State overuses easier special ed tests - SFGate:

State overuses easier special ed tests

PUBLIC EDUCATION State should expect more of students with disabilities, say federal officials

Jill Tucker

Updated 10:37 p.m., Friday, October 26, 2012

San Francisco’s Sanchez Elementary is among schools that use the easier test disproportionately.
Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle / SF

California schools have lowered the academic expectations for tens of thousands of students in special education over the past few years, allowing them take a shorter and easier set of standardized tests at a participation rate that far exceeds federal guidelines.

In the spring of 2012, more than half the state's 400,000 students with disabilities took the simplified version of the math, science and language arts tests.

That's nearly three times higher than it should be, and the state should intervene to make sure the modified test is not overused, federal Department of Education officials told The

Sunday, October 28, 2012