Learning Denied

This was required reading in college. I am glad I picked it up again and read it after two years of teaching in an inner city school. It has helped me to refocus my attentions on my students and their learning, not their test scores. The state I live and teach in, Florida, is a state that is very focused on standardized test scores. The A+ plan is really shifting teachers to teach for test results. It is frustrating. I see the coding and labeling of a child's learning from a parent's standpoint of view when reading this book. It reads fast and rings true. Teachers need to read this book every so often throughout their careers to help remind them what we chose this career for in the first place: TO TEACH!

This is a must for all teachers, special educators and administrators to read! When we say we are in the field of education to help the child do we mean it? Read this powerful exposé and see what happens when "we educators" follow the rules of special education legislation, the rules of the referral process, and then some very mixed up messages. This book is powerful for anyone who writes anything about a child. Our words can and should identify the best that the child can be, while at the same time identifying what needs the child has and how we can support the child on their path of life long learning. This book demonstrates what happens when people with good intentions get stuck in the process of identifying what doesn't work "in" a particular child rather than what is not working in the school system and teacher instruction and how the instruction should be "fixed".This is a book to read again and again.

This book is a page turner. It really made me think about the ramifications of testing and labeling kids. In this case, the school tested this kid endlessly, couldn't find anything wrong, but insisted on labeling him learning disabled, in spite of substantial documentation of his intellectual growth and literacy. It's great for teachers to read, because it can really make you think about our testing practices and their effects on kids. It would also be good reading for a parent of a tested and labeled kid.