[Pibe-division] Comment

Arielle Silverman nabs.president at gmail.com
Tue Jun 8 04:40:24 UTC 2010


Hi all,

Let me first say that I echo the outrage and frustration that others
have voiced at the utter lack of common sense that is employed when
developing teaching methods for blind kids. Of course teachers who are
competent in Braille are going to have more successful teaching
outcomes than those who are not. As someone who has been blind all my
life I am all too familiar with the general lack of basic logic that
is so often used when designing policies or strategies for working
with blind people, and I am aware that unjustified negative attitudes
can motivate many of these departures from common sense.

However, I am equally outraged and frustrated by the fact that solid
data linking teaching competence to good learning outcomes are still
nonexistent, and are  allowed to remain nonexistent. I am a graduate
student pursuing my doctorate in experimental social psychology, a
discipline heavily dependent on quantitative data collection. While I
know I still have a lot to learn about empirical research, I don't see
any good reason why these data can't be collected and these results
can't be written up, reviewed and published in a rigorous manner.
There are plenty of instruments out there to assess educational
outcomes in blind children, and plenty of ways to quantify teacher
competency as well. It's true that perhaps only the better teachers
would be willing to participate in this research, to an extent, but
still there is going to be variability in teachers' level of Braille
proficiency as well as variability in students' success and one can
easily measure the correlation between these two factors, and how
teachers' competencies affect student progress over time, perhaps over
many years. It's true that we can't randomly assign kids to get either
good or bad teachers and then measure their outcomes, for obvious
reasons. But today's statistical methods permit us to control for
extraneous factors and evaluate change over time, and to test the
effectiveness of specific interventions. I am confident that if
researchers ask the right questions and use the right tools, we can
acquire data that will lend undeniable support to the truth we already
know. I am disappointed that the lack of data is being used by
proponents of the status quo as a reason for stagnation, while those
of us who are progressive-minded struggle to dismiss the value of the
data instead of going out and collecting it ourselves. Without data we
are stuck in a battle of rhetoric which neither side can conclusively
win, and our students and future students are paying the price.

I intend to become part of the solution to this problem, although I
haven't figured out exactly how to go about it at this point. I would
be curious to hear the responses of those of you who have experience
working in the field. Perhaps these studies have already been
conducted? If not, how can we change that?

Arielle

On 6/8/10, Sheila Amato <brltrans at verizon.net> wrote:
> Hi, Denise - In such a situation, my first (knee-jerk) response would be to
> try to find out WHY the kid is struggling. There are many factors that could
> come into play, such as a learning disability, not enough instructional time
> in the expanded core curriculum, the need for PT or OT, etc. I would like to
> see a functional vision assessment done, and a learning media assessment
> done. I would request an assistive technology assessment. I would use the
> Michigan Severity Rating Scale to document the services that should be
> provided. I would bring all the data generated by these assessments to a
> team meeting and lay it out and say that this is what the kid needs in the
> way of materials and in instruction. Now, who can provide this for the
> child?
>
> As a TVI, I have said outright to administrators that I am not the best
> qualified person to teach a specific piece of (brand new) technology... I
> had never used it before. So, I asked for - and received - training in how
> to use it... and mentorship support. True, I had to do the legwork and find
> my own trainer (after all, this is my world, and I hope I have more networks
> than a public school administrator in the blindness world), but they were
> willing to support my need... so I could support my student's.
>
> As a TVI in the trenches (for another 3 weeks... and then I'm a retired TVI
> after 38 years of teaching), it's not my place to evaluate the skills (or
> lack thereof) of my colleagues. That is where the administration and the
> parents need to step up to the plate. Yes, sigh, I've seen and heard stories
> of too many incompetent teachers - just as you have. I think I'm always
> going to be the eternal optimist and try to find a way to fix a situation
> through mentorship and networking. If they're there in the teaching
> position, I'm going to try to help them get better each day. We don't have
> any other pool to draw from.
>
> Do you know of any more recent data than this... there are about 40
> teacher-training programs in the country. Collectively, they graduate about
> 250 TVIs a year. I would guess this data is about 8-10 years old, but based
> on the number of graduate students in my braille courses, I get 7 or 8 or 9
> a year. In the past few years, I've run approximately a 50% failure rate in
> my university braille courses (I teach 5 of them). So, I guess that sparks
> more questions than it does answers. I probably had 15 students pass braille
> this past year out of 30 something who enrolled.
>
> I'm really enjoying this dialogue...
>
> Sheila
>
>
>
>
> From: Dr. Denise M. Robinson
> Sent: Monday, June 07, 2010 8:03 PM
> To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
> Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Comment
>
>
>       Sheila
>
>       I am not sure you would use these arguments if you had a blind child
> who was at the bottom of the class, struggling and unable to meet his
> potential due to the poor instructional skills of his TVI
>
>
>              Denise
>
>       Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
>       Coordinator for Blind/VI students at ESD105
>       Teacher of the Blind & Visually Impaired
>       509-969-3622
>
>
>       --- On Mon, 6/7/10, Sheila Amato <brltrans at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>
>         From: Sheila Amato <brltrans at verizon.net>
>         Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Comment
>         To: "Professionals in Blindness Education Division List"
> <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
>         Date: Monday, June 7, 2010, 10:42 PM
>
>
>         Hi, Denise - ay, we can be bad in so many ways...
>
>         We can have poor communication skills and not accurately convey the
> scope of our - or our students' needs.
>         We can have poor skills in transcribing braille
>         We can have poor skills in teaching braille... which (as we all
> know) is not necessarily related to transcribing braille
>         We can have poor social skills
>         We can have poor mobility skills
>
>         Of course you realize I'm speaking tongue in cheek. What I am trying
> to convey is that just as each of our students is an individual... with
> unique talents and areas in need of further development, so are teachers.
>
>         I consider myself a rather proficient braille transcriber, but I
> will also admit that I have a colleague who is a much better teacher
> (introducing braille skills to little ones) than I am. However, she would
> panic if she had to transcribe geometry, while I sink my teeth in and grin.
>
>         This is one unique thing about OUR field that regular educators - or
> even special educators - don't have to deal with. We teach kids:
>         from birth to 21 - or older
>         those who are blind (adventitiously or congenitally)
>         those who have varying degrees of low vision (adventitiously or
> congenitally)
>         those with vision loss and multiple disabilities
>         in any combination of the above, and in multiple settings on a daily
> basis.
>
>         I don't know any one individual who can do it ALL to a high level of
> proficiency. I do know many who are in there every day doing the best they
> can with limited resources and lack of support from the educational system
> as well as the parents and doctors.
>
>         We tend to hear about the problem teachers. They make the daily news
> and people are outraged. We do ourselves a disservice as a field for not
> sharing news publicly about the teachers who are considered to be excellent
> - by virtue of their student's outstanding achievements. Even without data
> (but with common sense, perhaps) I'm willing to bet the good apples in our
> field  highly outnumber the bad ones.
>
>         The REAL problem is... what are we all going to do to help the
> teachers with less-than-proficient skills reach for the stars and gain the
> proficiency they need to have, what are we going to do to "fix" a system of
> education that is broken, and how can we assure that students who graduate
> from teacher training programs do so with a set of skills and knowledge that
> meet national criteria.
>
>         Sheila
>
>
>         From: Dr. Denise M. Robinson
>         Sent: Monday, June 07, 2010 10:15 AM
>         To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
>         Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Comment
>
>
>               The REALLY bad thing about the content of these comments is we
> have the teachers with poor skills telling the administration all the
> incorrect information--which they believe, hence the lack of instruction and
> poor instruction continues.
>
>
>                      Denise
>
>               Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
>               Coordinator for Blind/VI students at ESD105
>               Teacher of the Blind & Visually Impaired
>               509-969-3622
>
>
>               --- On Mon, 6/7/10, Kirsten Peterson <kpeterson at perandoe.org>
> wrote:
>
>
>                 From: Kirsten Peterson <kpeterson at perandoe.org>
>                 Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Comment
>                 To: "Professionals in Blindness Education Division List"
> <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
>                 Date: Monday, June 7, 2010, 5:13 AM
>
>
>                 I couldn't agree with you more Denise! Thanks for standing
> up and making the point that clearly needs to be made over and over again.
> It amazes me how many school districts and teachers..special ed teachers
> included..think of Braille instruction as an extra to occur when time
> allows, rather than as an absolute necessity!
>                 Kirsten
>
>
>                 On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 7:43 PM, Allison Hilliker (NFBA)
> <nfbarizona at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>                   Well said, Denise!  I'm glad we have teachers out there
> like you who are spreading such Braille-positive messages.
>
>                   It continuously amazes me how seldom common sense is
> applied when many people teach blind kids.  Concepts that are widely
> accepted as educational must-haves, like teachers proficient in the material
> they teach, are considered novelties or low priorities for blind kids.
>
>                   Allison
>
>
>
>
>                     ----- Original Message -----
>                     From: Dr. Denise M. Robinson
>                     To: Professionals in Blindness Education Division List
>                     Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2010 10:13 AM
>                     Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Comment
>
>
>                           Poor teacher skills ARE directly related to poor
> student outcomes. I have seen it over and over for the past 20 years as
> anyone else has in the field who has good skills and see their students exel
> and others who do not because of the teacher who is teaching them with poor
> skills.
>
>                           You cannot teach what you do not know and students
> cannot learn what you cannot teach them. You do not need formal research to
> know this, though it would not be a bad idea to finally put such a foolish
> notion to rest. But how many teachers with poor skills are going to stand up
> and say "yes, please test me and show me how poor my skills are and test my
> students to show everyone how far behind they are compared to a teacher with
> good skills."
>
>
>                                  Denise
>
>                           Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
>                           Coordinator for Blind/VI students at ESD105
>                           Teacher of the Blind & Visually Impaired
>                           509-969-3622
>
>
>                           --- On Sun, 6/6/10, Carrie Gilmer
> <carrie.gilmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>                             From: Carrie Gilmer <carrie.gilmer at gmail.com>
>                             Subject: Re: [Pibe-division] Comment
>                             To: "'Professionals in Blindness Education
> Division List'" <pibe-division at nfbnet.org>
>                             Date: Sunday, June 6, 2010, 4:12 PM
>
>
>                             Right on Denise, exactly dead on right on. Thank
> you for not being frustrated, bothered and angry in silence. Carrie
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
>                             From: pibe-division-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:pibe-division-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Denise Mackenstadt
>                             Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 1:07 PM
>                             To: pibe-division at nfbnet.org
>                             Subject: [Pibe-division] Comment
>
>
>                             Recently on AERnet I noticed a post that
> bothered me.  I have responded and I am sending this response to the PIBE
> list.  Every time I think that we are making progress something like this
> comment is used to justify not providing for the needs of blind kids. Here
> is the post and my response:
>
>                             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 critical 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, NOMC
>
>                             Mackenstadt Rehab Services
>
>                             (206)419-9555
>
>                             cane.travel at gmail.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>                 --
>                 Kirsten M. Peterson, M.S.Ed.
>                 Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments
>                 Perandoe Special Education District
>                 1525 Locust
>                 Red Bud, IL 62278
>                 (618) 282-6251 ext. 104
>
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-- 
Arielle Silverman
President, National Association of Blind Students
Phone:  602-502-2255
Email:
nabs.president at gmail.com
Website:
www.nabslink.org




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