How does the No Child Left Behind Act affect children with special needs?

Question

In New York, we take Regents but special education students don't have to pass all of them. They can just take the RCTs. And if they didn't pass the RCTs, they would just get the IEP diploma. Therefore, the No Child Left Behind Act DOESN'T affects children with special needs!

If I am wrong, please provide reasons that make sense. I want to know how the No Child Left Behind Act affects children with special needs.

That's not true. Kids in self-contained classes do take regents. Not everyone in self-contained classes is mentally retarded.

Answer 1

Exceptional students have been excepted from many NCLB requirements, but not all, and not permanently.

IDEA 2004 legislation set up a timetable for states to integrate special or exceptional student education into the standardized testing requirements of the general student population. Special education students will be integrated more and more into the standardized testing regime, but as with other parts of NCLB, it takes awhile to implement fairly.

Clearly, there have to be different standards for different students. While some disabilities can be overcome, or at least mitigated, many affect a student's every attempt at speaking, hearing, reading, comprehension, etc.

Are you irate that students with spinal disorders get to use motorized wheelchairs and those special doors that open when you press a button?

Also, to argue that special education students aren't affected by the NCLB requirements because everyone else has to take the Regents ignores the fact that you and everyone else can now see another division between special education and regular education students. Considering the way special needs kids get treated, I don't think this additional difference will have no effect on them.

Answer 2

It does not affect kids with special needs who are outside of the regular curriculum--however, resource kids and kids who are on the regular diploma track still are counted to decide a school's AYP--whether or not they are passing and failing--so these kids still need to be functioning on the 'proper' level for testing. But those kids in self contained classes, who are working towards a certificated of attendence or what you call an IEP diploma are not affected...they are honestly not even considered in this piece of legislation and simply fall under the IDEA laws.

Answer 3

NCLB affects sped kids in these ways -

1) parents can use the scores the child makes on NCLB testing to have proof that their child is progressing/regressing and use this to ask for better services on childs IEP to help them.

2) the curiculum gets 'dummied down' so the child can pass the NCLB testing so the school can GET MORE MONEY

3) some schools change test answers and even don't count the scores at all for sped kids on NCLB testing so the schools scores will be higher so teh school will GET MORE MONEY
THis happened in GA, on front page yahoo news.

Answer 4

WOW...

I am currently enrolled in an upper-level special education class. My professor is actually one of the big-wigs in my state that wrote a lot of the 2007 special education manual.

We are discussing NCLB extensively and my understanding is that you are right. There are a lot of loop holes and gray area within NCLB. Meeting AYP overlooks many children on both ends of the spectrum (in my humble opinion) and does not specifically address a myriad of problems.

Fortunately, NCLB is currently in a kind of public forum... opinions are collected, data is analyzed and concerns will be addressed in an amended NCLB act.

UNFORTUNATELY, we won't see the meat of it taking effect in the formal school system for a few years.

Answer 5

it does not, it only adds to the required paper work.