Date: June 12, 2014

To: Jos Banda, Superintendent

From: Michael F. Tolley, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning
Shauna Heath, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction
Re: Friday Memo for June 13, 2014

Division of Teaching and Learning: Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Dear Directors,

Below is a FAQ answering questions about changes for APP Social Studies. We are excited
about this work as it has been a collaborative effort across the middle school sites and will help
to support consistency and alignment of social studies curriculum. We welcome the opportunity
to respond to any additional questions you may receive.

APP Middle School LA/SS Alignment FAQ:

1. What does alignment mean in the context of the middle school language arts and
social studies curriculum, and why is the district working on this now?

In this case, alignment will work three ways:

Alignment across middle schools. With Jane Adams Middle School opening as a
destination for APP students beginning in 2014-15, curricular alignment will ensure
consistency whether an APP student is attending JAMS, Hamilton or Washington.
Districtwide APP alignment also allows educators to collaborate and share resources.

Alignment to the states social studies pathway. The district is aligning the social
studies content standards to Washington states recommended scope and sequence for
grades 6-8, helping to ensure that students study the full breadth of content and benefit
from teacher collaboration with educators in other districts. Additionally, a lack of state
sequencing could result in some students not meeting the Washington state history
graduation requirement. Students will study:
6
th
GRADE: a full year of Ancient World History
7
th
GRADE: semester of World History/semester of Washington State History
8
th
GRADE: a full year of U.S. History

Alignment to language arts teaching. The district has developed a K-12 scope and
sequence for language arts standards and benchmarks. The new sixth- to eighth-grade
ELA scope and sequence provides opportunities for social studies integration. This
allows middle schools to offer humanities blocks or offer the courses as independent but
complementary courses, depending on scheduling and teaching availability.

2. How accelerated will the content be in middle school?

District educators will aim for teaching accelerated skills within grade-level content. For
example, sixth-graders may be expected to write essays at an eighth-grade level, meeting
accelerated language arts benchmarks. While the content itself may not be accelerated, it
will be studied on a much deeper level. For instance, in a unit on the U.S. Constitution,
APP students may engage in a rigorous examination of the Federalist Papers, Spectrum
students may delve deep into Federalist Paper No. 12 with guided questions, while
general education students may read a more structured expert with study guide and a
supported summary of Federalist Paper No. 12.

3. How will the alignment impact students at the high school level?

Students who attend Garfield will follow the same path taken by most APP students for
several decades in Seattle schools: They will take:
9
th
GRADE: World History Honors (using the AP curriculum and text)
10
th
GRADE: AP European History
11
th
GRADE: AP US History
12
th
GRADE: AP Government
This path is not only highly challenging and engaging for our APP students, but it also
provides top-level coursework preparation for college. A few years ago, the district
altered this path at Garfield, allowing students to take AP World History as ninth graders,
which created a number of issues. The district has decided to move back to the time-
tested path because it:
restores the language arts and social studies alignment at the high school
level, allowing for the same complementary coursework offered at the
middle level.
aligns with Ingraham, where APP students take World History Honors in
ninth grade before entering the IB program in tenth.
allows the district to teach the state-recommended full year of U.S.
History to APP eighth graders. (Previously, a semester of Foundation of
AP-World History preparatory course had been taught during that year.)

4. Where is the district in the alignment process, and who is working on the scope and
sequence?

Teachers, principals and district curriculum specialists in consultation with the Advanced
Learning Office are working on a team that is building on an alignment process that
began a couple years ago. Teachers and principals from all three middle schools have
been invited to join the team and are participating at various levels. The team expects to
map a scope and sequence ready for implementation at the start of the 2014-15 school
year.

5. How will the district ensure this alignment is implemented with appropriate care
and rigor for our highly capable students?

Not only will the district provide professional development and resources for the APP
alignment at all three middle schools, but the district is initiating a resource review
through an outside non-profit. Education Northwests consultants will look at the texts
and other resources used by APP teachers at the middle level in both language arts and
social studies, interview teachers and principals, and report on how the curricular
materials align to the 2010 Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Programming Standards from the
National Association of Gifted Children. This report will be used to inform curricular
discussions.