• ***Urgent Action Alert***CEC Calls on All Members to Advocate for Javits and IDEA Funding
  
• Nation’s Report Card Shows Gains for Students with Disabilities but Minimal Growth for All Students
  
• California Governor Vetoes Bill to Allow Special Ed. Seniors to be Exempt from Graduation Exams
  
• CEC SmartBrief Delivers Latest News Directly to Your Inbox

***Urgent Action Alert***CEC Calls on All Members to Advocate for Javits and IDEA Funding

Tell Congress not to cut education funding to pay for the unexpected costs from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita!

Next week, the full Senate will consider the Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill, legislation that will provide education funding for the 2006-2007 school year. As it stands now, this bill would drastically under fund IDEA by $4 billion. In addition, in the House of Representatives’ version of this legislation, Javits grants have been zeroed out and would not receive any funding. Fortunately, at the committee level, the Senate did include funding at last year’s level, but there is no guarantee that funding for Javits grants will remain in the final version of the Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill.

At the same time, members of Congress are considering a number of ways to cover the costs of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, now topping $60 billion. Some members of Congress are suggesting across-the-board cuts which would slash all non-combat programs, some are suggesting reducing spending altogether and others, such as Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee Rep. John Boehner, have introduced bills that would explicitly eliminate programs that are deemed to be "inefficient, duplicative or simply unnecessary" to pay for these unexpected expenses.

What Can You Do?

It is critical that Congress hear from all CEC members on the impact of under funding IDEA and how vital Javits grants are for students with gifts and talents.

If you live in one of the states that receive Javits grants that are in danger of losing funding – AZ, CA, CO, IA, MD, MA, MN, NH, NY, OH, TX, WY – please make an extra effort to spread the word to your colleagues, friends and family. Click here to contact Congress.

CEC’s Legislative Action Center, http://capwiz.com/cek/home/ will identify who represents you in Congress and provide you with an email that you are encouraged to personalize.

CEC continues to advocate for increased funding for IDEA and Javits grants. CEC is reaching out to members of Congress whose states receive Javits grants and those on the House and Senate Appropriations committees to urge them to retain Javits funding. In addition, CEC has been working closely with the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC) to reach out to all that are affected by Javits grants.

Visit CEC’s Legislative Action Center to email your elected officials today! http://capwiz.com/cek/home/

Nation’s Report Card Shows Gains for Students with Disabilities but Minimal Growth for All Students

On October 19th, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released the 2005 Nation’s Report Card in reading and math, a report that seeks to gauge the performance of students from across the country – including students with disabilities. Students with disabilities were found to be improving in both areas and in fact had the highest average score in math in 2005 than in any previous year in which they were tested.

The 2005 Nation’s Report Card – which only tests math and reading in the fourth and eighth grades – found that fourth grade students with disabilities who were assessed in reading had a higher average score in 2005 than in 2003 and 1998. Eighth grade students with disabilities also assessed in reading had a higher average score than the previous Report Card in 2003. Perhaps most impressive is that students with disabilities in both fourth and eighth grades achieved a higher average score this year than in any previous year tested.

Until recently, students with disabilities were excluded from the samples used to measure student progress, however now accommodations are made in both math and reading assessments for students with disabilities and English language learners.

Overall, the 2005 Nation’s Report Card showed minimal gains and losses in all fourth and eighth graders who were sampled, despite an increased focus of testing as mandated by NCLB. In comparison to the last Report Card in 2003, reading results for fourth graders gained only one point and eighth graders’ average score decreased by one point. National results for math were somewhat more positive, showing a three-point increase for fourth graders and a one-point increase for eighth graders.

CEC is pleased that students with disabilities who were assessed in math and reading demonstrated scoring gains, especially in the fourth grade. However, while CEC is dedicated to improved academic outcomes for all students, the latest NAEP results do not indicate whether NCLB is the catalyst or panacea that created higher scores in reading and math. To read CEC's policy on assessments and accountability, go to http://www.cec.sped.org/pp/Assessment-Accountability_Policy.pdf . To read CEC’s policy on flexibility, go to http://www.cec.sped.org/pp/CECresponse.pdf

CEC has also joined a broad range of national education and civil rights groups calling for changes to the NCLB law both now and when Congress reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2007. To read the group joint position statement, go to http://www.fairtest.org/joint%20statement%20civil%20rights%20grps%2010-21-04.html .

For more information on the NAEP, visit http://nationsreportcard.gov/
For additional information on the performance of students with disabilities in the 2005 Nation’s Report Card, visit: http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_2005/s0014.asp?printver=

California Governor Vetoes Bill to Allow Special Ed. Seniors to be Exempt from Graduation Exams

Earlier this month, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a state senate bill (SB 586), which would have exempted seniors graduating in 2006 and 2007 with disabilities or English language learners from taking the state high school exit exam. The exit exam is one of three requirements that high school seniors must meet to receive a diploma, the required course credits and Algebra 1 make up the other two requirements.

This legislation responded to a settlement agreement reached in the class action lawsuit, Chapman v. California Department of Education, which charged that the state’s high school exit exam was discriminatory against students with disabilities. The settlement stated that students with disabilities and English language learners could be exempt from participating in high school exit exams for one year, provided they have taken the exam repeatedly, participated in remedial classes and have met the other two graduation criteria.

CEC SmartBrief Delivers Latest News Directly to Your Inbox

CEC’s SmartBrief, a free publication delivered straight to your inbox three times per week, provides you with the latest news concerning students with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. SmartBrief collects news from hundreds of top sources to provide special educators with the most up-to-date information from across the country.

To sign up for CEC SmartBrief, go to http://www.smartbrief.com/cec/index.jsp