Today's TAG PPS redesign mtg notes
urbanmom
schools in the district from both sides of the river. Great
representation from Irvington @ the meeting today – @ least 4 parents
represented our school.
The goal of today’s session was to present TAG specific information to
PPS administration as it relates to high school redesign. Access
Academy parent Alison Able did a fantastic job at presenting TAG goals
and how they fit into PPS’ redesign goals. Key information from
Allison’s presentation:
* There are 6,400 TAG students in the district. 14% of PPS kids are
TAG designated (no differentiation on how they are designated – single
subject, dual subject, etc)
* 2/3 (66%) of TAG students are concentrated in 4 high schools (with
redesign TAG students maybe more scattered)
* Breakdown of TAG + high schools:
Grant – 27% of students are TAG
Lincoln – 26% (I think - it was right up there with Grant)
Cleveland – 26%
Wilson – 23%
Jefferson – I think it said 5% (I couldn’t read the numbers here)
* PPS has a 35% drop out rate; TAG students dropout @ the same rate
and @ the same level as all other dropouts. Identified reasons
(unique to TAG) that TAG kids drop out – often grouped with low
achievers; teachers dismiss their abilities
* 26% of PPS high school TAG students go to other PPS high school
options (other than their neighborhood schools (i.e. charter, magnet,
etc). There are TAG students in 40 different PPS options.
* TAG students generally already know 40% of what’s presented in the
class as “new information” and 85% of TAG students do not get
meaningful differentiation. [I don’t know the source of this local/
national, PPS, etc]
TAG concerns re high school redesign:
* Differentiation may be lost in shuffle of redesign. Less
opportunities for advanced classes. No allowed transfers to gain
access to more advanced course work
* Access to advanced course work varies from school to school – at
both high school level and from middle school to high school
* (Lack of) non academic support – peer groupings, opportunities for
like TAG students to interact
* Teachers are not equipped to educate TAG learners
TAG parent working group recommends PPS consider the following when
marching forward with redesign:
Ability groupings
Honors courses
Flexible pacing
Credit by exam
Etc. …(She moved the slide before I could jot it down)
There is a new email for the PPS district TAG office:
pps...@pps.k12.or.us
Representatives from the district that were present (the titles are
not quite exact but pretty close): PPS TAG coordinator, HS redesign
project coordinator, assistant to project coordinator and district
options coordinator. District articulated that they “hear” us and
thanked us for attending.
PPS next steps: more meetings/information exchange opportunities.
Cynthia, Caroline and Lisa – feel free to post corrections and/or
additions to what I’ve got here.