What's Working in Idaho with NCLB: State of Idaho

STATE ASSESSMENT FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation requires that all students reach state standards in reading, science and math. But not all children come to school equally prepared to learn.

In 1997 more than 11,000 Idaho students could not speak English fluently. Only eight years later, that number has grown to 20,816.

But it's not just that the number of foreign language students is growing. They are becoming more diverse as well. Ann Farris, federal program supervisor for the Boise School District, said that more than 80 different languages are spoken by children in Boise schools.

Wendy Verity, Limited English Proficiency program manager for the State Board of Education, said these students often fail to meet required state standards.

"They're not passing the test in English because they don't understand English," Verity said. “It doesn’t mean they are not intelligent. It doesn’t mean they can’t take tests. They just don’t speak the language.” Idaho is addressing this challenge.

As part of the plan, the state began work several years ago on development of a single, statewide English language proficiency assessment (as required by NCLB). Currently, school districts use a variety of assessments to measure language proficiency among English language learners. Farris said a single test will improve consistency from school to school.

Verity said an additional problem has been that many of the tests in use across the state assess English ability. But they often don't consider content knowledge. It's possible that LEP students are growing in math, science and reading. In many cases, however, there is no way to know.

"What the federal government is requiring us to do is to blend it all," Verity said. "You have to learn English, but you have to learn content at the same time."

This will be the first time in Idaho's history that English language proficiency assessments will be aligned to state standards. This will help classroom teachers make specific diagnoses regarding what instruction each student needs.

Verity said the new test should also help schools to recognize what programs students need most. "Providing a bridge between language acquisition and content-based skills sounds easy, but it's not," Verity said. "It takes the whole school. These students need to be recognized and given appropriate services."

But Verity cautioned that the test is not a fix-all. "The test will inform us. It will help everyone understand where our students are. We'll be able to track student progress better. But nothing will happen unless people are willing to do what needs to be done."

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