- Jan 20, 2001
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CNN
A child I examined last week was a beautiful little blue-eyed blonde with a thousand watt smile . . . and a one-word vocabulary.
Depending on the study, mental retardation has a prevalence of 1-3%. By definition your IQ has to be less than 70 . . . but a kid with a 72 isn't likely to do very well on a standardized test. IQ isn't quite normally distributed but if 1-3% of the population has an IQ<70, a multiple of that will have an IQ of 70-80.
The take home is that every child can learn and every child/family SHOULD expect schools/teachers/politicians to do everything possible to help every child achieve . . . but this legislation is a pile of poo. In fact, one of Jim Jefford's rationales for leaving the GOP was the poor funding for Special Education.
When it comes time to take the standardized tests that the federal government uses to measure public schools, many of Harper's students at White Mountain Middle School merely pick answers at random, not realizing the potentially severe consequences for their school.
A child I examined last week was a beautiful little blue-eyed blonde with a thousand watt smile . . . and a one-word vocabulary.
"There have been low expectations for some of these children all along," he said. "And that's not because of mental abilities, but because of poor instruction received in the early grades. We need to challenge schools that these children can achieve. Sure, they will need an intensive program, but they can be brought up to grade level."
For more seriously disabled children, he said, a proposed change to the law would let 1 percent of all children in a district skip the grade-level exams and instead take a test tailored to their abilities. If they scored well on that alternative, it could be counted in their school's favor.
Depending on the study, mental retardation has a prevalence of 1-3%. By definition your IQ has to be less than 70 . . . but a kid with a 72 isn't likely to do very well on a standardized test. IQ isn't quite normally distributed but if 1-3% of the population has an IQ<70, a multiple of that will have an IQ of 70-80.
The take home is that every child can learn and every child/family SHOULD expect schools/teachers/politicians to do everything possible to help every child achieve . . . but this legislation is a pile of poo. In fact, one of Jim Jefford's rationales for leaving the GOP was the poor funding for Special Education.