No one seems to address the question itself and it makes me wonder..
Should special education students be required to take high school assessment exams and should they receive their diploma based on the results of that exam? If a student is included in the general education curriculum, then the student should take the general education exams. If they do not pass these exams, then the same thing should happen to the special ed student as would happen to the gen ed student. OH HOW CRUEL?
NO! When a high school student graduates from high school (and then later graduates from college if they go), employers or post-secondary schools use that diploma as an "expectation" that the students knows the basics of the minimum required courses (algebra, trigonometry, geometry and so on). Do you really think that it's a good idea to take our profession and make the results (a graduate), whether you are a preschool teacher or a senior high school teacher - we all work toward getting a student ready to graduate, worthless? This isn't about special ed fairness, it's about what the requirements of our diplomas are and whether those requirements were met. I am a special ed teacher with a special ed child in my own home. I expect him to be held to the standards, as a student with learning disabilities and autism. I work with students with cognitive impairments as well and it is meaningless and filling students with a false sense of accomplishment if we do not assess exactly where they are. I don't think they should be prevented from completing high school but I do believe that their diplomas should indicate that they have not completed the standard curriculum required. Students with LD should do as well as typically developing peers with their appropriate accommodations that should be given on every test but with proper coaching in their capabilities during transitioning. If they cannot read on their own without having something read to them, it would not be a good idea from them to get a position somewhere that requires this.
Let's stop being so emotional and NOT thinking about this. Let the test do what they are designed to do and let's use the results to better equip students with what they need to overcome their deficiencies. Or let's just lower the graduation requirements for all students and further denagrate the quality of the American Education system. Didn't we already try that with disasterous results?
Since when do we not treat people as individuals? Each special needs child has different needs and can not be tested all the same. Just because a child has an IEP does not mean he/she can or can not take an assessment. We have students that are at varying levels that are visual, physical, mental, hearing, and intellectual imparied. Using two test, three test, even four different test is not fair to the teachers. We are forced to invent a ways to accommodate the test to the student and then be judged on it. As teachers we use many different methods to reach out and teach our students and to be limited to standardized testing is unrealistic.
I am getting my associates in paraprofessional education. This was my final. Should special needs students be required to take the graduation test. My answer is yes. If they don't and we just graduate them how will they get through college. Also, there employer will be hiring someone they thought was a graduate but may be missing something they didn't learn and since they didn't take the test they won't ever know. And finally the special needs students need to take this test as it will be a great accomplishment in their life. They need to look forward to things also.
Special needs students should take these exams, but they should not be tested for the same items that non-special needs students are. These are individuals who can be successful and reach goals just like any other student, but to hold them to the same testing standards is ridiculous. Testing is already a high stress event for the average student. You cannot expect a student with special needs to rise to the occasion and do well with this type of testing.
i believe that they students should take the test. In fact theres a whole lot of good things about it. for instance, u can tell if your teachers were bad or what level your at because you dont want to go to college if u dont know how smart you really are.. but in a ways i can see why they shouldnt take the test. like maybe they have problems or the test is to much imformation to handle.. or u might not of even studied it. it can go both ways but you want to see kids going to the top so i think you should go with the test .
I will tell you being a mom of a special needs teen, that I have had a hard time with just making sense of the whole test deal. It is unfair to expect a teen who has been in resource to take the same amout of questions the others who have no problems in academics. My oldest , has had a bad experince with a teacher , who was a coach no dought, teaching history class to high school students. He had no idea what he was dealing with when it came to my daughter and had a bad attitude when it came to her learning disablities. He evidently didn't what to understand anything she needed to have in order to learn. She loves history very much but he just wasn't the person who should have been teaching her. She has an IEP every year and they still didnt do what needed to be done when it came to him teaching her. I do belive they should be tested but with a limitation to the questions on the test. Thank you , Pat
Your asbsoultely right there should be a test that special needs students get if its not a high school diploma then at least a certicate of completion. I agree with you and every student deserves tha. They cant help the way they were born and they didnt ask for it.God made each and everyone of us special in our own little ways.
I think special-needs students are the same people with no difference and they deserve the same rights as well as the same responsibility and efforts in order to gain successfully results. So i think they should pass all tests to better prepared for their future life, it's good for them first of all.
Speacial Educationed people dersive the same amount of education as everyone esle. Although they might need help they still dersive amount as everyone esle
Heidi, I am so sorry for the experience your child is having in school. I too, have a child who is LD in math and gets speech services because she has a non-verbal learning disability. But she is in a co-taught class, and gets pulled out for math and reading only. Even in the pulled out (small group) environment she is being challenged with the same curriculum as the students in her grade. Her small group environment allows her to get the one-on-one attention she needs to better grasp the material.
I totally agree with you--what is the point of testing her on the grade-level curriculum if she is not being taught. This year was kind of stressful for us because my daughter is in her 5th and final year of elementary school, and needs to pass both the math and reading standardized state tests to move on to middle school. We were very relieved that she passed both, and won't need to attend summer school and retake the test. Which I think is unfair--if a student works hard and couldn't pass the test the first time after spending a year learning the material, what makes them think it is a good idea to retake the same test and fail it a 2nd time?
I'm hoping you succeed in finding a better alternative for your daughter.
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No one seems to address the
No one seems to address the question itself and it makes me wonder..
Should special education students be required to take high school assessment exams and should they receive their diploma based on the results of that exam? If a student is included in the general education curriculum, then the student should take the general education exams. If they do not pass these exams, then the same thing should happen to the special ed student as would happen to the gen ed student. OH HOW CRUEL?
NO! When a high school student graduates from high school (and then later graduates from college if they go), employers or post-secondary schools use that diploma as an "expectation" that the students knows the basics of the minimum required courses (algebra, trigonometry, geometry and so on). Do you really think that it's a good idea to take our profession and make the results (a graduate), whether you are a preschool teacher or a senior high school teacher - we all work toward getting a student ready to graduate, worthless? This isn't about special ed fairness, it's about what the requirements of our diplomas are and whether those requirements were met. I am a special ed teacher with a special ed child in my own home. I expect him to be held to the standards, as a student with learning disabilities and autism. I work with students with cognitive impairments as well and it is meaningless and filling students with a false sense of accomplishment if we do not assess exactly where they are. I don't think they should be prevented from completing high school but I do believe that their diplomas should indicate that they have not completed the standard curriculum required. Students with LD should do as well as typically developing peers with their appropriate accommodations that should be given on every test but with proper coaching in their capabilities during transitioning. If they cannot read on their own without having something read to them, it would not be a good idea from them to get a position somewhere that requires this.
Let's stop being so emotional and NOT thinking about this. Let the test do what they are designed to do and let's use the results to better equip students with what they need to overcome their deficiencies. Or let's just lower the graduation requirements for all students and further denagrate the quality of the American Education system. Didn't we already try that with disasterous results?
Since when do we not treat people as individuals? Each special needs child has different needs and can not be tested all the same. Just because a child has an IEP does not mean he/she can or can not take an assessment. We have students that are at varying levels that are visual, physical, mental, hearing, and intellectual imparied. Using two test, three test, even four different test is not fair to the teachers. We are forced to invent a ways to accommodate the test to the student and then be judged on it. As teachers we use many different methods to reach out and teach our students and to be limited to standardized testing is unrealistic.
Special needs students
I am getting my associates in paraprofessional education. This was my final. Should special needs students be required to take the graduation test. My answer is yes. If they don't and we just graduate them how will they get through college. Also, there employer will be hiring someone they thought was a graduate but may be missing something they didn't learn and since they didn't take the test they won't ever know. And finally the special needs students need to take this test as it will be a great accomplishment in their life. They need to look forward to things also.
special needs testing
Special needs students should take these exams, but they should not be tested for the same items that non-special needs students are. These are individuals who can be successful and reach goals just like any other student, but to hold them to the same testing standards is ridiculous. Testing is already a high stress event for the average student. You cannot expect a student with special needs to rise to the occasion and do well with this type of testing.
highschool graduation assesment test
i believe that they students should take the test. In fact theres a whole lot of good things about it. for instance, u can tell if your teachers were bad or what level your at because you dont want to go to college if u dont know how smart you really are.. but in a ways i can see why they shouldnt take the test. like maybe they have problems or the test is to much imformation to handle.. or u might not of even studied it. it can go both ways but you want to see kids going to the top so i think you should go with the test .
testing special needs teens
I will tell you being a mom of a special needs teen, that I have had a hard time with just making sense of the whole test deal. It is unfair to expect a teen who has been in resource to take the same amout of questions the others who have no problems in academics. My oldest , has had a bad experince with a teacher , who was a coach no dought, teaching history class to high school students. He had no idea what he was dealing with when it came to my daughter and had a bad attitude when it came to her learning disablities. He evidently didn't what to understand anything she needed to have in order to learn. She loves history very much but he just wasn't the person who should have been teaching her. She has an IEP every year and they still didnt do what needed to be done when it came to him teaching her. I do belive they should be tested but with a limitation to the questions on the test. Thank you , Pat
i agree with you
Your asbsoultely right there should be a test that special needs students get if its not a high school diploma then at least a certicate of completion. I agree with you and every student deserves tha. They cant help the way they were born and they didnt ask for it.God made each and everyone of us special in our own little ways.
I think special-needs
I think special-needs students are the same people with no difference and they deserve the same rights as well as the same responsibility and efforts in order to gain successfully results. So i think they should pass all tests to better prepared for their future life, it's good for them first of all.
Comments on blogs!
Speacial Educationed people dersive the same amount of education as everyone esle. Although they might need help they still dersive amount as everyone esle
Another parent of a special ed. student
Heidi, I am so sorry for the experience your child is having in school. I too, have a child who is LD in math and gets speech services because she has a non-verbal learning disability. But she is in a co-taught class, and gets pulled out for math and reading only. Even in the pulled out (small group) environment she is being challenged with the same curriculum as the students in her grade. Her small group environment allows her to get the one-on-one attention she needs to better grasp the material.
I totally agree with you--what is the point of testing her on the grade-level curriculum if she is not being taught. This year was kind of stressful for us because my daughter is in her 5th and final year of elementary school, and needs to pass both the math and reading standardized state tests to move on to middle school. We were very relieved that she passed both, and won't need to attend summer school and retake the test. Which I think is unfair--if a student works hard and couldn't pass the test the first time after spending a year learning the material, what makes them think it is a good idea to retake the same test and fail it a 2nd time?
I'm hoping you succeed in finding a better alternative for your daughter.