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September 12, 2005
No Law Suits Left Behind...
Is it me? First, the state legislature can't get anything of substance done, so we throw an election with initiatives no one wil understand, and fewer will vote for. But now, have you noticed that everyone in Sacramento is also Lawsuit happy?
Lining up for his second suit of the year is State Superintendant of Public Instuction Jack O'Connell - suing to stop legislation that would slow the testing of special needs kids for the State Exit Exam.
The problem is - I COMPLETELY agree with Superintendant O'Connell. Read this article:
The state had agreed, and settled the matter that only this years seniors with special needs would be exempt from the State High School Exit Exam. This was the result of a law suit settled last month with the Disability Right Advocates, an Oakland Based Group representing 25,000 special needs kids in the 2006 class.
Now, legislation by Molina (D) Los Angeles throws the whole thing into question. Molina wants all seniors and juniors exempted - expanding what the state agreed to in the settlement, and forcing the hands of both the Governor (who will veto it) and Superintendant O'Connell, who is against it as well (Are they EVEN speaking?) -
The thing you need to consider is not what Ms. Molina thinks is right, or what she wants, but what the parents of the actual kids in question want. For example: "I wish (the Legislature) would have stuck with the settlement so it could have gone through," Dobek said. "For my family, it creates worry. ... We aren't sure what the future entails."
Can you imagine being such a parent - not that their may be no solution at all?
Also interesting, is that it seems like Mr. O'Connel is finally getting in line with NCLB. He says:
All students must be held to the same expectations to assure teachers give them the best education...
He wants kids who are exempt to take supplemental classes, while Romero's bill doesn't require that...
What do you think? Should kids with learning disabilities be required to take the test? Should this year's juniors be exempt? Does California have a clue what it's doing in education?
Or should we sue for a redress of our grievances?
Tim
Comments
Hey my little brother is a senior this year in special ed. To expect him to take the same test as a regular student is obsurd, if he never learned any of this until now...... If were planning this why even have special Ed classes? Why not just throw special ed kids into the main stream classes.
Posted by: Kathy at October 22, 2005 05:42 PMTo me the main problem with NCLB, is most people are only hearing the rhetoric and not looking at the facts. Everyone speaks about how unfair it is to have standards for high school graduation, like in math. Why doesn't anybody talk about the root of the problem. In most schools math is taught by multi-subject teacher until 7th grade, from this point on, there are specificly trained math teacher.
The testing requirements for multi-subject (CSET) allow the use of calculators on the math section. So why are teachers that need calculators to pass a math test allowed to teach math? How can we expect our childern to pass basic math skills when the teachers don't have too?
Tim:
What are the facts on special education as it relates to the testing requirements. What levels of mentally diabled are we talking about? Are you saying special ed should be measured?
Scott
Posted by: Scott Blough at September 13, 2005 09:06 AM