Anonymous wrote:I really wish they’d just allow it to be a study hall and not force busy work on these kids.

MCPS can’t offer students with disabilities with less than a full load of classes because then they would be providing less educational opportunities to students with disabilities than non-disabled students. Under federal law, this would be a Section 504 violation.

The Resource Class is supposedly allowable because students are receiving specialized instruction for learning organization skills. The students are still being taught by a teacher and therefore receiving educational benefit. The reality of what is taught and the benefits children receive is sometimes far short of the designed purpose of the placement. It’s often a special needs pullout under the disguise of a general education placement. The types of needs for students with disabilities are diverse in nature so it’s an impossible job to design a curriculum for the class that gives each student what they are hoping to gain from the class.

The whole Resource Class situation is ripe for a federal or state complaint. It’s not working to meet the needs of the students that are placed there.

Anonymous wrote:They do have an "advanced" Resource class for the kids in advanced classes. I agree the work is busy work and my kid did not like it. The teacher who teachers those sections (if they still offer it) is nice but not an effective teacher. We had to hire a tutor to make sure my child's work was being completed. Many Resource classes are a joke.

What kind of tutor did you hire and was this outside of school hours?

I really wish they’d just allow it to be a study hall and not force busy work on these kids.

Anonymous wrote:They do have an "advanced" Resource class for the kids in advanced classes. I agree the work is busy work and my kid did not like it. The teacher who teachers those sections (if they still offer it) is nice but not an effective teacher. We had to hire a tutor to make sure my child's work was being completed. Many Resource classes are a joke.

+1 This is true at other MCPS schools as well. All Special Ed students are lumped together, lots of busy work, and very little differentiation based on the needs of the child.

Maybe kid coukd switch to study hall or p.e.?

They do have an "advanced" Resource class for the kids in advanced classes. I agree the work is busy work and my kid did not like it. The teacher who teachers those sections (if they still offer it) is nice but not an effective teacher. We had to hire a tutor to make sure my child's work was being completed. Many Resource classes are a joke.

When my kiddo first signed up for the Resource Class we were told it would be a GT Resource Class because they are in the Magnet. Now, we are being told there is not a separate resource class and all the resource kids are together. Originally it was offered almost like a study hall with supports for checking grades and executive functioning skills for 2E kids. Now, they are outlining a bunch of assignments that not only increase the workload for my magnet kid, but seem...like....busy work? IDK - has anyone had a kid in the magnet or CAP that has done the resource class at Blair? Was it a separate resource class of the same as the general ed kids? Thanks!