Well, that was one of the most depressing education articles I've ever read, which is saying an awful lot. Putting the interests of the adults in the school ahead of the interests of the children as a matter of policy. Wow.
Finally, I asked how many reports concluded that child factors were primarily responsible for the referred problem. The answer was 100%. These 5,000 positive findings uncovered the true weak link in the educational process in these districts: the children themselves.
When Dr. Alessi shared these findings with the school psychologists, many protested that "all five factors are indeed responsible for school problems in the cases they studied, but that informal school policy (or ‘school culture’) dictates that conclusions be limited to child and family factors.
I suspect that big lawsuits are the only way to change this sort of thing.
It occurs to me that schools may have the same outlook on gifted students: it's YOUR fault (or mom/dad's) that you're not challenged. It's YOUR fault that you don't fit in. It's YOUR fault if you get picked on.
