Dyslexic to Get Help on Exit Exam

The state Board of Education adopted a policy Wednesday that will allow certain students with dyslexia or other learning disorders to use calculators or readers while taking California’s new high school exit exam.

Thousands of learning-disabled students who use calculators or aides to read material in their regular classes would be eligible to take the test with these modifications.

To collect their diplomas, these students must pass the test and establish that they are meeting high school standards. The school district must obtain a waiver, or special permission, from the state on behalf of each student to allow the exception to test rules.

Under California law, all students must pass the exit exam to graduate, beginning with the class of 2004.

The board had previously adopted regulations to allow testing accommodations for students with special needs, including large print or Braille versions of the test; the use of mechanical or electric response devices; more breaks during the exam; and the use of special furniture, lighting or rooms. Those regulations, however, specified that no student would be allowed to use readers or calculators. The policy adopted Wednesday revises that provision.

“No one will be waived from taking the test,” said John Mockler, executive director of the state Board of Education. “We’re saying, ‘Hey, if it is clear you can’t [pass the test] for a physical reason, we’ll give you the modifications and we will give you a high school diploma.”

But disabilities advocates--who filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Education earlier this year seeking accommodations for disabled students--say they are not satisfied with the board’s actions.

Sidney Wolinsky, an attorney for the Disability Rights Advocates, an Oakland-based nonprofit, said the “accommodations” policies should allow disabled students to use calculators or readers without forcing students, families and districts to subsequently go through the hassle of receiving waivers from the state.

He added that the state should create an alternative method to assess disabled students’ skills. He said many students are being tested on material that has not yet been taught under their special education plan.

“Even if you gave all the accommodations in the world, and even if you had an alternative assessment, this test would not be fair,” he said, “because it is not aligned with the curriculum for all students--especially for disabled students.”

The high school exit exam is part of Gov. Gray Davis’ plan to hold teachers, schools and students accountable for progress in learning.

Wolinsky said the recent decisions can’t continue to use a “one-size-fits-all test.” Advocates plan to file a federal lawsuit by the end of the month to stop the administration of the test in March, he said.