Comments on: Will national standards fail autistic students?

By: Hilary

Hilary — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:25:25 +0000

An architect of No Child Left Behind and an advocate of charter (private voucher-type) schools now has major doubts. The data shows (as critics suggested it would) that NCLB narrows the taught curriculum and doesn’t raise standards and that charter schools take resources from the public system but aren’t any better quality.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/education/03ravitch.html?hp=&pagewanted=all%3Cbr%20/%3E

By: Special Education: this one is for George. « Red Alert

Special Education: this one is for George. « Red Alert — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:02:07 +0000

[...] development, including in the virtual world. In the meantime, have a read of Hilary Stace’s comments on the possible impact on the national standards on children with autism. Interesting and worrying [...]

By: Joanna Curzon

Joanna Curzon — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:47:46 +0000

Here is a response to Hilary’s comments from Mary Chamberlain, Group Manager in the Ministry of Education:

I would like to address several concerns raised in this post regarding National Standards.

National Standards are descriptions of what students should know and be able to do in reading, writing and maths to be able to succeed in all areas of the New Zealand Curriculum.

Children will not be denied playtime or other interesting subjects and teachers will not be asked to narrow the curriculum. Progress against the standards will be assessed by teachers in a variety of ways, throughout the year. That assessment will show parents, teachers and students what they need to do next to support and extend the student’s learning.

Most students, including those with autism, will be able to show progress against, and achieve within, these standards. There is a very small group of students who are likely to learn long term within Level One of the New Zealand Curriculum whose progress will be assessed against the standards as part of their Individual Education Programme (IEP) processes.

National Standards are about supporting all children to make progress in reading, writing and maths. Research is clear that if standards are used to set clear goals with students; if students know what they need to do to achieve the goal; and, if their parents and teachers support them and provide useful feedback, then all students will achieve more.

Mary Chamberlain
Group Manager
Ministry of Education

By: Giovanni

Giovanni — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:13:42 +0000

Thank you for this Hilary, and I think a big hear, hear is in order.

By: Martin Sullivan

Martin Sullivan — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:10:08 +0000

Thanks for your “born out of your parental experience” comments Hilary. My view is that the proposed national standards are going to be damaging for the majority of disabled students especially those who have impaired motor skills or are slower learners. As you point out they, as with autistics, will be labeled failures from the get go because they will be so narrowly tested on a limited range of skills.

I think the politicians need to listen to the experts on this. And the experts are not the psychologists, reading recovery experts and so on, but those with autism you quote who have spoken out on the dangers of such a narrowly focused testing regimes.

So thanks Hilary for sharing your thoughts on the vexed question of national standards and for drawing our attention to what those with the lived expertise have to say about the damaging effects such ’standards’ had on them and their pals.

I think its a real shame that our educators have been forced back into the business of labelling and failing students by their political masters (or mistresses) for ideological reasons rather than sound, scientific ones.

Kia kaha Hilary – keep up the good fight!

By: Hilary

Hilary — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:57:25 +0000

I would like to confirm that this post is my own opinion as a parent, a former school board member, and primarily as a researcher on autism. I have come to the conclusions mentioned after assessing the evidence as I see it. I am not writing as a member of any organisation.

Autism NZ was offered a meeting with the select committee after some lobbying, but that privilege was not given to others in the sector who had concerns. It is a now exactly a year since the Education Standards Act was passed through all its stages under urgency. Rather than dying down as an issue, it has remained controversial and the subject of much media comment, since then.

I repeat that parents and others need to remain vigilant about its implementation, which is due to start in the new school term.