I was at professional development last week for middle and high school science and math teachers and this subject came up. I was talking with 2 other teachers, one science and one math, (the math teacher has been teaching almost as long as I've been alive (a pretty scary idea) and the other one has about 15 yrs experience in the classroom) at lunch and we were talking about all of the changes coming to education in our state (Fl) and how it is really squishing all kids into a square tube and if the child doesn't fit into the square they will suffer.

I was giving an example of how this applies to DD8, and had to explain to them about her LOG and all and it was interesting to see and hear their responses. The math teacher was very empathetic to DD's situation but said, she didn't see that there would be anyway for the public schools to serve her needs with the new changes. The science teacher was quiet for a bit and then said "wow, now that you describe her, I can think of probably 6 students that I have had in the past that were probably like her and I really did them a dis-service, because I thought that they must be fine because they are happy in class."

We all agreed that the idea of lifting all boats is a valid one, but the reality of it for kids like ours is that it really doesn't lift their boat like it should.

(The science teacher did say that our conversation will make him look more closely in the future for kids on the upper end of the spectrum and try to find a way to help them. smile )