When educators blame low test scores on the high number of special-needs students in their school, or exempt special education kids from having to meet the same standards as their general-education peers, it makes me angry.

These actions are grounded in an educational approach that gives up on children with disabilities. As someone who was written off mistakenly as having a learning disability when I was a child, I know how damaging that attitude can be to the self-esteem and educational future of these children.

Disparities in expectations yield disparate results; lowering the bar for students rather than helping them reach the higher one denies them the learning all children are entitled to and robs them of their potential.

As a teacher, I am unwilling to do that to my students.

In my third-grade classroom at Success Academy Harlem 5, about one-third of the students have individualized education programs. We are a random lottery school; a scholar’s acceptance is not based on whether or not he or she has an IEP, or the nature of it. In my time at Success Academy, I have dealt with students with language processing disorder; ADHD; autism spectrum disorder; emotional disturbances, and vision disorders.

Right now, all 29 special education and general education children in my class are taking the standardized state exams, and I know they will do well, because we set the bar high and do what it takes to help them reach it.

Last year, 96 percent of Success Academy Harlem 5 students passed the state math exam and 68 percent passed the English test. Among our special education scholars, 94 percent passed math and 50 percent passed English. This compares to 35 percent passing math and 29 percent passing English among all city public school students. Among special-needs kids citywide, just 11 percent passed math and 7 percent passed English.

Helping these students succeed involves great determination and creativity on the part of the teacher. Our kids get multiple types of interventions – extra time, physical therapy, occupational therapy, whatever they need – to address the specific reasons they are struggling, and if one strategy doesn’t work, we try another. While having a teacher dedicated to the success of special ed students isn’t the entire answer, it is a start.

If a school has a high percentage of special education kids, you have to look closely at how they got there, because only a certain percentage of the population is technically special ed. Perhaps the school is not working hard enough. Maybe the curriculum is outdated, or teachers have the wrong materials or are not trained to use them effectively. Or maybe the school finds it easier to label children special-needs than to help them.

That happened to me in my comfortable Westchester elementary school. For three years, I slipped through the cracks not knowing how to read. I had figured out how to get by without this essential skill. Finally, when I was in fourth grade, my teacher realized what was happening but what she did spoke volumes about her educational philosophy. She told my mother I had a big problem: I was a sweet girl but would never go to college or do great things in my life.

I was in fourth grade, and this teacher decided I was already a lost cause.

Thankfully, my parents believed in me. It turned out I had a vision problem and with tutoring and vision therapy, I was not only able to achieve – contrary to my teacher’s prediction – but I went to graduate school and became a successful professional.

That’s why I will never look at a child and say he or she cannot succeed. How can you give up on an eight-year-old student? If a teacher believes in a child, has high expectations, and is willing to do whatever it takes to reach a student who is having trouble reading or grasping a math concept, it will make all the difference in the world.

Special-needs children should be welcomed as eager learners, not treated as a burden.