I have taught for 16 years here in Los Angeles and this is my last year. My employment terminates June 30. I just cannot take it any more. A huge chunk of the kids who can’t read are designated Special Ed, and if you fail them and they have litigious parents, look out. The pressure to just pass as many kids as you can is immense. And the prevailing attitude of administration is, if that child didn’t pass, what did you do wrong? His IEP says he gets preferential seating, so did you put him in the front row? What? You have 12 Sped kids in that class and only 6 front row seats? Well, put them all in the first two ro— what? Our last PD said not to put them all together or they just screw around all period? Well, I know it’s difficult but you have to find a way to make sure you’re following 12 different IEPs and differentiating for them plus the regular students and any gifted ones. Do you need some more training or time to work on your lesson plans? How about Saturday? You learn to pass any kids who do a modicum of work. And if testing shows they can’t read past the 2nd grade level, well, they are Special Ed, it’s not their fault! You can’t discriminate against them based on their disability! That’s illegal! The whole thing is a farce and I am out. I have 4 more weeks to go and then I am leaving California.
Unreal.
Wow! Thank you for your real-life report from the front lines. It must be immensely frustrating for teachers who really want to educate kids to have to work in such a situation with such unmotivated kids.
I have a classmate teaching 5th grade in LAUSD. A nightmare.
She is ready to wrap it up as well. Good luck on your exit.
People who aren’t in education have no idea how bad things are. Special Ed/IEP students have first call on a district’s resources. If regular classroom teachers have to be let go to provide for the special ed kid’s needs, so be it. The law requires that they be educated in the least restrictive way possible. That means they have to be in the regular classroom as much as possible, no matter how disruptive they are. Tourette’s syndrome where they shout whatever comes to mind—too bad. Oppositional Defiance Disorder, where they don’t like to do what they’re told, you have to cope with it. The fact that none of the normal kids in the class have a prayer of learning anything is beside the point. The IEP kids come first.
Good luck. Hope you find a better state!