Posted on 06/02/2005 12:05:35 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
SAN FRANCISCO ---- Ten school districts statewide and three nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit against the state Wednesday for allegedly testing non-English-speaking students in English and then labeling them and their schools as "failing" under the state's implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The lawsuit, filed in federal Superior Court in San Francisco, demands that the state test its 1.6 million non-English-speaking students in a "language and form" they understand, as mandated in the federal education reform law.
The lawsuit is asking the state to change the way it tests students who do not yet understand English, said Mary Hernandez, an attorney with the Southern California-based law firm Burke, Williams & Sorensen, lawyers for the plaintiffs.
"We are asking that the state comply with federal law by testing students in the language and the form that will most likely yield accurate results on what they know and what they've learned," Hernandez said during a telephone press conference out of Los Angeles on Wednesday.
No North County school districts are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, although Hernandez said the lawsuit represents students statewide and that the outcome of the lawsuit could affect how all school districts gauge skills among thousands of beginner-English students.
Several local officials said they had not reviewed the lawsuit and declined to comment. Several others could not be reached.
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires schools to show improvement in test scores in all subcategories of students or be labeled as "failing" and subject to sanctions that include forced student transfers, tutoring, and, in extreme cases, government takeovers.
Officials with the four firms involved with the lawsuit said the federal mandate also allows states to test English learners in their primary languages for three to five years after they enroll in schools in the United States, they said.
Spanish is the primary language for 85 percent of Californiaís English-learner students. Even so, California requires that all students be tested in English only and has steadfastly refused to reword the tests for English learners to make them easier to understand.
In North County, some school districts, such as Oceanside Unified and Escondido Union, have roughly half of their students enrolled in beginner-English courses.
Currently, those students who do not fully understand English are handed standardized tests in English. Some schools and districts are facing costly federal sanctions because too many students are "falling behind" in academic standards," advocates said.
"As a result, thousands of (non-native English-speaking) children are left behind because they cannot demonstrate what they know (on English tests)," Hernandez said.
California's English-only testing system is different from practices in place in 14 states, including Texas, New Mexico and New York, which test students in a language they understand, according to a press statement from four law firms involved in the lawsuit.
The state's take on No Child Left Behind is a violation of both the law and the civil rights for non-English-speaking students, the lawsuit states. The state is also charged with wasting taxpayer money by testing students in a language they do not yet understand, the suit also states.
The plaintiff school districts are Chula Vista Elementary School District and Sweetwater Union High School District in San Diego County; Coachella Valley Unified School District in Riverside and Imperial counties; Alisal Union Elementary School District and Salinas Union High School District in Monterey County; Terra Bella Union Elementary School District in Tulare County; Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Santa Cruz County; Oxnard Elementary School District in Ventura County; Hawthorne School District in Los Angeles County; and Hayward Unified School District in Alameda County.
One of the districts, Coachella Valley Unified, has been labeled a failing district overall because not enough students were deemed proficient on standardized tests. Coachella Superintendent Foch "Tut" Pensis said in Wednesday's press conference that 80 percent of his district's 16,000 students are enrolled in beginner-English programs.
"We are not educational failures," he said. "Our students perform very well once they get the opportunity to learn the English language."
Also joining the lawsuit are three statewide nonprofit professional, parent and civil rights advocacy organizations: The California Association for Bilingual Education, Californians Together, and the California League of United Latin American Citizens.
The first PC commandment: THOU SHALT NEVER HURT ANYONE'S FEELINGS.
It's also on the "watch" list to be closed due to low test scores...imagine that!
"The state is also charged with wasting taxpayer money by testing students in a language they do not yet understand, the suit also states"
How much is it going to cost to test in the native language and teach in that language for 3 to 5 years?. Imagine that. If there is only one student whose native language is Buthanese, they need to test and teach him in Buthanese.....or Swedish, or Catalonian, or Mandarin Chinese, or Cantonese Chinese, or Dutch.....
I'm going to raise any kids I might have so their "first language" IS Klingon or maybe Esperanto or...HEY I've got it; Aramaic! It was good enough for the Lord so why isnt it good enough for the school system? RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION I tell ya!...that oughta be good for getting lots of TV face time and a steady job appearing on televangelists programs eh? Oh and I'm SUING everyone in sight any time they are 'discriminated' against! ;-)
Afterall isnt the new motto in America "whoever dies with the most lawsuits filed wins"? ;-)
-sigh-...wonders if more engineering schools/grads and fewer law schools/grads could be an improvement?
I'm going to raise any kids I might have so their "first language" IS Klingon.
I knew this guy that was the "director" of a Klingon Language Institute. It was one of the funniest things I had ever heard of.
Well, they could implement a "Spanish only" policy at a public school. A city in our State did just that...believe it or not!
It's also on the "watch" list to be closed due to low test scores...imagine that!
It wasn't a charter school was it? Probably not, but in the future with such things--everyone trying to put in their own "special school," funds will probably be used for things like it.
This is the United States, and we speak, read, and write English.......Learn it !!!
If you can't speak English and will not learn it...go home!
Of course, I think the same thing as you. This is an English-speaking country and everyone who chooses to reside here should learn it. I just wondered what possessed you to say it to me.
The guy was saying how stupid and costly it would be to test every "other" language speaker in his/her own language, not advocating that we do so.
Please remember that I would say the same thing.
So this 80% is within a year of just entering the U.S.? That would place MOST as illegal aliens. I say that because my legal immigrant adopted daughter came here speaking/reading no English and in six months is now reading at a third grade level. Why these aren't is because they don't want to.
VERY good point. I would also add that probably their parents don't even have some skills in their OWN language.
Then let them go back to their country of origin and get tested.
We've had tens of millions of people migrate here who have assimilated.
"As a result, thousands of (non-native English-speaking) children are left behind because they cannot demonstrate what they know (on English tests)," Hernandez said.
Or is it that thousands of children are left behind because they _do_ demonstrate what they do not know? The English teachers have failed.
It was a first reaction I can indeed react a bit. Then I realized you were just making a statement.
"Diversity Pimps"...love it.
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