ANNAPOLIS – New federal high school graduation requirements put Ken Vest’s son in danger of not graduating this year, he told Maryland lawmakers this week at a hearing on a bill to help the teen and other learning disabled students.
Vest said he was told that federal rules under the No Child Left Behind Act required his son to take algebra and geometry class to prepare for mandated assessment tests. But his son Jeremy’s disease, Williams Syndrome, affects his ability to learn higher math.
Vest testified Wednesday at a Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee hearing in favor of a bill to allow special education students to substitute special mathematics instruction for the required high school credits in algebra and geometry.
“I don’t think any hard-working student should be denied a diploma on account of a diagnosed disability,” said Delegate Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery, the primary sponsor of a House version of the bill.
The rule is akin to requiring a student in a wheelchair to adhere to physical education requirements, Barve said.
Before his senior year at Quince Orchard High School in Montgomery County, Jeremy was told he had three options: take algebra and geometry in his senior year, graduate with a certificate instead of a diploma, or attend school for a fifth year to allow extra time to pass the two courses.
It wasn’t until his father contacted his legislators that the school provided his son with a tutor for one-on-one teaching in algebra and geometry.
Now legislators want to make that option available for other students with learning disabilities.
“You shouldn’t have to know an elected official to get fair flexible treatment,” Barve said.
The bill will require the State Board of Education to allow learning-disabled students an individualized version of mathematics credits and create a team that develops the substitute education plan for the student.
Carol Ann Baglin, assistant state superintendent for the Division of Special Education, opposed the bill because she said it conflicts with state and federal laws.
Federal law requires all children, including children with disabilities, to take a mathematics assessment during high school to determine yearly progress, she said. Maryland decided to make that assessment in geometry.
In order to take the assessment, all students must have access to the general curriculum, according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. Meaning Vest had to take algebra and geometry.
“They must have access to the core learning,” Baglin said.
Students are required to take the test now, but are not required to pass the test until 2009, Baglin said.
Vest has a problem with this concept. He doesn’t understand why students are required to take the courses now if they are not required to pass the test until 2009.
He also said he doesn’t want it to seem that special needs students will not take the high school assessment, which his son plans to take.
The bill will “force the school to teach this material in a way that special needs students could learn it and pass the test,” Vest said.
Members of the Senate committee said they were also concerned about the inflexibility of the federal standards.
“It’s just a rigid, straight, that’s-the-way-it-is law,” said Sen. Jim Brochin, D-Baltimore County. “You’re not making any distinctions between students with disabilities.”
Sen. Sharon Grosfeld, D-Montgomery, wondered if there could be diverse choices to account for students with disabilities in other places too, not just in math.
“Is there some way to balance the standard,” asked Grosfeld. “Because they should graduate.”
Baglin did not change her position.
“There is one standard for all students,” she said.
With the one-on-one tutoring, Jeremy is passing his substitute algebra and geometry classes and is set to graduate this year.
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