Special education hours during PARCC?

[Anonymous]

DC gets 7 hours a week of services, in reading and writing. Usually, that happens in the morning. During PARCC, testing is in the morning and ELA was moved to the afternoon. Her special ed teacher has not been there, so she's gotten no support. Am I out of luck? It's particularly annoying because the class is working on a long term project where DC could really use the help.

[Anonymous]

You should complain immediately - the school is not keeping to the terms of the IEP, and this could affect your child's understanding of the topic, and as well as her grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should complain immediately - the school is not keeping to the terms of the IEP, and this could affect your child's understanding of the topic, and as well as her grade.

Thanks. I don't care about her grade -- it's only elementary school-- but I do care about her feeling good about her ability to complete the project. Today is the last day; maybe I'll ask for make up time next week, but they will claim that the logistics are too difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should complain immediately - the school is not keeping to the terms of the IEP, and this could affect your child's understanding of the topic, and as well as her grade.

Thanks. I don't care about her grade -- it's only elementary school-- but I do care about her feeling good about her ability to complete the project. Today is the last day; maybe I'll ask for make up time next week, but they will claim that the logistics are too difficult.

Depending on how the IEP is written they may have flexibility in terms of how the hours are met. I would imagine the special education teacher is involved in testing too, supporting kids with accommodations. Not an excuse but it's a rough time for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC gets 7 hours a week of services, in reading and writing. Usually, that happens in the morning. During PARCC, testing is in the morning and ELA was moved to the afternoon. Her special ed teacher has not been there, so she's gotten no support. Am I out of luck? It's particularly annoying because the class is working on a long term project where DC could really use the help.

Your child's hours were, presumably, used for small group testing.

I agree that it's annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC gets 7 hours a week of services, in reading and writing. Usually, that happens in the morning. During PARCC, testing is in the morning and ELA was moved to the afternoon. Her special ed teacher has not been there, so she's gotten no support. Am I out of luck? It's particularly annoying because the class is working on a long term project where DC could really use the help.

Your child's hours were, presumably, used for small group testing.

I agree that it's annoying.

But she wasn't receiving instruction during testing.

I can't remember who my child said proctored the small group test, but it wasn't the special ed teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC gets 7 hours a week of services, in reading and writing. Usually, that happens in the morning. During PARCC, testing is in the morning and ELA was moved to the afternoon. Her special ed teacher has not been there, so she's gotten no support. Am I out of luck? It's particularly annoying because the class is working on a long term project where DC could really use the help.

Your child's hours were, presumably, used for small group testing.

I agree that it's annoying.

But she wasn't receiving instruction during testing.

I can't remember who my child said proctored the small group test, but it wasn't the special ed teacher.

No students were receiving instruction during testing. Same as a field trip - hours missed for that don't have to be made up.

Now the fact that they moved ELA to a different time makes it a little different. But if this is the only time the school has 'missed' her hours all year, I am not sure I'd make it my hill to die on.

[Anonymous]

Whole PARCC thing is annoying. Instruction seems to slow down for all kids and the schools can't think about anything else. We wanted to have an IEP meeting this month, but we had to postpone because of PARCC. Also my DD was supposed to get more general education hours to help interactions with NT peers, and again that change was delayed due to PARCC.

[Anonymous]

Special Education Teacher Here

For a minute there, I thought you were talking about me. I work at a middle-high school. We have so many grades testing that I haven't been inside of a classroom since the beginning of April. I've been administering tests to kids that I don't even work with. If a child gets extended time, then that's basically the entire morning gone just for one unit of a test. The same goes for frequent breaks. I've been testing groups of one to four kids at a time. It's been a month and we still aren't done. We "hope" to be done by the week before Memorial Day. Then, I'll be on to testing students for the HSA and course finals.

I seriously cannot understand why we need so many tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whole PARCC thing is annoying. Instruction seems to slow down for all kids and the schools can't think about anything else. We wanted to have an IEP meeting this month, but we had to postpone because of PARCC. Also my DD was supposed to get more general education hours to help interactions with NT peers, and again that change was delayed due to PARCC.

I don't know that MCPS can do much about it because PARCC is state-mandated, right? They can't have an IEP meeting b/c staff aren't available b/c they are assigned to proctoring and/or providing accommodations to special education students during the testing. NT peers also aren't available if they are testing. As much as you hate it, I bet staff hates it even more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Special Education Teacher Here

For a minute there, I thought you were talking about me. I work at a middle-high school. We have so many grades testing that I haven't been inside of a classroom since the beginning of April. I've been administering tests to kids that I don't even work with. If a child gets extended time, then that's basically the entire morning gone just for one unit of a test. The same goes for frequent breaks. I've been testing groups of one to four kids at a time. It's been a month and we still aren't done. We "hope" to be done by the week before Memorial Day. Then, I'll be on to testing students for the HSA and course finals.

I seriously cannot understand why we need so many tests.

So that's two months of specialized instruction that your students are missing? Not your fault, but that's unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whole PARCC thing is annoying. Instruction seems to slow down for all kids and the schools can't think about anything else. We wanted to have an IEP meeting this month, but we had to postpone because of PARCC. Also my DD was supposed to get more general education hours to help interactions with NT peers, and again that change was delayed due to PARCC.

I don't know that MCPS can do much about it because PARCC is state-mandated, right? They can't have an IEP meeting b/c staff aren't available b/c they are assigned to proctoring and/or providing accommodations to special education students during the testing. NT peers also aren't available if they are testing. As much as you hate it, I bet staff hates it even more.

True MCPS can't do anything about it. I think it's time to call my state legislator. I can see PP teacher hates it too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whole PARCC thing is annoying. Instruction seems to slow down for all kids and the schools can't think about anything else. We wanted to have an IEP meeting this month, but we had to postpone because of PARCC. Also my DD was supposed to get more general education hours to help interactions with NT peers, and again that change was delayed due to PARCC.

I don't know that MCPS can do much about it because PARCC is state-mandated, right? They can't have an IEP meeting b/c staff aren't available b/c they are assigned to proctoring and/or providing accommodations to special education students during the testing. NT peers also aren't available if they are testing. As much as you hate it, I bet staff hates it even more.

True MCPS can't do anything about it. I think it's time to call my state legislator. I can see PP teacher hates it too.

Please, please do! SLP here. During PARCC I'll get small windows between morning and afternoon testing and will pull as many kids as I can at once (that fit in my tiny little room) and we play a game or do a craft, just so I can lay eyes on them and direct their language during the activity. It's not fair to them and it's not fair to us, but we're doing the best we can because to the school, we're bodies for testing and since nobody is really getting instruction, what do IEPs matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC gets 7 hours a week of services, in reading and writing. Usually, that happens in the morning. During PARCC, testing is in the morning and ELA was moved to the afternoon. Her special ed teacher has not been there, so she's gotten no support. Am I out of luck? It's particularly annoying because the class is working on a long term project where DC could really use the help.

Your child's hours were, presumably, used for small group testing.

I agree that it's annoying.

But she wasn't receiving instruction during testing.

I can't remember who my child said proctored the small group test, but it wasn't the special ed teacher.

Specialized instruction on an IEP doesn't guarantee a certain person, or even a certain credential. If the student tested under specialized conditions (e.g. small group) then it counts.

And yes, assessment counts as part of specialized instruction. Of course it does, because otherwise special educators would never be able to assess kids in their classes. Although this particular test may be of no or limited use in the classroom, it's important that teachers know what kids can do, and other types of assessment are important.

I'm not saying I agree with the law. I'm just telling you what the law says.

[Anonymous]

MCPS parent - happens every year during PARCC. I get that kids with accommodations need them implemented. My child has accommodations that require 1:1 testing. Having one special educator for an entire building seems like a poor set up for actual IEP implementation.