For example, the report reveals that in Nevada, which has seven diploma options, only about 25 percent of students with disabilities earned a standard diploma in 2010-2011. In Pennsylvania, which has two diploma options, nearly 90 percent of students with disabilities earned a standard diploma in the same year. In its report, “Diplomas at Risk,” the National Center for Learning Disabilities says that the data suggests that “the more options offered to students in fact results in fewer high school graduates.”
Students who do not receive the standards diploma, as well, do not count as “graduates” under the Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate.
“Policies that result in early decision that places a student on an alternate ‘track’ to a different diploma option should be avoided,” states the report, because many states with alternative diploma options “may have set their policy without consultation from post-secondary institutions; employers; or other community members such as parents, teacher unions, and individuals with disabilities.”
The report also notes that members of IEP teams “lack transparent information about the value and rigor of various diploma options and about the possible consequences for students of receiving an alternative diploma instead of a standard high school diploma.”
Recommendations
The report details five recommendations designed to assist state leaders in meeting the goal of not changing the standards to which students with disabilities are held:
1. Set high college- and career-expectations and clear goals.
2. Limit the number of diploma options available.
3. Identify multiple, equally rigorous paths to earning a standard diploma. Strong approaches for accomplishing demonstration of student knowledge and skills regardless of their specific disabilities can be achieved using Universal Design for Learning strategies and assessments.
4. Identify appropriate graduation requirements and diploma options for students with significant cognitive disabilities
5. Research the impact of state graduation requirements and diploma options on student outcomes.
“The vast majority of students with disabilities can be held to the same graduation standards and requirements necessary to receive a standard high school diploma as other students so long as they receive specially designed instruction, and appropriate access, support and accommodations as required by [IDEA],” said Martha L. Thurlow, director of NCEO.
For more detailed information about the different types of state diplomas, state profiles and statistics, course of study required for graduation, exit exams and end-of-course assessments, and more, read the full report.
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