When Laws Collide
A blogger at Where’s the Outrage? is frustrated that his kids’ school won’t be labeled “excelling” this year.
How frustrated? He thoughtfully provides a handy visual.
As he reports it, the Catch-22 went like this: As required by their IEPs, three fifth-graders received “nonstandard accommodations” during testing. Doesn’t matter how they scored, under NCLB they were counted as automatic failures and as not having taken the test at all. That led to their subgroup failing to make AYP, and as one subgroup goes, so goes the whole school.
Or, as Dad learned, ”Schools make IEPs in order to try to ‘Leave No Child Behind’. But if they make an IEP, that student will automatically be counted as having failed if that IEP is enacted during the testing process. A school will either violate federal special education laws, by not helping those with learning disabilities, or they will violate the federal ‘No Child Left Behind’ laws.”
Thanks, Dad, for today’s migraine-inducing moment. We’re going to go lie down now.
