I am a special education teacher in Virginia, and I truly hate VGLA. This is my 3rd year of VGLA, and contrary to what I have been told, it does NOT get any easier. Someone mentioned that VGLA makes IEP writing seem simple. I agree. Another individual mentioned that he/she felt VGLA does have benefit. I completely disagree. Over three years and sixty kids, I've not found one child that this has proven an appropriate method of assessment for. VGLA may easily result in a passing score, but it is not a true reflection of what a child is capable of. I had one student who was labeled MR, and missed 90 out of 180 math classes, and received a pass on her math VGLA. Additionally, I received a student from a lower grade who's VGLA scores indicated that the student was pass/proficient in 4th grade reading. When I began working with this student I realized that he couldn't read a word. He could not even consistently match all the letters of the alphabet with the corresponding sounds! As well, he couldn't answer even the simplest of comprehension questions, and has yet to score over 60% on an accelerated reader test. How can VGLA be an accurate assessment. For many administrators it is just a guaranteed pass. VGLA is just a way to ensure AYP is met. Unfortunately for the students who take VGLA, they sometimes loose play time, and instructional time in order to get that pass. This year I refused to do any VGLA reading assessments because of the loss of reading instruction my students would suffer from. If I have a student who can only consistently read his own name, am I not doing him a gross disservice by demonstrating that he can comprehend on 5th grade level? Should I not be using every minute of this child's reading time trying to teach him how to read so that he can be an independent adult (this is a child with average intelligence with a severe learning disability involving reading)?
I hate VGLA because it takes precious time away from my family. My husband hates VGLA! I hate VGLA because I now work at LEAST 12 hours a day, Monday through Saturday, and get paid no extra for it. I hate VGLA because other teachers who have never had a hand in it don't understand how much extra work we do for no extra pay (I know what a regular education teacher has to do. I work in an inclusion classroom, and I take attendance, collect money for various things, deal with discipline, take lunch count, average grades for 20 kids, work on cumulative folders, update records, administer regular SOL testing, everything a regular education teacher does, PLUS manage IEPs, attend ADDITIONAL spec ed meetings, meeting constantly with parents, and collect VGLA.) Mostly though, I hate VGLA because I have been involved in it for 3 years, and can say without hesitation that it only hurts students. It does hurt the regular education students because time is taken away from them to collect VGLA, and it hurts the special education student as well. Someone earlier mentioned that special education students needed to be working toward a trade. I completely disagree with that at an elementary level. However, if VGLA continues to be an optional method of assessment, and adminstrators continue to demand high scores at all cost, then trade will be the only option for my students because they will have missed years of the skills necessary for an academics driven career. However, the school will have met AYP.