Klarinet Archive - Posting 001248.txt from 2004/03

From: ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] not just the music department
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 2004 21:43:08 -0500

James=A0Hobby wrote:

> They opted out of the sight-reading part of the
> festival. Their entrants in the solo & ensemble
> festival were also well prepared. This is
> obviously not an example of inclusion, but it
> wasn't something that was required.

Just to illustrate how out of kilter some of this stuff can get:

Yesterday I received a letter from my daughter's school. The letter
was signed by the principal, and the letter's stated purpose was to
discuss the newspaper article that I mentioned a while ago about test
scores and test procedures in our district.

Here's what the letter said:

> [snip: introductory stuff]

> While the media may have reported that our
> test scores plumeted, the reality is that our
> test scores increased in every subject and at
> every grade. The three year trends in test
> scores have shown gains as well.

> [snip about: the API (Academic
> Performance Index) is abstracted from
> test results, and sometimes the calculation
> assigns a low API to a high test score
> because.... ]

> [snip about: our district requires the two
> years of "general science" classes with
> particular text books that are mandated by the
> State, but our district teaches these classes
> in 9th and 12th grades, whereas the State
> tests for them in the 10th & 11th grades. We
> have courses specifically in biology and so
> forth, given during 10th and 11th grades, but
> the letter claims that the State does not have
> a test specifically for biology. Thus as far as
> State testing is concerned, a biology course is
> not recognized.]

> In the past, students who did not take [these
> particular tests during these particular years]
> were not counted as part of the school's API
> [This year, such students were] automatically
> assigned the lowest score possible.

> [snip about: The district tried to negotiate
> rescheduling these tests to match the year in
> which the courses are given, but the State
> said "no".]

[snip about: The district will bow to the State and students will take
the tests regardless of whether or not the students have taken the
classes on which the tests are based.]

> Any student who used a calculator, even
> though the calcuator may have been
> approved via their IEP [Individual
> Education Program, which is mandated for
> every handicapped student, this is my
> daughter's case because of her brain injury],
> was assigned the lowest score possible
> [regardless of how they scored or could have
> scored without a calculator].

[The letter did not discuss whether the district will bow to the State
on this issue or not. Our newspaper says the matter is being debated.
All I can think about is that my daughter is working her best to satisfy
the "system" (including performing in a musical drama outside of school
--- There! this post is on topic!), and yet the one-size-fits-all
"system" is threatening to ask the impossible of her, despite her
contributing to society in every other way, including doing volunteer
work in a disabled clinic.]

But graduate from high school? ....nah.... ]

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