Dr.
Thurlow started by giving a broad overview of current
high stakes testing across the country. She focused on
what high stakes testing means for students with disabilities.
She discussed the variety of opinions people have about
the consequences (both intended and unintended) of requiring
students to pass exit exams to receive a standard diploma.
Some of the intended ones include:
• More students will be participating in the general education curriculum.
• Differences
between general and special education will be reduced.
•
Educators
will use differentiated instructional strategies, including
accommodations to assist in meeting higher
academic status.
• More students will be achieving higher outcomes.
• Exit exams will give more concrete ideas about minimum
standards for all students and give more meaning to the
diplomas earned.
Some of the unintended consequences include:
• Some students with disabilities will fail to receive a
diploma.
•
Higher dropout rates may occur.
• Student self-esteem may go down due to repeated failures.
• Dissatisfaction and conflicts with parents might result,
as well as possibly lawsuits.
• Students will need to stay in school longer to meet the
requirements of a standard diploma.
Other thoughts about having standards included:
• If any group of students fails to meet the standard, the
whole school is labeled as failing.
• Schools have to show they are doing well within each ethnic
group.
• The standards push us to provide better instruction so
that students can achieve more.
BIOGRAPHY
Martha Thurlow is Director of the National
Center on Educational Outcomes. In this position, she addresses
the implications of contemporary U.S. policy and practice
for students with disabilities and English Language Learners,
including national and statewide assessment policies and
practices, standards-setting efforts, and graduation requirements.
Dr. Thurlow has conducted research for the past 30 years
in a variety of areas, including assessment and decision
making, learning disabilities, early childhood education,
dropout prevention, effective classroom instruction, and
integration of students with disabilities in general education
settings. Dr. Thurlow has published extensively on all
of these topics. In 2003, she completed her eight-year
term as co-editor of Exceptional Children, the research
journal of the Council for Exceptional Children, and is
currently associate editor for numerous journals.
