Sunday, September 27, 2009

RUSD and Alternative Reality

The JT has an article today detailing Racine Unified's efforts to promote inclusion, into regular ed classrooms, for special education students. You can read the article here.

From the article:

"At a district data retreat and leadership summit held in August, some educators also heard a presentation about ways to achieve inclusion and to help special education students succeed in the regular classroom. Information passed out gave teachers advice on adapting lessons, grading alternatively, supplying needed materials and equipment in the classroom and sample worksheets to reward students for remembering hearing aids or glasses."

Any guesses as to what "grading alternatively" means?

4 comments:

Urban Pioneer said...

OH OH OH Mr. Kotter!, Pick Me Mr. Kotter!!

"Grading Alternatively" means now that we have "included" This group of students into the "Mainstream", so we can fell good about ourselves, and the "special" kids, won't feel different anymore. We are now going to blatantly demonstrate to EVERYONE just how different they really are, we are no longer going to hold them to to the standards of the "Not so Special" students. The JT article says this has already begun, and is in use in many cities across the country, and yet our public schools continue to preform worse, not better.

Now imagine a business you walk into to have your Brakes fixed, and the service or quality is wrong or poor 30% of the time, would you continue to spend your money in that brake shop? Of course not...But I the business owner was to give you a guilt trip..well you really shouldn't be mad at me that the Brake job my "special technician" did for you was done wrong..you see I have "Mainstreamed" a lot of "Special" employees and I don't hold everyone to the same standards, I am using a new program called "Working Alternatively" and you my customer shouldn't be judgmental either. Basically, try to be more "Open minded", and BTW u might want to give yourself extra braking distance:^). Thanks the Management!

BTW I was tempted to type my blog response here using "Spelling Alternatively" program...but you know how the edu-Nazi's are about spelling.

A Horshcaaaaaak!

PS this "Alternative" program will result in the educators crying for more pay because their challenges are greater as well....and that my friends is the REAL story behind this program. Always follow the MONEY, or the demand for it.

Anonymous said...

UP - very witty.
And now your suggestion for how we "grade" these students?

Denis Navratil said...

Anon, I do not mean to be snarky, really, but I thought the purpose of grading is to provide an accurate measure of a students mastery of academic material. I wonder whether "alternative grading" and accurate grading are incompatable ideas.

Anonymous said...

Will we eventually have Chiefs of Surgery at major hospitals who got there through alternative grading and don't know the difference between an ear lobe and an asshole? Actually we have been on that path for thirty years in small steps.