Hello, my name is reject. Or so it seems, according to the education system. I've been ostracised, criticized, and "pink slipped" more times than I can count. And like a sickness, I keep coming back because I believe in what's right, which is exactly what causes others to ridicule, despise, and expel me from their ranks.
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That is right, I am a teacher whose resume is a sad laundry list of failures, disappointments, and bridges burned. My resume reads like a battle plan with lots of losses. It seems everywhere I have taught didn't want me because I refused to prescribe to their damaging factory model of so called education. And yet, I wasn't this crazy martyr, screaming as I pointed out injustices and throwing the verbal punches. I sat back, my stomach in knots, as I saw children crumble before my very eyes as I mumbled out a scripted lesson. I believe that even when I tried to play the game, they could see right through me. Behind the robot-like mask of indifference, they could see the person, full of fire, grimacing at yet another dehumanizing test prep lesson. They were on to me and had to make me their enemy. Even the kids were on to me, asking why I didn't yell at them or try to scare and shame them into performing.
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These feelings recently came back to me as I read a great, highly recommended book by Sinhue Noriega, "If it's Broken Don't Fix it". I was left spellbound, nodding my head, angry at the injustices it seems so few see or know or care to admit. This is why they keep happening. I wanted to find Mr. Noriega and praise him beyond comprehension, for "getting it".
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I want this quote from his books, made into t-shirts, bumper stickers, plastered onto signs and billboards. I want to shout it from the hilltops because it so represents not just me and my trials and tribulations, but the system as a whole.
"I have often found that those who take major strides towards reform quickly find adversity descending upon them. I've seen too many programs begin to make a difference, then be shut down because they caused too many waves. Teachers and administrators who chose to implement high ideals, philosophies, and practices, often find they become the target in a system that never intended to have better teaching practices put into action. These dreamers stand alone, in a world of challenge, on the sword's edge of employment because they believe in something greater than the outcome of a test."
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A few months back, I applied to be a vice principal of a charter school in Oakland, CA. If you don't know, Oakland is in urban decay, with incredibly high crime and poverty rates, the Detroit of the West Coast if you will. The school toted social justice, creating life long learners and innovators for the 21st century, wanting To reverse the injustices of race and poverty serving as cultural and success-based barriers. I was so very excited to apply to a school that seemed to align to my philosophy of education. I spent all day writing an essay they, when I was done, left me full of energy, as if to say, "yes! I can and will make a difference! I am awesome!". I wrote about education opening minds and changing the world. I wrote about challenging social barriers and how we could empower the students and community to become the next generation of thinkers and doers. (I wish I could find my letter in my pile of documents as, not to toot my own horn, but it was that good.) I thought for sure I had the job, because my essay reflected their mission statement. I never even heard back in any way and the position has since been filled.
Because, schools talk the talk but don't walk the walk. They want someone who blindly and robotically delivers corporate-developed droll lessons that keep the children in line. They want kids to attend solely for money. Everything they do is for dollar signs and hidden agendas.
The children...they don't even come last because that would assume they were of some priority. I keep trying to tow the line to have a paycheck to support my family. I keep trying to find places that have children as the priority. I keep trying to make a difference, only to continually fail and be labeled a failure in a system that doesn't want me. A system that doesn't even factor children into the equation. But I refuse to go quietly into the night.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
accountability, college/career readiness, and Common Core
So I recall years ago, asking some professor or district official as to why there was such a push for "accountability" and testing. Their answer was one that I saw reflected in education circles, research, and newsletters... the idea that grades are subjective and that an A one place is a C elsewhere. Therefore, how can we judge a student's abilities (ie for college entrance ) by subjective grades? How could we , the public, even "judge" a school if grades were given willy-nilly? Does my child's B really "mean" a B? Would the same work merit a B elsewhere?
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So, "supposedly", this high-stakes accountability environment came about to "prove" what students learned and how well. This could in turn translate to the workforce and college world. A B isn't always a B but a score of 520 or Proficient is scientificslly validated, determined, measured. Its difinitive.
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So surely the ongoing test test test environment, exponentially rising under common core, adds to the accountability and validity of learning. Right? And if learning is all about college and career readiness and we must stop kindergarten dramatic plays in NY to get five year olds ready for the workforce, then these tests should help determine , well, something to do with college /career readiness. You know, like the SAT supposedly does.
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But wait. A recent study tried to correlate SAT scores with success in the first yar of college, in an attempt to develop cut scores of college readiness/success. Excdpt...the study kind of failed. There was at most a 22% correlation of SAT scores to college success. They found grades, yes those subjective fuddy duddy unreliable measures of yore, to be a better measurement for success.
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And yet, the elitist educrats still pump out this propaganda that we need and want accountability which can only be found through standardized testing. Even if there is only a 22% correlation, since, well, we are applying quantitative reasoning to qualitative subjects. It make you wonder, what IS the purpose of all thistesting and data then, if not to effectively measure or predict a damned thing?
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So, "supposedly", this high-stakes accountability environment came about to "prove" what students learned and how well. This could in turn translate to the workforce and college world. A B isn't always a B but a score of 520 or Proficient is scientificslly validated, determined, measured. Its difinitive.
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So surely the ongoing test test test environment, exponentially rising under common core, adds to the accountability and validity of learning. Right? And if learning is all about college and career readiness and we must stop kindergarten dramatic plays in NY to get five year olds ready for the workforce, then these tests should help determine , well, something to do with college /career readiness. You know, like the SAT supposedly does.
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But wait. A recent study tried to correlate SAT scores with success in the first yar of college, in an attempt to develop cut scores of college readiness/success. Excdpt...the study kind of failed. There was at most a 22% correlation of SAT scores to college success. They found grades, yes those subjective fuddy duddy unreliable measures of yore, to be a better measurement for success.
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And yet, the elitist educrats still pump out this propaganda that we need and want accountability which can only be found through standardized testing. Even if there is only a 22% correlation, since, well, we are applying quantitative reasoning to qualitative subjects. It make you wonder, what IS the purpose of all thistesting and data then, if not to effectively measure or predict a damned thing?
Monday, April 7, 2014
complacency etc
(First, an unrelated blurb....yes I've been out of the blog world for some time, but still fighting the fight for education. I'm attempting to get back to blogging, despite technical difficulties without an actual computer)
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Complacency should be a sin. Why has education gotten to where it is? Complacency, blind trust, ignorance. For right now I will focus on blind trust; however, I feel the three terms often intertwine.<br>
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Parents in general have blind faith in the school system, and I can't blame them. Teachers are indeed knowledgeable professionals, often with more know-how of child development and learning theories etc than parents...I mean, that is why theyare teachers and why we trust them educating and caring for our children. The teachers though, have their hands tied and are just the lower rungs in a top down, factorh model system. Speaking up, going against the tide, gets you at worstfired and at best, one who necomes victimizded, dreading every day at work. I should know. But more on that in some other post But this does beg to question why so many teachers tote the line and promote bad practices and embrace them. I don't want to "diss" my fellow professionals but I musy ask, "why?" Whydo you emnrace and promote common core? Excessive standardized testing and teaching to the test? Treating children like prisoners or slaves? Do you ever atleast think, "wait a minute, this isn't right"? But I digress
Ungil I know the naswer I can only guess. Perhaps they too have blind faith. Faith that these curriculums and procedures and codes are what's best for students pecauze someone with a title behind their name ("expert") said if is "right" for the school environment. Perhaps pare ts trust teachers who trust administrators who trust think tanks, corporations, government officials that dictate what happens in theclassroom.and simce we aren't literally imbeciles,totally illiterate, unable to care for ourselves, we all blindly believe the system is working. And so it goes on.
(Please ignore my many typos. On my tablet, backspacing to edit often goes beyond haywire and I can only see 75% of the line of text I type and no more)
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Complacency should be a sin. Why has education gotten to where it is? Complacency, blind trust, ignorance. For right now I will focus on blind trust; however, I feel the three terms often intertwine.<br>
<br>
Parents in general have blind faith in the school system, and I can't blame them. Teachers are indeed knowledgeable professionals, often with more know-how of child development and learning theories etc than parents...I mean, that is why theyare teachers and why we trust them educating and caring for our children. The teachers though, have their hands tied and are just the lower rungs in a top down, factorh model system. Speaking up, going against the tide, gets you at worstfired and at best, one who necomes victimizded, dreading every day at work. I should know. But more on that in some other post But this does beg to question why so many teachers tote the line and promote bad practices and embrace them. I don't want to "diss" my fellow professionals but I musy ask, "why?" Whydo you emnrace and promote common core? Excessive standardized testing and teaching to the test? Treating children like prisoners or slaves? Do you ever atleast think, "wait a minute, this isn't right"? But I digress
Ungil I know the naswer I can only guess. Perhaps they too have blind faith. Faith that these curriculums and procedures and codes are what's best for students pecauze someone with a title behind their name ("expert") said if is "right" for the school environment. Perhaps pare ts trust teachers who trust administrators who trust think tanks, corporations, government officials that dictate what happens in theclassroom.and simce we aren't literally imbeciles,totally illiterate, unable to care for ourselves, we all blindly believe the system is working. And so it goes on.
(Please ignore my many typos. On my tablet, backspacing to edit often goes beyond haywire and I can only see 75% of the line of text I type and no more)
Monday, November 18, 2013
Speaking Words of Wisdom Let Them Be
Sometimes as a mother, I feel like the worst mother ever. In a world of hyper-uber-super moms, with their iphone calendar booked with soccer games, princess parties, art classes, and mommy and me events; their facebook statuses chock full of pinterest ideas like a realistic 3-d Spiderman organic gluten free homemade cake, a early learning phonics game using play-do and guaranteeing reading proficiency by age three, and daily science project-meets-craft reminders, it is no wonder I feel like crap. I'm the mom who is lucky to remember to get out Valentine's cards. I don't have a daily schedule of fifteen minute increments and activities.
And then...I found this article about learning and said, hallelujah! It made me think in terms of this blog and all that is education as well as into my own child rearing.
Sure, my son has yet to make hand-print turkeys or baloon string art and he isn't in pee wee sports even if he is nearly age three.
I let him play. I thought perhaps I was the worst mom ever for merely giving him tons of praise, love, snuggles, and unstructured play time. I mean, according to his IEP, he needs to know and label 7 body parts not 5. According to TV, with commercials like ABCmouse.com, he should be reading by now. Oops.
But look at "uncivilized" societies. Go into the Kalihari bushmen tribes or Amazonian tribes and watch the kids. They don't have pee-wee football, early reading tablet apps, structured play groups, or a curriculum. They simply learn by playing, mimicing, doing, interacting.
My son does just that. Sure, I pay attention and interact....but I more just,,,facilitate his discoveries. Sometimes he surprises me and does things completely self-taught. He can operate apps and netflix movies on an android tablet, windows computer, Wii, and Xbox console. He can draw and place his masterpiece as a desktop image. He can take photos of monochromatic themes around the home....I found on my iphone camera, monocromatic images- a yellow wall, a blue wall, a brown tile, an orange blanket, a red shirt, the black of a room with the lights turned off, the white of a lightbulb. I didn't teach him these skills. He self taught through trial and error.
And then...I found this article about learning and said, hallelujah! It made me think in terms of this blog and all that is education as well as into my own child rearing.
Sure, my son has yet to make hand-print turkeys or baloon string art and he isn't in pee wee sports even if he is nearly age three.
I let him play. I thought perhaps I was the worst mom ever for merely giving him tons of praise, love, snuggles, and unstructured play time. I mean, according to his IEP, he needs to know and label 7 body parts not 5. According to TV, with commercials like ABCmouse.com, he should be reading by now. Oops.
But look at "uncivilized" societies. Go into the Kalihari bushmen tribes or Amazonian tribes and watch the kids. They don't have pee-wee football, early reading tablet apps, structured play groups, or a curriculum. They simply learn by playing, mimicing, doing, interacting.
My son does just that. Sure, I pay attention and interact....but I more just,,,facilitate his discoveries. Sometimes he surprises me and does things completely self-taught. He can operate apps and netflix movies on an android tablet, windows computer, Wii, and Xbox console. He can draw and place his masterpiece as a desktop image. He can take photos of monochromatic themes around the home....I found on my iphone camera, monocromatic images- a yellow wall, a blue wall, a brown tile, an orange blanket, a red shirt, the black of a room with the lights turned off, the white of a lightbulb. I didn't teach him these skills. He self taught through trial and error.
Let Them Be part II
I loved this article http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/free-thinkers/ but still wonder...can everything be self-taught? You cannot build a home without a foundation and you must know how to build a foundation first.
I just can't quite believe a child, at, say age 5 can self-educate all the way into a productive adulthood. You need basic math skills and reading skills.
But then- wait. I taught myself to read. My mom read me books daily from birth and I first learned by memorization; "the cat in the hat" was exactly that because I memorized that exact page, but then, I could identify the words the, cat, in, hat outside of the book. I learned hat made, well, the h-a-t sound so b-a-t must be bat. In first grade, I got to sit out of the learn to read lessons and got to go to the 5th grade classroom and pick out books to read.
But still...I think there needs to be some foundation and learning of that foundation.
Maybe have the early primary grades be a mix of tons of play (something we rid of in schools with NCLB and Common Core), expressive creativity (the arts) and unstructured exploration...with a drop here and there of structured learning. As children progress in their years in school, their own self-taught learning takes priority, where the teacher merely facilitates, observes, guides when asked.
Think about skills you know and use, and knowledge you know and use. Think, how much was 100% taught, half taught, or self taught? Sure I learned gerunds from a teacher but grammar and sentence structure understanding came more through exposure to all the reading and writing I did. I learned from drill and kill, the names and orders of service of our presidents, but I knew little to nothing about the founding fathers until I read, on my own, founding documents and biographies.
Anyway... what I glean from this article (yet I went off on a tangent) is that a lot of learning is self taught. It works best with one's frame of reference to self teach. It's an organic evolution of learning.
Common Core advocates might read this article (yep referencing it here, again) and say, "exactly!" And that's how Common Core brainwashes you. The buzzwords and ideas indicate self-learning and exploration, discussion and discovery, yet they are framed around standards and assessment-bound skills. The idea of self-learning cannot exist within a defined unmovable structure. Instead, you just teach an entire class to look at 3x+ 5y= 24 and say "hey first graders, go at it!" when three children are able to self-teach and figure it out and ten are thinking about drawing a realistic replica of the 3-d perspective of the playground, ten more want to learn how to play the drum solo of that #1 song they love...
The Common Core idea of group think...err..group work and figuring and constructing knowledge still ignores individual differences, abilities, desires.
It also assumes every child must learn skill A,B,C and D in that order and by age 10 or else. It ignores the possibility of learning E or ф or A,D,C.
Our structured learning blames everything on poverty or teachers, when children in dire poverty can learn to run a laptop. Because they aren't expected to learn A,B,C and merely construct A,B,C because gasp they are curious- something our education seems to kill.
I just can't quite believe a child, at, say age 5 can self-educate all the way into a productive adulthood. You need basic math skills and reading skills.
But then- wait. I taught myself to read. My mom read me books daily from birth and I first learned by memorization; "the cat in the hat" was exactly that because I memorized that exact page, but then, I could identify the words the, cat, in, hat outside of the book. I learned hat made, well, the h-a-t sound so b-a-t must be bat. In first grade, I got to sit out of the learn to read lessons and got to go to the 5th grade classroom and pick out books to read.
But still...I think there needs to be some foundation and learning of that foundation.
Maybe have the early primary grades be a mix of tons of play (something we rid of in schools with NCLB and Common Core), expressive creativity (the arts) and unstructured exploration...with a drop here and there of structured learning. As children progress in their years in school, their own self-taught learning takes priority, where the teacher merely facilitates, observes, guides when asked.
Think about skills you know and use, and knowledge you know and use. Think, how much was 100% taught, half taught, or self taught? Sure I learned gerunds from a teacher but grammar and sentence structure understanding came more through exposure to all the reading and writing I did. I learned from drill and kill, the names and orders of service of our presidents, but I knew little to nothing about the founding fathers until I read, on my own, founding documents and biographies.
Anyway... what I glean from this article (yet I went off on a tangent) is that a lot of learning is self taught. It works best with one's frame of reference to self teach. It's an organic evolution of learning.
Common Core advocates might read this article (yep referencing it here, again) and say, "exactly!" And that's how Common Core brainwashes you. The buzzwords and ideas indicate self-learning and exploration, discussion and discovery, yet they are framed around standards and assessment-bound skills. The idea of self-learning cannot exist within a defined unmovable structure. Instead, you just teach an entire class to look at 3x+ 5y= 24 and say "hey first graders, go at it!" when three children are able to self-teach and figure it out and ten are thinking about drawing a realistic replica of the 3-d perspective of the playground, ten more want to learn how to play the drum solo of that #1 song they love...
The Common Core idea of group think...err..group work and figuring and constructing knowledge still ignores individual differences, abilities, desires.
It also assumes every child must learn skill A,B,C and D in that order and by age 10 or else. It ignores the possibility of learning E or ф or A,D,C.
Our structured learning blames everything on poverty or teachers, when children in dire poverty can learn to run a laptop. Because they aren't expected to learn A,B,C and merely construct A,B,C because gasp they are curious- something our education seems to kill.
People are not standardized
I was trying to figure out, from my post Taking Back My Own, why I still felt uneasy after posting it and getting all my feelings and thoughts out. Last night, it hit me as an epiphany.
Our children are not standardized. I have said many times, you can not use quantitative methods for qualitative data. People are qualitative. Saying everyone, at, say, age 30 will have two kids, a sports car, 2,000 square foot home, and earn $ 90,000 a year as an accountant, is really the same as saying every child in 5th grade will plot a simple equation on a graph, or, in my case, every two year old will know 7 body parts.
You can standardize machinery or a process but not peope!
Sure, if a graduation senior in high school hasn't a clue how to punctuate a sentence or multiply 3 x 1/2, you havea problem. But to say that child must perform those skills proficiently at an exact age ignores child development theory. Sure we all reach a skill at around the same window of time, but that's just...that. There are anomalies who are still "normal" and the like.
And standards are arbitrary.
For child development under age 3, my child is supposed to go up stairs alternating feet or else it indicates a problem. Sure, he can gallop, skip, throw over and underhand, kick and aim a ball with his toes and side of his foot, but he doesn't alternate feet so there's a "problem".
Sure. he cannot point and name 7 body parts (sorry folks, only 5) but he knows all his colors and can actually not just count to ten but count items up to five, as in one cheerio, two cheerio... but again he is "behind".
He is still learning boy vs girl so yep,, you guessed it, he is behind. But this arbitrary "benchmark" ignores the fact that he can operate the wii remote, xbox remote, and my husband's tablet to operate netflix. He chooses the movie he wants and can fast forward to or replay a favorite scene. Instead of thinking inside the box and clicking the back button to return to the main screen, he fast forwards the movie to the end so it returns to the home screen. He can also open a drawing app on my nook, draw an image, and save it to the desktop, something I even struggle with.
But you know, because some yahoo decided some weird benchmarks, my kid is "behind".
Sure. If he can't walk, he is behind. That's a given. But since instead of pointing when someone says "show me the picture of the doggy", he pants and licks the picture and barks, that's "behind" even though not only did he point (well, with his tongue) he imitates the animal's behaviors.
When I was a young child, I had an IQ test and tested 137. The assessor said my score was surely higher but he could only give me the 137. See, I have horrid vision (my worst eye is 20/1000!) and so my hand-eye coordination was "behind". So when doing the IQ tasks, the assessor could see my mind at work, my eyes staring at things, I'd even say what I was trying to do but my hands fumbled or my lack of depth perception meant I grabbed the wrong item. So I scored lower than I could have. I SAID what needed to be performed but since it sometimes took two grabs to grab an item, that meant I was "slow". Because the test specified "grab..." not "say..."
Standardizing our children ignores what they CAN do and points out what they CANNOT do.
This is a problem with NCLB and Common Core. A child might find circumferences of items for fun at age eight, but because they cannot do base-ten subtraction with blocks, they "fail". They internalize their failure, and might end up finding no joy in circumferences because it isn't valued by the school. They may learn to hate learning and feel they are stupid. Is this what we want for our children?
Our children are not standardized. I have said many times, you can not use quantitative methods for qualitative data. People are qualitative. Saying everyone, at, say, age 30 will have two kids, a sports car, 2,000 square foot home, and earn $ 90,000 a year as an accountant, is really the same as saying every child in 5th grade will plot a simple equation on a graph, or, in my case, every two year old will know 7 body parts.
You can standardize machinery or a process but not peope!
Sure, if a graduation senior in high school hasn't a clue how to punctuate a sentence or multiply 3 x 1/2, you havea problem. But to say that child must perform those skills proficiently at an exact age ignores child development theory. Sure we all reach a skill at around the same window of time, but that's just...that. There are anomalies who are still "normal" and the like.
And standards are arbitrary.
For child development under age 3, my child is supposed to go up stairs alternating feet or else it indicates a problem. Sure, he can gallop, skip, throw over and underhand, kick and aim a ball with his toes and side of his foot, but he doesn't alternate feet so there's a "problem".
Sure. he cannot point and name 7 body parts (sorry folks, only 5) but he knows all his colors and can actually not just count to ten but count items up to five, as in one cheerio, two cheerio... but again he is "behind".
He is still learning boy vs girl so yep,, you guessed it, he is behind. But this arbitrary "benchmark" ignores the fact that he can operate the wii remote, xbox remote, and my husband's tablet to operate netflix. He chooses the movie he wants and can fast forward to or replay a favorite scene. Instead of thinking inside the box and clicking the back button to return to the main screen, he fast forwards the movie to the end so it returns to the home screen. He can also open a drawing app on my nook, draw an image, and save it to the desktop, something I even struggle with.
But you know, because some yahoo decided some weird benchmarks, my kid is "behind".
Sure. If he can't walk, he is behind. That's a given. But since instead of pointing when someone says "show me the picture of the doggy", he pants and licks the picture and barks, that's "behind" even though not only did he point (well, with his tongue) he imitates the animal's behaviors.
When I was a young child, I had an IQ test and tested 137. The assessor said my score was surely higher but he could only give me the 137. See, I have horrid vision (my worst eye is 20/1000!) and so my hand-eye coordination was "behind". So when doing the IQ tasks, the assessor could see my mind at work, my eyes staring at things, I'd even say what I was trying to do but my hands fumbled or my lack of depth perception meant I grabbed the wrong item. So I scored lower than I could have. I SAID what needed to be performed but since it sometimes took two grabs to grab an item, that meant I was "slow". Because the test specified "grab..." not "say..."
Standardizing our children ignores what they CAN do and points out what they CANNOT do.
This is a problem with NCLB and Common Core. A child might find circumferences of items for fun at age eight, but because they cannot do base-ten subtraction with blocks, they "fail". They internalize their failure, and might end up finding no joy in circumferences because it isn't valued by the school. They may learn to hate learning and feel they are stupid. Is this what we want for our children?
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
system reboot, taking back my own
I naively walked towards the abyss with the greatest of intentions, and as my feet touch the edge and the earth crumbles beneath my feet, sand pouring into the pits of hell, I realize my grave mistake and slam down the reboot button. Please oh please oh please work, I cry in despair, cursing myself for my decisions. Shoulda' known better. But I will stop blaming myself and simply hit REBOOT and take back my child from the abyss.
My dearest son has hearing loss from ear infections (not 'permanent" but he has never had full hearing) and thus a speech delay. I recognized it at almost age two and was the pro-active rockstar of a parent, getting him help right away, in his early most formative years.
It took a half a year navigating red tape to get any help, but now he has an early intervention teacher, an awesome lady who I have nothing but kind words for, who shows up 2 - 3 times a month at our home to do developmental activities with my son. I can't say it is or isn't helping but he enjoys doing puzzles her so I am happy.
Until now.
I have to tell her soon, "it's not you, it's me and we're over" and I mean every word.
My son is lined up for an IEP through the county and school district and can attend pre-school (at age 3!) every day, half day, for FREE. How awesome is that? But I have put thought and research into it and I am becoming "that parent", that does NOT get their child special ed services. After all my efforts and good intentions and desire to help my son, I am taking back my child before it is too late.
If he goes on an IEP and thus into that pre-school, I must fill out district enrollment forms and connect that data, and his IEP, with his health records. With P - 20 and the 400 data points of Common Core and a human capital management big Brother world occupying that abyss, which is reality, I am saying f$#^ no and removing my child.
There is no way in hell I am having his work place or college know and discriminate against him or give preferential treatment because he had an IEP. He will not be pigeon holed and sent on a specific, less-than academic pathway via social efficiency because of an IEP. Sure, you might say, you are a wacko and this could never happen. But I have done my fair share of research and all the data will exist so that all there is left to do is a click of one button and bam! Discrimination for life. I have worked with school data systems extensively, so when I say I know, I know.
I am taking back my child and will give him the special services he may need at home, away from prying eyes.
I thought at first, sure, I will just decline most info/data gathered and let my son attend pre-school. I wll demand upon entrance to kindergarten that his IEP NOT follow him. Problem solved right? wrong.
Did you know the districts have their cumulative record, the paper one (now often digitalized) and ANOTHER SECRET FILE?!?!?!?! The speech therapist said sure, I can demand his IEP not follow him in the cum' file but the district has "other files" that follow him. She did not know the specifics but assured me they exist for each child.
I am not even putting him in pre-school or on an IEP because of the P-20 SLDS tracking system. How my son acquired speech at age 3 is no one's flipping business but mine and his.
I hate myself for even putting him on an IFSP. Stupid stupid me, the IFSP was my ticket and paper trail into the abyss. I hope a full system reboot and removal from the system will erase my trail permanently but I know there will always be a trace, somewhere. I had the best of intentions and screwed up. But can you blame me? I merely wanted to help my son, my world.
disclaimer: I still support IEPs for many kids. Just not my own.
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