Rotten Apples

Reports abound reflecting the “fact” that Standardized Exam scores have improved across the nation and of course a variety of experts have chimed in supporting or opposing their political candidate…I mean, their view of the “facts”. Are we as a nation that naive? Scores haven’t improved due to increases in learning. Scores have improved because the administrators and teachers who are now being “held accountable” thanks to No Child Left Behind are getting better at scamming the system.

Scores have improved because administrators “improve” at scamming the system

At my wife’s school, their score has improved slightly. How did they do it? The Principal rounded up anyone who didn’t fit the normal mold and couldn’t afford a lawyer and he kicked them out of school. Students over-age for their grade, learning disabled kids who didn’t seem like they could graduate, students with spotty attendance were all eliminated. So while the school didn’t really improve, they eliminated a good chunk of the student body who traditionally weakened the school’s ratings.

Forget the fact that those low performers tend to be poor, suffer from Learning Disabilities and have IEPs, Individual Education Programs that are expensive and challenging to implement…therefore many teachers simply ignore them. Exceptional Student Education is all too often a joke. It is supposed to provide an appropriate education for students who don’t fit neatly into America’s pigeonholes. Instead it is a route for incompetent teachers to hide in the system, literally ruining the future for hundreds of kids right under our noses!

Exceptional Student Education Certification Exams are a joke

In Florida, Exceptional Student Education Certification fails to deliver any kind of quality. My training and experience lay almost exclusively within the business world, yet I took and passed the Florida ESE Certification Exam on the first try, without any kind of course work, study or preparation. Ridiculous!

What is the exam like? It is a 45 minute, multiple choice joke. If you can understand English and apply a little common sense, you can pass it. While researching for this post, I found zero hits on Google for the search “exceptional education blog” — so let me say here that Rotten Apples is an Exceptional Education Blog.

RATs, Rotten Apple Teachers, hide in the in-demand world of Exceptional Student Education

So what happens is that a RAT–Rotten Apple Teacher–starts getting flack for being a shitty teacher. Why? Because now that there actually are some independent standards (via standardized testing) by which students, schools and teachers can be judged, it is actually possible to find out who is teaching and who is farting in a windstorm. Realizing that they are going to be dealt with, these teachers can take the ESE certification exam and switch over to the in-demand world of Exceptional Student Education (or ESOL - English Speakers of Other Languages). For the unindoctrinated Exceptional Students aren’t valedictorians, they’re Challenged: they have Attention Deficit or Asperger’s or Dyslexia or some kind of learning disability that makes them special. What a stupid term.

Lousy teachers hide in ESE programs because when they blame failure on “retarded” kids, everyone buys it

Is this a new phenomenon? Nope! Lousy teachers have been hiding in ESE programs all over the nation for as long as they have existed because when you blame the failure on “retarded” kids, people believe you! Its the teachers who are retarded–in IMHO–not the kids, as well as the retarded administrations that hire them and are too lazy to actually fire them and instead pass the problem teachers on to another school or district. But since this demographic is expected to be failures, no one raises an eyebrow when a shitty teacher does a shitty job and the ESE kids get shitty scores in standardized exams.

I don’t have all the answers, but if we want this system to change then the PARENTS have to get vocal and get involved, the teachers have to get their act together and perform to an ethical standard instead of to a negotiated employment contract, and administrators have to stop living the political suck-up’s wet dream and start doing their duty to eliminate the bottom 10% of teachers instead of the bottom 10% of their students–the ones who need the help the most.

If you think it is expensive and time consuming to fire a rotten teacher, think about how expensive it is to keep them

And if YOU, dear reader, think that the bottom 10% of a school’s population is a bunch of retards, immigrants and gang members, you might be right about that. But if you think it is too expensive to educate them and prep them for real life as a working adult then wait until you see the bill for the damage they do as a criminal, for the social services they need as a dependent adult (because they missed out on independence) and for their incarceration as convicted felons. Just hope that you and your families don’t wind up collateral damage when they rob your corner 7-11.

Share This

Here is an easy method for you to check on the effectiveness of your child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP).

If your child has a Learning Disability, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome or another challenge that makes life in Public School extra-challenging, then you know the drill. Once per year, a “team” of teachers, administrators and mental health professionals meet with one confused kid and two overwhelmed parents. At the end of this meeting the family is presented with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that is supposed to ensure that the child has his or her special educational needs met.

How do you know if the IEP is any good?

You may also know the tragedy: that gut-sinking feeling when you read a report card full of D’s and F’s, while in your heart of hearts you know that your child is capable of so much more. Isn’t he? What if the teachers aren’t doing their part? What if the IEP sux? What if the principal wants to get rid of your kid because he thinks that the school’s rating is suffering due to the special needs students?

Step 1: Compare Assessment Grades Against Overall Grades

The first step is to collect all the grades and progress reports for your child. Go back as far as one year. Any further and you are running into a different batch of teachers. The best time to do this is during the first nine weeks of school. Why? So that if there are any problems you can address them before your child’s GPA suffers.

The teachers may be indicating which grades are Assessments, measures of skill mastery, and which are homework or attendance or performance based. If they haven’t, it is no big deal. You can just assume that all the quizzes and tests are the only assessments. Take the assessment scores and compute the average (by adding them all up and dividing by the number of assessment grades). This score tells you what level your child is testing out at. Now take a look at the overall grade and see how they compare.

If you child’s assessment score is higher than her overall grade then that is a sign that her IEP is ineffective or not being followed.

If you think about it, the assessment grade is really all that matters, isn’t it? It is the score that reflects how well your child has mastered the material. If that grade is being brought down because of missing or incomplete homework, poor classroom performance or spotty attendance, then the grade no longer reflects mastery of material and is now a reflection of how well your child matches the individual teacher’s idea of an “A” student. If the teacher thinks that homework is tops, then they weight homework as a larger portion of the grade. For most Challenged kids, homework is a nightmare, so this policy is like penalizing them for having a disability.

Don’t go on the rampage just yet!

Step 2: Take an inventory of what is being done outside of school.

The idea here is you need to verify that your end of the educational team is performing up to snuff. Ultimately, you need to be honest with yourself and ask whether your child is making an effort, and are you and your family supporting that effort. According to Snoop, the family should have clearly expressed expectations of school performance, in writing. They should provide a quiet place with all the tools needed for homework and study. They should make an effort to respect the student’s homework time as sacred, avoiding interruptions and distractions. They should also help redirect the student, help the student evaluate her progress and celebrate victories as a family.If this is being accomplished and your child is working diligently (to her ability), then the ball is definitely back in the school’s court.

It is a fact, maybe a sad one, that the squeaky wheel gets the oil in our school system.

Step 3: Make some noise!

Now that you have determined that the family and student are filling their roles, and the school possibly is not, you have to make some noise to get the issue noticed and resolved. If you have the time, meet with your child’s teachers and simply ask them how the disparity can be resolved. Don’t be afraid to rock the boat. Teachers may be resistant to the idea that they have to do more or aren’t following the IEP. Make a checklist and ask the questions: how are you complying with this IEP requirement? And this one? What about that one?If you need to, call the Special Education Coordinator (or whatever they call it at your school). Call the District Coordinator. Call the Principal. Call the parents of other Challenged Children. Time is precious and if your child is graduating with a regular diploma then her GPA really matters! The higher it is the more seriously colleges will take her.

A high GPA can be a point of pride in the life of a child who may feel defective and stupid. Don’t let RATs (Rotten Apple Teachers) take that away!

In the end, you may find that the teachers are all doing their jobs quite well. What then? CHANGE THE IEP! If everyone is doing their part and student performance is down the the IEP is not meeting all of their educational needs.

Do I need to hire a private tutor?

Our government has taken on the role of educator and has willingly accepted the responsibility for providing an adequate education for everyone. You should not need to hire a private tutor. However, I have seen many student benefit from one-on-one attention, and a private tutor is free to use techniques and teach skills that public schools aren’t interested in or prepared for. Challenged children are easily friendless, and a tutor or mentor can help meet the child’s social needs and teach socializing skills in a different way than schools do.

Good luck, and feel free to email me with any questions, comments or concerns.

-Snoop

Share This