Abedi article

Abedi article; The no child left behind act and English language learners: assessment and accountability issues.

The issue that I came away understanding in reading this article was that there is an issue of classification into subgroups for limited English proficient (LEP) population on when to exit and deem LEP students proficient or not. It explained all the issues that are inconsistent and unfair to the LEP student population when it comes to attaining adequate yearly progress (AYP). It explained the 6 LEP assessment issues in length; inconsistency in LEP classification across and within states, sparse LEP population, lack of LEP subgroup stability, measurement quality of AYP instruments for LEP students, LEP baseline scores, and LEP cutoff points. It was heartbreaking to read about how the NCLB and its AYP is actually putting undue hardship on those schools and districts with a high number of LEP students. The authors reported and mentioned alternatives of some of the issues. The biggest issue that the LEP students are having in the assessments is that in reading. Not that the student is unable to do it, it’s the complexity of the language that is used in the test. The way the test is written, vocabulary, length of sentence, and the unfamiliarity of the language used that sometimes is hard for the LEP student to understand. The authors said that there is research that suggests that when the choice of language used is reworded without changing the meaning can affect the ability of the student to score better on assessments without changing the end result. The article made mention that the standardized content based type of standardized assessments in English seemed to make these tests like an English proficiency test (p. 7). In discussing possible solutions in making NCLB work for the LEP student the authors mentioned that the factors of; classification, assessment, and instruction need to work together not in isolation. In working with these factors, those that work with LEP students need to constantly explore and make changes within these factors so that the achievement of the LEP can keep up with the changes that occur in education and assessment issues.