In article , Ericka Kammerer says...

Banty wrote:


What I see today, though, is that while there are
still some teachers/administrations willing to be flexible
and make these accommodations, much of the flexibility has
disappeared. I'm not sure why that is. Some is due to
these accountability and standardization programs. Some
may well be due to other factors. And, of course, I'm
sure there are many people who *do* find acceptable
accommodations and are reasonably happy with the results.
I do seem to hear from more people now, however, that
they've tried to find reasonable accommodations and
haven't been successful.

I agree with your post, and I think it's a matter of balance.

Why the increasing inflexibility? Well, I think it's two things. One is - yes
- that focus on high-stakes test scores and other inappropriate measures.

The other, though, is social deterioration. A generation ago - it *was* a big
deal to ask for extra teacher prep for a child pulled out of school for an
unusual situation or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for travel. It happened,
but not so often, and the situations brought up would be compelling. Now, it's
any damn thing, cheaper ski trips, cheaper Disney, whatever, such that the sheer
volume of such instances are unmanageable, and there's the snowballing effect of
parents, tired of buying expensive airline tickets for an August vacation whilst
hearing of their neighbors grabbing last-minute deals and pulling the kids out
of school and getting accomodated, start doing the same thing. So the pendulum
swings the other way, and the parents who *would* be very judicious about this
matter are shut out, too. Old story of abuse of privelege.

Banty