September 24, 2003

The Honorable Lamar Alexander
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Alexander:

The undersigned members of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Education Task Force write to urge you not to offer an amendment that would limit the accountability for children with disabilities under the Adequate Yearly Progress calculation established in the No Child Left Behind Act. We understand that you are considering offering this amendment to S. 1248, the reauthorization bill for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, when it comes to the Senate floor. We write to indicate our firm opposition to any such amendment on any legislative vehicle.
The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities is a coalition of approximately 100 national disability organizations working together to advocate for national public policy that ensures the self determination, independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in all aspects of society.
By enacting No Child Left Behind, the Congress and the President sent a message to our nation that every child counts. Children who speak other languages, children who have a different color of skin, children who come from impoverished backgrounds, children who have disabilities – they all count and schools will be held accountable for ensuring that they are all educated and that they make academic progress. If students don’t make progress, then their school needs to devise a plan for success. This is the promise of No Child Left Behind and one of the most important reforms to special education in decades.

On July 1, 2002, President’ Bush’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education issued its final report, “A New Era: Revitalizing Special Education for Children and Their Families.” This report highlighted the unacceptable outcomes for children with
disabilities – the drop out rate that is twice that for children without disabilities; the low enrolment rates of students with disabilities in higher education, the poor reading levels of children with disabilities. It noted the importance of setting high expectations for special education students and holding local school districts accountable for results. “…every student’s progress must be assessed every year and counted in state accountability systems,” the report noted. “IDEA should affirm the No Child Left Behind Act’s insistence on the inclusion of students with disabilities in statewide assessment and accountability systems,” the Commission concluded.

Any effort to eliminate a subgroup of students from the accountability umbrella established by No Child Left Behind can only weaken the accountability for all children. It also sends a clear message that the Congress believes that children with disabilities have less value, have less of a right to an education, than all other children. We urge you not to offer any amendment that singles out one group of students for inferior accountability. Students with disabilities have experienced enough discrimination in our nation and we believe that the President is right when he says that no child should be left behind.

We would also like to clarify that allowing IEP reviews to be used as a substitute for the accountability provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act is not acceptable. The IEP was designed to measure the progress of an individual child, not to be used for school and system-wide accountability.

Finally, any amendment to S. 1248 that weakens accountability established by the No Child Left Behind Act will threaten the Senate’s two-year bi-partisan effort to develop a compromise IDEA reauthorization bill. The provisions in S. 1248 have been carefully crafted to build upon the sound policy of accountability for all children in NCLB so that children with disabilities can have greater academic success in school and the chance for greater self-sufficiency in life.

Thank you for considering our opinion. We would be pleased to talk with you further about this matter.

Sincerely,

Adapted Physical Activity Council
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American Association on Mental Retardation
American Counseling Association
American Foundation for the Blind
American Music Therapy Association
American Occupational Therapy Association
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Association of University Centers on Disabilities
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders
Council for Exceptional Children
Council for Learning Disabilities
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
Deaf-Blind Coalition
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
Division for Learning Disabilities
Easter Seals
Family Voices
Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health
Helen Keller National Center
Higher Education Consortium for Special Education
International Dyslexia Association
Learning Disabilities Association of America
National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems
National Association of School Psychologists
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill
National Association of Private Special Education Centers
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of State Directors of Special Education
National Center for Learning Disabilities
National Coalition on Deaf Blindness
National Down Syndrome Congress
National Down Syndrome Society
National Mental Health Association
Research Institute for Independent Living
Spina Bifida Association of America
School Social Work Association of America
Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional
Children
The Arc of the United States
Tourettes Syndrome Association
United Cerebral Palsy Associations


Cc: Members of the U.S. Senate
The Honorable George Bush
The Honorable Rod Paige