Saturday, January 16, 2010

No Excuse, Right...


Some of my students have IEPs that say they should have test questions read out loud to them. I know my students would benefit by having this test modification enforced. They are great verbally but there is a short circuit between their brains and the hands that hold the pencil.

I spoke to resource room teachers about the need to read to these kids. the answer I got was "We don't have the time or personnel to do this. It would be nice if we did."

What is the point of having IEPs if the things written on them are not taken seriously?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I assume that you are not dropping this. Compliance violations are serious matters.

Jonathan

Kim said...

Wait, the IEP requires reading the test but the school refuses to comply? They're one informed parent away from a lawsuit, I think.

I have students like this - it's amazing the difference reading the test to them makes.

kherbert said...

My district has come up with a tech solution to this problem. Except for the TAKS tests, test are recorded for students. Then they use school Ipods during the test. Added benefit - the students can work at their own pace and SPED isn't looking for rooms/closets to test in.

I have one student who is gifted in math but dyslexic and another that is visually impaired. They no longer have to wait and wait and wait for the other oral administration students who struggle in math to finish a problem so the reader can read the next problem.

Pissedoffteacher said...

Technicaly, there is compliance. The problem is the kid has to ask for the reader for specific questions and that is not enough. These kids aren't savvy enough to take advantage of this on their own.

Someone in my school just reminded me that there are teachers in the library that will read. The problem is the periods the kids need the readers and the period the readers are available do not coincide a good deal of the time.

There is nothing I can do except keep badgering the kids to ask for what they need and are entitled to, but they won't.

Chaz said...

The answer is that the IEP's are violated all the time. Lack of resources, time, low priority, etc. Of course if a teacher was to complain about this, I bet the teacher would very likely be sent to the "rubber room".

Anonymous said...

I show every test on the document camera and read it aloud to the whole class after passing it out. Of course, these are 7th grade tests. It's always on several student's IEP's and only takes a few minutes.
Mrs B

dmac said...

There should be ways to get things like this addressed anonymously so teachers don't have to fear for their jobs. Parents need to be better informed of their rights as well. I had a similar problem where no translator was hired for my student who speaks Indonesian, so she had to take the Social Studies test in English. And I had talked to everyone in my school who I had to to make sure they had time to hire someone. It's soooo ridiculous. And they want to use test scores to evaluate teachers? When are we going to have administrators evaluated for half the things they try to slide under the radar, at the expense of teachers and students?

mathman42 said...

Should be read in the Resource Room, no ?

You certainly can't read it while 25 other students are doing it "silently". Quotes for emphasis.

Pissedoffteacher said...

Too many kids in resorue room for teacher to give individual attention to those who are entitled to it.