Victory In Maryland

Victory In Maryland

The Braille Monitor

_July 1997

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PHOTO/CAPTION: Loretta

White

Victory for Blind Students in Maryland

From the Editor: Blind students

and their parents know firsthand how many subtle and overt ways school systems

have found through the years to discriminate against them. Sometimes the students

are denied the chance to go places and do things that their sighted classmates

have permission to. Sometimes they are excused from activities that are determined

to be too hard or too dangerous or too inconvenient. Almost always the reason

given is couched in terms of the best interests of the student. Much of the

time uninformed students and their families accept such dicta on the grounds

that education professionals must know what is best, and sometimes, it must

be admitted, they are secretly relieved to be excused from competing. But regardless

of the motives on either side, when reasonable accommodation would make participation

possible, refusing to encourage that participation is discrimination pure and

simple.

Increasingly parents and students

are refusing to lie down meekly and accept these rulings. Members of the National

Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC), the NFB's parents division,

now understand the importance of resisting discrimination and teaching their

children to do so whenever it arises. In 1995 members of the Maryland Parents

Division began complaining about the newly introduced Maryland School Performance

Assessment Program (MSPAP). Administered in the third, fifth, and eighth grades,

this battery of tests evaluates how well each school is doing at educating its

students. Would anyone care to guess which group of youngsters has conveniently

been left out of this state-wide testing program? You guessed it: Braille readers!

Here is the resolution passed at the 1995 convention of the National Federation

of the Blind of Maryland on this subject:

Resolution 95 - 4

WHEREAS, as part of its program of evaluating

each public school in the State of Maryland, the Maryland Department of Education

requires that every public school student in the third, fifth, and eighth grades

take the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program test (MSPAP); and

WHEREAS, the scores of students who take

this test using a reader are not used at all in tabulating the combined scores

given to each school by the staff and local districts; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education

neither offers the MSPAP in Braille, believing that its contents cannot be translated

into Braille, nor offers some equivalent test the result of which could be used

along with the results of the MSPAP to gauge school performance; and

WHEREAS, the current MSPAP, in fact,

cannot be translated into Braille without compromising its validity; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education

has recently sought an opinion from the Office of the State Attorney General

concerning whether it is required to offer the MSPAP to students who wish to

take the test in Braille; and

WHEREAS, laws such as the Individuals

with Disabilities Education Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with

Disabilities Act collectively require that disabled students, including blind

students, receive a free, appropriate public education that includes full and

equal participation in all of the programs and activities offered by public

schools; and

WHEREAS, creating and administering a

test for the purpose of measuring school performance in such a way as to exclude

blind students from full and equal participation is a blatant and pernicious

form of discrimination against the Blind:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the

National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in convention assembled this 5th

day of November, 1995, in the City of Ocean City, Maryland, that we do condemn

and deplore the foregoing policies and practices of the Maryland Department

of Education; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon

the Maryland Department of Education to cease, at once, using the MSPAP or any

other standardized test used for the purpose of assessing school performance

that denies to blind students the opportunity to participate fully and equally

with sighted students in the school assessment process and to take whatever

steps necessary to ensure that any future test designed for the purpose of assessing

school performance will guarantee such full and equal participation.

That was the resolution passed

at the 1995 convention of the NFB of Maryland. It was clear and decisive, and

one would have thought that, with representatives from the State Department

of Education present, the resolution would have taken care of the problem. But

things are never that simple in a bureaucracy. In fact, nothing at all seemed

to happen to resolve the problem until Loretta White filed a complaint with

the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, on June 6, 1996.

Until that date no one could be bothered to examine the challenges involved

in Brailling the MSPAP test. Then suddenly Sharon Maneki, President of the NFB

of Maryland, and James Gashel, Director of Governmental Affairs for the National

Federation of the Blind, were invited to a meeting at the State Department of

Education on June 24 to discuss establishing a committee to consider Brailling

the MSPAP test. The committee was formed and then adjusted when it became clear

that some of the out-of-state members would not attend its meetings. Eventually

Ruby Ryles, a recognized Braille educator, and Loretta White herself joined

the committee, which made its report on October 1, 1996. The following is the

speech describing the MSPAP struggle delivered by Loretta White, President of

the Maryland Parents Division, at the 1996 Maryland convention, beginning with

the editor's note as the report appeared in the Winter 1996-97 issue of the

Braille Spectator, the publication of the National Federation of the Blind of

Maryland:

The MSPAP: a Disturbing

Trend in the Education

of Blind Children in Maryland

by Loretta White

From the [newsletter] Editor: Loretta

White is the President of the NFB of Maryland's Parents Division. Despite her

busy schedule she has been an active member of the affiliate and has been responsible

for initiating a number of innovative programs to help blind youngsters and

teen-agers. Loretta delivered the following remarks during the Saturday morning

session of our convention. The agenda was deliberately arranged so that her

address was given upon Superintendent Grasmick's arrival at the convention.

[Nancy Grasmick is the Superintendent of Education of Maryland.] All of us who

heard Loretta's remarks, the Superintendent included, were deeply moved by Loretta's

keen and sensitive observations. This is what she said:

Before I begin my talk today, I'd like

to share with you a little about myself. I have been a member of the National

Federation of the Blind for over nine years now, and I've been an officer or

board member in the parents division for about seven of those years. I'm a special

educator, and I'm working toward becoming a teacher of the visually impaired.

I'm very happily married, but the bottom line of what brings me here today and

what I think qualifies me to speak to you is that I am also a mom. Particularly,

I am the mother of a blind child. My daughter Nicole is almost ten years old.

I'm sure all of us have heard of MSPAP

(Maryland School Performance Assessment Program), but what does it mean, and

how does it affect our blind children who use Braille? Well, to find out, I

went to the Internet. I searched the acronym "MSPAP" only, and I was

stunned at what I found. There are ninety-six Web sites on the Internet related

to MSPAP. As I sifted through, I found a lot of good information from the state

and several counties. I'll summarize Calvert County's definition from its MSPAP

Handbook:

MSPAP stands for the Maryland School

Performance Assessment Program. It is a statewide testing program to evaluate

how schools are doing. Results are used to make improvements in instruction.

MSPAP tells schools whether or not their students are meeting state standards

for educational achievement. It is different from other tests in that it is

not multiple-choice or short-answer. MSPAP is more a test of skills rather than

knowledge. It tests students' abilities to apply what they have learned to real-life

problems. It includes reading, language usage, writing, math, social studies,

and science. Schools are scored in each subject. All students in the third,

fifth, and eighth grade who are working toward a high school diploma are tested.

MSPAP is important to all students every year because it requires good thinking

skills, which have to be taught and developed over a period of time. The test

is given during the first two full weeks in May with each grade testing for

ninety minutes a day for one week.

So what about students with disabilities

and MSPAP?

Well, the State Department of Education

has a fifty-one-page document called "The Requirements and Guidelines for

Exemptions, Excuses, and Accommodations for Maryland Statewide Assessment Programs,"

dated October 10, 1995. The general principles are basically that all students

are to be included to the fullest extent possible, and accommodations are to

be made to ensure valid assessment of a student's real achievement and are designed

to assist a student to move from dependence toward independence.

Both as a parent of children with and

without special needs and as a special educator, I think this is a good document,

because basically it requires the inclusion of all students who are pursuing

a high school diploma. And since MSPAP is about accountability for the education

of our students, it is right that we be accountable for the education of each

and every student.

So blind students take the MSPAP right

alongside their sighted peers, and we all live happily ever after. Well, not

quite. Let me go back again to the Requirements Document. Special accommodations

listed include scheduling, setting, equipment, presentation, response, and level

of participation. So it would seem that the state is making a real effort to

include all kinds of disabilities in the MSPAP, with the exception of one group:

blind students.

Let's look at the equipment again. The

test provides sign language interpreters; large print; calculators; electronic

devices, including mechanical spellers, word processors, computers, augmented

communication devices, CCTV amplification; audiotaped materials; visual displays;

written copies; and other. But no Braille. I personally do not know of a single

disability that is not accommodated other than blindness. Excluding Braille

users from the MSPAP reinforces existing problems on multiple levels. It reinforces

a philosophical problem; it reinforces an educational problem; and it reinforces

a personal problem.

The federal government is committed to

the provision of equal education for persons with disabilities, including equality

of opportunity to participate at all levels of education. This is evident in

legislation such as IDEA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Check out

the policy statements from OSERS over the last five or so years.

MSPAP tries to emulate the real world.

I'm sure you've all heard of the story of the engineer who could give you the

square root of a door knob but couldn't turn it. Well, the purpose of MSPAP

is to see if the students can turn the doorknob, so to speak. And this is a

good thing. Further, MSPAP checks to see if the students can do this individually,

in pairs, in groups, with others they are used to working with, and with those

they are not. Again, this is a good thing because this is how the real world

works. And isn't that the bottom line, to educate persons who can function successfully

in the real world?

In a very negative sense, excluding Braille

users from MSPAP does imitate the real world. It mirrors the 70% unemployment

rate of blind persons in this country. And it goes beyond that. Excluding our

children from MSPAP raises the question of whether or not we are truly committed

to finding a place for blind people in our society. It suggests that it is acceptable

to exclude blind children.

The exclusion of blind students from

MSPAP also creates an educational problem. Again, the purpose of MSPAP is to

raise the level of performance and to create accountability by the schools for

the education of our children. It is clearly an attempt to reform and revamp

instruction. It is a clear statement that we need to improve the education of

our children. This is not anything you don't already know. It is regularly in

the news.

Excluding our Braille users from MSPAP

also means excluding our Braille teachers from the continuing education they

need to keep up with improvements in education and instructional practices.

At a recent state-level meeting about Brailling the MSPAP test, which included

representatives from across the state, a teacher of the visually impaired raised

the issue that they were not included in any MSPAP in-service or training activities

and that they did not have access to the materials. This meeting included teachers

of the visually impaired and administrators from across the state; and, while

there were nods of agreement, not one person said his or her county included

teachers of the visually impaired. And I don't think I need to belabor the fact

that, when our students are placed in local schools, the teacher of the visually

impaired basically shoulders the responsibility for the student's education.

So why not just get around the Braille

issue by using readers? Because it will not work. First of all, how many third

or fifth graders have been taught the skills needed to use a reader to get an

assignment done? But far beyond that, the key to MSPAP is literacy. Can the

student read? And I don't mean just decode words on a page. Can the student

understand and use what he reads? Can she locate information to answer a question,

pick out major points, identify relevant details, follow directions? It is not

reasonable to do this with a reader. For example, if a reader skims for major

points, whose skills are you testing, the Braille user's or the reader's? And

since MSPAP is inextricably linked to the real world, I wonder how many of you

have a reader available and ready to go each time you need Something read.

The last quibble I have with the exclusion

of Braille users from MSPAP is what it does to the student. Unless you have

a child who is in school or you yourself are in a school, you may not realize

the changes MSPAP has brought. It is truly creating fundamental changes in the

way we teach our children and what they are exposed to on a daily basis. Preparation

for MSPAP begins on that first day of the school year and escalates all the

way to the first two weeks in May, when it is administered. It creates an underlying

feeling of excitement and importance. Many schools dedicate a certain time each

week when all students are to be engaged in MSPAP activities. I saw a sign at

the door of a first grade class that read "MSPAP is Life" in big letters,

and underneath it said "Thursday is MSPAP morning." I have seen the

MSPAP icons and words on bulletin boards and hanging in the halls of elementary

and middle schools alike. Many schools have a MSPAP word of the day, which they

discuss and define on morning announcements.

Last year I taught in a Baltimore City

school, had one child in a Baltimore City school, and had two more children

in a school in Anne Arundel County. Starting in about January of last year,

we shared over dinner what our MSPAP word was for the week. Almost every newsletter

for each of their schools addresses MSPAP, and we even received forms from the

school offering parent training on how to prepare for MSPAP and home activities

to do with our children. Even though I filled out every one and returned it

to school, I never received a single one. When I asked the principal about it,

I was told "Oh, your child won't take the MSPAP, so she doesn't need it."

Wait a minute. The purpose of MSPAP is to improve the education of our children.

"What do you mean my child doesn't need it?"

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, our children

are experiencing all this in the announcements, in homeroom activities, etc.

Even when the involvement is indirect, they get excited. And this is intentional.

We want our students pumped up and confident and ready to take the tests. But

then when the test comes, our blind students are left out for a whole week.

And I'm here to tell you, these kids are not stupid. They do feel left out.

They do feel different. They do feel inadequate. My daughter was a third grader

last year. She was crushed when she was not allowed to take MSPAP. Even though

we had told her it was not Brailled, her answer was "But Mom, Mrs. Kearney

said it was for all third graders, and I'm a third grader, too." I had

no answer.

In conclusion, I would like us to consider

what might happen if our Braille users were included in MSPAP. First, our teachers

of the visually impaired would have to receive the same training as other teachers

so they would be able to deliver instruction that would prepare the students

to participate. Second, MSPAP requires that students have "prior knowledge,"

so teachers of content areas such as science and social studies and other instructional

staff would be put on notice that these students are expected to learn the same

information as their print-using peers.

Third, our Braille students would learn

how to participate in cooperative learning in pairs and group activities, because

that is how many of the MSPAP activities are administered. Fourth, principals

and schools in general would pay more attention to how and how much our Braille

students are learning because now these students would count on the school's

performance report card from the state. It would create accountability for the

education of our blind children, and overall, this would result in full participation

across the curriculum and across all activities to the greatest extent possible.

Isn't that what we wanted in the first place?

There you have Loretta's remarks,

and things continued to hang fire throughout the winter. OCR complaints are

notoriously slow. Then, in early May of 1997 the log jam broke. In late April

the Maryland State Department of Education decided that it couldn't win this

one and sent a list of assurances of compliance to the Office for Civil Rights.

Since Mrs. White's original complaint had been against both MSDE and the Anne

Arundel County School District, the department also saw to it that the school

district submitted a similar list of assurances. The following is the letter

from the Philadelphia office of OCR notifying Loretta White of what had happened

and passing along the list of assurances. Here are both documents:

U.S. Department of Education

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Office for Civil Rights

Brenda L. Wolff, Acting Director

Philadelphia Office, Eastern Division

April 30, 1997

Ms. Loretta G. White

Pasadena, Maryland

Dear Ms. White:

This letter is to inform you of the determination

of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), U.S. Department of Education (the Department),

regarding the resolution of the above-referenced complaint against the Maryland

State Department of Education (MSDE) alleging that the MSDE discriminated on

the basis of disability. Specifically, you alleged that MSDE discriminated against

your daughter on the basis of disability by failing to administer the Maryland

State Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) test in accordance with the provisions

of your daughter's Individualized Educational Program (IEP). Please be advised

that we are still in the process of resolving the same allegations that were

filed with our office against the Anne Arundel County Schools (the District),

OCR Docket Number 03961219.

OCR is responsible for enforcing Section

504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) and its implementing regulation,

at 34 C.F.R. Part 104, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability

in educational institutions that receive federal financial assistance. OCR has

jurisdiction as a designated agency under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities

Act of 1990 (ADA), and its implementing regulation, at 28 C.F.R. Part 35, over

complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of disability that are filed

against public elementary and secondary education systems and institutions,

public institutions of higher education and vocational education (other than

schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing, and other health-related schools),

and public libraries.

Under OCR policy complaint allegations

may be resolved upon the submission of written commitments from the recipient

that specify the action(s) to be taken to resolve the complaint allegations

appropriately. On April 29, 1997, the MSDE submitted such commitments to OCR

(copy enclosed), thereby resolving all of the complaint allegations discussed

above. As is our standard practice, implementation of the commitments will be

monitored by OCR.

This letter is not intended, nor should

it be construed, to cover any other issues under Section 504 and the ADA or

their implementing regulations which are not specifically discussed therein.

Please be advised that federal regulations

prohibit recipients of federal financial assistance from taking actions which

intimidate, threaten, coerce or discriminate against individuals who exercise

their statutory rights, or because they filed a complaint with OCR or are taking

part in the complaint resolution process. If you feel that such actions have

occurred, you may notify this office.

Under the Freedom of Information Act,

it may be necessary to release this document and related correspondence and

records upon request. If OCR receives such a request, we will seek to protect,

to the extent provided by law, personal information that, if released, could

constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy.

If you have any questions, please contact

Mrs. Yvonne R. Davis, Equal Opportunity Specialist, at (215) 596-6769.

Sincerely,

Myra Coleman

Team Leader

Philadelphia Office

Enclosed with this letter were

the Maryland State Department of Education's list of assurances of compliance.

Here is the document:

ASSURANCES

In order to resolve complaint number

03964033 filed with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Maryland State Department

of Education (MSDE) provides the following assurances:

1. For the Spring 1997 administration

of the Maryland

School Performance Assessment Program

(MSPAP) for fifth graders, the MSDE will develop and administer a Brailled version

of the test, as a pilot effort and will ensure that the test is administered

to blind fifth graders whose educational program includes receiving printed

material through a system of Braille. By April 30, 1997, the MSDE will provide

written notice to all school districts in Maryland of their obligation to provide

the Brailled test to all qualified blind students in the fifth grade and advising

of the need to provide written justification if it is determined that any individual

blind student should be exempted from the test. Also, at the same time, the

MSDE will notify the districts of their obligation to provide practice sessions

to those students who will be participating in the test. The MSDE will review

the administration of the test and analyze the results of the pilot MSPAP administration

by October 1, 1997.

2. The MSDE will notify all Maryland

school districts

that, starting with the Spring 1997 administration

of the test and every year thereafter, all qualified blind students who attend

schools in its jurisdiction must be provided the necessary accommodations to

enable them to participate in the MSPAP testing program, practice sessions,

and home study as effectively as students without visual impairments can participate.

The accommodations may include the use of Braille readers and scribes, special

equipment, special instructions to teachers who are preparing the students for

the test, extra time, or any other modifications to its testing program as will

enable each otherwise-qualified blind student to participate in the MSPAP testing

program as effectively as can students without visual impairments.

3. For purposes of these assurances,

districts will not be

required to provide the MSPAP to an individual

blind student if an appropriate district Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD)

committee provides written justification of its determination that the student

should be exempted from the test for a reason(s) other than the student's visual

impairment alone.

4. The MSDE will permit a qualified blind

student to be

exempted from all or part of the MSPAP

test only if the appropriate ARD committee of the local school district can

demonstrate that the accommodations necessary to enable such student to participate

in the testing program, would fundamentally alter the testing program. The MSDE

will provide to OCR by December 31, 1997, a written report listing all blind

students exempted from the 1997-98 test, the accommodation needed for the student,

and the basis of its belief that the accommodation would fundamentally alter

the testing program.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The MSDE agrees to report to OCR the

following information regarding the 1997 MSPAP:

1. By June 30, 1997, the number of blind

students, by

district, school, and grade, as of January 2, 1997;

2. By April 30, 1997, a description of

the steps that will be taken to accommodate blind students in preparing for

and in taking the test;

3. By June 30, 1997, by name or unique

identifier, each blind student in the third, fifth, or eighth grade who took

the MSPAP test and a description of the accommodations that were provided to

make the student's participation possible.

4. By June 30, 1997, by name or unique

identifier, each blind student who is in the third, fifth, or eighth grade and

who did not take the test for reasons related solely to his or her blindness.

For each such student identify the school, grade, extent of disabilities, and

reason(s) for not taking the test, and the identification of the persons making

the decision to exclude the student from the test; and

5. By June 30, 1997, a copy of the notice

sent to all the school districts outlining their obligations to provide the

Braille test and other accommodations. By December 31, 1997, the name or unique

identifier of each blind student expected to be exempted from the Spring 1998

test, the accommodation that would be needed, and the basis for the belief that

the accommodation would fundamentally alter the testing program.

Signed by Nancy S. Grasmick, State Superintendent,

dated April 29, 1997.

Something truly significant has

been accomplished in the fight to establish the equality of blind students in

Maryland. Moreover, the precedent will be important in other states and situations

when so-called educators try to argue that blind students should not be expected

to compete with their sighted peers. Will this victory help Niki, the child

for whom the entire effort was made in the first place? Perhaps eventually.

But the Anne Arundel County School District continues to be so rigid and vindictive

that the Whites decided to pull Niki out and began home schooling her part way

through this past academic year. Niki is doing well, but as things stand now,

she will not be in public school during the first week of May of her fifth-grade

year. Whether they know it or not, all blind students in Maryland owe a debt

of gratitude to Niki, her mother, and the National Federation of the Blind.