annual achievement tests

I am not aware of any harm to his school career in the action you propose.

While you may not harm his academic career, you will have one less piece of data with which to prove that fape has been provided.

Also, some states require them for an H.S. diploma, as you know, and the practice would be beneficial after a certain age.

Lulu,

I would make sure that yearly you are having the same achievement test done before annual IEP meeting this way you can see progress/lack of progress otherwise you have no objective measurement of progress.

In out state you write a letter asking that your son be excused from the testing. It would be tempting to state the reason as that you have been told that the test is meaningless for your child. You could pick the subtests that you wanted him to take and ask for exemption from from the rest.

Helen

A LOT of states are also using these annual achievments as a means of whether the student “deserves” a regular high school diploma,vs. a special ed certificate. Before I just didn’t make him go through it with out an alternative,I would seriously research your states policy. In Fla. a child must pass 2nd,5th,and 8th grade annual achievments . Many a parents are now having to fight it out regarding special diploma vs. reg ed diploma. The fight? Well even though IDEA states you discuss transition IEP in 8th grade,our state makes a determination of modification vs accomodations as a measure of eligiblity for a reg high school diploma.If the student failed 2nd through 8th assessments and the IEP team made modifications to the child’s curriculum,in 2nd grade this kid could effectively be doomed for a sped certificate.

What about these tests and retention? I am afraid that one of my twins will score low and have to repeat the year. One of them was already retained in K and either one of them being held back would be an emotional disaster.

I agree, I have copies of the Standford 9 as far back as it goes with my brother. The advocate used it to pick up on the fact that he is below average in everything while the school was saying he was doing great.

I know it isn’t the best test to determine progress or standings but it certainly helps.

K.

For most of my public school students, those tests really were an exercise in frustrating futility. The ‘data’ they added was pretty meaningless except that it confirmed their stupidity (in their minds) and that significantly tainted their performance. Now, deciding not to take ‘em can also be “evidence” of “inferiority,” and frankly I’d use it as a bargaining chip and get the kiddo to do some different and more useful assessment.

K. wrote:
>
> I agree, I have copies of the Standford 9 as far back as it
> goes with my brother. The advocate used it to pick up on the
> fact that he is below average in everything while the school
> was saying he was doing great.
>
You have shared your brother’s scores and his ability is testing below average. It is statistically impossible for all children to be average, some people function below average in academics.

Ok…..I was agreeing with Susan Long’s post that having the Standford 9 is having another piece of a puzzle. Also, I said that in my case, my advocate used them to see that he was below average, however, she also used his formal evaluations.

Obviously, you have read my previous post on my brothers test scores and that he is consistently below average, if such a term exist, but I am wondering why it isn’t ok for parents to want to help there child get to “average”? Why should I just accept the fact that statistics say that some children will be below average, that sounds like giving up to me?!?!

Thanks
K.

What I have been told by adminstration in response to this very same question, is that they don’t hold back the kids on IEPs on this basis.

Beth

I agree K.

I will not settle for below average.

We all should try to strive for more than we may ever be capable of achieving. They are called goals; otherwise, you are right, we are giving up by accepting their answer that not everyone can be average.

Thanks Helen. I’m glad to see that others believe we should be able to consider these scores. I understand they are not the final say in progress, but they certainly are part of the mix.

The reason why I have come to this possible decision is for that very reason. Since the school does not use any objective data for measuring his progress, I asked that we consider the stanford scores because, in his case, they are very consistent with his class performances.

They argued with me that these scores are never an accurate measure of LD children and that the scores do not really mean too much. I talked to the administrator of the testing in our district and she tells me that what they are telling me is false.

So, at our next IEP meeting on Sept. 4, I will tell them of my conversation with the administrator and state my case again. If they give me the same baloney, I will refuse for him to be tested any further.

You can say will not accept that your child will not be at grade level but by definition everyone can not be average. An average is the mean of the distribution—there always will be people below the average and above the average.
Beth

I couldn’t agree more. I think the whole process is fairly degrading for all children especially as they get older and start comparing. I can be devastating to their self-esteem.

My daughter who has no LD issues and is an average student was asked by all of her friends what scores she got, because of course in middle school they track by these placement tests. It took much convincing that she is doing fine and not to compare herself to her friends who did better.

What kind of other assessment would I be asking for that might be more useful?

These(Iowa’s , etc.) are group achievement tests, normed on a national sample; more useful tests are the new criterion-referenced tests that are curriculum based given by some states—these allow you to see how your child compares to others in his school/grade on understanding of YOUR state’s curriculum. There are also indiviually administered diagnostic achievement tests like the new Woodcock Johnson III., which you’re probably familiar with already.

If you think you may be on the road to due process, the SAT9 scores can be your back up to prove your case that they are not providing FAPE. Do not allow any accommodations. The tests DO mean something or the schools would not give them. It is called accountability.

I don’t ever “share” my children’s SAT 9 scores with any other parents. I also don’t open up their folders after school and discuss spelling tests or grades.

Even with my daughter’s scores which are almost all consistently in the high 90s. I feel this information is personal. I don’t like to ask others and I discourage my children from discussing them and making comparisons.

But I did eagerly anticipate my son’s scores this year because the school kept telling me that he’s doing “fine.” And I knew otherwise. Yesterday I received his SAT-9 and STAR scores and learned that I was correct. His reading scores were below average (even with lots of remediation and a huge focus on reading) Also, they indicated a problem with comprehension which was something I hadn’t been aware of. So the testing was helpful for me.

But I understand your point too. It’s very important we guard and build our children’s self esteem.

Our High School does the complete SAT-9/STAR testing in two days. I think this is way to much testing for some students. The kids with IEP’s took them separately and were allowed to go at their own pace. What this boiled down to was if they rushed through the whole thing marking anything they were given a pass to go home for the rest of the day. I called this a reverse accommodation because there was a big reward for finishing early. This year I had the testing broken up into different days to try to get more meaningful results. This year for my 9th grader I will do the same thing but on the two days of school testing I want him in a regular classroom going the same pace as all the other students but only going the morning testing. My son does not need exta time on individual tests because he has only a writing disability and tests are fill in the bubble. I’m hoping this will keep his results an accurate reflection of where he is accademically.

Helen

Can I then request that he just be tested annually using the Woodcock-Johnson instead of the stanford and isat?

I would like to have some annual objective measure of progress. But since they tell me they don’t consider the standford and isat, I would want something they consider valid.

Wow, I had no idea. Who would I ask about this, the high school or our current SPED director? I am considering sending him to a parochial high school but certainly have not made up my mind since he’s only in 5th grade.

Should they not inform parents what the end result or ramifications of accepting SPED would be at the eligibility meeting? Who would know to ask such questions?

That’s probably overkill; there are measures of reading and math (Gray Oral Reading, Key Math, etc.) that could be given annually, but they don’t ensure progress, they document achievement….I think some sort of group achievement test is reasonable, so you know where your child stands next to his peers. If you don’t want them and can opt out, go ahead. In our state, Mass., you can’t opt out of the state achievement tests…only if you’re in private school or homeschooled; you need to pass to get a diploma.

Lulu,

This is what I have done is ask for achievement testing in the area of deficit, the same test year after year. If they wrote good goals with objective measures of progress then this would not be needed.

Helen

Since we are now pretty darn certain that IQ is more dynamic than static (changes instead of stays the same), there is a whole school of thought out there about the bell curve and how it limits our perceptions of people (incl children’s) capabilities. With lots of effort in some right directions (strengths as well as weaknesses), my son’s IQ grew 20+ points (not including the WPPSI he had in pre-kindergarten—but was age-appropriate for kindergarten.) Some weaknesses remained relatively so and still are today. Digit span is just a difficult subtest for him. Symbol search and coding are and were awsome for him. Enriched environment and other things grow strong neural connections across the board.

We haven’t begun to understand everything about how brain learns and grows in its capacities. Your child may be average today and low or borderline or above average in five years. Probably not if you are “average” in your habits of enriching the learning environment: reading, learning, seeing, observing. If you were shut in a barn alone for a few years—probably would see a drop in IQ. If you were wealthy and could hire any teacher and go anywhere you wish, IQ would probably go up.

There are some really good reasons for abandoning the Discrepancy formula model of diagnosing LD. However, if you think that this one is difficult to understand, the CBA model seemed impossible to know when we as parents “win” services. I wasn’t ready then to trust schools to provide services and a decent curriculum.

What I do believe is that the bell curve limits our understanding of teaching and learning.

Learning is a life-long journey. If we give up and sit down, it is pretty certain were we will end up. The path may wind and twist and we might find ourselves back at the beginning; however, we choose to stay there (sit down) or to move forward down a different path.

***

Since so much money is allocated for sped to supposedly help our kids why shouldn’t we expect them to be on target with their peers.

Anytime I raise this issue it is always turned around and my son is supposed to take responsibility for not being at grade level. Well, how could he be at grade level when he is being taught 2 years behind grade level.

Kids in regular ed classes are not expected to read a book until they memorize it. If you talk to a trained reading teacher they will tell you a child should move ahead not stay at the same level.

Robin,

Maybe you know the answer to this question. National reading scores show that it isn’t just ld kids who are far behind grade level.

How do I get information from the school about how the regular ed class kids scored on the same tests? This information could be a great help to me in proving that it is the reading programs that are failing my son.

Yes, I have had him tutored 2 x a week by a remedial reading teacher. Then I was fortunate enough to get Shay to come and do phonographix with him. I have seen a huge improvement after that program and continuing reading more difficult materials.

Before all the teachers here jump all over me I am not blaming the teachers they use the programs provided.

Schools are supposed to make that info public. In my city you can go to the district website and get the scores on the web. PS I agree that the current reading programs suck (epecially whole language)and many teachers haven’t learned how to really teach reading in a effective way. I think the credentialling process needs to be overhauled so that all elemantarty teachers muct be able to teach phonetically based methods effectively.