Friday, April 3, 2015
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Imagine you are the 5th grade classroom teacher and have two students in your class on IEP's. When it comes time to do report cards, your principal informs you that the grade you assign these two students should reflect their progress toward IEP goals and not how much of the in-class material they have mastered. You also cannot make any notes to indicate this in the report card because that is illegal (this is true in Idaho and maybe other states). Essentially, these two students will get A's in reading because they are making good progress, but they are unable to do 5th grade level work equal to that of most of their peers. Please explain your thoughts about this.
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I don't really agree with what the Principal is asking the teacher to do here. First off, it's illegal and he is asking the teacher to cover it up...that alone makes it all wrong. However more than that, it shows a lack of faith and low expectations for those students on the IEPs. It is good to gauge progress and to reward progress, however, the students still need to be on grade level and if you give them good grades just because of progress, you won't know what more needs to be done to help the student actually reach grade level. The parents will have a false sense of hope thinking that their child has improved greatly.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like the principal is asking the teacher to pass the two students along and to cover up their weaknesses. I've personally been through this before and it is wrong because eventually the children will pay for that principal and teacher's mistakes. I don't see why it is illegal to write notes on a report card about what the students strengths and weaknesses are. When future teachers see those notes, then they may know how to help these students and to teach them according to their needs.
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