Overview

LWSD announced changes to the hicap service models which will be effective starting the 2025/26 school year. The changes will affect all students, hicap as well as those in general education, but are most impactful for those who currently receive hicap pull-out services (K5HC math and/or K5HC reading or Pull-Out Quest).

• K5HC has been cancelled. Starting in the new school year, students with a K5HC designation (math only, literacy only and math+literacy) will receive hicap services in the classroom, which are called Classroom-Based Services, or CBS. CBS will be delivered by the general education classroom teacher through differentiation.

• POQ has been cancelled. All students in grades 2-5 carrying a Pull-Out Quest designation will be moved into Full-Time Quest services with the beginning of the new school year. POQ students who are currently in 5th grade will start MSQ in the fall.

• FTQ and MSQ remain as is for now. Both Full-Time Quest as well as Middle School Quest will continue without changes to the service model in the 2025/26 school year.

Please find the official district information on the Accelerated Programs website and on their FAQ to the changes.scription

Students will still be identified through the referral process and will continue to carry a hicap designation (but CBS instead of K5HC).

When identified as CBS, students will receive enrichment and extension work from the general education teacher in their classroom.

Small group instruction will be one of the tools used to deliver CBS.

MTSS* coaches and teachers will receive training and professional development on hicap education. In addition, Accelerated Programs is working in collaboration with the Teaching and Learning Department on extension modules, projects, enrichment activities, etc to extend the currently used curriculum in math and literacy (Illustrative Math and Wonders) to be suitable as hicap material for CBS. These new resources go beyond what has been offered until now and will be made readily accessible to general education teachers to facilitate their application.

*MTSS = Multi-Tiered System of Supports: MTSS is a WA state-wide framework that ensures core academic, behavioral, social and emotional instruction for all students. MTSS works with tiers (1-3) of increasing support systems, so students requiring more attention may receive additional intensive or individualized levels (tiers) of support depending on need. Each school building in LWSD has an MTSS coach who works with staff on implementing these tiered supports. (see this OSPI pdf for more)

Small groups are flexible and can change based upon subject and units.

Teachers may use different strategies to assign students to small groups. In some cases, a diagnostic test at the beginning of a unit may reveal that some students not initially identified as hicap require support at the same level as identified hicap students. The new CBS model allows for flexible small group formation, enabling the inclusion of non-hicap students.

Starting in the school year 2025/26 there will be no more Pull-Out Quest services. All POQ students who are now in grades 2-5 will be transferred into Full-Time Quest.

Current POQ students in grades 2-4 will carry the FTQ designation and attend FTQ from next school year on.

Unless families opt out, POQ students will start Full-Time Quest services next year.

Current POQ students in 5th grade will move to MSQ.

Unless opting out, 5th grade students will move to Middle-School Quest at one of the MSQ locations.

Most POQ students will need to go to a different school for FTQ than their POQ location.

Most of LWSD’s four POQ locations do not host FTQ services. Students will go to the FTQ location their neighborhood school feeds into. Find the district’s current 24/25 FTQ feeder pattern info here.

Your student’s Quest location is determined by their home school. The current Quest Feeder Pattern for Full-Time Quest for the school year of 2023/24 can be found on the district website. The Feeder Pattern for Pull-Out Quest for the school year 2023/24 can be found on the district website as well, even if only indirectly. Check the POQ tab and go to POQ bus schedule, you can infer the feeder schools from that. No official POQ feeder pattern is currently published. As both POQ and FTQ are a program and not a school, these locations are subject to change (and have in fact been changed over the past years).

Students in K5HC will be served in their home school with a hi-cap teacher coming to work with them.

Quest students are offered transportation to their Quest location when the Quest location isn’t their neighborhood home school. Buses leave from the neighborhood school, there are no bus stops in the neighborhood. That means that you will need to organize transportation from home to the neighborhood school and back home in the afternoon. Example: Home school: Keller, Quest location: Thoreau. In the mornings, your student’s bus will leave from Keller Elementary and drive to Thoreau Elementary. You will need to get your student to Keller Elementary, e.g. by walking, biking, or driving. Vice versa for the way back.

Quest buses usually leave earlier than regular neighborhood buses in the morning and pick students up from multiple feeder schools on their way to the Quest location. The reverse is true after school. The more feeder schools along the bus route, the longer the commute.

Bus schedules usually are given out on rather short notice, unfortunately. Your school won’t have this information, the safest place to check for the bus information is Skyward (http://family.lakewashington.wa-k12.net). Transportation often also emails bus information out. The bus stop tool on the district website hasn’t always been reliable with respect to Quest, even with the advanced search.

To ease anxiety around not knowing the bus schedule, it can be helpful to plan on driving your child or organize a carpool to the Quest location for the first few days, especially when going to a new location.

You got an acceptance email from the Accelerated Programs Office that your student qualified for a hicap program in LWSD and you accepted – what now? It can take a while for you to hear from the Quest location school or from the district office again. Teacher and school welcome information gets sent out by the schools at the same time as other classes and teachers, too, usually in late August. Unfortunately, it is not unusual to not hear anything from the district or the Quest location school between the acceptance letter and the welcome email in August. If you are a homeschool or private school family that is entering LWSD for the hicap program, please remember to get your school registration done in time and all necessary paperwork submitted.

The last week of summer break is back to business week, often with meet and greets at the school. These are a great opportunity to see the school and get to know your teacher. Please check your Quest school’s PTA page for information and dates on the meet & greet!

In addition, keep an eye out for GEAC or PTA run back to school or summer playdates at your Quest location!

FTQ works one grade level ahead of the LWSD general education curriculum in math. The curriculum can be found here on the district website. In addition to the general curriculum, Quest teachers have the option to enrich the learning experience of their hi-cap students. By working through the curriculum at an accelerated pace, they free up time to add group work, novel studies, long term projects, presentations, etc. This, as mentioned above, is teacher dependent and can differ from Quest classroom to Quest classroom. More information coming soon.

Middle School Quest generally follows the same curriculum as the general education population. Some classes are taught in Quest cohort classes, some are mixed classes with Quest and general education students.

Math: 6th grade in Quest cohort classes teaching 7th grade Math curriculum; 7th grade teaches Algebra in mixed classes; 8th grade does Geometry in mixed classes (that’s the default, Quest kids can opt out of Algebra in 7th if they choose to).

Science: 6th, 7th, and 8th grade mixed classes teaching standard curriculum at level. Differentiation planned to take place in the classroom. This model for science is new and will be taught for the first time in the 2023/24 school year.

English and Social Studies: 6th, 7th, and 8th grade are taught in Quest cohort classes with at level curriculum. Compacting, additional novel studies, and enrichment are teacher dependent. All 8th graders take part in National History Day in social studies.

Pull-Out Quest is enrichment, not acceleration, and offers project-based learning, lots of group work, critical thinking, creative thinking, and logic that is outside of the general curriculum. A lot of the projects are hands-on, involve group work, and require problem-solving, perseverance, and teamwork. It is a great gifted learning environment!

This is at the discretion of the home school teacher and their approach can vary greatly. POQ students usually have shown themselves to be at or above grade level. Unless new material is being taught, teachers tend to be flexible with work sheets and materials that are a repetition of learnt subjects. Open communication between parents and teachers right from the beginning of the school year is a great way to set expectations and ensure a great experience for your student.

This can depend on the teacher and how their style of teaching and enrichment. POQ offers multiple group work opportunities. Some FTQ also put a great focus on group work.

Generally, POQ does not assign homework. Sometimes unfinished work will be sent home or longer term projects are worked on at home.

LWSD does not require hicap teachers to have specific hicap educators certification when hired. Teachers can attend hicap specialized professional development.

GEAC often steps in and sponsors Quest teachers to attend professional development on gifted education through our grants program (for example covering registration fees for WAETAG). Please help us spread the word so more teachers plan for that!

GEAC is completely funded through contributions from our community. You can donate here. Please opt for corporate matching if it is available to you.

We love our volunteers! GEAC is a completely volunteer run organization. No prior experience needed. Please send a mail to communications@lwsdgeac.org.

If you are looking to volunteer in your Quest classroom, please contact your teacher, they’ll let you know about the best ways to support them and the students.

Per State Law, all Washington State school districts have to offer highly capable services. They can’t be simply cancelled or abolished. Having said that, how school districts interpret appropriate hicap support is up to them and their solutions to offering the best support and service for their hicap students can look vastly different fom district to district. LWSD has recently started a full K-8 hicap program review. The services offered in LWSD as well as current eligibility processes have been looked at and opportunities for improvements are being identified. Changes to the K-5 service model have been announced late January 2025 and will be implemented for the new school year 2025/26. Changes to the highly capable services for middle school have not yet been presented.