This past weekend’s post about Common Core not rhyming with Individual Educational Plans brought over 1,000 Facebook likes. For a relatively new Blogger this jumped out at me as a sure sign that people, especially parents with students who have special needs and their teachers, are fed up with Common Core State Standards which have little redeeming value when it comes the education of children who struggle with disabilities. So I wonder. Isn’t it time for some class action outside of the classroom?
A lot of people recognize that the CCSS has age-appropriate problems and is off in other ways too. Young children are faced with ever more outlandish situations when it comes to their learning. Reports of play being extinguished in kindergarten and even preschool, in favor of rigor, make those of us who understand children and child development cringe! I’d say there are lawsuits aplenty here alone.
But as a special educator, the lacking special education component reflects a push in the last 20 years, or more, to rid schools of special education in general. In Misguided Education Reform I write about reauthorizations that have pushed us backwards instead of forward. I express fear that students with disabilities will eventually return to state institutions. Outlandish? Take a look at New Orleans where charters send students with disabilities back to public schools that have turned into dumping grounds. See http://www.splcenter.org/access-denied/special-education-in-new-orleans-public-schools and http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2013/08/special_education_students_sti.html. Where’s the so-called inclusion in that scenario? Thank goodness the Southern Poverty Law Center is in this fight.
I come from the era that saw the removal of children from horrendous conditions in state hospitals. The evolution of education to a Free Appropriate Public Education for ALL, which we acronym lovers coined affectionately as FAPE became the law of the land. Court cases like the landmark 1971 Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC) and the 1972 Mills v. Board of Education were monumental in obtaining education services for ALL children.
Isn’t it time for parents and teachers who complain about CCSS and its lacking support of their children to gather together for some new class action suits over the word “appropriate” when it comes to curriculum surrounding Common Core? There is power in numbers. We know this. So instead of fussing and fretting, connect with other parents and teachers in your state who share your concerns. We know what is right and wrong when it comes to educating. Do what is right! Search for a lawyer who will hear your concerns. And then make your case.
I have been thinking the same thing for over a year! YES! Thank you!
It overdue for a lawsuit to right this wrong to our children. Especially those who learn differently.
My learning disabled child is NOT disposable! She will NOT be placed in a home! She is just as important to me and is loved just as my other 4 children! These people making these standards should lose their job.
Common Core is educational malpractice and should be stopped for ALL children. Parents cannot assist their children with their homework. Teachers are frustrated and the children are left frustrated.
If I knew how to start a class action suit against the Board of Education for Educational Malpractice I would do so.