Reply to "Teacher of the Year" quits over Common Core tests

Forum Index » Schools and Education General Discussion

Reply to ""Teacher of the Year" quits over Common Core tests"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/the-common-core-is-tough-on-kids-with-special-needs/283973/

In a recent discussion board thread on reading comprehension challenges in autism, a[b] special-education teacher commented that her students can’t understand the assigned reading passages. “When I complained, I was told that I could add extra support, but not actually change the passages,” [/b]she wrote. “It is truly sad to see my students’ frustration.”

Why must this teacher’s students contend with passages that are too complex for them to understand? [b]She attributes this inflexibility to the Common Core[/b], new standards—created in 2009 by a group of education professionals, none of them K-12 classroom teachers or special-education experts—that have been adopted by 45 states. Though most Common Core goals are abstract and schematic, collectively they constitute a one-size fits-all approach that, in practice, has severely straightjacketed America’s special-needs students.

The teacher I quoted above—one of the many special-ed instructors Iteach at the Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania education schools—is hardly alone. [b]She’s echoing the concerns of dozens of other special-education teachers I’ve spoken with, most of whom have already gotten the message from their supervisors or superiors that they must adhere to the standards and give all their students the designated grade-level assignments.[/b]
...

one Common Core document that addresses this subject: a [b]one-and-a-half-pager entitled “Application to Students with Disabilities.”[/b] It says that special-needs students should have the support services, individualized instruction, and assistive technology they[b] need for the “the rigor and high expectations of the Common Core State Standards.” [/b]It does not, however, state what these services are or how they would work. [b]As for curricular materials, they might be altered or presented “in multiple ways,” but only “within the framework of the Common Core.”[/b][/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics