Introduction to the Access School
Why should we consider a school for the highly gifted in Portland?
Admission Policy and Procedure
Staffing Worksheet
Space/resource needs
"The relatively few gifted students who have had the advantage of special programs have shown remarkable improvements in self-understanding and in ability to relate well to others, as well as in improved academic and creative performance. The programs have not produced arrogant, selfish snobs; special programs have extended a sense of reality, wholesome humility, self-respect, and respect for others."
--Sidney Marland, U.S. Commissioner of Education, Education of the Gifted and Talented, Report to the Congress of the United States, (US GPO,1972)
Dear School Board members:
The idea of a school for the highly gifted is not new either to Portland Public Schools or to many other school districts throughout the nation. In 1994, PPS recognized that the unique academic, social and emotional needs of this population were not being met. PPS staff visited Seattle to learn about its highly gifted program and commissioned Jennifer Jasaitis to research best practices and other programs nation-wide. This study, entitled "Alternative Accelerated Program: Research and Recommendations for Full-Time Classes," incorporated research on best practices and information about successful programs for gifted students. The research showed that full time programs for these children were effective.
The report stated, "It is clear that where these full-time programs exist, school districts are acknowledging the validity of meeting the needs of the entire range of their students, encouraging even the most talented to reach their potential."(p.28) The Jasaitis report recommended that a school for the highly gifted be established in addition to broad-based TAG services in regular classrooms.
The need for an accelerated, individualized program for this unique population persists. Twice in recent years, the TAG department has returned to the APP school in Seattle for more information. Following the most recent visit, in the spring of 2000, Amy
Welch, the PPS TAG administrator, sent a memo to the Superintendent, Dr. Canada, proposing a "university school" for very gifted Portland TAG students. Last fall, Dr. Canada asked Dr. Margaret DeLacy, the chair of the TAG advisory committee, to convene a task force to carry out additional research and make recommendations on this proposal.
The task force is composed of District staff members, parents, and community members. It has met almost every week since October. It has studied additional research and investigated successful programs and new programs across the country. The Task Force has concluded that a Special Focus Program for highly gifted students would not only substantially benefit them, but would also be in the best interest of the district as a whole.
What follows is a draft description of such a school.
STUDENT BODY
This school will serve the needs of students in the top one percent of our district, as measured by test scores in reading, mathematics or general aptitude. (slightly below 140 IQ, dpending on the test that is used). A student in the top one percent generally is ready for curriculum that is three or more years above grade level, has almost no repetition, and is much faster-paced than the normal curriculum.
The Research and Evaluation Department’s preliminary estimate is that 960 of PPSs 50,000 students might be eligible for this school on the basis of reading or math scores. The department has found that there is almost no overlap between students who gain scores in the top one percent in math and those who are in the top one percent in reading. The differing strengths and weaknesses of the students, even among the top one percent span a wide variety of abilities and talents. The school could also expect to draw some applicants from outside the district--from home schools, private schools and other districts.
SIZE
This school will have about 500 students in grades 1-12. We recommend that the program begin by admitting students in grades 1-7, with an initial intake of 189 students, growing over three years to about 300 students in eleven classrooms. In the third year there would be one class for every grade level in grades 1-5 and two in every grade level in grades 6-8. The creation of additional classes for middle school students will permit an influx of new students and a better dynamic. The task force decided against offering kindergarten due to the difficulty of obtaining accurate assessment data on young children. Instead, PPSs TAG psychologist has stated that where appropriate, some students could be assessed for entry directly into first grade.
After three years, the high school program would open, probably as a "school within a school" in one of our existing high schools, serving approximately 220 students. Some middle school students would move into the high school program when their instructional needs exceed the services that the middle school could provide. Students in the high school program would be able to share classes and activities with other students in the same high school, and advanced students in the regular high school program could enroll in some of the advanced classes in the gifted program.
It is unlikely that any district or even any neighborhood school within our district would experience a significant loss of enrollment because of this school, given its overall size and the limitation of enrollment to students in the top 1%.
ADMISSION
The admission policy is designed to discover information about the whole child without requiring blind adherence to a single test score. The primary goal is to determine if admission to the program is in the best interest of the child. In addition to test scores, we will require interviews, work samples, and letters of recommendation, as well as TAG qualification under Oregon law. Further assessments may be requested. Both actual performance and a student’s potential to succeed in an accelerated environment will be considered.
The PPS TAG department uses a very wide range of assessment information for identifying students, including assessments that are non-verbal and do not require knowledge of English. School identification teams collect a range of information about each student and can select the assessment tools that best illustrate a students strength. Thus, by using the existing TAG criteria as a requirement for applications, we are using a process that is familiar to our staff, is solidly based on best practices research, provides information beyond a single test score, and identifies a diverse population of students within our district. Currently approximately 5,000 PPS students are identified as TAG.
CURRICULUM
The curriculum will cover the "scope and sequence" requirements of the Oregon Department of Education and Portland Public Schools at an accelerated pace and with advanced materials where appropriate. We have not found a satisfactory "off the shelf" curriculum for these students. A draft of the curriculum philosophy to guide the staff in curriculum development is included in this application
Among the students in this school, there will also be many students who are highly gifted in one field and not gifted (possibly even learning-disabled) in others. There will also be some exceptionally gifted students whose instructional needs might not be met even with this highly accelerated curriculum. In any classroom there will still be a wide range of interests and abilities that will require individualized curriculum and instruction. The demands of this population will necessitate teachers who are flexible and like working with high ability students.
Exceptionally gifted students who are likely be completely isolated in neighborhood schools and possibly suffer severe clinical depression in normal school settings will find a more accepting and supportive atmosphere that will support their intellectual and emotional development.
We are exploring the Primary and Middle Years framework of the International Baccalaureate program. This is not a fixed curriculum, but rather a systematic approach to planning and integrating curriculum. The program provides excellent support that enables teachers to develop their own curriculum. It ensures the overall quality of the instruction through site visits. Although the IB program was not specifically developed for gifted students, it includes many of the features that any high quality school program should offer, including a second language, integration of the arts, and inclusion of character development and community service into the fabric of the school. Teachers use portfolio assessments. Unlike the High School program, the IB program for younger students does not involve any specific course requirements or testing. Instead, students complete the program by creating a project their final year. Becoming an "official" IB school requires an extended period of planning and several years of operation before a school can apply.
STAFFING
We have staffed the school with the same allocation of FTE as other district
schools. Attached is a draft plan for the staffing and student numbers for the first
three years, assuming a student/teacher ratio of 27 to 1. We have added middle school staffing for the middle school students only on a pro-rated basis--that is, 100 students would receive 1/5 of the middle school staffing for a school of 500 students.
We request one additional FTE for a counselor/curriculum planner. Providing counseling is crucial for these high-needs students, many of whom will be entering the program after years of frustration and unhappiness in other programs. In addition, the staff funded by this F.T.E. will help adjust curriculum and instruction for the exceptionally gifted students, will provide forward planning for the high school opening, and will coordinate instruction. Since the school will make extensive use of ability grouping and allow students to attend classes at other grade levels, the school will need someone to keep track of these students and facilitate communication between teachers.
CONCLUSION
The task force envisions the school as a resource for the metropolitan area. Exceptionally high achieving students are expensive and difficult to serve adequately when they are isolated, so we believe that the program will provide a welcome service to other districts. We expect that the school’s curriculum and instructional program will serve as a learning center for teachers throughout the State of Oregon and provide opportunities to create partnerships with other districts, colleges, and schools of education. We hope this program will attract outstanding teachers to the District.
If you approve of the concept of the school, we plan to apply for grants or other funds so that teachers will be able to write curriculum and plan instruction before the school opens the following fall. We hope you will work with us to identify a principal or a "head teacher" who can initiate and direct the planning process and who will also make sure that the school building is adequately furnished and prepared.
The district has moved up the date of the School Fair to October and the student
transfer application process to mid-winter. If this school is to be part of an orderly application process, then the concept of the school must be approved in the early autumn of the year before it opens and a location must be chosen, in order for parents to have sufficient information to select this school.
We believe that this school will play a significant role in enabling Portland Public Schools to carry out its mission "to support all students in achieving their very highest educational and personal potential, to inspire in them an enduring love of learning, and to prepare them to contribute as citizens of a diverse, multicultural, and international community."
The PPS mission statement says that PPS will support ALL students in achieving their very highest educational and personal potential" The "objectives" say that 100% of our students will ... show significant academic growth every year, will set ambitious learning goals, persist in pursuing those goals,and demonstrate evidence of progress..."
These goals are not being met for highly gifted students. Three investigations by the State of Oregon have found that PPS is not in compliance with the TAG mandate.
PPS does not regularly provide achievement test data for TAG students specifically. Current test data indicate that very high achieving students aren’t making the same growth as average students.
Highly gifted students have specific instructional needs that must be met for them to be successful. According to Dr. Karen Rogers, gifted students benefit from abstract and complex content and often find it difficult to reconstruct their problem solving strategies. Gifted students perform better when the majority of their academic time is spend in true peer interactions. Teachers with extensive training in gifted education produce significantly higher academic and self-esteem effects for gifted students. Dr. Rogers also found that students with an IQ of 130 learn material 8 times faster than students with an IQ of 70. Gifted students retain science and mathematics content better when taught 2 or 3 times faster than normal students. Gifted students are significantly more likely to forget or mislearn science and mathematics content when they drill or review it more than 2 to 3 times. An inappropriate curriculum also puts highly gifted students at risk of depression, underachievement, low self-esteem and poor motivation, according to expert Miraca Gross.
Although many TAG students could successfully be placed in cluster groups within a school, there are too few highly gifted students to find peers in any single school or cluster. The District’s TAG policy, adopted by the School Board in 1996 (rev. 1998) calls for "district or area grouping ... by administrative transfer to provide more appropriate rate and level services," for exceptional or geographically isolated TAG students.
Grouping highly gifted students benefits them and does not in any way harm other students who improve in self-esteem when the gifted students are removed according to a major research synthesis funded by the Dept. of Education. The research found that ability grouping also had "slightly positive" academic effects for lower achieving students.
Grouping students for instruction is much more cost-effective than attempting to instruct them individually in different classrooms.
Why should we consider a school for the highly gifted in Portland?--in more depth
The PPS mission statement says that PPS will support ALL students in achieving their very highest educational and personal potential" The "core values" state that individuals should have equitable and just access to opportunities and satisfied basic needs, and the objectives say that 100% of our students will ... show significant academic growth every year, will set ambitious learning goals, persist in pursuing those goals, and demonstrate evidence of progress..."
These goals are not being met for highly gifted students. Three investigations by the State of Oregon have found that PPS is not in compliance with the TAG mandate. The most recent investigation found that "not all teachers ... were able to demonstrate appropriate application of the principles of rate and level learning for TAG students ... All TAG students therefore, were not receiving appropriate TAG services."1
Many people seem to believe if a student’s achievement test score is high enough, that student is showing acceptable "achievement." But a single score offers us almost no information about whether a school system is actually doing a good job of teaching. It may tell more about what a student has learned at home than in school.
If a student enters third grade with a given achievement test score, and leaves at the end of the year with the SAME score, then the student has not made "significant growth" or in fact, any growth at all, no matter what that score was when the student entered.
To understand whether students are making "growth" we must compare student scores from one year to another year to see whether they have improved. This GAIN in student test scores is a better measure than absolute scores of how good a job the district is doing in teaching its students and how much our students are actually learning in school. This information is available in a report prepared annually by the Research and Evaluation Department entitled "RIT gains by Achievement level."
Unfortunately, because of the transition from PALT test scores to State test scores, administered in grades 3,5,8 and 10, last year’s data does not give an accurate picture of studenty gains from year to year. Evelyn Brzezinski has told me that this is a transition problem, and will not continue to confuse the picture in future years.
Data from the last year before this transition problem shows very clearly that we have a very serious achievement problem among our very high achieving students.
PPS does not regularly provide achievement test data for TAG students. However, it does compile achievement test data for "very high achieving students." These make up about 6% of all students. According to these data, "very high achieving students" are not making average gains on our achievement tests. They are not learning, growing, or achieving as much as other students in PPS. They are not showing even acceptable, much less "significant" academic growth. 2
Highly gifted students have specific instructional needs.....
They learn at a different RATE.....
According to Dr. Karen Rogers, the learning rate of children above 130 IQ is approximately 8 times faster than for children below 70 IQ. Gifted students are significantly more likely to retain science and mathematics content accurately when taught 2-3 times faster than normal class pace.
Gifted students are significantly more likely to FORGET or mislearn science and mathematics content when they must drill or review it more than 2-3 times.3
They learn at a different LEVEL4....
| AGE | IQ | "Mental AGE" | GRADE LEVEL |
| 7 | 100 | 7 | 2 |
| 120 | 8.4 | 3.4 | |
| 145 | 10.2 | 5.2 | |
| 160 | 11.2 | 6.2 | |
| 13 | 100 | 13 | 8 |
| 120 | 15.6 | 10.6 | |
| 145 | 19.9 | 13.9 | |
| 160 | 20.8 | 15.8 |
They think differently.....
According to Dr. Rogers, gifted students benefit from abstract and complex content and often find it difficult to reconstruct their problem solving strategies. Gifted students perform better when the majority of their academic time is spend in true peer interactions. Teachers with extensive training in gifted education produce significantly higher academic and self-esteem effects for gifted students.5
When their needs are not met, highly gifted students are at risk of depression and other problems. The best modern study, by Miraca Gross, found that the 12 exceptionally gifted children she studied in depth had positive views of their home/family life and of themselves, but "the majority ... have experienced extreme difficulty in establishing positive social relationships with age-peers. The extremely negative perceptions which these children hold both of their own social skills and of their probable image in the eyes of other children are reflected in disturbingly low levels of social self-esteem." She concluded that "an inappropriate ... curriculum ... not only imposed underachievement... but ... also ... low self-esteem and poor motivation." She found that they differed from children of the same age in moral and social development as well as academic ability.6
Linda Silverman, who has seen 3,000 gifted children in Denver concluded that "Gifted children have better social adjustment in classes with children like themselves; the brighter the child, the lower the child's social self-concept in regular classrooms. Social self-concept immediately improves when children are placed with true peers in special classes.7
Gifted programs are not "elitist." They provide services that are needed by poor and minority students as much as by other students. Silverman noted, "There are more poor gifted children than there are rich gifted children. Therefore, when attempts are made to eliminate programs for the gifted on the basis that they are "elitist," it is the poor who suffer the most."8
A study of gifted minority students in Racine Wisconsin found that of 24 minority students enrolled in a gifted program, none dropped out, whereas of 67 students in a control program, 30 students (45%) dropped out.9
Grouping gifted students together is likely to produce significant achievement gains--without harming others or costing a lot. Studies funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education have found that when gifted students are grouped together and are provided with accelerated curricula, they outperform students of the same age and ability by nearly one full year.10 Highly gifted students could be expected to make larger gains.
Grouping these students for instruction is much more cost-effective than attempting to instruct them individually in different classrooms. It is thirty times less expensive to provide staff development for one teacher in a class of thirty gifted students than to provide training for the teachers of these same students in thirty different classrooms. The APP school in Seattle operates at the same F.T.E. allotment as any other Seattle school (except for transportation) and brings families into the school district and the city itself.
Grouping highly gifted students benefits them, and does not in any way harm the other students in the school. Government-funded studies have found that "students who are not in high ability groups are not harmed academically by ability grouping and may gain academic ground in some cases. Ability grouping does not have negative effects on student self-esteem and appears to be slightly positive for lower achieving students."11
See also:
ACCESS school mission statement, vision statement and goals, 1/18/01
Silverman’s Chart of Provisions for Exceptional Learners http://www.davidsonfoundation.org/Q&Alink4schart.htm
Questions and Answers about Profoundly Gifted Children, http://www.davidsonfoundation.org/questions.htm
Nurturing Social Emotional Development of Gifted Children, ERIC Digest http://ericae.net/ericdb/ED372554/htm
Notes
1. Oregon Dept. of Education, letter from C. Gregory McMurdo, executive legal officer, "In the matter of the complaint against Portland S.D. Case #581-022-1940-97-2" Salem, OR, August 11, 2000.
2. See Comments on student achievement for the School Board, April 9, 2001 http://www.tagpdx.org/studentachievement.htm
3. Karen Rogers, "Research-Based ‘Essentials’ of Gifted Education Services" from The Minnesota Gifted and Talented Development Center, Best Practice Research
4. "An IQ-to-Grade conversion chart", by Valerie Bock, GT World, http://www.gtworld.org/iqgrade.html
5. Rogers, "Research-based essentials"
6. Miraca Gross, Exceptionally Gifted Children, (London and New York, 1993), Ch.9, "Psychosocial Development," pp. 233-261. These findings confirm the findings of earlier work.
7. Linda Silverman, What We Have Learned About Gifted Children 1979-1997" http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Whatwe'velearned.html
8. Silverman, "What we have learned".
9. Jocklyn Smith, Barbara LeRose and Robert Clasen, "Underrepresentation of Minority Students in Gifted Programs, Yes! It matters!" Gifted Child Quarterly, (1991) 35: 81-83.
10. National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, "What Educators need to know about Ability Grouping." This is a composite of two studies: Karen Rogers, The relationship of grouping practices to the education of the gifted and talented learner, (Storrs, CT: National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, 1991) and James A. Kulik, An Analysis of the Research on Ability Grouping: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, (Storrs, Ct: National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, 1992).
11."What Educators need to Know about Ability Grouping."
The ACCESS school allows highly gifted children to thrive socially, emotionally and academically; helps them develop a lifelong love of learning; and encourages them to become full and productive participants in our rapidly changing global community.
This challenging, open-ended arts and academics program elicits the full potential from gifted students by supporting both intellectual and personal growth. The rigorous, highly individualized program recognizes different learning styles and talents within a nurturing environment that encourages the development of the whole person.
adopted 1/18/01
The ACCESS School allows highly gifted children to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically; helps them develop a lifelong love of learning; and encourages them to become full and productive participants in a rapidly changing global community.
The ACCESS School offers a highly accelerated and conceptually challenging curriculum for highly gifted students. The program serves students whose exceptional academic needs cannot be accommodated in a neighborhood school. The School will support acceleration of more than two years above grade level while allowing students to be instructed with age peers.
The Admissions Committee will take into account both abilities and needs of the applicant. Test scores will not be the sole criterion for admission, although applicants are expected to have test scores in the 99th percentile in either: general intellectual ability, mathematics, or reading. The Committee will consider other evidence of giftedness that demonstrates the applicant's potential to perform at this level; including, but not limited to: early reading, teacher observations, advanced mathematical skills, sophisticated work, depth of thought, or unusual creativity. The admissions process will comply with all federal and state statutes and regulations.
The application package must include:
- evidence that the student meets the criterion for TAG identification (Oregon Administrative Rules 581-022-1310);
- evidence of accelerated performance;
- a statement of student and family commitment to the program;
- teacher recommendations;
- work samples or portfolios;
- school transcripts or evaluations.
The Admissions Committee may also consider and/or request:
- tests or assessments administered by licensed professionals;
- interviews of both applicant and family;
- observations of applicant;
- a classroom visit.
In the event the number of qualified applications exceeds the number of available spaces other factors may be taken into account:
- preference for applicants currently residing in the Portland Public Schools district;
- need of the classrooms for population diversity to the extent allowed by law;
- other alternatives or support available to the applicant.
adopted 3/9/01
Suggestions for the ACCESS School curriculum philosophy
I. Math.
Guiding philosophy: The curriculum will be structured to stressskills and understanding equally. Memorization should be confined to the very basic arithmetic skills (in particular addition and multiplication). Rote drilling beyond these skills should be minimal, particular for bright students. (Studies show that even modest repetition for bright students is counterproductive.)
Learning goals:
1. Students should be challenged by a broad pre-calculus curriculum (logic, probability and statistics, graphs and analytic geometry, classical geometry, mensuration, trigonometry, axiomatic arithmetic, set theory, elementary vectors, algebra, logarithms, number theory, exponents and exponential notation, use of programmable calculators) before being exposed to calculus and higher mathematics.
2. Arithmetic skills should include estimation techniques. A student should know how to determine if the answer derived with a calculator is reasonable. Basic computational skills can be addressed at successive grade levels with incrementally advanced treatment. (E.g., multiplication tables up to 12 x 12 in the first pass, double digit multiplication in second pass, multiplication of polydigits, decimals, and fractions in third or fourth pass.)
3. Students should acquire a basic understanding of the nature of mathematics (it's not a science), the nature of numbers (not empirical), and, most importantly, the nature of a proof.
4. Students should be given ample opportunity to apply mathematics to real world problems. Solving word problems and mastering problem solving strategies are paramount long term goals of computational mathematics.
II. Science.
Guiding philosophy:
1. As in mathematics, there should not be a choice between teaching facts and principles. Principles seem arbitrary and abstract unless one already has some facts in hand that can be given order and structure by those principles. On the other hand, the facts without the principles are not science.
2. Much of the science curriculum should be inquiry-driven. Students should have the opportunity for hands-on laboratory experiences that teach them to ask and answer relevant questions.
3. Laboratory experiments should open the doors to structured lectures on various scientific principles. Simple but carefully chosen experiments can provide the basis for a wealth of instruction.
Learning Goals:
1. What is science: what is its goal; what is the scientific method; what are facts, hypotheses, theories, and models; what is scientific knowledge and what other kinds of knowledge are there (empiricism vs rationalism); the role of variables and controls; signal and noise (uncertainty, precision, accuracy); falsifiability and verifiability; what problems can or can't be addressed by scientific method; why does science work (and when doesn't it); how do scientific ideas (paradigms) influence other aspects of society.
2. What are the principal branches of sciences; how do some build on others.
3. What are the differences and relations between science and technology. What are the socio-political issues in a technological problem and how does one distinguish the science from the politics. What are the ethical and moral aspects of scientific and technological problems. [Potential issues in biology and biochemistry: food additives, pharmaceutical testing, species preservation, pollution, natural resource utilization, etc.]
4. What are the major goals of the principal sciences today?. What have they accomplished and what remains to be learned? [E.g., how has environmental awareness changed the goals of chemistry?]
5. What do scientists of different disciplines do in today's world? What are the opportunities and rewards? Where do they work?
6. Units for various quantities; SI (Systeme internationale) units.
III. Communications Skills
Communication skills comprises what is traditionally called language arts but as part of a broader discipline that includes other forms of communication.
Guiding philosophy: A complete secondary education includes a familiarity with the traditional use of language, fluency in the use of contemporary language and other modern communications media, and an understanding of how the former affects the latter.
Learning goals:
A In their primary language (English), goals include
1. Mastery of reading by whatever methods seem appropriate. Appropriate levels of comprehension (and therefore vocabulary) are also necessary.
2. Mastery of the essentials of formal English: grammar, spelling,punctuation, and composition.
3. Familiarity with the four purposes of written language: expository,persuasive, narrative, and descriptive and the differences among them, and fluency in each. Narrative and descriptive language includes both prose writing and poetry. Persuasive language knowledge includes being able to recognize common flaws in persuasive prose (logical flaws, ad hominem arguments, insinuation, appeal to emotion); and the ability to use good persuasive language in both written (editorials, advertising, propaganda) and oral (debates) media.
4. Understanding of the differences between formal and informal language, knowing when each is appropriate, and ease in using both.
5. Familiarity with reliable reference sources, including libraries, encyclopedias, dictionaries, other written reference works; and on-line sources; recognition of the advantages and potential liabilities of each.
6. A rudimentary knowledge of the historical linguistics: the larger structure of the English language and its relationship to other languages.
7. An appreciation for other aspects of communication, particularly oral: body language, how to listen, how to carry on a conversation.
8. Because a thorough mastery of contemporary English communication skills requires an understanding of the historical use of English, a familiarity with classic works of English (and perhaps other) literature is essential.
9. An early goal should be keyboarding (i.e., typing) skills, in particular for those children whose motor skills are not sufficient to permit total reliance on longhand writing as a primary communication medium.
B. Because language acquisition is a skill that rapidly diminishes as students enter adolescence, training in at least one second language should begin as early as possible in the curriculum. The second language should be the focal point for a broad instruction in intercultural awareness: the ways in which different societies communicate and the relations between language and other aspects of society. A third language could be some form of signing.
C. Music, art, theater, and dance can be studied as forms of communication, but not to the exclusion of their treatment as media of abstract expression.
IV. Social Studies
Social Studies includes history and geography.
Guiding philosophy:
An understanding of contemporary society and relations among peoples requires a familiarity with history and an appreciation for how geography influences the development of civilization. Because students of different ages will be able to assimilate information and relationships to varying degrees, it may be appropriate to revisit particular subjects repeatedly with successively deeper levels of exposition. Memorization of dates, events, and geographic features is important only to the extent that it facilitates understanding of societies and social change.
Learning goals:
1. What is history: how we choose what to study (and remember) and how that may change as other goals of society and education change; how social, religious, political, and moral values influence what we choose to recognize as "history"; the dependence of our knowledge of history on our ability to communicate (do other species have history?); how we know about the past (oral, written, and archeological history) and how objective our knowledge is or can be; the use of historical novels, literature, songs and ballads, newspapers, and diaries as documents; different kinds of history (national, regional, and social).
2. The major periods of world history; with the salient features of different societies (structure, government); with the influence on past cultures on our own.
3. How religion, social structure, and belief systems affect relations between nations.
4. The beginnings and development of the United States: its history prior to European settlement; the factors that led to its colonization, the motivations for independence, and the causes and consequences of various wars and major social movements.
5. The essentials of United States civics and government structure.
6. The history of the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, and Portland as special topics in U.S. history.
7. How geography affects the development of a society in terms of agriculture, architecture, social structure, and international relations.
8. The importance of natural resources and the consequences of their use or abuse (environmentalism, sustainable agriculture); how societies can change geography and how that in turn affects those societies. (Intersection with biology studies)
9. The history of science, medicine, and technology.
10. The fundamentals of economics, the history of major socio-economic movements, and the relation of economics to other aspects of society and government.
11. World geography and how national boundaries have changed; how natural features affect national boundaries.
12. Maps: what they show and how they are constructed; different projections and their uses.
V. Other living skills
Students will be instructed at age-appropriate levels in nutrition, health, and social skills, and will be required to perform some community service. Any District guidelines in these areas will be followed.