When educators blame low test scores on the high number of special-needs students in their school, or exempt special education kids from having to meet the same standards as their general-education peers, it makes me angry.
These actions are grounded in an educational approach that gives up on children with disabilities. As someone who was written off mistakenly as having a learning disability when I was a child, I know how damaging that attitude can be to the self-esteem and educational future of these children.
Disparities in expectations yield disparate results; lowering the bar for students rather than helping them reach the higher one denies them the learning all children are entitled to and robs them of their potential.