ASCD Poll: Improving Instruction for Students with Learning Needs

In the ASCD poll, we asked whether the push for 100 percent proficiency helps or hinders access to education for students with disabilities. If you haven't taken the poll yet, please vote now.

Editor-in-Chief Marge Scherer writes the following in the February 2007 issue of Educational Leadership:

"In recent years, the goal for children with disabilities has shifted from improving access to education to improving student performance. The goal today is for all students to be proficient on state content standards for the grade in which they are enrolled. The NCLB requirement to disaggregate data by subgroup means that when it comes to educating students with special needs, schools face higher expectations than they have ever faced before." Read the entire column.

Is 100 percent proficiency on state content standards a realistic goal for all students? How does this affect students with disabilities in your district, school, or classroom? Tell us and your peers what you think by posting a comment.

Comments

[sharon]

There are some students that will never be able to meet the requirements to graduate from school no matter how hard they try. There is a student that has taken math (algebra) many times over. (His IEP is specific to difficulties with math.) This student only needs this class to graduate from high school. Is this a class that all students must pass to graduate? Do we need algebra in our day to day lives? How can this student go on in life with success if he feels a failure because of one class. What kind of job can he hold without a high school diploma? Are we discriminating against them because of our 100 proficiency in all subjects?

[Richard]

I actually think algebra is an important subject that should be understood, and I am an English teacher. But, for us to continue to mandate one-size fits all education is unrealistic, and as Sharon writes counterproductive. In Texas, our governor has mandated all students take a college preparation curriculum. Sounds great when running for the vice-president's slot on the any ticket, but completely unrealistic. When need a plan that guides all students into productive roles in society, and is capable of letting them partcipate as full citizens.

[Barbara Pignataro]

I can't forget the sight of one of our dearest and most improved speacial needs students crying as her self esteem was shattered.
She, her parents and teachers have been seeing a steady growth curve. Their have been few motivational breakdowns until NCLB Sate Testing time came around.This child was given an age appropriate content and language testing battery!
New York no longer allows students to be tested at their correct instructional level so Special Education students and student's who have been in the country over A YEAR were presented with the same assessments as their general education and native born peers.
It became VERY clear to them that they couldn't do it, they were FAILURES! Then came the tears and now, motivation to succeed is gone.
Congratulations NCLB!

[Barbara J. Makoski]

The one size fits all point of view just does not fit. The pendulum has swung so far to the right that our disabled students are now being treated unfairly. If some of my students can learn to feed themselves, tie their shoes, or even learn to read survival words we celebrate! To expect all children to learn at the same levels is just unrealistic. I believe that there is more to our children's education than passing a state test: self esteem, confidence, learning functional life skills, social skills and work skills for example. Even our children who do have the ability to read and compute are not all able to do so on grade level. It is just unrealistic to expect this.

[Fiina]

In this ongoing debate it seems that there are two issues:
1) the right to access an appropriate education and
2) what is the meaning of a high school diploma
If the diploma means having reached a common standard, then all students receiving that diploma shall meet the standards. If completing one's education is different from meeting diploma standards, then grant a certificate of completion. Life is full of successes and failures...Should we grant a driver's license to someone who cannot pass the driving test? Should we grant a license to carry a gun to someone who can't see? Should we grant a medical license to somewho who can't pass the medical boards?

[Deanna Enos]

Special education students need special education, that is why they are called special education students. Does that seem too difficult for anyone to understand? 100% proficiency for all, is not possible in anything we ever do in any field. Does 100% proficiency make sense when dealing with the complexity of teaching? If 100% of the students homelifes were 100% identical and the students all thought exactly alike, maybe. Who dreamed up this 100% proficiency criteria for schools? That person was an idiot! Children are more unique than adults, and need to be respected for their potential.