Disabled Students in Alaska Sue State over High School Exit Exam

Disabled students in Alaska have filed a class action lawsuit against the Alaska State Board of Education and others, charging that the way in which Alaska's High School Graduation Qualifying Exit Exam (HSGQE) was formulated and is administered discriminates against them. The complaint has been filed in the United States District of Alaska and alleges violations of federal and state law.

In 1997, the Alaska Legislature passed a law requiring all students to pass an examination in reading, writing and math before they can receive a high school diploma. The reading section includes multiple choice and constructed-response questions, based on excerpts from published literature. The writing section includes multiple choice and short essays, and the math section covers several topics, including geometry. If students do not pass all three sections of the exam, they cannot receive a high school diploma, regardless of how well they performed in school.

The plaintiffs in the case are high school students with various disabilities. They claim that the state has violated their state and federal rights in several respects. According to the complaint, the state arbitrarily decided that students may only use certain accommodations, such as spell checkers and calculators, and only if the students have taken the test first without the accommodations and failed. Other types of accommodations are considered to be "modifications" and are forbidden entirely. For example although one blind student who cannot read Braille has used oral presentation of material throughout high school, this accommodation is unavailable to her during the HSGQE.

Moreover, the plaintiffs allege that students are forbidden from using any "permitted" accommodation unless they have used that accommodation for three months prior to taking the HSGQE. Therefore, if it has been determined soon before the test that a student needs a particular permitted accommodation, the student is still prevented from using it during the HSGQE. The complaint also claims that no alternate assessment is available to disabled students, in violation of state and federal law.

Additionally, the students charge that the state is improperly testing them on subjects that are not part of their IEP (Individualized Education Program). If a student's IEP excludes geometry, for example, that student does not study geometry.

The plaintiffs note that as of December 15, 2003, 70% of the special education students in the Anchorage School District were ineligible for diplomas in 2004 because they failed the HSGQE. The complaint warns that without immediate intervention by the court, more than 500 students with disabilities statewide who are on diploma track will be denied diplomas this spring. The consequences of this denial are dire, according to the plaintiffs, because without high school diplomas, these students will be unable to enter college, join the military or obtain meaningful employment. A spokesman for the Alaska Department of Education, while not commenting on the suit directly was quoted in USA Today as saying, "Obviously, we're concerned any time the state Board of Education and the Alaska Department of Education are implicated in not serving all of Alaska's children well."

Co-counsel on the case are Disability Rights Advocates of Oakland, California, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP of Anchorage, Alaska and the Disability Law Center of Alaska, also in Anchorage. Disability Rights Advocates has brought similar suits in Oregon and California. In Oregon, the state, in a settlement, agreed to institute reforms to its exit exams. California has postponed implementation of its exit exams until 2006.

Prepared by Wendy C. Lecker, March 30, 2004