NJ Education Report

A parent of a child on the autistic spectrum responds to the U.S. DOE’s plans to “help close the achievement gap for students with disabilities by moving away from a one-size-fits-all, compliance-focused approach to a more balanced system that looks at how well students are being educated in addition to continued efforts to protect their rights.”

Dear [Director of the Office of Special Education Programs] Melody Musgrove, 

I’ve read with alarm plans to have the OSEP  change their approach to compliance with IDEA to emphasize test score monitoring, and cutting back on state compliance officers. As the parent of a child with an IEP, I have many concerns about this approach, and feel it would not meet my child’s needs and therefore would violate his rights… 

When you make a change in compliance policy, you send a signal about what counts, and what is a secondary concern. If you choose to focus on test scores, that will be all that counts. If you cut compliance officers at the state level, you will not see when these non-tested skills are not being met. My child’s social skills are not a secondary concern, they are necessity for him to be an independently functioning adult. That’s important to me, and it should be important to you and the education department as well. Please reassess your priorities and do the right thing for our children and for all of us.