Exit exam-highschool disability guidelines up in air

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this happened to me too when i was in highschool in 1996-2000 and i can say i wasnt taught the material, i was lucky to be able to graduate. but i really think if they allow this exit exam there gonna piss off a lot of people.....


Mira Loma High School junior Natalie Ayala receives good grades in her special education classes, but she has been unable to pass the state's high school exit exam.

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"Do you want a system that grants a diploma to a student that can't obtain a sixth-grade level?"

Do you want a system where a student who tries their damndest to acheive, despite their learning disabilities, are told it's all for nought? Yeah, cause that's what I was told. I'd like to see this person go up to someone who has spent their years struggling through high school, and tell them you can't graduate cause you didn't pass some silly test, despite you having learning disabilities. Would they just stand there and watch them cry?

I'd be interested to know more about the systems used in Massachusettes and NY - does anyone know where I could find out about this? (I am in the UK so am pretty ignorant about the US special education system)

Thanks

NY's system is a cop out to keep the State Department of Education and individual school districts from being sued in Federal court for violations of IDEA and Federal discrimination laws because they are not offering the same educational opportunities to Special Needs Students.

First, because of the system that is developed for high school education, teachers would be required to be dual certified in the state for special education AND the regents subject that they teach. The teachers however refuse to the take the extra time and work required to be dual certified unless there is something in it for them.

Second, although special needs students who are mainstreamed have access to needed equipment in order to take regular regents exams, most students in special needs programs do not have access to the equipment needed in order to even be allowed to take a regents exam. This is especially true in the area of science and at BOCES schools.

Years ago, the parents of students in a program through BOCES for teens with Tourettes Syndrome got into an argument with the state education department over the same issue. The parents were demanding labs in the BOCES school as well as dual certified teachers so that their children could take the regents science exams and the Education Department simply told them to apply for waivers (which would probably be legal under the current special education setup in the US).

Please do not tell me that NY has a better system. They are simply better at doing the least required by law and getting away with it.

Thanks for clarifying that demeus.
It is pretty depressing that many organisations' priority now is 'what can we do to not get sued' rather than 'how can we offer the best service'.