[nfbwatlk] Food for Thought

[Mike Freeman]

Right on, Denise.

And then Big Ed wonders why levvies don't pass!

Mike

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Denise Mackenstadt" <dmackenstadt at comcast.net>
To: <NFBwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 10:46 AM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Food for Thought


> Recently I saw on a listserve for AER (Associaiton for Rehabilitation and 
> Education of Blind and Visually Impaired Children and Adults) a listserv 
> for individuals working with blind children and adults a message which has 
> bothered me for some time.  I do not typically respond to posts but I felt 
> that a small part of this post needed to be commented on.  This is for the 
> NFBwatlk to understand what we are dealing with in the professional area 
> of work with the blind.  I would be interested in any of your comments.
>
> Recently in response to a question posted by Sheila one of the posts 
> stated "Weaknesses: 1.  still no published research proving or disproving 
> that poor teacher braille skills are responsible for poor braille outcomes 
> for students.  Nevertheless,  we've gone full steam ahead addressing a 
> "problem" that may not exist.  Assertions by advocacy groups are not 
> evidence, nor are gut hunches.  We need DATA.  And thus   far no data 
> exists."  I find it astonishing that an assertion is being made that 
> teacher competency in an essential skill to be taught to students is not 
> relevant to student outcomes.  Lack of Data  cannot   take the place of 
> common sense or best practice.  I cannot think of another subject area, 
> for example: Language Arts, Math, Science or Art, where a decent state 
> licensing entity will not expect an instructor to demonstrate competence. 
> As a parent I would be very concerned if my child's English teacher could 
> not read or write English.  Let us not throw out critica
> l thinking as an alternative to non-existent DATA Collection.  I do not 
> want to say that legitimate research and legitimate data results are not 
> beneficial to best practices.  But let us not sacrifice common sense to 
> the altar of statistics.
>
> Denise Mackenstadt
> dmackenstadt at comcast.net
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nfbwatlk mailing list
> nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nfbwatlk:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbwatlk_nfbnet.org/k7uij%40panix.com