Should Different Graduation Requirements be Offered to Students with Disabilities?
Graduation requirements for students with disabilities vary considerably from state to state according to a report released by the National Center on Educational Outcomes at the University of Minnesota. For example, some states have exit exams which all students must pass in order to successfully complete high school, while others have no exit exams or do not require all students to take these exams. Some states offer an array of diploma options (i.e., different diplomas for honors students, students with disabilities, and/or certificates of achievement in lieu of a diploma), while other states offer only standard diplomas to all graduates. Additionally, 28 states increased their graduation requirements to receive a standard diploma over the past three years.
Although all states offer standard diplomas to students with disabilities, many states also offer the following alternative degrees: IEP/special education diplomas, certificates of attendance, certificates of achievement, occupational diplomas, and/or a host of combinations or variations of these diploma options. Twenty-one states have policies that require all youth to pass an exit exam to receive a high school diploma. Nevertheless, only three states do not make any accommodations available to youth with disabilities who are pursuing a standard diploma. The majority of states either permit course replacements and/or reduced credits, lower performance criteria, grant time extensions, and/or allow an IEP committee to review student achievement on a case-by-case basis.
Despite all these variations and options in graduation requirements for students with disabilities, little is known about the consequences of these options. For this report, state education agency personnel were asked what their perceptions were of the intended and unintended consequences of offering multiple diploma options to students with disabilities. Intended consequences included increasing graduation rates, motivating students, and being able to recognize achievements among students in this population. Unintended consequences included receiving a diploma perceived as substandard, employers not being able to gauge the meaning of different diploma options in terms of students’ skills and abilities, and students not meeting requirements for continuing their education with these alternative degrees.
Questions for Discussion:
- Do you think students with disabilities should be required to pass exit exams in order to receive a high school diploma?
- What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of having alternative diplomas for students with disabilities?
- Should some students, based on ability level, be able to earn the same diploma even if they did not take the same classes or earn the same amount of credits as other students?
- If you were an employer, would you hire a youth with a “certificate of achievement,” rather than a standard diploma?
Let us know what you think!
Your thoughts…
Comments:
 I believe that the collective education community has not yet nailed the issue of providing all of the needed accommodations and modifications necessary to help many more students become successful in accessing a general curriculum that leads to a diploma.
There are some great outcomes from some school systems and for many individual students. Yet, there are others that leave some students with nothing at the end of their education careers. The sad thing is that, for these students, it is not necessarily the the disability that stands in the way of a "standard diploma."
It would help to have improvements in:
1. Personnel preparation, including a measurable understanding of Postive Behavior Support and making content more accessible and understandable to all students, including those with disabilities.
2. Hiring practices; including having one on ones, personal assistants, paraeducators, social workers, psychologists, and the like who clearly meet the learning needs of individual students versus being the next person in the union line or the favored school consultant.
3. Clear home-school communications, including the public posting of all lesson plans well-in-advance and just-in-time progress reports.
4. Availability of, for the student to have at home, text books (or copies of required text), E learning materials, classroom notes by notetakers, and anything else required to complete projects and meet deadlines.
5. Helping more students with disabilities become involved with the education community and extracurricular activities.
6. Advocating for "honest and ethical IEPs," where there is no fear of retaliation for anyone who advocates appropriately for a student. No teacher, employee, or contractor should ever have to feel that there could be consequences on the job for disagreeing with their supervisor on issues that could affect the educational outcomes for their student(s).
Only after some of this type of "clean-up" is done, kids are give the best shot possible at a earning "standard diploma" in high school, and IEPs are written and implemented with integrity and fidelity; should we be asking questions about a different diploma or certificate.
It isn't a secret that the system could be doing better for more students.
Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2008 by Optimistic at 06:13 PM
Post a Comment:
Return to
Current Featured Discussions Page Top |
