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Simon Healey
Librarian II
Access Technology Project
Free Library of Philadelphia

Alaska Agrees to Let Disabled Have Help on a School Exam

August 3, 2004
By GREG WINTER

Disabled high school students in Alaska will gain broad accommodations,
including the use of dictionaries and computerized spell-checkers, on the
state's standardized mandatory graduation exam under a legal
settlementannounced yesterday.

The agreement, which requires court approval, would conclude one of several
legal challenges to the high school exit exams that have been adopted in
some form by about
half the states.

While the exams have been embraced as a way of ensuring that students master
the basics of a high school education before getting a diploma, they have
also come under legal attack from parents and advocates for disabled
students who say the tests make it nearly impossible for those with
disabilities to graduate.

To avoid penalizing students with physical or learning disabilities, Alaskan
officials said they would allow for a variety of accommodations during
testing, like the selective use of word processors or calculators, as deemed
appropriate by experts. Tests may also be read aloud to some students, and
severely disabled students may be able to graduate without ever passing the
exam, should their other work be deemed adequate by experts.

Gregg D. Renkes, Alaska's attorney general, said the settlement allowed the
state to continue pushing for accountability in its schools while treating
disabled students fairly.

"Let no one be confused,'' Mr. Renkes said. "That is one of the highest
goals. The settlement is all about doing what's right for the kids."

The plaintiffs in the case, which was filed on behalf of disabled students
this spring, also described the settlement as unusually far-reaching,
establishing a breadth of accommodations that few other state's exams can
match.

"This is the most constructive resolution that has ever been reached in a
case of this nature," said Sid Wolinsky, director of litigation for
Disability Rights Advocates, which has also successfully challenged proposed
exit exams in California and Oregon. "It is a win-win for everyone."

Though both sides described the negotiations as amicable, they also
acknowledged that the settlement would be difficult to carry out.

Some of the accommodations are controversial, like reading out loud a test
that is supposed to measure one's reading ability.

"Not everybody likes every part of the settlement," saidRoger Sampson,
Alaska's commissioner of education and early development. "But I think they
clearly understand the benefits."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/03/education/03alaska.html?=1092550643&ei=1&en=45bf7a2ed772450f