A ‘tsunami’ of disabled students

Community colleges are seeing a “tsunami” of students with intellectual and physical disabilities. Some colleges offer special programs for students with developmental disabilities or autism.

Also on Community College Spotlight: Why do so many “proficient” high school students end up in remedial math?

About Joanne


  1. In teaching math at my community college, I encounter a number of students who would dearly love to claim that they are LD so they can get time and a half on tests. (I don’t know for sure, but I suspect this expectation is based on their high school experience.) I inform them that if they go to special services to get documentation that they indeed fall into that category, then I will accommodate them on the tests. Miraculously, most of them find out that they don’t really need accommodation after all when they are told that they’d have to foot the $$$ for the testing/diagnosis.

  2. In Texas, I know that part of it has to do that the THEA test (the one that determines college course placement) hasn’t caught up with the times. The students are only allowed to use a four-function calculator on the test, whereas the TAKS test (which is required for high school graduation) allows a graphing calculator. Students in Texas use graphing calculators in class from the 9th grade on, and many teachers don’t require the students to work without it – in fact, many district administrators push teachers to allow the kids to use the calculators all the time so that they can pass the TAKS. This I think is why kids can’t get into the courses they should be in.

  3. Why did you put quotes around “proficient”? It implies that they were found proficient on a test, and the article doesn’t mention it. In fact, most research in California shows that “proficient” on the Star tests correlates very well to a get out of remediation card.