{"id":27466,"date":"2014-05-22T14:32:01","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T19:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=27466"},"modified":"2014-05-22T14:32:01","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T19:32:01","slug":"nearly-half-of-third-graders-who-failed-reading-test-are-special-ed-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2014\/05\/22\/nearly-half-of-third-graders-who-failed-reading-test-are-special-ed-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly half of third graders who failed reading test are special-ed students"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly half of third graders who failed reading test are special-ed<\/span><\/span> students<\/strong><\/p>\n

May 20, 2014<\/p>\n

By ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer<\/p>\n

A disproportionate number of the third-graders who scored in the lowest achievement level on Oklahoma\u2019s third-grade reading test are<\/span> special education students, and many of their parents and teachers are now questioning the appropriateness of the exam.<\/p>\n

Of the 7,970 students statewide who scored unsatisfactory on the test, 3,736 students \u2014 46.8 percent \u2014 have a disability that meets federal requirements for them to receive an Individualized Education Program, or IEP. Of all 8,081 third-graders on an IEP, 46.2 percent scored in the unsatisfactory range.<\/p>\n

A change in state law taking effect this year requires that all unsatisfactory third-graders be held back in the third grade unless they meet one of six narrow exemption categories.<\/p>\n

Another 17.5 percent of special education third-graders scored in the limited knowledge range, which is also considered below grade level, but retention is not mandatory for them.<\/p>\n

Compounding the new high stakes for the test this year was the Oklahoma State Department of Education\u2019s elimination of alternate tests for all but the most profoundly disabled students.<\/p>\n

Shelly Bollinger, who has had guardianship of her granddaughter since she was born with cerebral palsy, said the state test only confirmed what she and the girl\u2019s doctors and teachers already knew.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is right in the middle. She does not have a low-enough score for her IQ and she has never been held back before, so she does not qualify for an exemption,\u201d Bollinger said of Hayley Bollinger, who attends Angus Valley Elementary School in Sand Springs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy taking this test, it doesn\u2019t change the fact that we have a child who has brain damage. Holding her back is not helping her; it\u2019s discouraging her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bollinger said her granddaughter strives to do her best and to participate in the same kinds of activities as her nondisabled peers, including sports and fundraising walks and runs. She is also fully aware of the consequences of her most recent test score.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018I\u2019m losing my best friend because she\u2019s moving on without me,\u2019 \u201c Shelly Bollinger said. \u201cThis is a child who has had to work really hard to have a friend who doesn\u2019t make fun of her for how she walks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t be the only ones sitting in the middle. There\u2019s no place for us to be in the situation except on the losing end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bollinger said she has contacted state policymakers and attended parent meetings to learn as much as she can about legislation that could restore some say in the matter to parents and teachers.<\/p>\n

Without it, she has been told her<\/span> only alternatives to retention are to send Hayley to private school or to home school her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she is going to be held back, I need funding. I need staff,\u201d Bollinger said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need whatever it takes to make this next year as useful as possible. Because if nothing is different and they don\u2019t have the funds to pay for an extra (paraprofessional) or assistant in the classroom, it won\u2019t make any difference.<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t gain any new ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just don\u2019t have a whole lot of say-so in what direction to take. That\u2019s difficult as a parent \u2014 you just kind of hit a brick wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Wright Elementary School in Tulsa, teachers in one of the largest deaf-education programs in any Oklahoma public school say nearly every one of their third-graders is<\/span> now in a Catch-22.<\/p>\n

All 10 deaf third-graders scored unsatisfactory, and only two or three of them may qualify for an exemption.<\/p>\n

The deaf students are learning American Sign Language as their primary language and English as a second language.<\/p>\n

But the state test is rooted in \u201cphonological awareness,\u201d or awareness of the sound structure of words, the teachers say.<\/p>\n

Teachers Olivia Burns and Kendra Stine began communicating their concerns about the appropriateness of the state test for their deaf students when the law was changed in 2011 to make the results high stakes, but they received no response.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take these students\u2019 lack of success personally,\u201d Burns said. \u201cIt\u2019s a frustrating situation when we feel like our students were set up for failure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are assessments out there. There is a specific assessment that is normed for hearing-impaired students. We have gone so far as to say, \u2018Is this a test we can get approved?\u2019 But we haven\u2019t gotten a word back.\u201d<\/p>\n

A significant portion of Wright\u2019s deaf students arrived at school with no formal language skills whatsoever because they either use gestures at home or had unsuccessful attempts at correcting their hearing loss with aids and medical procedures, Buns said.<\/p>\n

And Burns and Stine said that while all of their students are behind in the third grade, the proficiency rates of deaf students in Tulsa\u2019s secondary-school program at Edison Preparatory School are proof that they get caught up in time to graduate at or better than average.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy no means do we think deaf students or deaf adults cannot read,\u201d Burns said, adding she hoped that people who don\u2019t understand the students don\u2019t decide their abilities \u201cbased on a test that isn\u2019t appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA question we have asked ourselves and that we have raised is: \u201cIs this discrimination? Not just for deaf kids but<\/span> for special ed<\/span> kids across the board. One size doesn\u2019t fit all.\u201d<\/p>\n

One area parent has already put his concerns in a formal complaint to the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s Office for Civil Rights.<\/p>\n

Henry Herring, whose 8-year-old daughter, Natallie Herring, attends Bailey Elementary School in Owasso, said he has taken fliers with his daughter\u2019s photo and story to the Capitol but received no response from state education officials.<\/p>\n

Natallie<\/span> has an eye disorder called convergence insufficiency, which causes her eyes not to follow the same track. She reads about four times slower than average because her eyes pick up letters or words from other lines of text on the page.<\/p>\n

Herring refused to allow her to be tested because she was not going to be allowed the modifications called for in her Individualized Education Program, so now<\/p>\n

Natallie<\/span> is subject to retention.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo us, the pressure of making her take a test she was not equipped to take would be something like taking a sprinter who has trained and tying their legs and saying, go ahead and run the race anyway,\u201d he said. \u201cWe felt like we would be setting her up for morale<\/span> failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herring said other reading testing has revealed that Natallie<\/span> is making significant progress: Her reading level is considered in the high second-grade or early third-grade level.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet you\u2019ve got a bunch of lawmakers and superintendent saying this is how it needs to be,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t put them in a box and say this is the way it\u2019s going to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really don\u2019t have an option other than public school. A free and appropriate education is what everybody is supposed to have a right to, and we don\u2019t feel that it\u2019s appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrea Eger 918-581-8470<\/p>\n

andrea.eger@tulsaworld.com<\/p>\n

SOURCE:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.tulsaworld.com\/news\/education\/oklahoma-special-education-third-graders-parents-grapple-with-reading-test\/article_0c62a0bf-178e-5394-8ecb-cea895115ed5.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Additional information:<\/p>\n

Third grade reading test results, by the numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

* Of 48,691 Oklahoma third-graders, 1,120 scored advanced on the reading test, 32,531 scored proficient, 7,070 scored limited knowledge and 7,970 scored unsatisfactory.
\n* Of the 7,970 students who scored unsatisfactory, 3,736 students, or 46.8, percent have a disability that meets federal requirements for them to receive an Individualized Education Program, or IEP.
\n* Of those 3,736 special education students, 599 are also learning English as a second language.<\/p>\n

Source: Oklahoma State Department of Education<\/em><\/p>\n

Exemptions from third-grade retention law<\/strong><\/p>\n

* English-language learners with less than two years of English instruction who are found to be “limited-English proficient”
\n* Disabled students who are assessed with<\/span> the Oklahoma Alternate Assessment Program
\n* Students who pass a state-approved alternative standardized reading test
\n* Students who can prove they read and write on grade level using a teacher-developed portfolio of their classwork
\n* Disabled students with documented proof of intensive reading remediation for more than two years, and who were previously held back one year or were in a transitional grade
\n* Students who have received intensive remediation in reading for more than two years and who already have been retained in a previous grade for two years<\/p>\n

Source: Oklahoma State Department of Education<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly half of third graders who failed reading test are special-ed students May 20, 2014 By ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer A disproportionate number of the third-graders who scored in the lowest achievement level on Oklahoma\u2019s third-grade reading test are…<\/p>\n

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