The Bush administration wants to loosen the rules and offer alternative tests for more special ed students in the new version of the No Child Left Behind law. States have been asking for more flexibility in how they test special education students.
Roughly 10 percent of special education students – those with the most serious cognitive disabilities – currently can take easier, alternative tests and have the results count toward a school's annual progress goals under the law. Under final rules the administration was to unveil Wednesday, about another 20 percent of children with disabilities would be allowed to take alternative tests.
“No Child left Behind has put the needs of students with disabilities front and center, and this regulation helps continue to drive the field forward in developing better tests for students with disabilities,” Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said in a statement.
The department said $21 million would be available to help states come up with the new tests.
Lawmakers also are considering loosening the testing rules for students learning English and are considering giving states more flexibility in how they measure student progress. Schools that fail to meet progress goals by just a little are treated the same as schools that miss those goals by a lot, something lawmakers say is unfair.
One of the biggest points my professors made in graduate school was that students learn and develop at their own rates. Anyone that has ever been around children knows this. What about the students that don't qualify for special education but have a tough time keeping up with their peers? Maybe some of that $21 million could be used to help them.