Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

The Common Core English Language Arts standards emphasize text-based instruction and call for "shifts" that state;

"...The reading standards focus on students’ ability to read carefully and grasp information, arguments, ideas, and details based on evidence in the text... Students should be able to answer a range of text-dependent questions, whose answers require inferences based on careful attention to the text...Further, it is vital for students to have extensive opportunities to build knowledge through texts so they can learn independently."

The Common Core's focus on independent mastery of text does not establish fair conditions or standards of learning that will provide equal opportunities for all students to be successful.

Learners who are delayed and disabled should have the same possibility to develop and demonstrate their diverse talents and abilities, rather than being continually tested, sorted, and rated according to their weaker reading skills.

Successful entrepreneur, Donny Zanger recently described his school experiences as a student with dyslexia.

"Growing up with dyslexia is no walk in the park, and it's an open secret that schools are built to cater to one specific type of student. For the rest of the world--the creative thinkers, the talented artists, the energetic athletes--sitting at a desk for hours on end, memorizing lists and analyzing information in a test-taking format, doesn't necessarily compute with our skill set...

But here's the catch, the covert information that no one tells you as you suffer through years of feeling second class: succeeding in business requires completely different areas of proficiency than succeeding in school...

To those out there who think success in school is a measure of future accomplishment, I am here to say, it is NOT. Don't look at your grades, your test scores, or your teachers' opinions. Don't focus on your learning disabilities or your inability to remember immaterial dates and numbers. Not everyone is cut out for success in school and that's okay: it's not a true measure of what you can achieve.

If you've got drive, creativity, motivation, passion and the ability to push up your sleeves and get to work, then come join the Entrepreneur's Club. We'll be happy to have you and we don't need your SAT scores to let you in; we know you can succeed no matter what number the College Board gave you.

I certainly did."

Donny Zanger, "Why I failed As a Student and Succeeded As an Entrepreneur", Inc. 8/17/15

Unfortunately students who are delayed and disabled are often scheduled into additional remedial and intervention classes to focus on their below grade-level reading or math skills at the expense of arts and enrichment classes that will cultivate equally important academic, emotional, social, and vocational skills.

The Common Core Standards and test-based accountability policies dictate "what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade" and diverse learners who don't acquire skills in a standardized and synchronized way are being subjected to an unfair narrowing of the curriculum. 

Written and implemented correctly, learning standards will ensure all students are moving in the same direction, but they do not dictate an identical  destination, or mandate a common arrival time for all learners.

Standards should operate as a flexible framework to inform instruction and serve as a treasure map, that will help guide students as each embarks on a personal journey or quest for new knowledge, skills, and understandings.

When learning standards are implemented primarily for school and teacher accountability purposes, the thirst for data and preparation for tests will very often outweigh cultivating students' thirst for knowledge and preparation for life.

The standards will then function more like a straitjacket controlling classroom instruction as self-paced and self-directed learning is displaced by synchronized learning and a forced march to each learning standard.

Traditionally, standards have been used to promote individual growth and support learning. Standards were implemented in a customized way that respected the skills and abilities of diverse learners.

The Common Core  have been adopted primarily for accountability and uniformity purposes.  They are being enforced in a standardized way, rejecting the premise that students perform and learn differently.

Reading comprehension skills are very important, but they do not supersede or trump student agency and the “soft skills” that help people to overcome the real “tests" in life. 

Emotional intelligence will very often “level the playing field” and help adult learners to lead productive and rewarding lives despite weaker reading or writing skills…

“…But what has become obvious—as evidenced by the sheer number of dyslexic World Economic Forum attendees in Davos and by plenty of research—is not only that dyslexics can be, and often are, brilliant, but that many develop far superior abilities in some areas than their so-called normal counterparts…What those highly accomplished people wanted to discuss, albeit discreetly, was their reading ability, or, more accurately, the difficulty they have reading—one of the telltale symptoms of the disorder…”

Coudl This Be teh Sercet to Sussecc? American Way, July, 2008

Considering the diversity of student skills and abilities represented in our classrooms, it is foolish and inherently unfair to determine "readiness" and predict student success in life based on a narrow and shallow set of testable numeracy and literacy skills.

Regardless of skill level or cognitive ability, all students should feel safe, supported, and valued in school for who they are and have diverse learning experiences and opportunities to discover their special talents and demonstrate what they can do.

“I couldn’t read. I just scraped by. My solution back then was to read classic comic books because I could figure them out from the context of the pictures. Now I listen to books on tape…Many times I can see a solution to something differently and quicker than other people. I see the end zone and say ‘This is where I want to go.’…Passion is the great slayer of adversity. Focus on strengths and what you enjoy.”

~ Charles Schwab

“You don’t have to be the fastest runner in the relay team or the best speaker on the debate panel, as long as you surround yourself with great people and contribute in your own way.

It’s no secret that I wasn’t the most academic student. Dyslexia held me back from focusing on school work and achieving good grades. However, I learned that if I flanked myself with people that complemented my weaknesses and shared my passions, I could work with them towards greater achievement…

Finding the spotlight isn’t about standing in it. There’s so much to be gained from working with a collective of people who support each other to achieve great things…

It’s therefore incredibly important to surround yourself with people who complement you, aid your self-development, and most importantly allow you to shine – even if it’s in their shadow.”

~ Richard Branson

Teachers are legally required to provide necessary learning supports and accommodations for students with disabilities during classroom instruction and also when testing students. Unfortunately, this same standard does not apply when the Common Core standardized reading tests are administered at the end of the school year.

In 2014 Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced new guidelines for special education including the requirement that learning disabled students are to be tested at their grade level, rather than their cognitive ability level.

"Under the new guidelines, Duncan says he’ll require proof that these kids aren’t just being served but are actually making academic progress.

“We know that when students with disabilities are held to high expectations and have access to a robust curriculum, they excel,” Duncan said.

These are students with a range of disabilities, from ADHD and dyslexia to developmental, emotional and behavioral disorders. During his conference call with reporters, Duncan was joined by Kevin Huffman, Tennessee’s education commissioner.

Huffman challenged the prevailing view that most special education students lag behind because of their disabilities. He said most lag behind because they’re not expected to succeed if they’re given more demanding schoolwork and because they’re seldom tested.”

Claudio Sanchez, “A ‘Major Shift’ In Oversight Of Special Education” 6/24/14

 Accommodations can help students with disabilities learn the same material as their classmates and also meet the same expectations when they are tested.

Accommodations enable students to access information on the test, so they have equal opportunity to perform at the level of their ability, not their disability.

Sheldon H. Horowitz, director of LD resources at the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) has commented on the importance of providing accommodations, and the lifelong challenges faced by people with learning disabilities.

"In an ideal world, students who struggle are able to overcome their challenges and grow to become adults who enjoy personal satisfaction, high self-esteem, self-sufficiency, and productive relationships within their families and in the general community. If only this was the case.

No matter how many times it’s been said, it needs to be repeated again and again: learning disabilities do not go away, and LD is a problem with lifelong implications.

Addressing features of LD during the early years can indeed help to circumvent and minimize struggles later in life, but we know that problems with listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, math and sometimes social skills can persist, even after years of special education instruction and support.”

While I fully support holding all students to high academic standards, I do not believe it is fair to deny testing accommodations that enable students with reading disabilities to equally access the test, so they can fairly and fully demonstrate their knowledge and critical thinking skills.

"As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has–or ever will have–something inside that is unique to all time. It’s our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression."

~ Fred Rogers

"Part of the problem with the word disabilities is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can't feel? Or talk about their feelings? Or manage their feelings in constructive ways?

What of people who aren't able to form close and strong relationships? And people who cannot find fulfillment in their lives, or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness and find in life no joy, no love? These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities."

~ Fred Rogers