This man really needs to go.

I guess he expects a student with intellectual disabilities to learn calculus?

moderate and severe developmental disabilities will heal themselves.

Common Core and Testing are not a cure for Autism. I think Autism disability is what is driving these statements. Autism has been increasing lately. Apparently Duncan can not get the Psychology Community to change the degree of diagnosis in manual IV. So he is using the ARD Committee approach. There is nothing said about an ARD Committee so I beleive they are hidding the truth.

I believe that in the past people with intellectual and mental disabilities usually ended up on the streets or in prison. Then they went to live in neighborhood housing with house supervisors. Now, it seems that under the new Duncan Plan, people with disabilities will be tested and found to be able to be be Dismissed, by an ARD Committee, and could end up incarcerated instead of receiving Medicare and Social Security Benefits. This would be a new kind of Peonage. Common core is not an Alternative Education Plan. It is for the General Education population. Do private Autism therapy facilities use Common Core? No of course not. What a joke (Duncan is).

ARD-Admission, Review, and Dismissal Committee creates an Independent Education Plan. Is Duncan planning on using testing to move people with intellectual disabilities in to incarceration as a prison workforce after testing them out of high school and into a society that they can not handle due to their disabilities? Scary.

http://www.cfisd.net/index.php/en/parents-students/academics/special-education/admission-review-and-dismissal-ard-process/

On down in the link is information from the Texas Education Agency about the ARD process.

staffings. Those meetings were some of the hardest most painful moments I had as a teacher. Too many of the parents did not want to hear what was going to be said about their kid, but it was such a high level of county folks that many parents lashed out because they felt intimidated.

Heck, as a teacher I often felt intimidated at staffings.

Heading to read more of your link now. You make some very good points in your post.

Arne Duncan was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools. He's into Charter Schools and not public schools.
He has NO education background.
It's like Goldman Sachs making me a teacher, it's CEO and running the the place!
He's got the education job, because he's the Presidents basketball buddy!

I too substitute in special education classes, he's nuts if he thinks these children can handle a rigorous curriculum.
Most of these students are learning life skills!
He should spend ONE day in a special needs room, to get his reality check.
It's a disgrace that people are appointed to positions in government, totally UNQUALIFIED and they get to make decisions for the rest of us.
Duncan should be kicked out of office!

The goal of Arne Duncan is to destroy public education. My teacher friends will tell you.

this man is a fucking idiot asshole.

in socialist progressives too. This guy makes my skin crawl. So patently obvious that they want to break the unions and smash public education. Soon we will have minimum wage proctors in rooms w/TV or computer screens doing the "teaching" in public schools. They don't want motivated smart folks in this country - they only need the top 5-10% at most to send their kids to private schools to churn out new managers. Everyone else works for pennies in the new "service industry" or the old fallback - military.

It is absolutely disgusting.

But the resulting citizenry will be easy to control through misinformation. We are witnessing a little sample of it already.

Or, he just needs more time. Or, he's still trying to locate his comfortable walking shoes.

Or, he agrees with Arne.

agrees with his policies and his anti-teacher pronuoncements

On education and other issues.

Remember that one?

Ah, memories.

aside---during Hillary's primary--she said a few times that she would scrape NCLB--and start over! If she runs I hope she does just that!


I do not recall what she proposed anymore. Seems so long ago.

Of course this is Obama's policy. Otherwise he would be openly criticizing this idiotic, stupid, dangerous new idea of Arne's.

I just figured people knew how I felt about it. Never assume.

I guess I was just surprised to see that headline coming from you, because the wording did sound like so many of the apologists who try to pretend that Obama opposes all of his most malignant policies and needs merely to rein in a few rogue actors in his administration.

I know you get it. You write more eloquently about it than most.

I consider the constant apologism ( not from you, but from the 24/7 propaganda brigade) to be extremely malignant and believe in strong pushback to any wording that suggests, even ironically or implicitly, that this garbage isn't coming directly from the top.

There is no way any of this crony corporatism ever gets solved if we aren't clear about what we're really dealing with here, which is broad corruption of our party, our elections, and our government by monied interests, up to and including the current Democratic White House. Sorry for the sharpness of my words in reacting to just these particular words and not to the clear and consistent body of your contributions here.

It's the national, American disease.

they're pathetic

I wish he would find them. Unions need his support badly.

I see too many kids in his school marginalized into self contained classrooms where expectations are nonexistent.

Early on, my wife and I decided that getting him successful in the general ed classroom was important to his future success, and I'm glad we did.

Setting aside the issue of high stakes testing, I think that expecting academic progress for all students, even those with significant disabilities, isn't too much to ask.

particular child misses the mark. It's so important that parents are involved in the IEP process and that each child is placed in the most appropriate setting to meet his or her needs. Special ed is definitely not one size fits all.

Where did I give the impression there should not be.

Before I explain, please read the OP again and tell me if you really believe that it is what I meant.

Arne is offering that as a solution, just as he is sacrificing teachers as a solution.

He is in effect saying that with a harder curriculum and more testing special education students will excel. That means that on many students he will be placing unrealistic goals. There are expectations that are reasonable, and there are unreasonable goals that some simply can not reach. Even if they try very hard.

be an aide to a special needs child, I would respectfully suggest that Duncan trade places with special ed teachers and aides for a week or a month. He'd change his tune in a hurry if he tried to foist his robust curriculum on the children I've worked with. Just what a non-verbal autistic child (for example) needs -greater academic rigor. Clueless, truly.

He starts Pre-K this Fall and my daughter has done everything from speech therapy, physical therapy, and working with him herself. She was a Second Grade teacher until they realized it was cheaper for her NOT TO WORK and pay babysitters, not to mention better for him and her other two kids.

So much is packed into these few words of his. It is hard to hear it from a Secretary of Education, and even worse to think he is getting away with it.

Reasonable demands and expectations are good. Arne seems to be going overboard.

Duncan actually said the following: “We know that when students with disabilities are held to high expectations and have access to a robust curriculum, they excel.”

Of course not.
Therefore, just as with other students, high expectations and a strong curriculum are an essential part of any student's education.
I haven't heard anyone say that this means students with mental disabilities will have to meet the same academic expectations as students without mental disabilities.

I have ever said.

There is no point in arguing, because my OP was clear.

When a teacher holds his or her students to high expectations and uses a good curriculum then students, including students with disabilities, can excel.
It appears that where you disagree is whether schools currently hold students to high expectations and use a good curriculum.
Evidence indicates that the U.S. school system has lower expectations than other systems.
As Jaime Escalante showed, a student will rise to the reasonable expectations of his or her teacher.

I don't think you even read the OP or visited the links. You have done this before when I posted about education in a thoughtful and honest way.

There are several others who do so as well.

This kind of thing is one reason that some of the more knowledgeable well-researched posters have just about quit posting here.

It just about ain't worth the effort. And it for sure is not really worth the amount of insults garnered by very clear posts.

Of course, a competent teacher knows that high expectations and a curriculum are necessary.

Now you are just making stuff up.

The things that you that upset you about CC are not occurring, for the most part, and your responses to anyone who challenges the implications of your statements is to redirect and redirect rather than defend what you are saying.

is designed to advance and promote the cognitive, psychomotor, affective and social and behavioral skills of the individual that is the learner. Its objectives change when the child has mastered the objectives set fourth in the IEP-Independent Education Plan. And during the time forward, an educator or therapist is allowed Promising Practices to see if slight changes in delivery can provide mastery more quickly or in a better way. And then a better IEP is always forthcoming at the next ARD Meeting which could be held every 30 days if the school or parents sees the need. Ususally the ARD Committee meets once a school year. In Texas a Special Progress Report has to be sent home every 3 weeks for children receiving rehabilitation and/or modifications.

See the Public Record/Law about IDEA for greater detail.
IDEA-Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Thanks

Because the CCSS in NYS, which was being phased in that year, prescribed Algebra for "ALL" students in 10th grade.

So if the student was 16 y.o. , but hadn't yet learned how to count change to... say... .50 cents, the teacher was REQUIRED to teach that skill *Algebraically*.

In other words, instead of using varied means of training that particular skill as we had done successfully for decades, , we'd be rated "ineffective" if we didn't teach it; ".10+.10+.!0+10=X= .50. Solve for X."

Really, Android, does that make ANY kind of sense to *You*?

>>>I haven't heard anyone say that this means students with mental disabilities will have to meet the same academic expectations as students without mental disabilities.>>>

That was my first certification. I've also taught the class, Mathematics For Elementary School Educators, to college students working towards their certification.

A math teacher can teach algebra to students of almost any age and capability. If the state required this (and I would love to see actual proof that the state was forcing teachers to teach the Fibonacci sequence to students with Down's Syndrome) a math teacher can still teach appropriate algebraic concepts based on the cognitive development of the student.

The state didn't make you teach the conic sections (parabola, hyperbole, circles, ellipses) to these special needs students. That would prompt a lawsuit so fast it would make a district's head spin. But you can teach more basic algebraic concepts, such as the concept of a symbol taking the place of a number, along with the fundamentals.

but NC does require that even our OCS students take a full algebra 1 course with the full EOC at the end of it. It does include sequences it should be noted.

There was no state EOC, but I always gave a final which is more difficult than what the state typically creates. Just like in other classes, some of the occupational students did well on the final, some poorly, and some in the middle. That's what evaluations are for.

I'm not impressed by the low expectations I'm hearing.

I have a child with autism as well. He's high functioning and he will probably be able to handle at least basic algebra. Those of us who are lucky to say that shouldn't insist this applies to all children regardless of ability.

But none who are sequestered in a special ed classroom in which no one is accountable - or if the posts in this thread are any indication - even inclined, to "pressure" or "demand" that they do their best.

What's important, apparently, is to keep them quiet and contained until they turn 18 and become someone else's problem.

Special education has already changed to mainstreaming. They aren't sequestered like that anymore. That's not what's being talked about.

Autistic kids... as you *probably* know... vary widely in terms of their measurable learning "potential". ( Down Syndrome kids... by contrast, for example....not so much.)

Some autistic kids cannot speak. Some cannot point to the numeral 5 when asked to select it from a menu of 3, 4, and 5. Some cannot recognize their name on a piece of paper. Some... in fact, MANY.... even at age 15, 16, 17 and 18 cannot make change from a dollar or tell time. They do not understand concepts like "change", "price", "elapsed time", "salary" "deductions" "taxes". They cannot read or make use of the most simplified printed schedule.

Yet others are intellectually normal. ( i.e. test in the "average", i.e. 80-120) range and can easily do all of these things. These cases are rare in my professional experience ; but that's one person's experience teaching special ed over thirty years. They do in fact exist.

Let's say for argument's sake that you are the parent of an 18 year old autistic child who is unable to tell time and count money to the degree that he is unable to function independently as a young adult. Remember: the educational "clock" is ticking. He still struggles with fundamental, first-second grade math concepts but will age-out soon.

Those are the basic facts. So: how do you want his classroom teacher to apportion the limited ( and rapidly diminishing) instructional time relative to your child: teaching "algebra"? ( presumably w. the goal of.... what? Getting him ready for Trig?) Or do you want the teacher working on ways to getting your child to adapt his early elementary school-level math skills to real-life everyday situations that he will (very soon) encounter in the adult world?

Particularly at the secondary school level. Self contained classrooms are under-staffed and 90% of that effort is dedicated to managing the behaviors of the highest needs child in the room.

If administrators were accountable for demonstrating progress among each IEP student, the classrooms would be better staffed, and more of the students would be involved in general ed classes.

And students *will* become young adults, the question is how prepared they're going to be. In my professional life at a nonprofit dedicated to the needs of people with disabilities, I often see young adults enter the adult systems ill-equipped yet capable of learning. I see job coaches doing great work finding gainful employment for people and often teaching the individuals things that one would expect to have been learned in school.

I see a wide difference in the effectiveness of the special ed programs between the various school districts in my community, and the quality of the general ed program isn't a useful proxy; the schools with the highest test scores have some of the worst special ed programs.

>>>>The average IQ of a young adult with Down syndrome is 50, equivalent to the mental age of an 8 or 9 year old child, but this varies widely.[3]>>>> wiki

(And actually, I disagree w. wiki: I don't think it "varies widely"; not in my experience, anyway.)


That's clearly not your child. I think OP is talking about this ( i.e. the ABOVE) type of situation, as well:

>>Or do you want the teacher working on ways to getting your child to adapt his early elementary school-level math skills to real-life everyday situations that he will (very soon) encounter in the adult world?>>>>

...and the interference in that delicate calculation that is coming from the Obama-era DOE.... awash in "compliance culture" and fueled by an utter lack of familiarity w. the phenomenon that they're trying to "reform".

All that said: I agree that for kids, whom... in the "old days" .... we used to call "LD", or "borderline", (there was even a category back in the eighties called "Minimal Brain Dysfunction". No one knew what it meant but the terminology sure sounded impressive.) or .... whatever......(in other words, "more-or-less average intelligence but unable to to do schoolwork well enough to keep up w. their age-mates.&quot a self-contained classroom could well be a trap.

One of the things I was hassling my own son's ( *private*; it's a long story) special ed high school was to HAVE him standardized-tested once a year SO THAT I COULD DETERMINE IF HE WAS MAKING PROGRESS relative to his peers. (really the only justification for these tests; but a particularly GOOD one.)

Part of the problem... in addition to the fact that the whole field is now dominated by ( and made incoherent by) lawyers and/or politicians..... is that there is no common language. "Special Ed" doesn't mean what it used to mean. It means ALL sorts of things. In the 1980s... when I started... I doubt very strongly that your son ... based on what you've described ... would even be considered "Special Ed". (Probably not "autistic" either...for that matter.... although you haven't told me enough about him for me to say, and that's a whole " 'nother " story.)

"Some cozy night in front of the fire."

One of the more sobering statistics was that among developmental disabilities, autism is the diagnosis most likely to preclude independent life. Something like 50% of all people with DD/ID live independently and have jobs, while only 25% of adults with autism do.

All of the adults I know with downs syndrome have gainful employment and about half live independently.

We're digressing a bit, but the point I want to make about IQ and people with disabilities is that it isn't a strong determinant of grownup success; social capital is.

... what PO sees in Arne Duncan. Talk about edicts. How could Arne Duncan have ever seen these children being educated and made a decision like that? One thing you DON'T do is push these children to do more than they can comprehend. Isn't there a danger of them shutting down? Becoming stifled with themselves for not being able to understand or catch on as quickly as they are being pressured to?

with special needs. It is so frustrating to see the policy of pushing kids harder and harder, the one size fits all mentality spreading to those kids.

No teacher should be required to treat all students alike, and most especially not special education students.

My kid has special needs. I am glad a school will hold my son responsible for his education.
Where does it say a teacher must teach all students alike?
No where.
You are implying that the government is going to demand that kids with disabilities must meat the same expectations as other students.
This is untrue.

his future the best it can be? Will he be preparing for college? possibly a trade school? Maybe a group home? Will he be able to live on his own with home support? Perhaps he will need 24/7 supervision, and living with his family is the only option. Or perhaps living at home will not be an option, and he will need an institution of some type.

I do not know your son, or what his optimum future will be. Whatever lays the foundation for his future should be his curriculum. That can be everything from learning social skills, contributing to a household, learning to use public transportation, learning community safety, learning to shop, learning proper hygiene, learning upper level math (possible learning disability).

Currently many students with special needs are given the same "high stakes" exam given to all gen. ed. students. Accommodations of more time, more breaks, quieter environment, larger desk areas, etc. are given. But all the time and space in the world will not make a difference if the student does not have the ability. It is cruel and unjust to administer this test.

Does Arne plan on doing something different with this new assessment approach? How will Common Core help these students? Are students with special needs not already measured for progress on the objectives and goals that are set for them. Goals that are developed between parents and specialists within the school system?, with reports given to families incrementally throughout the school year.

The whole, special child needs to considered.

I'm with you up until paragraphs 3 and 4.

A "high stakes test" is a misnomer in this situation. I am not seeing any evidence that this testing will be the deciding factor on whether a disabled student graduates or advances a grade.

Regarding Common Core, there is little evidence that the CC curriculum is any better or worse than the existing curriculum when it comes to teaching a disabled student.

The main problem seems to be fear on the part of parents, a marketing disconnect that Republicans have engineered to create strife of CC, and fear mongering on the part of certain posters here.

and wondering where you are getting all that. Your latest refers to fear mongering.

Are you not aware of the pressure that goes on in this testing with so many consequences for all?

Children know, and they worry about it.

There should be fear on the part of parents about Arne's policies. No Republicans are not causing the disconnect any more than teachers and parents of both parties.

Left and right join on this issue.

I cannot fathom what is motivating you to speak so incorrectly about these topics, but I have consistently observed you promoting nonsense when it comes to Common Core, and pedagogy in general.
For example, your dismissal of challenging a student with a good curriculum. Anyone who has taken the initial courses for teaching certification or attended teaching workshops as a professional knows the need for this.

You are not getting all that from my post I know.

Might as well debate an algorithm...

Education: The "Big Enchilada"
http://www.billtotten.blogspot.com/2007/08/big-enchilada.html

Some years ago, a friend who works on Wall Street handed me a stock-market prospectus in which a group of analysts at an investment-banking firm known as Montgomery Securities described the financial benefits to be derived from privatizing our public schools. "The education industry", according to these analysts, "represents, in our opinion, the final frontier of a number of sectors once under public control" that "have either voluntarily opened" or, they note in pointed terms, have "been forced" to open up to private enterprise.

Indeed, they write, "the education industry represents the largest market opportunity" since health-care services were privatized during the 1970s... "The larger developing opportunity is in the K-12 EMO market, led by private elementary school providers..." From the point of view of private profit, one of these analysts enthusiastically observes, "the K-12 market is the Big Enchilada."

I'm starting to tire, but I'll drop one more set of notes...

Okay, here goes.
I never did as you are describing. "Your demands for "proof" of the malignancy of high-stakes testing throughout this thread are similarly disingenuous."

I never demanded proof about some sort of malignancy. I wanted proof that CC would result in a cut in services for handicapped students or force them to achieve the same proficiency in academics.

I think, the way the government appears to be using academic testing as a measure of the success or failure of a teacher, is unscientific.

It sounds obnoxious, but I think you received misinformation about what I have been writing, or you are taking something I wrote out of context.

without addressing it. Weird - that's just weird....

Though the reason I dismiss some postings using that particular adjective is because the recipient declines to address the issues of the topic and the reasons they are declining to address the issue is unfathomable.

My suspicion is that their egos are too fragile to accept being incorrect, and the only defense they have is to flail around spouting provocative responses and cry out about being a helpless victim in order to distract people from the fact that they are, you know, misinformed.

ranking of achievement. Your statement: "I am not seeing any evidence that this testing will be the deciding factor on whether a disabled student graduates or advances a grade." Currently all students including children with IEP's advance automatically regardless of testing outcome. I doubt that this aspect of "high stakes" testing will change.

Your statement: "Regarding Common Core, there is little evidence that the CC curriculum is any better or worse than the existing curriculum when it comes to teaching a disabled student." Are you at all familiar with what the curriculum for a medically fragile, low functioning student should be? How about a child that may some day be able to live independently? What do you suspect that child's needs are? What and how should that student be learning to make his/her future the best it can be for him/her and their family?

"get back" at a teacher or school by simply performing poorly on this "high stakes" exam. That is a scary position to be in. The student's outcome does not affect his academic future.

Whatever the cover story, this is not about enriching the lives of children...with or without learning disabilities.

I've worked with IEPs, meaningful assessment and the trajectory of the individual's education for many many years.

The needs of the child and the capabilities of the resources available will determine how educators will respond to the academic progress of a special needs student.

You demand I address the needs of some hypothetical special ed child, as if there is some way to do that. If you've ever been in the special ed classroom, you know that the amazing instructors there will juggle umpteen different teaching methods in order to accomodate the practice and curriculum. The problem is that your hypothesis is based on the mistaken assumption that the federal government is removing support for special needs students and holding them accountable to the same level of academic standards.

There is no evidence this is occurring, hence the misleading nature of the OP.

special ed child" is sort of demeaning. Those children have names & there are many of them in every school district: seizure disorder, shunts, heart problems, etc. 3rd - you state: "The problem is that your hypothesis is based on the mistaken assumption that the federal government is removing support for special needs students and holding them accountable to the same level of academic standards." that is not my hypothesis!!! Where'd you get that from??!? It's difficult for me to keep reiterating my thoughts to you. I agree with Madfloridian - I think you are just making things up.

It's not about whether "special ed child" is demeaning. That's just weird.
If you are not making the assumption as I outlined above, then you have no reason to complain about these particular aspects of Common Core. Sounds like you and I do not have an argument.

When you start seeing and referring to the disability first, the child often becomes secondary. What aspects of common core will enrich and make better the IEP process?

please see my post #138 in reference to the current IEP process.

There hasn't been any evidence that CC will have an affect on the IEP process, either positively or negatively.

As far as your role as the language police officer, I would gently suggest that you should take a deep breath, stop looking for insults where I intended none, and cease playing a weak prejudice card in order to garner sympathy points and redirect the conversation.

If you recognize your displeasure is unjustified regarding the actual topic of whether CC is going to harm special ed students, then move on.

As a parent of a special needs son, I most certainly want my school to present my child with high expectations and a strong curriculum.

Every competent teacher and parent wants that.

I understand your frustration. Your posts are very welcome....show clarity of thought and understanding about children.

So thanks.

education and remove a special needs student from its classrooms? I am not providing a link or links because that is something that I think parents need to look into for themselves.

I will say that tests results are an excuse for a Legislature to remove funding to its public schools, making programs of enrichment for advance learners and for special needs learners, disappear. Ask some professors at Colleges of Education at any university, to find out how children with special needs will be left out. Do private or charter schools, not receiving federal funds have to accept your child?

If you do not mind, place Dallas IDS Home-Rule Leaving Student and Parents Behind, in your browser and click. Hope this helps.

My son there asked me what I thought was behind it, so I need to do some research.

That is exactly what testing is meant to do. There is so much propaganda going on that parents don't know who to believe.

Thanks for your posts.

While I agree that high expectations and a robust curriculum helps all, including special ed students, the way Duncan proposes using standardized tests is unreasonable and unscientific.

Last edited Sat Jun 28, 2014, 03:50 PM - Edit history (1)

but his approach/thoughts on education are way out of line EXCEPT he and Michelle darn well know what GOOD education looks like, considering where they've had their daughters schooled over the years. Its his worst, imo.

madfloridian is using select cuts-and-paste to imply that the federal government wants to force schools to teach students with disabilities in the same way and to the same expectations as other students.
This is untrue.
Read the dang article and use some critical thinking.

The way you promote misinformation is troubling. If you taught, I certainly hope you didn't pull these sorts of shenanigans with your students.

The first link has nothing to do with holding a disable student to the same standard, but it does have to do with the state requiring proof as to why it should have a different standard for a particular student.

The second link takes us to an article describing how the government is misusing tests to evaluate teachers. The article presents zero evidence that the state is holding the handicapped student to the same standards as a non-handicapped student.

Using a test meant to evaluate a student's academic capabilities as a tool to evaluate a teacher's teaching capabilities is unscientific and unhelpful. But your OP conflates the good practice of using high expectations and a good curriculum with the bad practice of using a student evaluation to grade a teacher.

You have accused me of posting false information, and pulling stunts. I don't like it but I won't alert.

You said:

The way you promote misinformation is troubling. If you taught, I certainly hope you didn't pull these sorts of shenanigans with your students.

"Both links show that the handicapped are held to the same standards on testing, which is wrong to do."
No. Both links reference blogs of unhappy people. They are not proof. You should find a primary source to justify your opinion. Do that, and I'll be right there with you, madfloridian.

In fact I notice you don't really agree with most here in this thread. I see someone else just threw their hands in the air in frustration with you.

So do your thing, don't worry about me. Got a thick hide, and I know my subject matter.

You are just pulling stuff out of the air tonight. Others have noticed it also.

Good night to you.

No harm in being a low-post count member, but you posted 6 insulting posts and 4 badgering posts on this one o.p. Why the sudden deviation from your standard m.o.?

Romney told America during the Presidential Debates that the GOP wanted to cash out IDEA. This means removing IEPs. Duncan, a proven privatizer, wants to remove IEP and move your child to Common Core. I will not provide links. Please look into this and get back with me on this thread.

Many children are being diagnosed with Autism. Can you imagine how many children would be moving to Section 504 Accommodations and Special Education IEP modifications unless something is done? Moving to Common Core and off of Modifications written up on IEPs is exactly what Obama and Duncan are proposing.

Thanks.

"Substituting Common Core for an IEP is what Duncan is trying to change." I challenege you to find evidence of this.
One, CC is a curriculum and set of standards whereas an IEP is a plan for specific techniques that caregivers and the student should use to intervene on behalf of a child. Your concern makes no sense, in the way that substituting a recipe for fajitas for and actual chocolate cake makes no sense.

There is zero evidence that, under CC, schools must apply expectations equally across the board. Certainly there have been some issues, but these are problems of application, rather than theory.

You watch. If CC continues, educators at all levels will see to it that the curriculum and practice reflects appropriately on the capabilities of the child.

Again, there is no policy stating that disabled children must meet the same academic standards.

The OP is misleading you by implying the government is abandoning classroom modifications to accommodate students with special needs by falsely connecting two aspects of education (CC and the pragmatic goal of challenging all students) to create a sense of panic, fear and outrage.

OT, Speech, PT, Adapted P.E., Psych, Teacher, Teacher of the Deaf / Hard of Hearing, Teacher of the Visually Impaired, or whoever needs to be involved, to meet the unique needs of the child with special needs. Assessment is done, present levels are determined, and placement/services are determined by a team of people. Can this be tied to Common Core for the best interests of the child - That might be a reach, and it might become a dog and pony show.

... or at least explain what you mean by "cash out IDEA"

I think you're talking about this. Which is by no means the worst idea for improving special education to come out of DC.

In principle, I think that US citizens have a reasonable expectation that all students should reach their potential, and that all students can make academic progress during their school career and that the only way to track that progress is by measuring it. Further, schools should be accountable for achieving those goals but have some flexibility in how they do so.

If that means allowing students with IEP's have the option of transferring to a school which can and will meet the educational needs dictated by their disability, so be it.

participate in a particular curriculum. The most common result will be acting out and behavior disorders. It would be like forcing me to prepare for the World Cup, with no alternative offered. I simply do not have that ability. Many students with special needs can possibly live in group homes one day, or possibly on their own with at home support. Most are not preparing for college. Their curriculum needs to be specialized and individualized. I suspect that common core would not be in their best interest.

I proctored a "high stakes" assessment for students w/IEP's that were not opted out of the gen. ed. testing. It was very sad. One little girl was in tears because it was too difficult. I could tell she was humiliated. Another little boy filled in the bubbles beautifully, all wrong answers. All I could say was "if you have extra time go back and check your work." This all factored into the school's "high stakes" score. No wonder so many of the schools in this district do not welcome special education classrooms.

Arne needs to become familiar with the students, with the medically fragile, with the very low functioning students, with the sweet children who cannot be forced into a curriculum that will do them no favors.

You make the point that these scores do factor into the school's grade. Others here have attacked me for saying that in other threads. The kids know these things, too. It worries them.

I watched my class the last two years before I retired, trying so hard to adapt to the "new" tests suddenly thrust upon them. I gave out Kleenex for the tears. It was a time in our area of out of control mainstreaming that did not really show wisdom it was so hurried.

Even with my test monitors, the tears flowed so that some parents had to be called to get their children.