Fwd: Chicago parents organize against testing

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

> <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#
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> Parents protest test in English
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> ISAT | Threaten to keep kids home rather than take new state exam
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> 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.
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> "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.
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> "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.
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> Barrera's daughter, Arely, said she did poorly on practice tests, 
> and is worried she'll tank the real thing.
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> "I'm scared,'' said Arely, age 9. "I think I'm going to fail. I'm 
> not prepared to do the test.''
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> 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.
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> 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