HELP!! Annoyed, Irriatated, and not sure what to do?

Hi K,
Go to the Schwablearning.org website, go to the bulletin boards and look for a person called Issler. She managed to get the school district to foot the bill for Landmark college (a specialty school for LD) because they were able to prove failure to provide FAPE in high school so they need to give it to her in college. Look up her posts and ask her your specific questions. She is located in California and I don’t know what state you are in but it should not make that much difference. Your brother is eligible until he is 21. Time is of the essence. You have the makings of a civil rights case. Check out Wrightslaw.com too for good legal advice. Get another professional. This one sounds like a flake.
Take care

I hear and understand the frustration. The tip Robin left may be of help, but if I had to guess (and I know nothing about this case) there was a lawyer involved and it was extremely expensive and nerve racking. I doubt that any district will just write a check for a private college without
a legal battle first. Unfortunately our children have a hard time accessing their due process rights, if they are not from a wealthy family. Even upper middle class families would have a hard time paying legal expenses and would rather put their few $s to work remediating privately before wasting funds for an uphill battle.

What little money my family has, you are right, would be better spent on private tutoring and remediation. However, when is the school held accountable. I know they understand they have not held up their end of the bargain.

An SLP who tested my son also tested and worked with my brother for 5 years. During a meeting with her about my son, she asked about my brother. I said he had recently been diagnosed with CAPD and that it was difficult to learn that he has had this all along and that it was probably very evident to the school special ed personnel. She shook her head yes and said ” I knew what was really wrong and I provided therapy based on what I knew he had!!” Great so you knew he had CAPD at age 6 in first grade, but you decided to go along with the school district and tell us nothing was wrong. At another meeting about my son, the same SLP, was denying that my son had CAPD tendencies, even though she wrote it in her report around 10 times. I really don’t believe anything they say!!

But back to the point!! When are they held responsible? I can’t imagine how many other children they have done this too? Actaully, I can tell you at least one, my other brother. He is now 22. After careful review of his old testing it is pretty clear he has CAPD, dyslexia, and verbal learning disability. He spent 18 years of school on an Ed. plan for ADD. The same district and the same exact school, elementary, middle, and high school!! So obviously they have been doing this for a long time!!

I am just frustrated, how can I send him off to high school knowing he will have difficulties?

Thanks
K.

I understand the anger and frustration, but in my opinion, for the great majority, the schools and their staff are not held accountable. Your story does not suprise me. We have similar experiences in our family. I feel that they just provide services that fit into their school schedules and write ieps that are convenient for the school and if the child needs some kind of 1:1 help, or specialized instruction beyond what is provided to the 6-10 children in a resource room it is just ignored and not done. Yet the ieps show “individualized testing and instruction.” There are related services given to one child at a time, or perhaps 2-3 at a time, like speech or occupational therapy. That does not mean that anything is mastered necessarily. There are conflicts of interest in the system. Often the people evaluating and teaching the children are one and the same, as are those that need to flip the bill. What they recommend is educationally necessary they also need to provide. Unlike many other service providers, they are not paid extra for providing that specific service, in fact it may take money out of the coffers to provide it. I have noticed that children in special education have their standardized test scores reported separately from those in general educaion. Why?

I have heard this as well, that the special ed kids sheets are coded and reported separately. My guess would be so that their scores do not bring down the schools overall scores. I would love to know if this is true or not. If my child is capable enough (their decision) to be mainstreamed, then I expect his scores to be included with the rest of his classmates.

Does anyone know if this is true?

I’m a 7th grade speducator and I can verify this for you. This isn’t a big secret in education but children with IEP’s and 504’s are coded out. Mainly for overall school performance. This also includes children who are disruptive or how have poor attendance. This seems to be a nationwide practice. On the back of the protocol (answer sheet) there is a section for teachers to fill out for these particular issues.

Well, Little Lulu, I cannot speak for every district, but I am holding in my hand The NJ School Report Card for our school here in my town. On the statewide assesment results, there are a few separate categories: General Education, Special Education, Limited English Proficinet and All students. So it seems they report both. The thing is, it is hard to tell how the kids in special ed are doing, because it says “for the purpose of manitaing student confidentiality, score are not shown where ten or fewer students were tested.” There are many 0% in the Special ed and limited english categories. The scores that are there, are much lower than gen. ed. They report them separate, then together form what I see by this report card.

Laurie, I notice that my daughter has an * beside her reading compreh. & math scores on her assessments which indicate accommodations. She receives extended time, small group and has the math portion read outloud. I have a couple of questions:

1) How does the * alter opinions of her abilities when she decides to go on to college, etc? She scored in the 95% for reading comp. & 91% for math with the accom. (She is gifted/LD)

2) If these scores are not included with the other students’ test scores for reporting purposes, what is the need for the *?

3) I guess what I’m asking is -Is that * going to come back to haunt her in later years?

Laurie, I notice that my daughter has an * beside her reading compreh. & math scores on her assessments which indicate accommodations. She receives extended time, small group and has the math portion read outloud. I have a couple of questions:

1) How does the * alter opinions of her abilities when she decides to go on to college, etc? She scored in the 95% for reading comp. & 91% for math with the accom. (She is gifted/LD)

2) If these scores are not included with the other students’ test scores for reporting purposes, what is the need for the *?

3) I guess what I’m asking is -Is that * going to come back to haunt her in later years?

Hi Laurie!
Wow! You should be very pleased with your daughter! Those are excellent scores!The fact that she received accommodations during testing shouldn’t come back to haunt your daughter. If you are talking about k-8 standardized testing, this is for what is called testing for “educational purposes” ie.. school and teacher performance, parent update on child’s progress, etc… If I am not mistaken (and I could be!) accommodations for testing are not reported to colleges. At least here in Georgia there not.It would seem to me that that would be a breach of confidentiality. Maybe someone who teaches in high school may have more answers for you.

I really have a problem with this whole coding out system simply because a child is being identified as being in special education and what about children in inclusive settings. I agree with Lulu and that if her child is mainstreamed for the majority of the day then she has the right to her child’s score included with the others. That is only my opinion. When I questioned my district’s testing administrator about the coding out,he stated that this was a federal regulation. Maybe the new IDEA will address this issue then parents such as yourself will be able to be rest assured that the testing will not affect your child’s future.

Now that I have gotten off of my soapbox……..to answer your question as to the * I really don’t know. Did your child take the Stanford 9? When I get the score report on my students I don’t recall seeing an asterik (sp?). I get an individual report of each student and a class report.I can do some some digging around and get you and get you and answer if you wish.

I hope I answered your questions.

I have made a few phone calls and I think I have some answers for you. Unfortunately the asterick does represent that your child has either an IEP or 504 plan and whether the administration of the test was standard or nonstandard. But that is for state and local purposes only. But good news, accommodations are not reported to colleges. After speaking at length with my former college professor, she states that the colleges will not inquire about a disability of the applicants. In fact, your daughter will have to advocate for herself to get accommodations under ADA. However, these accommodations are limited to extended time and small group testing only. When your daughter takes the SAT or the ACT, she will be given accommodations similiar to what she will receive in college. These accommodations are not reported to the college. The college will get a huge data sheet of names and scores of all students who have taken that particular test and nothing more.

I don’t forsee your daughter being penalized as a result of being coded. I hope that I have answered all of your questions. If you need any more assistance please let me know.

Laurie

Wow, Laurie, thanks for taking the time to get all this information for me. It makes me feel a lot better. I appreciate your help.