A comment from a reader:
Hi! I’m going through the same problem right now with my son who will be taking the state testing for the first time this year. He is on the spectrum, and is incredibly bright, but can only demonstrate it on tests if it is presented to him in a way he understands. He thinks, reasons, and understands at a different level of comprehension than what is on these tests. I asked his school if his questions could be reworded for him to understand, and they won’t do it. My friend has a great FB page where she is fighting for severely disabled children, but changes need to be made for ALL the disabled/special needs kids. //www.facebook.com/Who.Is.Ethan.Rediske
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Hi — this is Ethan’s mom. I know I’m fighting for the needs of severely disabled kids like my son, but I sincerely hope that legislators will see the need for change for ALL disabled kids. Truly, kids with disabilities should be assessed according to their IEPs and NOT with standardized testing. All the best to you!
This is yet another issue with these tests. Do yourself and him a favor . . . opt out!
I have been a witness the psychological carnage inflicted by the NCLB/CCSS assessments here in NY. My heart breaks for the special needs kids and their parents. When 95+% of the IEP students in NY cannot reach the graduation stage because of CC testing, maybe then legal action will remedy what is a blatantly abusive situation. we have kids in my school with IQs in the low 70s and upper 60s taking the same exam that the future valedictorian is struggling with.
If I were in your shoes, my decision would be easy. Every parent with special needs child should OPT OUT. Boycott the tests and do so with a clear conscience. Unfortunately many parents of IEP students are not fully aware of just how abusive this testing is nor do they understand their options.
For highly gifted children, sometimes called highly sensitive children, who have high spatial intelligence, this testing is a nightmare. They will usually have signs of ADD or ADHD by 2nd or 3rd grade. That does not mean they have a disorder, but are just wired differently. They are the ones who will be artists, designers, engineers, and inventors. They need to use their imagination and curiosity to “create”. However, sitting through the traditional drill and kill of the test obsessed school environment will cause them to lose imagination and spontaneity. They are the children are the most damaged from the chronic traumatic stress of this environment, and will lose their “gifts”. Depression and anxiety are common for these children unless they can be given freedom for self expression, such as Montessori.
Your child, if diagnosed with a disability such as ADHD, or ASD, etc. is eligible for the 504 Program or possibly SpEd services and may be allowed special accommodations for testing. Have you discussed this with the school psychologists?
Check out the Bad Ass Parents association and the National Opt Out group. They just had a 3 day conference in Denver. You will find lots of help and support at those groups.
I am a special ed teacher, and agree 100% you should have your child opt out. No one deserves the harm these tests inflict, but I do not feel good about your chances of getting good results by going through the school, district, state, etc. Opting out is something I hope my students begin doing, but I will not be able to advise them in thus way. Your child’s case manager is also not likely to suggest this to you, for fear of the repercussions. Good luck to you.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx This is good advice– I too would have had both my IEP sons opt out of the tests were they still school-age, just judging from sample questions I’ve seen. Even double-time accommodation would not suffice for the mental flip-flops required to make sense of the publically-available examples.
However, just playing devil’s advocate: does this reader cite the main problem all will have with CCSS tests, classified or no? ELA test questions appear to be attempting to eliminate any advantage knowledge of social or historical context might confer, narrowing focus to the self-referential & arcane. Primary math questions seem to deliberately obfuscate knowledge of math basics by couching straightforward questions in complex verbiage. (All of which of course reflects the bassackwards way in which standards are formulated).
Just wondering why anyone wouldn’t opt out.
OPT.HIM.OUT!!!!!
I’m a Special Ed/Math Resource Teacher and taught for 7 years in middle school in Clark County School District in NV. This is my 1st year in a HS in a self-contained class teaching students with moderate to severe disabilities. HS students in CCSD can earn an Option I (regular) diploma, or an Option 2 (SpEd diploma) Most students with an IEP have to take the same 4 proficiency exams (math, science, reading, and writing) as the general ed kids…..twice a year, until they pass. (Those with severe disabilities take an alternative test, and there’s only a few of them in a school with a population of 3,000+) It’s abusive. The students may earn the required 22.5 credits required for graduation, but if they can’t pass the tests, they get an Option 2. Minimum modifications are allowed such as a calculator, small group setting, breaks for medical reasons. But they’re not much help to someone with a Severe Learning Disability. And they have to keep taking them over and over and over. And if that’s not enough abuse for you, even though they earn their Option 2 Diploma, CCSD counts these students as drop outs. And that’s the part that REALLY pisses me off. My kids are NOT drop outs!! What are we doing??
One more thing. Testing starts in Sophomore year. The CCSS proficiency exams will start next year. (We have no clue what they will look like. Just rumors.) Students that are Freshman or younger will be made to take and pass the “new” CCSS tests in just math and reading to earn their diploma. So for this year’s 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, we have CCSS in the classroom (sort of) but they will still have to pass the “old” HSPE. 2 different tests. It’s insane!!
I feel for this parent. It must be so disheartening to feel like it is mandated to put your child through an abusive situation like these tests. And it is even more shameful when a student clearly has issues making it absolutely impossible to have any “success” on them. And irony of all ironies in the age of the catch-all word, “differentiation”… I guess this only applies to doing things “the ed reform way” or take the “differentiation highway”!! There are many special needs students at my school. Tomorrow one grade of students will take a PARCC field test during their “learning” time, will not receive any money for their work and will never know the results. MD, unlike New York and other states has had no OPT OUT awareness at all. Wondering if anyone knows if there is some “requirement” that MD students take these field tests????
As for the parent in this story.. i hope your school will listen to your pleas!!!!
As an aside, and no disrespect of special needs children intended, TeachForAwhile has come out with news that they’re going to provide Special Ed training for selected recruits….
Lots of “news” pieces with new CEO’s name on them doing the rounds and Wendy Kopp is pushing info on Twitter…. http://www.teachforamerica.org/blog/teach-america-launches-special-education-and-ability-initiative
‘Articles’ (PR pieces) long on words, short on specific detail… there’s reference to some special ed-specific training on two new pilot programmes, but nothing for ‘regular’ recruits… am ‘joking’ it’s probably an app TFA’s launching…. Meg Norris guesses it’s either an afternoon or all day training, cos, judging by it’s 5 week bootcamp transformative ‘training’ of recruits into ‘teachers’, that would be all one would need (again, tongue-in-cheek satire)… another reason to #ResistTFA
I understand your concern and actually agree…..except for one thing. I work at a Charter school. I can’t stand the standard tests….we don’t use the curriculum that teaches to them, we are doing something totally different. We don’t evaluate our teachers based on rests of these tests,
But when someone opts their child out, it shows up as a zero for that student! Not just that they didn’t participate. To be allowed to have a charter school we HAVE TO agree to take the state tests and score at least “proficient”. So until the system is changed from the other end, charter school need to participate or they can close our school.
Opting out or refusing the tests only counts as a zero (a recorded score) if the student were to sign the test. If not, the student is marked as “Absent From Testing”, and no score is recorded.
Sorry, that is not true. Had it happen several times to our school.
Actually, here in CT, it is true. In fact, that is the precise procedure outlined by the State Commissar of Education Stefan Pryor in a memo dated Dec 2013 to school superintendents and administrators on how to handle those who opt out of testing.
Well, I am glad to hear that for CT. I wish it were that way in Colo. : ) If we could do that we would have loads of families opting out. Students here don’t sign tests at all.
I would just have them accept the zero score. If everyone had the courage to either opt out or simply refuse the test, that “goose-egg” would be a badge of honor!
While I do agree with you….that badge of honor would close our school. To even get a Charter we have to agree to take state test. Also, if we rank as a “Priority Improvement” school for 3 years in a row, they can close us. So when some people opt out, we get zeros. When we get zeros it brings our totals down……..which could close our school.
OPT your child OUT! In Illinois, our Council for Exceptional Children affiliate (ICEC) put this into rules–“standardized” testing is determined appropriate on a case-by-case basis & should be a decision made by the IEP Team, of which the parent(s) are (& IMO, the MOST important) members. If you live in a state where there will be a “zero” recorded for your child, then so be it. In all the years I taught, our tests actually counted for nothing against the children–scores did, however, account for retaliation against teachers, caused a school “turnaround” (even after the “turnaround,” the school STILL does not meet AYP {Average Yearly Progress}, & it’s been FOUR years!) Parent, please know that these tests absolutely STINK–they are flawed, & the only reason they are administered is to make $$$$$ for Pear$on, which has a monopoly on the testing & textbook industry. Please refer to Diane’s Bill Moyers interview–see it, but don’t weep–take action! ALL of this is being done to make money for hedge fund managers & Wall Street cheaters off OUR children.
Therefore, get together with like-minded parents (by reading Diane’s blog, you’ll see that there are more of you than you may think) & Opt ALL your kids out.
In numbers there is strength. Yes, WE can & we WILL!
Thank you for your mention of $$$$$ for Pearson . . . there also has to be kickbacks to those Board of Education members who throw those $$$$$ at Pearson and the charter school movement!
I’ve been following this subject for awhile since I have 2 children with special needs and in one case my child received OT at a public elementary school which is highly specialized in serving special needs of all sorts.
I spoke with the principal the other day about how the high stakes testing (Ohio’s version is called the Third Grade Reading Guarantee- an ALEC creation) was going for her children. In some cases the special needs are so severe that the child is physically unable to even hold a pencil let alone take a test.
While this law allows the principals to make the decision to retain the child or pass them on either way it gives a “grade” to the teacher and the school. In this case the school went from being considered an outstanding school in 2006 to being a failing school according to the new “grade” with this law based on the children’s test scores.
There is even a protocol for tests that have been vomited on. They must be placed in a baggie and still submitted, they may not be thrown away. The children may not be excused they still have to take the test, even if the child is physically ill from the stress, and yes, even if they are unable to hold a pencil.
In public school children in third grade in Ohio are not allowed to Opt-Out. They will be forced to take a zero and subject to the possibility of retention. The zero hurts the school and the teacher.
This is way the law is designed and it’s purpose, starting first in Columbus, is so that there can be an excuse or supposedly valid reason to close the school, give the building over to a charter company and fire the teachers.
The twofold benefit to Privatization pushers is this: 1. Less union teachers will weaken the union and 2. The buildings can then be handed over to private enterprise (which we have already seen happen in Chicago).
As usual the most vulnerable members of our society are the ones who are going to be the most harmed by these laws. We need something stronger than Opt-out.
I hesitate to believe that “Opt-Out” is the answer to the subject of high stakes testing because laws like this one can be written around it anyway and still serve the privatization purpose they were created for.