OKay, I just needed to vent to people who know where I am coming from. Today I spent SIX hours in a tiny room with five students (combination of EBD & LD), and other than the reading portion READ the entire test. Two of the students completed every subtest way ahead of the group. I KNOW that neither read the questions, or worked out the problems. I repeatedly reinterated how important these scores were for everyone including themselves. How does the Federal government hold ME accountable to the success or failure of these two students?
Our school board is trying to tie our salary increase directly to what these children do on this test! OMG, this is so frustrating. I feel I am giving 120% and being told, sorry, not good enough.
Then on top of it all, is the language regarding ‘highly qualified teachers’. I already have two licenses and a masters degree, and that isn’t good enough?
Sorry folks, just needed to do that. :(
Re: NCLB & testing LD students
Disappointed….an educator is calling out due to fustration and you want to discuss why he read the test.
The teachers and staff are human beings. We can not continue to do our jobs without funding and support of not only the district, but parents. We need to work together.
Re: NCLB & testing LD students
Does rather turn the stomach :-(
I hate hate hate hate hate those stupid tests, and it was bad enough when they had to be endured periodically, but I could just tell students “hey, endure it… we’ll get back to learning soon” — while trying my *best* to convince them that I knew, and so did *many* other people, that these tests did not measure what they knew or their worth.
In the dream world, the accountability would mean that admins would say “oh, my, we really have to do whatever it takes to *teach* these students and bring those test scores up!”
In the real world, “accountability” means “well, we’ll tie it into salaries for motivation, so we can *say* we’re doing something on the paperwork we fill out to explain our accountability program… and we can get the sped teacher to do that paperwork too, adn gosh, those teachers must have such patience to handle those handicapped children, but that *is* what they are trained for!” The idea that if we were given half a chance we could *teach* these folks is beyond their ken.
Re: NCLB & testing LD students
Shel,
You said
Disappointed….an educator is calling out due to fustration and you want to discuss why he read the test.
Point well taken, but….as a parent as well as a special ed educator I have a different perspecitve from you. Can you imagine how frustrating it is for the student to depend upon a teacher to have high stakes testing read to them and to be dependent upon asking the adult to reread again (and again, if necessary) if they don’t get it? Who knows why the students rushed through the test? But just imagine their frustration never mind MItch’s. Students with learning disabilities have just as much right to learning the curriculum as their peers and to be responsible for the curriculum. Too often the curriculum is “dumbed down” - I’ve seen it many, many times. That’s not fair to the students.
Re: NCLB & testing LD students
Point well taken, but….as a parent as well as a special ed educator I have a different perspecitve from you.
I respect your opinion, I don’t respect the way you are going about it.
I too, am I special eduation educator and a parent of an LD MS son and HI MS son. I understand a lot of things. Where do you expect educators to receive their support?
No where in Mitch’s posting did he ask for a solution to the issue. He needed to vent, we all need to vent. You are very lucky to have a solid support group around you. Congratulations.
Take if for what it is. Someone needing to be heard.
The way you are addressing me is very threatening, as if I don’t have the experience or education you do. Sign in and become of member of the board…..
Re: NCLB & testing LD students
Oops! I must not have signed in earlier. That was my earlier post.
Re: NCLB & testing LD students
I can guarantee that that frustration would not be significantly reduced by “text to speech” software. The problem is just a little bit more pervasive than that. If they got the software (no doubt with the motivation that their disaggregated scores would improve), they’d probably *not* be able to work training in how to use it into the schedule, and how to make it work with the rest of the school’s demands. (“Let’s see, we’re going to have some reading to do. Now, will all of you LD students please get up and go to the computer lab and bring your books, scan the materials in, and read the page, and come back?” )
They could do what one of my previous places of employment did, though — read the questions to them and help them with the answers.
Re: NCLB & testing LD students
Except for that’s illegal Sue and helping them with the test will give a teacher lots of things to vent about………from the unemployment line!!
Re: NCLB & testing LD students
That wasn’t done by teachers, but by administrators (who were called in when the students got unruly because the teacher didn’t know she was “supposed” to be helping them). I wouldn’t recommend a teacher doing it :-)
reading the material
I am a ld adult now i went all the way through school with my ld and it would have been nice to have someone there at my side to have them read to me what i couldnt understand. There is nothing more frustrateing than haveing to take a test and not understanding what you are reading. And i can tell you that when i was in school i did rush through the test i would look for the ones that i knew i could read and understand and do those. the other ones i just answered
Why did YOU read them the test? Why didn’t they use text-to-speech? When they graduate, you won’t be following them into the real world to read everything to them! Text-to-speech is inexpensive and readily available. Help them to be independent now!