Despite pleas from the public not to do it, the state Board of Education on Thursday unanimously recommended that students with disabilities be required to pass the California High School Exit Exam in order to receive a diploma.
Those students could take the test with special circumstances -- such as using calculators or having it read aloud to them. But to make a test taken with such modifications count toward graduation, kids would have to get a waiver. The board's recommendation on Thursday calls for several changes to the process of getting the waiver.
But teachers, advocates and special education experts said tweaking that process is not enough. They asked the board to allow students with disabilities to be freed from having to pass the test. Those students -- who have learning disabilities, autism, deafness, mental retardation and a host of other conditions -- should be allowed to show a portfolio of their work instead of taking the standardized exam, they said.
"More than 50 percent of the students (with disabilities) will fail and not graduate under this system," said Jo Behm of the Learning Disabilities Association of California, a parent activism group.
"I beg of you, please consider the (portfolio) approach."
Know-nothings are allowed to proceed with destroying children's chances in life.
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