Honors student sues because she can't read or write

[BirdinHand]

I don’t know why you’re giving me this document. I’ve been working with ESL kids for 21 years.



Are you asking me if that happens in my own districts that I have taught in? Or are you just asking rhetorically about this case?

Generalized.

If a student is an ELL, step 1 is sending that student a HLS.

Every single time.

 

[tshade]

MSN

A Connecticut student who graduated with honors in June is now suing her former high school, claiming she can't read or write and is failing college as a result of her alma mater's poor curriculum.

Aleysha Ortiz was born in Puerto Rico and moved with her family to Hartford, Connecticut, when she was 5 years old. She graduated through the school program despite reading at a kindergarten or first grade level as a sixth grader, according to reporting by CNN.


During her last month at Hartford Public High School, after she disclosed she was attending the University of Connecticut in the fall, Ortiz completed additional testing that revealed she had dyslexia and "required explicitly taught phonics, fluency and reading comprehension," the first of which is taught in kindergarten.


She's not alone. Every year we have kids going into 5th, 6th, 7th grade who never got the English phonics they needed in elementary school. And, of course, no one is going to teach them that in middle school and high school. They have good expressive English language (which she obviously does if she can "write" papers through speech-to-text programs), but lack in actually reading and writing independently.

What parent worth their salt would allow their kid to not be able to read/write????

 

[Infinite Chaos]

but that's not good enough for her.

Why should it be good enough for her? Shouldn't anyone have the opportunity to do well and better themselves?

 

[tshade]

If the district doesn’t follow policy from step 1, the district didn’t follow policy from step 1.

Then we can get into the “why”

And sometimes the answer IS money.

Districts with more ELLs will need more money. It takes specialized resources to provide specialized services to students that have specialized needs.

Those services don’t just magically happen and they aren’t free.

and yet, most students in that school CAN read and write-----------put the blame on the kid

 

[BirdinHand]

With her substandard reading and writing ability, she has a bright future on a motel housekeeping staff but that's not good enough for her.

If the district failed to identify a disability, the district failed their OBLIGATION.

Why should she be satisfied with being denied her rights to a free and appropriate public education?

It is her legal RIGHT.

Fortunately, she seems to have a good lawyer who'll get her a lot of money from the school district. If she's frugal, she can support herself for a long time on what the settlement brings.

Facts not in evidence. What she will likely receive is compensatory services to take additional classes to improve her language abilities.

 

[stealthycat]

as she got older, she was also responsible for her education
her parents were responsible for her education too


my GF worked at a charter school that just placed 2 of the top 20 schools in my state - baffling. I asked her how and she said "because they teach kids to take tests"

1/3 of the kids in this state leading charter school is below on reading

 

[Mycroft]

Why should it be good enough for her? Shouldn't anyone have the opportunity to do well and better themselves?

You're right. My bad.

Maybe she can use the settlement money to hire someone to teach her how to read and write. By the time she's 24 or 25, she might be ready to go to college.

 

[BirdinHand]

What parent worth their salt would allow their kid to not be able to read/write????

and yet, most students in that school CAN read and write-----------put the blame on the kid

The obligation is on the district. That’s the law.

Give this administration a second, they’ll get around to erasing the law. They’re already working on erasing the federal department that oversees the enforcement of the law.

 

[stealthycat]

and yet, most students in that school CAN read and write-----------put the blame on the kid

not think this through

she was very likely driving and had a drivers license
she was obviously very good at taking tests to be honors
she very likely had a cell phone and TikTok/Instagram etc and texted a lot
decent chance she had a job from 16-18 years old, maybe extracurricular like sports/band etc?


if she wasn't good at reading/writing ? she dang well knew it, didn't she ?

 

[Integrityrespec]

MSN

A Connecticut student who graduated with honors in June is now suing her former high school, claiming she can't read or write and is failing college as a result of her alma mater's poor curriculum.

Aleysha Ortiz was born in Puerto Rico and moved with her family to Hartford, Connecticut, when she was 5 years old. She graduated through the school program despite reading at a kindergarten or first grade level as a sixth grader, according to reporting by CNN.


During her last month at Hartford Public High School, after she disclosed she was attending the University of Connecticut in the fall, Ortiz completed additional testing that revealed she had dyslexia and "required explicitly taught phonics, fluency and reading comprehension," the first of which is taught in kindergarten.


She's not alone. Every year we have kids going into 5th, 6th, 7th grade who never got the English phonics they needed in elementary school. And, of course, no one is going to teach them that in middle school and high school. They have good expressive English language (which she obviously does if she can "write" papers through speech-to-text programs), but lack in actually reading and writing independently.

First, it's important to hold parents accountable. They need to actively track their child's development and communicate with the school if issues arise.Only after that can we address the shortcomings of the educational system throughout the country. Many parents are reluctant to see their child retained for not meeting expectations, and schools often share this sentiment. As a result, "social promotion" has become a widespread practice.Taking legal action against a high school due to deficiencies in elementary education seems excessive. The tendency to assign blame is prevalent.

 

[tshade]

The obligation is on the district. That’s the law.

Give this administration a second, they’ll get around to erasing the law. They’re already working on erasing the federal department that oversees the enforcement of the law.

I just get tired of teachers and schools being blamed for society's problems.......................

 

[BirdinHand]

as she got older, she was also responsible for her education
her parents were responsible for her education too

Would you say the same thing to a person with a visual impairment? That didn’t know they had?

“Well, it’s your fault you didn’t see that…you should have known it was there even though your vision is impaired”

She had an unidentified disability. The burden was on the district to identify it and provide the specialized education necessary to support and help it - they didn’t. It’s their fault she went without the supports she was entitled to.

Not her, not her family.

That’s how the law works.

 

[Josie]

That ignores this student was promoted to the next grade level (presumably with passing grades) each year until finally (aging out?) and declared to have graduated HS “with honors”.

It’s illegal to fail a student because of language. But they still dropped the ball because if they were doing their jobs correctly, she would’ve been flagged for intense interventions at an early age. Since it doesn’t sound like she made any progress at all in elementary school, she should’ve been tested.

 

[ttwtt78640]

If the district doesn’t follow policy from step 1, the district didn’t follow policy from step 1.

Why are the taxpayers in that school district responsible for that?

Then we can get into the “why”

The why is obviously because of decisions made by educational ‘professionals’.

And sometimes the answer IS money.

In civil court and in public tax policy the answer is always money.

Districts with more ELLs will need more money. It takes specialized resources to provide specialized services to students that have specialized needs.

Was the student being passed to the next grade level regardless of being able to read at (prior) grade level? If so then that needs to be stopped, allowing parents of 14 year old third graders to start to asking important questions.

Those services don’t just magically happen and they aren’t free.

They likely don’t apply to only this one student. They obviously won’t be accomplished by those who allowed the OP student to be given passing grades every year.

 

[Integrityrespec]

Sounds like the district failed to abide IDEA federal law. Thus denying her FAPE.

English language learners are required to be evaluated in their native language under IDEA. The district didn’t properly evaluate and they also failed to identify a disability.

She’s likely entitled to compensatory services.

Has nothing to do with general curriculum - has everything to do with IDEA and a denial of FAPE.

Good for her learning the law (likely finding an attorney) and holding the district accountable.

One of the problem's here is the testing and monitoring for many non English speakers is weak to begin with. Many schools are forced by the state to have them English profiecient in 2 years and to test them as such. Many non english speakers are not there at 2 years. (Remember the schools do much more than just teach english to non-english speakers. I have some experience here as my wife is a trained to teach English to non english speaking students) but this is done in the regular classroom with lots of english speaking kids. That's a problem.
The system is full of issues and the government isn't good at solving them. They do it politically and not educationally.

 

[Josie]

Generalized.

If a student is an ELL, step 1 is sending that student a HLS.

Every single time.

Yes. But that response to my comment didn’t make sense.

I said not teaching explicit phonics isn’t illegal and your response was about the home language survey. ??

 

[OrphanSlug]

Exceptionally damaging statement that an "honors student" cannot read or write.

 

[Josie]

as she got older, she was also responsible for her education
her parents were responsible for her education too

Now that she’s not a minor, she’s doing just that. I do question what the parents knew or were told. If she was getting good grades, what were they supposed to think?

 

[Integrityrespec]

It’s illegal to fail a student because of language. But they still dropped the ball because if they were doing their jobs correctly, she would’ve been flagged for intense interventions at an early age. Since it doesn’t sound like she made any progress at all in elementary school, she should’ve been tested.

Most of the time these non english speakers are not taking a "english language" course. They are learning as they go in other classes. The one class a day they may take, in English lanuage simply isn't enough when they speak their native tongue at home, in their community,and amoung their non english speaking friends.

 

[Gozaburo]

Exceptionally damaging statement that an "honors student" cannot read or write.

Daily reminder for todays "Education in America SUCKS!" thread-

Broken down by demographics, we have the worlds most intelligent Europeans, Africans, Hispanics, etc.

 

[Josie]

Most of the time these non english speakers are not taking a "english language" course. They are learning as they go in other classes. The one class a day they may take, in English lanuage simply isn't enough when they speak their native tongue at home, in their community,and amoung their non english speaking friends.

Depends on the demographics of the school district she was in. She came to the US in kinder. She, at the very least, would’ve had an ESL teacher/class. At the most, she would’ve had a gen ed teacher who speaks Spanish and focused on learning Spanish literacy in kinder-first. Still, learning disabilities don’t shift with language. She’s learning disabled in all languages.

 

[lynnwinslow]

Exceptionally damaging statement that an "honors student" cannot read or write.

As I've said twice in this thread, I don't doubt this happens but this story doesn't add up. For all we know, her honor was in art or perfect attendance or whatever.
The article said she used apps to do schoolwork but the article doesn't say how she took in-class tests or give any info about her standardized test scores. Or say how she got into a college with a 50% acceptance rate. Did she take the SATs or ACTs?

 

[BirdinHand]

as she got older, she was also responsible for her education
her parents were responsible for her education too

Sounds like she asked for and received more evaluations once she was old enough to know and ask for them and that’s why we are here.

 

[ttwtt78640]

It’s illegal to fail a student because of language.

If true then that law needs to be changed. It’s hard for me to believe that a student could pass all other subjects while unable to speak, comprehend or read English.

Where the inability to speak and understand the English language excludes national origin minority group children from effective participation in the educational program offered by a school district, the district must take affirmative steps to rectify the language deficiency in order to open its instructional program to these students.

Although the memo requires school districts to take affirmative steps, it does not prescribe the content of these steps. It does, however, explain that federal law is violated if:

students are excluded from effective participation in school because of their inability to speak and understand the language of instruction; national origin minority students are inappropriately assigned to special education classes because of their lack of English skills; programs for students whose English is less than proficient are not designed to teach them English as soon as possible, or if these programs operate as a dead end track; or parents whose English is limited do not receive school notices or other information in a language they can understand.

School Obligations | NCELA - English Language Acquisition & Language Instruction Educational Programs

ncela.ed.gov

The linked above nonsense seems to ignore that a student of any age/grade level and speaking any foreign language could appear in any school district.

 

[noonereal]

MSN

A Connecticut student who graduated with honors in June is now suing her former high school, claiming she can't read or write and is failing college as a result of her alma mater's poor curriculum.

Aleysha Ortiz was born in Puerto Rico and moved with her family to Hartford, Connecticut, when she was 5 years old. She graduated through the school program despite reading at a kindergarten or first grade level as a sixth grader, according to reporting by CNN.


During her last month at Hartford Public High School, after she disclosed she was attending the University of Connecticut in the fall, Ortiz completed additional testing that revealed she had dyslexia and "required explicitly taught phonics, fluency and reading comprehension," the first of which is taught in kindergarten.


She's not alone. Every year we have kids going into 5th, 6th, 7th grade who never got the English phonics they needed in elementary school. And, of course, no one is going to teach them that in middle school and high school. They have good expressive English language (which she obviously does if she can "write" papers through speech-to-text programs), but lack in actually reading and writing independently.

Point ?