Across the country, several hundred thousand students have opted out of taking standardized tests this year. Many students and parents object to high stakes testing for philosophical or political reasons. But in Philadelphia, parents have a more immediate concern: their kids can’t understand them. About one in ten students in Philadelphia public schools is an English Language Learner, yet they’re expected to take the same tests in the same language as their English-speaking peers.
The timed tests are designed to confuse beginning readers of English and trick them with multiple choice questions specially created with distractor answers. It does not matter if you have dyslexia, mental illness, attention deficits or just don’t test well. These tests are designed to fail children.
I wasn’t born in the USA either. I was one or one of very few students who spoke a foreign language in my school. I had to take all tests in English. That how it should be. When you move to a foreign country you have to adapt. You are the one who moved. If I moved to Mexico is need to learn Spanish. French in France or Japanese in Japan. That’s how immigration works
$10,200 per K-12 Student per year – legal or illegal, is what it costs the U.S. Taxpayers to K-12 educate its residents. 13yrs of K-12 = $132,600 Taxpayer money per H.S. diploma. You’d think these non-English speaking DREAMer K-12 students would be damn glad to learn English, ,, ,,, since they are demanding FREE post-secondary education, as well. USA Public Education System, “dumbing down” to appease illegal students, unlawfully in the USA.
$10,200 per K-12 Student per year – legal or illegal, is what it costs the U.S. Taxpayers to K-12 educate its residents. 13yrs of K-12 = $132,600 Taxpayer money per H.S. diploma. You’d think these non-English speaking DREAMer K-12 students would be damn glad to learn English, ,, ,,, since they are demanding FREE post-secondary education, as well. USA Public Education System, “dumbing down” to appease illegal students, unlawfully in the USA.
In the past, we did not hold our ESL students accountable for their scores on high stakes tests until they had been in school for 2 or 3 years. Now they are lucky to get a one year reprieve. It is a rare child who can lesrn to speak and read a second language fluently while also having to navigate a new culture. I am glad to see parents protecting their children during that time. I am glad to see any parent protecting their child by opting them out of useless high stakes tests!
Your condescending patronizing PC nonsense is offensive but more importantly you are hurting these kids. When they graduate and go on to college, careers or start their own business they will need to take exams in English, interact with English speaking customers bosses and co workers, etc. You are not doing them any favors by not preparing them for the future from the get go