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English a problem if not native tongue

Sunday, April 07, 2002

By Jane Elizabeth, Post-Gazette Education Writer

Hundreds of thousands of students across Pennsylvania are taking state PSSA tests this month. But for two groups -- foreign-born and disabled children -- the testing requirement is particularly difficult and may not be of much value, some educators contend. In this first part of a two-day package, we look at the testing of foreign language students.

Just listening to her, it's hard to believe. Only six years ago Dana Murguz moved to the United States with barely a single English word in her vocabulary, from a place few of her American friends would even know how to pronounce.

"I never wanted to say I was Bosnian," said the 11th-grader at North Allegheny High School. If you listen closely -- which you must do, because she speaks lightning-fast -- you can hear a whisper of an accent.

	Foreign-born students in Pa.

"But we were writing a poem about Sept. 11, and I swear it was the best thing I ever wrote. I'm not, like, trying to be all conceited. But after class everyone was like, 'You're from Bosnia. No way! Oh my God! You could go up to the teachers and swear at them in a different language!' "

Clearly, Dana, 17, has moved comfortably from ravaged Brcko, Bosnia, to quiet Wexford.

But there is one classroom experience that has made Dana and other foreign-born students a little uncomfortable: state-mandated tests -- in English -- that are supposed to show their knowledge of math, reading and writing.

In Pennsylvania, any foreign student who's been in the country for one year is required to take the state's standardized tests. Unlike many other states, Pennsylvania makes few accommodations for students who are new to the English language.

The Pennsylvania System of School Assessment reading and math tests are given in fifth, eighth and 11th grades.

Sandra Music of Baldwin, who moved here from Croatia in sixth grade, was required to take the PSSA reading test in eighth grade.

"The vocabulary was kind of hard for me," recalled Sandra, now a sophomore at Baldwin High School. "On that test, I just guessed.

"The math test was much easier. I can understand the pictures and numbers that they use, and I could understand those words."

In education jargon, Dana and Sandra are classified as "LEP" students -- limited English proficiency. Nationwide, there are close to 5 million LEP students enrolled in public schools.

While Pennsylvania doesn't have nearly the numbers that some other states do, the population of foreign-born students is on a steep upswing. Between the 1997-98 school year and the 1999-2000 school year, Pennsylvania's LEP student population increased 30.8 percent, according to the federally funded National Center for Bilingual Education.

Caught by surprise

That puts Pennsylvania in the top 12 LEP growth states. And some bilingual education experts say the state isn't ready for that kind of growth.

"Pennsylvania hasn't thought nearly enough about this stuff," said Len Reiser, co-director of the Pennsylvania Education Law Center's office in Philadelphia.

"It takes some work and expertise. The resources and level of attention have not been there."

If Dana and Sandra attended school in New Jersey -- where LEP students make up about 4 percent of school enrollment, compared with about 2 percent in Pennsylvania -- the state tests might be a little less stressful.

New Jersey's foreign-born students can skip the state's proficiency tests if they've attended U.S. schools for fewer than three consecutive years or if they've been enrolled in English courses for fewer than two years.

If the foreign-born students do take the tests, New Jersey schools are prepared to give them in one of about a dozen languages, from Arabic to Vietnamese.

In New York, LEP students who enter the country in ninth grade or later can take a translated test in Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian or Spanish.

In Maryland, where the percentage of LEP students is only slightly higher than Pennsylvania's, foreign-born students can be exempted from the state's tests if school officials approve.

Maryland also is one of several states that allows "accommodations" for LEP students who take the state tests. The students are allowed more breaks and a foreign-language dictionary, and can be tested in smaller groups and can get written copies of test instructions that usually are given orally.

In Virginia, teachers will take oral answers from students who can express themselves better by speaking than writing.

But in Pennsylvania, there are few accommodations. Foreign students can have only the directions to the test read to them in their native language, for instance. And they can take their test in the school's English as a Second Language classroom, if there is one.

It's not much of a concession, but, "It makes them feel more comfortable," said Jennifer Beagan, an ESL supervisor for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit.

New law may help

President Bush's new education law might provide some assistance for Pennsylvania's foreign-born students. The federal law says LEP students must be given three years of schooling in the United States before they're required to take the state tests.

That conflicts with Pennsylvania's one-year mandate, and no one is quite sure which rule will take precedence.

"That's one of those details" in the law that needs to be ironed out, said state Department of Education spokesman Jeff McCloud. "We've been meeting with the federal Department of Education."

In Baldwin-Whitehall School District, which has seen an extraordinary influx of Bosnian and Croatian students in the past four years, Superintendent Charles H. Faust supports more flexibility for LEP students.

"I would like to see the state guidelines follow the federal rules. There is a good rationale for changing that," said Faust. "Many of these children have never even been in school before. It's exceedingly difficult for them."

The district has more than 200 refugee children this year in the 4,900-student district, with more on the way. The children began to trickle into the district in 1996, which means many of them would have taken their first PSSA test in 1998.

Other states, especially those with large foreign-born populations, have been concerned with falling standardized test scores. In Maryland, the state school superintendent has blamed the decline in the state's test scores on the increase in foreign students being tested.

Faust said he had not calculated the LEP students' impact on his district's overall performance on the PSSA. But between 1998 and 1999, for instance, fifth-grade scores at Paynter Elementary School dropped 60 points in reading; and declined 20 points in both math and reading between 1998 and 2000.

"We've discussed it and we haven't come to any conclusions," Faust said of the test score issue. But he emphasized that many of the refugee students "do very well. Many are hard workers; they are more than willing to do their homework."

Dana Murguz, who will take PSSA tests this month along with thousands of other students across Pennsylvania, said hard work would get her through the tests.

"The first year I was here, it was difficult," she said. "But I got used to everything really quick. I always did care a whole lot, and I studied a lot more."

Tomorrow: Mandatory tests for disabled students