Special education teachers in Austin ISD said Monday that special needs students take too many standardized tests and something needs to change.

The teachers were joined by representatives from the National Education Association at a news conference held at Linder Elementary School in Southeast Austin. Monday was a parent-teacher conference day in AISD.

Federal law mandates that all students within a district, except two percent, must be taking a standardized test.

Teachers say special needs students -- which include a broad spectrum of students with anything from a single learning disability to those with several physical and mental handicaps -- should take fewer tests.

The message is part of a campaign launched by Education Austin to bring attention to what the group calls excessive testing.

"We're asking the district to review with us the full scope of district-mandated testing and how we can start backing out of some of these tests," Education Austin President Louis Malfaro said in a news release.

Teachers say the tests take away from classroom teaching time. They also say TAKS testing for special needs students at grade-level is stressful for the students.

"They get to be pulled away from their peers during the testing day -- it's incredibly stressful, and the pressure on teachers for the children to perform is high, and that, you know, is all we can do to keep from transferring that to our students," said Judith Hutchinson, Ph.D., special needs teacher. "But some of them are crying. They're afraid their parents are going to get mad at them if they don't do well on the test."

The NEA is calling on Congress to revise No Child left Behind to lessen the negative impact of high-stakes standardized testing on special-needs and other at-risk students.

According to AISD, about one percent of students in the district are categorized as having special needs.