I went to a meeting this morning with T&B's teachers and the ESL district leader. I was hoping to get some answers on whether or not we should push on or retain, particularly Blessing in her current grade.
To my continued frustration, B's teacher feels like it is too difficult to test B, because once she hits a topic or subject that she doesn't know or understand, she shuts down. Okay, so, I ask the teacher to use her powers of observation and tell me if she thinks that B is even close to being at the academic level she should be at for the end of second grade.
The disturbing answer: Out of 30 kids in her class, she thinks maybe 6 of the children are at the end of second grade academically.
WHAT!?? Is this as disturbing to anyone else as it is to me???
YES! That is horrible. But I dated a guy in the 12th grade who was completely illiterate. It's so sad this "no child left behind" thing. I'm so sorry! You have to be beyond frustrated. Maybe you should use your power of observation and ask yourself if she is a smart child and will eventually absorb it all, if given more time. But I understand you don't want to wait until it is too late. Maybe after school tutoring for awhile?
ReplyDeleteThat should make the Teacher stop and ask how they failed so badly. If that many of the kids are not passing it says a lot about the teacher.
ReplyDeleteIf you are interested, there are a lot of workbooks out there that allow you to test grade/academic levels that would compare to the standardized tests. Maybe if you tested her at home, in a casual setting,you could see specifically what she shuts down on, or where she is at more effectively?
ReplyDeleteThat's horrible!!! Where's the accountability for a statistic like that? That's not okay.
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