I just received a phone call from school. Support teacher said she is not able to go over the practice assessment tests with the kids and if you want you could do it at home and by the way you might want to consider exempting your child from the mathametics portion of the test ,she is exempt from the reading.I responded with well she is doing very well in reading now and I’ll think about it.Teacher said you know it will be in her cumulative file.Now I know she wont be great ,she is slow, a year behind in reading and can not write well (put thoughts down on paper).But,.is this genuine concern for my child not to be hurt or is it we don’t want our score lowered.I am starting to feel the pressure testing starts April 21.What have you all decided to do and why?
Re: Should I let the school not give my child the state asse
Very good point!
We also had a conversation on here recently where it was discussed the schools do not make a big effort with kids they know are exempt. Lets face it, schools are absolutely judged by there test scores. I could see there being an incentive to eliminate certain kids from testing in order to raise the scores.
I absolutely believe that is why my district has both a huge number of ld kids and one of the best test score around.
Re: Should I let the school not give my child the state asse
It is funny—I threatened to not have my son take the state mandated tests and it was not looked kindly upon. I don’t think there is any way my son will achieve passing scores on the reading or math tests. And I was told he HAD to take them (unless I kept him home all tests days and all possible make up days which is a lot of school). But if you read the posts below, you will see that Florida eliminates ESE kids from the “grades” the school gets (but makes the kids accountable for passing!!).
My own take is like Linda’s. They prefer that weaker students stay home so they aren’t counted in the scores. I wouldn’t do it and use the fact that your child’s scores are included to improve their motivation to provide appropriate services.
Beth
In our state, exemption from state testing means you accept that you do not receive a regular high school diploma. So I think one would need to know what the implications are if you exempt.
Janis