For anyone interested in talented & gifted issues at Alameda and within PPS

Friday, June 14, 2013

6/11 TAGAC meeting

Highlights from the 6/11 TAG Advisory Council Meeting -

Amy Doan and Virginia La Forte represented Alameda.
Mark Feldman was elected Chair for 2013-2014. Brenda Ray Scott will continue her work with the title of Past Chair and Communications lead.
TAGAC has formally requested that PPS improve communication on the acceleration policy. The math acceleration policy was approved in Oct. 2010 and you can see a copy here, but it is not on the PPS site. TAGAC wants families to know about both grade and single-subject acceleration options, and will continue to work on synchronized math and reading times to ease acceleration.

Brenda Ray Scott has met with PPS' Web designers and has approval to help redesign and continually update the TAG and TAGAC sections.

The group discussed policy around cluster grouping and PPS confirmed that some schools cluster group. TAGAC requested a list of schools that cluster group, as most attendees reported that schools spread advanced learners throughout classrooms to 'balance' the classes.

Members reiterated their interest in a teacher poll. We'd like to know what teachers think of district TAG policy & practices, what support would help & what is/isn't working.  Teacher poll seems a natural follow-up to the family poll.

TAGAC will meet over the summer - dates tbd.

Here's a 6/9 NY Times article on the return of ability grouping

Have a wonderful summer!
 

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Article & Meeting


-Today's Trib has a cover story on ACCESS' new home, "patchwork" gifted services in neighborhood schools and the future of the Rose City Park building. Here's the link - http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/154033-program-for-gifted-gets-new-home-room-to-grow

-The final TAGAC (TAG advisory council) meeting of the school year is next Tues., 6/11. Details below. Virginia La Forte and I plan to share TAGAC duties next year, but we WELCOME help. The TAGAC meetings are open to all. If you are interested in participating as a formal member or just as an occasional attendee, please come.

Please spread the word about our mailing list to any families who are interested. Thanks!
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Hello! Here is your friendly reminder of the next TAGAC meeting scheduled for Tuesday, 6/11 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at the BESC (District admin. building) at 501 N. Dixon St, 97227 Mazama Room (second floor). Please RSVP by June 7 so that I can have the appropriate number of materials and seats available.

At this meeting, we will elect officers, review the TAG 101 meeting, report on progress with our work plan for the TAGAC priorities, and other matters.