Viewsday

But IEP diplomas could be practically worthless. For children with major disabilities, Newsday reports, an IEP program might involve just learning basic life skills. Employers and colleges generally don't recognize these diplomas as standard graduation credentials.

Advocates for Children, a New York-based school reform organization, and some officials, want to change the name of the IEP diploma to IEP “certificate” or something similar. They say a clearer label could help parents make more informed choices when planning their child’s education, especially when extra academic support could put a standard high school diploma within reach.

AFC Executive Director Kim Sweet said in a recent newsletter issued by the organization, that when presented with the option of an IEP diploma:

“[i]n our experience, students and their caretakers do not fully understand these limitations… This confusion can have devastating results for students with disabilities and contributes to the large number of students who leave school without a regular high school diploma.”

Reform advocates have blasted the special ed system for placing many children in inadequate programs that tether them to low expectations.

The pushback from Long Island parents is another interesting lesson in semantics: Parents chafe at the proposed downgrading of their children's IEP diploma to a "certificate," suggesting that Long Island special-ed students might be “unfairly penalized in [a] state crackdown aimed mostly at urban schools,” according to Newsday.

Subtext: across the state, from rural towns to the Lower East Side, the value of a special-ed degree varies as widely as the quality of the education itself. In an affluent suburb, maybe a student’s family and teachers have the resources to make an IEP diploma represent a truly solid education. But to a youth in an “urban” school--whose educational future is clouded by social, language and economic barriers--“special education” may never have the chance to mean anything more than substandard.