Are Seattle schools failing highly capable students? Parents raise concerns

Seattle parents and school board members are calling on the district to come up with a better plan for advanced learning.

At a school board meeting Wednesday, Seattle Public Schools officials gave an update on the district's highly capable services.

It comes as the district is in the process of sunsetting dedicated schools for advanced learners. Under the new approach, advanced learning is supposed to be embedded in neighborhood schools, and teachers are expected to personalize lesson plans to every kids' needs and abilities.

These changes are part of an effort to address longstanding equity concerns. Historically, Black and Hispanic students have been underrepresented in this program. The district is also moving to universal screening, so a family doesn't need to pay for outside testing or an educator's recommendation to get into the program.

District data shared Wednesday show efforts to make the program more equitable are starting to work — the number of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students identified as highly capable increased in 2024.

RELATED: Should highly capable students go to different schools? Seattle changes its approach

But over a dozen parents told the school board Wednesday that highly-capable instruction is inconsistent across schools. In some classrooms, it's not happening at all.

Matt Sussman is the parent of two highly capable children in Seattle Public Schools.

His oldest son is thriving at Cascadia Elementary, a highly-capable cohort school. But he worries his daughter, a kindergartner who's already reading chapters and able to do second grade math, may never have that chance, as the district gradually phases out lower grades there.

"As I watch my daughter's hunger for learning outpace her class, this feels like demolishing a bridge before building its replacement," Sussman said.

That, Sussman believes, is inequitable.

"The board's mission is to serve all students," he said. "By eliminating HCC [the Highly Capable Cohort program] without a proven alternative in place, you're not advancing equity. You're creating a system where only families who can afford private tutoring and enrichment programs will be able to access accelerated learning.”

RELATED: Seattle parents call in attorneys over school district's highly capable program changes

LeighAnne Thompson shared a similar experience, and said the district may be in violation of state law, which says says districts must provide a highly capable program, though officials have discretion on how it's run.

"I have a sixth grader who's highly capable and he is not receiving any accelerated learning," she said. "Until SPS has a real working alternative that is both pedagogically sound and in line with our state Legislature's intentions for highly capable students, SPS is failing all of our students."

About half of the school board also expressed frustration with advanced learning in the district.

"I'm not against 'dismantling' the cohort model," said Boardmember Michelle Sarju. "But I can't support the dismantling of a cohort model without a coherent, implementable plan that works for kids."

Sarju said the district needs to ensure highly capable programming is accessible at all schools across the district.

"I don't think it's unrealistic for parents to expect consistency," she said. "We expect consistency in the classroom. When children show up, they need consistency, predictability, reliability ... Right now, they feel like they're not getting it."

Vice President Evan Briggs said the information presented Wednesday doesn't match her experiences or others she's heard from parents.

"I think it's really important that we acknowledge that what we're saying is happening in neighborhood schools isn't happening," she said. "It points to a chronic issue, I think, in this district of ideas and words on paper and then a failure to implement."

District officials have acknowledged the rollout of changes to the highly capable program haven't been smooth.

"We know that there's some gaps in terms of how we deliver that," Superintendent Brent Jones said in an interview with KUOW's Soundside in November. "We need to step back and start to study, you know, what is really happening in our schools? What is really happening in our classes for our highly capable learners?"

RELATED: Where are the black kids in Seattle's gifted program?

Despite the challenges during the transition, Associate Superintendent Rocky Torres-Morales said Wednesday that he believes moving advanced learning to neighborhood schools can — and does in some places — work.

"We do have evidence of some schools that are doing it and doing it very well," he said.

Jones said Wednesday the district is committed to continuing to improve the program.

"It's important that we have access, assurances, and adequate support when we're providing highly capable opportunities for our students," he said.

District officials are expected to present final updates to the advanced learning plan by April.