Are high school exit exams "fair" for students with limited English skills?
Overall, states with exit exams are in dilemma -- they've been challenged to hold all children to the same standards, but in doing so, they may withhold diplomas from many kids with limited English. Almost all states with exit exams implicitly require students to know English to graduate, but high schools often find immigrant students are just getting started...Many high school teachers are not trained to help students with minimal English, which means those children do not receive high quality instruction, said Deborah Short, director of language education and academic development at the Center for Applied Linguistics.
"Do we want a lot of high school students who don't have diplomas -- and therefore have a lot of limited opportunities after high school -- because they are still acquiring English?" she said. "We need more of a policy on what to do with these children."
Actually, the question should be, would we rather have a lot of students with no diplomas because of poor English skills, or would we rather have lots of employers and admissions officers discover that the diploma no longer guarantees its bearer can speak English?
Graduation exams disproportionately affect limited-English students: 87 percent of them will have to pass a test to graduate in coming years, compared to about 72 percent of all U.S. public school students. Most students learning English as a second language live in gateway states for immigrants that have exit exams, mainly California, Texas and New York.
Something tells me that isn't a coincidence. Isn't it possible that these states were quickest to implement the exams because they're trying to prevent turning out high school graduates who are struggling with English?
I agree this is a problem, and if the numbers of limited-English students continue to increase in public high schools, educators are going to be forced to make some tough choices. I just find it worrisome that the debate seems to center on whether the tests are fair to students, rather than whether the awarding of diplomas to students who can't speak English is fair to society.
Posted by kswygert at August 17, 2005 07:09 PM