11/30/98 For this article I chose to read "A Decision Model for Grading Students with Disabilities" from the journal "Teaching Exceptional Children" which is a journal published for members of the Council for Exceptional Children. Being a special ed. teacher, it is always a hot topic when grading comes due. The article states many important points. They are as follows: *Using a decision model, teachers can minimize misunderstandings and potential conflict that can arise from differences in grading practices. *Teachers who work together on behalf of students must have a process that enables them to communicate student progress effectively with others. *Grades are communicating a message to a potential audience. Professionals need to be sure that the communication clearly presents accurate information about the student with a disability. *Few teachers have adequate preparation for the collaborative process of developing grading practices for students in inclusive classrooms. *Effective problem solving that bring teachers to agreement have the following characteristics: The techniques remove personalities from the discussion, the methods focus on the interest of the individual, the participants look to invent options for mutual gain, and the participants develop objective critieria that include fain standards and fair procedures. As a special ed. teacher myself, I have found it quite simple to develop a plan with the regular ed teachers. However, being in an elementary, it is much easier because I do not need to connect with several teachers that are involved in the education of the individual students. But, from my experience, we write the IEP as a team with all members present. We discuss all goals and objectives and we do not have any forms signed by parents until we all agree. The objectives that we write have a certain percentage as a goal. We use this percentage as a guage as to how they are doing on each academic goal that we have established. I actually take data each day from the daily work that we do. So, when it comes time for the report card, I have several examples of just what the child has earned. I have consult time with each of the regular classroom teachers, so it allows us time to discuss the progress.

-- Anonymous, November 30, 1998

Answers

Cindy, I just wanted to comment that I'm glad to see you have such a good system with the other teachers you work with, when it comes to grading Special Education Students. Grading in itself is no easy task, and I find myself (almost daily) struggling with grades. I teach Physical Education at the High School level, and grading is probably one of our problem areas.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 1998

This is my 2nd Article respone in the Professional Article category. February 2, 1999 I read an article titled "Summer Camp with a Cultural Twist" in the February 1999 edition of American Teacher. It discussed some experiences of an Asian male who had a hard time feeling like he fit in to his school because he and his brother were the only Asians in his elementary school. His parents sent both of them to a Korean Culture Camp in Michigan. This camp included several other Koreans and it made him realize that he was accepted for who he was. He has now become a counselor at this camp himself. What was really interesting in this article was that it was stated that Minnesota has the highest number of Korean adoptees in the United States! This was a bit of trivia that I was unaware of. With this being the case, I guess I don't really see a high number in my own school, so I would not have known that fact to be true. Being a white female, I have never felt that I don't fit in to a group in any situation based on my nationality. My heart breaks for the people that have experienced this to be reality. In my own classroom, I treat all student with respect and I expect that they also treat each other with that same respect. I would be interested to hear other comments on experiences you've had with this issue. Cindy : )

-- Anonymous, February 02, 1999

Here is my Professional Journal Article response for April 1999. In reviewing the article titled: Parenting Styles and Academic Achievement: A Cross-Cultural Study by Wai-Lim Lam, Sing Lau and Kwok Leung, we discussed two main styles of parenting. The article compared parenting styles of the following three cultures: Chinese, Australian and American. For this review, we focused on American parenting styles. The first parenting style discussed was authoritarian. In this style, parents attempted to control their children with absolute standards, expected obedience, respect for authority and preservation of order from children. Authoritarianism is associated with a controlling style that is over demanding and nonrewarding, it is difficult to see how any cultural values can cushion or reverse its negative impact. It is therefore predicted that authoritarianism is related to poor academic performance for Americans (160). The other style discussed in the article was that of an authoritative parent. This style is characterized by parents expecting mature behavior from their children, setting clear standards, enforcing rules and standards firmly, using commands and sanctions only when necessary, encouraging independence, individuality and open communication, and recognizing the rights of the children. Authoritativeness showed a positive effect on academic performance. This article looked at other factors potentially influencing academic success. It was noted that the educational level, as well as the marital status of parents, did not have an effect on the academic achievement of students. Our group found that this was very interesting. After reading and discussing this article, and using our best judgment as educated professionals, the authoritative parenting style helps to nurture the academic needs of students. However, when children receive poor grades, parental support and help may not be sufficient, and it must be coupled with effective learning strategies (170). By teaching low achievers to utilize effective learning strategies, we, as educators, will help to increase their academic success.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 1999