Standardized Testing for ELL Students - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 967 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/06/24 Category Management Essay Level High school Tags: Standardized Testing Essay Did you like this example? State tests continue to be the reflection of the students knowledge obtained during the school year from a variety of different courses. With the growing population of non-English speakers, the question arises as to whether state tests accurately represent English Language Learners (ELLs), students who are improving their skills in English. For long-term results of fluency and comprehension, the state tests should be administered in other languages due to a multitude of reasons: interference of already established effective methods of teaching English, the fact that standardized testing solely in English doesnt represent true proficiency for ELLs, and the failed enrichment methods. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Standardized Testing for ELL Students" essay for you Create order The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, through the administration of standardized tests in English, deepened the gap between Americans and Native Americans. This Act [required] assessment testing†which is tied to federal funding†to be entirely in English (Klug, Native American Languages Act: Twenty Years Later, Has It Made a Difference?) and required that 100% of all students be academically proficient by the end of the 2013-14 school year (Zehr, No child left behind: Did Bush get it right?). Many Native Americans attend immersion schools, where English is slowly learned and tested after beginning to learn the Native language; so, the students would be fluent in both languages. Unfortunately, going against the immersion schools, the NCLB Act disregarded this method; these schools struggled to meet the new requirements since English fluency comes much later in their curriculum. Even so, this method of full immersionadministering tests in Native languages and Englisheventually proved to be more useful than testing solely in English since immersion students are scoring with or above their non-immersion peers on standardized tests, even in English (Klug, Native American Languages Act: Twenty Years Later, Has It Made a Difference?). Eventually, the students were able to meet the NCLB requirements with just a few hours of English practice a day utilizing their Native language. Unlike immersion students, many Native American students were not doing well in traditional public school settings, where they were dropping out at a rate roughly twice the national average, all due to the lack of test practice in their Native language before the introduction of English tes ting (Klug, Native American Languages Act: Twenty Years Later, Has It Made a Difference?). Proficiency in tests administered in English does not represent true comprehension or fluency for ELLs. For example, the Korean education system focuses primarily on academic achievement through high test scores and grades. Much like the American system, many schools require a certain level of English proficiency (Cho, Issues Concerning Korean Learners of English: English Education in Korea and Some Common Difficulties of Korean Students). When students are put through conversational practice for application of their achieved skills, they seem to lack the ability to converse; they only know how to take tests. During lessons, [pupils] have scarcely any conversation sessions, despite having three or four classes per week and indeed while teachers have a good knowledge of English grammar and reading many are not fluent speakers of English (Cho, Issues Concerning Korean Learners of English: English Education in Korea and Some Common Difficulties of Korean Students). Indeed, affluent ELLs could do the same to invest time and money for tutoring centers or institutions to become proficient in the standardized tests themselves. Unfortunately, they would be lacking fluency much like the students of Korea. This would contradict the whole goal of the test itself; ELLs would be left helpless in the future. By providing the students with the test in their native language, they can fully grasp the curriculum or course and then proce ed to grasp the test material in English. This would ensure applicational skills for the students and long-term results. The Latino population is the fastest growing population in America starting from the 2000s. Statistics from 2015 show that about 21% of Latino eighth-graders were proficient or advanced in reading, up from 17% in 2009 (Mather et al.). Even though there is an impression that the Latino population has improved vastly, in comparison to the White population of 2015, these numbers seem nonexistent since White eighth graders were more than twice as likely as their Latino counterparts to be proficient or advanced in math (Mather et al.). Many schools disregard the capabilities of state tests administered in other languages due to the fact that they claim to promote school readiness through high-quality early childhood education programs†such as Head Start†which contributes greatly to childrens cognitive, physical, and neurological development (Mather et al.). Surely, with this enrichment program, the Latino population would have higher proficiencies on standardized testing due to improved fluencies in a shorter period of time, but only about 54% of Latino three- to five-year-olds were enrolled in preschool in 2014, compared to 60% of Whites and 63% of Blacks (Mather et al.). Clearly, the efforts to involve these students were not enough, nor do the families seem aware of these benefits. If even this long-term method proved to be inefficient, the only way of improving test scores would be through taking tests in other languages, simply due to their late starts in English education; the Latino students woul d have a chance to bolster their understandings of the subjects and slowly transition with other students. Even Herman, a senior scientist with CRESST, the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards Student Testing at UCLA, claims that translated tests can be beneficial for certain groups of students, particularly those at the middle or high school level who had a strong foundation in their home language before coming to the United States (Roth et al.). Unless the government and the school system are keen on continuing their lacking efforts and the poor representation of the ELLs, students should be given the option to test in their native language until they are able to achieve complete comprehension of their courses.

The United States General Election Essay - 1940 Words

While the 2016 United States general election has been in itself special with regards to the deep division among the electorate and lack of favorability of the two frontrunners for the presidency, it still has the unique American system of being dominated by two major political parties; Republicans and Democrats. Over time these political parties have experienced massive changes but in modern America they have crafted very unique identities. With regards to social issues such as abortion rights and treatment of minority groups and economic issues such as fiscal spending, income taxes and welfare, Republicans in general have been characterized as mainly conservative, tax averse and against government entitlements while Democrats have been generally characterized as mainly liberal on these same issues. Altogether political affiliations to either the right or the left can be categorized based on their preference for stability. Liberals are generally seen as being more adaptable to a cha nging environment for example in the case for LGBTQ rights where the changing environment has generally led them to be more acceptable while conservatives are more likely to be less open, sticking to what they consider traditional values. These attributes have for a long time been seen to be largely determined by the political atmosphere in an individuals’ environment but growing research has shown that these characteristics have a significant association with human genetics. In this paper IShow MoreRelatedGeneral elections usually happen every four years in the United States, candidates vowing their800 Words   |  4 PagesGeneral elections usually happen every four years in the United States, candidates vowing their loyalty to the nation in an attempt to win the trust of the majority of the voters. Each of these candidates explains his or hers policies in the way they see it. 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Critical Essay Section Poetry Example For Students

Critical Essay Section Poetry Question 7 Choose a poet whose work you enjoy. Referring closely to one or more of his poems, explain how the techniques he uses make his poems enjoyable.  The poet Ive chosen is Norman MacCaig. The poem Brooklyn Cop written by Norman MacCaig, I found extremely interesting as Norman MacCaig used very descriptive language such as Built like a gorilla but less timid. This simile in the opening contributes a joking manner and gives a light-hearted opening, along with a description of the cop. Its not a very flattering image as it compares the man to a gorilla. The phrase less timid shows that hes stronger than a gorilla. This is an interesting phrase as we dont normally associate a gorilla being more timid than a man. This also makes us use our imagination to picture the cop. Also the phrase thick fleshed is a play on the clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ thick skinned. I found that this added enjoyment to the poem as it made me think about what he was saying. Thick fleshed made me think of strength. Later in the poem, This morning he said See you babe to his wife made the reader see the cops domestic side. I liked this dialogue as it showed a more vulnerable side to the cop. This added to the enjoyment of the poem as it made me feel sympathetic towards the cop.  In the phrase He hoped it, he truly hoped it the repetition reinforces the fact that he has a domestic side and also evokes sympathy again. I liked the fact that MacCaig was making the cop out to be a human being with feelings instead of a gorilla as this helped me as a reader relate to the cop. Should tissue tear and What clubbings describe what the cop has to deal with on a day to day basis. I enjoyed this part of the poem because it got the point across to me that anything could happen on the sidewalk of New York where he patrols and the fact that every day could be his last. There was sympathy emphasized again in this part of the poem.  References to Phoebes whamburger and Louises place suggest violence and a very common New York eating place. The reference to eating places added to my enjoyment of the poem as its a reference to a New York fast food joint which is well known. This allows the reader to relate to the poem. Although there is a lot of sympathy implied throughout the poem the last stanza does not imply a great amount of sympathy. And who would be who have to be his victims implies that the cop can also be a creator of violence as he has to be in order to stay alive. The phrase victim is a strange word to use. However, it did add to my enjoyment of the poem as it made me reflect on the 20th Century. I feel that the phrase victim is implying that we are all victims of the 20th Century. Overall, I found the poem of Brooklyn Cop extremely enjoyable as it was something I felt I could relate to and I also liked it for the fact it provoked sympathy in me. I really enjoyed the poem as I like a poem which can make me feel some emotion for the person in the poem. I also liked the fact that the poem Brooklyn Cop made me reflect on the 20th Century and the dangers the police have to face everyday.