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'No Child Left Behind' a Misnomer?
U.S. policy might alienate disabled
by Lindsey Collom,
The Arizona Republic, December 26,
2002
Original URL:
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/1226specialed.html
The goal of President Bush's No Child Left Behind is to bridge
the achievement gap between
disadvantaged students and their
peers. But some educators fear the
landmark education reform policy will
alienate a sometimes forgotten
minority: the severely mentally disabled.
At last count, there were 1,897 severely
physically or mentally impaired
students in Arizona. Students deemed significantly mentally
handicapped function at or
below readiness, or kindergarten standards. The
No Child Left Behind Act would require these
students to take standardized
tests at grade level.
Jane Hecker, coordinator of elementary special education
programs at Gilbert Public Schools,
called the legislation's goals
unrealistic and harmful.
"For
children with lower cognitive abilities, you're setting those
kids up for failure," Hecker said. "Every child
needs to feel they are
successful, and that's one of the underlying tenets of testing
the child at their level."
In
January, Bush signed into law the most sweeping reform since the
Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965. Its premise is that every
child will improve in school through better teaching
practices, more options
for parents and increased accountability at the state and
local level.
Standardized testing is a way to keep schools accountable. This
year, schools must begin administering
annual tests in grades 3-12. If schools do
not show adequate yearly progress as benchmarked by
national standards, they
will be penalized financially.
Gina
Johnson is president of Sharing Down Syndrome, a non-profit
agency that educates and offers support
to parents of children with Down
syndrome. Her son, David, 19, is a senior at Gilbert High
with Down syndrome. She, too, is
concerned about the implications of standardized
testing at grade level.
"For
those children (with disabilities), you're labeled as one who
doesn't fit the mold," Johnson said. "For
some, it (testing at grade level)
might be just another measure that they don't fit."
Like
other students, those functioning below readiness levels have
been taking the AIMS test - Arizona's
Instrument to Measure Standards - for
several years. Only, they've been taking AIMS A, an
alternative version
focusing on expressive language skills, pre-math skills
and basic number concepts.
Eligibility of AIMS A is determined by the child's Individual
Education Plan (IEP) team, whose rights are
protected under the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act of 1975.
Incongruency surfaces between No Child and IDEA when the new law
overrides the IEP recommendations.
Lynn
Busenbark, director of program support in the state department
of Exceptional Student Services,
anticipates Congress will resolve that and
other inconsistencies during IDEA's five-year review in
2003. "Until IDEA is
reauthorized and we get some congruence, we're in a
quandary," she said. "Right now, we're
stuck between those laws and don't
know which ones to pay attention to."
State
and local administrators are generally at a loss on how to
approach the new legislation. One of its
major tenets is every child will
be proficient in core subjects by the 2013-2014 school
year. "You hate to put
a limit on what any child can do, but you also need
to be realistic," Hecker said. "You have to look
realistically at a child's
disability and what they can achieve."
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