• How did we let computers and Zuck misappropriate “personalized learning?”

    Finally, finally some backlash. Let's hope it catches on and grows! The parents and students are right. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/technology/silicon-valley-kansas-schools.html?ref=oembed What they are getting is NOT personalized learning. It is not enriched teacher-student relationship learning. It is not excellence in teaching building excellence in students--one student at a time in a personalized way. Learning should be personal, of course, but it should be part of [...]
  • Close the extra time loophole on the SAT and ACT!

    Here's my recent op-ed in the Palo Alto Weekly. Caution! The loophole is NOT the extra time that some students need in order to demonstrate what they know and can do. The LOOPHOLE IS the fact that the College Board (SAT) and ACT don't notify colleges and universities when tests are taken with nonstandard conditions. Read the sad tale of what that "attractive loophole" has lead [...]
  • Washington Post story about extended time on the SAT and ACT needs a response!

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/abuse-of-extended-time-on-sat-and-act-outrages-learning-disability-community/2019/03/29/d58de3c6-4c1f-11e9-9663-00ac73f49662_story.html?utm_term=.12e3add4d108 It's a good tale. I liked the analogy about disability parking spots and was not persuaded by the ACT's statement that "The system worked." It certainly highlighted the many stakeholders and competing interests in this sad tale. But--as with so many of the stories about the [...]
  • Those SAT accommodations just won’t go away–in fact they keep growing….

    As part of the college application scandal, today's Wall Street Journal reports that more students use SAT accommodations. I'm quoted in that article. https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-admissions-scandal-relied-on-more-students-taking-the-sat-untimed-11552943635?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1 Yet, the key reality I focus on is not about students or parents--it's about these huge and wealthy testing companies, the College Board (which administers the SAT) and the ACT. Sixteen years [...]
  • Ah, those SAT and ACT accommodations–a story that keeps getting bigger and worse.

    The misuse of SAT and ACT accommodations is an important and unfortunately wholly predictable story as we see in the current college admissions scandal. As a school attorney, I see the current scandal to have been predictable and waiting-to-happen ever since 2003, when the College Board and ACT stopped flagging test results that had been taken under non-standard conditions. And yes, it is gameable. My 2003 story, “Disabling the SAT," actually predicted the current mess: “The [...]
  • How were students in admission scandal able to cheat on the SAT so easily–asks the San Francisco Chronicle…

    https://www.sfgate.com/education/article/sat-act-cheating-scandal-huffman-test-students-13682741.php A great question. The article does a good job of answering it.... in real time (while ignoring the 2003 back story when these big companies (the College Board and the ACT) stopped "flagging" test results given with non standard accommodations. See my 2003 tale about this (what I believe to be a) giant misstep by these companies. https://www.educationnext.org/disablingthesat/ Here's a [...]
  • The latest HUGE college application scandal highlighting, yet again, the SAT and ACT abuse of accommodations

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47532170 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47532170 Read this and weep on so many levels with a story with so many strands.... For me, let's focus on the abuse of accommodations for the SAT and ACT. Wealthy parents get doctors to write letters that the child is disabled and voila, according to this story, the child gets extra time--maybe time and a half or the right to come back the next day to finish the test. Really? What can this test [...]
  • We’re overmedicating our children!

    As a school attorney I believe this to be true. As a parent, as well. And you? I suspect you believe it also. Here's a Wall Street Journal op-ed by a psycholanalyst.... on this very vital issue. https://www.wsj.com/articles/were-overmedicating-our-children-11551917025?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=&mod=djemMER_h I am a concerned observer-- not an expert-- in this field. What is also concerning as well is the long term effects on these children (mostly boys) who grow up.. Where do [...]
  • My letter to Ed Week, responding to its 10 BIG IDEAS discussion of special ed

    Education Week LETTER Let's Have a National Discussion February 12, 2019 To the Editor: "Special Education's Future," one of Education Week's 10 Big Ideas (January 9, 2019), suggests that the broken special education system is flawed in many ways, including issues with "child find," eligibility labels, response to intervention, funding, and more. I hope the article spurs a national conversation and true systemic change for all students—disabled and not. The article raises [...]
  • Here’s a good and practical piece about teaching students who struggle with reading

    The big question he asks is whether schools will do what's needed. That's the provocative question that my colleague, Kalman R. "Buzzy" Hettelman puts out there for us all. The message is: The earlier the intervention the better. https://edexcellence.net/articles/heres-where-the-education-reform-devilish-details-on-classroom-practice-should-start It's a good provocative read. His forthcoming book, Mislabeled as Disabled, focuses on the children who are not well served and do not [...]