A friend posted this article from the Washington Post on his Facebook page. I've known that there have been issues with students with disabilities taking standardized tests, but in class we have also been learning that special considerations must be allowed for students that need them. Despite this, I was shocked to read how stringent Florida's law is regarding standardized tests, and dismayed to hear the plight of these parents and teachers to save their children from the suffering and indignity the tests cause them.
I have been against standardized tests since their implementation, and what started as a gut reaction is building momentum as I find anecdotal evidence such as this article as well as looking for peer-reviewed research on the matter. The sheer ignorance of the politics driving the problem is baffling...except when corporate profit is factored into the equation.
I recognize that this article represents a minority of cases in which appropriate accommodations are not made for students with significant disabilities, but it reminds me that more can and should be done to ensure that students are being adequately educated, not used as pawns for one agenda or another. I appreciate wanting to have a good sense of the overall student demographic of a region or district, but the cost to our educational system--and to the students themselves--is too high. A child with significant disabilities should be expected to learn appropriate life and independent living skills. There is no need or value in dragging them through the stress of standardized testing.
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