Re: Fwd: Chicago parents organize against testing

[Horace B Lucido <hbl04@csufresno.edu>]

Pete,
Do parents have opt out provisions for state testing in Illinois?
Rog

Rog ( Horace ) Lucido, Physics Instructor, Ret. 
Program Evaluator 
Adjunct Faculty, Fresno Pacific University 
Educational Consultant 
Educators and Parents Against Testing Abuse ( EPATA ) 
Assessment Reform Network Central Valley Coordinator 
Phone: 559-277-1312 
Cell: 559-355-4215 
email: lucid4@cvip.net 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu> 
Date: Sunday, February 17, 2008 3:13 pm 
Subject: [ca-resisters] Fwd: Chicago parents organize against testing 
To: 2language@yahoogroups.com 

> 
> ><http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/790858,CST-NWS- 
> isat13web.article#>http<http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/790858,CST-NWS-isat13web.article#>://www.suntimes.com/news/education/790858,CST-NWS-isat13web.article# 
> > 
> > 
> >Parents protest test in English 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >ISAT | Threaten to keep kids home rather than take new state exam 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >February 13, 2008 
> >BY <mailto:rrossi@suntimes.com>ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter 
> ><mailto:rrossi@suntimes.com>rrossi@suntimes.com 
> > 
> >Angry Chicago Latino parents threatened Tuesday to keep their 
> kids 
> >home on test day next month if state education officials insist 
> on 
> >giving students who are still learning English an achievement 
> test in English. 
> > 
> >Facing threats of federal sanctions, state officials were ordered 
> >last October to give the same state tests native English speakers 
> >take to some 60,000 Illinois public school kids who haven't yet 
> >mastered English. 
> > 
> >During a news conference Tuesday at the Logan Square Neighborhood 
> >Association, about two dozen Latino parents charged that the test 
> >mandate is "unfair,'' "anti-immigrant'' and "anti-bilingual 
> education.''> 
> >They were joined by State Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago), who 
> said 
> >the federal government was "trying to take this program 
> [bilingual 
> >education] away from us'' by forcing children to take a test in 
> >English before they are fluent. 
> > 
> >"This is a way of attacking children who don't understand the 
> >language,'' said Martinez, who is pushing a resolution to delay 
> the 
> >test for a year. 
> > 
> >Previously, Illinois kids in bilingual education programs for 
> less 
> >than three years took an alternative state test in English. 
> > 
> >But last October federal education officials ruled that test did 
> not 
> >meet federal No Child Left Behind standards. They ordered 
> Illinois 
> >bilingual education students who have been in public schools for 
> >more than a year to take the same tests native English speakers 
> >take, starting March 3. 
> > 
> >Speaking through a Spanish-English translator, parent Erika Soto 
> >said her third-grade daughter is "very smart, but because of this 
> >test, she is going to be labeled a failure. So how is she going 
> to feel?'' 
> > 
> >Parents raised their hands in agreement Tuesday when asked if 
> they 
> >would keep their children home rather than have them take the new 
> test.> 
> >"We have to push them to pay attention and if this is the way to 
> get 
> >them to pay attention, I will do it,'' said Leticia Barrera, 
> parent 
> >of a Monroe Elementary third grader. 
> > 
> >Barrera's daughter, Arely, said she did poorly on practice tests, 
> >and is worried she'll tank the real thing. 
> > 
> >"I'm scared,'' said Arely, age 9. "I think I'm going to fail. I'm 
> >not prepared to do the test.'' 
> > 
> >State education officials have crafted a long list of test 
> >accommodations, including more time, having proctors read 
> directions 
> >aloud in students' native language, and allowing proctors to 
> >transcribe student answers in English to questions that require 
> >written responses. 
> > 
> >Schools choose the accommodations they want to use, but they must 
> >provide the proctors and get them trained first. 
> > 
> >Barbara Radner, director of DePaul University's Center for Urban 
> >Education, questioned how proctors could transcribe student 
> answers 
> >to math questions that often require kids to draw or graph an 
> >answer. How can they read aloud to a class a bunch of test 
> questions 
> >that not every student may answer at the same pace, she wondered. 
> > 
> >"How many hours is this going to take?'' asked Radner. "We have 
> here 
> >Exhibit A of what's wrong with No Child Left Behind.'' 
> > 
> >Officials from Chicago Public Schools, Cicero District 99 and 
> >Schaumburg District 54 sent an angry letter to state education 
> >officials late Monday, demanding, at a minimum, that kids who are 
> >still learning English be allowed to answer written questions in 
> >their native language. 
> > 
> >The new test mandate, according to the letter, is "patently 
> unfair 
> >and damaging to students, teachers and schools. It puts 
> >administrative interests ahead of the needs of children and that 
> is 
> >bureaucracy at its worst.'' 
> > 
> >A HELPING HAND 
> >Some test accommodations offered to kids who are still learning 
> >English* but will be taking state tests in English next month: 
> > 
> >* Extra time; more breaks. 
> > 
> >* For third- through eighth-graders, small group or individual 
> testing.> 
> >* Scripted test directions read in native language. Upon request, 
> >proctors of third- through eighth-grade tests can repeat those 
> >directions or provide non-scripted directions in "simplified'' 
> English.> 
> >* Scripted test questions read in English by proctors or English 
> >audio recordings of third- through eighth-grade math and science 
> >tests, and all 11th-grade tests. 
> > 
> >* Third- through eighth-graders can get "glossaries" that 
> translate 
> >non-key English words into native languages in math and science. 
> > 
> >* For questions requiring written responses, students can dictate 
> >answers in English to proctors, who will transcribe them in 
> English 
> >onto answer sheets. 
> > 
> >* Officials are trying to provide directions and glossaries in 
> >Spanish, Polish, Arabic, Urdu, Korean, Pilipino/Tagalog, 
> Cantonese, 
> >Gujarati, Vietnamese and Russian. 
> >Source: Illinois State Board of Education 
>