Vancouver Parents and Students Want More Say in Gifted Program Changes

Last summer, the Vancouver school district put forward a proposal to change its gifted program from being a full-time, full-year program for 80 students to a series of six-week sessions for over 700 students.

The gifted program, known as Multi-Age Cluster Classes, or MACC, have run in the district since 1988 for students in Grades 4 to 7 with the gifted designation “P,” meaning they have a provincially recognized learning disability.

Unlike mainstream classrooms, students in MACC work autonomously, at their own pace and often several grade levels ahead.

The district promised to hold community engagement this school year about the future of the program. In-person engagement started in December and online engagement continues until Tuesday.

But some students, parents and teachers were surprised to discover the sessions were not about whether the program should change — that decision has already been made by the district.

Instead, they were asked what they wanted to see in the new Gifted Enrichment Centres that are set to fully replace the district’s four MACC locations — three on the city’s west side and one on the east side — by 2025.

The four centres, which will be located in the north, south, east and west sections of the city, will operate for six programs a year, each six weeks.

The district has said students who require more enrichment can attend as often as they like, though how that would work without disrupting a student’s school year or keeping other students out of the program is unclear.

A pilot session for one Gifted Enrichment Centre is slated for this fall. Students currently in a MACC will be able to finish the program, while MACC student intake for Grades 5 to 7 will end in 2023. Intake for Grade 4 students has already ended.

To understand why the district made these decisions, The Tyee requested an interview with one of either Jody Langlois, associate superintendent of learning services; or Liz Hayes-Brown, district principal of learning support, who is featured in the district’s videos about the changes.

Neither were made available. Instead, The Tyee received an emailed statement and was pointed to the district website on the changes.

“The B.C. curriculum was redesigned in 2016 to support differentiated instruction and enriched learning, and as such all schools in Vancouver offer challenging and comprehensive programs,” the statement read. “In response to the curriculum changes, the district is revisioning MACC.”

Other district reasons for the change include that MACC is accessible only to students with a gifted designation, and assessments for such designations are discriminatory; that MACCs are not evenly placed across the city and don’t provide for social-emotional learning; and that current research shows all students are best served in classrooms with a diversity of learners and a teacher who can teach to their specific needs.

But some parents, current MACC students and alumni say the district already has a part-time enrichment program, known as Challenge Centres.

And a full-time program for students with a recognized disability can’t be replaced by six-week programs, they told the Vancouver School Board during a Jan. 24 meeting.

“Enrichment Centres sound like a great program for many students, but it’s not relevant for our children’s needs,” said Jessica Wang, parent of a MACC student. “VSB is calling this a change instead of what it really is: cancelling MACC and starting a new program.”

Gifted students are often ignored by teachers in mainstream classrooms, or used as tutors for the other students, MACC students said.

“When I was done with my own work, my teachers frequently expected me to help my peers with their work. And, of course, while I enjoy helping others, I wasn’t able to use that time to go more in-depth on work that interested me,” said Rebecca Silver, a program alumna.

“With MACC’s focus on autonomous and long-term projects, I could explore my interests in-depth.”

There are also MACC programs in Surrey, Burnaby and Coquitlam. The Surrey and Coquitlam districts said they have no plans to cancel or overhaul them. Burnaby did not respond to a request for comment.

Vik Khanna, a parent and member of Vancouver’s District Parent Advisory Council, says the MACC consultations are insufficient and said parents don’t understand why Gifted Enrichment Centres have to replace the current program.

“It sure seems like the MACC program is like an apple, and this enrichment program is like an orange,” he said. “What parents want is the apple and the orange, they want a well-rounded diet of fruits.”

Jody Polukoshko, an executive member of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association, said her organization is polling members for their thoughts on the changes.

While teachers support inclusive classrooms, they also recognize the need for special needs programs like the MACC, she said, adding that inclusive classrooms require additional teacher resources.

“In order to sort of keep increasing the complexity of our classes, there needs to be an acknowledgement of what that looks like: workload, and resources and time to prep and plan,” Polukoshko said.

“It’s really frustrating to continually hear that groups with additional needs are being pitted against one another. And I guess we say, ‘Why not both?’... It makes sense to consider opening up access to the program, but not at the expense of programming itself.”