As Arizona's superintendent of schools fights the federal government for longer exemption periods to get English-language learners up to speed before testing, the Bush administration has fought back with another change in accountability under No Child Left Behind.
On Wednesday, a one-year testing exemption for ELL students in grade school was approved. That means a student who starts school with little to no proficiency in English has the first school year to learn the language. The student may still be required to take the state's assessment test, but the scores will not be counted.
Any test for federal accountability taken in following years will be counted, regardless of the student's ability to read or speak English.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Spellings' Phony Flexibility
Attempting to garner support for the failed NCLB, Spellings continues the PR campaign. This week, she announces nothing new but a repackaging of current policy to make it seem like a compromise. From the Arizona Daily Star:
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Spellings says she pays attention to the research but she ignores the fact that it takes on average 3 years for someone to get acclimated to a second language.
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