. Sometimes this happens because there are no appropriate classes left for these students to take. Every year we have students who enroll in classes that don't teach them anything just because they need the credits, wasting their time and our money.

Many of these problems can be addressed by an effective, fair, and well-run program for extending High School credits to Middle School students The District TAG advisory committee and the school board introduced this option several years ago, but it has not been as widely implemented as we would have liked. Without this option, the new credit policy may create problems for advanced students, holding them in high schools even when they have few options there or the classes that are offered are not at a high enough level for their needs. It goes without saying that every Middle School should offer classes at a High School level in several curriculum areas or facilitate dual High School enrollment for their high-achieving students. It also goes without saying that High Schools should respect these credits and not force successful students to re-take classes such as Algebra or Geometry solely because of scheduling problems or bureaucratic inflexibility.

I did have a lot of examples, but it's obvious that it will be impossible for many students to complete 24 credits in three years even though some of our students do need and want to move on--either by skipping ninth grade or by graduating early. There may also be students who spend a year abroad or move to Portland from somewhere else and have trouble translating credits.

I am also concerned that those newly required electives may not be appropriate for all students and may keep some in high school at the expense of serious interests outside of school. This might be the case, for example, for a student who plays a musical instrument and needs time for practicing and working with a professional musician. There's no point in requiring more electives if their pace and level are not appropriate for advanced high school students.

If a credit by exam is offered, it should be at a reasonable level and not impose additional burdensome requirements. In short, it should not require more than the class it is being substituted for. We have had a long-standing problem with the health credit by exam, which was evidently created solely to discourage students from trying to test out of health, even though the actual class is often a waste of their time.

All of these situations apply to a small minority of students, but since the PPS mission talks about ALL students (100%) maximizing their potential, I urge you to include an appeal process for special circumstances--particularly for students who exceeded benchmarks and thus are already at a college level in some areas. I hope you will also confer with the ACCESS staff to ensure that those students don't find themselves in an untenable situation.

If reasonable exemptions are not made, then this new policy may paradoxically hold students back instead of helping them progress.

Margaret DeLacy

Schools stay under the 'gifted' gun

By TODD MURPHY Issue date: Tue, May 17, 2005
The Tribune A Multnomah County Circuit judge has sided with a group of Portland parents and told the Oregon Department of Education it must reconsider its ruling that the Portland school district was providing appropriate educational services to the district's "talented and gifted" children.......

from the District Procedures for the Implementation of Major School Changes
February 2005

"Special Education program administrators will work closely with the
administrators, teachers and other IEP team members to identify placement
of students with disabilities as well as whether the building that students
may be moving to has adequate supports and services to support a student or
whether the new site meets accessibility needs. If not, alternative plans
must be made for the student."

Now that PPS will again be required to make improvements in its TAG services, and since TAG students now fall within Special Education, I recommend that TAG program administrators also work closely with the administrators, teachers and other district members to identify appropriate placement for TAG students and whether the receiving building has adequate services to ensure appropriate instruction and student learning? If not, alternative plans can be made for the student.

In fact, I suggest reviving a plan for providing TAG services on a regional basis that was made by PPS about ten years ago. The reason it failed then was that the receiving school in the pilot made absolutely no plans for serving any transfer TAG students, so the parents refused to participate.

Margaret DeLacy

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

Subject: [Vicki Phillips announces process for Jefferson Re-design Committee
Jefferson Cluster Design Team Process

On March 25, 2005, the Portland School Board voted on a resolution to
have Vicki Phillips, Superintendent put together a design team to review
options for the Jefferson Cluster. Now that the budget has been approved
it is time to put the process in action.

The design team will be comprised of 15-20 individuals reflecting the
board's charge. To begin the process, Dr. Phillips and student
representative to the Board, Suleima Cortez will meet with student
groups from Tubman, Whitaker and Jefferson and take recommendations for
students to sit on the design team. The students will then be reviewed
by Dr. Phillips, principals and Suleima Cortez. The students will come
from student leadership, National Honor Society and Sisters in Action.
Dr. Phillips will also include principals and teachers on the design
team. The teachers will be recommended by the principals and the
Portland Teachers Association.

The additional members of the design team will be representatives of
the following:

1. Parents
2. Community-based organizations
3. Community-based businesses
4. Faith-based organizations
5. Higher Education
6. School-based partners

In making these appointments the superintendent will be looking for
individuals that possess the following qualifications:

1. A willingness to look at a range of potential options.
2. Individuals who have the interest of students at heart.
3. Flexible and willing to put the time and effort in the work.
(e.g. meetings, site visits to successful programs).
4. Able to ask the hard questions.
5. Possess a variety of experiences in the community.
The superintendent will finalize the committee in late May, early June.
In addition to the meetings of the design team, a series of community
meetings will be held to gather additional community input and to keep
the broader community informed.

Suggestions can be e-mailed to superintendent@..., called
into 503.916.3200, mailed or dropped off at 501 N. Dixon, Portland, OR
97227.

Friends:

The House Education Committee met at 1:00 P.M on Monday, May 16 to consider several bills including House Bill 3222, House Bill 3177 and House Bill 3170.

According to the legislative summary, House Bill 3222, which was sponsored by Representatives Boquist and Olson

"Suspends for 2005-2007 biennium requirements placed on school districts related to district improvement plans, assessments, alternative placements for students, Certificate of Initial, Mastery, Certificate of Advanced Mastery, alternative certificates, alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs, instructional materials, substitute teacher salaries, talented and gifted students, instructional time, class sizes, media programs and guidance and counseling programs. Prohibits Superintendent of Public Instruction from issuing school district and school performance reports.
Prohibits Department of Education from withholding State School Fund moneys from school districts for not complying with suspended requirements.
Prohibits Teacher Standards and Practices Commission from requiring school district to forfeit State School Fund moneys for employing persons not properly licensed."

Representatives Boquist and Olson appeared before the committee and explained that it arose from a series of conferences that they held with many school districts in their regions. School administrators told them that they had to contend with too many regulations and that they could use their education dollars more effectively if they had the discretion to decide how to spend their funding without the need for so much paperwork and so many state requirements.

Their plan was that districts could file with the Oregon Department of Education a notice of their intent to suspend specific portions of "Section 22" (that is, the Oregon Education Act). However, the Legislative Counsel's office had not drafted the implementation clause as they had hoped.

It is not too surprising that the two representatives heard complaints about paperwork from the superintendents. Naturally, like everyone else, superintendents feel they make the best possible decisions and resent having anyone looking over their shoulders. Moreover, they have to take care of all the paperwork, and they don't experience any of the benefits from filling out all those forms.

Representative March asked whether there wasn't a danger that in suspending the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission the schools might end up with criminals on their staff who could not be screened out or dismissed.

This issue appeared to be unresolved by the testimony.

Three substitute teachers testified that the passage of the bill might reduce their salaries which were already barely large enough to support them and their families.

I then testified in favor of the Talented and Gifted mandate. I am copying my comments below.

The hearing for this bill was adjourned without further action.

OTHER BILLS OF INTEREST

House Bill 2653, proposed by Representative Lim passed the Committee. As amended the bill provides for a tax credit of $500 for home schooling families. The bill now moves to the House Chamber with a subsequent referral to the House Revenue Committee.

House bill 3129, proposed by Representative Lim, passed the committee as amended. This bill requires four years of English and three years of math for graduation. The amendment permits school districts to award diplomas to students who do not have the required years of instruction if the student: (a) Has met or exceeded the academic content standards for mathematics or English established by the board; or (b) Displays proficiency in mathematics or English at a level
established by the board. The bill is waiting for its vote in the House Chamber, having been postponed several times.

In addition, the full House of Representatives voted today 34 to 23 to eliminate both the Certificate of Initial Mastery and the Certificate of Advanced Mastery. This bill now moves to the Senate where its prospects are doubtful.

To hear both the Chamber session and the House Education Committee on the Internet, you can go to (requires Real Player, available with a free download).

To search the legislative website for a specific measure number, you can go to and enter the correct number. Be sure to select the correct sort of measure by checking the bubbles--for example "house bill" or "senate resolution".


Margaret DeLacy, for the
OATAG Government Relations Committee

****
My comments before the House Education Committee, May 16, 2005

Dear Chairman Flores and members of the committee:

I am here to express my concerns about House Bill 3222 which would suspend major portions of our Education law.

There are many programs listed in this bill that you have not taken testimony about. Before suspending them, it would make sense to hold hearings and give parents, students, teachers and other concerned community organizations an opportunity to tell you more about them and why previous legislatures included them in state law.

I would like to comment specifically on the suspension of the Talented and Gifted (TAG) mandate which I know best.

Last spring, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) held statewide sessions on the TAG program. There was widespread participation from across Oregon. About 250 people attended these sessions, and 300 parents, 140 students and 75 TAG coordinators and teachers completed written surveys for a total of 535 written surveys. You have a copy of the report the Department made on these sessions as well as articles about them that appeared in the Eugene Register Guard and the Salem Statesman Journal.

I attended one session at each site, so I heard all the testimony. Last night I reviewed my 21 pages of notes from these hearings. The vast majority of parents and teachers said the program was inadequate and that children were suffering as a result. A few spoke about places where it was working. Over and over again, participants mentioned the lack of appropriate services for students and the need for more funding. Teachers pleaded for more training and better support from the Department.

Not a single person mentioned any problem with paperwork or excessive reporting or too much regulation. Instead, parent after parent and teacher after teacher spoke about the need for more state leadership.

Here are a few examples--I have provided additional comments on the handout

South Coast ...Just when things get going the rug is pulled away because there is no support from higher up.

High Desert....The underfunding of the TAG mandate puts forward the idea that it really doesn't matter. ...I miss leadership at a state level. It feels like we've gone back to the beginning again. Even token funding would bring credibility.

Wasco County: TAG seems to be the runt of the litter in terms of getting support.

I urge you to review the report from the Department of Education and consider these comments and ask yourselves how suspending the TAG mandate would address this testimony? This is not what parents, teachers, administrators and principals across Oregon are asking you to do.

The Oregon TAG mandate passed only because of very strong grassroots support from parents and teachers. Nearly every session since then, there has been an effort by a handful of lobbyists to repeal it, often through back-door methods. So far, they have failed. However all state TAG funding was cut without any public testimony at the very end of the final special session in 2002. The State Superintendent has used the loss of that funding, which has always been earmarked for teacher training, as an excuse for a lack of leadership. In the past, the Department has shown a much higher level of leadership in this area and it made a real difference on the ground. I believe that the Department can and should be doing a much better job--but passage of this bill will tell them they don't need to bother.

I believe that if you suspend the TAG mandate, there is a very good chance we will never get it back. I do not think it is a good idea to make such a serious decision without giving adequate warning and taking further testimony. By doing this, you would be sending a message to parents across the country that Oregon is turning its back on excellence in education.

On Thursday afternoon, a judge of the Multnomah County Circuit court ruled on a case that has been pending since 1997 when a group of Portland parents filed a complaint with the Oregon Department of Education concerning the lack of appropriate instruction for Portland TAG students. After many delays, the Department twice found Portland to be out of compliance with the TAG mandate. The third time, they found Portland in compliance and we exercised our right to appeal that decision. The judge ruled that

"The Oregon Department of Education must re-evaluate whether Portland Public Schools is doing enough for its talented and gifted students and must consider whether its rules governing TAG programs in all school districts are strong enough."

If you pass this bill, you will overturn that ruling and undermine years of hard work and faith in our system of government. Many Oregon families and families throughout the country have followed this case closely. This is no time to send the signal that Oregon is ready to abandon its most capable children.

Let's respect the testimony that has been collected from hundreds of parents and teachers across the state and strengthen our programs instead. I urge you to send a message to the ODE that you expect them to do more by passing House Bill 2954 instead of House Bill 3222.
Here are a few examples of comments made at the Oregon Department of Education public input sessions on Talented and Gifted Programs:
South Coast ...Just when things get going the rug is pulled away because there is no support from higher up.

High Desert....The underfunding of the TAG mandate puts forward the idea that it really doesn't matter. ...I miss leadership at a state level. It feels like we've gone back to the beginning again. Even token funding would bring credibility.

Wasco County: TAG seems to be the runt of the litter in terms of getting support.

Multnomah County: The Department of Education should be overseeing this.

Eastern Oregon.... The state law is excellent. Most rural districts need funding and expertise from the Oregon Department of Education. If we implemented and funded it we would be exemplary but districts are left on their own.

Vale..... ODE should give TAG a higher priority and should provide more communication with TAG coordinators in different districts.

Beaverton.... There is a need for state leadership to help TAG kids especially minority and low income kids.

Salem.... ..We find funds for Special Education but not for TAG.

Newberg.... As a TAG consultant I rely on the expertise of the Oregon TAG specialist...There is a need for [State] leadership. The State must model taking TAG seriously and [not] making a mockery of its laws

Salem student... The Law says TAG programs are required and the state should enforce the law.

Eugene professor of education... I'm sorry to be watching the demise of the program. We need leadership at the sate level and it has cost us funding because it's missing.

Eugene program director: The state is like a boat floating randomly without a leader.

Douglas County principal and TAG coordinator. With my other responsibilities I can't get TAG job done. We need support at the state level. We need training.

Roseburg....We need leadership from the state. TAG is on its last legs. My daughter has nowhere to go.

McMinnville: ODE should use its budget to reinstate its TAG specialist. It is sending the statement that it doesn't care. We need leadership.

Friends:

The message below comes from Jane Clarenbach, the NAGC lobbyist. Sen. Wyden signed this letter; Sen. Smith did not.

Margaret


Greetings,
Thank you to everyone for your efforts to get your Senators to join Senator Grassley in requesting $12 million for the Javits program in fiscal year 2006. I am delighted to say that 26 Senators co-signed Senator Grassley's letter (see below). In a year where many Senators have been extremely selective about programs for which they ask for increased funding, and in a year where the President again requested $0, you should all be very, very pleased.
The appropriations process for 2006 is moving along. The House is expected to vote on FY 2006 funding for education before the July 4 recess; the Senate always moves more slowly, but we may know the Senate funding level before the August recess. Needless to say, having 27% of the Senate officially support our program in writing will have some effect.
Thank you again for your hard work; I ask you to take a moment and thank your Senators (and staff people that you worked with) for their support.

Jane Clarenbach

Lake Oswego parents create specialty PTA
Parents of students in the TAG program are invited to join the new association, which has its first meeting tonight
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
MAYA BLACKMUN

LAKE OSWEGO -- Ally Sinclair, a Lake Oswego mom, said some children need more opportunities to challenge their intellect and hang out with like-minded peers.

So she and her husband started a playgroup for talented and gifted elementary school children last year that recently included a presentation by a physicist on black holes. She recalled Kevin Le's reaction:

"Oh, I get quarks," said the 8-year-old second-grader. "Tell us what's next."

Now the Sinclairs and other parents of children in the TAG program are inviting other families -- along with educators and community members -- to join them in a parent-teacher association to collaborate on how best to raise, teach and encourage such children.

.................

Michael Roberts, marketing manager for the National PTA in Chicago, said he could find no other similar group in its database of specialty parent-teacher associations. Such PTAs are organized around an educational need or community rather than a school. Another PTA formed last fall in Lake Oswego that serves families with children in special education.

"This could be the first with this focus," Roberts said of the Lake Oswego TAG-PTA.

Catherine:

Her name was Ann Fisher and she was a judge pro tem (i.e. a substitute judge). She certainly seemed to know what she was doing, though. We were expecting her to take some time to think things over before ruling.

Margaret

Hi Margaret:
Out of curiosity--who was the judge?
Catherine

Friends:

The hearing for the Portland TAG appeal was held this afternoon in Multnomah County Circuit Court, and we won.

The Department has twice issued final findings since 1997 that held the District was in violation of the Oregon TAG mandate. However, the third time, last spring, they found the district to be in compliance. The PPS parents who filed the initial complaint then exercised their right to appeal the findings to circuit court.

Our attorney, Tim Murphy, focused on District problems with identification of young students (grades k-2) and the provision of appropriate instruction for all TAG students. He noted that the evidence that the ODE used from the report by Barbara Maurer did not justify the conclusion that PPS was meeting the state requirements.

He had just finished his presentation and the judge said she was going to rule then and there.

She agreed with him that the Oregon Department of Education had insufficient grounds for finding the Portland Public School District in compliance with the Oregon TAG mandate. She seems to feel that the Oregon Administrative Rules need revision as well as the ODE Findings and Order, but I am not sure what part of the Rules she was concerned about. In general, I feel the Rules are pretty good, I just wish the ODE would enforce them

The case has now been sent back to the ODE to write a fresh opinion.

Under the appeals process that is cited in the TAG mandate, the State Superintendent of Education has the discretion to withhold all or part of Basic School Support from a district that is found to be out of compliance. As far as I know, however, the ODE has never done more than issue a compliance order telling a district what steps it needs to follow to come into compliance.

For more information, there is a detailed article that appeared in the Portland Tribune about a year ago.


I am also expecting some press coverage this time.


Margaret DeLacy

Friends:

On Monday, the House Education Committee will hold a public hearing and work session (i.e. vote) on a bill sponsored by Representatives Boquist and Olson that would suspend many laws regulating the services provided by local schools.

If you are a constituent of Rep. Boquist or Olson, please share your thoughts with them.

This is likely to be a very busy hearing. The abolition of CIM and CAM are in this bill, and are also in separate bills.

However, I hope some TAG parents will turn up and remind the committee that we do care about TAG. The only reason we still have a TAG mandate is that parents have testified in previous years about their need for the program.

If you have any questions, please call me at 503-774-7017 or call my cell at 503-704-3572 this weekend.

Margaret




Monday, May 16, 1:00 PM, Room H.R. E

House Bill 3222

Sponsored by Representatives BOQUIST, OLSON


SUMMARY

The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as introduced.

Suspends for 2005-2007 biennium requirements placed on school districts related to district improvement plans, assessments, alternative placements for students, Certificate of Initial, Mastery, Certificate of Advanced Mastery, alternative certificates, alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs, instructional materials, substitute teacher salaries, talented
and gifted students, instructional time, class sizes, media programs and guidance and counseling programs. Prohibits Superintendent of Public Instruction from issuing
school district and school performance reports.
Prohibits Department of Education from withholding State School Fund moneys from school districts for not complying with suspended requirements.
Prohibits Teacher Standards and Practices Commission from requiring school district to forfeit State School Fund moneys for employing persons not properly licensed.
Declares emergency, effective July 1, 2005.

Friends:


The PPS TAG appeal goes to court today at 4:00 in the Multnomah County Circuit Court.
That's the big courthouse downtown on 4th. between Salmon and Main.
The room number is 608.

If you wish to attend, please remember you will have to go through a metal detector to enter
the courthouse.

Margaret

Friends:

Below is the full text of an article that appeared in the online version of the Oregonian. I have added the emphasis.

From The Oregonian
The sorry demise of high school honors classes
Monday, May 09, 2005

CYNTHIA NGUYEN

Graduation is fast approaching. Soon, a new batch of freshmen will embark on their high school careers. Little do they know, high school is changing -- and not for the better.

To accommodate students of lower academic abilities, Franklin High School has instigated new programs and strategies to assist struggling students. Honors classes are diminishing, while something called "academies" combine all freshmen in the same curriculum. The argument for this homogenization is that struggling students benefit from observing and interacting with more successful students.

It may be unreasonable to ask teachers to instruct one class full of honors students and another filled with unmotivated, sometimes rebellious and generally more difficult students. But forcing a teacher to accommodate an entire spectrum of students of dissimilar academic levels proves more unreasonable.

Grouping students into classes according to academic ability, of course, may hurt those who find themselves in the low-performing group. But what about high-achieving students? They may inspire strugglers to excel if they're in the same classroom, but they pay the price of being held back until those students catch up.

Often, non-honors classes merely serve as private tutorials for those who are having a hard time learning with an audience observing, that audience being those who already have grasped the concepts being taught. The motivation found by struggling students proves inversely proportional to the motivation lost by the should-be honors students. Inspiration may be the desired result of Franklin's academies, but intimidation is also a prevalent consequence.

At Franklin, freshmen who passed 8th-grade math (Algebra 1-2) are forced to re-take the same course the following year. All freshmen are enrolled in the same generic science class, vaguely titled "Academy Science," in which science subjects are blended and heavily diluted to fit everyone's abilities. The days of distinct, separated science classes like Biology, Honors Biology and Experimental Science are over. All freshmen must now embrace the concept of academies.

Chances to excel are offered to students through the option of taking an additional math or science class as an elective. So those chagrined freshmen longing for the "ways of the past" are doubling up on core classes.

The Franklin class of 2005 is the last to have a freshman Honors English class. The following class years, 2006 and beyond, will be enrolled in general English, in which the kid who reads Hemingway and Faulkner will sit next to the kid who is working on spelling "neighbor" without using the letter "y."

Social studies classes no longer have honors classes, either.

But there is hope. All students have to do is fill out a form and do additional work to get an "H" on their transcript, indicating that they were enrolled in an honors class, even though it's not true. Who cares about the opportunity to learn at a comfortable or brisk pace, being involved in thought-provoking discussions or actually understanding something?

Doing extra work to earn a credit does not compensate for the loss of the honors-class experience. Unless education is more about transcripts than about learning, right?

Cynthia Nguyen is a senior at Franklin High School.

Friends:

This Thursday at 4:00 P.M. there will be a hearing concerning the appeal of PPS TAG parents against the decision of the Oregon Department of Education to find Portland in compliance with the Oregon TAG mandate. The hearing will take place in the Multnomah County Courthouse, 1021 SW 4th Ave. between Main and Salmon.

Both sides have filed for summary dismissal of this case. The judge will either dismiss the ODE case or the parent's case. If the judge finds for the parents, the case will be returned to the ODE to write a better decision.

This is likely to be the final round of the 1997 PPS complaint.

I am expecting reporters to attend and to be looking for parents to interview so if you are planning to come, please say something about the need for the ODE to do its job and for TAG students in our state to get a decent education.

Thanks,

Margaret