More testing criticism in California
You know, it's hard even for me to get exercised about testing right now, given that all-out war is soon to come, and that our diplomats are being forced to deal with the Axis of Weasel and their profoundly stupid arguments against military action. I'm addicted to political news, and right now, the NCLB Act is understandably on the back burner. Gosh, why can't we all just follow the advice of our celebrities? The world's problems would be solved.
However, the testing critics don't ever let up, and a whole passel of 'em went before California's State Assembly Committee to complain that standardized testing interferes with education. California's students now take the Stanford 9, the California Standards test, and will face exit exams in 2004.
Oddly enough, although the article opens with the statements about students focusing too much on test results, and not enough on learning their lessons, the only personal testimony in the article, given by a Spanish-speaking student who is a recent immigrant to the U.S., is along entirely different lines.
He [student Mario Valencia] said he and other English-language learners see a high school diploma as key to improving their lives. But he fears he won't be able to pass the exit exam. "It has been very difficult for me because the English isn't at the level I can speak and understand," he said.
While such a comment inspires pity for the young man, this isn't a valid argument against exit exams. After all, if a California high school diploma is supposed to indicate that the possessor of it can speak and read English, then anyone who can't do so doesn't deserve a diploma. Any student born in the U.S. who tried to use this argument - "the exam is too difficult because I can't speak and understand English all that well" - would be laughed out of court.
Of course, California has a great many immigrant students like Mr. Valencia, and they're going to have to decide what to do with them. Do they receive an exit exam exemption? Do we accept that they might receive a diploma without having mastered English? Do the California teachers honestly think that the presence of an exit exam will interfere with with learning of English? I feel that giving a high school diploma to anyone who can't read English, regardless of their background, is dishonest. But it's also up to California to teach these kids English in as efficient a method as possible. If the vast majority of such kids can't pass the test, that's a sign that California needs to revamp their English immersion program, and fast.
Update:Joanne Jacobs made a comment that's so good, I'm reproducing it here in full:
I heard a talk by a superintendent to charter school directors on this issue. She said that if an immigrant student arrives in 11th or 12th grade and has no chance of learning enough English to pass the graduation exam it would serve the student better to transfer to an adult ed program. Immigrants can earn a GED and get vocational training. They can go to community college without a high school diploma, though they may have to take remedial English if their skills are still low.
The level of English required to pass the graduation exam is not very high. At the charter school I'm writing about, 85 percent of students are Hispanic, and most come from Spanish-speaking families. Students typically were earning Ds and Fs in middle school. Yet two-thirds passed the English portion of the graduation exam as ninth graders; most of the rest passed as sophomores. And the few who didn't have five or six more chances.
So there you go - good and bad news. Non-English-speaking students do have other options (the article mentioned none of this) - and the exit exam is so easy that such students can easily pass it, even ones with poor grades.