Thread: Counting English learners' AIMS scores may hurt local school

April 8, 2007
Counting English learners' AIMS scores may hurt local schools
Ryan Gabrielson, Andrea Falkenhagen, Tribune
Each morning as they walk to Lowell Elementary School, children pass Spanish signs that reflect the homes most come from. Across the street from the Mesa school sits the brightly-painted La Estrella Carniceria y Panaderia, selling Mexican breads and chorizo.

Down the road, the blue Mexican-style ice cream shop and Taqueria Guanajuato advertise their frozen treats and breakfast chilaquiles in Spanish.

Along this stretch of the Broadway Road corridor, the Spanish-speaking population’s presence can’t be missed. The same couldn’t always be said about the Spanish-speaking students’ test scores.

But not anymore. The state’s lawsuit to keep many of their scores from counting under No Child Left Behind was dismissed in February.

This week, when English learners take the AIMS test, their scores will count in determining if their schools — and Arizona — are complying with federal law.

Nearly 80 percent of Lowell’s students are considered English learners, though many more speak only Spanish at home, said principal Sandi Kuhn.

“When our students enter kindergarten, we have only one or two English speakers,” she said.

Language is an issue when students take Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards — the exam used to determine compliance with No Child Left Behind — because state law requires all students to be tested in English, regardless of their grasp of the language.

No Child Left Behind then requires states to count the scores of all students regard less of their race, income or English proficiency. But in previous years, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne had excluded the scores of English learners who had been enrolled three years or less when determining schools compliance with the federal law.

Horne contends that he struck an off-the-books deal with federal officials in 2003 that makes the practice legal. But last year, the U.S. Department of Education required Arizona to include nearly all English learners’ AIMS results in the calculation that decided whether schools met federal standards.

When Horne announced last year that all English learners' scores would count, the students had already taken the test.

The results were not good.

A Tribune analysis found that when English learners’ scores were included, the percentage of elementary schools failing to meet federal standards doubled, from 12 percent to 24 percent.

If a school fails to meet the federal benchmarks two years in a row, it can be labeled “in need of improvement” and could begin losing local control of how it’s run.

In July, Horne filed a lawsuit against the federal education department to permit Arizona to continue excluding some English learners’ scores.

But in February, U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell dismissed the lawsuit because the federal department has not yet penalized the state for excluding the English learners’ scores.

“It was what you call a tactical defeat and a strategic victory,” Horne said.

The state has again requested that the federal education department allow English learners’ results to be excluded for three years. If the agency rejects Arizona’s request, as is expected, Horne said he will file another lawsuit.

But the federal government has been far from sympathetic.

“Most of our English language learner students are born here. Two-thirds of these kids were born in the United States of America,” U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said at a Mesa school last week. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable that by the end of the third grade they would be able to read on grade level in English.”

That might be true nationwide, but at Mesa’s Eisenhower Elementary School, the majority of English learners are immigrants, especially among the older children, said principal Pat Estes.

Twenty-six percent of Eisenhower students still need help with English. A typical class has two students who speak only Spanish, along with another 10 or so who are English learners.

Lowell principal Kuhn said research shows it takes between three and seven years of school before immigrants’ children are academically proficient in English.

While children can quickly pick up conversational English, assistant principal Chuck Berger explained, it takes much longer for them to learn the academic vocabulary needed to excel in tests.

“They know the language of the playground,” he said, “but not the language of academics.”
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/87404

More fuel that states bi-lingual education progrmas are not working, and these people simply refuse to learn English!! Wait and see what happens when those low-performing schools start losing American students because those parents are going to take their kids out and go to a better school district or private school. It's just another sad case where the illegals take probably once good schools and destroy them with low test scores, discipline issues and lack of support.

You know, when I went to school back in the 70's, learning a different language was for enrichment of your education. Not for pandering to those who refused to learn your countries language.

I first took Latin, as it's a very integral part science like Greek is too. At least the ancient Greek. I still enjoy science and astonomy, even though I can't afford to pursue them. I then learned French, and Spanish, and German to an acceptable extent as one of my ambitions was to work for the consulate. But the problems that our embassies started to have worldwide in the late 70's dashed that one for me. I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid. But after 20+ plus years, I can't remember much as I don't use it, so I've lost it.

So the point is, that a multi national and speaking country is doomed to failure as there are barriers that are based on language and culture that you are just not going to get around. The majority of the people in the United States of America speak English, so learn the language and quit demading to be pandered to for special interest reasons.

My grandson is missed kindergarten because his birthdate was in October. Although my daughter and son -in -law live in a "gated" community - actually, just a middle class area - there is a whole community of illegal immigrants living in subsidized apartments, Therefore, the elementary school my grandson will be attending is comprised of a majority of English learning students. The parents are very upset with the school curriculum as the english speaking students are "held back" until their class mates "catch-up." As a result, most parents in the school district are attempting to send their children to other school districts or putting them in private schools. I am helping with my grandson"s tuition as he is now attending a private school and will continue to go to this private school rather than attend the elementary school in his community until his parents move (which they plan to in August so he can attend a good elementary school.) Is this racist? NO! This is because we want the best education for our children and the state is not providing it. By the way, NM just received a F for their educational system.

When the ESL or ELL(second language learners) are in school they speak spanish:
at recess,
when socializing with their peers,
in a bilingual class,
at other school functions such as soccer games, clubs, PTO meetings etc.
with bilingual teachers, teacher aides and other school employees.

They may speak english:
sometimes with bilingual teachers, aides and other school employees,
when it's necessary for their studies,
when they need to translate for someone else-that is if they are proficient enough to translate between the languages.

It is against the law to make second language learners speak English when they are at recess, lunch or socializing with their peers or other school employees. If schools could make it a rule and enforce it that the ESL or ELL kids only speak English in school the children would learn English much, much faster. But I repeat it is against the law to do this.

MAYDAY

just learned something new....thank you!

Can you please post the law so that we all know what we're dealing with here?

The more facts we have, the stronger we are.

I wish I could point you to the law but can't. I was told this and expected to abide by it when I was a teacher's aide. To me it seemed common sense for the ESL or ELL kids to only speak English at school so they would learn the language faster.

Here's another tidbit about ESL classrooms. An ESL classroom can not be in a modular it must be in the main building or the schools could be sued for discrimination. Our schools are very crowded due to the illegals and anchor babies and we have a lot of modulars around the schools for the overflow of kids. The taxpayers here are smart and won't approve a bond fund to build on to the schools so they keep adding more modulars.