Lawsuit demands understandable tests for English learners 

Ten school districts have sued the state for forcing them to test English learners in a language they cannot read or write. The districts claim that the students’ understandably poor performance on standardized tests given in English has caused their schools to fail to meet federal goals under the No Child Left Behind Act.

“The CSTs, CAT-6 and CAHSEE are all tests designed for native English speakers and they are administered to all students in English-only, regardless of whether or not the students understand English,” the lawsuit alleges.

The plaintiffs claim that the state could test the students in their native language but refuses to do so. When voters passed Proposition 227 in 1998, teaching and testing students in their native language was largely banned, and state policy prefers testing all students in English to assess their progress in learning the language.

The districts demand that the state allow them to test schoolchildren who are not yet proficient in English in a “valid and reliable manner” and in a “language and form” they understand, as mandated by NCLB. Of the 1.6 million English learners in the state, 85 percent speak Spanish, the suit says.

Coachella Valley Unified School District, et al v. State Of California, et al, was filed in San Francisco Superior Court on June 1.

Each district named in the suit has schools whose English learners failed to score proficient in English and math after taking the tests in English, causing the schools to be labeled as needing improvement by the No Child Left Behind Act. The “program improvement” designation can lead to loss of federal funds, reassignment of staff and, ultimately, loss of the board’s governing authority.

Coachella Valley Unified School District, the lead plaintiff in the case, is joined by Chula Vista Elementary, Sweetwater Union High, Alisal Union Elementary, Salinas Union High, Terra Bella Union Elementary, Pajaro Valley Unified, Oxnard Elementary, Hawthorne, and Hayward Unified school districts, along with bilingual education advocates.

“The state labels our students and teachers educational failures,” said Coachella superintendent Foch “Tut” Pensis in a written statement. “Our students are outstanding achievers despite the obstacles many face in learning a new language and a new country. We could not accept their label as failures, and we decided we had to do something about it.”

According to CSBA’s policy platform, tests should be “appropriate for the culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse student population of California.” It is not appropriate to determine that a student has not mastered certain content standards after testing them in a language they don’t understand, said Holly Jacobson, CSBA Assistant Executive Director, Policy Analysis.