Special education and high stakes testing for high school graduation: An analysis of current law and policy

Journal of Law and Education, Apr 2001 by O'Neill, Paul T

INTRODUCTION

This past Spring, an Indiana Superior Court judge refused to grant a preliminary injunction that would have barred the state from withholding a high school diploma from each of the more than 1,000 diploma-track seniors with identified disabilities who failed to pass the state's new Graduation Qualifying Examination.3 Judge Susan Macey Thompson found that, despite the fact that these students had met all other degree requirements, and despite the serious negative consequences that are likely to flow to the students from the denial of their high school diplomas, the law is fair and likely to be upheld.4 In defense of her ruling, the judge pointed out that the state has a public interest in "ensuring that an Indiana high school diploma is worth more than the paper it is written on."5 The Indiana Civil Liberties Union, which is bringing the case on behalf of the students, sees it differently. They maintain that the state has moved too quickly in implementing the diploma testing, particularly where children with disabilities are concerned. "This is not about the state setting standards or changing things," they have said, "It is about fairness."6

issue while still ensuring fairness and equity? Many believe that the Indiana lawsuit is the first to directly challenge the implementation of a high stakes exit exam as a diploma requirement for special education students.7 It will hardly be the last. Given the enormous amount of attention being paid to this issue nationwide, the Indiana case promises to be just the tip of the iceberg.

BACKGROUND

As of January 2001, eighteen states currently required children to pass a uniform, large-scale assessment in order to receive a high school diploma, and another six planned to adopt one within the next three years.8 That figure has risen over the last decade" and the numbers are likely to continue to climb. Such tests are called "exit exams" or "certification exams" or "competency exams." Many people refer to them as "high stakes" tests because of the consequences they carry; the doors they can open or close for the children who take them.

The stakes can be very high. A high school diploma is a threshold requirement for acceptance into college, the military, and many high-paying careers. Students who leave high school without a diploma begin their adult lives at an enormous disadvantage in terms of career options, potential for achievement and, not least of all, self esteem. For example, research has shown that individuals who lack a high school diploma or GED earn approximately 19% less per hour than do those who have one.10

abilities are given limited notice and time in which to master the skills to be tested, the imposition of such standardized assessments can amount to a formula for these children to fail.

Yet such tests are not necessarily the enemy of children with disabilities-- in fact, holding these children to high standards can be a very good thing. Many experts believe that, absent the imposition of such standards, many schools come to hold minimal expectations for their children with disabilities and that externally imposed standards can help remedy this by stimulating achievement among all children.12 In the past, however, only approximately half of students with disabilities have been included in state and district-wide assessments such as exit exams. This has made it impossible to get a meaningful picture of the key indicators of success for these children, such as performance on assessments, dropout rates, and graduation rates.13 Indeed, inclusion of children with disabilities in such assessments is crucial to determining whether each is receiving an appropriate education and meeting his or her potential.14 Many states and districts have therefore neither established meaningful educational goals for these children, nor cultivated their achievement with high expectations of performance. Moreover, assessments are often a catalyst for educational reform. If children with disabilities are excluded from testing, it is not likely they will be included in the reforms which follow.15 The same is true with regard to accountability-schools are held to the task of remedying problems detected through large scale assessments such as exit exams, and if children with disabilities do not participate in these tests, their difficulties may go undetected and unremedied.

mas regardless of performance, their degrees may be tainted with a stigma and their achievements discounted. It may be difficult to promote high standards for students with disabilities without imposing high stakes. If so, states are confronted with a difficult task in developing high stakes exit exams-the tests must be inclusive enough to challenge and motivate special education students without being constructed or administered in a way that is injurious, inequitable, or unfair to them. If a state fails at either goal, the tests it imposes may do more harm than good for students with disabilities.

This article will give an overview of high school exit exams-what they look like, why they are being imposed, and the ways that they can affect special education students. It will identify the authorities driving inclusion in exit exam programs, address what courts have to say about them, provide some examples of recent developments from around the nation in light of the relevant statutory and case law, turn briefly to what may be a be a growing backlash against the imposition of high stakes graduation testing, and, finally, attempt to identify significant choices faced by states implementing high stakes graduation exams.