Officials Detail NCLB Test Flexibility for Students With Disabilities

Ed Week
May 10, 2005
By Christina A. Samuels

States can start taking advantage of flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act for some of their special education students this school year, but they will have to clear several hurdles to do so, the U.S. Department of Education announced May 10.

In April, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced that 2 percent of students in special education who have “persistent academic disabilities” could be tested using modified assessments. The result, for some states, is that more of their students who are in special education will be deemed proficient under NCLB standards.

The Education Department already allows 1 percent of students with “severe cognitive disabilities” to be counted as proficient even if they take alternative assessments that are below grade level. The additional 2 percent is intended to allow for students who, even with the best instruction, still cannot meet grade-level standards, Secretary Spellings has said.

“I believe that this is a smarter, better way to educate our special education students,” Ms. Spellings said May 10 in a teleconference with reporters.

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