Response from Kate Toews
(1) Do you think Advanced Learning is adequately included in the district priorities detailed in the Strategic Framework and School Improvement Plan processes?
If so, where do you see it?
If not, why isn’t it included?
There are many reasons that Advanced Learning isn't adequately included in priorities each year including school culture, resource constraints, etc. Historically our community has not always seen equity and excellence as mutually reinforcing goals. I believe this is a culture shift that needs to start at the top, and that our District needs to build the culture that Advanced Learning is a strategy for all kids - twice exceptional, high potential, and high proficiency kids.
(2) How should the district invest time and resources to meet the instructional needs of students who could benefit from challenge above grade level standards while continuing the critical work of helping other students reach grade level proficiency? Will you make this a priority for our district if elected?
I believe the district needs to expect and enable all kids to excel, and that this is one of the most powerful equity strategies. Three of my priorities are:
Our district has the resources to make different choices: we spend more than $17,000 per child (average in the US is about $10,700). AL is simply not a budget challenge; it is a challenge of priorities.I believe we need leadership at the School Board level willing to consider significantly better ways of serving our students in an effort to build excellence with equity.
(1) Do you think Advanced Learning is adequately included in the district priorities detailed in the Strategic Framework and School Improvement Plan processes?
If so, where do you see it?
If not, why isn’t it included?
There are many reasons that Advanced Learning isn't adequately included in priorities each year including school culture, resource constraints, etc. Historically our community has not always seen equity and excellence as mutually reinforcing goals. I believe this is a culture shift that needs to start at the top, and that our District needs to build the culture that Advanced Learning is a strategy for all kids - twice exceptional, high potential, and high proficiency kids.
(2) How should the district invest time and resources to meet the instructional needs of students who could benefit from challenge above grade level standards while continuing the critical work of helping other students reach grade level proficiency? Will you make this a priority for our district if elected?
I believe the district needs to expect and enable all kids to excel, and that this is one of the most powerful equity strategies. Three of my priorities are:
- Identification: Every year I see students who are not at proficiency yet but who clearly have high potential as advanced learners. These students currently have no support. We need to identify students based on potential, not simply end of year test scores.
- Instruction: the ability for teachers to differentiate within a classroom is core to the success of AL and it is currently not consistent. We need to include AL in professional development and continue to ramp up efforts to attract and recruit the best teachers. Differentiation and flexible grouping comes down to the choices of the individual teacher and teaching group - we need to provide adequate support for teachers to use flexible groups, but we also need to focus on culture so that all of our schools believe Advanced Learning is indeed a critical equity strategy.
- Resources: I believe our current AL instruction method using IRTs shared across schools is not enough. Some IRTs do not come from an instructional background, spend large amounts of time testing students, and do not have enough time. They have limited ability to serve more students and every year parents and schools fight about allocations. I believe we need to be open to different methods of serving our AL community - we need a more fundamental shift in the district that considers both staffing and programmatic models.
Our district has the resources to make different choices: we spend more than $17,000 per child (average in the US is about $10,700). AL is simply not a budget challenge; it is a challenge of priorities.I believe we need leadership at the School Board level willing to consider significantly better ways of serving our students in an effort to build excellence with equity.