Standardized Testing & opting out of PSSA

Another option: have a different assessment of her reading done that shows that her comprehension is above grade level but her speed of reading is low. Then request that she be allowed extended time on the 11th grade test.

They are worried about their low scores not about your daughter. Without extended time, she will do poorly. I understand that you realize that standardized tests are not valid measures of your daughter’s learning/potential but the rest of the world doesn’t see it that way. I don’t know where you are moving but in many states now students are required to pass an exit exam. Personally, I would get that accomodation in place. Also, if she plans to take the SAT or ACT test for college, she will need a record of extended time to qualify.

Another possibility is to homeschool or move her to a private school where test accountability is not an issue.

Thank you for the response. 15 minutes after I wrote this I called my ex husband to say I think we need to finally give up on public school and put her in private, public is just not for her.
As I researched this issue, I came upon the California Exit test so I do know some about the horrors of a test to graduate. We are moving to South Dakota where we don’t have to worry about that, but she does want to go to a public school that has a wonderful performing arts program but is a big advocate of high test scores.
Mostly you helped me remember the big picture, which my daughter’s therapist told us to remember 2 weeks ago. This particular test is small potatoes compared to what’s ahead.
I just get so tired of educators who are incapable of educating with common sense. I have no tolerance for … do it, or else and shut up about it.

My daughter was homeschooled at the end of 6th grade and the end of 7th grade because the school district wouldn’t recognize her need for 504 or IEP at all. This school district has a good special education department.
Then she spent a year in Cyber School which was excellent, but isolating. But I loved that year most of all.

As baseball announcer Tim McCarver once said, “I don’t know why they call it ‘common sense’. They should call it ‘uncommon sense’, because if it were so common, more people would have it!!”

We stayed away from public schools until our son insisted on going back. We opted out of “manditory testing”. We homeschooled, we even helped create our own charter school. You are correct, this kind of education doesn’t help our kids. I think that’s why kids on medication get better grades but have never been shown to have any long-term academic improvement over unmedicated ADHD kids - they are able to “pay attention” to an educational approach that doesn’t really teach them new skills or ideas but expects them to “go along with the program” and punishes them for being different.

Don’t know that I have any great answers, but I wanted you to know that I empathize with your feelings. The “No Child Left Behind Act” and all of its cousins in states around the USA are a joke. They do nothing to improve the educational options available, and simply punish the kids who don’t fit in. These kids are suffering enough without the federal government rubbing salt in the wound. Alternative education is the way to go, as far as we were concerned. I just didn’t want to subject my kids to that kind of crap.

–- Steve

Almost anytime I ask a question here, or with therapists or those beaten down by the public school system…I get the same answer: “You can’t change that big machine and your child needs all your energy, so don’t waste it trying to fight the school district.”

So in an oddly calm move, not full of angst and head holding and sick stomachs, as with past major school decisions, I inquired to our old cyber school if we could get in late for this semester and they said hurry up with your paperwork! It felt illegal, it was so easy. I am sad for other parents around the country who don’t have this tremendous Cyber Charter School option. Pennsylvania school districts hate cyber schools (and I sympathize with their funding concerns) and I am sure after my daughter is well out of harms way, the school district association will succeed in doing away with this gem of an alternate education.

In a week she’ll sign out of public school, we’ll sign in to online school, get enough sleep and bring up her GPA.

I of course have great concerns (accelerated by my own mother) that my daughter will think that anytime the going gets tough, we bail. But the alternative is sticking out another semester, hanging off the D and F cliff wondering if she’ll be held back, living in detention for being late or forgetting our “out sick” note and spending every weekend trying to catch up on paperwork and missed and late homework (that we can’t find in the bookbag).
I say this radical move was not all caused by that “3rd grade” reading class but it does have alot to do with it. It shows the administration (not the teachers..they are great) don’t understand special education students and don’t care to understand them.

Whenever I come here to read about my peers in the trenches I always get the voice of reason. Thank you so much for responding thoughtfully to me because I know I just did the right thing, and my daughter will be a better person for it in the future. There is another post in this forum talking about a woman’s 15 year old son crying when he had to go to special education classes. My daughter cried when the letter came saying she “qualified” for an extra reading class that was mandatory, the one academic skill she has already mastered.

Learning just doesn’t happen when kids are humiliated.

In second grade, when I could not not get the school to provide my son with a program he could learn from, I pulled my son out mornings and taught him myself. I sent him to school “late”, which caused quite a ruckus but in the end the school agreed they could do nothing about it.

The old special ed teacher was gone the next year and no surprise my son was the only one who could read.

I do not look at that action as bailing when the going got rough. Just like you, I had fought my battles. And like you, it had not changed anything. So, like you, I did what I need to do to teach my son the way he needed to learn.

I think what you should tell your daughter (and your mother) is the smart thing is to know when to keep struggling and when to change direction. Beating your head against a door does not always open it.

I told my son that he needed to be taught differently and the school wasn’t doing it, so I would.

Give yourself a pat on the back for refusing to let your daughter be beaten by a system that wasn’t designed for a kid like her.

Beth

Beth, I cried when I read your post and then I read all the responses to my mom. The banging your head against a door that can’t open is a perfect description.
My exhusband, who is still my best friend, said very aptly that high school is only 8 semesters, and we’ve burned through 3 of them with a bad GPA and we don’t have anymore to waste.
Oddly enough her grades came on Saturday after the dust settled. She failed both quarters of last semester’s science class but got a 70 (just passing) because she got a [b]99 [/b]on the science final with more than 200 questions. Her teacher commented that her writing was a problem…yes…that is what the IEP says, sir. A 99 shows she heard every word he said so she learned, but her science semester grade is a 70. She loved the class, came home spouting so much new knowledge, but her teacher was frustrated that she couldn’t keep up with all the busy work handouts (we figured out that with block scheduling and 80 minute classes they have to give out lots of busy work papers to fill the class…deadly for a child with slow processing skills and a writing disability). It made my daughter frustrated that she couldn’t get ahead in the class. The 99 helped our spirits just the same!
Another science teacher last year screamed at me in an IEP meeting that, “your daughter has real problems.” Thanks for that insight.

Thank you all again, we did absolutely the right thing. She can take Spanish again this semester, which, according to the school she couldn’t take because her grade of 77 for introductory Spanish isn’t good enough to promote her to Spanish I. Does that make any sense? Her options for languages are now German and French because she can’t repeat Spanish because her grade needed to be an 80 in Intro Spanish to move up. No, I know it doesn’t make any sense.

So her GPA will go up with Cyber School, I’ll work on her book report and note taking skills and we are going to attend a sign language class.
On a side note, she picked up sign language somewhere during her elementary school years and loves it. A wonderful career is deaf interpreting because it pays well, there are always jobs and the best paying is signing for special education kids. So my goal is to have her certified by the time she is 19 so she can go off to college to be an actress like she wants, but can make $20 an hour as a signer when she needs to make a living!

Thank goodness for this forum. Thank you all for your help, we have exhaled again!

There is a great post about an 18 year old girl over in the Parenting ADHD section and that led me to Addwarehouse.com and the article below. It was a free article so I hope it’s okay to post it here. It really is a good summary of some major problems we wonder about all the time. Incompetence vs. noncompliance comes up all the time, as does the reward section. If we waited for good grades or good behavior to give rewards she wouldn’t get any so we wrestle with that all the time and often think we are indulgent. This article says we’ve been doing it right.
The best part is the end…I never take care of myself in order to cope. I think that’s the must read section of this article.

GUIDELINES FOR SUCCESSFULLY
PARENTING ADHD CHILDREN
Sam Goldstein, Ph.D.
To effectively parent a child with ADHD you must be an effective manager. You are managing someone with poor self-regulation. Your interactions with your ADHD child must be consistent, predictable and most importantly, understanding of the chronic difficulties this child likely will experience. The following guidelines are essential:

Education. You must become an educated consumer. You must thoroughly understand this disorder, including developmental, scholastic, behavioral and emotional issues.

Incompetence vs. Non-compliance. You must develop an understanding of incompetence (non-purposeful problems that result from the child’s inconsistent application of skills leading to performance and behavioral deficits) and non-compliance (purposeful problems which occur when children do not wish to do as they are asked or directed). ADHD is principally a disorder of incompetence. However, since at least 50% of children with ADHD also experience other disruptive, non-compliant problems. Parents must develop a system to differentiate between these two issues and have a set of interventions for both.

Positive Directions. (telling children what to do rather than what not to do or giving them a start rather than a stop direction). That provides the most effective type of commands for the ADHD population.

Rewards. Remember that children with ADHD need more frequent, predictable and consistent rewards. Both social rewards (praise) and tangible rewards (toys, treats, privileges) must be provided at a higher rate when the ADHD child is compliant or succeeds. Remember, it is likely that the ADHD child receives less positive reinforcement than siblings. Make an effort to keep the scales balanced.

Timing. Consequences (both rewards and punishment) must be provided quickly and consistently.

Response Cost. A modified response cost program (you can lose what you earn) must be utilized with this child at home. This system can provide the child with all the reinforcers starting the day and the child must work to keep them or can start the child with a blank slate, allowing the child to earn at least three to five times the amount of rewards for good behavior versus what is lost for negative behavior (earn five chips for doing something right, lose one chip for doing something wrong).

Planning. Understanding the forces that affect your ADHD child, as well as the child’s limits should be used in a proactive way. Avoid placing the child in situations in which there is an increased likelihood the child’s temperamental problems will result in difficulty.

Take Care of Yourself. Families with one or more children experiencing ADHD are likely to experience a greater stress, more marital disharmony, potentially more severe emotional problems in parents and often rise and fall based upon this child’s behavior. It is important to understand the impact this child may have upon a family and deal with these problems in a positive, preventative way rather than a frustrated, angry and negative way after you have reached your tolerance.

Take Care of Your Child. Remember that your relationship with this child is likely to be strained. It is important to take extra time to balance the scales and maintain a positive relationship. Find an enjoyable activity and engage in this activity with your child as often as possible, at least a number of times per week.
Sam Goldstein, Ph.D. Dr. Goldstein is a member of the faculty at the University of Utah and in practice at the Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center. He has authored twelve texts, book chapters, articles and training videos dealing with a range of child development topics.

As a special educator in the state of Kentucky, I struggle with the No Child
Left Behind Garbage everyday. The people who are behind this law haven’t spent a day in the classroom with students with diverse learning styles and needs. Public education is under the gun to produce higher achievement scores or they loose thier federal funding! Demanding that ALL students perform at the same level using the same testing procedure is unrealistic and unattainable. Unfornuately, millions of kids will pay the price before the federal government figures it out! Tell your kid to keep her head up! The whole world is not crazy! Your worth is not decided by on single test! I would make sure she receives all the accommadations her IEP promises so that she can let her light shine.