Special Ed kids forced to take NCLB tests, scores count against school, schools fail, privatized.

[Snoutport]

In my state we have to give the No Child Left Behind tests to the kids in special ed. They get an "adapted" test which means the teacher reads it to them. Sometimes it takes days to give the test. A kid with a 50 IQ and a 1st grade reading level being read pre-algebra test questions for days on end.

Every student has to be read the test so it often takes a teacher two full weeks to give the test to everyone in their class. Only the teachers are supposed to give the test so, for two weeks, the students basically don't have a teacher. Kids all over the school, in every class who have reading disabilties or other KNOWN disabilities also get their test read to them. Some teachers are luck and are done in 3 or 4 days.

Then the scores of the kids from special ed is added to the schools overall average. It has caused a very negative attitude towards special education. Schools that used to be accepting of special ed suddenly find dropping test scores because they have a special ed room in the building.

Now, with these new laws passing, suddenly teachers/schools can be fired on the basis of their test scores. The sick thing is, as the better achieving kids are pulled from the public system because the scores are falling only means the special ed scores become even more exaggerated and drag scores even lower. And the teachers and schools are being held accountable for something that they can't control.

There should be a special ed exemption to the NCLB testing. All kids in special ed go through more testing than regular students as it is. How many reg ed kids have full behavior, communication and IQ evaluations done? Next time you write to the government, make sure you add a note to exempt special ed!

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. This is the case in every state, not just yours

Sped kids are a subgroup. And if any of your school's subgroups fails to score proficient on the test, the whole school fails. Every other child in the school could get a perfect score, but if a subgroup fails, the school fails.

NCLB is the most fucked up law I have ever seen.

[Hannah Bell]

8. it's a fucked-up law because it was designed to turn every school into a failing school.

people (not talking about you, p2bl) still don't get this.

it was calculating designed to put schools into the "fail" category so they could be shut down & the resultant propaganda used as a wedge for charter schools & privatization.

and everybody connected with the bill knew it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Yep. And how sad folks are just NOW figuring that out.

The law has been on the books 10 years now.

When it was passed, I was part of a group that met with each congressman here (I live in a bistate area) and both agreed it needed to be fixed. Yet neither one did a damn thing to fix it.

[Hannah Bell]

26. The reason they're just figuring it out is that the people who should have informed them

fell down on the job.

That would be their teachers & schools.

But the reason those people fell down on the job is the people who actually understood the law -- the upper union leadership, the upper school administrators, the folks at DOE -- didn't inform the rank & file well, didn't present it as a crisis & a fraud. And the media didn't present it honestly either.

Thus the word largely didn't get out, & once the policy was in place people devoted their attention to trying to meet the legislation's goals -- as though they were actually meetable, iow, performing psychotic actions like hamsters.

I don't blame the public. Unless you were paying attention & digging for the info, you wouldn't have known. We can't blame the public for not spending half their day monitoring their legislators & public institutions to make sure they're doing right when the actions of these supposedly public institutions are PURPOSEFULLY made opaque to discourage public oversight.

The reason the word didn't get out, basically, is that very powerful interests didn't WANT it to get out, & some percent of legislators, union leaders, & media colluded.

[Snoutport]

77. The media was supposed to be our watch dog!

I think this is kind of the beginning of when the media stopped being balanced. Bush/Gore opened the floodgate.

[Generic Other]

75. It works especially well with schools that were constructed specifically for special needs kids

A school like this with an unusual student population suffers accordingly. And when there are no facilities at other schools ready to accommodate them, the districts will be sued by their parents and court-ordered to pay for expensive private institutions.

[Snoutport]

79. so, privatization in a different way!

But in this case the district is forced to pay for the private school. ouch.

[Snoutport]

19. I didn't, but I do now....nt

[xmas74]

46. Our local school district

always had a decent rating, due to a university in the town who worked closely with the school district. Ever since NCLB they've failed two subgroups: special ed and ESL. The rest of the groups have stellar grades. Since this has happened I've noticed a difference in the district: they now teach to the test from January until test time, and young teachers are not applying to the district like they once did.

It's pathetic.

[Snoutport]

49. Imagine all the hours and hours of teaching missed out on testing

THe last time I did it it took us nearly two weeks. by the time a kid graduates they have lost months of education time JUST taking the danged tests!

[xmas74]

66. It really chaps my hide

every time she brings home work that is actually labeled "test preparation".

[Snoutport]

76. at my school

a few years ago, in the poorest neighborhood in our city, all school stopped for basically a month. Tons of practice testing and then the tests, then every teacher had to give the adapted test (read out loud one at a time) individually while there students would come to my room and watch movies and do art (it was the only way to handle 50+ kids!)

by the time a kid hits 12 grade imagine how many months of teaching from their teachers they miss out on because they are working on testing stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if it added up to a full school years worth of hours! no wonder they are behind!

[xmas74]

85. I have a smart child

who I feel is behind because of the demands of testing. She brings home work that I remember learning a few grades before she did. (Example: I learned fractions in the second grade. They are still struggling with them in the fifth grade, because they are on "the test".)

[Common Sense Party]

55. My son has never had to take that or any other standardized test.

It wouldn't end well if they tried to make him take one.

And it is beyond foolish to require all special ed students to take these tests and have the results affect the entire school.

I believe some standardized testing for mainstream kids is essential, which is why we always took the ITBS every year, IIRC. But NCLB is a special kind of silly.

[Snoutport]

67. how did he get out of the tests?

Did you formally opt out or is he still young?

[AnotherMother4Peace]

71. In my State, a formal letter must be written for

some sort of "op out": I believe it's to take an alternative test. I'm not sure what the "op out" looks like or if there are repercussions for the school, but I do know a formal letter must be written. And with so much already on the plates of these families, taking time out to write a formal letter often doesn't happen. Not to mention these families don't realize these scores are factored into the whole. And often, they don't realize how unfair it is to administer these tests to the child.

[Common Sense Party]

72. Neither. He's 18.

Unless they just logged what he does every day and used that for test data, I really don't know.

[jillan]

2. When my daughter was in SpEd, she was exempt from taking those tests.

I think there is a way around it.

[Snoutport]

3. Parental Request Only

In my district we were told it was frowned upon and we WOULD give every student the test.

[jillan]

5. I didn't request it, her teacher just told me about it during our annual IEP meeting.

And I readily agreed. It was just part of her iep that she was exempt.

[Hannah Bell]

20. she doesn't have to take it, but that's marked as failure for the school.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Nope. Parents cannot opt their kids out.

If a school fails to test a kid, the school fails. Just one kid and the school is labeled a failure.

A school in my district had a student who was terminally ill and didn't test him. The school failed to make AYP.

[Common Sense Party]

58. I do not believe that is true. My son has never been tested, and his school

made AYP.

[proud2BlibKansan]

83. Because a portfolio was submitted instead of testing him.

99% of kids on this alternative assessment receive a proficient score. That's part of the reason his school made AYP.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. No there is not

EVERY child has to be tested. That's in the law.

[jillan]

13. They why was my daughter exempt from taking the tests? She graduated last May - is this something

that just started since September?

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. I don't know.

It is against the law to exempt any student.

Trust me, I know this law inside and out. I teach sped. Our kids get SCREWED.

Maybe they gave your daughter an alternative test. 1% of the kids in a district can take an alternative test. But NO ONE goes untested.

[jillan]

18. Here - I just looked it up.

http://www.tcta.org/nclb/nclbflex.htm

It's saying that initially it was 1% of the kids that could have alternative testing, but it was raised to 3% after special educators complained.

Personally, as a parent, I say that there should be some form of testing. Special Ed is a joke, especially for children that are moderate or severe. People who have worked with my daughter outside of school have taught my daughter more than she ever learned in school. I always had to fight for everything for her and push her teachers to do more because they were not helping her reach her potential. They always treated her as if she was more severe than she is. It was a constant headache. So yes, I think the teachers should be held accountable to show improvement with these kids - but it should be in the form of the iep more than a standardized test.

I'm so glad she graduated and we are done with the headaches.

[Hannah Bell]

23. alternative testing isn't an exemption. alternative testing is e.g. having

special ed kids do a portfolio instead of taking a bubble test.

[proud2BlibKansan]

34. Actually the teacher puts the portfolio together

It's so time consuming there isn't a lot of time to actually assess the student.

Another joke. Just more paperwork that takes way too much time and means absolutely nothing. It's about covering the district's ass, not actually educating kids.

[Snoutport]

24. I'm really sorry

I was very sad to read your post. The parents of my students are very happy with me and my performance. (I was a teacher of the year finalist last year--a parent wrote one of the nominating letters) but I totally bust my butt and work every weekend and most evenings making my own curriculum.

I meet parents every year who have had a terrible struggle. I feel for them but don't know what to do...except to make sure that I do my best.

[jillan]

30. I wish we had a teacher like you :) Actually, there were good teachers along the way.

It was just the last few years. I felt they were more geared to children that were pretty high functioning, not the kids that needed more.

Now my daughter goes to a day program and she comes home happy every day. A very warm and caring environment and they keep busy.

[Snoutport]

39. Ah, VERY GOOD! I have 18-21 year olds

I teach the transition age class at the district level so we have the most severe kids in the district. My class is the kids right on the bubble of having to severe of behavior to do much unless completely attended by staff. We have jobs in the community and use public transport all the time...the kids who are too severe for a job in a business, i've got my district to make a restaurant in the main building so the kids learn not only how to go to work and work but also how to prepare a ton of different types of food.

Their behaviors might mean they don't have a job job so we make sure we try to find them a good volunteer job they like so they can do that in the future if they want.

I tend to think out of the box but I have had very good success with my students. I sometimes think it is simply because I am funny. I get them laughing and they forget their troubles. Then we work some more.

I'm glad your daughter has ended up in a good spot.

May I ask a question? Do you think it would have helped you if someone had taken you to one of the day programs when your daughter was 10 or 12? I am in charge of all the transitioning students and I am beginning to think that if the parents saw there were really good places for their kid at age 20 and 25 it would take some of the angst out of their journey? What do you think?

[susanr516]

88. It's a shame you didn't get more help

Are you in a small school district? I have a severely autistic grandson and we have had a very positive experience with Special Ed in our school district. The only year we had problems, the Special Ed director at the school district office worked with us for several weeks and got my grandson reassigned to a class better designed to meet his needs. I "heart" Special Ed teachers; I can't tell you how many unpaid hours my grandson's teachers have spent talking with us on the phone at night, giving us tips and hints on making daily life easier, and letting us know about special activies, programs, and groups that existed to help us cope. There is no way we could have coped with all the problems without the support and advise from my grandson's teachers throughout the years. He's 15 now, and he loves going to school. As far as I'm concerned, special ed teachers are the greatest.

[Snoutport]

89. thank you for sharing

Thank you! It is did me well to hear a good experience with special ed!

[Snoutport]

21. no

i exempted a student once...that's why I found out the district really frowned on it.

[jillan]

29. Well, I'm not making it up.

[Hannah Bell]

33. no one said you were, but the fact is the federal regs don't allow students

to be exempted by local schools, and if there's no testing record for a registered student, that *will* affect the school negatively.

so my next question would be, why would the school do that, & in arizona, hotbed of charters, anti-unionism, anti-public school-ism, my #1 hypothesis would be collaboration with the forces that are trying to label all public schools as "failures".

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. They gave her the alternative test

My parents often think their kids are exempt because they don't take the same test as the general ed kids. But they are ALL tested.

Principals are also starting to figure it out and they put enormous pressure on sped teachers to put kids on the alternative test, since 99% of them score proficient.

It's all a stupid fucking paperwork game. Not a thing to do with actually educating kids. I've been hoping for years that some parent would file a lawsuit. At this point, that's the only way to get rid of this ridiculous testing.

[Snoutport]

40. in our state the alternative is basically reading the real test to them

not a whole lot of difference....just takes a lot longer! (though, i'll admit, it has been a few years since I gave one so the rules might have changed)

[proud2BlibKansan]

45. No it's not.

There is an alternative test in EVERY state that is basically a portfolio of work on specific skills selected by the teacher/case manager. The most severely disabled kids take this alternative test.

You are mixing this up with the ACCOMMODATIONS given to sped kids who take the same high stakes state test as the general ed kids.

[Common Sense Party]

59. Is there some "standardized" alternative test?

I just can't see my son taking any lengthy test in any substantive way, and they've never mentioned it in any of his IEP's.

He's 18, completely non-verbal, and more than a bit stubborn.

[proud2BlibKansan]

81. He probably takes the alternative test

As Hannah and I explained upthread, it's basically a portfolio detailing his progress on specific skills. I doubt he even knows his teacher put it together. You have the right as a parent to look at it but it won't tell you much. The progress reports he gets from the school have better information, IMO.

[jillan]

38. Hamilton ranks as one of the top schools. Charter schools aren't really much of an issue where I

am at. The charter schools are more for the kids that can't make it in public schools.
They were a great school for my other daughter, a great school for sports - but they sucked at Special Ed.

Remember, Janet Napolitano was our governor until recently. All this crap that is coming out of Arizona is in the last few years since Bruha took over.

[Hannah Bell]

51. i'm not talking about the governor, i'm talking about broad plants in districts

& individual schools.

napolitano supported charter schools.

http://www.ontheissues.org/Cabinet/Janet_Napolitano_Education.htm

she also colluded in pretending that no child left behind was a benign program to help students, rather than a time bomb designed to destroy public education.

[proud2BlibKansan]

56. IIRC, Napolitano is a charter school supporter

This destruction of our public schools is a bipartisan event. We cannot blame only the republicans. They started it but many Democrats have jumped on board.

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. You're lucky you didn't lose your job

[Snoutport]

35. Oh...I didn't, I told the parents they could

and they immediately said "no testing" and my supervisor couldn't change their mind no matter what.

[Hannah Bell]

22. you're in arizona, one of the hotbeds of charter schools & attack on public schools.

what kind of school did your daughter go to?

if it's a non-charter public school i'd guess one thing; if it's a charter i'd guess another.

[jillan]

28. Public school.

[Hannah Bell]

31. Then if your school administration allowed your child to completely opt out of testing

(rather than do an alternative assessment, which about 10% of special ed students could do under bush, 30% under obama) -- i'd suspect the administration may not care whether they make their targets or not & i would speculate as to why that might be.

[jillan]

37. They are one of the top high schools - I don't know what to say... or how they did it.

[Snoutport]

47. maybe the rules changed slowly?

I had one opt out too, as I said. I can't imagine my district would have let that slide unless they had a way out of it.

[Hannah Bell]

52. no, they didn't.

[proud2BlibKansan]

57. There is no way out.

Some think there is though. They find out when they don't test kids and lose AYP.

[Snoutport]

91. how do we undo it?

[YvonneCa]

4. ELL students are also a subgroup. They still...

...take the test and they count.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Subgroups:

ELL
Sped
Minority
Free and reduced lunch

[Snoutport]

42. are those the real subgroups?

I need to do some homework!

[proud2BlibKansan]

44. Yes you do

No offense but this is the reason this law passed and so few are challenging it. I read the entire law when it was passed. But I don't know any other teacher who did so. As teachers, we need to do a far better job of keeping ourselves informed. Our kids are getting screwed because we don't stand up for them and what's in their best interest.

[Snoutport]

48. i wasn't teaching when it passed...

but can certainly see what it has done!

[Starry Messenger]

6. Another thing people don't know about when they talk about PS scores and "failing schools"

The media never mentions it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. My "favorite" part is the 100% mandate

2014 here we come. And no one is doing a damn thing to fix it.

[LiberalFighter]

11. Require all charter schools to have at least 10% special ed students.

[Snoutport]

25. heck yes!

and then they'd have some of the more expensive students as well and suddenly no profit.

[mrmpa]

27. Or

Minimally they would have to have 10%, or their percentage would have to equal the percentage of special ed kids in the school district that the charter receives its money from. If the school district percentage is 20%, then the charter has to have 20%, etc.

The district I taught in had nearly 40% of the kids with IEPs. 99.8% on free lunch and breakfast programs, you get the picture.

[proud patriot]

14. Total agreement

thanks from a Special Ed Assistant

[madfloridian]

17. Nice post. Recommended.

[Snoutport]

41. thanks mad flo!

Coming from you, a compliment! :0)

[FLAprogressive]

43. This is why it's so wrong to just automatically "mainstream" everyone, like so many schools try to

do to save $$$$

[Snoutport]

65. YES! I teach violent kids...several who have accused their previous schools of abuse

Yeah, I am a HUGE fan of mainstreaming!!!! But, not every kid should be in a general ed school. I have had students who were caught prostituting in 5th grade and accused school staff of molesting them. They were "line-of-sight" students...basically they could never be out of your line of sight. For the protection of them and the other students.

[lumberjack_jeff]

68. Inclusion is a successful model.

That said, students with an Individual Education Plan shouldn't be subject to standardized testing.

[proud2BlibKansan]

69. For SOME kids

Yes, inclusion works well for some, but not for all.

[lumberjack_jeff]

80. For MOST. n/t

[Snoutport]

92. And medically fragile kids?

My district has classes in the children's hospital. Kids dying with cancer. We can't leave them behind so they have to take the test too.

[madfloridian]

78. Inclusion does NOT work for every student.

Most definitely not.

[prairierose]

50. NCLB was designed so that every school...

would be a failing school by 2014 or shortly thereafter. It was designed as an excuse to destroy public education and turn all schools into privatized charter schools. That was the only purpose.

[Hannah Bell]

54. +100, and now the chickens are coming home.

[ThomCat]

60. Yes, I think you are right. I think they counted on Special Ed

students, and English as a Second Language students, and poor students in general to guarantee that schools would fail so that they could be taken over and turned into private, for-profit schools.

Of course, once they are private, for-profit schools they suddenly aren't tested as thoroughly any more. Few tests have compared these for-profit schools head-to-head with public schools on a dollar-to-dollar basis, and those few have been very small and limited. Not one test has ever shows that any for-profit school is equal to a public school. We're not even trying for better yet, just equal to.

If all these for-profit schools can't measure up yet, after all this time, to public schools using the same yard-sticks they have been using to bludgeon public schools into submission, then this has clearly been a case of a deliberate cover-up. They want to end the public schools without the for-profit schools ever being held accountable afterward.

What if the for-profit schools aren't any better? What if they are, in fact, worse than the schools they claimed were supposedly failing? Doesn't that mean that the for-profit schools are failing too, and failing worse?

And isn't that what you would expect in any educational model that is based on extracting necessary funds and giving it to investors instead of spending it on education and spending it on the kids?

It's all smoke and mirrors to make us see only what they want us to see, and none of the rest. They show us the parts that they are deliberately breaking so they can claim it's all broken and needs to be changed, while keeping us from seeing the other broken parts they don't want us to see because those other parts discredit them.

Always follow the money. Always look at who is getting rich, who is getting screwed, and who gets stuck disproportionately paying the bills. x(

[prairierose]

73. I think the special ed kids and the ESL students...will not...

even get into schools. The private charter schools that they use as markers of how wonderful they are, do not accept every kid who comes in the door. Or they force the problem kids, special ed kids and any kid who needs more help out. What will happen to those kids when they can not get into a school any more?

[eppur_se_muova]

53. Mission Accomplished! [smirk] nt

[mmonk]

61. As someone who supports disability rights, we used to win our battles

by addressing school boards and commissioners by giving them all size small T shirts to wear with "One size fits all" printed on them. They got the picture. Also, in the world of disabilities, its not all about IQ. The disability in many cases limits the information's accessibility and/or retain-ability. That is why different teaching techniques or visual cues or prompts are used to trigger learning than in others.

[MaeScott]

62. NCLB. Is unrealistic and is succeeding in dragging down our. Schools. nt

[annabanana]

63. lather, rinse, repeat. . .Nationwide. . . . n/t

[WolverineDG]

64. Oh, it's even worse than that

My cousin was a special ed teacher with many many years of experience. She quit over this testing of Special Ed kids. She didn't have a problem with creating a test that was adapted to what her students could do. That was her job, after all, right? However, if the student passed her test (& why wouldn't they, if she wrote it for them), they had to take ANOTHER test that she created for them, but administered by another teacher.

Funny how she had a 100% passage rate, right? Think the school district would be head over heels with the results & offering her beaucoup bucks to teach other teachers how to get those results, right?

*****WRONG*****

It seems that each district has an already-determined pass/fail rate, & in her district, administrators decided (without input from the stupid teachers, what the fuck do they know anyway?) that only 70% of the special ed kids would pass. She was actually *ORDERED* to pick & choose which students to "fail" even though they had passed. Well, funny thing is, since they had not told her of this "requirement" until AFTER she had submitted her results, she couldn't change them. That didn't matter to admin, after all, they know so much more than stupid teachers, don't they? They kept insisting that she somehow hack into the State's computer program & change her results so that she had the "correct" pass/fail rate. When, in the end, she couldn't do that, she got written up & "disciplined" for not following orders.

The next day, she submitted her resignation. Over 20 years special ed experience with the really difficult kids walked out the door, & none of the dumb asses in the front office asked her to come back. (They are now, of course, begging her to come back, but she's told them, in polite terms of course, to fuck off)

dg

[proud2BlibKansan]

70. Good for your cousin

What is being done to sped kids is positively shameful.

[Snoutport]

82. would a DU HELP my district generate some emails to the legislation? Oregon

I'm wondering if I should try to get people to email the oregon state legislature. Do you think DU would be good for that? they are voting on a bill to cut the major special ed programs by 25% this year and to 50% next year. Not completely cut, but to restructure and give those funds to other districts to close their gaps. They are getting rid of our elected school boards too and replacing them with appointee superintendents!

[proud2BlibKansan]

84. Post something on the Oregon forum here

This is a great place to connect with folks in your community and state.

[Snoutport]

90. What?! Oregon Forum?? I must investigate!!!

I had no idea!

[WinkyDink]

74. True also for the PSSAssesment in PA.

[Snoutport]

93. i just wonder why nobody has sued

it needs to be changed!

[femmocrat]

86. K&R Thank you for telling it like it is!

As an itinerant teacher, I will spend the next six school days reading tests to students. All classes such as art, music, library, technology, and PE are cancelled for 6 days so we can spend 1/30th of the school year on testing. (We are on a 6-day cycle.)

[Snoutport]

94. my pleasure

It has been kind of exciting to share special ed info on here.

[WCGreen]

87. And in other country's, only those tracked toward university are given

the same tests we give all our kids...