English-Learner Testing Challenged

(Phoenix, Arizona) Whoa! Teachers are complaining that their students are doing well. Yep! There's screeching on the blackboard with some educators saying that kids are being set up for failure because too many are passing the new state English test. Preliminary results indicate that students are passing the English proficiency test at twice the former rate. The educators contend that the new testing and grading process is flawed and that the students really can't write and talk none too good.

Not so, says Tom Horne, the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction. On the contrary, Horne asserts that the criticism of the new test arose because school districts lose the extra money, about $350 per English-language learner, when the student demonstrates proficiency by passing the test.

As an everyday citizen who hasn't seen the test, I can't evaluate the appropriateness of the testing. Maybe an expert like Kimberly Swygert at Number 2 Pencil could weigh in on that. However, I do know that organizations (all organizations, not just school systems) will always battle to keep funds flowing long after a program's justification has vanished. Therefore, Superintendent Horne's contention that criticism is fiscally based has merit.

Worth mentioning is another aspect of the controversy which likely disturbs at least a few teachers. It is the federal requirement to have one test only used in determining English proficiency. Previously, school districts could choose among four alternative tests. Taking away that authority must gall at least a few educators.

In conclusion, the simple fact that students are passing the new test at an astonishingly higher rate indicates that either the new test has significant flaws, the old tests have significant flaws, or both. Whatever the circumstance, however, correction is achievable by having everyone take the same test. Tom Horne might want to tell his critics to pound their erasers.