Re: How do you explain other kids unobvious disabilities.



"Chookie" <ehrebeniuk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ehrebeniuk-F80FED.20405205022006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <YI1Ff.17666$vp6.5318@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Donna Metler" <dmmetler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In addition, since NCLB looks at children with disabilities as a
subgroup
separate from regular ed students, and if you have a small enough number
the
group doesn't count, there is a real incentive NOT to label borderline
children. Because while that child may pass the test just fine, her
being
counted in the subgroup could potentially push little Jimmy who has no
prayer of passing but isn't severe enough to qualify for alternative
assessment into being counted twice-once in special education, once in
the
grade level as a whole. And that can turn an otherwise passing school
into a
failing school.

Sorry, Donna, I'm not grasping this bit, probably because I'm not involved
with the US education system. NCLB must be 'No Child Left Behind' which I
have just read about in wikipedia (not understanding it very well,
either),
but how does this lead to borderline children not being labelled and
double-counting students?
NCLB not only rates a school as a whole, but by subgroups. Children with
disabilities, children speaking English as a second language, low income
children and certain large minority groups are all counted separately. If
any subgroup, in any grade, fails, the school fails. If any school fails, a
district fails.

As a result, a Hispanic child in 5th grade with spina bifida who speaks
Spanish as a home language and lives in a housing project would be counted
as:
1) a 5th grader
2) a Hispanic
3) a student with a disability
4) an ESL student
and
5) a low income student.

If that student fails, the school feels it 5x-because while no one student
is enough to fail a school, it all adds up.

Now, there's a loophole. States set a number or a percentage of students to
form a subgroup. If the plateau, is, say 15, and you have 14 children who
have a diagnosed disability-and you know that there's a good chance that at
least half of these children won't pass a grade level test (only a small
percentage of children are allowed to be assessed using alternative
assessments. Everyone else MUST take the test on their grade level, and
modifications are few and far between) , there's a real incentive not to
diagnose number 15, because number 15 could potentially push your whole
school into failing-even if those 8 students with disabilities were the only
ones who failed the test.

This is why we have schools which have the top ratings by the state,
wonderful records, parents clamoring to transfer into them, which are listed
as "low performing" by the federal government and are on remediation plans
because of it.


--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.


.

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