Getting Past Denial

Summary

This article was a father would could that come to grips that his son has a

disability. When Louie was in first grade his father had noticed that he had difficulty

reading but thought it was nothing more than that. Louie’s father did not want his son

labeled. He thought that if his son knew that he had a learning disability then he would

feel bad about himself and that no college would accept him. So his father started

reading everything to him. He did this all the way through school until he got to high

school. In high Louie’s work load became so high that his father did not have the time to

read everything to him anymore. At once his grades dropped tremenously. So his father

went to the school to request that his son be tested assuring the school that whatever

accommodations Louie would need would be small. After Louie went through the first

round of testing the special ed teacher called his father in. He told him that not only was

Louie dyslexic; he also suffered from AD/HD. Every time the teacher would say that his

son was AD/HD his father did not want to accept it. Once he started to think about it all

the signs of AD/HD were there: disorganization, inability to absorb long instructions,

easily distracted by movement or sound. His father finally could not deny the problem.

When he told his son that he had a disability he son said, “You mean dad I’m not stupid.”

He thought that because he worked harder than his friends and still failed that the only

explanation was that he was stupid. Once Louie’s IEP was completed and his

accommodations were enforced on his next report card he got the honor roll.
 Stuck in the Mud
By: Jennifer Jennings
Summary

This article was about two sisters, one named Alison who has a learning disability

and one named Jennifer. Jennifer describes her and Alison’s childhood. She remembers

Alison going from laughter to tears in a matter of minutes. She notes that even when she

was a baby she was different. She did not cry she whistled and when she learned to talk

that is what she did all day until she went to sleep at night. She had terrible tantrums that

seemed to intensify with age. She was always impulsive, taking risks without thinking of

the consequences. Her legs and arms showed the result with multiple scrapes and

permanent scars on all four. When Alison was in second grade she was diagnosed with

AD/HD. She began taking medication and receiving support and behavioral interventions

at school and at home. From that point on her life and the life of her family were vastly

improved. Alison seemed to always have a poor memory especially short term. One

example given is that she could not remember what she had for lunch at school even

though she took the same lunch almost every day. Test were very hard for Alison because

of her short term memory so she kept her grades up by doing research and hands on

projects. Jennifer remembers always being a second tutor to Alison by teaching her

spelling words through songs and teaching multiplication tables while doing cartwheels.

Alison’s senses could be easily overloaded especially smell. She smelled things that no

one else noticed. Vomiting was a frequent reaction to her senses overloading. Jennifer

noted that living with Alison required flexibility, but she had learned a lot from her sister.

Some of the things she learned from her sister were patience, what it is like to live with a

learning disability, perseverance, and how to be more creative. Alison is now in college
double majoring in graphic design and advertising.
 NCLB: Is There Life Beyond Testing?
By: Christy Guilfoyle
Summary

This article started off by asking if you asked an educator what word or phrase

best sums up No Child Left Behind, what would it be. It says most educators would

probably say testing. With NCLB the law requires testing in reading and math annually in

grade 3-8 and once in high schools. These tests carry consequences. If a school fails to

bring enough of their students to proficiency or is considered “in need of improvement”

for five consecutive years they are in risk of being restructured or being taken over by the

state. Secretary Margaret Spelling defends NCLB by often saying, “What gets measured

gets done,” but this article asked the question what happens to those subjects that do not

get measured? Things like history, art, music and physical education are just as important

at child development. Some people are afraid that students are not going to be interested

in anything that is not going to appear on the test. This is also becoming more of a

problem with teachers than students because if it is not going to be on the test why should

I “waste” precious time teaching it. One of the main weaknesses of NCLB is that it is

unable to detect instructional improvement when they occur. Also some states have come

up with “work-arounds” that they can use to raise test scores without actually improving

student achievement. Some of these “work-arounds” include making test items easier,

and excluding low performing students. Spellings has attempted to address some of these

concerns by allowing states to create modifications for students with special needs who

are performing below grade level. The question was asked what is next for NCLB. There

are a lot of things that need to be done but one of the major points was that school and

students will be better off when they can come up with creative solutions that will help
them in their own unique situation. One example of this was the state of Rhode Island.

Test scores only count for ten percent of what students need to graduate. The rest is made

up of portfolios, capstone projects, and public exhibitions. NCLB has brought the

welcome change of transparency, but this transparency would be better if it was more

accurate in gathering data that paints an accurate picture of our students and schools.
 Highly Qualified Teachers for All
By: Linda Darlington and Barnett Berry
Summary

This article talked about how the most important aspect of NCLB is that teachers

who are in core academic subjects are “highly qualified.” This was put into place to

correct an educational injustice where poor students and students of color were more

likely to get inexperienced and under qualified teachers. This provision of NCLB ensures

that all children get a qualified teacher. So far 33 states have good marks on the NCLB

highly qualified teacher provision. Some are concerned that states have lowered their

teacher certification standards, but statistics show that nearly all new teachers are in

organized pre-service or internship programs. This may be because NCLB requires all

Title I schools to inform parents that their student is being taught by a teacher who is not

“highly qualified” it is for more than four consecutive weeks. There are also funds

through Title II that can help teachers take courses or tests to get full certification in their

area. There are still some issues with NCLB, but at least this provision of requiring

teachers to be “highly qualified” is helping insure all students no matter of economic or

racial status the a good education.