This month we met with the CARE team members and came up with a "game plan" that we all agree with. The team consisted of:
ESE Liaison
School Psychologist
Guidance Counselor
Sp/Lang. Pathologist
ESE teacher
We determined that placing a child with limited education into an ESE class would NOT meet his needs. He does not have a learning disability and is simply having to play catch up. They gave us the option of "opting out" of standardized testing.
Seriously...what good comes out of Joseph taking a 5th grade FSA test when he's currently 3 grades behind? What has happened to common sense in education?
He will receive ESOL support 3-4 times a week and Tier II help in reading and math. Tier II supplemental instruction is for students not making grade level benchmarks. They will provide small group instruction (3-5 students) no less than three times per week for a minimum of 20-30 minutes on top of ESOL support.
He will continue to have him remain in a mainstream classroom and will advance into Middle school next year. We chose to have him repeat 5th grade this year so he will be entering Middle school at 13. We are still not sure how this will affect sports and this is a huge concern for us that will need to be addressed next year.
Just when i have things figured out this year in elementary school, Middle school is coming up quickly. I need to meet with the ESOL liaison and figure out the game plan for next year.
In a nutshell, this process starts all over for Middle school.
