A Matter of Equity by Kim Ellis

When the time for state tests comes around here in New York, most public schools make every effort to provide the optimum testing environment for their students. Certainly the administrators and teachers want to give the students all possible advantages, which include a quiet workplace with plenty of light and no interruptions. In the school building where I formerly taught second grade, normal school life was suspended to accommodate the fourth grade English Language Arts assessment.  Lunch times were switched around, “specials” schedules were altered, and other events were postponed.  On the mornings before the testing began, the principal asked for more consideration from classes walking through the fourth grade wing.

After the exam, the fourth grade teachers received little chocolate hearts wrapped in pink foil along with notes in their mailboxes.  “Congratulations!  You made it!”  The students were given post-test parties and extra recess. 

English language learners (ELLs) all over New York take a similar test called The New York State English as a Second Language Achievement Test (NYSESLAT).  In format, the NYSESLAT closely resembles the ELA.  It tests English proficiency in all four modalities: speaking, listening, reading and writing.  All English Language Learners (ELLs) from kindergarten through twelfth grade are required to take the NYSESLAT. 

For the ELLS, the NYSESLAT is no easy skip through the park.  It is designed to assess progress in English language acquisition.  The test also determines placement levels for the following school year.  The NYSESLAT is as rigorous as the ELA; students who pass are deemed English proficient and able to manage in regular classes. 

The same form of the NYSESLAT is given to both kindergarteners and first graders, which makes it a highly stressful experience for the kindergarteners.  They are confronted with tasks that would challenge a first grade native speaker of English.  They must listen to stories and answer comprehension questions.  They must know the letters of the alphabet and their corresponding sounds; they must read words and determine correct English grammar. 

Except for the speaking section, each part of the NYSESLAT takes approximately thirty minutes.  For those students who are new to the country and speak minimal English, the NYSESLAT is three days of anxiety and discouragement.  Not even the non-English-speakers are exempt.

The speaking portion of the NYSESLAT is given individually.  At the K-1 level, the assessment takes about twenty minutes per child.  In order to administer this test in 2006, all ESL instruction in our school was suspended.  We have forty-seven ESL students.  If you do the math, you will figure that it took over fifteen hours of teacher time to complete just that section of the NYSESLAT.

When we received the required administration dates of the NYSESLAT in March, my co-teacher, Anne, and I worked out a testing schedule beginning the week of May 8.  I made copies of the schedule for my principal and the AIS/ESL administrator.  Sometime around the middle of April, we received messages in our mailboxes notifying us that:

·                                             The first grade classes were going on field trips to the Museum of the Hudson Highlands throughout the week of May 8

·                                             The sheep shearing and wool spinning demonstrations for the kindergarteners would take place that week

·                                             On May 11, the entire kindergarten was being bused to the high school to rehearse for the kindergarten festival

To date, Anne and I have devised three schedules, adjusting our testing around these activities.  When I left school this afternoon, there was a revised sheep-shearing schedule in my mailbox.  No doubt we’ll be creating Testing Schedule #4 tomorrow.

My principal, usually cognizant of teachers’ needs, told me what I knew already: that the kindergarten rehearsal on May 11 couldn’t be changed.  But when she suggested that I test the kindergarten students the afternoon of May 11, I was surprised, to say the least.  She and I both know that children should be tested in the morning, when they are most alert and energetic.  It would be folly and sheer torture to give this long and stressful exam to five- and six-year-olds after a morning of excitement at the high school.  They could not possibly do their best.

Most teachers agree that testing is getting out of control, that teaching to the test is impacting good educational practices.  It would be preferable not to subject these youngest of school children to the test at all.  However, since they must take the NYSESLAT, shouldn’t we at least give them the same considerations that the other students receive?

The issue here is one of equity.  My students are the children of immigrants; some are immigrants themselves.  Their parents come from all over the world: Peru, Ukraine, Morocco, Pakistan, Korea, India, Mexico, Haiti, Albania and the Philippines.  In my view, these newcomers are the lifeblood of our country, a nation of immigrants.  They bring the enthusiasm and effort and variety that nurture the body of the United States.  In many school systems like ours, the ELLs are the last to be noticed.  In fact, it often seems that the majority wish the immigrant families would just go away.

Our school district’s ELL population has grown 118% since 2001.  These statistics are far from unique.  School communities all across the U.S. are servicing more and more English language learners.  The people who do the numbers state that in the year 2020, half the student population in the United States will be ELLs.  I wonder if we will still be giving them second-class treatment?

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