From a reader:
Libbie, my daughter with Rett Syndrome, could not talk or use her hands functionally to communicate, yet she was forced to go through the state testing every year. Her IEP “accommodations” forced her teacher to work with her 1 on 1, and ask each question so Libbie could eye-gaze at her chosen answer, as an “alternative assessment”. In 5th grade, she figured how to “opt-out” on her own. She would simply close her eyes and refuse to participate. Her teacher frantically called me to somehow remedy the situation, but I only smiled with pride at my silent daughter’s wise choice. She took a nap, rather than take a test.
Libbie passed away 3 years ago, due to complication from Rett. In my grief, I have become so angry at how much time she spent in school being tested, precious moments of her already difficult life completing meaningless tasks. I hate standardization of all children, especially our beautiful ones with special needs.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Good for the student! More should do the same.
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I hate it too. My heart hurts for your loss. What a beautiful memory of what she stands for. We have a lot to learn from Libbie.
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Oh. My. Thank you for letting us share your pride and joy. You have sprinkled admiration for Libbie far and wide. My heart will always hold a little piece for her in honor of so much wisdom.
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May Libbie continue to inspire us to remember joy, wonder, and humanity are some of the most important aspects of life itself. Thank you for your bravery in honoring us with her story.
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condolences on your angel’s passing.
Every single person who was involved with the torture of testing she endured, should be executed!
I’d be happy to start the process
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Right when I thought yesterday’s post about the poor kid awaiting brain surgery, along comes this. The tree of academic liberty needs to be refreshed by getting the testing tyrants out of education.
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oops, I left out “was about as low as we could get” after “…the poor kid awaiting brain surgery”
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For those not familiar with Rett Syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rett_syndrome
What purpose does testing serve other than to rank and sort and attack.
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None and it does a piss poor job of doing even that.
And thanks for the link!
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I am so sorry for your loss of Libbie. She sounds like a wonderful child and student. I’m now even more angry with what is happening to our children, because you and Libbie had to endure what you had to because of testing mandates, etc. My prayers are with you and Libbie.
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How on earth has this happened? Very sad.
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What a beautiful child Libbie is! And how courageous. Very few students would have enough courage to stand up against testing like that. May her memory be for a blessing.
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Socrates said “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”” What a wonderful display of civil disobedience as your young Libby is a true inspiration. She learned in her short lifetime what most never learn. That is to stand up for what you know is wrong!
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Thank You for sharing your story. I had a beautiful young woman with Rett Syndrome in my class a few years ago. She started in my class when she was 18 and continued in my class until she aged out and graduated our special education program at 21. By the time that she was in my class she was no longer being forced to have AA as she had aged beyond it. We spent most of our time with her concentrating on the things that were most important to her mother and that was the ability to use a simple communication device so that she had some degree of choice making and her ability to keep walking. Her mother was diligent in keeping her walking and at 18 she was already way beyond many of her peers with Rett Syndrome in the fact that she was still completely ambulatory. You are so right, about having any type of testing for a child like this. It is not only a waste of time but is harmful in taking away valuable therapeutic time and energy! I understand that NYC has not yet adapted the Common Core into a D75 Special Education curriculum and that they will be working on it in the next few months. I only hope and pray that the panel that works on this will actually have some people that not only are familiar with special education but are familiar with and have worked with children with some of the most rare and debilitating syndromes and disabilities.
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So moved. I’m so sorry for your loss.
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Bless her heart. My son Ted had a serious neurological (unknown) problem and significant delays. He passed away 9 years ago. (5th grade) I think it was before testing became as horrible as it is now.
Why do children with legitimate cognitive impairments get tested? Does the teacher “fail” because my son had an IQ of less than 50? I do not understand on any level.
I never had the pleasure of meeting Libbie, I know how much you must miss her. I am so sorry for your loss.
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Libbie’s silent witness speaks volumes. if only our education “reformers” were literate enough to read these volumes. Thank you for your sad, angry, beautiful message.
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A sad modern version of Bartleby the Scrivener
http://www.bartleby.com/129/
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A flip side of this that I’ve seen all too often, that IMO make standards necessary is the teacher that thinks “that child is too re_____, too disabled, etc. to learn anything.”
I’ve had a teacher tell me that she had never seen kids as retarded as the two severe/profound she had now, so she was amazed when she realized they could actually learn something! This was after I encouraged her to do an AT evaluation and she realized they could use switches to answer questions. She’d had both of these kids for quite a few years, yet didn’t know they could learn? Shameful!
Another teacher pointed to a child who was non-verbal and non-abulatory, but whose eyes said he was very aware, and said, “That’s S____. He can’t really do anything so he just sits and watches us.”
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. I hate that assessments of any kind are high stakes, but I think I dislike teachers who set a low bar for students with significant disabilities even more. They can learn. They are capable. It may not ever be at the level of mastery or independence, but learning is definitely possible. Teachers should not be penalized when their student with an IQ is very low, but nor should they be allowed not set high expectations. If state standards and assessments that are modified (extended) for this population are what it takes for them to realize their students can learn, than I am all for them. That said, I’ll reiterate that they should not be high stakes.
I taught a beautiful girl with Rett Syndrome my first year. She was such a joy.
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