I'm a second generation teacher--my mom has taught special education for close to 40 years and I've had inclusion for close to 10 years. I've always been perplexed with accommodations and such.
If someone is missing a leg, prosthetics allow them to walk. But what accommodations or so forth provide *mental* prosthetics? Under past administrators, if IEP's aren't getting A's and B's, you face pressure. When I taught high school ten years ago, some students with IEP's would flat out just demand the answers, or refuse to work because the system had created learned helplessness.
Even from here in the midwest, I agree with many of your points. You're gutsy for being this honest.
I'm terrified. It took me 8 weeks to write this, mostly procrastinating because I couldn't let it go. I got the flu yesterday and had some real down time, and just figured it was time to pull the trigger. I only regret that I missed a few typos.
If we were just honest and had clear, consistent standards for EVERYONE kids could grow at their own pace and not feel like something is wrong with them.
You nailed every single scenario I experienced. 9/ 16 students in my “Honor” chemistry class had accommodations. There was very little chemistry taught, an no honor.
Look for classical schools in your era. Catholic, Christian, private, whatever. They are the closest approximation -- when done well, mind you -- to what used to work at scale back when people believed in the American ideal of merit.
I have found this for my child after some searching and errors, very low-tech and academically demanding, but not STEM obsessed at the expense of the humanities to the point of disregarding them (which seems to be prevalent). History especially is taught at a level of depth, intensity and love that mesmerizes. It was my favorite subject, one of my A-levels and a lasting love and reading fascination, but American history beyond superficial knowledge one might have, has never been on my radar. My child is revealing things to me about the country on random drives and in conversations that are quite fascinating and this brings me a lot of joy.
I taught middle school for a decade, and saw exactly what you described. I have one bright memory of one of my 6th grade students explaining everything he learned at parent teacher conferences with SUCH enthusiasm- he loved my social studies class and was obviously passionate about it. But, his grades were D’s because he struggled to read and write at grade level. Of course I tried many accommodations and gave verbal tests to him (along with many other academic and behavioral modifications for many students). But at conferences, with his trusted adult, in a non-pressured situation, he opened up and talked about what he found fascinating. Grades DON’T capture learning. I left in 2020 to homeschool my kids so they can get a truly differentiated and tailored education at their own pace, not the pace of industrial education that only cares about grades and jumping through hoops. Thank you for laying it out, even though it may cause some friction.
This is a great analysis of the current public school education. I don't put blame on any individual. I think the system is completely dysfunctional. I see both sides of the issue. On one hand, I have an advanced child who is bored at school. She says her math tests are exactly the same questions as the pretest review work. We do more advanced work at home. On the other hand, I have a kid who has very slow processing speed, so math is difficult. Unless I keep up with his assignments and review the problems daily, he is left behind. He has an IEP which is useless. It's very difficult to balance the needs of the advanced child while helping the other one keep up, all the while working a full time job. I am looking forward to your next essay. This one was tough but truthful.
Thank you so much for the honest feedback and the anecdotal evidence that I'm not totally out to lunch on this issue. We're just not doing anything well anymore -- not even teaching to the middle. I'm so glad there are parents who can see this and who are doing the heavy lifting at home for the sake of their children. Your kids are very lucky to have you.
I think we need to change how we measure education. Sir Ken does a brilliant talk on this which I love. I am also exploring things that are not taught in schools and offering workshops to students.
As a former public school teacher, I learned this over 40 years ago - sp. ed. has been the same since mainstreaming began in the 1970s. I worked in a sp. ed. classroom, and also tutored students in most levels. When I had my own kids, I chose to homeschool after seeing what happens in a public school, no matter how excellent the teachers and the curriculum. Not sure when it happened, but what public school used to be, no longer is. It may have been a good idea at one time, but it's time to end it, if not altogether, at least with vouchers that allow parents to choose the educational environment that works best for their child. A lot of parents who would homeschool are prevented by the expense. Teacher's unions have promoted the idea that only "certified" teachers can teach, and parents are unsure they can teach their own children adequately. IMO, homeschooling is the best, but teachers could function as consultants to encourage parents in educating their own children. An alternative could be to go back to the neighborhood school with 10 or 12 students - I know, this seems impossible, but I think it's doable, and much preferable to trying to work with hundreds of students at once. I taught a one-room school, K-8, and the parents were highly engaged - they were the school board, in fact. Perhaps it's an idea that could be resurrected.
I couldn't agree more. Homeschooling is the best option, and with the technology we have now, means every parent can access tools to support the education of any child. Unfortunately, too many people have zero faith in their ability to teach their own kids; I think K12 did that to them too.
If we could put power back in the community, where parents had a close relationship with the teacher and the community had the power to hold parents accountable for some level of involvement in their kids' education, I think things would improve quickly for all kids.
Thank you for this. As a 5th year teacher, I am convinced the worst thing to ever happen to public education was full mainstreaming. Not every child should be in a regular classroom, even "just for history and science." The second worst thing was protecting bad behavior under Sped when the behavior has nothing to do with the disability, unless you account for their overstimulated brain in the regular classroom that is doing them more harm than good and hurting all the other students too.
“She sees her Special Ed students fall further and further behind because of extended deadlines for homework and multiple retakes on tests. She sees the frustration of kids doing old work as the rest of the class progresses and the new work piles up. She’s seen students be given the same test, or a version of the same test, over and over again and fail it repeatedly, even with all accommodations applied: the test read to them, color-coded multiple choice options, minimum number of test questions, etc.”
This perfectly illustrates that idea that if you judge a fish’s intelligence on its ability to climb a tree and surround it with monkeys it’ll always think it’s useless and stupid. Everybody, regardless of difference - in fact, often, THANKS TO their difference - has a great deal to offer. But we need to look at them the right way to realise this. Traditional education settings simply don’t do this.
Until we acknowledge the reality that schools are only set up to work at scale and that by definition that means many needs of children cannot be met, we will continue to chase our tails and irreparably harm children by play-pretending that we can meet every need of every child instead of some needs of most children.
I am interested in your thoughts on “non-traditional” schools. I am a board member who votes against the grain of a board that rubber stamps whatever the admin tosses out. I try so hard to make the case that is best for kids. The district wants to open a 6-12 non-traditional school. Students will be grouped in different buildings 6&7, 8&9, and 10-12. There will be 2 CTE paths in Culinary and Construction and forward progress is competency based. Doesn’t that sound nice? But is it? Sounds like a lot of money to upgrade an old campus to this model. It is a campus for students who do not do well in a traditional environment. Hmmm 🤔
It all comes down to execution. If you can get actual professionals in the classrooms, then it's worth it. If it's just burnt out high school teachers who also qualify for a CTE certificate, it'll just be a place where the kids -- if they CHOOSE to be there -- waste even more of their young lives.
Has your district considered dual enrollment in VoTech programs at the local community college? Those are usually a way better option that DO NOT require you to spend millions in taxpayer dollars to refurbish a school. Give those kids work/study credits and the opportunity to train at the local community college and I bet they would do really well. You could even make their continued freedom contingent upon good grades at the CC and/or service hours in the community.
That would be worth it. In general, school remodels are VERY spendy and very prone to "cousins" getting fat contracts.
I'm a second generation teacher--my mom has taught special education for close to 40 years and I've had inclusion for close to 10 years. I've always been perplexed with accommodations and such.
If someone is missing a leg, prosthetics allow them to walk. But what accommodations or so forth provide *mental* prosthetics? Under past administrators, if IEP's aren't getting A's and B's, you face pressure. When I taught high school ten years ago, some students with IEP's would flat out just demand the answers, or refuse to work because the system had created learned helplessness.
Even from here in the midwest, I agree with many of your points. You're gutsy for being this honest.
I'm terrified. It took me 8 weeks to write this, mostly procrastinating because I couldn't let it go. I got the flu yesterday and had some real down time, and just figured it was time to pull the trigger. I only regret that I missed a few typos.
If we were just honest and had clear, consistent standards for EVERYONE kids could grow at their own pace and not feel like something is wrong with them.
Nothing is wrong with them.
NOTHING.
You nailed every single scenario I experienced. 9/ 16 students in my “Honor” chemistry class had accommodations. There was very little chemistry taught, an no honor.
As someone acclimating to the US with my kid and trying to figure out how the education system works here, this is truly shocking and depressing!
Look for classical schools in your era. Catholic, Christian, private, whatever. They are the closest approximation -- when done well, mind you -- to what used to work at scale back when people believed in the American ideal of merit.
I have found this for my child after some searching and errors, very low-tech and academically demanding, but not STEM obsessed at the expense of the humanities to the point of disregarding them (which seems to be prevalent). History especially is taught at a level of depth, intensity and love that mesmerizes. It was my favorite subject, one of my A-levels and a lasting love and reading fascination, but American history beyond superficial knowledge one might have, has never been on my radar. My child is revealing things to me about the country on random drives and in conversations that are quite fascinating and this brings me a lot of joy.
Public schools are a waste of time as well as a training ground for Marxist and LGBTQ ideology.
I taught middle school for a decade, and saw exactly what you described. I have one bright memory of one of my 6th grade students explaining everything he learned at parent teacher conferences with SUCH enthusiasm- he loved my social studies class and was obviously passionate about it. But, his grades were D’s because he struggled to read and write at grade level. Of course I tried many accommodations and gave verbal tests to him (along with many other academic and behavioral modifications for many students). But at conferences, with his trusted adult, in a non-pressured situation, he opened up and talked about what he found fascinating. Grades DON’T capture learning. I left in 2020 to homeschool my kids so they can get a truly differentiated and tailored education at their own pace, not the pace of industrial education that only cares about grades and jumping through hoops. Thank you for laying it out, even though it may cause some friction.
Thank you for sharing your story. I've experienced the same -- even when kids struggled in it, almost all of my students loved my history class best.
More importantly, thank you for puttin gyour kids' first. I'm so happy for all of you. The time just flies by...
This is a great analysis of the current public school education. I don't put blame on any individual. I think the system is completely dysfunctional. I see both sides of the issue. On one hand, I have an advanced child who is bored at school. She says her math tests are exactly the same questions as the pretest review work. We do more advanced work at home. On the other hand, I have a kid who has very slow processing speed, so math is difficult. Unless I keep up with his assignments and review the problems daily, he is left behind. He has an IEP which is useless. It's very difficult to balance the needs of the advanced child while helping the other one keep up, all the while working a full time job. I am looking forward to your next essay. This one was tough but truthful.
Thank you so much for the honest feedback and the anecdotal evidence that I'm not totally out to lunch on this issue. We're just not doing anything well anymore -- not even teaching to the middle. I'm so glad there are parents who can see this and who are doing the heavy lifting at home for the sake of their children. Your kids are very lucky to have you.
I think we need to change how we measure education. Sir Ken does a brilliant talk on this which I love. I am also exploring things that are not taught in schools and offering workshops to students.
https://open.substack.com/pub/dompaynetutoring/p/education-needs-to-change?r=7yhjg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Homeschooling with a la carte tutoring or microschooling with plenty of educated tutors moving from school to school is a promising future.
As a former public school teacher, I learned this over 40 years ago - sp. ed. has been the same since mainstreaming began in the 1970s. I worked in a sp. ed. classroom, and also tutored students in most levels. When I had my own kids, I chose to homeschool after seeing what happens in a public school, no matter how excellent the teachers and the curriculum. Not sure when it happened, but what public school used to be, no longer is. It may have been a good idea at one time, but it's time to end it, if not altogether, at least with vouchers that allow parents to choose the educational environment that works best for their child. A lot of parents who would homeschool are prevented by the expense. Teacher's unions have promoted the idea that only "certified" teachers can teach, and parents are unsure they can teach their own children adequately. IMO, homeschooling is the best, but teachers could function as consultants to encourage parents in educating their own children. An alternative could be to go back to the neighborhood school with 10 or 12 students - I know, this seems impossible, but I think it's doable, and much preferable to trying to work with hundreds of students at once. I taught a one-room school, K-8, and the parents were highly engaged - they were the school board, in fact. Perhaps it's an idea that could be resurrected.
I couldn't agree more. Homeschooling is the best option, and with the technology we have now, means every parent can access tools to support the education of any child. Unfortunately, too many people have zero faith in their ability to teach their own kids; I think K12 did that to them too.
If we could put power back in the community, where parents had a close relationship with the teacher and the community had the power to hold parents accountable for some level of involvement in their kids' education, I think things would improve quickly for all kids.
Thank you for this. As a 5th year teacher, I am convinced the worst thing to ever happen to public education was full mainstreaming. Not every child should be in a regular classroom, even "just for history and science." The second worst thing was protecting bad behavior under Sped when the behavior has nothing to do with the disability, unless you account for their overstimulated brain in the regular classroom that is doing them more harm than good and hurting all the other students too.
“She sees her Special Ed students fall further and further behind because of extended deadlines for homework and multiple retakes on tests. She sees the frustration of kids doing old work as the rest of the class progresses and the new work piles up. She’s seen students be given the same test, or a version of the same test, over and over again and fail it repeatedly, even with all accommodations applied: the test read to them, color-coded multiple choice options, minimum number of test questions, etc.”
This perfectly illustrates that idea that if you judge a fish’s intelligence on its ability to climb a tree and surround it with monkeys it’ll always think it’s useless and stupid. Everybody, regardless of difference - in fact, often, THANKS TO their difference - has a great deal to offer. But we need to look at them the right way to realise this. Traditional education settings simply don’t do this.
Until we acknowledge the reality that schools are only set up to work at scale and that by definition that means many needs of children cannot be met, we will continue to chase our tails and irreparably harm children by play-pretending that we can meet every need of every child instead of some needs of most children.
Great read! It's a very similar picture over here in England unfortunately.
I am interested in your thoughts on “non-traditional” schools. I am a board member who votes against the grain of a board that rubber stamps whatever the admin tosses out. I try so hard to make the case that is best for kids. The district wants to open a 6-12 non-traditional school. Students will be grouped in different buildings 6&7, 8&9, and 10-12. There will be 2 CTE paths in Culinary and Construction and forward progress is competency based. Doesn’t that sound nice? But is it? Sounds like a lot of money to upgrade an old campus to this model. It is a campus for students who do not do well in a traditional environment. Hmmm 🤔
It all comes down to execution. If you can get actual professionals in the classrooms, then it's worth it. If it's just burnt out high school teachers who also qualify for a CTE certificate, it'll just be a place where the kids -- if they CHOOSE to be there -- waste even more of their young lives.
Has your district considered dual enrollment in VoTech programs at the local community college? Those are usually a way better option that DO NOT require you to spend millions in taxpayer dollars to refurbish a school. Give those kids work/study credits and the opportunity to train at the local community college and I bet they would do really well. You could even make their continued freedom contingent upon good grades at the CC and/or service hours in the community.
That would be worth it. In general, school remodels are VERY spendy and very prone to "cousins" getting fat contracts.