We Passed!

We did it.  What I thought was going to be impossible in August, we managed through hard work, dedication, and a whole lot of change, we passed our state mandated tests!  I had the biggest group of students with learning needs from beginning readers to advanced readers.  We had the most readers I've ever taught at the beginning to reading at a third grade level.  That in itself created a need to change what's always worked for me in the past.  Thank goodness I had an excellent teacher that co-taught this particular group of children with me.  She came from Florida with a lot of experience working with difficult emotional children, as well as, great resources for special education.

I learned so much from her as we progressed through this very difficult year.  Needless to say, all our hard work paid off.  We took a group of students who as a class had a 59% passage rate on their 5th grade tests, to 94% passing in 6th grade.  That is AMAZING!  I'm so proud of the kids and us for figuring it out!  This is why I teach, for the success when things are looking bleak!