Dear Parent:
In our class action lawsuit against the California educational bureaucracy, a Federal Court ordered that students with disabilities be allowed to use all accommodations provided for testing in their IEP/504 Plan, when they take the Exit Exam. The order also stated that all students with IEP/504 Plans calling for an alternate assessment must be provided with an alternate assessment to the Exit Exam. If an alternate assessment is not available, then taking the Exit Exam is voluntary for those students.
We have received complaints regarding the March 2002 administration of the Exit Exam. Many students were not allowed to use all the accommodations listed in their IEP/504 plans. Similar problems may arise on future exams. To best protect your child, several experts recommend taking the following steps as soon as possible:
1) Every parent should request that the school reconvene his or her child's IEP or 504 team immediately.
2) Parents should ask for all test related accommodations necessary for their child to be written into the IEP or 504 Plan as accommodations specifically designated "to be used for the Exit Exam." It is unclear what the State's accommodations policy will be (and the court has not ruled on the impact of certain accommodations such as a reader or a calculator). For these reasons, even though the State does not yet have an Alternate Assessment:
3) Every parent should seriously consider requesting that an Alternate Assessment to the general Exit Exam requirement be included in the child's IEP/504 plan. An Alternate Assessment is a way of assessing your child's abilities other than taking the Exit Exam (such as evaluating classroom performance, projects, etc.). Each child is unique, and you should consider your own child's individual situation. However, if your child will require an Alternate Assessment to the Exit Exam, and if such an Alternate Assessment is not available, you might consider refusing to allow your child to take the exam.
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