Maryland test a problem for deaf students

[Mommyof3]

Questions ask students to match words by sound
Tuesday, January 11, 2005 Posted: 2:47 PM EST (1947 GMT)

REDERICK, Maryland (AP) -- Students at the Maryland School for the Deaf were asked on a standardized test to match words containing similar sounds, and state education officials promised to adjust the scores after acknowledging the problem.

The state Department of Education also will ensure that questions in this year's version of the Maryland School Assessment are appropriate for hearing-impaired students, spokesman Bill Reinhard said Monday.

The changes follow complaints by James E. Tucker, superintendent of the Maryland School for the Deaf, that the reading section of the test asked third- and fourth-grade students to match pairs of words with similar sounds, such as the vowel sound in "castle" and "manner."

"As a deaf person, I'm not familiar with sounds," Tucker told The Frederick News-Post. "I have a problem answering these questions myself, and I'm an education man."

Carol Ann Baglin, assistant state superintendent for special education and early intervention services, said those questions are meant to test whether a child can sound out portions of a word.

She said the test would be adjusted before it is next offered in March, and that the Maryland School for the Deaf's scores from the 2004 test will be adjusted.

All of Maryland's public schools participate in the Maryland School Assessment, a reading and math test given to students in grades 3 through 8.

Tucker said he welcomes standardized testing, but added: "We just want the tests to be fair."

 

[deafdyke]

Another reason why total mainstreaming isn't the best thing in the world for many dhh students. How do you teach a dhh kid about sound when they cannot hear or cannot hear sound like a hearing kid? I remember being in mainstream second grade and being totally puzzled as to the concept of syabels, and vowels and constonents and stuff like that.