Suit challenges assessments of English learners

A motion filed in San Francisco County Superior Court last month challenges California’s measurement of English learner students’ academic progress. Ten school districts, joined by several nonprofit organizations and supported by CSBA, are pressing their case that California violates the federal No Child Left Behind Act by requiring EL students to be tested in English before they have become proficient in the language.

NCLB requires states to make modifications available to ELs and allows districts to omit an EL’s scores from overall California Standards Test results for three to five years, but state regulations prohibit both practices. That can unfairly impair students’ performance on the tests and put schools and districts in jeopardy of Program Improvement sanctions, argue plaintiffs in the case, Coachella Valley Unified School District et al. v. State of California et al., originally filed in 2005.

At the Jan. 3 court hearing, plaintiffs asked the court to find California out of compliance with NCLB, to order immediate changes that would provide valid and reliable measures of EL academic achievement and to suspend Program Improvement sanctions that are based solely on EL test scores.

At least nine states—all with a lower percentage of EL students than California, where they make up a quarter of the enrollment—test EL students’ content knowledge in their native languages instead of English, according to expert testimony in the case, and many more states make modifications for ELs.

Changes as simple as using active voice instead of passive voice and eliminating idioms and unfamiliar words that aren’t related to content reportedly have dramatically improved EL students’ test performance.

CSBA strongly supports standards, assessment and accountability for the state’s public schools. It asserts, however, that any accountability system built upon test data must ensure that the test data relied upon is valid and reliable. CSBA has not joined the suit against the state, but it submitted a declaration in support of the litigation’s goal of bringing California’s academic assessments of English Learners into compliance with NCLB because of the critical educational policy issues at stake.

“By definition, English learners are not proficient in English; therefore, a test in academic content, in English, cannot accurately measure English learner content knowledge and should not be used for high-stakes sanctions for schools and districts,” said Holly Jacobson, assistant executive director for Policy Analysis and Continuing Education for CSBA.

A ruling is expected as early as March.