by: Kenzie Smith
In the following article, a special education teacher has found that the new guidelines established by the Common Core have made reading and learning for her students very difficult. These new guidelines are a one size fits all sort of straightjacket put on learning. This is the complete opposite of Universal Design from class in which we learned that it is designed to meet the needs of all students in a flexible way that is able to accommodate and provide equal access to everyone. Many schools across the United States are adapting the Common Core initiative after the 2004 re-authorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requiring children with disabilities “to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum” and dozens of teachers have begun to complain. They are increasingly expected to align each day’s lesson with one or more of these standards, causing less room for remediation or acceleration of the students. Personally I have seen where kids with autism are able to succeed in a standard education class. When I was in eight grade I had two boys, one autistic while the other had cerebral palsy, in my advanced science class and both did just fine. However, those who lack the ability to do well because of either school or something such as being bullied have it a lot tougher. Stephen, a boy with autism in this article was bullied and ostracized and then chose to quit school. I find this article very relevant from learning about all of the work people have fought for over the years in the court cases and with all of the laws passed to get help for kids with special needs when it comes to education. After all we could at least make flexible standards to help them succeed! :)