When the child in question is 'Andrew'
Getting ELL assessments right is crucial to success, teacher tells state panel

It was the type of hearing where fact sheets, news releases and talking points often can steal the show. But when Katie Kurjakovic got her brief moment before a state panel looking into a policy change under NCLB—a policy that would directly affect how schools could test ELL students—the New York elementary school teacher and AFT member was determined to have people remember Andrew.

That’s the name she gave one of her sixth-graders, an ELL student who arrived barely a year ago with no knowledge of English. Andrew entered Kurjakovic’s classroom at Public School 11 in Woodside, N.Y., and has done really well. In just one year, he has learned a new alphabet, can hold a social conversation and can read a simple paragraph. He not only can write a simple letter but also can show his knowledge of concepts by writing a report when someone teaches him the new vocabulary. And he can perform grade-level work in math and science with the right instructional supports. As far as English language proficiency goes, the best available research indicates that it takes at least six or seven years for a student to become proficient in a new language, Andrew is well on the way to meeting that goal, his teacher reported, and she and her colleagues are determined to monitor his progress to language proficiency every step of the way.  “Andrew is succeeding. He is mastering all that I teach—and I have high expectations,” Kurjakovic told the crowd. “But what I cannot do, as hard as Andrew and I work, is to condense seven years [of English language proficiency instruction] into one year.”

That’s the burden faced by many teachers under the existing NCLB law, which fails to require states to develop native language or simplified English assessments for ELL students.  For the purposes of NCLB school accountability, there is nothing “optional” about having these tests in place, Kurjakovic stresses. Without them, students like Andrew, and thousands more like him, will see their emerging English language proficiency measured through tests filled with terms like “launch ramp,” “tri-motor” and “daredevil stunts,” Kurjakovic told the panel.  A policy that fails to ensure these tests are in place creates “a false measure” and “will turn Andrew and our school from successes to failures.”

“I need the freedom to use the best research-based practices out there,” says Kurjakovic, who says that her goal is to match high expectations with sound poli-cies. The AFT has stressed that the goal is not to ignore English language proficiency in ELL students but to extend the window that alternative assessments can be offered from one year to three years. “When a child first learns piano, for example, would you test him by asking him to play Chopin? Not only would he fail, it also would not even reveal what he has accomplished.”