Hi Beth,

  Sorry to hear about your Dad's house. I was just down in Palmetto visiting my best friend - 9/9 thru 9/19. Held my breathe on Ivan. Both for down there and up hear - it spawned 37 tornados here in the NoVa So Md area.

  The testing is really dumb. Amber's class was the first one that had to pass Virginia's SOL's to graduate from High School. I remember the years of preparing the kids - so much wasted class time - days learning the proper way to fill in bubbles - what a waste of time - the kids now take the tests on the computer. Whole months where spent in prep for the tests - so the never finished other stuff. Some classes where all about teaching the test. So the kids don't know anything but what on the test. Amber always ace'd the tests - ironically you can fail the class and still pass the test. 

After years of helping out in Amber's classes - what needed is more individual time with the kids - and sad to say what is really needed is parental involvement - the idea that its all the school's problem - is balderdash!!! More attention needs to be paid to the kids home lives - how can kids who are hungry, take of themselves, live in squalor and have drug or alcohol addicted parents ever learn anything. Maybe we need state boarding schools for some of these kids. 

State colleges here charge $12,000 for tuition for a year - the high school puts out $9,000 per resident child and charge parents $12,000 for non-resident kids. Ummmm, not sure what extra $3000 is for. But at that rate they are matching the colleges - and there the kids get room and board also. 

We need to look at why the kids aren't learning and fix that. I think the real problem is people are more worried about their individual monetary welbeing and screw the kids - becasue now testing is a big industry and people would lose their jobs - so better give the kids a mediocre education...... 

I saw the difference parental involvement means in the kids education - and we really need to start by educating parents. 

Amber is enjoying college and doing fine. 

                               Trisha

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth Thiers [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2004 9:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [DGV] Halting Progress for the Disabled (fwd)


And I don't think that's quite what was intended by the original bill.
High stakes testing equals lots of money.

Beth t the OT

-----Original Message-----
From: St. John's University Cerebral Palsy List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Trisha Cummings
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2004 7:25 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [DGV] Halting Progress for the Disabled (fwd)

Hi Ken,

   I just did a paper on testing and education and I was disgusted by = how
education is being degraded in an effort to make the scores to keep = the
Feds $'s. Did you know one special population child not passing the = test
can mean the whole school fails?  Then they blame the = teachers.........=20

                                          Trisha



-----Original Message-----
From: ken barber [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 7:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [DGV] Halting Progress for the Disabled (fwd)


i am afraid it is too late to not get you started. by the way "no child left
behind" was mainly written by Ted Kennedy (and bought off on by bush)and
definately something i was against. i am not against education at all, but,
this bill was not the way to go.