K12> Disabled Alaska Students Sue Over Exam
- From: Gleason Sackmann <gleason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: NetHappenings <nethappenings@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 09:30:00 -0600
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Net Happenings - From Educational CyberPlayGround
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Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 07:37:39 EST
From: Donna Martinez <Dmartin336@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Disabled Alaska Students Sue Over Exam
To: K12ADMIN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
March 17, 2004
Disabled Alaska Students Sue Over Exam
By TAMAR LEWIN
http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/d.gif
Disabled children and their parents filed a federal class-action lawsuit
yesterday against the
Alaska Board of Education, the latest in a string of challenges to laws of
various states requiring students to pass an exit exam to earn a high school
diploma.
The suit charges that Alaska's exit exam discriminates against students with
disabilities, making a diploma hard - or impossible - for them to obtain.
The complaint said the state had created widespread confusion by repeatedly
changing its regulations for disabled students and what testing
modifications they can receive.
Under the current rules, the lawsuit argues, more than two-thirds of the
state's disabled high school seniors will not graduate in June.
Harry Gamble, a spokesman for Alaska education officials, said they had not
yet seen the complaint.
"We're obviously very concerned any time the state board is implicated in
not serving children well," Mr. Gamble said. "We need an opportunity to
review the suit and take a look at our laws governing the exam."
Mr. Gamble added that Alaska had already postponed the requirement for two
years, making this June the first time it will be in effect.
Under federal law, students with disabilities have a right to accommodations
on school tests. Students with learning disabilities may be allowed to use a
spell-checker or a calculator, for example, while a blind child may have the
test questions read aloud.
The lawsuit, however, charges that Alaska is not allowing students that same
range of accommodations on its exit exam. If a student uses a
grammar-checker or has the questions read aloud, for example, state
regulations require the results to be invalidated.
The suit charges that many disabled students have already dropped out in
discouragement.
A movement toward high school exit exams has swept the nation in recent
years, with almost half the states now requiring, or soon to require,
passage of a standardized test as a condition of graduation. One legal group
handling the Alaska case, Disability Rights Advocates, of Oakland, Calif.,
has successfully challenged proposed exit exams in California and Oregon.
In Alaska, the exam has three parts: reading, writing and mathematics.
Students start taking the test in 10th grade, and twice a year thereafter
can retake any part they do not pass. This June, for the first time,
students cannot graduate without passing all three parts.
Many parents and advocacy groups say such requirements illegally
discriminate against special education students, immigrants and minorities,
who have disproportionately low passing rates for the exams.
"For the class of 2004, 20 states will require graduates to pass an exit
test, and four more are adding them," said Keith Gayler, associate director
of the Center on Education Policy. "But in a lot of states, they get right
up to where they're going to withhold diplomas and they back down a bit.
"They take out the more difficult sections, readjust the standards, allow
waivers, let SAT scores count or put off the consequences. It's politically
very difficult to have, say, 20 percent of your kids not getting diplomas."
Copyright <http://query.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html>
2004 The New York Times <http://www.nytco.com/> Company
Steven M. Eidelman
Executive Director
The Arc of the United States
1010 Wayne Avenue, Suite 650
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-565-5469 - Phone
301-565-3843 - Fax
eidelman@xxxxxxxxxx
Donna Martinez
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