I won and I lost and maybe Corazon will win

Friday after school the bilingual and special education folks met about Corazón and I had to bring every piece of work she'd ever done all year to be scrutinized. I have mixed feelings about the outcome. Basically, she's going to stay in special education, but since she's categorized as "inclusion," I can keep her in my classroom whenever I feel it's appropriate, which will be all the time. This year they will test her on a second grade level, as far as standardized testing goes. But at the end of the year, we are going to re-test her for special education. If she can progress enough, she has a shot at leaving special education entirely, which was my hope.

She has, for the first time ever, been having friends. Her teachers from previous years said that because of her family situation, she was more or less a social outcast every year. But recently, she has been playing with Carmen and Esperanza, and even going to Esperanza's house after school. Her grades have been going up since all this started. I have a lot of hope for her. And it's great to see her smiling and laughing every day now.