|
INTRODUCTION
Many have joined MassCARE out of deep concern about
the effects of the MCAS, particularly the graduation requirement, on
special needs children. We have followed the statements of state education
policymakers about MCAS and special ed with growing concern and anger.
MCAS proponents like Board of Education Chairman James Peyser often seem
to regard high special ed failure rates as a cost of doing business. For
example, Peyser once said to a special needs parent at an MCAS forum in
Newton that "noone ever said there wouldn't be winners and losers" with
the high-stakes MCAS.
Many members of CARE who are parents or teachers of
talented, hard-working, capable students with learning disabilities see a
giant contradiction in MCAS proponents' rhetoric about kids who fail the
test. On the one hand, they claim the MCAS is abolishing the culture of
low expectations that they see holding back low-income minority students
and vocational education students from academic success. On the other,
they seem almost proud of results such as the 699 out of 700 special needs
students in the Class of 2003 who failed the alternate assessment version
of MCAS. It's as if they believe that high special needs failure rates are
proof that the MCAS standard is set just right, high enough to weed out
children with disabilities who simply don't deserve a "meaningful
diploma."
Read More.... |
|
Special education
legal resources and organizations
Lawyers specializing in
special ed and youth law
Do No Harm a
publication by Disability Rights Advocates that focuses on the needs and
rights of students with learning disabilities with regard to high-stakes
standardized tests.
Position Paper of the Learning Disabilities Association
of America on Statewide Testing and Learning Disabilities
A
learning disabled student tells how MCAS has affected his life in school
CARE members debate DOE
on special ed and MCAS
The mother of an autistic
child explains why, "My Disabled Child Deserve a Diploma"
Commentary by Lisa
Guisbond:
"Not Everything that Counts Can be Counted"
|
