Sunday, June 06, 2010
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Friday, June 04, 2010
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Achieving Excellence
I have hesitated to even post this because I don't want to brag about some kids and gripe about other kids in this family. I am obviously very proud of all of them. One thing I have learned this year that when you have one child who is an academic outlier, a minority within the group, you do everything you can to try to make everyone even. If no one is special, then no one is left out. It's a constant effort of trying to beef up the successes of one, and downplay the successes of the others to prevent hurt feelings.
But since I seem to gripe freely on here anyway, I'm also going to brag! There are kids in this family who did exceptionally well academically this year. And I'm going to take an opportunity to brag a little. I feel like I get so focused on what Jameson is doing, or can't do, that I forget to mention the great things that everyone else is doing.
Jack just finished the 5th grade and just took the Stanford Achievement Test for 5th grade. His overall score showed him at a 10.2 grade level, which is the second month of tenth grade. His vocabulary was 11.8. Science was 10.3. Social Science 10.2. Unbelievably, his listening was a post high school level.
Jaiden just finished 4th grade and on the 4th grade achievement test, her overall score was 6.3. That means she tested at the level of a student in the third month of 6th grade. Her reading level was 5.7. Total mathematics was 8.3. She was above average in every single subject!
Justine just finished 1st grade, and her overall score was 2.7. Her reading level was 2.7. Her reading vocabulary scored 3.5 and math was 3.3. Her listening skills were at a 2.8 level. And Spelling at 2.7. Amazing!
Josh did amazingly well also. We had him take the 5th grade test because I felt like that was the most appropriate test for him. He scored at a 5.1 level. You can't get more right on than that, can you? His Science score was 6.1. Social Science 5.8. I feel so proud that he came here 2 years ago at a 1st grade level and is now going into the 7th grade. We feel like he will be able to catch up to 7th grade with a little hard work and some peer pressure. (Ha ha)
It has done a great deal to heal my heart to see that everyone else did so well on their tests. I feel like Jameson took up SO much of my teaching time this year; I was so afraid everyone else didn't get what they needed this year.
But they proved me wrong on that one.
I couldn't be prouder.
Really.
Or more relieved.
But since I seem to gripe freely on here anyway, I'm also going to brag! There are kids in this family who did exceptionally well academically this year. And I'm going to take an opportunity to brag a little. I feel like I get so focused on what Jameson is doing, or can't do, that I forget to mention the great things that everyone else is doing.
Jack just finished the 5th grade and just took the Stanford Achievement Test for 5th grade. His overall score showed him at a 10.2 grade level, which is the second month of tenth grade. His vocabulary was 11.8. Science was 10.3. Social Science 10.2. Unbelievably, his listening was a post high school level.
Jaiden just finished 4th grade and on the 4th grade achievement test, her overall score was 6.3. That means she tested at the level of a student in the third month of 6th grade. Her reading level was 5.7. Total mathematics was 8.3. She was above average in every single subject!
Justine just finished 1st grade, and her overall score was 2.7. Her reading level was 2.7. Her reading vocabulary scored 3.5 and math was 3.3. Her listening skills were at a 2.8 level. And Spelling at 2.7. Amazing!
Josh did amazingly well also. We had him take the 5th grade test because I felt like that was the most appropriate test for him. He scored at a 5.1 level. You can't get more right on than that, can you? His Science score was 6.1. Social Science 5.8. I feel so proud that he came here 2 years ago at a 1st grade level and is now going into the 7th grade. We feel like he will be able to catch up to 7th grade with a little hard work and some peer pressure. (Ha ha)
It has done a great deal to heal my heart to see that everyone else did so well on their tests. I feel like Jameson took up SO much of my teaching time this year; I was so afraid everyone else didn't get what they needed this year.
But they proved me wrong on that one.
I couldn't be prouder.
Really.
Or more relieved.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
My morning...
The alarm goes off. I hit snooze. I immediately start making a list in my head of what and how I'm going to approach the principal of Jameson's new school today to attempt to get her enrolled in special ed.
The all too familiar stomach ache begins...
I roll over and begin fighting the battle in my mind.
Jameson's post IM test results came back. She is actually doing worse, according to her test results. The reason behind her decline is due to the fact that while she is getting older, she is not progressing at the speed other kids are. So on paper, it seems as if she's doing worse because she's being scored at an older age level.
On the visual attentiveness test, as soon as things became visually stimulating or fast, she completely shuts down. Zero. Points. Nothing. She continues to have auditory and visual processing issues. I cannot continue to dump money into therapy. I'm going to have to rely on the school system to get her some help.
I had her take the 3rd grade level Stanford Achievement test, which showed her at a 2.3 grade level. She's supposed to be in 6th grade, but the school has agreed to allow us to put her in 5th grade. I have significant reservations whether she will be successful in 5th grade when she can still barely read.
I know these tests are biased for middle class, white, English speaking kids, but guess what? Unfortunately, so is life. I think it's easy to blame all of it on immigration status, but there are more issues than that. It helps me to see that while Josh's tests show he is behind by about 2 grade levels, he has progressed over the last 2 years.
She was screened for the "English as a Second Language" program at school and was found to be at an intermediate level for English. She qualifies for services. We are going to put her in the ESL school, which happens to be ALL the way across town. It is going to mean at least a 30-45 minute bus ride to and from school. I'm just thankful there is bus service, or we really would be in trouble.
The all too familiar stomach ache begins...
I roll over and begin fighting the battle in my mind.
Jameson's post IM test results came back. She is actually doing worse, according to her test results. The reason behind her decline is due to the fact that while she is getting older, she is not progressing at the speed other kids are. So on paper, it seems as if she's doing worse because she's being scored at an older age level.
On the visual attentiveness test, as soon as things became visually stimulating or fast, she completely shuts down. Zero. Points. Nothing. She continues to have auditory and visual processing issues. I cannot continue to dump money into therapy. I'm going to have to rely on the school system to get her some help.
I had her take the 3rd grade level Stanford Achievement test, which showed her at a 2.3 grade level. She's supposed to be in 6th grade, but the school has agreed to allow us to put her in 5th grade. I have significant reservations whether she will be successful in 5th grade when she can still barely read.
I know these tests are biased for middle class, white, English speaking kids, but guess what? Unfortunately, so is life. I think it's easy to blame all of it on immigration status, but there are more issues than that. It helps me to see that while Josh's tests show he is behind by about 2 grade levels, he has progressed over the last 2 years.
She was screened for the "English as a Second Language" program at school and was found to be at an intermediate level for English. She qualifies for services. We are going to put her in the ESL school, which happens to be ALL the way across town. It is going to mean at least a 30-45 minute bus ride to and from school. I'm just thankful there is bus service, or we really would be in trouble.
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