Special ed bill targets a rite

Special education students who flunk the MCAS could gain entrance this year to a rite of passage most high school seniors take for granted: their graduation ceremony.

A House bill up for a vote today would order school systems to let special education students walk across the stage, provided they have good attendance and have tried to pass the MCAS or an alternative state test multiple times.

The House, where Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi backs the bill, hopes to send the measure to the Senate in time for graduations in June, and a key Senate lawmaker predicted the Senate would strongly consider the measure.

The state currently lets school systems decide whether to let students attend graduation if they fail the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test, required for graduation since 2003. Students cannot earn an official diploma if they have failed, but the state says school systems can give them ''certificates of attainment" for at least completing the required courses for graduation.

Representative Alice H. Peisch, Democrat of Wellesley, who sponsored the House bill, said she filed it after hearing stories about students who were shut out of graduation ceremonies. She said her proposal does not give students a free ride, because they must meet various criteria, including having a 95 percent attendance rate. Her measure also would require school systems to let special education students participate in all senior-year activities, such as the prom.

''My objective is to deal with those students who could never pass the test," said Peisch. ''I'm not saying that they shouldn't be held to certain standards."

Her measure follows years of outcry from special education advocates, parents, and students who say some school systems deprive students of what could be their only graduation ceremony.

''Kids like Melissa, like my daughter, will have very few big milestones in their lives. It's a very big deal," said Annelies Reilly, parent of a student with Down syndrome. Her daughter, Melissa, fought to attend last year's graduation at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School rather than waiting five years until she was 22, when she finished public schooling. School systems offer services to some severely disabled students until they are 22.

Special education students have traditionally had one of the lowest passing rates on the MCAS. During the past three years, roughly 20 percent of the state's special education students, or more than 1,000 annually, failed to pass the MCAS by graduation. About 5 percent of students overall fail the test each year.

Some school systems welcome all students at graduation, saying the occasion is too important to sacrifice to a standardized test. But others, including Boston, say allowing students who have not passed the MCAS to attend graduation would diminish the achievement of students who have.

Boston Public School officials said their policy applies to all students who fail the test, not just special education students.

Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant said through a spokesman that students have many chances to pass the test, and they can also appeal the results. The district does make exceptions for vocational students and students with severe special needs such as Down syndrome, who are allowed to graduate even if they fail the test. But all other students, including those with milder disabilities, such as dyslexia, are banned from participating if they fail the test.

''We believe that if we lower the bar for these students, we're sending a message that we think they are capable of less," Payzant said in a statement.

Michael Fung, headmaster at Charlestown High School, said he opposes the district's policy because it hurts children who would never be able to pass the MCAS.

''This is for some of those kids the only thing this big," he said. ''That's their joy. Why deny it to them?"

Rich Robison -- executive director of the Federation for Children With Special Needs, a nonprofit parent advocacy group -- said he hears complaints from a half-dozen families who are ''totally distraught" each spring when their children are banned from graduation ceremonies. He does not know which school systems, besides Boston, ban students from graduation.

''It's outrageous," Robison said. ''They probably have worked harder than any other kid just to keep up and do what they've done."

The state Department of Education has defended use of MCAS as a graduation requirement. But Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll said he does not oppose letting students who flunk the test walk at graduation, as long as they don't receive a real diploma.

Senator Robert A. Antonioni, cochairman of the Joint Education Committee, said he was skeptical at first because he favors using the test to raise standards for all students. But he said the additional requirements persuaded him to back the measure. ''For these students that really demonstrate that they've tried . . . that shouldn't prevent them from participating in the rituals of graduation," he said.