New book on the Shut down learner. SDL not SLD!

Life is great, isn't it. Every day brings new ideas!

So here is Dr. Richard Selznick's book, The Shut-Down Learner--Helping your Academically Discouraged Child. (Shut down learner). This psychiatrist is trying to help kids without labeling them as disabled. So, it's SDL, not SLD! I love it!
It reminds me of my own book, Fixing Special Education--we need to focus on what kids can do, not just what they struggle with, etc. etc. etc. Not just dicing and splicing weaknesses that lead to discouraged learners. It also reminds me of one of my favorite books, Mindset--also the psychology of success, not labels.

Let's see how far SDL goes. We surely need all the new voices we can get for positive approaches.

Could we get into the college of our choice now?

It's been said before and I'll say it again--it's tough being a student today. Getting into college used to have some benchmark certainty. For many elite colleges, there used to be 'Early admission' in January and regular admission in the middle of April. But now, we learn that colleges are hedging their bets and adding more high school students to their wait lists... no YES or NO on the first round for many. It's a tough year out there. (Colleges expanding waiting lists)

And it's been said before, at the end of the day, it's more about what students make of the college experience than which college they attend.

Good luck to all in the class of 2014!

Stop teaching reading in a vacuum!

I always sit up and take notice when E.D. Hirsch sends out an alarm. He's the Core Knowledge guru--students need to learn basic knowledge about the world. Let's call that stuff. It turns out that reading cannot be taught in a vacuum as a series of discrete skills that are supposedly transferable.

It turns out that students who know stuff, can comprehend what they read better. Students who don't, can't comprehend the material before them--even if they can decode and have phonemic awareness. Isn't that plain as day? So obvious? Why has that been so hard to explain to a generation of educators? In math, too, students who don't know number facts (even if they have a calculator) are way behind. They are missing the basic building blocks of knowledge. Stuff. Obvious again.

(E.D. Hirsch on standards).

Too often, special education, as well, focuses on skills in isolation. Decoding, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, etc. With all the focus on skills, too often, these students are not exposed to a rich curriculum and learning stuff. So, E.D. Hirsch's warnings apply to students with disabilities as well. We need to teach stuff as well as skills. One without the other is unsatisfying. And it doesn't work well.

Innovation Schools Act of 2008 in Colorado

I was just reading about this! How amazing-- a state law that actually encourages schools to develop programs to improve student outcomes--and to obtain waivers from policies that would get in the way of innovation! Wow. It's about time! Schools that are drowning in paperwork have a reprieve when they design effective programs for student learning.

That is exactly what we need in special education.
(Colorado's Innovation Schools Act)

For example, Procedures Lite, a Massachusetts program, should be expanded to schools nationwide! For information about Procedures Lite, please visit (Special Education Day)

Maybe there is hope. Let's hope.

Money's tight. Now what for special education?

Schools need to cut budgets. State funding is down. We all know that.

Special education is an entitlement program--the only one in our schools.

With tight budgets, what do we do about special education?

Maintain programs? Well, what of other students.

Cut programs? Well, what of the entitlement?

Cut the number of students covered? Easier said than done.

Any ideas?

May 27-- Massachusetts presentation on Fixing!

(Discussion on Fixing Special Education at Accept Collaborative).

Would love to have you join the discussion in Natick, MA.

The theme.....Celebrating what's right; fixing what's not.
Let's build Trust-Based Special Education through Back Door (but legal!) Solutions.

See you on May 27!

NAEP: Whither that elusive gold standard?

As my loyal readers know, I was a member of the NAGB (National Assessment Governing Board) panel of experts about the testing of students with disabilities on the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress). We worked to tighten the exclusion of too many students and the need for accommodations that maintain the NAEP's validity. HOPEFULLY, the new policy, newly adopted by the NAGB, will solve the challenges pointed out below by Richard Innes. If we can't compare apples to apples, then the NAEP truly loses its shine.

(Kentucky vs California and exclusions).