OAT Results Have Arrived

Will's test scores arrived in the mail today.

He did ok. He scored just about the same on the reading portion as he did in the fall. He scored a 421 (420 last fall). That falls in the Accelerated range, so that is good.

Math is another story. He scored a 409. That falls in the Proficient range, but toward the bottom. 400 is the bottom. The 3rd graders did not take the math portion last fall so we do not have anything to compare it to. Except his peers. 32% of all 3rd graders fell in the proficent range. 9 % under that. That means that 59% of his peers did better than he did...

I guess that is not exactly average now is it? But it is considered proficient and is meeting grade standards so as far as the school is concerned he is fine. But, is he?

I feel like, at this point, we need to pull a tutor in. We now have these test results and can show a potential tutor where his strengths and weaknesses are. I am leaning towards contacting one of the 4th grade teachers that tutor and seeing if we can't at least get him some math tutoring. I know he will hate it, but I think he needs it.

His teachers suggested it.

His father doesn't want to spend the money on it.

Ugh! I need to get him on the same page. How can $40/hr. X 1 or 2 days a week for 8 weeks be too much money if we are talking about having our son in a good position to start 4th grade? Let's see that would be $320 for 1 hour a week or $640 for 2 hours a week. Yes, it is a lot of money. But, we can't do it.

I have been diligent about the boys doing their Summer Bridge book, though diligent means we do it when we are not having sleepovers or are out too late. They have gotten through 15 days of it. It is a good book and tough, but I don't think enough to draw Will in to where he ought to be.

Chris thinks maybe his 4th grade teacher will inspire him to do better in math. What? Really, now we are just waiting for the right teacher to inspire him? I don't know about that.

I am due some moolah from Greg, maybe I will throw it into this tutoring. Sucks I have to do that, but...

Results of Big Meeting

So, this morning was the big meeting. Two teachers (MS. R and Ms. K), school counselor (sc), school psychologist (sp), campus principal and ME!

The sp began the meeting by saying that typically when meetings such as these are called it is about a child she has heard of. Whether through intervention programs, behavior problems, etc... but that she had never heard Will's name until now. She assured me that that was a good thing.

She told me about the various disabilities the schools are required to test for.

She asked the teachers to tell her about Will. We heard a lot about his careless mistakes, lack of paying attention, pension for asking questions already covered, and more. We went over some of his work that he struggled with, why he seemed to struggle with it. She asked the teachers great questions to get a better idea of Will's capabilities.

At one point she asked Ms. R how one of the examples of work compared to her students on IEP's. She asked if it was something she would have given to those students and she said no. They never would have been able to complete that assignment. Will's mistakes were careless errors, not a lack of understanding how to complete the work.

They all agreed that he is typical because there is such a wide range of typical. There are plenty of children that struggle. Will is just very inconsistent. He can have some good weeks/test/assignments and then followed by an N or an F on something. That is the hard part.

We looked at his OAT scores. We looked at his second grade testing, which I was convinced was very mediocre at best. They told me that the scores were very average which was good. Yes, they said good.

Bottom line is that the sp sees no reason to suspect a learning disability. She says we need to meet with his 4th grade teacher very early on in the year and express our concerns with what has been going on with him in 3rd grade. She thinks it is important to get that known up front. The teachers suggest we do some tutoring for Will this summer, which I had already been considering. (I just have to get Dad on board with that one)

The principal asked me if I had filled out the placement evaluation, which I did, in length. That will help the sc make the placement. And, I know the sc well, so I have high hopes for Will's fourth grade teacher. I am sure she will place him with someone that can handle all of this.

I came away feeling good. I don't feel like I have all the answers. I did ask about all this talk of lack of attention and careless mistake making. She suggested we wait until 4th grade and see how the year begins before we go looking into ADHD as a possibility. So I do think we will go into 4th grade on a positive note and with everyone on the same page.