As Farmingdale School District phases in new state-mandated learning standards and related tests, students who receive special education services will face new expectations, and - beginning next school year - new graduation requirements. Since the mandates were announced two-and-a-half years ago, this has been an issue of ongoing concern for administrators, teachers, special education students and their parents.

The new requirements are part of a state-wide overhaul of the educational system which aims to raise learning standards for all students, not only those classified under special education. To meet them, the special education students must complete the same number of course credits, and pass the same number of Regents exams as regular education students - 22 and five, respectively.

New graduation requirements for all students will be effective beginning next year, with students who will then be high school juniors. These students will have to pass one Regents exam next year in order to graduate, with the required number of exams increasing consecutively every year with every grade thereafter. Eventually, students will have to pass all five Regents exams in order graduate.

However, as a safety net for special education students, for next year, the first year of implementation, if they fail the Regents exam, they may pass a Regents Competency Test (RCT) in order to graduate.

With the exception of this safety net, competency tests, which 66 percent of the state's special education students currently take in lieu of the more rigorous Regents exams, are being phased out. When the new requirements are fully phased in, if a special education student fails the Regents exams, they may still graduate, but they will receive a diploma stamped 'IEP' (Individual Educational Plan).

In Farmingdale and across Long Island, parents of special education students have expressed concern about the IEP diploma, according to Sara DeSimone-Rottmann, director of special services for the district. "Parents are very, very upset. They're very concerned," she said. "They're so afraid that their children aren't going to meet the standards, and that their children are going to end up with this IEP diploma, and that it will get them very little outside school."

Amid the concern, however, Farmingdale School district is making strides in helping special education students increase their academic achievement, according to DeSimone-Rottmann. One key way has been through a collaborative classroom program, whereby special education students learn alongside regular education peers.

Modeled after a theory of inclusion developed by world-renowned University of Wisconsin professor Dr. Lou Brown, which has been implemented in several school districts nationwide, the collaborative class is taught by two teachers - one special education and one regular education. The program raises expectations for the special education students while continuing to give them support through the special education teacher. That teacher helps them when they struggle to keep up with the rest of the class, and tailors lessons and tests to their needs. "The standards are designed to raise the bar for all students. In a collaborative model, the bar can be raised for students in the integrated environment, and the special ed teacher can help meet the needs of the lower functioning, non-handicapped student as well as the integrated, handicapped student," said DeSimone-Rottmann.

The collaborative program has been implemented at both the elementary and secondary level in Farmingdale. For example, a sixth grade collaborative class at Albany Avenue Elementary School taught by special education teacher Debbie Jahrsdoerfer and regular education teacher Adrienne Hartung consists of five special education children and 23 regular education children, a typical ratio in such a class.

According to Jahrsdoerfer, the program helps the special education students both socially and academically because they conform their behavior to that of their regular education peers. At the same time, she said, the learning and tests are modified to their individual needs. For example, if a student needs extra help in a particular subject, she works with him or her alone. "They're pushed to a higher level. They're expectations are raised, and usually they rise to the expectations," she said, adding that the program also helps the regular education students. "I'm a special education teacher, but I definitely help the regular education kids just like she [Adrienne] helps the special education kids."

Hartung said the presence of the special education students does not slow down the class. "They're totally accepted in here," she said.

Students' opinions of the program seem to vary. One special education student in the class said, "In this class, I know more people," noting that he has made new friends in the class. Another said she prefers more time alone with her teacher.

One regular education student in the class said, "Sometimes it's a little harder to cooperate because we have more people in the group," while another said, "It's easier when there's two teachers."

In addition to raised expectations, Jahrsdoerfer said another benefit of the program for special education students is that it allows them to learn subject content more quickly because it places them with students of their own grade level. In segregated special education classes, students have lower and higher grade level classmates.