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Try to find out if he is being bullied in gym class or other places around the school. He is at an age where lots of males start acting like real bastards. Being bullied can really devastate a kid.
I remember being bullied in 5th grade because I was a small short kid with heavy glasses that was a lot smarted than most everyone else. I was a perfect target and beat on like a drum for a couple of years. Hell, it was just like home.
This all ended when I turned 14 and I put on height, weight and a lot of strength. I remembered who bullied me and let then know that it would stop. A couple of the thugs were too stupid to realize I was not kidding so I bent them a little. No more problems.
You have the legal right according to federal laws to have your child evaluated by the school psychologist for a learning disability. If you put it in writing, they have 60 calendar days to get it done. If they resist contact an attorney, if you have to hire the attorney to get action, the school will eventually have to pay all your fees.
There is no choice for the school on this, if you even hint that you think your child needs an evaluation they MUST respond. If the principal is blowing you off, send your written request to either the director of special education or the superintendent.
His Math grade right now is at a D. He did bring it up to a C- last quarter and that was the highest all year. The Math program is new. This is the second year with Everyday Mathematics. He struggles with the daily assignments, quizzes and tests. Almost everyday he has corrections on daily assignments. He did not have this much trouble last year with the same math program although his grade did go from A/B to a C/D in the 4th grade.
SuzyQ123, I have personally gone into the school to address this problem over and over with no solution. Obviously I feel something is going on. I have been voicing my concerns since the 1st quarter of the school year. My husband and I both work full time but still make it a priority to be involved and informed of our childrens educations. Other than planting my butt outside the classroom everyday, all day, to shadow my son, I don't see how much more responsible we can be. We live in a small town that is more than 50 miles away from the nearest learning center such as Sylvan. I have talked with the 4th grade teacher (my youngest son is in the 4th grade and is having no problem with the Math program, has an A-) My son has stayed after school for extra help and finds the help ON HIS OWN. That alone shows personal responsibility on his part. We discuss on a daily basis how Math/school is going. There are only a couple of students in his class in the "mainstream" Math class. Most of the students are in Resource for Math. Out of 11 students in the 5th grade, four are in Regular Math. My kids also voluntarily attend a summer school program to keep up on Math.
You might consider searching for exactly where his problems began. With Math, if he didn't fully grasp a concept before moving on to the next, then he will continue to struggle until that concept has been mastered.
For instance, if he doesn't understand fractions then he will not be able to do word problems, estimation, dividing or multiplying of them. He would also have problems with percentages and many measurements.
So, go back through his work, check when his grades started sliding and see what he was learning before that occurred. See if he really did master each concept before building on it.
By 5th grade there are plenty of real world type applications, more word problems and so on, so that could very well be the issue as well. Perhaps he doesn't know how to extract the information needed in order to solve the problem.
His Math grade right now is at a D. He did bring it up to a C- last quarter and that was the highest all year. The Math program is new. This is the second year with Everyday Mathematics. He struggles with the daily assignments, quizzes and tests. Almost everyday he has corrections on daily assignments. He did not have this much trouble last year with the same math program although his grade did go from A/B to a C/D in the 4th grade.
SuzyQ123, I have personally gone into the school to address this problem over and over with no solution. Obviously I feel something is going on. I have been voicing my concerns since the 1st quarter of the school year. My husband and I both work full time but still make it a priority to be involved and informed of our childrens educations. Other than planting my butt outside the classroom everyday, all day, to shadow my son, I don't see how much more responsible we can be. We live in a small town that is more than 50 miles away from the nearest learning center such as Sylvan. I have talked with the 4th grade teacher (my youngest son is in the 4th grade and is having no problem with the Math program, has an A-) My son has stayed after school for extra help and finds the help ON HIS OWN. That alone shows personal responsibility on his part. We discuss on a daily basis how Math/school is going. There are only a couple of students in his class in the "mainstream" Math class. Most of the students are in Resource for Math. Out of 11 students in the 5th grade, four are in Regular Math. My kids also voluntarily attend a summer school program to keep up on Math.
I have bolded the proverbial "elephant in the corner" of this program at least from what I see in my area. Exposure to EDM in early grades (as I often hear as an excuse why some kids "don't get it" - right along with "parents don't know how to do it, teachers don't know how to teach it, or kids are just too lazy" ) IMO, isn't as big an issue as it's made out to be. I base this observation on my own experience with children who have had EDM since 1st grade. I know that having it in Kindergarten wouldn't make that much difference in my case anyway.
I also agree that parents need to be responsible; however, it is extremely difficult for most parents who weren't trained in the methodology that is required in EDM to be proactive in helping their kids. Most of the time, children are told NOT to ask their parents for help with EDM because "they won't know how to do it." That's very counterproductive IMO.
I spent an entire summer teaching myself the algorithms of EDM. I used a teacher's edition so that I would see each step, and made sure to ask questions of my son's teachers when there was something that I failed to understand. In the end, I resorted to teaching my son the traditional algorithm for long division, and I'm glad I did because in middle school, he uses Connected Mathematics and traditional algorithms. Talk about frustrating.
He had basically no exposure to traditional algorithms with the exception of what I taught him over the summer because EDM uses partial quotients (which is basically backward from traditional). Fortunately, my son is not a behavioral problem and is a hard worker, or it would have been far more difficult for both of us. He also spent a lot of time working after school. He wanted to learn it the way all of his friends did.
Its spiral pedagogy has it skipping around subjects (a little of this, a little of that and then off to something else before spiraling back to the first topic) is very frustrating IMHO to children who haven't had the opportunity to master one thing much less 2 or 3. Many parents I've spoken with have expressed concern that during the following year that by the time something has spiraled back, their kids have forgotten how to do what they learned the first time.
From many of my special ed teacher friend's perspectives, it does little but frustrate their students into feeling depressed. For students who are gifted in mathematics, it seems to be a good program. As for the rest who are average - not so much from what I'm seeing.
So, I guess in the end, if you don't see bullying as an issue (great posts about that here btw) or something else going on, you may want to consider how he feels about this math program.
Sylvan did a brisk business in my area before it closed when the economy tanked. I noticed that they have an online tutoring option though so maybe that's a route you could take if you can afford it should you find that the program is in fact the problem. Also, parents in my area have been able to find teachers or older students who offer tutoring services.
We are also fortunate to have a Masonic Lodge Learning Center in our area that does a great job with tutoring. Maybe there's something like that closer to your area???
Great comments by reloop. It may just be the Everyday Math program that is the problem, for your child's learning style and/or the way it has been taught or not taught each progressive year (like lessons may have been skipped). I googled "everyday math review". Here's a blog I found that may be helpful. Parent Pundit: If your school has Everyday Math
A similar problem occured for these folks, same aged child. The solution for them was an online math program during the summer and at home drills (their daughter benefits by more drill).
You have the legal right according to federal laws to have your child evaluated by the school psychologist for a learning disability. If you put it in writing, they have 60 calendar days to get it done. If they resist contact an attorney, if you have to hire the attorney to get action, the school will eventually have to pay all your fees.
There is no choice for the school on this, if you even hint that you think your child needs an evaluation they MUST respond. If the principal is blowing you off, send your written request to either the director of special education or the superintendent.
I deal with this all the time.
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I was coming back here to post just this (I'm currently a school psych intern myself). If it's put into writing, then legally they have to do something.
The other possibility prior to an evaluation, at least in our district, is putting a series of interventions into place and seeing how well he responds, as sometimes the extra boost is all that is needed. However, it sounds from the information provided like this has already been done and hasnt proven successful. If he is continuing to strugges as he has, without signs of improvement, then by all means, you should request an eval. At the very least, it will pinpoint specific strengths/weaknesses and give you a better idea of his learning style and how best to respond to it, even if he does not qualify for services. He's also fortunate in that he seems to have a good teacher, which is a big piece of the puzzle.
I'm no parent, but I've interacted with many and IMO, you're doing absolutely the right thing by advocating for him.
I was coming back here to post just this (I'm currently a school psych intern myself). If it's put into writing, then legally they have to do something.
The other possibility prior to an evaluation, at least in our district, is putting a series of interventions into place and seeing how well he responds, as sometimes the extra boost is all that is needed. However, it sounds from the information provided like this has already been done and hasnt proven successful. If he is continuing to strugges as he has, without signs of improvement, then by all means, you should request an eval. At the very least, it will pinpoint specific strengths/weaknesses and give you a better idea of his learning style and how best to respond to it, even if he does not qualify for services. He's also fortunate in that he seems to have a good teacher, which is a big piece of the puzzle.
I'm no parent, but I've interacted with many and IMO, you're doing absolutely the right thing by advocating for him.
If the district is current then they should be using the RtII model, not the discrepancy model; and as such, they should have caught this problem and dealt with it. On the other side of the coin, while as educators what have multiple IRI, testing devices, DIBELS, there are precious few measures of math issues, and even less scientifically based programs for it, and even less for the higher levels beyond basic facts. ..........Just not enough research in this area.
5th grade is where some learning disabilities start to become more apparant. See Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy to educate yourself. You do have to right to request in writing that he be evaluated. See that sight for your letter templates and procedures.
I have a 19 yr old that just last year was diagnosed with dyslexia and I didn't realize there was something wrong until I started doing all the research and then all his problems started making sense (not all kids have the same symptoms). The school system fought me, and luckily I was successful having him evaluated due to the info on that site.
If this were my child, I'd have him evaluated. If the school will not help, then I'd look for an independent company who could evaluate him. He is begging for help.
I'd go for a full physical too. Including sight/hearing.
This is not something that "just happens" overnight. When you go over school work with him, do you see his mistakes? Is he skipping steps? Not getting the math right? Rushing through?
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) IMO, isn't as big an issue as it's made out to be. I base this observation on my own experience with children who have had EDM since 1st grade. I know that having it in Kindergarten wouldn't make that much difference in my case anyway.
