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STAAR-Accommodated Language Analysis

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No teacher denies in the education system that every student learns differently; however, our state refuses to accept such a claim. Close your eyes and imagine a young towheaded boy with bright blue eyes, trying with all his might to express himself at the age of three, but to everyone’s surprise no words can be heard. This young man attending speech therapy would later on come to the realization that learning sounds and reading would be a life long struggle. Now flash forward two years, the little boy is sitting with many grownups in an office room at his new school. His speech is developing, but not at the rate of his peers. The office room is filled with a diagnostician, counselor and his parents who see his remarkable growth as a reflection …show more content…

Currently, the STAAR-Accommodated tests were taken on the computer. This new computerized test was to provide several accommodations to aide the tester. For example, the student can run the mouse over the words to pronounce the word for them. They may also use a highlighter on the screen as well as have a word in the passage defined. These are more steps for the already “disabled” student to learn. Our students are set up for failure before they even sit down at the computer. No doubt, these changes were supposed to help the student, but the irony is many districts could not submit their student’s answers this year due to computer glitches which caused the test to be voided. I’m sure the students were upset as well as the parents about the outcome of the tests scores. In brief, let’s write our representatives to change the STAAR-Accommodation test back to the STAAR-Modified. Stop grading student’s with disabilities on the same level as their regular-learning peers. Reflecting back to that towheaded boy, he worked his way out of the Special Education label because his parents refused services. Remarkably, with the help of excellent teachers, understanding peers and persistent parents, I am attending college and succeeding. A prime example of a slow-learner who caught up quickly with the help of many stupendous people who never stopped believing in

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