FW: CA LSAC decision
Stuart Pixley (LCA)
Interesting Development
From: Commission on Disability Rights (Full) [mailto:CDR-...@MAIL.AMERICANBAR.ORG]
On Behalf Of Allbright, Amy
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 8:29 AM
To: CDR-...@MAIL.AMERICANBAR.ORG
Subject: FW: CA LSAC decision
Importance: High
FYI. Victory for the Commission in LSAC case, reversing the trial court’s issuance of a preliminary injunction ordering California to refrain from enforcing the California law, Cal. Educ. Code 99161.5, which the Commission worked on and sent Paula Pearlman and a NALSWD member to testify in support of the bill. In particular, the law requires LSAC to: (1) “provide testing accommodations to a test subject with a disability who makes a timely request to ensure that the [LSAT] accurately reflects the aptitude, achievement levels, or other factors that the test purports to measure and does not reflect the test subject‟s disability.” (Ed. Code, § 99161.5, subd. (a)(1)) and (2) “give considerable weight to documentation of past modifications, accommodations, or auxiliary aids or services received by the test subject in similar testing situations when determining whether to grant an accommodation to the test subject” (§ 99161.5, subd. (b)). In addition, significantly, the law prohibits LSAC from either “notify[ing] a test score recipient that the score of any test subject was obtained by a subject who received an accommodation” or “withhold[ing] any information that would lead a test score recipient to deduce that a score was earned by a subject who received an accommodation.” (§ 99161.5, subd. (c)(1) & (2)).
Amy L. Allbright
Director
Commission on Disability Rights (CDR) - Mail Stop 11.0
American Bar Association (ABA)
1050 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
T: 202.662.1575
F: 202.442.3439
http://www.americanbar.org/groups/disabilityrights.html
From: Hess, Jared
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 9:39 AM
To: Allbright, Amy
Subject: CA LSAC decision
Amy,
I’m not sure whether you have already seen this, but here is an article that was recently published about the California appeals court decision regarding accommodations for law school admissions tests. The decision, which I am also attaching, specifically refers to the ABA and CDR. Congratulations on a great victory.
The section mentioning the ABA is found on page 18 of the decision. Here is that excerpt:
“Throughout the legislative history, the support of the American Bar Association is noted. A fact sheet prepared by former Assembly Member Ricardo Lara explains: 'In response to the small number of individuals with disabilities represented in the legal profession, the ABA Commission on Disability Rights recently passed a unanimous resolution urging entities who administer the LSAT to improve the way it handles accommodation requests from test-takers with disabilities. ... A major contributing factor to the lack of representation of individuals with disabilities in the legal profession can be attributed to the barriers individuals face when taking the LSAT.' The fact sheet then describes LSAC's objectionable policies, i.e., the 'comprehensive assessment report' that 'can cost an individual over $3,000' and the practice of 'flagging' nonstandard test scores, and urges passage of Assembly Bill No. 2122 as a 'solution' to the problem."
Jared Hess
Legislative Coordinator & Director for Grassroots Operations
Governmental Affairs Office
American Bar Association
Follow us on Twitter:
@ABAGrassroots
1050 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036
T: 202.662.1780
F: 202.662.1762
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