F-SEPAC Has 'Concerns' Abouts PARCC Exams

The following statement was read Tuesday night at the Framingham School Committee meeting:

My name is Susan Arndt and I am here as co chair of the Framingham Special Education Parent Advisory Council to share some thoughts and concerns we have in regards to special education students and the PARCC test.

Rich Robison, Executive Director of the Federation for Children with Special Needs, once described special education as being like a pair of glasses. I need my glasses in order to drive and in order to read. I need my glasses in order to access the world like everybody else and that’s what our children in special education need - access, and in the case of PARCC, our special education students need nonstandard accommodations.

In the past nonstandard accommodations, such as graphic organizers and individualized math reference sheets were allowed on the MCAS test and children, teachers, and families worked hard towards getting children to use those nonstandard accommodations to learn, to access the curriculum and to take tests in order to be like every other student with their glasses on. By not allowing these nonstandard accommodations on the PARCC test, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is essentially taking off their glasses and asking them to take the test like everybody else.

We are asking the Department to allow students who have nonstandard accommodations in their IEP to use them on the PARCC test so they can meaningfully access and participate effectively in the PARCC test. The larger concern with not allowing nonstandard accommodations on the PARCC test is that many teachers many not see a reason for these students to be provided routine, daily access to such nonstandard accommodations in the classroom – access that is critical to allowing these students to fully participate in their education. We, as the parents of special education students, do not think this a fair.

While we are grateful that all children have additional accommodations built into the PARCC computer program such as audio amplification, highlighter, magnification, spell checker, and text-to-speech. We are concerned that children who start taking this test in third grade and children who, for social economic reasons, do not have access to a computer will struggle with getting their answers onto the test because they are not familiar with using a keyboard and mouse. That too is not giving all children the ability to fully access the test with their glasses on.

Parents are concerned and confused and need clarification.