| The No Child Left Behind Dilemma Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) brought in by the Federal Government in 2002, all schools which receive money from the federal government must use a program of standardized testing to keep track of student progress. What this means is that each year students of the same grade level across the state must be given the same test in order to determine their level of performance and learning. These standardized tests determine whether the student is able to pass their grade in some cases, and are also used as a way to determine the quality of the student's education. They must be given to all students in a school with no exceptions, including special education children like those who are mentally disabled, have learning problems or LEP children. Every student attending the school must by law write the standardized tests without exception, although LEP students are allowed to wait one year if they have just arrived in the United States. Through submitting these test scores to the federal Department of Education (DoE) the DoE is able to see what states, districts, schools and students are reaching their personal potential and which need improvement. Then, following the guidelines set out by the NCBLA the DoE will tell the districts and schools what improvements they need to make to see the test scores go up the following year. The NCBLA has already set out minimum requirements for each school to reach, and if these requirements are not met over a 4 year period the result will be the firing of the administration and teachers of that school, followed by the creation of a new school in that building. The problem for Limited English Proficiency students and their families is that the test scores from the standardized tests are judged raw, without any consideration of the student's situation or background. This means that an LEP student must write the same test as a student who grew up speaking English, and is expected to get the same results as that student. If they don't get the same results, their teacher and by default their whole school will be judged on the marks they receive. As well, since they are only exempt for one year, this effectively gives them only one year to learn English well enough to compete with people who grew up speaking it, a nearly impossible task for most students. The dilemma this creates is that if the school does not raise the average class scores each year for each grade then the school will fail the "test" of the NCBLA, but LEP students cannot pass the test or get the scores that the standardized tests require to meet the NCLBA requirements. This means that schools that have LEP students will be dragged down by the LEP students' lower test scores and teachers that teach LEP students cannot meet the NCLBA requirements and risk being fired. Even though they may be good, or even the best second language teachers, if they cannot meet the scores required and the NCBLA requires that they be replaced. As a result of this, no school can afford to continue to teach LEP students because it will mean risking having lower test scores and being restructured, and no teacher can afford to go into second language teaching because they will certainly lose their jobs. The NCLBA not only is unfair as it stands, it creates an impossible situation in which LEP children fail to receive proper education and are not wanted by any school principal or teacher who wants to keep their job. Back to Main Page... |