Even though the holidays are relaxing, public schools and testing never escape the news. An article on newyorktimes.com describes a small district concerned about its reputation and test scores for immigrant children. The article describes testing and test responses from two third graders in an English-as-second-language class struggling to do their best on the New York State English language arts test.
School officials in this working-class village tucked between the wealthy towns of Rye, N.Y., and Greenwich, Conn., would rather that neither Dayana nor Israel, both of whom were born in the United States, take the English test when it is given statewide on Jan. 8. They say they do not want such children to be embarrassed by their scores. But they also do not want those scores to embarrass the village. Theirs is a district where 90 percent of fourth graders score well enough to be regarded as proficient readers. That statistic helps the district attract well-heeled transplants from New York City.
The state law has allowed students from immigrant homes to be tested with different, substitute tests if they have been with the district for less than five years. These tests, of course, are easier than the regular tests.
Then last June, the United States Department of Education, enforcing the No Child Left Behind law, deemed New York's substitutes inadequate and required all students in school for more than a year to take regular tests. Tests in 21 other states have similarly been challenged.
Although five years seems a bit long to learn the English language, many officials and teachers feel that one year is expecting too much of children. Some of these children do not get help from home because their parents do not know English. Others might be having language difficulties with their own language. Since children learn at different rates, required state testing puts a lot of pressure on them, their teachers, and their parents.