Yes, The famous (or infamous)"Texas Miracle " ( -see news clips from 
2002) which, instead of being shamed out of existence, has now 
spread..... and I incorrectly stated the statistics from NM-- according 
to an administrator there is it 80% who must take developmental 
courses--and note Jeff's comment that the faculty of OU was "shocked" 
to hear that rates are rising--yet teacher candidates are waived from 
taking reading tests......what are we doing to our young people??

As Laura Weisel puts it, we, as a society, as parents, as teachers make 
a promise to each child entering school that we will educate them and 
help them become functioning, literate citizens.  In fact, in millions 
of cases that promise is broken. Worse, as we are seeing, the burden is 
being put on the students themselves to make up what the schools did 
not do well or did not finish doing.   This is really sad.

It should not MATTER what school district, background, language or 
anything else students have-- schools have an obligation to figure out 
how to help them be successful learners.

When I noted on a visit to some schools in MA recently that children 
must have whatever teaching or support they need to succeed, one 
teacher argued hotly that she had to "teach the curriculum for the 
MCAS"--the state test.  I said I believed that her job was to teach 
CHILDREN, NOT the curriculum.   This., to me, holds true at any level 
of education--as I said before, it is the needs of the learners as 
individuals which I believe should drive any teaching or materials 
choice or training of teachers or anything else that has to happen to 
be sure the learners learn.

Robin


-----Original Message-----
From: Glenn Young <gyoungxlt at comcast.net>
To: 'The Learning Disabilities Discussion List' 
<learningdisabilities at nifl.gov>
Sent: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 20:59:28 -0600
Subject: Re: [LearningDisabilities] accommodations, colleges, adult 
learning programs, etc...

In addition  to the comments made by Varshna ... I would like to add 
that
the latest research in drop out rates in the country puts Texas and 
Florida
as among the bottom in the nation ... With less then 50% of those 
children
entering 9th grade graduate with a standard diploma within 5 years.

A great many of these children can be seen as "victims" of the high 
stakes
testing approach to education where the schools are held accountable 
... So
we all know that the cheapest means of getting the tests scores of 
schools
higher is to get ride of those who do not test well ... And that is 
what we
are seeing as more and more states have made GED prep as part of high 
school
curriculum (I think it is now 12 states that do so) ... And take these 
kids
in the GED track out of the high stakes testing process too ...

SO ... It is no wonder more and more people in this country do not have
basis skills ... If they don't look like they will pass the test the 
systems
make them "push out" kids and they never get the resources ... And the
resources are poured to increase the skills of those who look like they 
can
pass the test ...

Whether unintended consequences or not ... The no child left behind 
approach
as it is implemented in most of the country has put the emphasis on 
schools
leaving far more behind then before

While there is a great deal of unidentified LD in the push out 
populations
... It clearly is not the dominate issue, at this time  ... It is 
schools
trying to stay accreedidated by getting more people to pass the test 
...


Glenn Young
505 East Braddock Rd # 608
Alexandria VA 22314
703-684-1750
gyoungxlt at comcast.net


-----Original Message-----
From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Varshna
Narumanchi-Jackson
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2006 7:10 PM
To: The Learning Disabilities Discussion List
Subject: Re: [LearningDisabilities] accommodations, colleges, adult 
learning
programs, etc...

Robin: Are you suggesting that developmental studies students are 
synonymous
with students with learning disabilities?  If so, I'll disagree.

I'm not sure what conclusion could be derived from these statistics 
other
than K-12 in northeast Texas inadequately prepares 70 percent of their
graduating students who enroll in CC to test high enough on the Texas 
Higher
Education Assessment (THEA) to go straight to credit courses.  I'm not
impressed with Houston's numbers either, but I don't think the problem 
is
undiagnosed learning disabilities.

Many non-Texans may be surprised to learn that the freshman class of 
2004
was the first required to use the recommended high school program 
(which is
described as a college preparatory degree plan).  I tried to search for
statistics on the number of Texas HS graduates prior to 2004 graduating
under this degree plan, but I couldn't locate anything quickly (sigh).

Even if all students move towards a more rigorous degree plan, there 
will be
continue to be variation between school districts in achieving 'rigor' 
in a
college preparatory curriculum. Additionally, there is no coordination
between high school exit and college entrance requirements (nor do I 
believe
that many other states achieve a smooth transition so I'm not trying to
single out Texas).

Tell me that 70 percent of the students in developmental studies courses
have diagnoses for learning disabilities, and I'm more likely to believe
that higher education needs to do more than put them into non-credit 
courses
that drain their ambitions.

Varshna Jackson
Austin, TX

on 2/18/06 5:52 PM, robinschwarz1 at aol.com at robinschwarz1 at aol.com 
wrote:


> The "developmental studies" population seems to be a monumental issue

> in community colleges.   In Texas, I was told last week that 70% of

> students coming to a community college in north east Texas had to go

> into developmental courses; in one Houston area  cc it was 60%-- and 

of

> at least that many in Albuquerque.   I think it is not hard to figure

> out why this is so--the problem is how to help these students get at

> regular college courses.......Robin

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Susan Jones <sujones at parkland.edu>

> To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov

> Sent: Sat, 18 Feb 2006 17:09:50 -0600

> Subject: [LearningDisabilities] accommodations, colleges, adult

> learning programs, etc...

>

> This was originally a reply to a request for information about 

college

> programs to teach teachers in adult ed situations that Rochelle

> thought was mis-labeled on the topic line (re-reading it, I"m not 

sure

> it was - I was talking about degrees in 'developmental education').

>

> It loosely ties with the ongoing discussion of how to marshall our

> efforts to change the infrastructures to improve opportunities for

> folks with learning disabilities.

>

> The entire discipline of "developmental education" for learning at 

the

> college level is not "special ed" or psych, but  I've  seen (in

> developmental education

> journals) ads for college degree programs in adult ed. and

> developmental education.  The non-LD issues (educational, cultural,

> psychological) and some LD issues are addressed in journals and

> conferences; I don't know if it's trickled down to the education

> programs.  There are workshops and training and certifications

> (Kellogg INstitute for example) as well.  The professionals in the

> field seem very receptive to information about LD issues - I have 

been

> implored to bring back information from the TRLD conference

> specifically to better address students with LD in our developmental

> and higher level courses.

> There is generally a resistance to K-12 models.

>

> Parkland College is currently doing a major re-vamping of its 

academic

> assistance to students at all levels in an effort to be less 

redundant

> and more thorough (spend less time duplicating services and more time

> making sure we reach more students). The recent efforts in my unit

> (Academic Development Center, working with students in pre-100 level

> courses) have been successful enough that the powers that be want to

> spread the success.  People working intensively and "intrusively" 

with

> students has been a crucial element of our success.

>

> My job description is that I work with students with learning

> disabilities or a history of learning difficulties, or words to that

> effect.  This means they don't need documentation to get my tutoring 

&

> academic support services.  Many of the faculty working in

> develomental level courses know they're dealing with students with

> LDs; like any other group of faculty they have varying degrees of

> understanding of accommodations.  This college and others also

> struggle with defining their roles in serving the needs of the folks

> who have major literacy

> needs.   There's room for some of the efforts you're talking about in

> shifting

> infrastructures.  We struggle with where to direct students who score

> too poorly on our placement tests to qualify for classes; other

> schools have open enrolment and these students are in the classes

> until the system grinds them back out.

>    At this level, technology makes some major evolution possible in

> the accommodation realm.  Things like SpeechQ/WordQ and Draft: 

Builder

> have a lot of potential and I'm curious to see whether there isn't

> some odd backlash (will teachers forbid the use of certain kinds of

> technology?).

>

>

> Susan Jones

> Academic Development Specialist

> Academic Development Center

> Parkland College

> Champaign, IL  61821

> sujones at parkland.edu

> Webmastress,

> http://www.resourceroom.net

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