Submitted Advice
Alternative Assessment
President Obama,
For the past five weeks I have been teaching in a K-3 special education classroom. This happens to be around the same time that the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, ISAT, was given to the students in the school. The third graders in my class were also given the ISAT’s. I don’t have a problem with having to administer standardized tests to children who receive special education. I do believe that their scores are just as important as any child in a general education setting. I have a problem in the ways that the tests are administered. What I would like to start with are the student’s rights. Children who receive special education reserve the right to a free and appropriate education, also known as FAPE, which falls under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
So hears the main question; by providing a third grader who is well under the reading level of his/her peers the same standardized test in compliant with FAPE? Appropriate does not seem to fit the above scenario. While in the classroom I saw several behaviors arise due to the frustration the students would experience because he/she had no idea where to start. The students struggled with every aspect of the test because reading was involved. It was tough to not want to help the children with the test. My mentor teaching said that it was illegal to do so. That boggles my mind, I was just as frustrated as the test takers were. My concern is that by administering standardized test to this population without any accommodations, we are setting the students up for failure and more importantly I believe we are violating student’s rights.
A solution, make appropriate accommodations for the child. Who makes the accommodations? The teacher, the teacher knows best on the learning styles of the students and they should have the responsibility to accommodate the standardized test so that is appropriate for the students. Its not a difficult change to make, accommodating curriculum is what every special education teacher as well as good general education teacher do.
I would like you to take a moment and think of the students who are on the other side of these test, who already struggle on a daily basis with more than just academics. Think of the rights that have been created to protect the students. We cannot let the students struggle anymore with something that can easily be changed to show that our educational system does care for the success of all children in all areas of academics.
This post was submitted by Kent Giardini.
Students Rights
President Obama,
For the past five weeks I have been teaching in a K-3 special education classroom. This happens to be around the same time that the Illinois Standards Achievement Test, ISAT, was given to the students in the school. The third graders in my class were also given the ISAT’s. I don’t have a problem with having to administer standardized tests to children who receive special education. I do believe that their scores are just as important as any child in a general education setting. I have a problem in the ways that the tests are administered. What I would like to start with are the student’s rights. Children who receive special education reserve the right to a free and appropriate education, also known as FAPE, which falls under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
So hears the main question; by providing a third grader who is well under the reading level of his/her peers the same standardized test in compliant with FAPE? Appropriate does not seem to fit the above scenario. While in the classroom I saw several behaviors arise due to the frustration the students would experience because he/she had no idea where to start. The students struggled with every aspect of the test because reading was involved. It was tough to not want to help the children with the test. My mentor teaching said that it was illegal to do so. That boggles my mind, I was just as frustrated as the test takers were. My concern is that by administering standardized test to this population without any accommodations, we are setting the students up for failure and more importantly I believe we are violating student’s rights.
A solution, make appropriate accommodations for the child. Who makes the accommodations? The teacher, the teacher knows best on the learning styles of the students and they should have the responsibility to accommodate the standardized test so that is appropriate for the students. Its not a difficult change to make, accommodating curriculum is what every special education teacher as well as good general education teacher do.
I would like you to take a moment and think of the students who are on the other side of these test, who already struggle on a daily basis with more than just academics. Think of the rights that have been created to protect the students. We cannot let the students struggle anymore with something that can easily be changed to show that our educational system does care for the success of all children in all areas of academics.
This post was submitted by Kent Giardini.
Merit Pay
There are many thoughts surrounding the issue of merit pay and whether it is a good idea or not. I’m a student getting ready to graduate from Western Illinois University as a certified teacher. I know you are all for teachers getting merit pay for their hard work, but how will teachers be judged on whether they get merit pay or not. I don’t feel it is fare to judge a teacher on their student’s test scores because some schools have students that are eager to learn and want to test well and some students aren’t eager to learn and aren’t good test takers. If merit pay was done by tests the good school districts teachers would receive merit pay and the bad school districts would not. Another reason is who decides on who gets merit pay the principal of the school. Some teachers have great relationships with the principal of their school and some don’t. This is just the reality of the work place. Principals could be bias to the teachers they like and reward them merit pay even though they aren’t effective as a teacher. Then there are teachers that the principal may not care for even though they are effective teachers and they don’t get merit pay. Another reason is teachers are supposed to work together in the work place and help each other out. If teachers are being compared to one another they might feel that if they help another teacher they would be jeopardizing their own merit pay. I know when I start teaching I hope other teachers who have been at the school a long time welcome me in and hep me any way that they can. All the teachers should be a team working together not against each other. I just feel it is hard to determine who should receive merit pay and who shouldn’t and until there is a fare way to determine that I tnink merit pay should not be in our future education system.
This post was submitted by Ryan Scannell.
Teaching and curriculum
As a student in the education program at Western Illinois University, there are some things that I feel would be beneficial for teaching when I enter the field. We have discussed and learned about many of the policies, rules, and regulations that go along with being a teacher. I feel that we have come a long way in our education efforts but that there is still, and will always be room for improvement. First and foremost, I believe that our standardized testing and teacher accountability standards need to be revised. We need a way to evaluate students in a way that can show in a effective way what they have learned. There are so many students who are not properly assessed by these tests because they are not good test takers. Possibly we should match their tests to their abilities. Also, there need to be alternative tests for students have special needs or learning disabilities. We cannot base our schools’ and teachers’ performance on scores that are not a proper representation of how they are doing.
The next issue that I believe needs to be addressed by congress is a set curriculum standard. I do not understand how schools in the same country can have such different standards. It is fine for a school to set their standards higher than the minimum but we at least should have a minimum. How is NCLB going to be successful if states and schools can cheat the system and make themselves look better than what they really are? I believe we need a nationwide set standard for schools. Then if they feel it is necessary they can have higher.
Finally, I feel that our tax money should be going to schools who are struggling. If they are not meeting standards I believe the government should spend time and money to help these schools get back on their feet. It seems that we deprive the already deprived schools and destine them for failure.
This post was submitted by Bonnie Peterson.
Standardized Tests for Special Education Students
As a pre-service teacher, studying in special education, I have some sincere concerns about the future of our schools in America, as well as for my future students. I began my course of studies, believing that I had chosen one of the most important careers one can choose. I thought this career would be a chance to promote positive thinking and learning, but after a recent experience with the Illinois State Achievement Tests, my goal as become unclear.
While I do not suggest the dismissal of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), I do suggest taking a look at the law, and making some radical changes. As a pre-service teacher, I recently participated in the Illinois State Achievement Tests. I suggest to you, Mr. President, to sit with a special education student, read them the tests, and watch as they bewilderedly fight their way through answer after answer. Their lack in ability to achieve on these standardized achievement tests is not due to laziness or lack of academic studies, but disabilities that interfere with their abilities to sort through questions, and in most cases, study at grade level. While it is always the goal of a special education teacher to “catch” his or her student up to grade level, when the reality is the resources and funding for programs and technology that would make this possible are simply not available. I left that week of testing feeling absolutely defeated, for my students and with my students.
I suggest to you to allow special education students to take these tests at the current grade level which they are working. These students spend day in and day out struggling through their schoolwork. Teachers spend hours planning lessons and a curriculum that will hopefully allow for some success on these tests. The truth of the matter is, most of these students, regardless of the hours spent studying or planning, will not achieve anything on these exams. By asking special education students to take grade level tests, when they are clearly not capable of achieving at these levels, and using these scores to determine whether a school or teacher is failing or successful, we are blatantly ignoring the fact that the statistics yielded by these tests show nothing more than a student who simply filled in the bubbles. We are not gaining anything from forcing special education students to take tests upon which they are unable to achieve. We are simply adding to the multitude of frustration most of these students experience everyday in their academic careers. Instead of gaining knowledge about the school or the teacher, we are taking away self-esteem from our students each time we ask them to take a test they are not capable of completing.
This post was submitted by Kelli Cecchetti.
School Funding
I feel schools are currently under funded in the United States. Technology is expensive, buildings need repair, many textbooks are out dated, and educators are drastically underpaid.
Students are expected to graduate from high school possessing the skills necessary to be successful in society. As we all know, being able to successfully use technology is important for this to happen. Unfortunately, many schools are teaching kids using outdated technology. Schools are far behind the business world. It is important for schools to have the necessary funds to keep their technology current.
Just as we try to keep our homes in repair, schools also need to be maintained. With energy costs being what they are, we need to have schools that are energy sufficient in order to keep energy costs down. Replacing windows, doors, and heating systems is costly, but pay off in the long run. In many districts, these repairs are put on the back burner due to more urgent needs. Schools need more funds to address this issue. We need an environment that conducive to learning, not rooms that are drafty in the winter and excessively hot in the summer. Many teachers and children come from homes that are air conditioned, yet not too many schools have this luxury.
In addition, numerous textbooks are not up to date. Knowledge is growing like never before. Yet, far too often students are not exposed to this due to the textbooks being simply too old. Teacher education programs do an excellent of preparing future teachers with current and up to date strategies for teaching. However, once in the classroom reality sets in, and he/she is forced to teach with materials that may have been published decades ago. The president needs to take the initiative to assure schools they will have the money needed to keep up to date materials in the hands of our young people.
Lastly, teachers are drastically under paid. Attending college to become a teacher takes a minimum of four years. Many college graduates leave school with student loans in excess of $30,000, not to mention car loans and other living expenses. It is sad that a beginning teacher in my local community unit school district only starts at a salary of $28,000. This does not even include any health insurance, which is astronomical. Teachers are expected to be professionals, yet are not paid to reflect this.
Bottom line, we need additional funding with no strings attached so that local school districts can address the many needs in our schools. It is my belief that school board members attempt to live with in their means when it comes to school budgets. Mr. Obama, you are in a position to make a positive difference for our children. You need to push through Congress funding so that students get the best education possible and are ready to meet the real world when they leave the school doors.
This post was submitted by Lynn Neisen.
Merit Pay
I am a senior at Western Illinois University and Special Education major. We have discussed merit pay during class and I do not think it is a good idea. Coming from a special education perspective you can see why I would disagree with implementing this alternative. My job as a special education teacher is to help my students become more independent and help them learn the basic skills they will use throughout their lives. Depending on the student’s disability many children could not meet the state testing standards. There would need to be some sort of alternative for teachers of special education students. Also, if teachers’ pay is determined by meeting state testing standards teachers are going to teach the test and not enhance learning activities to teach children how to be creative as well as more involved critical thinking skills. The strategies we learn in college will not matter once we get into the classroom because we would only be worried about the skills on the test. Students will not be motivated to learn because teachers will not be able to take risks and let the students experiment with their learning. There is also a chance that people will not want to work in a low income area because those students might not have the resources to achieve on the state tests. The inner city areas will still be at loss for teachers because people will think they cannot achieve to the standards. Merit pay is not the best decision because teachers are going to dismiss special education students from their classroom. They will be looked down upon and even more neglected than they already have been. Teachers should want to teach because they love teaching. Many people do not go into this field because of our overwhelming salary so why make it a point now? People who want to be a teacher will still want to be a teacher even without their salary being decided by a state test.
This post was submitted by Jaclyn Aspinall.
Cutting Budgets, Cutting Music!
As budget cuts occur within schools, music is often the first part of the curriculum to get cut. This seems to be a reoccurring problem, as most of the teachers are teaching to the test. What happened to the days when students were given the opportunity to think outside the box? What happened to the idea of having students come up with multiple solutions, instead of only one right answer? We are limiting our students on the opportunities that are made available to them. We must ask ourselves if this is really what education is about? To me, the purpose of education is to educate our students in order to make successful contributions to society in the future. This is especially important in the work force. If we are just teaching to the test right now, then how are these students going to be able to solve problems in the future, and think of multiple solutions when the situation calls for it. We need to allow them to be creative, think outside the box, and become independent learners.
Through music, students have the opportunity to express themselves as human beings. They are given an opportunity to be creative and think outside the box because there are no right answers in music. Music can be an independent activity, or a collaborative activity. Collaboration exists among ensembles, just as it does in the work force. Students are held accountable for learning their music to the best of their ability, being on time to rehearsals, and working with the other members of the ensemble to develop a blended ensemble sound. While these are just a few obligations, it is evident that the ensemble will be counting on each member of the group. This is true with most career paths that are chosen as well. Learning how to work with others is an important part of succeeding in our society, and through music, students can begin this development.
As one may notice, music can help develop many important life skills, and bring out the creativity of the students. Not to mention, music is a fun activity, and education should be fun. With so many contributions to society, and so much importance to the students’ education, why would music be cut from the curriculum? Is life really about the test, or is there more to life than right answers? I hope that the idea of cutting the music program will be reconsidered when budgets are low. I urge you to look at the impact that music has on students’ lives. Let music live!
This post was submitted by Katie Lyphout.
Merit Pay
As a future educator I have one suggestion to make for President Obama. I believe in merit pay and would like to see it become part of public education policy. I feel very strongly that teachers should be rewarded for outstanding achievement. Excellent teachers and excellent teaching should be the basis of pay. Experienced teachers should be those who have tried and true methods of teaching not just who has been there the longest. Teachers should strive to learn new techniques. Merit pay would give them more incentive to be lifelong learners. I think that tenure allows teachers to get too comfortable. As the world changes so do our students and our teachers should accommodate this change. They should keep current on new technologies and techniques so that their students will benefit from what is being taught. In our No Child Left Behind years we hear all about accountability. What better way to hold teachers accountable than to have their pay based on their performance. When I begin to teach I want to know that I am doing what is best for my students. I want to be held accountable for their progress. I want to keep current on new ways to teach my students. I believe my students deserve to get my very best. Poor teaching could become a thing of the past if there were merit pay. Teachers who were not succeeding in their jobs may decide that teaching is not the career for them. This Merit pay will not only hold teachers accountable, give them incentives for learning more and weed out bad teachers; it will also benefit the students in many ways. Students will only benefit from getting quality instruction from quality teachers who are being compensated for doing a good job. I feel the time has come to provide students with happy, successful teachers!
This post was submitted by Nicole Nelson.
Charter Schools
I am currently a senior at Western Illinois University studying Elementary Education. I am currently taking a class on School Law that has provided me with a general overview of how the legal system applies to the practice of education. One of the controversial issues we studied in this class was related to the topic of charter schools. After learning more about charter schools, I am a proponent of charter schools. I would like to see the idea of charter schools grow and become more available for students and parents. Charter schools were developed on the idea of opportunity, choice, and responsibility (US Charter Schools). I do fear that students educated at public schools are not challenged enough these days, and this mediocrity is threatening the future of our country. Charter schools provide another option for our students and parents. Charter schools are run by a contract/charter with a school coordinator and a state department of education or a school district (School Law, p.131). The coordinator and the sponsor are held responsible for the education achievement (School Law, p.131). Because the accountability rests with the coordinator and sponsor, the school is not required to adhere to many of the same public school laws and rules. The federal government should continue to provide funds for these charter schools, since these schools are considered a public school, and are not allowed to charge tuition fees. Even though charter schools have an open admission policy, parents have the duty and privilege of selecting their charter school based on their quality of education. I am in favor of charter schools because they tend to cater to the needs of the community, and these schools are a new way to improve education. Teachers at charter schools have a chance to create new opportunities for themselves and their students (US Charter Schools). Charter schools allow for families to choose the educational needs for their students. I recommend that charter schools continue to be held accountable for offering a quality curriculum and educational goals. Charter schools are a great idea because they offer competition to the public school system. Competition will only aid in helping to improve the public school system. Public schools will be forced to improve the success of their students, or families will switch to a charter school environment. Both charter and public schools will be competing to make their students successful.
Fischer,L., Schimmel, D., and Stellman, L.R. School Law, (2008) What Every Educator Should Know.131.
WestEd (2000, August). Steps to Starting a Charter School [Online]. Available: http://www.uscharterschools.org/pub/uscs_docs/ta/steps.htm.
This post was submitted by Danielle Ary.
