Blog 7B Jim Ihnat to Sandra Zeman

I enjoyed your paper and powerpoint presentation. I agree that teaching exceptional learners individually but testing them as a whole is a complex situation.  Modifications and accommodations are put into place by the IEP team to help students overcome the problems of taking standardized state assessments.  After all, isn't that what education has turned into, successfully taking standardized tests.  Long gone are the days when a teacher could teach something fun and out of the ordinary.  No now every lesson, test, presentation and so-on is geared to the standardized test.  Because of this, accommodations are put into place to assist exceptional learners.  I am in favor of accommodations, whether exceptional learner or not.  lets face it, even if one is not an exceptional learner, we all have something that we need that would help us.  Modifications on the other hand are more tricky.  My client that I work with in the 5th grade is supposed to have his math work modified to help him.  It's in his IEP, yet I rarely saw evidence of accommodations since I started working with him in the 3rd grade.  what about the students that do receive modifications, are they going to be overwhelmed and frustrated when it come time to take the state test?  Not every student that receives modifications also receives alternative assessment.  Help will always be given to those who need it, however a teacher needs to take initiative and work with the student to help them understand how thins are being modified and what type of accommodations they are receiving.