While I do believe that all students should be assessed on a yearly basis to see if they are obtaining a maximum level of education, I do not believe that the FCAT should be used when it comes to our ESE students. I know that schools obtain a certain amount of money each year as an incentive for teachers to continue to drill and press this information into each students head but when it comes to these specific students, we know that this specific test is not made in a way that will allow our students to show their abilities and shine for the information they have attained through out their education.
In the article, Parents of Florida students with special needs challenge plans to change state school grading in the Tampa Bay Times discusses the view point of parents who have children with special needs. As they state, "We must inform the State Board of Education that this is unacceptable and needs to be revised. Our children with disabilities will not be wanted in schools, because their grade will affect the school's grade."
It's unacceptable to ask our students who are special needs to take a state mandated test that even the "normal" population have a difficult time passing. If anyone remembers, several years ago when President Bush passed this bill that mandated state run tests, he couldn't even pass the test.....just saying...
This is the article I based this posting off of: http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/content/parents-florida-students-special-needs-challenge-plans-change-state-school-grading
