You know how you leave an I.E.P. (individual education plan) meeting and then digest everything that was said, then you're like ...WTF?
I had 2 meetings in the same day. Both were successful. In fact, I was extremely proud of Red! He ran his meeting like a champ! At Last Year's Meeting Red sat down and said, his number one goal was to become popular! That’s it! I was flabbergasted. While Blue ran his meeting like a total boss! This year was like night and day for Red.
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| Red's Powerpoint Presentation Prepared 100% on his own |
If you're wondering why I still have 2 meetings, even though Red is finished with his high school credits. It's because he is in the Adult Transition program through the school district. The program is helping him grow personally in to adulthood -preparing him for independent living and transitioning into college.
Blue has some concerns about the STARR test for Language Arts, which is the latest Texas version of standardized testing. This is the only class where he has an 82 average. All other classes are 90’s and above. He just does not get all of the figurative language, and the author's intent, especially in fictional writing and poetry. He also probably could give less than a damn about the author's intent. Kind of like I felt about algebra when I was in high school.
Blue posed the question to the committee, “What if I don't pass it?”
The answer given was he would be given several opportunities to retake it. In the end, if he didn't pass it, the I.E.P. Committee could decide to wave the testing and change his graduation plan to minimum plan. Which would mean, he would have to go to Community College before he goes to a university.
Since I know he will pass, I didn’t take issue with the answer. But after the fact, I thought about this and I'm like ...really? WTF? So a kid who is taking AP math and Science and getting A's would be reduced to minimum plan because he doesn't get figurative language and can't pass some stupid, subjective, standardized Language Arts test? Um. Hell no!
He will pass. They just try to scare the shit out of them and make the test seem harder than it is, so they will end up passing. This within itself, pisses me off. But what about those students who can't pass it? This is ridiculous! The state of Texas Department of Education needs to hear from this big mouth mama, and from you too if you have a kid with an I.E.P.
If it came down to them changing his graduation plan, there would be a law suit. Idiots!
