The Common Core State Standards have affected my life as a
parent of both typically developing and a developmentally unique child as I
witness a reckless attempt to rebrand education to meet a number of political
and privately funded agendas.
I am a mother of three children. My oldest son has an
Individualized Education Plan, which requires programming and accommodations to
his environment and curriculum so as to help him learn despite neurological
obstacles. This year will be the third year of Common Core-based tests. Last
year, my son's math and English language arts grades dropped one full point,
from a 3 to a 2, on a scale of 1 to 4.
The state's implementation is profoundly flawed, even in the
mainstream classroom. Imagine a child with a learning disability trying to
access the same material.
To some this appears part of the plan. Our special education
attorney expressed concerns about the extent to which the imposition of the
Common Core guidelines can further marginalize students with special needs from
the mainstream.
Another special needs parent and advocate noted that when
parents opt their special education child out of testing, the school district
actually benefits: low scores bring down the district scores. As a parent
advocating for my child with special needs, this grinds against my efforts
toward his inclusion.
The isolation caused by the testing environment is in and of
itself a form of segregation to children, at least those on the autistic
spectrum who share characteristic social difficulties associated with the
disorder but are otherwise bright in other areas. These children need their
strengths optimized, yet it's impossible given this focus on a
one-size-fits-all education.
Students with an IEP are allotted testing accommodations
specific to their needs – they are given more time to complete the exams. That
means my son wastes six entire half days of school sitting for tests that are
meaningless to him. That time could be devoted to direct instruction
appropriate for him and mandated by his IEP.
Since the implementation of the Common Core, the focus on
standardization rather than acceleration or remediation has done more harm than
good. Previously successful special education teachers are unable to keep apace
with the standards: my son is receiving less homework, is unable to manage the
projects he's assigned and is, for the first time since my active advocacy,
falling behind his peers academically.
Yet my son creates elaborate stories that entertain his
friends – stories with planned futures of five or six comic books he creates
that extend into an imaginary future, one that I'm keenly aware that the Common
Core will crush.
The trajectory of the Common Core is to cause special
education and the individualization of education to crumble. The only path
available to the Common Core is for education to regress back into the Dark
Ages when such children were not considered teachable.
As parents, our only recourse is to opt-out of the tests. It
is the only way to send a clear message that all of our children are special
enough to learn.
Kathryn Merrifield is an author and writer. She lives in
Mamaroneck with her three children.
http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/contributors/2015/04/02/common-core-hurts-students-disabilities/70835746/
