Kicking the End-of-Course Assessment Can!

Oh yes he did! Son Fickle Fan passed the Indiana Algebra ECA--on his fifth try, after 8 months of some pretty intensive tutoring.  His final score was a pretty comfortable margin above the passing mark of 564 and an increase of 65 points over his previous score. This was a monumental, scaling Everest, mega accomplishment, and we're extremely proud of him.

Again, for those of you not from our Hoosier homeland, passing both the Algebra ECA and the English 10 ECA is required for graduation in Indiana. Despite some pretty severe dysgraphia, he passed the English after a semester of remediation with some very helpful teachers. But not the algebra. Without passing, he would have been eligible to graduate with a "waiver," which would have still gotten him the degree, but it would have been with an asterisk: General Diploma*...*with a waiver. 


Admittedly, it doesn't make a heckuvalotta difference one way or another. By passing the ECAs and achieving a General Diploma, FF is eligible to attend Ivy Tech--Indiana's community college system--but he could also do that with the degree and waiver. With just a General Diploma, though, he's not eligible for Indiana 4-year universities, which all now require that a student graduate with either a Core 40 or Core 40 with Honors diploma. Because of his math issues, FF did not take advanced math or a third year of science and therefore doesn't meet the curriculum requirement for a Core 40 diploma. 


Passing the ECA for FF was more of a psychological victory. And, yes, we'll admit it, there's a little bit of "so there!" vindication in it for us too. FF has struggled with formal math instruction since 3rd grade, despite the fact that he's intelligent and seems to have a natural ability for some types of problem solving. But he's struggled mightily in other areas and has had serious regression every year in math. Some years it felt as if we were starting from scratch. Freshman year, when he had to take both algebra and algebra remediation, was a pressure cooker disaster for him. Six weeks into class the math teacher told his Resource teacher he would never pass the ECA and would never do better than a D in his class. We thought that was unfair given that his 8th grade test scores showed him only a few points below passing. Required remediation, which he did in Resource and online his sophomore and junior years, was just torture for him, and taking the test again and again was beating his head against the brick wall. 


It was our daughter's tutor, Phil, who approached us last year and said he thought he could help our son pass the test. We explained that FF had built up a lot of defenses and carried a lot of baggage with him when it came to math. But Phil asked if he could meet FF and talk to him about it. (Read my previous post, "A Tutor Tutorial," about why I think tutors are so important for our kids.) Granted this is not your ordinary tutor. Because Phil, too, is on the autism spectrum, he has a great deal of compassion, understanding and patience for students with ASD. He empowered FF, allowing FF to "hire" him and make decisions about how long tutoring would be or whether or not he would do homework (he didn't). On those days when FF had just had enough, Phil wouldn't take it personally. He not only taught FF quadratic equations, graphing, and how to use the calculator, he also taught him how to stick with something to achieve a goal. That's just huge. 


So here's my soapbox point: There are many other bright students with autism like FF who are struggling with high stakes exams and challenging courses. Some may even be considering dropping out. With the right supports in place--more Phils--they could be passing those ECAs and earning General and even Core 40 diplomas. Too many of our students are getting left behind, only to sit at home in the years after high school without jobs, with no friends, and with little to do beyond Madden football and Netflix.


Indiana recently announced a new goal. They'd like to see 60% of the adult Hoosier population with either a 2- or 4-year degree by 2025. Ironically, that announcement came out the same week that the CDC announced the 1 in 88 prevalence rates for autism spectrum disorders. That's a substantial chunk of the population. If they really want to boost the higher ed numbers, overhauling the way we support students with high functioning autism in both our high schools and our universities would be a very good place to start.  


Meanwhile, if you're a parent of an Indiana student who needs extra support in math, send me an email and I'll send you Phil's contact information. He says he's ready to make some more success stories.