Obama's Remarks on Education Get Mixed Reviews

“Politics has intervened, and if a child is identified as behavioraly disable they can only have a certain number of days suspended. Also students who have been identified can not receive below a 70 regardless of what their grade actually is.”

As a Director of Special Education, it never fails to amaze me by the commonness of misnomers that are popular among parents and general educators. By all means we can and frequently do suspend students who are identified with special needs, regardless of diagnoses. There are certain criteria that must be met including a manifestation hearing and discussion as to whether the child’s action was related to their identified disability or if there was a concern in the level of services being provided. In either case, if the child has demonstrated a pattern of significant behavior that places the safety or welfare of others or themselves at risk, the Safe Schools Act comes into play and other alternative shall be explored.

As for the second misnomer mentioned, that of the grading at “identified can not receive below a 70 regardless of what their grade actually is.” identified can not receive below a 70 regardless of what their grade actually is” (Garrish, Jean), this is a complete myth that I am unsure of the origin. Performance is performance and it is the role of the special educator to ensure that IEP goals and objectives are composed in such a fashion to address not only the identified needs of the learner, but also within the frameworks of their ability to learn within the least restrictive environment. If we are accepting even less than mediocre student performance, how can we assert we are adequately preparing them for post-secondary lives?

I accept that these are common misperceptions, but in the past 18 years I have worked with students, their families, advocates, special and general education teachers and administrators, and lawyers on these very issues. In one particular case a child was identified as having a Language Impairment. While Language can impede both Basic Reading and Written Language Skills, in this case, there was significant evidence to support this concern. After many notices that he was risking being retained for a second time in the fourth grade, the mother essential ‘bit her thumb’ at the teachers and administrators of the building and said that they couldn’t retain him because he has a disability and can’t be held accountable for his grades.

Of course the educational team had already conferred with me and provided all the data related to his potential retention and artifacts of his homework and grade performances. After analyzing the documents, it became clear that the child, while not a disruption, was opting out of any assignments sent home. His work while at school was complete and demonstrated maturity whereas those tasks sent home rarely returned and generally was unreadable. The issue seemed clear to me, after talking to the SLP that was working with my young fellow and

Jacqueline of MO 4:34PM March 21, 2009

I will start with 2 facts.

- I am a product of the public school system,

- I am a teacher in the public school system 7-8Gr. Math.

Given these, you might be surprised to know that I send my daughter to private school. Not catholic school or some other religious institution, just plain ol' expensive public school. I am not rich. I am not living off some inheritance. I do not come from a background that promotes private or denounces public school. I have simply discovered one simple truth...

Parents are the number one, solitary driving force in education.

My wife and I collected information on 32 private school options in our city. My wife personally visited 5 of them. After a month of deliberation, we sent her to pre k. Our goal is to keep her in an environment that values education.

The public school system no longer provides that environment. Parents have shoved education by the wayside. The majority (scary) of my students treat school and education as a joke. Quality of work has no value and effort beyond the minimum is a foreign concept. Very few fear consequence for poor performance. All of this is coming from parents. When my daughters school has a math night to help parents understand how math is being taught at school, 95% of parents show up. When my school has a math night, 95% of parents do not.

Private schools provide an environment where education is valued.

Finally, if a private school no longer lives up to your expectations, you simply withdraw your child and take them elsewhere. Try doing that in the public system. Private schooling provides a choice that public schooling will never match.

VM of NM 1:03AM March 14, 2009

The problem that I have with Merit pay is how do you decide who is doing a good job and who isn't. I teach Social Studies in the State of Ohio to eighth grade students. Our test score on the state test are 43% passing rate. Before you start to think I am a bad teacher you have to realize that the state average is 50% and I am one of the higher scores in my county. The test is over social studies for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade years yet am I going to be the one held accountable? First of all if the schools have failed in the last fifteen years ask yourself why? Then think what has changed? Then realize that all teachers do now is teach students how to take a test. Students in school today are pushed harder and will cover more material then their parents ever thought about learning, yet we are behind? Let me tell you what will happen if you go to a merit based system: more students will be dropping out of school because who wants to get paid low so they will be picked on until they give up, teachers will be unwilling to teach students with special needs because they score the lowest on tests, teachers will no longer care about weather a student has a bad home life, and administrators would only keep teachers that are in the "good old boy" system. If you don't think this will happen then you don't understand teaching and schools. Tell me where the school system has failed? I will tell you from an educators standpoint where it has failed, it has failed from the point that student-athletes are now athlete-students because of the importance of sports. Schools have failed because many parents have given their students everything in the world to keep them occupied instead of developing loving and learning environments at home. It has become easier for parents to complain about teachers and blame teachers then to accept responsibility for their child's actions. Administrators who have made bad decision after bad decision and teachers have to work through them. Here is one, how about allowing average uneducated school board members make the decisions about education and how the school will do things. Yes there are bad teachers, I work with some. Rest assured I work harder than many Americans everyday and others do nothing but give the kids worksheets and sit in their chairs and do nothing. There is literally no tenure in the state of Ohio, it might be more difficult to get rid of a teacher who has been there for many years, but if you make it easier to get rid of teachers, there will be no teacher in the state of Ohio left with a job who has at least 10+ years because new teachers cost less than teachers with experience.

MA in OH of OH 5:00PM March 12, 2009

A longer school day as a solution to teach the students more is a joke. Students learn so much out of experience in the world. We need to hold parents and society acountable for that. You can't just take the job over 18 students from individual families and society and place it all on a teacher.

Mariana of IL 4:37PM March 12, 2009