The Undecided Blog

Many people believe that Sarah Palin is a champion of students and families with special educational needs.

I think it’s just another issue that Palin needs to “address” as part of the campaign.  Palin states that if parents of special education students decide to send their children to private schools, the government should foot the bill.  What Palin is promising to do in a McCain administration is not realistic, nor is it in the best interest of any tax-paying American.

Funding for the special education programs in our nation’s schools have always been lacking, (as funding for general programs have been).

How is education funded in this country? By the tax-payers.  Districts or towns use the money collected from the property tax to pay for their departments of education.  This is why in wealthier districts, the property taxes are higher, and schools and students generally perform better than areas of poorer populations. In many areas, particularly rural and less populated districts, there are not enough tax-paying citizens to financially support the needs of the schools.  In these instances, the state subsidizes the cost of the schools. (This is not to say that states don’t give districts additional monies for their expenses.)

How do schools pay for the special education programs that the students in their community need?   Schools are allocated a certain amount of money for the number of students that they have.  In NYC, special education students are given extra money to pay for the services that they need.  Fortunately, for the many students of special needs in NYC, we have the funding and ability  to provide for most special ed students.   However, smaller areas, towns, villages, etc. do not have the same funding available.

Which brings us back to what Palin is proposing… that all families are given the choice to send their child to public or private schools for students of special needs.  All expenses will be incurred by the tax-payers.  The question is: if tax-payers’ monies cannot even pay for the needs of schools NOW, how will they be able to pay for the needs of the potential thousands of students who will choose to attend a private school?  There are schools in VT that have had to close because they could not afford the gas prices to bus children to the school.  Where does Palin propose to find the money to support her outrageous promise?

Given the choice between a private and public program, many parents of special ed students will choose the private programs.  It is not that parents shouldn’t be given a private school option IF their school districts are unable to provide for the students.  If school districts are able to provide comparable programs, services, and education to special ed students, then the school districts should not have to pay for the private school tuition.   In these instances, if parents choose to send their children to private school, then the parents need to pay the costs of the education themselves.

Case in point:  in the late 1980s, a VP of Virgin Records who lived in NYC, decided to send his son to a special education boarding school in Massachusetts.  Even though the city had programs and schools that were able to meet the needs of his son, the VP chose to send his son to a private institution.  While his son was in Massachusetts, the VP and his wife filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the city.  They believed that the city was responsible for paying for the education of their child.  A few of years ago, the suit was finally won by the VP and his wife, and the city had to pay millions of dollars to this family.  They donated the money to an after school agency, but that is not the point.  The point isn’t even that the city had to spend millions and time in fighting this lawsuit.  It is that these parents CHOSE to send their child to a private school DESPITE the fact that the city had programs that were comparable to the private school.  Why should the city have had to pay this family anything if they chose not to send their son to a public school?

The fact is, if parents of special education students are given the option to choose private or public education for their children, then the same privilege should be extended to all families of all students.  Why shouldn’t any other parent get to decide what type of education they prefer for their child? Why shouldn’t the government pay for the private education of ANY child?

Oh, what the hell!  In the name of McCain and Palin, let’s just shut down public schools, and give vouchers to every family.

I am overwhelmed!  There is no other way to describe my current state of being.  I’ve taken on many extras this year at school, and am starting to rethink some of them, not that it’s possible to back out of any of them now…

I’ve been thinking about several questions: what makes a great teacher? is it better to do many things well or to do a few things great?

Within my own classroom, I am trying to find room for projects with my kids.  I really want to have more fun with the curriculum than what is planned or allowed for.  The projects deal with both academic and civic duties.  However, in trying to find time for these things, I find that I’ve rushed through some topics.  In Social Studies, there have been days where I’ve just presented the kids with information to know so that we have time to work on our Social Studies project.  In this instance, I can argue that the time is equally traded as students can apply what they’ve learned to the project.

In word study though… we are looking at grammar, spelling, patterns, vocabulary, big words, etc.  There is a lot to get through each day, and we don’t spend a great deal of time focused on one type of word study lesson.  I’ve been debating this one… on one hand, I really want the kids to know that all of these topics in word study is important and relevant to their academic and lifelong careers.  Other the other hand, how much information is retained if not focused?  I ask these questions not for my top functioning students, and not even for my middle of the road students.  I ask them for the struggling students.  I wonder how much they are actually taking in?

Back to my main questions… I am running several projects at school, along with after and before school work, and learning a brand new curriculum.  While I am not yet failing at them, I feel like that day will come.  Every second of my school day is accounted for.  I am either planning for my kids, or I am working on a project that my principal has assigned me to…

Perhaps the better question is: is it more important that the kids think I’m a great teacher, or that the administration thinks that I’m a great teacher?

Here’s an interesting article about NCLB.  Connecticut tried to sue the federal government for forcing NLCB onto the state without adequate funding and impossible goals.  A federal judge threw out the case in April, (I’ll have to research more into that to comment on the decision).  However, CT is appealing it.  I wonder why other states are not also suing?  The case, should it come before the Supreme Court, should be a class action suit representing the all states’ education departments and all students and families.

Another issue with NCLB is that it expects ALL students, regardless of needs, to meet the same (by same, I mean unclear) standards by 2014.  What of the English Language Learners (ELLs) and the Special Education students?

It is ridiculous to expect ELLs to become proficient in a new language in a very short period of time.  In NY, students are granted a reprieve for the first year; however, they are expected to take the state tests in their second year. The tests that the students are expected to take are extremely difficult.  An ELL entering 4th grade may only have enough language to read at the second grade level.  However, they are expected to take a fourth grade level test.  This is unfair to the student and to the school, which will be penalized for the low grade that this student will get.

Special Education students’ needs are so varied that everything is lumped together under the term “special education”.  The reason that these students’ are categorized as such is because there are modifications in their learning environment and and teaching to help them make progress in school.  There is not a clear solution to help any of these students.  There is not one solution that will fit ALL students.  So how can they all be held accountable to the “standard” set by NCLB?

NCLB is obviously not created by educators of our current educational system.  A knowledgeable & practical educator in our system would recognize the unrealistic expectations set forth in NCLB.   NCLB was created by politicians for political purposes.  It should never have been passed into law.  NCLB should have been established as a motto or an ethic for all educators.

This NY Times article about No Child Left Behind really angers me.

No Child Left Behind is a law that was written with good intentions  Behind it is the idea and hope that educators in our country are making every effort  to reach each student in the system.  However, as it passed into law, NCLB has created an educational system that has adverse effects on student learning.  NCLB has created a test-centric educational system where students in early elementary schools are being forced to take standardized tests.  But aside from this…

NCLB measures teacher qualifications, student tests scores, and school ratings. How are the effects of NCLB truly measured?  Well, it depends on which state you live in and how savvy are your state’s politicians.  Does your state require teachers to have a Master’s degree?  NY does, but many states do not.  How do your students fare on the state tests?  The better question is how easy is your test?  Is it designed to ensure that most students will pass?  Or is it designed to truly assess the learnings of the students?  How does your school compare to mine?  Are you in a densely populated area where overcrowding is an issue?  Do you live in a wealthy zip code where there is enough funding for all your students’ needs?

NCLB sets no clear standards for states, educators, parents, or students to meet.  We cannot have 100% proficiency in anything if we don’t know what it means to be proficient.

Additionally, how can NCLB expect schools to implement changes and make building accommodations if there are no additional funding for the schools?   It’s like telling the soldiers in Iraq to do better and win the war without giving them any additional help and resources.

The United States government has regarded education as a matter of the individual state.  This is why educational standards and teacher qualifications vary from state to state.  Being that this is the case, then there should not be a federal law or mandate to which the states need to answer.

In my personal opinion, education should be a federal concern.  All students in this country should be held to the same educational standards.  If we want to truly measure competencies of educators and schools in the country, everyone should take the same tests based on the same national standards.