Your Input Needed! - Single Subject Acceleration Survey!

Portland Public School's (PPS's) Talented And Gifted parent Advisory Council (TAGAC) is working to improve TAG services for PPS students.

As you may be aware, TAGAC recently passed "A Recommended Framework for Improved TAG Services in PPS" (for details, go tohttp://www.pps.k12.or.us/files/tag/recommendations-v11.pdf).  Members like myself are currently advocating for PPS to implement those Measures.  Please distribute this document to anyone who may be interested.
Measure 2 of the proposal requests that PPS improve the process used when parents request that their child be evaluated for Single Subject Advancement (SSA).   Measure 1 suggests that teachers and principals use a similar process at the beginning of every school year to evaluate every elementary and middle school student's current level and put them in a math class at that level. It requests that every school support at least one grade of acceleration without having to transport a child to another school.

If you (or a PPS teacher or other PPS staff) have requested or tried to request Single Subject Acceleration (SSA) for your child in any subject, we would appreciate hearing your story.  Specifically, we would like to know:

• In what subject did you (or a teacher/staff) request that your child be evaluated for SSA?
• What grade was your child in?
• Optionally, what school was your child in at the time? (Feel free to skip this question.)
• Please describe why you or a teacher/staff requested SSA.  What do you believe was the impact of inappropriate placement on your child.
• Did you request that your child be evaluated for SSA or was the evaluation initiated by a PPS teacher/staff?
• How long did it take from the time the request was made to the time you found out if your child would be evaluated?
• How was the request received?  Were you encouraged or discouraged to proceed or was your request received in a neutral manner?
• Was your child evaluated or was the request turned down?
• If your request for evaluation was turned down:
• What reason was given?
• In lieu of acceleration, were any changes made in how your child was taught in this subject?
• Did you or do you plan to take any additional actions because of this?  (Such as changing schools, changing school districts, pulling your child out for full or partial home schooling, etc.)
• If your request for evaluation was accepted:
• What tests or other evaluations did your child take?
• Did PPS determine that SSA was appropriate or not appropriate?
• If after the evaluation, SSA was deemed appropriate:
• How many grade levels was your child accelerated?
• Please describe the impact of that experience on your child.
• Did SSA cause any issues in subsequent classes/school years?
• If after the evaluation, SSA was deemed not appropriate:
• What reason or evaluation results were given?
• What do you believe was the impact of inappropriate placement on your child.
• In lieu of acceleration, were any changes made in how your child was taught in this subject?
• Did you or do you plan to take any additional actions because of this?  (Such as changing schools, changing school districts, pulling your child out for full or partial home schooling, etc.)
• If your child currently attends ACCESS and you requested your child be evaluated for SSA before they entered ACCESS, please also answer the following two questions:
• If your child was turned down for SSA before entering ACCESS, was your child accelerated after entering ACCESS?  If so, how many grades?
• If your child was accelerated before entering ACCESS, was your child accelerated any additional grades after entering ACCESS?

Thank you for sharing your experience.  We are working hard to make things better!  Your examples will help us do that.

nandjmom4@gmail.com