All this testing ... (long vent warning!) - 03/07/09 02:37 PM
We are struggling with dd's school right now. Well, we've actually been struggling with them since the start of the year. They are always testing her, which I don't have a problem with, but then they never seem to do anything with the information they get from the tests. Does anyone else have this problem with their school?
So far dd has been given DAS, Keymath, WISC-IV, WIAT-II, and NWEA MAP testing twice over the course of the last 16 months (and that doesn't include state mandated tests). And her school doesn't even do anything with the results. All the math testing showed that she is in the wrong placement, but they won't budge. The IQ tests show that she is just as strong verbally as she is in math (her reading level confirms this as well) but they do nothing to challenge her verbally. And we learned in November that her classroom teacher was not given any information about her testing and that's just school policy. What?!?
Well, what's the point of doing all the testing if they aren't going to share with the teacher that spends 4.5-5 hours a day with her, the fact that she's PG. Do they do this if the child is on the other end of the spectrum too? How is the teacher supposed to know how to help the child if she doesn't understand about the child's special learning needs? And then what's the point of even testing the kids? I just don't get it.
After we learned about this school policy I sent a note to the principal instructing him that we would like dd's current teacher and any future classroom teachers and the new enrichment specialist to have access to her file as well. When we met with the new enrichment specialist, we expected that she had been show the testing so she'd be familiar with dd's strengths, needs, etc. Nope. She had no information on dd other than her math placement.
The final straw for me was this recent MAP test to track her progress. They sent me her results in the mail with no explanation as to what they meant or how to interpret them. When I contacted the district math coordinator (who oversees this testing) she had NO information for me. She just told me that the report doesn't give winter growth, but that they anticipate they will get those numbers with the spring testing. So again, I ask myself, so what's the point of putting the kids through the testing if you don't do anything with the results. If it's supposed to track my daughter's progress, but doesn't show if she's grown or not, what's the point?!
Fortunately, this board helped me get the information I needed to understand the results. But I just can't seem to understand what the school does with all this information. They don't try to understand it, they don't use it to make accommodation and they don't even share it with the staff in the best position to use it to make a difference. I'm so frustrated!
Well, I'm done venting. Thanks to anyone who got this far!
So far dd has been given DAS, Keymath, WISC-IV, WIAT-II, and NWEA MAP testing twice over the course of the last 16 months (and that doesn't include state mandated tests). And her school doesn't even do anything with the results. All the math testing showed that she is in the wrong placement, but they won't budge. The IQ tests show that she is just as strong verbally as she is in math (her reading level confirms this as well) but they do nothing to challenge her verbally. And we learned in November that her classroom teacher was not given any information about her testing and that's just school policy. What?!?
Well, what's the point of doing all the testing if they aren't going to share with the teacher that spends 4.5-5 hours a day with her, the fact that she's PG. Do they do this if the child is on the other end of the spectrum too? How is the teacher supposed to know how to help the child if she doesn't understand about the child's special learning needs? And then what's the point of even testing the kids? I just don't get it.
After we learned about this school policy I sent a note to the principal instructing him that we would like dd's current teacher and any future classroom teachers and the new enrichment specialist to have access to her file as well. When we met with the new enrichment specialist, we expected that she had been show the testing so she'd be familiar with dd's strengths, needs, etc. Nope. She had no information on dd other than her math placement.
The final straw for me was this recent MAP test to track her progress. They sent me her results in the mail with no explanation as to what they meant or how to interpret them. When I contacted the district math coordinator (who oversees this testing) she had NO information for me. She just told me that the report doesn't give winter growth, but that they anticipate they will get those numbers with the spring testing. So again, I ask myself, so what's the point of putting the kids through the testing if you don't do anything with the results. If it's supposed to track my daughter's progress, but doesn't show if she's grown or not, what's the point?!
Fortunately, this board helped me get the information I needed to understand the results. But I just can't seem to understand what the school does with all this information. They don't try to understand it, they don't use it to make accommodation and they don't even share it with the staff in the best position to use it to make a difference. I'm so frustrated!
Well, I'm done venting. Thanks to anyone who got this far!
Can you get possibly copies of your DD's file and share it with the teachers? Maybe you can ask the adminstrator's point blank what the purpose of the testing is? It sounds like you're in a very tight spot if the administration won't share the information with the people who need it. I guess if you could find out what they might offer if they get around to it, you will know if it's worth the fight at this school. I wish I could send you a crystal ball.