Bilingual Worksheets

Ever since standardized testing started being used as a way to evaluate the intelligence of students and the teachers’ ability to educate, the standard of actual education has been diminished immensely. Standardized testing is used in most public and private schools to analyze students’ knowledge. It has affected the way in which students learn and has corrupted the methods teachers use to educate. In some cases, English-Learning and disabled students face discrimination from teachers since teachers have more responsibility to have a high number of passing students. Some countries around the world don’t use standardized tests to rank their students or schools and yet they have been successful. Standardized tests are not efficient on making students learn, they should not be used to evaluate students’ knowledge.

Standardized tests are exams that are supposed to measure a child’s academic knowledge but have long been a controversial subject of discussion. Although it is one method to see how a child is performing, is it the best method? Standardized testing can be biased or unfair, inhibit both the teacher’s and the children’s creativity and flexibility, affect funding for schools, cause untested subjects to be eliminated from the curriculum, and cause anxiety for children and teachers.

Assessment is a valuable tool to measure students learning and achievement. It is an essential element for teacher to reflect on what and how they teach. To assess students is to collect evidence of their learning. Teachers use the information to modify their lesson plans and adjust their instructional methods; students need feedback on their performance to concentrate on their vulnerable areas. Assessment is necessary for parents to reinforce their children strength and assist them where extra attention is required. The data collected will inform school

Many people still debate the benefits of bilingual education. Even if the program were supported, there would be no way to insure that it has successfully achieved its goal. “The problem with this method (bilingual education) is that there is no objective way to measure whether a child has learned enough English to be placed in class where academic instruction is entirely in English. As a result, some children have been kept in native language classes for six years” (Hayakawa 577). Not only is there no way to measure if a student is ready to be out of the program, those students who were stuck in the program for several years infers the feeling of being out-casted. Children complain of systematically being segregated from their English-speaking peers being put in to the bilingual

A study conducted by Guiberson (2009) has found that the enrollment numbers of Hispanics in special education was disproportionate to the population in the schools themselves. He also finds that these issues is not present in all schools but have linked the issues to several criteria some of which are the diversity among students, the size of the school district, and per student spending (Guiberson, 2009). In Guiberson (2009) study he found that 49 percent of the bilingual special education students may not have been learning disabled. The students may have had difficulties that were related to their language and culture and not a learning disability.

This essay will demonstrate the research that is implemented on children with bilingual ability; discussing three main issues in bilingualism which is: the maintaining children’s first language, social and cognitive benefits, also why bilingualism should be in cooperated into school programming/curriculum.

These standarized tests were not created to measure students’language proficiency .With the No child Left Behind Act(NCLB), states have to use standarized testing to measure students’ adequate yearly progress(AYP). According to Paige , one of the proponents of the NCLB, standardized tests deliver a valid and reliable means of measuring student learning, and this method expands on teacher-made assessments(Hulsh 2005). Test results alone should not be reliable and valid to measure students’learning. Acombination of assessments and projects can be more reliable and valid to show students’ yearly progress. Because English learners students lack the language proficiency to read and comprehend the questions, the results shoould be considered worthless. The invalid results don’t speak to the students’abilities. Fry mentioned that 46% of 4th grade students in the English language learner (ELL) category scored “below basic” in mathematics in 2005 and that that about 51% of 8th grade ELL students are behind whites in reading and math (Fry 2007). It is nearly impossible for half of ELL to receive a low score in the test. These numbers don’t always mean that the students don’t know the answer, but maybe the numers tell us that the english learners lack the reading comprehension needed to unsderstand the questions. According to Haladyna, students stop taking the test or mark answers aimlessly not because they didn’t learn but because they can not read and nonresponse and omitted responses are more prevalent with English language learners (Haladyna, 2006). When taking the math test, students migh know the answers , but can interpret the question wrong therefore giving a wrong answer.

In Sara Gonzalez essay “Growing Up Bilingual” she gives a personal experience with The United States educational system on bilingual education. After arriving in the United States with two small children 30 years ago. She thought well about the school system and depended on them to teach her son English. Later that week she received a call from his teacher and principle to come in for a meeting. During that meeting her son and her was insulted by them stating “Is your son mentally retarded?

While the term seems harmless, the grouping of failing and borderline failing students by qualifying them as special education can set them up for great failure. “Although these students are able to take the standardized tests”, Deming explains, “their scores are not included in the school’s rating”. As a result of these students being placed in special education classes they are not held to the same expectations as their peers, which translates into these students not acquiring the same skills as their peers who are in regular classes. Schools are not only cheating the system but they are grossly failing at risk students simply to obtain an acceptable grading rate by the state. Critics of standardized testing say that this action alone gives the impression of another form of discrimination against poor, minority, and non-English speaking schoolchildren. And it is only a short term and corrupt response to ensure that low scores do not bring down higher scores.

Testing accommodations for high-stakes tests have recently become a topic of conversation among state and federal legislators. In addition to those higher up, classroom teachers of exceptional students (special needs) have begun to question the validity of tests for their students. Due to the rising number of high-stakes tests that are administered, there have been a number of research studies completed in order to help prove whether or not accommodations are even worth the time. Accommodations can include extended time, read-aloud sessions, test response style, etcetera. In the studies that are mentioned, different types of accommodations were provided, different age groups in different areas of our country. These studies, while having a wide range of age in their participants, all agree on the fact that accommodations should be provided for tests. These studies provide important data

Yet, it is important to distinguish between negative academic outcomes due to environmental factors and actual learning or intellectual disabilities. Moreover, these factors do not justify the disproportionality, thus, many leaders suggest that the source of this misrepresentation is within the school system itself, not the students. In the specific case of learning disabilities, some experts question the validity of this condition and suggest that the real problem is that some schoolchildren are not receiving adequate academic experiences (Fletcher and Navarrete, 2003). Furthermore, test bias, conscious or unconscious bias, cultural mismatch, and racism remain regrettable but likely factors for misdiagnosis due to the lack of diversity in the teaching force and the lack of cultural responsive training (Skiba, 2013).

One of the students in my class was an English Language Learner (ELL) whose first language is Spanish, his spoken English was clear but he had occasional difficulties with the unit’s vocabulary. To assist this student various materials in his native language were retrieved that corresponded with the textbook used in class and the unit of study. He was also paired and grouped with students I perceived to be the most mature and helpful. Several accommodations were made in assessment process. First, the student was allowed to give oral answers on some informal assessments. Second, during formal assessments the student was allowed to use a Spanish-English bilingual dictionary. Third written answers were graded for ability to express comprehension with no points deducted for grammar errors. A second student in my class had an Individualized Educational Program (IEP), he had difficulty processing words he heard from the left side and he had motor-control difficulties which affected his writing skills. The seating of this student was considered crucial, he was always seated on the far left side of the class near the wall to provide his right ear with the best environment for hearing. It was also important when speaking with this individual to not speak to him on his left side. Various accommodations were made in the

Hambly 2012 would agree, evidence reports that normative measures are inadequate due to under representation of bilingual children. In analysis of this matter, I feel that due to the growing multiculturalism there is a lack of correspondence between the economic, institutional and the political instructions. I am in agreement with (Kramsch 2008.p. 405 cited in Rudolph, 2012 ) who expresses a need for a  ‘ modern 21st century approach to all demands of a global decentralised multilingual, multicultural world’. A variety of teaching methods and assessment methods need to undertaken to meet the needs of the ‘unique child’ in which the EYFS 2014 curriculum heavily emphasis.

In this literature review I will be discussing studies that are in favor, not in favor, and neutral on bilingual education.

In today’s educational environment, all students expect to receive the same level of instruction from schools and all students must meet the same set of standards. Expectations for students with learning disabilities are the same as students without any learning difficulties. It is now unacceptable for schools or teachers to expect less from one segment of students because they have physical disabilities, learning disabilities, discipline problems, or come from poor backgrounds. Standardize testing has resulted in making every student count as much as their peers and the most positive impact has been seen with the lowest ability students. Schools have developed new approaches to reach these previously underserved students while