Making a difference politically...?

The other day, I received an email from a faculty member in my department.  She urged my peers and me to take action and help out The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) by taking a stand.  She asked us to contact our Senators through CEC’s website through their Legislative Action Center.  CEC urged us to vote NO on the Isakson Amendment to help make classrooms a better place for all.

For those of you not familiar with the Isakson Amendment, Senator Isakson (R-GA) has offered an amendment that would allow states to remove any number of students with disabilities from the general accountability system. Those in special education do not want the Isakson Amendment to pass because students with disabilities do deserve access to the same education as other students! 

This is the letter that I signed, through CEC’s website, and sent to my local senator…additional questions or comments I had about portions of this letter are in green font.

I'm a constituent and a member of the Council for Exceptional Children,
the largest professional association of educators who work on behalf of
special and gifted education students. The Isakson amendment would remove
the limits on how many students with disabilities can be counted as making
sufficient progress using separate systems of standards and assessments.

(What does this mean?  Does it mean that students with disabilities will no longer have alternate assessments?  That they will be tested using general education assessments?  That they will not be tested at all?)

•       The Isakson amendment INCORRECTLY promotes that most students with
disabilities can't learn or achieve when most students with disabilities
are able to learn and achieve, just like all other students, when provided
appropriate access, services and supports.

(Students with disabilities can make progress.  That progress may not appear as quickly as progress of students without disabilities or may not be as evident but progress is still made nonetheless.  Progress must be measured in appropriate ways using appropriate materials.)

•    The Isakson amendment promotes abuse and overuse of alternate assessments by allowing any
student with a disability to be tested through these assessments.

(Alternate assessments should be used by only the students with disabilities who’s progress cannot be measured in any other way.) 

•     The Isakson amendment will turn back the clock on the advances made in
educating students with disabilities over the past 10 years.
 

(This would be such a shame if it were to happen.  Think of all those who have fought and paved the way for students with disabilities to be valued, counted in the education system, and to receive fundamental rights in our schools.  It would be a terrible shame if we moved backwards instead of forward in this area.)
 

Please vote NO on this amendment so that students with disabilities can
have the same opportunities to achieve college and career ready standards
as all other students.
 

What do you think?  Do students with disabilities have the same right to achieve college and career ready standards as students without disabilities do?