thoughts on a diploma?

[Guest guest]

We are at a crossroads, and not sure which path to take. has

been included in regular ed since kinder (some pullouts in elementary

for math/reading, and now resource classes for math/reading.) She has

always got good reviews from the regular ed teachers, as she

participates, contributes, and really does seem to learn a lot (although

does not necessarily test well here.) And, it's always a struggle to

figure out how to get them to do their jobs and modify first, rather

than giving her the regular assignments/hw and then having us either

struggle/modify for her, or modify after the fact (but this is mostly my

problem, not 's.) Overall, successful, and she is well liked

by peers in these classes. In resources classes, she generally is able

to do them with little help,although since math has moved to

pre-algebra, we're having to teach her a set of rules to attack these

problems, since it doesn't look like the teacher has. But, she's

getting it, and did about half the homework independently (with her

" rules " ) last night.

So, as we try and make a plan for high school, and after a lot of

discussion with the team (whose input is variable across the board, so

they are not really helpful), we see that there are two paths. (1)

Diploma track, which means all classes must be taken w/o modifications

(only acccomodations). This would likely be met by taking all academics

in a resource class (3 or 4 of 6 periods), and then being mainstreamed

into regular ed electives and PE. Different from her current placement,

and much more limited interactions with regular ed peers. OR, (2)

Certificate of completion track, which means she just has to basically

attend whichever classes to meet school requirements, but can be

modified as needed. So, she could be in the awesome, dynamic bio

teacher's class, and not do all the same work, but she'd be with her

regular ed peers and a really interesting teacher/class (since resource

just meets the standards, they are really " no-frills " which in our

observation, was also kind of dull.) And be with the awesome kids she's

been with primarily since kinder. But, with 45 kids in a fast-paced

high school class, would the interactions be the same as in elementary

and/or middle?

Because our crystal ball is cloudy, we don't know if working towards a

diploma will be of benefit to or not in her post-high school

life :-) We think she can probably do it, but we're not sure if there

will be a benefit to her. Those of you, especially with older kids, if

you got a certificate of completion (or equivalent) did you ever feel

that your child's options were limited w/o the diploma (in a job or

situation that you know they were capable of, but someone wanted that

piece of paper?) Or if anyone did go the diploma track, did you find

that it was a benefit for your child, or did whatever they did post-high

school depend more on job/vocational training and their abilities, and

no one cared about the diploma.

Thanks for reading, and any advice is appreciated!

, mom to (16), (14 DS) and Sammy (12), auntie to

(18)