Marci Reads the Riot Act

[richlevy]

Marci addressed a legislative breakfast last Friday. The Delco Times covered it. I am very proud of her.

DelARC urges pols to ease disabled’s plight
Kathleen Carey, Of the Times Staff
10/08/2006

SPRINGFIELD -- Marci Levy’s 21-year-old son, Jeffrey, would love to work in the cold freezer at Wawa three days a week, but he’s got to wait for 100 others to get their due before his dream can be realized.

Jeffrey, who has autism and a mild form of mental retardation, is a 2006 graduate of the Francis Harvey Green School and works at the convenience store with a waiver from the state.

On Friday, his mom was among the 117 people who attended the ARC of Delaware County’s annual legislative breakfast at the Springfield Country Club, appealing to elected officials to increase funding for support and services.

This year’s focus was on the challenges faced by individuals with mental retardation as they transition from high school to life after schooling.

"We are failing our kids," Levy said. "The current educational system needs restructuring. The sad reality of it (is) the students are not able to grasp what they learn."

[xoxoxoBruce]

You lost me, Rich. Why/how does the state prevent him from working 3 days instead of 2?

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

You lost me, Rich. Why/how does the state prevent him from working 3 days instead of 2?

He needs a part time job coach for now. In a few years he won't need one at all.

[morethanpretty]

"We are failing our kids," Levy said. "The current educational system needs restructuring. The sad reality of it (is) the students are not able to grasp what they learn."

It is a sad reality and does not just pertain to the mentally handicapped kids either. My sister and I have been student tutors and have often had to explain simple concepts of algebra or geometry like y=mx+b to kids who have "passed" these courses.

[9th Engineer]

I used to think it was funding issues, now I'm really not sure that more money will result in better schooling. My highschool dumped so much money into building and maintaining computer labs that we didn't have all the basic classroom supplies like microscopes and overhead projectors. Personally I think we saw a drop in student achievement when we left drills behind. Especially with math you sometimes just need to do those 100 problems to get it wired in there straight. Anyone have any experience with teachers who were afraid to really grade students according to their work? I've heard stories about teachers being repremanded for giving poor or failing marks to students who didn't know the material because "it's only going to hurt their self-esteem at this point". Kids don't always make the connection that they have to produce quality work to get praised, and sometimes just to get by.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by richlevy

He needs a part time job coach for now. In a few years he won't need one at all.

Oh, so employers won't let him work without somebody to make sure nobody gets hurt, or damages anything, and the state pays these people?
I suppose they have to be accredited/certified pros, rather than volunteers or family?
This sounds like it would take a considerable amount of money to train each individual kid until such time as they can manage on their own, if ever?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

I used to think it was funding issues, now I'm really not sure that more money will result in better schooling. My high school dumped so much money into building and maintaining computer labs that we didn't have all the basic classroom supplies like microscopes and overhead projectors. Personally I think we saw a drop in student achievement when we left drills behind. Especially with math you sometimes just need to do those 100 problems to get it wired in there straight. ~snip other good points

I've mentioned before, how our local High School spent $500,000 for a study on how to make the school look less like an institution. Grrrrrr.

I think you're right about the drills and repetition. Understanding it and remembering it, are two completely different animals, for many kids.
Too many school boards/parents, get caught up in the prestige of the frills and overlook the burden these frills sometimes put on the teachers. Frills that distract them from drilling the basics.
Of course the teachers have a whole slew of imposed distractions, but that's another problem.

Shit!
Spend a quarter of that on fresh paint in decent colors, plants in planters and real desks and chairs and not one piece shit that most students sit in.

[tw]

Originally Posted by 9th Engineer

I've heard stories about teachers being repremanded for giving poor or failing marks to students who didn't know the material because "it's only going to hurt their self-esteem at this point".

Don't let that rationalization fool you. 85% of all problems are directly traceable to top management. Kids fail. That means parents and school board are where blame investigation begins. It's just simpler to not blame parents and to have a George Jr 'denial' atttitude in the school board.

morethanpretty has posted what I had posted here many years ago. The kid was in a charter school - where computers and young teachers were suppose to mean better education. And yet the kid did not even know in April that y=mx+b - what was taught in October. He did not even know what the x-intercept and y-intercept was. He had no idea how to do a slope on paper. When asked to finish the division of 1 divided by 4, he did long division. Where were his teachers? They were told to not make school administration look bad.

Top management was in denial. Mother had no education and therefore did not know how far behind her son was. The school provided report cards with graphs that did not even have a legend - were not comprehenible. And believe me, I tried to understand what they were claiming. Even the web site was useless. But they were high tech! This was the charter school solution that so many hype.

Once both boys transfered to public school, teachers began holding both boy after school to demand those boys understood the work. Grades eventually improved in the public school. Both kids were not so lost.

So what did that Charter School with computers, et al do? Made parents feel that a solution had been purchased - a magic box solution - rather than define the problem - top management. And who is the topmost manager? Parent. Same people who so often don't appear on Parent Teacher night. After showing her how far behind her son had become, she transfered both boys to public school where teachers actually gave a damn.

[9th Engineer]

So you're backing me up then, teachers knew what was going on and management didn't want the school to look bad. Most self esteem gunk is cooked up as an excuse not to act on deeper issues that certain people (either management or often parents) would rather pretend didn't exist.

A few years ago, I was trying to help some friends' daughter with her homework. She was 10 years old and in the 5th grade. She refused to learn the multiplication tables which she should have known by the end of 3rd grade. One day, looking very puzzled, she handed me a sheet of paper which read something like this:

Congratulations! Your scores in math have qualified you for a special after school tutoring program in math. There will be cookies and other snacks. The fun math sessions will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please give this note to your parents and return it signed by them to your teacher.

The little girl asked me, "Is this good or bad?" Talk about PC being taken to the limit of the absurd!

[morethanpretty]

In the last couple of years the school started teaching TAKS, Texas Assesment of Knowledge and Skills, or something like that. It basically made sure that students knew the basics of core subjects and passing it was a requierement to graduate HS. My Junior year I was already in an advance math class, Pre-Cal/Trig...we ended up only spending about 3 weeks on trig because the teacher was forced to give us lessons over the math in the TAKS...we were supposed to spend 3 months on trig. Instead we squandered that time going over basics we had to have known in order to even be in the class. It was awful and there were similar situations in my history and english classes. BTW I was in Advanced English and somehow I got a 2 outta 4 on my TAKS essay...wtf???

Also school teachers are no longer supposed to use red pen when grading a paper, the red gives the child a feeling that they've done something bad...or some b.s. like that...here is one article on the subject:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont...s_1m4pens.html

there are many more of course

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Oh, so employers won't let him work without somebody to make sure nobody gets hurt, or damages anything, and the state pays these people?
I suppose they have to be accredited/certified pros, rather than volunteers or family?
This sounds like it would take a considerable amount of money to train each individual kid until such time as they can manage on their own, if ever?

Not really. Depending on the aptitude of the child, the coaching does not have to be full time. In general, the coach helps break down the tasks and helps bridge the gap between the student and supervisors who might not be able to deal with them one on one. In some ways the coach is training the manager as well. In Jeffrey's case, he's almost ready to be independent.

Some kids may never be independent and may need to be in sheltered workshops.