English Learners

Testing Burden on ELLs Needs Easing, Federal Officials Say

By Corey Mitchell — February 03, 2015 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Libia Gil, the head of the U.S. Department of Education’s office of English-language acquisition, says she’s working with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to ease the burden of testing for English-learners and their teachers.

“We do believe in annual testing, but we also believe there’s overtesting. It’s coming from all over. You have state assessments, you have local assessments, you have classroom assessments—some for different purposes, not all for accountability,” said Ms. Gil, a veteran bilingual and dual-language educator who came to OELA in September 2013.

“Too much testing that’s not meaningful and not helpful, we don’t support that,” Ms. Gil said last month in an interview with Education Week. “What we do support is very clear, precise measures. That challenge is to [determine] what are the most reliable and credible assessments.”

In addition to annual tests in English/language arts and mathematics, English-learners are tested on their progress toward proficiency in their new language. Though Mr. Duncan has said scaling back testing demands is a high priority, how he and Ms. Gil will reduce the load for ELLs remains to be seen.

Tests in Native Languages?

The Obama administration still maintains that testing all students, including ELLs, annually in reading and mathematics is critical for measuring progress. In recent hearings, the U.S. Senate education committee has debated whether to dump federally mandated annual tests in a proposal to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law, the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Libia Gil

Since his time as the CEO of Chicago’s public schools before he became education secretary in 2009, Mr. Duncan has argued that ELLs should be allowed to demonstrate their content knowledge on tests in their native languages. New York and some other states already provide some tests in native languages.

When students with low English proficiency take math exams, they may not understand the test directions—one example of a language barrier that keeps them from demonstrating their skills. By definition, ELLs are “not yet actually ready to access math and English-language content,” said Conor P. Williams, a senior researcher for the Washington-based New America Foundation.

But agreement on a national framework to test ELLs’ content knowledge has yet to emerge.

Efforts to make the new common-standards tests developed by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium more accessible to ELLs were field-tested last spring.

But as states have dropped out or scaled back their roles in the consortia, fewer English-learners may have access to those tests, and it’s not clear what kinds of test supports states would provide in their place. That flux has created uncertainty.

“The common-core tests haven’t hit the ground, and there’s already so much confusion and lack of information,” said Giselle Lundy-Ponce, an associate director of the American Federation of Teachers’ educational issues department.

A 2013 AFT study found that in two medium-size districts, the time students spent taking tests ranged from 20 to 50 hours per year in heavily tested grades. In addition, students could spend 60 to 110 hours a year focused on test preparation. That’s precious time lost for ELLs, said Ms. Lundy-Ponce.

“Rather than being diagnostic, [standardized testing] punishes the teacher,” Ms. Lundy-Ponce said. “For the students, grade-level content won’t be picked up by being drilled for a test.”

The Education Department’s recent decision to grant Florida flexibility in how it assesses English-learners, which will allow the state to wait until ELLs have been in U.S. schools for two years before their scores are used for accountability, could signal a step away from high-stakes testing for the subgroup, or be an unintentional “red herring,” Mr. Williams said. Florida’s victory may not pave the way for flexibility in other states, he said.

Federal officials have not said that Florida’s case would apply elsewhere. It seems the state’s dogged focus on testing helped its cause.

Ms. Gil said: “They do annual assessments far beyond what is expected of them.”

A version of this article appeared in the February 04, 2015 edition of Education Week as Testing Burden on ELLs Needs Easing, Federal Officials Say

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI in Education: Empowering Educators to Tap into the Promise and Steer Clear of Peril
Explore the transformative potential of AI in education and learn how to harness its power to improve student outcomes.
Content provided by Panorama Education
English Learners Webinar Family and Community Engagement: Best Practices for English Learners
Strengthening the bond between schools and families is key to the success of English learners. Learn how to enhance family engagement and support student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Mathematics Webinar
How an Inquiry-Based Approach Transforms Math Learning
Transform math learning with an approach that empowers students to become active, engaged learners.
Content provided by MIND Education

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

English Learners No, the Arrival of English Learners Doesn't Hurt Other Students, a Study Finds
A new study reviewed any spillover effects of the growing immigrant student population in Delaware.
5 min read
GettyImages 1402013281
iStock/Getty
English Learners 2 Districts Overhauled How They Teach English Learners. Here's How
They offer a case study in adopting an integrated, collaborative model that's a departure from teaching English learners in small groups.
6 min read
Photograph of an English language learners high school classroom
iStock/Getty
English Learners Download Immigrant Students' Rights: A Guide for Schools' Front-Office Staff
A downloadable guide to help school staff familiarize themselves with immigrant students' rights and schools' responsibilities to them.
2 min read
Photo of Latino family talking with elementary school staff.
E+
English Learners What Schools Can Do to Help Immigrant Students Succeed
Researchers and educators recently shared advice on how to best work with immigrant students and English learners.
5 min read
Eric Hoover teaches his class of immigrant and refugee students at McCaskey High School in Lancaster, Pa., on Feb. 15, 2017. The Lancaster community runs an "international school" on its main high school campus to help the waves of new arrivals sponsored by local resettlement agencies learn English and adjust to American schools.
Eric Hoover teaches his class of immigrant and refugee students at McCaskey High School in Lancaster, Pa., on Feb. 15, 2017. A few key practices rooted in empathy can move schools beyond merely complying with their legal obligations to English learners.
Michael Rubinkam/AP