Here is an article that was in newsweek a while back. The title is "Why Johnny Stayed Home.

Why Johnny Stayed Home

by Barbara Kantrowitz and Karen Springen
Newsweek, October 6, 1997

On test days, some schools encourage absences ...

School hasn't been easy for 12-year-old Matthew Teague of Seven Valleys, Pa. Like more than 10 percent of all U.S. students, he's classified as disabled and he's behind his classmates in reading and math. Still, last year, his mother, Rhonda, was appalled when Matthew's teacher and principal at Spring Grove Intermediate School urged her to seek an exemption that would exclude her son from a statewide standardized test. "They didn't want their scores lower," she says, adding that they cared more about the school's reputation than about finding out how the kids are doing. Principal Michael Gibbs says he was just trying to protect students like Matthew. The results, he says, would "simply confirm that the student is reading poorly ... Do you want to heap that kind of thing on them?"

Unlike many other parents in her situation, Matthew's mother insisted that her son take the tests. But a recent study conducted by the National Center on Educational Outcomes at the University of Minnesota showed that schools around the country routinely find ways of excluding students with learning problems from standardized exams. "People try to keep low-functioning kids out of the picture," says James Ysseldyke, the center's director. Students are sent on field trips, told to stay home or simply encouraged not to participate because tests have become a bottom-line issue in and out of schools, Ysseldyke and other researchers say. Principals and teachers get merit raises, promotions and bonuses based on students' performance. Real-estate agents boast about reading scores when they're showing homes. Local officials use good schools to lure new businesses.

The University of Minnesota study showed that only 27 states tracked how many students with disabilities had participated in any statewide assessment; even in those states, only about half of special- ed pupils were tested. The disparity galls many people who work with these students. "Everyone should be tested for there to be a basic level of accountability," says Joan First, executive director of the National Coalition of Advocates for Students, a network of 24 groups that help at-risk kids. Accountability is the goal of federal legislation that goes into effect next year [IDEA 97]. States will have to include all disabled kids who are capable of being tested and report to the public on the results. The law also requires states to provide alternate assessments by the year 2000 for severely disabled students. But Ysseldyke cautions that any alternate test could become a new dumping ground unless the government imposes a cap on how many students can take it.

Some educators say the concern over testing disabled kids is a sign of progress. A generation ago, many of these students would have been kept out of school. Now that federal laws require schools to provide appropriate instruction for all students, tests are the new battleground. "If we've got quality education out there, we shouldn't be afraid to test," says Sandra Britt, president of the Learning Disabilities Association of America. Or live with the results.