SACRAMENTO — The predictable result came in last week from forcing students with disabilities to pass a high school exit exam in order to earn a diploma. Nearly half failed.
Failed. A demoralizing word for some kids who struggle daily to perform tasks most teens carry out with ease.
The psychological damage "is horrific," says Sid Wolinsky, director of litigation for Disability Rights Advocates, which fought unsuccessfully for alternative ways to measure the knowledge of special education students.
"We had dozens of sworn declarations from parents about the deep depression that their disabled children went into when they didn't pass the exit exam," Wolinsky says. "When you're a child with a disability, you start with problems of stigma, societal stereotyping and self-confidence.
"Then you're shattered when you can't pass the exit exam. You blame yourself and have terrible problems with self-worth."
The class of 2008 was the first in which special education students -- those with learning, physical or mental disabilities such as autism or dyslexia -- were required to pass the exit exam to receive a diploma. They could try unlimited times.
The state Department of Education reported last week that among the nearly 40,000 students with disabilities who took the exam, 53.8% passed and 46.2% failed. By contrast, among the non-special ed students, 93.6% passed.
Not all special ed students even took the exam, only an estimated 72%, according to the department. They're generally students who are studying under what's called "individualized education plans" -- instruction that accommodates their disabilities -- and are on a "diploma track," taking all the required courses needed to graduate. Yet, nearly half of them flunked the exit exam.
My first reaction reading news stories of the exam results was that the state shouldn't be harassing these kids. Give them a pass. Hand them a diploma if they manage all their course work. After all, California prospered for more than 150 years without a high school exit exam.
In fact, it wasn't until 1999, when freshman Gov. Gray Davis was trying to ensure a legacy of education reform, that the Legislature mandated the exit exam for public schools. (Private schools aren't affected.) The 2006 class was the first required to pass it. Special ed students in 2006 and 2007 were exempted, but no longer.
