Required Exams

WOW THAT is really harsh, it would seem to me that if you knew the answer that should be enough

I recently had some experience with the LSAT. What I learned is that you have to fight, tooth and nail for every acccommodation that you get. Write a letter complaining that the accommodation that you received was useless and that (this is IMPORTANT:) you feel that you have been discriminated against by the testing company. Send the letter to the address below:

US. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue , NW
Civil Rights Division
Disability Rights-NY AVE
Washington, D.C. 20530

-Be sure to include your full name, address, and phone number, and the name of the party discriminated against (in this case it’s you)

-The name of the business, organization, or institution that you believe has discriminated

-A description of the act or acts of discrimination, the dates of those acts and the names of the individuals involved

-Other information that you believe will help support your claim. Do not send original documents.

Go for it! Good luck, and let those of us on the bulletin board know how you fared!

Yesterday afternoon I have spoken to CSET I asked them for a copy of the policy stating the one syllable rule. They said it wasn’t there policy it is the California teaching commissions policy and I would have to contact and get a copy of the policy. I personally think the testing agency(CSET) should be able to give me a copy of the policy and I am wrong in my thinking?

They told me that the California teaching commissions had set for NO adaptive is advises to be used on the CSET. They said I could have a word processor with NO spellchecker.

How does someone with a spelling disability supposed to pass this test?

Erin - Do you think I need to file a complaint against the testing agency or the California teaching commissions???

I am starting to see how this could be discrimination.

CSET= California Subject Exam for Teachers it is offered in English, Math, Social Science, Biology ,Chemistry ,Geoscience ,Physics and Multiple Subject means elementary education.

I took it in multiple subject.

You definitely should check California’s testing requirements and allowed accommodations - get it from the source! Does California have policies regarding licensing of teachers with disabilities? Check them out. Then ask lots of questions. Consult with a lawyer specializing in educational discrimination cases (usually the first interview is free).

I am just beginning the procedure for obtaining accommodations for the SAT for my son, but I can share what I’ve gotten so far. The following information is about obtaining accommodations for all the College Board tests:

1. Send the College Board an email from their website, asking for an application for Services for Students with Disabilities. They will send the application and some additional instructions.

2. On the website, download their requirements for documentation for learning disabilities. They have a requirement that your disability be documented, that the testing be comprehensive and recent and that the accommodations you ask for be supported (best if you are currently using the same ones for tests in your school).

3. After you collect all of this, and if you don’t have a school counselor to verify it and vouch for you, you will have to use the appeal process.

Accommodations for testing usually include such things as use of a word processor (with spell check, but this probably requires a specific reference), use of special calculators, use of a Franklin speller, extended time to take the test, taking the test in a separate room, taking water, food and medication with you into the test room, larger-type for the test, marking test answers in the test booklet rather than on an answer sheet, having the test read to you, having someone record your answers, help with composing essays. There are probably others I just haven’t heard of. Under the law, accommodations must be meaningful, not merely for show.

The other thing to be aware of is that most of these accommodations are only available in school-based test sites and not at the national testing centers.

As a parent, I have some concern about your inability to spell as it affects your ability to teach reading and spelling to children. This is not because of your disability! I just believe all teachers of young children should be able to teach reading and spelling using “best practices” based on current, substantiated research (and it annoys me endlessly when my child’s teachers are unable to write grammatical, well-spelled notes, newsletters, and instructions - it causes me to wonder if they are able to teach the proper use of the language, its structure, and its spelling, when they are unable to use it well themselves). I also believe that learning disabilities should be diagnosed and remediated during the school years (we do an abominable job of that) and it helps if teachers not only are taught how to teach these children, but have also had their own language difficulties ironed out. So I wonder if you’ve had appropriate remediation yourself?

Your learning disability is no reason why you shouldn’t be a teacher, though. My son has had several excellent teachers with language disabilities of one kind or another. Are your disabilities with written language going to be a substantial difficulty for you in teaching? Do you have a plan for addressing this? Have you learned how to compensate for your spelling and writing problems well enough that you can communicate well professionally and in the classroom in writing? Can you readily teach others how to compensate for their difficulties? Have you studied dyslexia and ways to teach these children? Have you looked into the Orton-Gillingham system? (By the way, this program would most likely help you substantially with your spelling problems, as it did for my son, who was never going to be able to spell better than phonetically before he studied with OG-trained teachers. Now he spells most of his vocabulary consistently correctly.) Unfortunately, schools of education are still not providing their students with up to date information and research-based skills for teaching reading, spelling and writing - despite the ready availability of appropriate materials and comprehensive systems.

Good luck! Be persistent!

Deby