Speech of the Week: Denise Janssen Eager speaks to Evansville School Board on GT/Remedial Reading--Why it is of Critical Importance for all students

(Ed. note: This speech of Denise Eager was notable in the presentations of parents to the Evansville School Board last Monday night. I have published it without any editing. The school board voted to preserve the GT/Remedial Reading position.)



Dear Michael Pierick, School Board Members & Heidi Carvin,

My name is Denise Janssen Eager. My husband & I want to express our support for keeping the Gifted/Talented & Remedial Reading Programs intact.

We have a 7-year-old son, Ian, in the first grade at Levi Leonard Elementary. At the beginning of Kindergarten he began learning in the Gifted & Talented Program under the guidance of Nancy Kress. From the start, we have been very impressed with the caliber of educational enrichment this program brings into his life. He is excited about learning new concepts everyday. The program nurtures his curiosity while allowing him to take risks with learning & not be a perfectionist. That’s a tough combination! And I should know, because I am not just his Mom (though that is qualification enough), I am also a Special Education – Cross Categorical Teacher at Emerson Elementary School in the Madison Metropolitan School District. My DPI license actually states that I am an Emotionally Disturbed Teacher. I have been teaching in Special Education for 24+years. Therefore I believe I am doubly qualified to speak to this issue. But while you have heard from many other parents to what this program does for their child, I will speak to you about what this program does for all the children at Levi Leonard Elementary School.

The Gifted/Talented & Remedial Reading Programs benefit all the students in grades K-2. Nancy currently teaches more than 70 Kindergarten, First, & Second grade students each week. The classrooms these students come from have fewer remaining students in each of them; which translates into the classroom teacher being able meet the diverse academic & behavioral needs of each child with greater likelihood of success.
If this position were eliminated, the teacher would be expected to meet the very high & very low academic & behavioral needs of students who would be returning to the classroom, in addition to the needs of the students who have remained with her, with no in-classroom help.
These are children who, if left in their classrooms for reading, math, & science with only their teacher supplying the instruction, would not be able to learn to the high degree of success they are currently learning:
The children who require additional remedial support for reading &/or math, would not be able to learn at the pace they currently are. They would have to compete with the 16+ other children for the teacher’s attention to learn. As much as the teacher tried s/he would not be able to effectively differentiate the curriculum to their lower ability levels. These children will become frustrated & bored.
The children who require enrichment (gifted & talented support) for reading, math, &/or science, would not be able to learn at the pace they currently are. They would have to compete with 16+ other children for the teacher’s attention to learn. As much as the teacher tried s/he would not be able to effectively differentiate the curriculum to their higher ability levels. These children will become frustrated & bored.
The children who are learning their reading, math, & science with the classroom teacher, will now have to compete with 16+ other children for the teacher’s attention to learn. These children will become frustrated & bored.
Children who are frustrated & bored will misbehave and cause disruptions &/or they will shutdown. Either way, they will be unavailable to the opportunity to learn. Also, as the classroom teacher’s time is frequently taken up by needing to deal with these behaviors, it will take valuable learning time away from all the students.
After a period of time of trying to make it work in the classroom for the neediest students, the teacher will most likely refer them for learning disabilities &/or emotional behavioral disabilities evaluation (special education) due to their academic needs are not being met in the classroom.
Your Special Education Numbers would go up. You would have to hire more Special Education Teachers & Assistants.
Even after a child is placed in Special Education, that important & valuable learning time between the start of next fall’s school year & when the Special Education services begin is lost & can never be replaced. These children will likely only fall further & further behind in learning as compared to their classmates as they progress through the grade levels.
The district would then have an extremely difficult time meeting the federally mandated No Child Left Behind testing criteria, as you well know, each year they must meet what is considered ‘adequate yearly progress’ with each child – including those in Special Education.
By the year 2014 when all children, including those in Special Education, are expected to be proficient in reading, my son’s class will be in the 9th grade. I sadly doubt, that this group of learners will be winning any National Blue Ribbon Awards for passing the WKCE with advanced achievement.
The elimination of these programs will not just impact our current students - it will also impact our future students. Future Kindergarten classrooms of students who will come into our school (all with a wide variety of skills) will not have the educational levels of support which support, remediate, & enrich both ends of the learning continuum. The vision for a high quality education that we have grown to expect from our school district will not be there because of this one decision.
I can speak to this issue, because this is the scenario that is playing out in the Madison Metropolitan School District due to their cutting back their gifted & talented programs. This is part of what I do every day. I work with bright children who were never identified as gifted & talented or needing a different way to learn to read. They became bored, frustrated, & caused all sorts of disruptions in their classrooms. They were then evaluated, labeled Emotionally/Behaviorally Disturbed or as having a Specific Learning Disability & placed with me. Some of these children can be helped. Some have already given up.

So it’s up to you, what do you wish to be known as: a school district with a high number of students in Special Education. Or would you rather be a school district with a vision that every child will not be left behind & all children have the potential to be Blue Ribbon Award winners.

I hope you will agree with me.

Sincerely,

Denise Janssen Eager