Seattle Schools Community Forum: More Thoughts on Gifted Education

Seattle Schools Community Forum: More Thoughts on Gifted Education:

More Thoughts on Gifted Education

At last Wednesday's Board meeting, one person (whose name I missed) speaking on the need for Ethnic Studies said that there were five people working in the Race & Equity office while there were seven in Advanced Learning.  (It's unclear why she picked that example.)

Two comments.  One, I checked with the district and Advanced Learning has eight FTEs while Race & Equity/School & Family Partnerships has 7.0 FTEs.

Two, every single department in the district is supposed to be looking at their work thru the lens of equity.  So, in that way, everyone who works for the district is thinking about equity.  I don't think the district would disagree with that statement.

What I find baffling is this idea that Advanced Learning is a program for white children.  It's not.  I don't hear enough about people who want to find more children of color to be in the program, just that it's terribly wrong that the program is mostly white and Asian children.

Don't people want more kids of color in the program OR is it that they just don't want the program at all?  It would be a good idea to be honest about that point.

 The Times recently had a story about how Federal Way School District is reaching more black and Latino students with advanced learning.  It's a wide-ranging article and I would say the tone towards Seattle schools is less-than-friendly (and actually not totally accurate).

The biggest problem with this article is the casual use of "advanced Seattle Schools Community Forum: More Thoughts on Gifted Education: