Competency Review For Special Education Licenses Special Education License: Fill & Download for Free

A ‘developmentally appropriate education’ has different meanings. It can mean learning what a student is ready to learn. It can be a euphemism for a non-academic education (or a modified curriculum) for students who have cognitive disabilities.The first plain language meaning is the general idea of developmentally appropriate education. It is deceptively simple: teach what a student can learn. For example, a newborn infant isn’t ready to learn to walk or to tie a shoe, so teaching a newborn how to tie a shoe is not a developmentally appropriate educational endeavor.The euphemism ‘developmentally appropriate education’ is used to refer to special education which is not as academically rigorous as the education received by the population of students enrolled in the general education curriculum.The problem in defining what is and is not a developmentally appropriate education for any particular student is that education administrators, teachers, and parents can be ignorant of or mistaken about a specific student’s capabilities. Too often, people in charge of a child's education ignore or underestimate strengths, and have too-low education expectations (because lazy acceptance of the status quo is easier than careful assessment and tailoring education so it is student-centered, and meets the specific learning needs of each student).Generally speaking, the descriptor “a developmentally appropriate education” is used as a special education term to describe a modified individualized education program (“the IEP”), which is designed by an IEP team; completion of the modified program will result in a high school certificate of completion — not in a high school diploma, which is an academic credential awarded for meeting state requirements and completing an unmodified high school curriculum.One student had been placed in a community day class in second grade. I met him when he was 15, and in 10th grade. He had a developmentally appropriate program according to his IEP team. His class periodically reviewed safety rules, and practiced how to cross the street with the green light. He was thought to have “cognitive disabilities” and “defiance.”He was angry. He couldn’t read. He was being bullied. Someone shoved his head into a locker during a six minute passing period before the bell rang — he hated being singled out and publicly identified as having a disability. He felt outed, stigmatized, undervalued, neglected, unprotected, vulnerable, and misjudged.So he deeply wanted to gain abilities and skills he lacked. I never saw such a motivated kid. He wanted to learn to read. He was 15 and didn’t know the entire alphabet or the sounds the letters made.Those tasked with educating him had given him a developmentally appropriate education. They just forgot that he was a person with civil rights,they didn’t know he had a desire to learn, and the capability of learning (if only someone would have taught him!).He had been improperly assessed by incompetent staff. His mother’s participation on the IEP team was limited by her lack of understanding of English and of the special education laws which would allow her to have an interpreter. Plus she was culturally ignorant and thought she had to meekly agree with school authorities. English was a second language for him, he had not begun to learn it by second grade, and he did have some medical issues.But — he could learn, and he did: two years after we met, working four days a week for three hours daily, he was reading at a 4th grade level. He then was able to text with friends using a smart phone, began having a better social life, and ultimately got to a 7th grade reading level. He took, and passed, his test to get a driver’s license.Today, last I heard, he is an independent adult, drives and owns a car, and runs a small shop.A student who is provided with a developmentally appropriate education and is placed in special education needs to be properly assessed by a credentialed testing psychologist who has years of experience testing students with disabilities, communication, processing, and language challenges. Students should be reassessed every three years. A competent psychological-educational evaluation (“psych-ed eval”) will result in a written and lengthy report which is detailed and understandable. It will include recommended accommodations and special education services. The psych-ed eval will identify a student’s strengths and indicate the best modalities for teaching so that learning actually occurs. Progress testing should also occur regularly.Parents have the duty [as holders of a child’s civil rights to a free, appropriate, public education (“FAPE”)] to make sure their child is actually making academic progress. They do this by monitoring academic progress, being an education advocate for their child, and by attending and actively participating in all of their child’s IEP team meetings.For more about being an education advocate see Wrightslaw Special Education Law and Advocacy, a website designed by University of Virginia School of Law Professor Pete Wright and Pam Wright, a social worker and Prof Wright’s spouse.

If you had infinite resources and power to build an ideal high school?Similar to William Chen , my primary concern is curriculum reform. Specifically, curriculum reform should create a diverse work force ready to enter the job market or prepare for college. These are not mutually exclusive goals.Despite its huge size, cultural diversity by state, and local control by 13,500 governing school districts and 133,000 schools, the USA ranks #3 in educational performance according to http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/education-full-list.American four-year high schools have to scale from 1 student to 5,000 students, averaging 850. Americans spends more money per student than any other OECD nation but there is a huge disparity between teaching quality although minimum graduation standards are set by each state.I would encourage larger schools to work with smaller schools for speciality STEM courses using video conferencing, online educational technology, and MOOC | Massive Open Online Courses |For vocational/technical school courses, schools should use more professionals as part-time clinical instructor after providing a basic course in teaching principles similar to Teach For America instead of requiring every classroom teacher to be licensed. The licensed teacher model has not proven to be an effective means for producing good teachers — passion and subject matter expertise works.I believe in local control of public schools. State and federal involvement has failed to recognize the individual talents of students and the needs of local communities. International standardarized scores do not recognize the socioeconomic, cultural, and diversity of priorities of individual countries. The US values independence, creativity, innovation, rebellion versus many Asian country’s value for conformity and rankings.I have argued for years unless a high school student plans to study STEM, they do not need advanced mathmatics butcombined real-life problem solving with arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and statistics (1/2 credit) per year and1/2 credit computer programming and applications development on alternate days.Reading and writing is fundemental for communications and critical thinking:5 minute exercises;short answer prompts;job descriptions;instructions;memos; letters;critiques not book reports;film/TV reviews;quick computer search informed Q&A;understanding simple contractsin otherwords, real-life reading comprehension exercisesall leading up to to longer and longer five structure long form in upper grades. Even a dissertation or thesis follows the 5 part structure: intro, supporting chapters 1-3, conclusion.I think every student should learn an additional technical/vocational skill: i.e.Audio/Visual technician;car maintenance;basic mechanics;HVAC;chef;childcare;patient care technician;administrative support and keyboarding;accounting/bookkeeping;basic computer supportbusiness basics, running in-school store or supplemented with Junior Achievement1/2 credit personal finance and 1/2 credit basic economics overview (mandatory)I think students need to come out of high school well-rounded with exposure to music, arts, and history beyond factual knowledge.The USA does not need to compete on the world stage of other country’s standardarized scores. All our students scores are ranked against the cream of most other country’s students.The ideal school leverages the individual talents and potential of every student to produce caring, productive, employable citizens.https://www.google.com/amp/www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/ranking-countries-by-the-worst-students%3fcontext=amp?client=ms-android-sprint-ushttps://www.google.com/amp/www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2016/02/10/how-us-students-stack-up-in-math-reading-and-science%3fcontext=amp?client=ms-android-sprint-ushttps://www.edreform.com/2012/04/k-12-facts/National Education Statistics Center Fast FactsOECD Countries with the Highest High School Graduation Rates8 learning management system options for K-12 classroomshttps://www.google.com/url?q=http://blog.capterra.com/top-8-freeopen-source-lmss/&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwi0uNSn0dvQAhVCrlQKHaVABzUQFghQMAQ&sig2=4bmKoEoPH1Ijvf2bX_epoQ&usg=AFQjCNGm3PA9kIFSV7qED5GNn0xTErBfewMOOC ListThe Story About the Man Who Tried to Kill Math in America

Unfortunately, no. While there are parts of being a lawyer that can involve some of the glamorous aspects highlighted in the show (for example, helping people in need through pro bono work, winning an intellectual contest against the adverse party in litigation, or "winning" a transactional matter by obtaining more value for your client than she had anticipated), there is also a great deal of detail-oriented and much less interesting work and also potentially significant adverse impact on your personal life.Awesome or Potentially Awesome Features of BigLawSuits does depict some awesome or potentially awesome aspects of BigLaw, so I thought I'd start with the good news. One of the reasonably accurate depictions of a positive aspect of BigLaw is the high pay and the fancy perks surrounding the characters. For example, they frequently dine at high-end restaurants, Harvey takes Mike to Atlantic City in tuxes, Louis Litt has two great seats to each show of the ballet, and the partners live in spacious Manhattan apartments. This is a real phenomenon. The two top law firms most similar to Pearson Hardman are probably Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Wachtell Lipton Rosen Katz, which have annual profits per partner of ~$3.5 million and ~5 million, respectively. That kind of money certainly allows partners to easily afford the lifestyles that are portrayed in the show, particularly if they do not have expensive divorces to pay for. Even as big law firm associates, you often get access to tickets to fancy events from the firm or individual partners, and you will eat quite a few fine dining establishments for firm events, such as retreats, or recruiting meals. The salaries are also quite significant, with the big law firm market salary starting at $160,000 per year for first year associates (fresh law graduates frequently with no professional experience), and rising steadily over the years. The market pay scale for large firms is available here: Law firm (there are certainly firms that exceed this by a bit as well - but this is the standard rate for the top tier of law firms in the United States). That is a hefty salary, good for the 90th percentile of all U.S. income tax filers according to WhatsMyPercent.com (though you cannot forget the burden of student loans). Suits shows the difference in wealth between partners and associates (compare Mike Ross's apartment to Harvey Specter's), and that it provides quite a high income at all levels, but really an incredibly high income for established partners.Another reasonably realistic, and potentially awesome for Machiavellian types, aspect of BigLaw is the internal politics of large law firms. Firm politics, with respect to firm management (the battle for control between Jessica Pearson and Daniel Hardeman) and also partner compensation (not really addressed in the show), is a reality. For an example, please see this article about the internal politics of Mayer Brown: The Last Days of Big Law. Further, the merger that created Pearson Darby is reflective of a trend toward consolidation among big law firms, and often is the result of internal managerial turmoil. Finally, law firms generally do not have professional managers at the top levels of firm administration, and rely on lawyers to handle the role of C-suite executives at other types of companies.Finally, the office romances and complications depicted in Suits, while sometimes taken to extremes in how they are depicted, actually exist, perhaps compounded by the long hours of working in close quarters combined with high stress environments. Some examples can be found here: Lawsuit of the Day: A Super-Salacious Suit Against A ‘Legend’ of the Bar and In Casey Greenfield’s Personal Custody Fight, the Makings of a Public Expert. However, these salacious stories may be no more common in law firms than in other industries; I just wouldn't know. If you're looking for romance in BigLaw, I personally know of numerous romantic relationships that have formed in the workplace.Unawesome Features of BigLawI appreciate that the show alludes to the more mundane aspects of the job, but it certainly does not emphasize them. For example, Mike pulls an all-nighter to review a roomful of documents for the wrongful termination pro bono lawsuit in Season 1, Episode 1 and is also handed a large binder and numerous documents to review for the mock trial. Rachel and Mike also stay late at the office to conduct research. Hours-intensive labor is a large percentage of the job for junior associates at big law firms; much more than the fun stuff that is often depicted in the show (for example, negotiations with opposing counsel, interviewing clients or witnesses, or appearing in court).Further, you are working a lot. If you notice, Jessica comes back to the office late at night after a formal event, Harvey comes back into the office to deal with a client in Season 1, Episode 1, and Mike has to sleep in the office one night (requiring Jenny to bring him a suit the next day). These moments are indicative of the long hours that may be required, but they don't seem to be that bad in the show. Being a BigLaw attorney is very demanding and frequently places a lot of stress on your other personal relationships. Significant others and spouses often compete with the job for time, attention, and energy. Suits alludes to this: Jessica, Harvey, and Lewis are all unmarried and have no ongoing deep personal relationships outside of the workplace that we know of. Mike's relationship with Jenny did not seem too stressful in terms of time, attention, and energy, but that may be because their relationship is so new or because the show is fictional.Finally, another major unrealistic point about the show is that Harvey and Mike are both litigators and transactional lawyers and they cover an enormously diverse range of legal fields (patents, mergers & acquisitions, commercial litigation, criminal defense, and employment law are areas that come to mind). That's pretty awesome that they are the best in every field of law! In reality, the vast majority of big law firm attorneys specialize in certain areas of law, and at least broadly choose to be either litigators (essentially, representing clients in disputes before adjudicatory bodies such as courts, government agencies, or in arbitration) or transactional lawyers (representing clients in transactions including licensing, mergers, spin-offs, regulatory filings). This is a fairly substantial divide that few cross once they are senior lawyers and none that I'm aware of do so with the frequency of Harvey Spector. Relatedly, in genuine big law practice, attorneys consult with specialists in certain fields or bring in assistance more frequently than in Suits. For example, Louis assists on one of Harvey and Mike's cases in Blood in the Water (though generally this is done amicably and reasonably routinely). In the show, Harvey is often assigned the most important or biggest cases of the firm, regardless of their subject matter, but that is fairly unrealistic.I really like that Suits actually gives the viewer a chance to see hints of the difficult and unsexy side of practing BigLaw, and I completely understand their choice to focus on the more interesting and dramatic aspects of it. But don't be fooled! It is awesome for some people, but not nearly as awesome as the show suggests.