Teachers suspended
According to a PEN press release, two Seattle Public School teachers at Green Lake Elementary have been suspended for ten days without pay because - at the request of parents - they have not been administering the WAAS to the six disabled students in their self-contained special education class.
You can read the whole press release on this blog.
You can read the whole press release on this blog.
Comments
Kinda reminds me of the corporate world.
The ineptitude, disregard for meaningful education, intolerance of parental input, and willful lack of compliance with legal policy/procedure are never ending. Did Dr. G-J's experience as a special ed teacher train her to ignore parental input and test at all costs? Or an we thank the Broad foundation for that?
What's the best strategy to support these teachers, these families?
"ADD THIS TO THE INCOMPLETE LIST... this one could have huge ramifications.
To Sped Mom (and Autism Mom and other special ed advocates) regarding the restrictive environments issues (and disproportionate sped id of students of color) that the district is out of compliance with... Good News for those frustrated parents who have waited!
Through back channels, these issues have been escalated and are being actively investigated on ...way over the heads of OSPI and the local OCR office whom all seem to be "too friendly". The district did a special ed audit which was published in Nov. 2007 and highlighted key problems; restrictive placements and disproportionality being biggies ... Gets juicier...OSPI knew about these SPS problems and did not take corrective actions or sanctions against SPS. O-O-P-P-S ... They even reported to feds NO problems statewide. (My understanding is that they could be in really deep do-do for this!)
A critical point is that the district has been aware of these issues and has not quickly corrected them. They have even gone without a special ed. director for almost a year, hoping to replace this position with a business manager, not a special educator.
(This doesn't help their cause either.)
All these inactions have caused harm to countless special ed. students, past and present. Many of those harmed come from families where the parents did not have resources to fight or the knowledge of the rules and how harmful the district's actions could be. Acknowledging that you have a problem and announcing that you are working to fix it, will not clear you of your responsibility in wrong-doing.
This will be one Shannon M. cannot write enough blah-blah to get the district of the hook! In fact, Shannon, in her job as the district's keen counsel, should have advised the district of the urgency and their position. (Again, her actions will cost the district bid time.) What she doesn't know will hurt them....Her arms are not long enough and her network reach not strong enough to get to DC to circumvent it.
Sympathetically, the board and central office have a long laundry list of to-do's and needs. But federal and state laws protecting vulnerable populations should not be taken lightly. From what I heard....Knowledge with inaction actually can become criminal action.
She received her Masters in SPED specializing on those with multiple handicaps.
MG-J is so far off on what the WA law says in this regard...
What is the matter with this administration and this school board?
Look at all the State Laws and School Board policies that this administration and school board choose to ignore. Then they screw this one up because apparently they can not even read laws.
Good Luck to these teachers in Court.
Clearly the wishes of parents carry no weight with SPS administration even when accompanied by the law.
------------------
Do Eli Broad trained Superintendents come with any guarantee?
http://www.broadacademy.org/fellows/map.html
And: "11
Leaders of school systems—superintendents, cabinet executives, school boardmembers, principals
and chartermanagement organization pioneers—are the key to successful reform efforts in
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effective organizations.
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in the areas of urban district governance,management, labor and competition—that hamper
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enterprises. Our work is aimed at informing policy leaders at the federal, state and
local levels about the education challenges facing our nation, and at providing solutions to
those challenges with primary emphasis on professional performance compensation for teachers
and principals, expanded learning time and national standards.
We invest in cities and chartermanagement organizations where our dollars can be leveraged to
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Education
Overview"
(from: http://www.broadfoundation.org/asset/101-124-2008tbfsannualreportfinal.pdf)
"Do Eli Broad trained Superintendents come with any guarantee?"
Ha! I wish. Could we get our money back? Or maybe just our district?
The WASL, on the other hand, has been a double edged sword for special education students. Many more students should be taking the WASL (perhaps with modified scoring) than are taking it now. In my case, we have found the WASL useful because it forces schools to actually teach students with disabilities and forces the district be accountable on at least one thing. Of course, the WASL is an imperfect test... one that will hopefully improve with age (or replacement). It doesn't always reflect what atypical populations have learned.
Perhaps they come with the guarantee of gutting public school districts and making them so undesirable that this lays the groundwork for privatization--ie. charters:
Isn't it interesting that MG-J's plan for everything is uniformity and centralized control to bring about academic improvement ...
but charters are the exact opposite of that....
From 2000-2007 the urban school district that had the most improvment was New Orleans ...
The reason was stated as centralized control wained and school decision making increased as 50%+ of N.O. kids are now in charters.
We could do with a lot less misless centralized control in Seattle ..... or we will wind up with charters...
Is that the Broad Foundation's plan for us?
2000-2007 improvement rank out of 50 urban school districts
New Orleans #1
Seattle #24
So teachers do get suspended in the District???
Look what is going on at Whittier, a teacher hit a kid and didn't miss even one day of work.
Parents feel there is nothing they can do but keep sending their kids into him. Many kids witnessed the hitting-can you imagine being a little kid and seeing this?
After he did it he said, holding the object he hit with, threatening to hit more kids who he felt were out of line.
Their offense? Many normal things kids do; missing a beat in a song, not performing perfectly, accidentally knocking over a microphone when trying to pick it up to sing, knocking off a boom whacker. Not remembering to look straight ahead during rehearsal, for a whole five minutes song.
They are all just scared of him.
The sad thing in all this: he can teach music. I have seen him teach, and he knows music and he knows how to explain it to all ages. Nevertheless, his creditability at this school is gone.
Thanks for the Times link.
"She said the "opt-out" process never was explained to them fully, so they didn't know until January, when they were called to a disciplinary hearing, that written parental requests were required. By mid-February, the teachers had collected written letters from the parents, but the disciplinary process continued. The two are appealing the suspension.
Imagine that the district did not explain things fully .... seems pretty likely doesn't it?
Here is the problem: many districts do NOT explain this law to the teachers. In fact they may present the exact opposite of the law. Then when teachers who are well read and informed about the law speak up they are silenced.
This is often a case of districts do what they want rather than follow the law. (because those no WASL or WAAS takers hurt the passing percentage ... can't have too many of those no matter what the law says).
This could get very interesting in court. Is the District punishing teachers because the district failed to inform these teachers of the law.
Is the district responsible to keep teachers informed of the law and procedures? ... did they do so?
In the past the district has not informed either teachers or some administrators of the classroom disruption law RCW 28A 600.020.
It seems like another case of pick and choose which laws and policies should be used today.
When we found those people who were suggested to us, they told us they had no clue how to do the WAAS.
The statement that the teachers are taking the WAAS is true. Therefore, you might think that all of the portfolios would pass, except that the teachers are never told exactly what the criteria should look like. The percentage of porfolios passing last year was 20%.
We were told to use tenth grade curriculum with these students. How do you make accommodations for a student with a 33 IQ or lower?
The students are assessed through their IEP, Progress reports, psychological evaluations, the Brigance, the WIAT. These are much more accurate assessments of their progress, than trying to teach Shakespeare to developmentally disabled students.
The reason the teachers from Greenlake didn't know that there had to be written documentation from the parents to exclude their child from the WAAS is because district administrators don't WANT teachers to know that parents can opt out. The school gets a "0" if a student doesn't successfully complete a portfolio, and it's added to the scores for the school. On the other hand if the kid gets a "4", then it helps the school's total score.
The kids are actually missing out on a lot of valuable teaching opportunities because the teacher is knocking him/herself out over a long, extended period of time, to try and make sense out of this complicated, mind-numbing assessment.
On the other hand, we have schools like W. Seattle Elem, Adams Elem, Arbor Heights and tons of middle and high schools... where students with very minor disabilities (if any disability at all) have been railroaded into self-contained dumping grounds. Of course the teachers are usually well-meaning. These aren't kids with IQ 33. They are usually just minority kids, or kids with incompetent parents, or kids experiencing some other societal ill. These kids shouldn't be self-contained... and absolutely should be taking the WASL. But what better way for a school to improve its WASL score than dump the kids in a location where absolutely nothing is every expected?
Helen Schinske
Randy Dorn, 360-725-6004
Randy.Dorn@k12.wa.us
Maria Goodloe-Johnson, 206-252-0167
magoodloe@seattleschools.org
Gary Ikeda, (SPS legal) 206-252-0113
glikeda@seattleschools.org
SPS Board Members listed here-
http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/contact.xml
You said:
"They are usually just minority kids, or kids with incompetent parents, or kids experiencing some other societal ill. These kids shouldn't be self-contained... "
Another possiblity is the child has been in the SPS which features differentiated instruction without interventions ... so the child can fall farther and farther behind year after year as social promotion continues. ...until it is time for some form of Special Education.
Any chance either the school board or the administration will act on the School Board policies governing grade level promotion and skills?
Probably not too busy suspending teachers.
Then you must not have been paying very careful attention, or were lucky enough to have kids that were his favorites.
I can assure you - this guy needs to go and has needed to since he arrived.
Helen Schinske
I think since you're making this claim of "railroading", you should share specifics. Without naming names, describe a student at West Seattle Elementary that has been railroaded into special ed.
That is what you're claiming, right? That you actually know specific cases of this type of racist railroading and you're not just passing on some gossip that you heard somewhere?
"But what better way for a school to improve its WASL score than dump the kids in a location where absolutely nothing is every expected?"
I would also like you to back up the claim that special ed self-contained classrooms "expect absolutely nothing" from students. Again, use evidence you've seen from WSE.
Gates recently pumped charters while laying out the four biggest threats to the world: Malaria, AIDS, pneumonia, and TEACHERS!!
What's scary is how much they all believe the rhetoric. So when you hear "21st Century Global Competition" envision the "Blade Runner" like future these folks envision for our kids, where childhood is dismissed and replaced with "rigor" to ensure competitive little corporate soldiers of the future (until their jobs are outsourced).
Scapegoating teachers and unions while pretending to represent the ignored parents is Broad Foundation 101. How soon will we hear about KIPP schools and importing Teach for America neophytes to save Seattle Schools? It's happening all over the country, why not Seattle?
I often wonder how many people get that we're already living the Matrix... and have been doing so for a very long time....
Thanks for the lively discussion.
Instructionally disabled
is a term used to describe kids that appear by almost every measure to belong in SPED but do not. They do not because their lack of academic achievement is directly related to poor curriculum and/or poor instruction.
The SPS in Math over the last decade is a true leader in the production of instructionally disabled students in math.
This continues as teachers are to follow the Everyday Math pacing plan.
Forget the WA state grade level math expectations ... follow the EDM pacing guide.
Nationally there are several instances where teachers lost jobs by not:
1.) following the mandated pacing guide or
2.) for supplementing material when "Fidelity of Implementation" was the order of the day.
Finland is an exemplar for differentiated instruction ... Whatever the SPS advertises as differentiated instruction .... seems to be anything but that ... as they go about increasing the production of instructionally disabled students.
"Kids with disabilities are going to be moving through the grades, and so is everyone else. Teachers can either differentiate.... or fail to be effective."
"Everyone is going to be moving through the grades". -----
Thanks for the explanation of why 50%+ of entering SPS 9th graders are unprepared to be successful in high school mathematics.
In Finland differentiated instruction takes place in an atmosphere of high standards and lots of interventions to help students meet those standards. Students are retained when they need more time to meet expectations at a particular grade level. Thus grade level retention is indicated when all those interventions fail to bring a student to the minimum performance level.
But ... as we know in the SPS there are no minimum levels of achievement for regular education students. In SPS math currently there are no expectations k-8.
Thanks for the school names. It is interesting to see what can be found when investigating school results.
It is always difficult to draw conclusions because of so many uncontrolled variables.
The schools you listed have more favorable staffing ratios than most schools. According to OSPI data:
Graham Hill: 342/22 = 15.55/1
sped 10.3%
Montelake: 234/16 = 14.6/1
sped 15%
Dan Bagley: 330/20 = 16.5/1
sped 11%
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Adams: 367/19 = 19.32/1
sped 13.2%
Arbor Heights: 308/20 = 15.4/1
sped 23%
West Seattle Elem is so far out of the demographic league with the schools you mention it can hardly be suitable for comparison.
Free&reduced meals 79%
Bilingual population 32%
Sped 26%
Staffing 271/21 = 12.9/1
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In West Seattle also
Sanislo: 312/17 = 18.35/1
Sped 9.2%
Schmitz Park: 326/16 = 20.35/1
Sped 7.1%
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I still believe that Seattle Schools do not differentiate ... as in meeting an effective definition of differentiated instruction as shown to be internationally successful.
Individualization is easier with favorable staffing ratios coupled with favorable demographics. The three schools that you cited as exemplary in differentiating have very favorable staffing ratios when viewed in relationship to the demographics of their populations.
I attended a tour at Lowell on Thursday. Julie Breitenbach (sp?) said that the demographers would be releasing the projections for 2009-10 enrollment at each school this week and that more information should be coming out on Friday morning.
Does anyone know where this information would be posted?
They have already posted the sibling early enrollment numbers for 2009-2010.
I guess this is because early sibling assignment came before the closure vote, but you would think that they would update their count.
What I do find interesting is how many schools fill up a K class in early sib registration, notably View Ridge and Wedgewood.
I would LOVE to give more details but I feel like I should be careful about what I say on a public forum as we go through the process to appeal. The reason I'm responding to this is because I know many people are concerned and want to help. It means so much to have support and we are truly thankful to those who have given it and continue to do so. We don't know what is going to happen but for now, we're happy to be back in the classroom. Hopefully, all of this is happening so that things can change for the better. Personally, I'm sick of administrations and bureaucracies that have lost touch with humanity. That needs to change! We work with children!
I just don't get it...
The district actively acknowledges the huge problem of self-containing students withOUT cognitive disabilities in schools with level 3 self-contained disability programs. Disproportionality in restrictive programs, and in special education as a whole are well documented and reported in the district's special education review. That really isn't news at all. The named schools are all schools with level 3 programs... and they all have this problem. I have observed these programs on many occasions and I have worked as an advocate for students in these buildings. Students with true, and actual disabilities are removed from these programs, which are already highly restricted. Why? Because they are disabled. (If you can even imagine that!!! No disabled kids wanting academic instruction in our disabled program. Go somewhere else.) These schools also refuse to provide academic education to disabled students if parents actively seek it.
So, who is it that attends these programs? I can tell you they are both impoverished and minority... but evidently, not cognitively disabled. I can also tell you, that situation doesn't happen to affluent parents able to provide for the needs of their child. Would any of you self-contain your cognitively normal child that in classrooms where no kids ever take the WASL, and where no teacher ever has that aspiration for their students?(however weak the WASL is, it is at least a small bar to shoot for). You can look at OSPI data, you will find these schools don't even test enough students with IEP's to report the results even though they are highly over-represented with disabled students.
Montlake, GH, and Bagleys are popular and do a good job... because of differentiation.
In addition to poo-pooing "differentiation" you also poo-poo "fidelity of implementation". What is that anyway? To my mind it means "good teaching". So, the things that are SOOOO horrible are good teaching that meets the needs of students at their level. And no, that doesn't describe the reasons for WASL scores. Curriculums will never be a panacea for education. We had good ol' traditional math when I was a kid... and guess what? There were all the same problems and complaints.
Glad you're back at work.
I toured Greenlake for my incoming K kids and we toured all areas of the school.
Everyone seemed fully engaged and very happy in all sections of the school. Teachers teaching and kids learning.
Best to you!
The staffing ratios are more favorable in the three schools you mentioned. My stats are from OSPI data as reported by the SPS to OSPI. These are staffing ratios not class sizes.
"Fidelity of Implementation" refers to following the scripted pacing plan, which in many cases allows little or no variation from its daily requirements.
I have never advocated for the good ol' traditional math curriculum (which I found in great need of improvment .. unfortunately the SPS has given us something worse). I am an advocate for a blended internationally competitive math curriculum.
For further information on this math direction see:
"What is Important in School Mathematics."
I think that differentiation is great, just that the SPS rarely does it. "Fidelity of Implementation" makes it even less likely.
Dan