Guest Commentary: Meeting a statistical requirement, or AYP for short

In a dilemma to meet recent federal testing requirements, schools are forced to make a difficult choice. First, a school may choose to test all students, even students with a disability, without making special accommodations. Second, a school may decide to allow students with a disability to take their tests with special accommodations based on individual need.

If a school makes the first choice, to test all students without consideration of individual need, it may be in conflict with federal law in relation to the Individuals with Disabilities Act. IDEA has been the major governance of all Special Education procedures in American public schools. Making this first choice in testing procedures not only violates IDEA principles, it also violates the rights of individuals (children and parents). To be tested without any special accommodations infringes upon the civil rights of a disabled student.

If a school chooses to permit students with a disability to take their tests with special accommodations, based on individual needs and listed in an IEP (Individualized Educational Plan), it runs the risk of not meeting the federal requirement that 95 percent of the student population must test without special accommodations.

If any subset (i.e. grade, ethnic group or exceptionality) of a school population does not meet this 95 percent threshold, then that school will automatically fail to meet a No Child Left Behind requirement for adequate yearly progress (AYP).

In a small school, the issue is exacerbated because one child in a class or group may make the difference between meeting or not meeting the 95 percent tested rule.

The testing options available to school administrators currently put schools into a no-win situation. If administrators test without allowing for individual differences, they violate the core tenets of special and individual education. If a school tests with special accommodations for students with a disability then that school is likely to fall short of the required 95 percent population to meet AYP.

Should a school suspend individual liberties to meet a statistical requirement?

Wayne Koelemeyer is director of Special Education, Great Expectations Academy