Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Hearing Impaired Program May Move because of low CSAP scores???


Hearing-impaired Program may be moving from University High Charter school because of their low CSAP scores? I would rather call it as a deaf and hard of hearing program than a hearing-impaired program! They said in this article that their Charter's own curriculum was lacking and its overall scores would be low. I am not sure where they will go. I assume that they'll probably go to a public school with a regular curriculum and more supervision on the program. I don't really know yet. So, I'll find out about that later when I have a chance to talk with someone who works at the school. It's in my hometown and I graduated from University High School in 1985.
Here is the article of our hometown newspaper today and you can click at it to make it readable. It explains why, so I don't need to repeat.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's the problem - when deaf students take standardized exams, those exams often wind up as a measure of how well they read English.

The newspaper mentioned the school prides on its "language acquistion programs". What did they mean by that? English acquisition? Home language acquisition? English Only? Bilingual approach?

Typical of school administrators - blaming students for flaws within the system.

Epic fail.

Deb Ann and Hannah said...

I believe it's English Signed language. I will ask some more questions around. I heard that there aren't enough interpreters at the school. One of the students told me that she can't understand the interpreter's signing in ASL during her classes. She doesn't know much of ASL. Most of the interpreters I believe use PSE she is used to.
That's all I know of, but I will try to find time to keep everyone updated.

Anonymous said...

That school is in my office neighborhood. I look forward to seeing that school get the hell out so I can expand my new education program for deaf kids.

Deb Ann and Hannah said...

Hello Richard! I am so surprised that you left your message on my blog! What do you exactly do about the new education program for deaf kids? What will the programs be like?

Barinthus,

Speaking of the English Acquistion,
I believe that they are talking about English language. I am glad you brought it up because my husband and I are not sure about that. I am going to find out about it.

Kim said...

Hi Deb Ann,
I read the article and I feel two ways. First of all, I don't know much about the testing-- if it is given to ALL students or just some-- but I feel the test scores should be thrown out because it said the students were supposed to be accommodated and the school faculty didn't know that so the students weren't.

BUT-- I do feel students should be able to read English well enough by high school to take a standardized test. Sorry. We live in an English speaking country. I believe our schools are failing our Deaf children when they don't teach them how to read and write English properly. I know Deaf children are smart enough to learn English by high school. If we allow schools to get away with substandard education, it's like saying we think the Deaf are too stupid to learn English. Let's not accept substandard education. If the school isn't teaching them, it SHOULD be closed down. :-)

Deb Ann and Hannah said...

Thumbs up, Kim! They are smart, I agree! ;)

Honestly, we, the Deaf kids, grew up playing around too much in our reading class and we didn't really get into reading. Our male teacher (I think it's wise not to say their names) was flirting with the female other teacher who wasn't working during that Reading hour.

Deb Ann and Hannah said...

Sorry, it was my typing. I meant the female teacher.

OCDAC said...

We'll have two main offerings. Academic and vocational education. The big difference is it will be an education system where the staff work and the students can learn in a "Levy Free" zone.

OCDAC said...

To be honest with you all, I knew the school's hearing impaired program was in jeopardy many months already. It all began when I got a VP call from a deaf person who works at Goodwill industries to report hes seeing t-shirts associated with one of University High's ASL preservation programs being dumped by the caseloads at their donation centers. Then I saw the shirts at one of their stores sold for $1.99 each.

Deb Ann and Hannah said...

Really? What did it say on the shirt? Were they trying to fight for ASL? Did they want to have ASL in their school?