3/16/04 -- The U.S. Education Department issued new policies Feb. 19 to give school districts and states more flexibility in meeting the requirements in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on testing students with limited English proficiency.
"NSBA views these policy changes as a step in the right direction, although we have many more recommendations that need to be addressed," says Reggie Felton, director of federal relations.
School district leaders have complained that LEP students have a hard time passing state assessments because English is not their primary language or they received an inadequate education before immigrating to the United States.
As a result, it is difficult to assess LEP students' content knowledge in reading and language arts during their first year of enrollment in a U.S. school. In addition, more than 100 languages are spoken in many states, making it virtually impossible to provide assessments in all of the students' native languages.
One of the new policies will allow schools to substitute an assessment of English language proficiency for the assessment of competency during a student's first year in U.S. public schools.
These students would either take the reading/language arts content assessment or the English language proficiency assessment. These students also would take the mathematics assessment, with appropriate accommodations.
The English language proficiency assessment would not count toward the schools' adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals, and states would not be required to include results from the math and reading assessments in their AYP calculations even if the students have been enrolled for a full academic year.
These students would still be counted as part of the AYP requirement that 95 percent of a school's students be tested.
This provision is designed to give teachers and students an additional year to learn English, the Education Department says. States will not be required to develop assessments in students' native languages.
The other change would allow states to include in the LEP subgroup for AYP calculations those students who have attained English proficiency for up to two years after becoming proficient.
This change addresses the issue involving the changing composition of the LEP subgroup. As students become proficient in English, they exit the LEP subgroup. Meanwhile, new LEP students are enrolling. As a result, districts and states have difficulties demonstrating improvements on assessments for the LEP subgroup.
According to the department, this policy would give states the flexibility to ensure that AYP calculations credit schools and districts for improving English language proficiency from year to year.
"This option provides an incentive for states to help students attain full proficiency in both the English language and in the academic content areas of reading/language arts and mathematics," the department states. "It also serves as a response to the complaint that schools do not receive credit for the good work they have done helping LEP students attain full proficiency."
NSBA has submitted a series of recommendations to the U.S. Education Department and members of Congress to address additional concerns about NCLB. See www.nsba.org/site/ docs/33100/33080.pdf.