What has been your experience with a special ed. child and the "no child left behind" act?

Question

What has been your experience with a special ed. child and the "no child left behind" act?

Answer 1

100% of the students will not be on grade level by the designated year. In fact, 100% will NEVER be on grade level when ALL of them are required to take algebra, geometry, foreign language, etc. as if preparing for a four-year college degree.

We have a severe student that is non-verbal, he sits and holds various manipulatives for five minutes at a time. Do you think he can pass that required algebra class? NCLB says he will have to or the school system will be penalized. Who will the school system blame when he cannot - the teacher, of course!

Isn't it much more important to teach him daily living skills?

While it certainly is a laudable idea, it is also impossible to achieve. So my experience with NCLB is simply frustration.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, Sharon's placement issues with her son are not really caused by No Child Left Behind.  It sounds more like an incompetent staff who is unwilling and/or unknowledgeable about how to explain things to parents.  Most of the time, staff members are required to place children in the mainstream classroom to prove it doesn't work.  Sounds stupid, I know.  It is supposed to protect the student from him receiving a label and immediately being put into a lesser environment, as was commonplace decades ago.  

No Child Left Behind provides a lot of motivation for administration to push money into small group tutoring for slow learners and special education students alike.  Students often receiving intensive tutoring to prepare them specificially for a test.  Great...the kids are able to do the test.  Note, I say kids are able to do the test.  Are they really better off for it?  Not usually.  Kids struggling to stay on grade level really should be given different options.  Not everyone is cut out to go to a four year university.  There are lots of hands-on careers that a kid could do ...and do well.  A lot of kids end up feeling like failures at school and do not receive the opportunity to do well in a culinary class or auto shop because they must enroll in support class to pass a test or tutoring costs have utilized the funds for these classes.

Edit - jdeekdee!!! We agree!  There is a first time for everything.  ;)  

Sped Teacher-   What state do you work in?  Kids who are not on the standard curriculum (almost always kids with mental retardation)  are not tested with the same test or at the same level.  Most states (I thought all were legally required) to have another plan in place that work on the ideas of the curriculum.  For example, a high school student may work on patterns with manipulatives instead of algebra or may match basic shapes.  Regular special ed. curriculum (ie daily living skills) is also addressed.  I'd say in most classrooms it is the majority of the day!

Answer 3

I have had mixed experiences.  In general, high functioning special needs children tend to do better. For kids with significant problems, this law just adds extra and unnecessary stress.  Also, in general, I think the curriculum is being gutted in science, social studies,physical education, and arts areas to allow for more time in reading, math, written language.  Our kids are not getting well rounded education, unless parents can afford private lessons, assuming they have any time to have private lessons.

I also feel that sufficient money to support additional help in terms of personnel, materials , and extended time, is not forthcoming.  The federal government can mandate all they want, but it is not being realistic.  The idea that ALL students will be reading at grade level  by a certain year, ignores the realities.  Some children who have significant problems, may never be able to read fluently at any grade level.  Also, the law ignores child development.  Not all children develop skills at the same time.  I have had students who did not learn to read at even the first grade level until 9th grade or even at age 45.

The first site below is the official government site on NCLB, including their success stories. The second site is semi supportive with several ideas for overhauling the act. The third site deals a lot with applying NCLB to special needs children. The last site is set up to advocate for special needs students.

Answer 4

Sometimes my experiences are good then we run into the one person that just infuriates me to no end.They say that my son is fine and that he should be mainstreamed so we did that.Then they said that he should go to vo-tech and we sent him.Now his grades in regularschool are falling and his vo-tech grades are doing great.We are stuck with this team of people who are not doing for my son but for what they think will look good for their record as his Interagency team.

Answer 5

I agree with  Elizabeth S and bizime. THis law wants special ed kids to take the same exact test as the regular ed kids and you know they will not pass, they are not learning at the same pace as the reg ed kids and they are not going to know the material.

THis is not fair to teachers and schools. Because NCLB testing is done to see how well the SCHOOLS are doing, and NOT the students (lots of people don't know this)

The better the scores of the students, the more funds that schools get. This isn't fair to teachers and schools because even though they are suppose to help the child in special ed reach grade level, it just takes time for this to happen.

I doubt ANY child's IEP states for schools to get the child up to grade level of reg ed students in time to take the state tests LOL

There are some situations that children are in that are going to make their scores lower, and these situations can not be controlled by the teacher. Such as a new student who hasn't been in school long enough for the teacher to help.

I have read news reports stating that some schools change scores on the tests that special ed kids take (and some reg ed kids too) to show their scores are ok so the school can get more money.

And, some states, such as GA, don't count the sped kids test scores at all so the school can get more money.

In the case of GA, the state dept of education allowed this to happen.

NCLB needs to be done away with. Some schools are getting rid of every other subject but reading and science. This is awful !!

To reply to the first answer here, your situation has nothing to do with NCLB, but I do agree with you because your situation is typical of LOTS, but not ALL, of the schools in the US