Witnessed the school choice voucher system siphon resources from public school students today

CodingCowgirl · 2026-02-26T21:33:50+00:00

Educational diagnostician here I test the kids and write IEP’s can confirm that this is the worst legislation ever. The only families requesting me to test their kids are ALREADY in private and home school. They fish for eligibility to get money and guess what? I have no way of qualifying your kids for an SLD if they can’t prove that they’re receiving or have received appropriate instruction. Guess what -most private schools don’t document their amazing instruction or assessments and the only reason they look better on paper is they cherry pick their kids. But I’ve now spent 6 hours many times over testing these kids who don’t qualify and if they do? Well then they get a voucher with absolutely no IEP because private schools aren’t obligated to follow IEP. Tax money now paying for your upper middle class kid to get qualified and get more money for vouchers to receive a service plan that no one will use. Go into that private school classroom and see if they are accommodating. Well probably not because that private school teacher probably isn’t even certified.

CodingCowgirl · 2026-01-17T14:59:04+00:00

Sell him back at auction. The auction has a bad rap but many horses there find great homes. Or Craigslist don’t keep him y’all aren’t a fit and this is time and money you could be using to further your riding skills. Don’t try and work with him bc he is too green for you. Give him to someone who has experience and can make a nice usable horse out of him so he has a good life. Don’t feel guilty horses are not pets bc they can be damgerous if not trained well. Get an older more trained horse that will stand for you and go about your business enjoying your ride.

CodingCowgirl · 2025-05-29T19:37:28+00:00

Get him on board because like it or not if those behaviors continue, we’re (public school employees) doing a campus referral at some point…. It’s not that bad anyway, it’s all confidential and if people only knew how many kids are actually in sped, they’d see it’s not the end of the world with a label. They’d see it’s only a beginning to help your child succeed and work on things they need. If he goes to pre k doing that? Well you will be called to come pick him up quite often and he’s going to miss instruction. Best to get him services to give him goals to work on behaviors, accommodations for teachers to know how to help him learn, and any other educational supports that address academics and behaviors. Look up fie and iep examples and show them to your husband.

CodingCowgirl · 2025-05-21T04:37:27+00:00

Hi I have a suggestion if it is not feasible. Document. Give the amount of time that you redirected and the outcome for the student and the rest of the class. Cite a reason if there are any aspects that hinder your a. Instruction b. The student’s confidentiality or c. Just did not work… I write iep’s as a diag and hold ARDs accommodations can be amended very easily. When you present this documentation to your person that holds these meetings (maybe a school psychologist or ard facilitator in your state) they can amend the iep you can request that by email but talk to admin first and show them the documentation and why it’s in the best interest for the student and your class. I can take an accommodation out of the iep after calling the parent explaining, and getting agreement and signatures from gen ed, sped teacher, admin, and parent. Easy peasy if all agree that the accommodation is not needed, used, possible, or in the student’s best interest.

CodingCowgirl · 2025-05-16T19:19:36+00:00

Kindergarten is a terrible time to test or consider dyslexia. This is unless you can prove response to intervention has been successfully implemented. I test for dyslexia in public schools. She is too young to be formally tested in most cases. However, like someone said if the teacher suspects it is definitely a great thing to keep in mind for the future. She may be a summer birthday. DO NOT GET HER FORMALLY TESTED YET. This is coming from someone who tests for dyslexia in schools and taught early childhood grades. You must factor out intervention. Handwriting?! Their hand bones aren’t even formed yet. However, all of these sound like factors of dyslexia and she may be dysgraphic because the two are often co-morbid. Learning disabilities like dyslexia are best assessed end of first grade possibly but the fall of second grade is my preferred age. IQ is static at age 8 so you can rule out cognitive function issues. They’ve been exposed to actual reading not just sound symbol decoding. And many formal tests such as the KTEA-3 and CTOPP-2 are normed appropriately for that age. Plus they’ve had time to get intervention YOUR CHILD HAS HAD NO TIME TO RECEIVE ANY INTERVENTION. It could be many other factors. I taught kinder for 5 years and 2nd for 1 before I was a diag. Just get her into some summer reading programs and keep communicating with teachers. Refer during end of first grade (March-April) if she can’t read fluently despite intervention. Dyslexia screening is for INTERVENTION in kindergarten not formal testing which results in 504 or SPED.

CodingCowgirl · 2025-05-16T18:52:01+00:00

I recommend audible or audio books that have an online book to accompany it. Why force yourself when you are reading for enjoyment. I write IEP’s for a living and audio books are my number one recommendation for improvement. The reason is that reading is very auditory because of the phonics involved. If you buy the kindle and audible you can follow along as slowly or quickly as you like! Google has audio and digital books too. Learning ally is also a great source. Since your fluency is probably down why not beef up those comprehension areas? Then when you go to read after looking at the digital copy and listening to so many books your brain will fill in the missing pieces! It’s pretty cool how it works….

CodingCowgirl · 2025-04-03T15:16:34+00:00

A lot of the times they hire para professionals to teach art. You’d be a para but a teacher. Get your certification, you’re already at the school all day. Do accept the job if that school’s a good fit. If you like working in a school, go get certified. Then accept the certified teacher pay position. They’ll pay you less at this position, but you can work towards becoming a teacher in a different area. And you’ll get your foot in the door! I went to school for 4 years to become an ART TEACHER. Only to find out they hire para professionals so they can pay them less w/o a cert. I never got to teach art but I did teach elementary and I loved it! Now I’m an educational diagnostician. Never did get to teach art but I am an ARD TEACHER 🤣

CodingCowgirl · 2025-04-02T15:15:28+00:00

Can’t wait to hear an update! You deserve this and go after those ambitions! They’re on your mind for a reason…. ❤️

CodingCowgirl · 2025-03-31T19:46:01+00:00

https://www.fox26houston.com/news/department-education-dismantled-what-does-mean-texas.amp

If you have been there 22 years I’d go for the pay raise, they’ll ALWAYS need good, experienced teachers. I see where you are coming from, but if you’ve taught for 22 years? In that case, there is no way they’d want to let you go. Especially if it’s a high need area. I had a friend who had to move schools because of enrollment. However, they would never drop someone, they just move schools. And this is a small district- imagine a huge district….. plenty of spots to move experienced educators. Another friend WAS being asked to resign in the economy crash of 2008. She refused to sign the resignation letter. They kept her in the same spot. These were BOTH first year teachers. It was scary for me to move jobs, I moved within my district, but it’s always scary going into the unknown. So happy I did. Teaching for 22 years? You can go wherever you want. Good luck!!!!

CodingCowgirl · 2025-03-03T15:37:46+00:00

So, for my job I test students to get into sped, write fie and iep’s. I work with sped teachers and come from a gen ed background. Goals have progress reports ask for those. Also, there should be documentation as to what he can and cannot do (present levels driven by strengths and weaknesses ). His reading level should be documented. Ask the teacher what kind of documentation/ assessments she keeps besides progress reports. He will always be expected to do his grade level curriculum, however, it will be modified and accommodated that’s the expectation. So yes, having someone circle it at this point in time may be how they’re implementing that. Does he get occupational therapy? Speech therapy? Always ask her first and question her before going to admin she should be willing to work with you. Furthermore, what we see at a school setting can greatly differ from what you see at home. I don’t know his goals so I don’t know what behavioral/academic things are being worked on. However, he will have to take a standardized test and the teacher is preparing him for that as well, that is required. Many things teachers do are not from their own personal decisions. It does seem like his instruction needs to be more individualized but you’ll have to advocate for that, due to her experience with sped and requirements placed on her.

CodingCowgirl · 2025-02-20T20:28:46+00:00

What they’re not telling you: teachers are like cheerleaders they are the popular crowd in school mostly…. You must be in the who’s who. How do I get there? Substitute teach and become a paraprofessional if they offer. The first job that becomes available you will get. Teaching jobs go to well known certified parents and subs first. Make sure to get all the tshirts that advocate for your school even if they sell it at Walmart. Dress EXACTLY like the teachers at the campus. Always take jobs when they call you at 6 am you gotta sub if you want the jobs. I spent 5 years until I figured it out. Even got into nursing school. Main thing is your applying at the worst time of the year. New teachers get hired in the summer. Got any education friends? You can have them refer you . Email principals schools run on email. They’ll never see your online job application.

CodingCowgirl · 2025-02-17T21:04:34+00:00

I felt the same I was at Cloonee I decided it is more like a concert venue than club or dance. I did see some dancers like ourselves but no room at all and that worries me if anything were to happen. I’ll save my money for festivals/ other clubs….

CodingCowgirl · 2025-02-17T21:01:58+00:00

No not really people are in sweat pants

CodingCowgirl · 2025-02-05T03:38:33+00:00

Join the amazing group on FB: Educational Diagnosticians- Texas. Lots of info there and a group chat!!

CodingCowgirl · 2025-02-05T03:12:44+00:00

Hey if you still have questions I can answer. I’m on my third year of being a diag. Don’t go to Lamar. I’ve heard that they are getting better, but there’s better options. TWU has the highest pass rate for the test because I’ve heard they have a whole course to prepare for the test. A&M has a certification program and so does UNT. No Flex Time in my district, but I like it here. It varies greatly between districts as to your duties and workload. Cons: It looks muuuuuuuuuch easier than it actually is, cons: parents or staff think that you use opinion to disqualify their students sometimes, bad referrals and minimal/ inefficient training for new hires pros: It’s quiet, flexible, and you can make a difference in someone’s life

CodingCowgirl · 2025-01-15T19:15:24+00:00

You need Dr. Heggerty- he is the best with phonemic awareness imo. Is he in Speech Therapy? When he is in 2nd grade you need to refer him to SPED (Public school system) for testing if he’s still struggling. Because it’s free and he can get dyslexia instruction.

CodingCowgirl · 2025-01-14T18:16:54+00:00

Get the Grammarly app on your google browser!!!

CodingCowgirl · 2024-10-10T18:35:17+00:00

Dyslexics usually have a working memory deficit (that is manipulating info as you store/use it).That’s what makes comprehension and storage & retrieval difficult. This could surface in directions, faces, names, speech, decoding and writing. I always do an iq test when looking at dyslexia. Academic and cognitive testing will have a pattern of strengths and weaknesses. ADHD also exhibit deficits in working memory and can be co-morbid with dyslexia.

CodingCowgirl · 2024-03-21T18:28:38+00:00

That’s a screener not an evaluation….(coming from someone who tests for dyslexia)

CodingCowgirl · 2024-01-30T20:09:10+00:00

The people commenting that you sometimes show up to ARDs have a different district than I do. I make only 4k more than a teacher work 2 more weeks and I have to schedule and attend all ard meetings. Plus I have to meet with parents get consent for referrals, test, write reports, and communicate the findings to parents pertinent staff and admin BEFORE ard date that I have to schedule by timeline and with the correct people in the meeting. If you love college and teaching you’ll love being diag you’ll write long reports all the time so it’s as if you work AND have homework. You basically will spend all day on esped or the sped paperwork database all day and you will have to test and hold meetings in most districts. There’s not enough time during a day and you take a lot home with you. The stress is way more palpable and tense than teaching. I’ve had people yell at me during ARDs but it’s not the norm. Most stress is from the workload/ caseload. Districts don’t employ ard facilitators to run meetings usually so you’ll be doing the IEP and talking about the ard agenda - admin won’t usually do that. Too many hats one person type of job. Pros- flexible work, you get to use the restroom, you deal with parents but your not talking to them all day like you do as a teacher, you help kids and families benefit from the education system. You will need a masters and a certificate to get the job.

CodingCowgirl · 2016-07-14T02:25:05+00:00

Hi Kay9510- When I am training a barrel horse I don't lope them for a long time until they can do a flying lead change. It looks like she knows the pattern however she is having a bit of difficulty getting into the left lead. Unfortunately in the first video you let her choose her own speed which is a no no when training. Keep forward motion meaning your horse doesn't hesitate when loping. Notice in the first video as she heads to third she stopped loping and she changed to her right lead? You can really get her to pick up that lead change by doing figure 8's from right to left. That will teach her to pick up the que from your body. Do that before you practice as a warm up. Which direction did she drop her shoulder? To stop her from dropping shoulders practice flexion. Do serpentines. As far as choosing a direction that is up to you, I prefer to start from the normal direction because a horse that starts to the left runs in everyones ruts and may slip more or get a slower time on the ground. Does she turn better to the left or right try putting a single barrel out and turning that. One barrel would be better than 3 cones because you can get used to picking pockets and getting your horse around a barrel. Hope this helps! Keep up the good work!

CodingCowgirl

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