AVID:
Model Program
"How
does it feel...?"
Bob Dylan
In just two brief years,
AVID has achieved outstanding levels of success. Their goal is to
take "at risk" students, encourage them to graduate from high school, and
then attend college. They provide "tools for success" for their students.
The program was recognized by President Bush this summer as an outstanding
national educational program. Congratulations to AVID on a job well
done.
I thought it would
be interesting to take a brief look at what AVID does, because I'm always
interested in what works for students. A quick comparison of AVID
and special education yielded a couple of interesting points. In
many ways, the two programs are similar -- they both provide various services
for at risk students toward the noble goal of education.
What are the key
differences between the two programs? Well, AVID doesn't use labels,
they don't have hundreds of meetings, and they only have one form.
In effect, they are using a "Rights Without Labels" approach to successfully
serve students. They only use one form, a concept that I've been
proposing for years -- a concept that's been called radical, irresponsible,
and unworkable... I guess AVID has proven me correct on this one.
And meetings... I wonder how an AVID teacher would respond if I said, "I'm
sorry, you have to cancel all of your afternoon classes this year because
you have to fill out forms and hold meetings?"
| Area of Comparison |
AVID |
Special Education |
| Population Served |
At Risk |
At Risk |
| Goals |
College |
FAPE |
| Services Provided |
Tools for Success |
Accommodations & Modifications |
| Meetings |
0 |
100's |
| Paperwork |
1 Form |
Approximately 90 Forms (probably more) |
| Labels |
None |
13 or so Categories of Disabilities |
| Student Participation |
A Privilege and Choice |
A Right |
The writing remains
on the wall: we (in special education) need to quit calling students
bad names; we need to have one form; and we need to be working directly
with students instead of sitting through hundreds of [IEP] meetings per
year. These are not radical concepts; I'm not the only one in the
nation to hold these views. You have local control -- you can have
your special education department working just like AVID starting tomorrow
if you so choose. This ain't rocket science and it ain't a courtroom.
Go ahead, use your professional judgment, you know you want to...
 |
The
Revolution Continues...
Stop the insanity!
One Page IEPs Now! Click
here.
From A Summary
of Major Changes in IDEA, 2004:*
"The new bill creates
a 15-state paperwork demonstration program. The Secretary is authorized
to grant waivers of statutory requirements of, or regulatoory requirements
relating to, Part B for a period of time not to exceed 4 years based on
proposals submitted by States to reduce excessive paperwork and non-instructional
time burdens. The Secretary shall not waive under this section any
statutory requirements of, or regulatory requirements relating to, applicable
civil rights requirements. Beginning two years after the date of
enactment of IDEA, the Secretary shall include in the annual report to
Congress information related to the effectiveness of waivers granted."
Contact the 15-state
commission and ask them for rationality! Ask them for a one-pager!
Ask them for local control. Ask them if we can follow AVID's model.
Ask them to make a decision in one week... not in four years. Ask
them to get the politics and lawyers out of the process. Ask them
who the lucky 15 states were who can receive waivers -- and why we were
excluded... I would like to apply for the one-pager waiver process, but
it seems the process to do so is like all other federal educational processes
-- some great secret run by those in positions of power and influence (I
went to the US Department of Education's official web page -- I wanted
to contact them directly, but could not find anything related to this topic
-- if you know with whom I should speak or any contact information, please
forward it to the KOG -- we'll print it so all can forward their views).
I know I want to have input into this process... you know, I'll be selling
hot dogs in four years, about the time the 15-state commission deconvenes
and the Secretary forwards the annual report to Congress in about 2010
-- then another two, three, or four years to implement this pork barrel,
yet underfunded, project nationally, and then we'll have a new president
who will throw all this out anyway. This sounds like a lot of job
security for a lot of people, all at great expense to our children's welfare,
mental health, and education. Where's a politician who will listen?
I'm tired of being a pawn in the politician's games... I could put up with
it though, if the students weren't suffering because of it. |
NO
SERVICES AVAILABLE...
Let me make sure I got this straight. You're sitting there, looking
me directly in the eyes, and complaining, "there are no services for my
kid." I cannot speak for any other agencies or service providers
in the county, state, or nation, but in every school district, there are
professional school psychological services always available.
After everyone else has tried and failed, the cases eventually come to
the school psychologist. We take the most challenging cases -- the
cases that others wouldn't go near. That's what we're here for --
and we are proud to be here for you and your child. Just don't tell
us, "no services are available." Instead, say, "we haven't yet found something
that works... that's why we're here speaking with you today."
 |
Hi,
all! I just wanted to take a second to share with you a few reminders.
First, please remember that, as scientists setting alpha at .05, we psychologists
are 95% certain of our findings. That's pretty great! In real
language, that means that out of every 100 diagnosis and recommendations,
we are only wrong 5% of the time (about 2.5% with false positives, about
2.5% with false negatives). WOW! I wish the government ran
off of the same scientific principles! What this really means is
that about 5% of students in special education (at least potential SLD
populations) are misplaced... hey, that's not too bad for a soft science!
But, sorry, not to be a complete bummer or anything, but let's look at
a few other factors. Special education teachers are usually about
80 to 85% confident in their educational assessments And, sorry,
let's take just a moment to think of a few other confounding variables
in the IEP team process: districts with "makeshift" and incomplete
teams, excessive paperwork burdens, and the fact that no one really knows
what a learning disability is to begin with all add up to about 50% incorrect
diagnosis and/or placements for our children! And I'm afraid to even
mention what happens when you add in politics, agendas, emotions, groupthink,
advocates, lawyers, and such. All this at great expense to the taxpayers.
I guess this is all just a friendly reminder from Miss Diagnosis that about
50 to 100% of your SLD students are misplaced and/or misdiagnosed.
Gee. Sorry. Have a great week! See you next month!
And again, sorry! |
| TALES FROM THE FRONT LINES OF EDUCATION...
Teacher forwarding
the referral to the school psychologist:
Teacher: "Don, you
need to counsel with [Mary*], she has ADHD,anger issues, and she needs
anger management."
Don (what I actually said):
"I'd be happy to speak with Mary... I'll call her out of your class tomorrow."
Teacher: "Not out
of my class... she's behind in my class."
Here's what was really
being said in this conversation:
Teacher (what she wanted
to say): "Don, I have no professional trust or respect for you so
I'm going to be your boss as well as the psychologist... I'm going to give
you a directive to work with this student, and provide not only the diagnosis,
but the recommendation for appropriate psychological intervention.
And don't infringe on my time because everything I do is much more important
than what you do. And you'd better follow my orders."
Don (what I should have
said): "Of course the kid is angry... she's stuck in your loser class...
she's angry just like every other kid in your class... what she really
needs is a class change -- out of your class... that will reduce her anger...
the very best psychological recommendation I can forward is for you to
change your teaching methods. As always, I would be happy to help.
But I'm growing increasingly concerned... don't we go through this same
scenario every year? You pick out twenty targets that you think have
ADHD and make their lives miserable until they finally give up and take
the F, easily meeting your expectations. Then the student repeats the class
next year and passes with a different teacher with a B. All the while
you're blasting me daily in the Teacher's Lounge because I won't provide
anger management for these poor little ADHD freshmen? How powerful
you must feel. How convenient it must be for you to have someone
like me to blame for student's low performance in your class. " |
Things are heating up
on the front lines of
public education. |
 |
As
per your request...
The KOG has received a specific reader's request for more Roger Water's
quotes, so here it is -- we aim to pleae! Keep forwarding your requests!
From his brand new seven-disk operetic masterpiece, over ten years
in the works, ultimately released for the world on September 27th, 2005:
"There
is hope."
Roger Waters, Ca ira, 2005
|
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don't have a choice regarding their school attendance. For your consideration:
Time
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Dear KOG Editor,
"Why
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Why? Why? Why?"
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I guess
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It
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The
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Read
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Me
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|
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October,
2005
