FAIR ENGLISH TESTS FOR LEP/ELL STUDENTS

Dec 7, 2006 5:15 PM

WHEREAS the U.S. Department of Education has reversed its position on testing Limited English Proficient (LEP) students and English Language Learners (ELL) to require even students who have been in the country for as little as one year to take the same English Language Arts (ELA) exams as other students in grades 3 through 8; and

WHEREAS the New York State Education Department (SED) has agreed to comply with the U.S.DOE, even though the ELA exam will not provide accurate or useful information about LEP or ELL students, nor would it provide a valid and reliable measure of their performance; and

WHEREAS the decision by the U.S.DOE flies in the face of a 1974 civil rights decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Lau v. Nichols, which held that: “There is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education”; thus, using the same tests designed for English-proficient students to measure the performance of students who do not speak English well denies them the civil rights protected under Lau v. Nichols; and

WHEREAS research indicates that it takes from four to seven years for newly arrived students to become proficient in English and that older students who have not had any schooling in their first language generally require seven to 10 years to perform at the average level of native English speakers on academic tests in English; and

WHEREAS since 2003, the U.S.DOE had authorized New York State to use a different assessment, one that better evaluates English language proficiency for LEP and ELL students while, at the same time, also providing a school’s accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act; and

WHEREAS that different assessment — called the New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT) — was recently redesigned to more closely align it with the state’s ELA and reading standards but the U.S.DOE did not consider the redesigned assessment, basing its decision on a test that is no longer in use; and

Therefore be it

WHEREAS the New York State Education Department (SED) has agreed to comply with the USDOE, even though the ELA exam will not provide accurate or useful information about LEP or ELL students, nor would it provide a valid and reliable measure of their performance; and

WHEREAS the decision by the USDOE flies in the face of a 1974 civil rights decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Lau v. Nichols, which held that: “There is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education”; thus, using the same tests designed for English-proficient students to measure the performance of students who do not speak English well denies them the civil rights protected under Lau v. Nichols; and

WHEREAS research indicates that it takes from four to seven years for newly arrived students to become proficient in English and that older students who have not had any schooling in their first language generally require seven to 10 years to perform at the average level of native English speakers on academic tests in English,

Therefore, be it

RESOLVED that the UFT join with NYSUT, its statewide affiliate, in urging the SED to use the revised NYSESLAT for LEP and ELL students instead of the ELA exams in grades 3 through 8; and be it further

RESOLVED that the UFT join with NYSUT to urge the SED to develop a grade-by-grade NYSESLAT assessment to be used as a fair measure of proficiency in reading and English language arts skills for English language learners in this country for less than three years; and be it further

RESOLVED that the UFT join with NYSUT in working in working to persuade the U.S.DOE to grant New York the authority to administer the revised NYSESLAT assessment for recently arrived LEP and ELL students; and be it further

RESOLVED that the UFT join with NYSUT to urge the state Legislature to supplement the SED for any sanctions that may be imposed by the U.S.DOE if it refuses to allow the SED to do the right thing for LEP and ELL students by providing them with fair testing.