Fourteen students received the news. Their MCAS test responses had been scored as zeros because the accommodations they used were not allowable under state rules. Even though school administrators claim they checked it out with the state Department of Education's MCAS Support Services helpline, they apparently misunderstood or were given bad advice. In any case, eleven 8th-grade and three 4th-grade students received only the basic 200 on their exams. They participated in good faith, using the accommodations approved by their IEP Teams and school administrators. Yet, these fourteen paid the price with a defeating failure!

The federal special education law IDEA-97 includes new rules intended to make sure that students with disabilities benefit from education reform improvements. For example, it calls for every student with a disability to have access to the general curriculum and high standards. It also calls for all students to be included in the state's mandated testing system, MCAS. This requirement reinforces the message to schools that they are accountable for the learning achievements of all students with disabilities. At the same time, it promises students with disabilities that they will have fair and equal opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge on mandated tests. This promise is so important because, in the past, students with disabilities have been excluded from these tests.

The law establishes three ways for students with disabilities to participate fairly. If possible, students should take the MCAS in the usual fashion, without any accommodations. Students who need accommodations in order to demonstrate their knowledge are entitled to them. The laws instruct IEP Teams to specify the needed accommodations in the IEP, prior to the testing period. If the Team determines that a student cannot reasonably take the standard ("on-demand") version of the MCAS even with accommodations, then the student must participate through an alternate assessment. The student's IEP Team is responsible for determining how students with disabilities participate in MCAS. (Or, for students on a Section 504 plan, the 504 Team determines how a student participates.) The Mass. DOE, however, has established a list of "allowable" and "impermissible" accommodations intended to prevent alteration of the test (and in their view, unfair advantage) and preserve test security.

Herein lies the problem. Fourteen students thought they were taking the test under approved conditions, later to find out that the DOE and its testing contractor saw it differently. And these fourteen students paid the price.

Ensuring fairness and equal opportunity for full participation are not in conflict with preserving test integrity. Test accommodations, by definition, are intended to provide students with an equal opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge. They do not provide a student with an unfair advantage. Indeed, a full range of accommodations consistent with the individual needs of students is essential to ensuring fairness and must be guaranteed by each school district and the state.

As parents, we must demand fairness and full participation in all aspects of education for our children. We must insist that school districts allow IEP Teams to draw from a broad array of possible accommodations and alternate ways to assess the knowledge of students. These demands are entirely consistent with the original language of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act and with IDEA-97. These laws establish the IEP Team as the authority for deciding when and what accommodations should be used -- both for teaching and for testing students. The state should not continue to arbitrarily limit the Team's decision-making authority in contradiction to state and federal law.

Fourteen students doesn't sound like a lot. But when all 14 are from a single school district, imagine how the numbers must add up when each of the state's 350 districts is examined! Students with disabilities need to be held to high learning standards. To escape the tyranny of low expectations, they must be given the educational supports and accommodations they need to achieve great things and to demonstrate their knowledge.

This NewsLine is devoted to assisting parents and professionals in their efforts to ensure the success of every student in this year's round of testing. Students have every right to experience MCAS in a constructive way and to be given the tools they need to demonstrate their knowledge.

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