Preparing for Graduation May 26, 2009
Posted by Daniel Dage in Autism/Asperger's, Curriculum, Ed Policy Discussion, NCLB, Post school Transition, Special Education.comments closed
It’s that time of year, again. It’s graduation time for the high school seniors. This year, I have one student who is walking across the stage. You might recall a student who used to inhabit this blog who went by the name of Taz. Like the cartoon character of that name, he rarely simply walks anywhere. He is like a tornado the way he moves, which has the potential to be a bit unnerving to people looking for an occasion that is more solemn than cartoonish. That would be the administrators who are only now getting nervous. I was nervous from the minute I knew his mother wanted him to walk this year. So we’re walking the tight rope between allowing him to have his moment on the stage while keeping him from being the proverbial twister in the trailer park.
But he’ll be back. Unlike his peers, he will be returning for post-graduate studies for 2 more years (he’s already 20). I wish I could say that we had much more to offer hime than custodial care. I really wish that was the case. But NCLB has turned us into an academic factory. The product is a finished assessment and the raw materials are academic standards, technology and creativity. Since the general curriculum is aimed at college, that’s where we have to aim, with considerable leeway, of course. But school resources have been totally diverted from vocational instruction to college prep.
Will any of my students go to college? with IQ’s in the single digits…what do you think? Are they going to use the algebra, geography and literature I’ve spent all these years teaching them? Remember, it’s the law. So what happens to my students when they graduate? Where do they go?
I recently stumbled into Lance Strate’s Blog, and he writes a post that addresses this a lot better than I could ever do it. Go over there and read it.
The exit door from my program leads to only two paths. One, is a funeral. I’ve done that one too many times. The other is a waiting list, which all of my graduates end up on, if they don’t take the first path first. And with funding drying up all over, the waiting lists are going to just get longer and longer.
EOCT Fever May 25, 2009
Posted by Daniel Dage in Curriculum, Ed Policy Discussion, Regular Ed.Tags: testing
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End Of Course Tests were at our school a couple weeks ago at our school and spilled out over a couple of weeks. While these are not quite as high stakes as the CRCT for middle and elementary students or the graduation test, they are still big. They are supposed to make up 15% of the students grade. They can, under some circumstances, be used to graduate a student even when a section of the graduation test is not passed.
Here are the courses with EOCTs:
- U.S. History
- Physical Science
- American Literature
- 9th grade literature
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Biology
- Economics
It strikes me as a bit funny that there are so many courses with no EOCT. Plus, each of these courses will also have a final exam next week. So what is up with the EOCT? The EOCT is merely a practice for the graduation test. These are the courses covered by the GHSGT, and so students get a special practice test in order to assess their readiness for the graduation test — and the school’s readiness for making AYP. Apparently, not much counts after you take the GHSGT. Why not an EOCT in chemistry, World History or the foriegn languages? If teaching and learning are the focus, why not teaching and learning in these other areas? Especially since the Highly Qualified requirement still apllies to teachers teaching these other courses.
Apparently, we do have a national curriculum: Testing and Test Prep.
I’ve been doing some extra reading, and it is alarming and depressing where public education is going in the 21st century. The system that defeated the Communists and brought down the wall during the cold war is now being replaced by the system we worked so hard to defeat.
Of course, the testing schedule disrupts the schedule of everyone in the building. While I am self-contained, it still impacts me as there is no planning period, the lunch schedule is off and having to accommodate everyone else derails my kids. But no one thinks about my kids when designing the schedule.
