Advocates Worried About Special Ed. Testing Waivers Under ESSA
June 13, 2018
By: Alyson Klein
Source: Education Week
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has allowed nearly half of states to get wiggle room from a provision in the Every Student Succeeds Act aimed at making sure that only a small percentage of students are taking alternative tests reserved for children with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
And the process for granting that leeway has made special education advocates uneasy.
Those advocates fear the department—and the states—aren’t meeting transparency requirements in the law. They’re uncertain about how monitoring these waivers from the law’s requirements will work.