The Miracle Workers, Part 2
Arne Duncan, the United States Secretary of Education (who
BTW never taught a day in his life), insists that students in need of Special
Ed services (with IEPs) would be able to pass their state’s standardized tests
if they had “quality” instruction. He has recently made it a requirement that
such students pass the tests at the same rate as regular ed students who do not
require special instruction. In fact, my last blog post was about this subject.
But I find it so unreal, that I wrote another one. I apologize for any
repetition.
Arne feels that showing progress on grade-level tests is so
important that he will lessen the federal government’s watchdog role on IDEA
(Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) regulations which require timely
identification, aren’t participation, and testing of potential special ed
students. These regulations were put into effect because some school districts
were making the students either wait too long for services or get railroaded
through the testing process when other strategies may have worked. Those rules
were needed then, and they are needed NOW. If school districts don’t have a
watchdog making sure children are identified and serviced in an appropriate and
timely fashion, look for the Special Ed services to lessen appreciably. It
costs extra money to teach children with IEPs. In these days of draconian
budget cuts in cash-strapped districts, the fewer Special Ed teachers a school
district hires saves them thousands of dollars.
Children are not identified as needing specialized
instruction in a willy-nilly fashion. They are first given certain academic
accommodations in their classroom by the teacher, with data collected as to the
success of lack of it of the strategies.
After 4-6 weeks, the teacher determines, along with the Child Study
Team, whether or not those strategies are working. If not working, other
strategies are suggested and tried in the next time frame. There can be several
4-6 week sessions of identifying, accommodating, and re-evaluating before any
determination is made that the child might need testing. If the child
does not show enough progress, then the parent must be notified, questionnaires
filled out, any physical reasons for the lack of progress eliminated, parent
and teacher conferences held, and preliminary academic testing done. Then and
only then, and only with the parent’s input and approval, can the child be
tested by a school psychologist to determine the need for specialized
instruction. In many school districts, a child must be at least 2 years
below grade level to be considered for special ed testing.
Despite the lengthy time period to determine if testing is
needed, there are times in which the school does not meet the federally
prescribed timelines set forth in the IDEA regulations. There were hefty
consequences involved with not meeting prescribed deadlines concerning
identification and re-evaluation of Special Ed students. That is the way it
should be. Children who have special learning requirements should get all the
services to which they are entitled in order to help them overcome their
disability if possible, and to educate them to be contributing members of
society as much as their disabilities allow. If the federal government doesn’t
keep an eye on this, school districts are not going to be as diligent as they
need to be in providing an appropriate education to our special children.
These days, most kids with IEPs are already mainstreamed
into regular classes for the majority of their school day. Unless their
disability is severe, the children are instructed on grade level subjects in
their classroom with the special education teacher’s support either in-class or
in a separate resource room for a prescribed period of time each day. In this
manner, they are exposed to grade-appropriate concepts as well as instruction
on their learning level, as per the IEP. As the years have gone by, the time
spent on the Resource Room has been decreasing for most children. The exposure
to grade-level material is important as many kids can grasp complicated
concepts in Social Studies or Science instruction that doesn’t require their
reading the textbooks. The instruction at the IEP level is usually far below
grade level, meeting the students where they are to give them the strategies
and specialized instruction needed to progress. Each child is different,
needing varying levels of assistance and instruction. In my last 5th
grade class, J. was a math whiz, but could only read on a second grade level.
His pal, A., could read on a 4th grade level, but only did math at a
first grade level, and could not write a coherent paragraph. D. was on the
autism spectrum and was able to do the reading work but not the math and only
on his terms, which changed from day to day. He required short sessions and
frequent breaks, with little interaction with classmates. AJ could do grade
level work but frustrated easily and required frequent teacher interaction,
frequent breaks and reduced work loads to perform in class.
Unfortunately, the tests they were required to take are
written at grade level and if they can’t read them, the students can’t even
understand the questions! The accommodations allowed for most learning disabled
students on the standardized tests are not very helpful – extra time and
smaller classes for testing. A teacher is only allowed to read the math or
science test to them if the student asks. The reading test, which most students
in Special Ed can’t handle at grade level, cannot be read to them, only the
directions. Consequently, students who have been identified as Special Ed and
are already at least 2 years behind, can’t even begin to handle the reading
portion of the test. Yet, according to the latest iteration of No Child Left
Behind (NCLB) the teachers’ effectiveness are supposed to be evaluated on their
students’ standardized test scores, not reaching their IEP goals.
I don’t need to tell you that not many Special Ed students
pass the tests at the proficient level, although there are some exceptions.
Everyone understands that most students being instructed below grade level as
per their IEP, are not going to be able to handle the grade-level test. That
doesn’t mean they aren’t making progress. Au contraire!
Some learning disabled children 3 levels behind can recoup 2
of those levels in a few years with a lot of hard work, support from home and
the right approach to teaching. However, many students won’t be able to make a
year’s progress in a year. Those with very low IQs, a child classified as what
would have been referred to in the old days as Trainable Mentally Retarded, may
take many years to make one year’s worth of progress. Children with pervasive
developmental disabilities that make them as mature as a 4 year old will never
be able to do close reading and algebra. Hopefully, they would be among the
very few exempted from the testing, although not many are exempted. Even a
child in Florida who was in hospice, on his deathbed, was expected to take the
test. Talk about ridiculous.
But, then, how are you going to judge whether the Special Ed
teacher is doing her job? The goals for each special ed child should be unique
to that child. They should be goals that are attainable with work on the
student’s and the teacher’s part. If a child needs many repetitions for a concept
to sink in, it’s going to take longer to make a year’s worth of progress in
reading or math, but they will make it. If the child requires special
equipment, it may be easier to make the growth in class, but the test will
still not allow all of the accommod-ations permitted in the classroom. Children
with IQs of 47 are not going to be able to grasp the 5th grade
concepts measured in the standardized tests. They can still improve and go
forward in their learning nevertheless and the teacher and student should be
recognized for the role they played in that student reaching their IEP goals.
The current requirements for most kids with IEPs to take
their grade level tests is cruel and unusual punishment and results in some
special ed children testing ALL day for 7 days in a row. No child should have
to be accountable to test for 5 hours a day, especially those who are already
identified as not being able to perform on grade level. It’s just wrong. And
then to have their teachers’ “quality” depend on their score? Ridiculous!
If you agree with me, would you take time out of your busy
day and email or use social media to pressure Arne Duncan to reassess his
Special ed policies? Arne the Miracle Worker believes that special ed children
will improve if only they are given harder tests. Show him his folly. None of
us are Miracle Workers if those are the rules.
A Note to Arne Duncan from a Special Ed Teacher
http://dianeravitch.net/category/special-education/
http://dianeravitch.net/category/special-education/
Am I a Bad Teacher?
http://dianeravitch.net/2014/04/09/am-i-a-bad-teacher/
http://dianeravitch.net/2014/04/09/am-i-a-bad-teacher/
The Stupidest Idea from the D.O.E.
Still learning!
