Education Week - February 4, 2015 - 17

Testing Burden on ELLs Needs Easing, Federal Officials Say
By Corey Mitchell
Libia Gil, the head of the U.S.
Department of Education's office
of English-language acquisition,
says she's working with Secretary
of Education Arne Duncan to ease
the burden of testing for Englishlearners
and their teachers.
"We do believe in annual testing,
but we also believe there's overtesting.
It's coming from all over. You
have state assessments, you have
local assessments, you have classroom
assessments-some for different
purposes, not all for accountability,"
said Ms. Gil, a veteran bilingual
and dual-language educator who
came to oela in September 2013.
"Too much testing that's not meaningful
and not helpful, we don't support
that," Ms. Gil said last month in
an interview with Education Week.
"What we do support is very clear,
precise measures. That challenge is
to [determine] what are the most reliable
and credible assessments."
In addition to annual tests in English/language
arts and mathematics,
English-learners are tested on
their progress toward proficiency
in their new language. Though Mr.
Duncan has said scaling back testing
demands is a high priority, how
he and Ms. Gil will reduce the load
for ells remains to be seen.
Tests in Native Languages?
The Obama administration still
maintains that testing all students, including
ells, annually in reading and
mathematics is critical for measuring
progress. In recent hearings, the U.S.
Senate education committee has debated
whether to dump federally mandated
annual tests in a proposal to
rewrite the No Child Left Behind law,
the current version of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act.
Since his time as the ceo of Chicago's
public schools before he became
education secretary in 2009,
Mr. Duncan has argued that ells
should be allowed to demonstrate
their content knowledge on tests in
their native languages. New York
and some other states already provide
some tests in native languages.
When students with low English
proficiency take math exams, they
may not understand the test directions-one
example of a language
barrier that keeps them from demonstrating
their skills. By definition,
ells are "not yet actually ready to access
math and English-language content,"
said Conor P. Williams, a senior
researcher for the Washington-based
New America Foundation.
But agreement on a national
framework to test ells' content
knowledge has yet to emerge.
Efforts to make the new common-standards
tests developed by
the Partnership for Assessment of
Readiness for College and Careers
and the Smarter Balanced Assessment
Consortium more accessible
to ells were field-tested last spring.
But as states have dropped out or
scaled back their roles in the consortia,
fewer English-learners may
have access to those tests, and it's
not clear what kinds of test supports
states would provide in their place.
That flux has created uncertainty.
"The common-core tests haven't
hit the ground, and there's already
so much confusion and lack of information,"
said Giselle Lundy-Ponce,
an associate director of the American
Federation of Teachers' educational
issues department.
A 2013 aft study found that in
two medium-size districts, the time
students spent taking tests ranged
from 20 to 50 hours per year in
heavily tested grades. In addition,
students could spend 60 to 110
hours a year focused on test preparation.
That's precious time lost for
ells, said Ms. Lundy-Ponce.
"Rather than being diagnostic,
[standardized testing] punishes the
teacher," Ms. Lundy-Ponce said. "For
the students, grade-level content
won't be picked up by being drilled
for a test."
The Education Department's recent
decision to grant Florida flexibility
in how it assesses Englishlearners,
which will allow the state
to wait until ells have been in U.S.
schools for two years before their
scores are used for accountability,
could signal a step away from highstakes
testing for the subgroup, or
be an unintentional "red herring,"
Mr. Williams said. Florida's victory
may not pave the way for flexibility
in other states, he said.
Federal officials have not said
that Florida's case would apply elsewhere.
It seems the state's dogged
focus on testing helped its cause.
Ms. Gil said: "They do annual assessments
far beyond what is expected
of them."
OUR FUNDERS Editorial Projects in Education wishes to thank the following foundations for their generous support.
EPE retains sole editorial control over the content of articles and other work underwritten by our donors.
The Atlantic Philanthropies supports coverage of school
climate and student behavior and engagement in Education
Week and on edweek.org. The Atlantic Philanthropies is
dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of
disadvantaged and vulnerable people. A limited-life foundation,
Atlantic is focused on four critical social issues: aging, children
and youth, population health, and reconciliation and human
rights. www.atlanticphilanthropies.org
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation supports
coverage of deeper learning in Education Week and on
edweek.org. The Hewlett Foundation makes grants to
address the most serious social and environmental
problems facing society. www.hewlett.org
The NoVo Foundation supports coverage of school climate
and student behavior and engagement in Education Week
and on edweek.org. NoVo is dedicated to catalyzing a
transformation in global society by supporting the
development of capacities in people-individually and
collectively-to help create a caring and balanced world that
operates on the principles of mutual respect, collaboration,
and civic participation. www.novofoundation.org
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supports coverage of
efforts to implement college- and career-ready standards for all
students in Education Week and on edweek.org. Guided by the
belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive
lives. Its commitment to education centers on working to ensure
all students graduate high school prepared to succeed in college
and careers. www.gatesfoundation.org
The HOPE Foundation supports coverage of educational
equity and school reform in Education Week and on
edweek.org. The HOPE Foundation's mission is to support
educational leaders over time in creating school cultures
in which failure is not an option for any student.
www.hopefoundation.org
The Noyce Foundation supports coverage of informal
and school-based science education, human-capital
management, and multiple-pathways-linked learning in
Education Week and on edweek.org. Launched in 1990, the
Noyce Foundation is dedicated to improving math, science,
and reading instruction in public schools, promoting
school leadership and education research, and expanding
opportunities for informal, hands-on science learning for
students. www.noycefdn.org
The California Endowment supports coverage of school
climate and student behavior and engagement in Education
Week and on edweek.org. The California Endowment's
mission is to expand access to affordable, quality health care
for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote
fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians.
www.calendow.org
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation supports coverage in
Education Week and on edweek.org of the experiences
of low-income, high-achieving students. The foundation
provides generous scholarships to exceptionally highachieving
students throughout the country who have
fi nancial need as well as provides grants that support
high-achieving, low-income students with innovative
programming. www.jkcf.org
The Panasonic Foundation supports coverage of educational
equity and school reform in Education Week and on edweek.
org. The Panasonic Foundation partners with public school
districts and their communities to break the links between
race, poverty, and educational outcomes.
www.panasonictoolkit.org
The Carnegie Corporation of New York supports coverage
of entrepreneurship and innovation in education and school
design in Education Week and on edweek.org. Created in
1911 by Andrew Carnegie, the Carnegie Corporation seeks
to promote "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge
and understanding." www.carnegie.org
The Joyce Foundation supports coverage in Education Week
and on edweek.org of policy efforts to improve the teaching
profession. Joyce works to close the achievement gap by
improving teacher quality in schools that serve low-income
and minority children, expanding early-childhood education,
and promoting innovations such as charter schools.
www.joycefdn.org/Programs/Education
The Raikes Foundation supports coverage of school climate
and student behavior and engagement in Education Week and
on edweek.org. The foundation provides opportunities and
support during adolescence to help young people become
healthy, contributing adults. www.raikesfoundation.org
the eli and edythe broad
foundation
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation supports coverage of
personalized learning and system leadership in Education Week
and on edweek.org. The Broad Foundations were established
by entrepreneur and philanthropist Eli Broad to advance
entrepreneurship for the public good in education, science,
and the arts. www.broadfoundation.org
The MetLife Foundation supports the development of
edweek.org's online Teacher channel and its capacity to
engage teachers interactively as a professional community.
Established in 1976, the foundation funds educational, health,
civic, and cultural organizations and draws on fi ndings from
the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher to inform its
support of education. www.metlife.org
The Wallace Foundation supports coverage in Education
Week and on edweek.org of public school leadership,
extended and expanded learning time, and arts learning.
The foundation seeks to create widespread change by sharing
lessons that public and private institutions can use to promote
benefi ts for the people they serve.
www.wallacefoundation.org
The Ford Foundation supports coverage of more and better
learning time in Education Week and on edweek.org.
The foundation supports visionary leaders and organizations
on the frontlines of social change and works to strengthen
democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote
international cooperation, and advance human achievement.
www.fordfoundation.org
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation provides partial
support for Diplomas Count, Education Week's annual report
on the state of high school graduation and reform efforts. The
foundation's mission is to support efforts that promote a just,
equitable, and sustainable society. www.mott.org
The Walton Family Foundation supports coverage of parent
empowerment in Education Week and on edweek.org. The
foundation promotes initiatives to expand parental choice
and equal opportunity in education to help spur the bold
transformation of the national K-12 system of public education.
www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org
funders ad_updated.indd 29
EDUCATION WEEK | February 4, 2015 | www.edweek.org | 17
1/23/2015 11:51:35 AM

Education Week - February 4, 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - February 4, 2015