Testing of Special Needs Students is getting crazier

http://www.alternet.org/education/do-we-really-need-test-special-needs-children-more-we-already-are?akid=13528.294211.BT3YYr&rd=1&src=newsletter1043186&t=18

The new rule reduces the number of students taking modified tests from two percent to one; now, only students with “the most significant cognitive disabilities “ are exempt.

In short, the DOE believes more children with special needs should be held to the same educational standards and take the same proficiency tests as their typically-abled peers. Why? Because unnamed “new research” has evidently convinced the Secretary and his team that “students with disabilities who struggle with reading and math can achieve at grade-level standards if provided appropriate instruction, services and supports.” (Emphasis mine.) Those last five words are a critical piece of this puzzle; I’ll return to them in a minute.

It’s not clear precisely where the “new research” Duncan’s team refers to comes from, but the language promoting the new paradigm seems to echo the principles of the One Year Plus Policy implemented in Baltimore in 2013 byAndrés Alonso, the former CEO of Baltimore schools who is now Professor of Practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.