Concerning Braille Literacy and the FCAT
WHEREAS, Braille is the means through which blind persons
achieve literacy; and
WHEREAS, statistics show that blind persons who are proficient in Braille have a higher employment rate than those who are not; and
WHEREAS, in order to achieve literacy, sighted children are
introduced to reading and writing print very early in their education;
likewise, blind children will become literate only through serious and ongoing
instruction in reading and writing Braille; and
WHEREAS, the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT)
is a statewide test, given to public school students, including those who are
blind, which measures the knowledge and skills students are expected to acquire
between grades K and 12; and
WHEREAS, Governor Jeb Bush has appointed a Blue Ribbon Task
Force which will make recommendations regarding the expanding of accommodations
for handicapped students taking the FCAT, and will present its recommendations
to the Florida Board of Education no later than October 1, 2002; and
WHEREAS, blind students taking the FCAT already have in place certain accommodations, such as the use of Braille for writing and/or reading the test instead of print, extra time in which to finish the test, and the use of talking calculators where regular calculators are permitted; and
WHEREAS, in an article in the April 21, 2002 St.
Petersburg Times, written by Associate Editor Martin Dyckman, and entitled
“FCAT Should Oblige Disabled”, Braille is referred to as “cumbersome and
outmoded in today’s world of talking computers”: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of
Florida, in convention assembled, this twenty-seventh day of May, 2002, in the
city of Boca Raton, Florida, that the NFBF continue to speak out in favor of,
and work diligently on behalf of, Braille literacy as a vital tool in the lives
of many blind children and adults; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon all those involved
with the education of blind children in the state of Florida and the Governor’s
Blue Ribbon Task Force to uphold the tenets of the State of Florida Blind
Persons Literacy and Education Act of 1993 (Chapter 233.0561 F.S.), and also of
the Federal Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA), final regulations, May,
1999, Section 300.346 (a)(2)(iii); and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we further urge the Blue Ribbon
Task Force to weigh carefully the difference between fair accommodations and lowered
expectations; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon this same task
force to ensure that, for students who have the ability to read and write
Braille, this format, with which they are familiar and comfortable, will
continue to be recommended and readily made available for taking of the FCAT;
and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be
sent to:
The Honorable Governor Jeb Bush
The Honorable Charlie Crist, Commissioner
Department of Education
The Honorable Jim Horn, Secretary
Department of Education
Jan Rouse
Chairperson of the Blue Ribbon Task Force
Martin Dyckman of the St. Petersburg Times, author of the
afore-mentioned article