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The first article was printed in the Linton
Daily Citizen on Thursday reporting on the first meeting of the
Community Council in Linton. I was unfortunately unable to attend the
meeting, but will be present at Saron Church in Linton on Dec. 6th at
noon for the next meeting. I encourage all of you to attend as well,
to help articulate the needs of our children and loved ones with
learning differences.
The second article was a letter to the editor which I submitted
yesterday.
Since that time I have also found still more important facts related to
this issue including the fact that L-S Elementary had 453 students who
completed ISTEP testing for the 2004 rating period; (72 were special ed
and 379 were not special ed), 107 of the total students tested did not
pass. 49 of those failing students were special education students
and 58 of those failing students were not special ed.
However, the statement in the paper said that, "a majority of the
students did pass, but because of one group of special needs students
who failed, the entire school failed ". Obviously the percentage
of special education students who failed ISTEP was greater than the
percentage of those not categrized as special ed., but in
actual numbers more students who are "not special
ed" failed the ISTEP. 68% of special education
students tested failed ISTEP and just over 15% of "not special ed"
students failed ISTEP.
While identifying a deficit in the existing special education programs
in order to make significant and positive changes for the well being of
these students is a critical need, I hope that these students have not
been selectively singled out to be the scapegoat for the school failing
to meet their adequate yearly progress for ISTEP last year. We need to
be looking at the schools accross the State of Indiana and find model
schools who have special education programs that are enabling students
to achieve success, and creating new innovative programs of our own
based on the needs of our students. Parents and families of special
needs students have been struggling to be heard. We go into meeting
after meeting knowing that change is needed. We knew there was a
problem in special education prior to the ISTEP score results. Please
get on board with positive solutions that will improve and enrich the
public school experience for all.
*************************************************************************************************************
Linton Daily Citizen
by Timberly Ferree, Staff
Writer
‘We’re
being held accountable for something we can’t do. We’re
in a transition and we’re not alone. We’re
being set up for failure and special ed
is the downfall.’ ~ Ron Bush
The
During the meeting, assistant Principal Nathan Moore
explained that the community council is a communication link t hat
brings
teachers, administrators, parents, businesses and community
organizations to
the table for decision making.
One of the problems that the
Last year was the first year that the elementary didn’t
meet its adequate yearly progress,
A majority of the students did pass, but because of one
group of special needs students who failed, the entire school failed,
The problem is that in the existing system, only one
percent of special needs students can take the ISTAR (Indiana Standards
Tool
for Alternate Reporting) instead of the ISTEP.
That one percent is a small percentage of special needs
students.
The L-S Elementary has 453 students and 74 of them are
special needs students,
At one time, the elementary had less than 30 special needs
students taking the ISTEP but now the school has more than 30 and this is creating a problem,
Last year was also the first year to include fourth and
fifth graders to those taking the ISTEP and this increased the number
of
special needs students.
This problem is not just a local problem,
Standards for passing increase every three years
and in the 2005-2006 school year the
standards have risen to 65.7 percent in English and 65.3 percent in
math.
More and more schools will not pass because of the increase
in categories, Superintendent Ron Bush explained.
“We’re being held accountable for something we can’t do,”
he added.
“We’re in a transition and we’re not alone. We’re
being set up for failure and special ed
is the downfall.”
But the school is trying hard to find ways to help the
situation, he said. Some students need
to be challenged more while others need more in-class help,
The public assumes that when the school does not meet its
adequate yearly progress that he school is falling apart,
To try to help the problem, a new early literacy assessment
has just been introduced to this year’s kindergarteners and first
graders.
This assessment can help find t hose students who may have
a special needs issue.
There has been pressure to relax the federal guidelines
because schools are failing like crazy, Bush said.
The public needs to know that the Linton-Stockton School
Corporation, along with many other schools have a problem with special
education, he added.
“This is the law and we have to abide by it,” Bush said.
“Not everybody is gonna pass the same bar at the same
time,”
Special needs students are getting better, he added. But the majority of the special needs students
are mainstreamed.
“We have a full inclusion program,”
The focus on the community council is to brainstorm
together to achieve a better adequate yearly progress for special
education
students.
The next community council meeting will be Dec. 6 at
ISTEP merely an indicator of weak existing special
education
programs
Including special needs students in ISTEP testing is not the problem. Their scores on ISTEP are merely an indicator of their current program’s level of effectiveness. If students with special needs are not included on standardized testing, then there is a lower incentive for schools to afford these students with true educational benefit. Accountability for the progress of every student must exist, and current federal guidelines are trying to ensure that schools take seriously the call that no child be left behind.
“The Education of all
children regardless of background or
disability...must always be a national priority. One
of the most important goals of my
Administration is to support states and local communities in creating
and
maintaining a system of public education where no child is left behind. Unfortunately, among those at greatest risk
of being left behind are children with disabilities.” – President
George W.
Bush Executive Order 13227
I found it distressing to read the quote by Superintendent Ron Bush in the Thursday October 27th article “L-S Elementary School asks community to help close gap”, which read, “We’re being held accountable for something we can’t do. We’re in transition and were not alone. We’re being set up for failure and special ed is the downfall.”
If our school administration has already determined that effectively teaching kids with special needs/learning differences to make adequate educational annual progress is something they “can’t do”, then we have already lost the battle. We as adults are often heard telling kids, “Don’t say ‘I can’t’, say, ‘I’ll try’”.
Everyone involved must be willing to try doing things in a different way if we expect new results. I have heard it said that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. A humorous way of looking at this is, “If we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get what we’ve always got.”
“When it comes to the education of our children, failure is not an option.” ~ President George W. Bush
Parents and family members of our local schools have been desperately trying to reach out to the school administration and special education Co-op to make connections and inroads on these issues. Until now, when the school has found itself under the scrutiny of the federal government’s education reform legislation, we have been vastly overlooked and our children’s needs were thought to be secondary to that of neurotypical children; those that can learn in conventional ways.
It is our hope that the Community Council represents a true desire to find more effective ways to educate our children, and not merely a way to explain to the public that the school is really doing a wonderful job and the actual problem lies with children who “can’t learn” no matter what the school might try. Our children, even those identified with severe disabilities, truly can learn with methods and techniques that fit their individual learning styles, and with specific modifications and adaptations to the curriculum.
Indeed one of the easiest ways to benefit the
child and the
school is to utilize permitted accommodations.
“Generally, an accommodation is acceptable on ISTEP, including
the
Graduation Qualifying Examination, if a student with disabilities uses
the
accommodation in testing situations that occur throughout the student’s
educational program; however, the test may
not be modified. Students are not
to receive shortened tests, are not allowed to choose from a reduced
number of
possible answers, are not to have reading comprehension portions read
to them,
and will not receive simplified instructions.” ~ Accommodation Sheet
Developed
by the
These testing accommodations, when used on a regular basis for classroom instruction and testing, will allow the student a better opportunity to access and progress in the general education curriculum and actually learn more. The school would benefit because in addition to actually learning more, the students will also perform more satisfactorily on the ISTEP test, thus raising school performance data.
Parents and families of students with learning differences have a strong desire to share our ideas and knowledge of the diverse learning styles of our children and how to effectively teach them. Many parents of children with learning differences from ADHD to Autism, to Down Syndrome, have become educated in a broad range of intervention strategies and teaching techniques, which by necessity we learned in order to help our children strive to reach their potential.
However, we are often told to leave the education to the educators and that it is not our business to interject. It has even been practice to dismiss parents from being involved in some school activities, telling parents for example, that the teachers will plan and run the class parties and our help is not needed.
Parents need to be involved with educating our children far beyond class parties and homework into the actual design and implementation of innovative programs and services that will meet the diverse educational needs of the ever changing community of learners in classrooms today.
Another section of the article, “We have a full inclusion program,” is not entirely accurate either; as we have many students who spend very little to no time in general education classrooms and some who are actually segregated from typically developing peers even for lunch periods.
Inclusion is not something we do in a specific classroom, only for some students, or “try it to see if it works”. Inclusion is a way of creating a learning environment where all students are equally valued and work side by side to the maximum extent possible even if working at different levels and in different ways. When children are educated together now, they will respect and live comfortably together as adults valuing the unique giftedness of each person. Every individual regardless of their differences is a whole person.
Finally, planning to identify students with special needs issues earlier, such as the new early literacy assessment for kindergarteners and first graders mentioned in the article, will only be a solution, if once identified, the approach to teaching is adapted to meet the varied needs of these students. For example, while phonics is generally beneficial for students, some learners may need a sight word based approach or a combination of approaches.
Just one helpful tool for students with delayed reading skills might be the development of a lending library of books with an accompanying cassette tape recorded by a volunteer, who reads the story followed by reading comprehension questions and answers. I would volunteer my time and donate tape players, books and cassettes for such a project. I believe that the community when asked to do something specific like this would get on board, as well.
The community is filled with creative and generous people who will take up the call to ensure no child is left behind. Let’s make the Community Council a truly valuable opportunity to improve special education programs at Linton-Stockton Elementary, not to pass blame for failure of the school’s ISTEP gains onto the perceived inability of these students to learn.
There are many more ideas
families of children with learning differences look forward to sharing
on
December 6th at
~ Ronda Metzger
Parent of a student with Autism at L-S Elementary
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