Fwd: Chicago parents organize against testing

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

  From: James Crawford <jwcrawford@COMPUSERVE.COM>

  Date: Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:05:52 AM US/Pacific

  To: ELLADVOC@ASU.EDU

  Subject: Chicago parents organize against testing

  Reply-To: James Crawford <jwcrawford@COMPUSERVE.COM>

  http://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 ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter rrossi@suntimes.com0000,0000,0000

  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
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