As a middle school ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in the Everett School District, I work with students who are learning English. These students have been evaluated according to state and district criteria, and found to be non or limited English proficient.
And yet my district, the state and the federal government tell me that I have to test every student in the 7th grade who has been enrolled in a Washington school for a continuous 180 days. Even if the student is still classified an English language learner they must be tested on the WASL.
It does not make any sense!
The fact that my students, who are not yet fluent in English, have to take the same test as native or fluent English speakers who read and write English is just plain wrong. The WASL is a test, not an assessment. It doesn’t measure anything except the anxiety that my students go through when taking the test.
Decisions are made by bureaucrats who are away from the classroom and do not understand the educational process for students. Washington should do as other states have done and say, “these requirements are wrong and educationally unsound. As such, we will not abide by them and will challenge those regulations.”
These inane policies that are made by the bureaucrats at the federal, state, and local level are just plain wrong and unfair.
Having recently gone through WASL “training,” and the intense pressure and time being put on me and my colleagues, but especially our students, I am disgusted with regulations that profoundly affect me and my students in such a negative way.
Everett
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