Posted on 05/17/2002 6:27:42 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Doreen Seremeta said she has no choice but to prepare her daughter for the worst.
The Deltona mom learned this week that the Discovery Elementary student probably would have to repeat fourth grade if she fails the state's reading test.
"My daughter is going to be devastated," Seremeta said. "We have tried everything, and they want to hold her back."
This week's release of scores for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test brought home the hard fact that principals, teachers and many parents have known for weeks: More children than ever will be forced to repeat fourth-grade this year, unless they slip through loopholes that allow them to be promoted.
Although students won't receive their FCAT scores until later this month, school officials have spent weeks and months breaking the news to parents. They have pored over student records, sent letters and met with families.
At Richmond Heights Elementary in southwest Orlando, Principal June Jones scheduled 83 meetings to talk about students who might have to repeat a grade. Some parents showed up, some didn't.
Some parents had no idea their children were having problems with reading.
"When you show the parents what their children are capable of reading and comprehending and that the students are reading that much below grade level, their eyes really open to see that their children need some assistance," Jones said.
Principals said many parents tell them to do what's best for their children. Others are furious, even desperate. They are threatening to transfer their children to private or charter schools. Some have asked if they could enroll their children in private tutoring centers to bring them up to speed.
FCAT results released Wednesday show that 30 percent of the state's fourth-graders - 57,559 out of 191,866 who took the test in March -- failed the reading test. That's nearly the same percentage that failed the test last year.
In Orange County, 4,429 fourth-graders -- 37 percent of the class -- failed, and hundreds could be retained. There's still no way to predict how many of these students will end up repeating fourth-grade because the numbers include students enrolled in special-education classes or programs for non-native English-speakers.
Other retention factors
Also, in most school districts, a failing score on the FCAT reading test will not mean automatic retention. In Osceola County, students who fail the FCAT can still move to the next grade if they have shown signs of progress during the year.
"We'll make a decision based on what we know about a child versus how well they did on a one-day test," said Linda Harwood, principal at Highlands Elementary in Kissimmee.
Volusia schools plan to retain students based on results from two tests. Those children would have to score in the lowest of five levels of the FCAT and in the bottom quarter of the state's nationally standardized test. The same is true in Seminole County, but those facing retention also must score below grade level on class exams.
Some prefer early retention
Lucy Jackman, principal of Geneva Elementary in Seminole County, said her staff prefers to retain children in the early grades. A student who struggled in kindergarten, for instance, would move to a special first-grade program, with smaller classes and a slower pace, and then the following year move to a regular first-grade classroom.
That child still gets an extra year of education but without the stigma felt by a 10-year-old who has to go through fourth-grade again.
Fourth graders hate to be separated from their friends who are moving up to fifth grade. "That's a killer," Jackman said.
Doreen Seremeta, the Deltona mom, doesn't know whether retention would help her daughter, who had to repeat the second grade.
Seremeta said her daughter has had trouble with reading since first grade, and the school has not been able to correct it. The child has been attending after-school classes. On top of that, Seremeta said she's paying for her daughter to attend private tutoring sessions twice weekly, at $20 per session.
At home it is not for want of trying that her daughter still stumbles while reading, she said. "They say to read, read, read. We read, read, read and it still is not helping."
Denise-Marie Balona, Leslie Postal, Letitia Stein and Dave Weber of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Lori Horvitz can be reached at lhorvitz@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5273.
And what has she, as the parent of the child, done to help teach her daughter to read? Does she sit her down at the kitchen table and have the daughter read to her while she's doing preparing the meal or doing the dishes afterwards? Does she encourage her to sit and read in the evening instead watching television or listening to the radio or running the streets with her friends? My parents, particularly my mother, did so and I now have a hunger for books that can't be quenched by weekly visits to the library or belonging to four different book clubs.
Sorry, but if the girl can't read, she might as well not even attend school and prepare herself for a bitter and unproductive future.
Well, now they know... I guess the test is working. ;-) Wake up America!
Maybe Doreen should have prepared her daughter for something else...getting an education!
Also, the teachers need to be motivated to help kids instead of "punching the clock". I think most teachers are really trying to help (probably 80%). The other 20% don't give a crap. Coincidentally, this is about the same proportion of students that are failing.
Look, I had problems in the fourth grade too. My parents were getting divorced and I didn't quite take it too well. BUT, I had two great teachers and a principal that refused to let me slip. I hated them at the time but now I realize they cared enough to not let me fall by the wayside.
My favorite thing to do is read now. Thank You, Mr. Hourn (RIP), Mrs. Lehman and Mr. Gulezow!
Some parents had no idea their children were having problems with reading.
I am a proud homeschool dad, but I understand that not everyone can, or wants to, homeschool. However, there really is no excuse for being so divorced from your child's education that you don't know he/she has reading problems in the fourth grade. Don't schools send out report cards and progress reports anymore?
Obviously many people in the recent past for 50 or 60 years were passed along and in the end given their high school grad diploma, who could not read and pass this test...some of them are nice hardworking adults but they just cannot do what you and I would call "read." Could not read even a simple newspaper article and tell you what it said or implied...
Probably not. She probably pops her in front of the "boob tube" and lets her "veg" while she talks to her boyfriend on the phone, making arrangements for the "hot" date on Friday night.
Ok...maybe I am being unfair to the parent. Maybe the little girl has a legitimate reading problem? But, all too often, this is the situation.
"Why are so many parents home schooling? Because they've come to the realization that the schools are destroying the brains of American children. It all starts in the first grade where teaching methods are used to deliberately cause dyslexia and reading disability. The method is popularly known as whole language, or the sight method, in which children are required to memorize a sight vocabulary. That is, they are required to memorize English printed words as whole configurations, like Chinese characters. Sounds harmless enough, unless you understand what that kind of memorization results in: a holistic reflex.
What's wrong with a holistic reflex? It becomes an obstacle to learning to read phonetically. An alphabet is a phonetic system in which letters represent language sounds. To become a fluent reader, you must develop a phonetic reflex, not a holistic one. With a phonetic reflex, achieved through phonics drill, the reader can easily see the phonetic structure of the words he is reading and discern the syllabic units that make up the word. But a reader with a holistic reflex cannot see the phonetic structure of the words, because he has the automatic habit of looking at words as whole configurations.
In other words, the holistic reflex and the phonetic reflex are mutually exclusive. And it was Ivan Pavlov, in his pysch lab in Moscow in the 1920s, who proved that when an animal is subjected to two mutually exclusive reflexes, it has a nervous breakdown. All of this is known to American psychologists, for the results of Pavlov's experiments were published in 1932 in a book, "The Nature of Human Conflicts: Researches in Disorganization and Control of Human Behavior," by A. R. Luria, professor of psychology, State Institute of Experimental Psychology in Moscow. It was translated by an American student of Pavlov's, W. Horsley Gantt.
The other day, a mother called me on a radio talk show. She complained that her son was having trouble with reading. It turned out that the school was teaching phonics and also requiring the child to memorize a sight vocabulary. I told her that her son was experiencing a collision of reflexes, which was causing his confusion and difficulty. I told her to get my Alpha-Phonics program and teach her child to read at home.
The literacy scandal is only one reason why parents are now home schooling. There are over four million kids on Ritalin, academic chaos in the classroom, a curriculum of boredom, pornographic sex education, school massacres and more. If you love your kids, get them out!"
Let's Help Nail the Teachers Unions -- It is National FReep Time
It is one thing if poor third-and-fourth graders are just too dumb to read, or if some of them have just had poor teaching.
But there is NO EXCUSE AT ALL for keeping ignorant illiterate teachers on, when there are plenty of qualified individuals who want and need those teaching jobs, esp. with the kind of money paid up there in Mass!!!
YOU CAN'T TEACH WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW!
You big meanie! Don't you know that her feelings could be hurt if she is held back to master the material she needs to make successful progress?
What would her friends think!
"The child has been attending after-school classes. On top of that, Seremeta said she's paying for her daughter to attend private tutoring sessions twice weekly, at $20 per session. At home it is not for want of trying that her daughter still stumbles while reading, she said. "They say to read, read, read. We read, read, read and it still is not helping."
The only "legitimate" reading problem would be something like dyslexia or needing glasses or something physical/genetic. Those problems would have been discovered and corrected long ago.
It sounds like parental laziness to me .. or the mother (note that there is no indication of a "father" in this scenario) doesn't have the capacity to recognize "good" reading from "poor" reading herself. In either event, my guess is that the daughter doesn't feel that she has any incentive to do so, since she's been held back before and then passed on to higher grades as the system washed its hands of her.
She may soon be one of many 15-year old fourth graders from the sounds of it.
"Everything"?, Did you shoot your TV Set? Did you make her ask for things in writing? Did you take her to the Library instead of the shopping mall? Did you fill her room with books instead of Play-stations? Do you read to her? Do you read at all?
Its always a wonder how these people always want the schools to fix everything.
If what the mother says IS true, then perhaps her daughter should be removed from normal fourth-grade classes and put in with what we used to call the "special" kids. In either event, her little darling isn't going to go anywhere unless she can learn to read.
An interesting point about the parenting is that if the test is so easy, then the passing rate should be 100%. Again, this the reality of the situation. This is what we are faced with. If we need to get our 4th graders reading at a 4th grade level and they aren't, we need to go down to where they are, build them up (edification), and teach them (education).
This is terrible, terrible. Why, in some states, she'd be ready to graduate high school.
"Some parents had no idea their children were having problems with reading."
________________________________________________
More than likely, they've been getting "My child shines at (fill in the blank) school" bumper stickers.
Black kids mature physically faster than whites or Asians. Black girls are hitting puberty sometimes at 8-10 years old. Combine that with a couple of years of retention, and you can have entirely sexually mature 12 year olds in 4th and 5th grade, with younger children. This is a situation where the younger and physically smaller children are put at risk.
There are indeed going to be a certain proportion of kids in any population who *simply will not learn to read* much above an elementary level, even after phonics programs have been repeatedly tried. In some populations (not necessarily based on race!) there will be a significant number. In other populations there will be only a tiny percentage.
The book The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life describes it in detail. That book was trashed for years after it came out, but the stuff in it is *true.*
Given that, IMO kids have to be put in classes with their age-mates, even if what they're learning is at a far lower level than others. This means *tracking,* which is a dirty word in all the educational circles. It will result in a certain amount of racial discrimination in *some* school districts, but not in those that are 80-90% minority anyway. (I don't see how tracking can be considered "racial discrimination" if virtually all the kids in a district are minority.)
However, the fact that her daughter cannot master the material remains. Promoting her will not solve this problem; far from it: it will mask it. If they are doing all these things and she still cannot pass a state test (And how undemanding can such a dumbed-down test be?) then she needs really intensive help, right now, or it's only going to get worse and be harder to correct later.
You will agree, advancing her a grade to make her feel better is not the answer.
NaW.
(Card carrying member of the "Damaged by Public Education" club...)
Before long U.S. govt. schools will follow Canada's lead and start calling dropouts - early leavers.
I agree. Like I said, "But, all too often, this is the situation" referring to my scenario, which definitely was about parental laziness.
I read with my son (3yo) at least 30 minutes a day. While he can't yet read, he flips through the pages and recounts the story...in his on words (and does it surprisingly well). My daughter gets stories read to her also, even though she is only 1 1/2 months old. That's probably because I like to read.
My situation is really the opposite of the situation you describe. I like to read. The parent of this girl, as you posit, probably doesn't read well herself. And, as they say about the apple...
That is why we need a social change...people must start being responsible with their lives. Young women need to close their legs. Young men (and even middle-aged ex-presidents) need to "keep it in their pants". People need to be disciplined when they do something incorrect or wrong. Responsibility and discipline permeates into action. That is why liberals, who think that anything and everything is ok and create reasons for people to act irresponsibly, do our society an injustice. It's the whole Sodom and Gomorrah-thing.
Bottom line: too many parents don't give a damn about their kids' education. In fact, some only enroll their children in school to keep welfare checks rolling in. Yet, they somehow expect the schools the educate their kids--the very ones who never picked up a book--let alone learned their ABCs before first grade. The same ones who aren't sure who their parents are; the same kids whose parents have a long history of counterproductive, even destructive behavior. Kids who have absolutely no self-discipline, and no incentive to learn.
Bad kids and rotten parents are two big reasons that public education is in a mess today. I'll bet this Florida mom who expresses "surprise" at her daughter's pending failure is another example of a parent who has done nothing to support her child's education....
The little girl won't be all that devastated if this is the case, most of her little friends will likely be held back also. It would be more devastating to find out on high school graduation day that you can't read.
You're a better man than I am, Gunga-Din ...
When I retired, I was approached by the local school system about going through training to become a teacher. I told them, in no uncertain words, not only "No", but "He**, no!". After 18 years as an NCO, I knew that I couldn't take the indiscipline and lack of self-control exhibited by the little thugs going through the motions of attending classes or their "you-can't-flunk-my-little-Jamil-just-because-he-can't-do-the-word" sorry excuses for parents.
I had this vision of me in jail as a result of this obvious conflict.
That's true---a parent sending their child to public school or any school is still mostly responsible for what the child learns. Parents should read to their children and have a lot of books around, and also the parents should set an example by reading books themselves. Children who can't read usually have parents who sit in front of the television for hours and set that example.
Actually, I comprehend the article fine (thanks for the slight). I think that you missed the point of the article. The article is about the kids that can't read and them being held back, not about 1 girl who may have a reading problem. You may not think that, but when you say I didn't comprehend the article and point to a rather trivial point in the story...that is supposed to contradict the points that I made?
And you are commenting on my comprehension abilities?
Great truth in this. On one Parents' Night, when I was still teaching, one mother who had fought bitterly and lost the battle to have her son promoted attended. Her son was repeating the grade in my classroom, he had also repeated a grade previously and was a very slow learner, but she could never accept that fact. When she saw the work that was displayed on the bulletin boards and the high level of the activities the other kids were involved in, she ran out of the classroom crying. I followed her down the corridor and she said that it was the first time she realized that he was so far behind. Although she had been advised for years by former teachers that he had a learning difficulty, it wasn't until she saw the comparison that she finally accepted it.
Your comments echo those of my old college roommate, who is also a high school teacher. He says that the one overriding factor in a child's academic success is parental involvement. According to him, all the stats about race, gender, economic status, etc., are irrelevant if a parent is involved in the child's education.
I don't see that repeating the whole school year will help her,unless she is behind in everything,altho she sounds like she has a severe reading problem that should be worked on in 'special classes' while she furthers what she can do.But, only if she has shown throughout the year she has and can progress in her reading.
If she's behind in everything then yes, she should repeat the grade. I think I would check into private school if I was her parent, seems she needs more than what is offered in the public school.
Ok...maybe I am being unfair to the parent. Maybe the little girl has a legitimate reading problem? But, all too often, this is the situation.
Your point is well made. In fact, I was referring to the pervasive problem of lazy parents, not necessarily the individual circumstance, though from my comments it would have been construed as attacking the mother.
My apologies to you and the mother. There. Is that better?
No apologies to me needed tho...I just thought the mom sounded like she was involved and didn't deserve to be bashed,unlike those who have no clue what it is to be a parent.
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