California sues over English-Language-Learner tests.

California sues over English-Language-Learner tests. Ten school districts in California List of school districts in California Also available: Lists of school districts in California by county Alameda Unified School District Albany Unified School District Alhambra Unified School District are suing the state over whatthey think is a violation of the federal No Child Left Behind law byforcing students with limited English skills to take annual standardizedtests A standardized test is a test administered and scored in a standard manner. The tests are designed in such a way that the "questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent" [1] in English rather than in their primary languages.The lead district, Coachella Valley Unified School District The Coachella Valley Unified School District is a public school district located in Thermal, California. SchoolsElementaryCesar Chavez Elementary Coral Mountain Elementary John Kelley School Las Palmitas Elementary inRiverside and Imperial counties, and other districts say testing 1.6million students in English who are still learning the language yieldsinvalid and unreliable scores.While the state Department of Education would not comment on thelawsuit, state testing director Deb Sigman says all English Language English language,member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. Learner students who have been in California for less than 12 months cantake a primary language test along with an English standards test inEnglish. The primary language test tests skills in math, reading,written expression and spelling in Spanish.When asked if this leaves various other language speaking studentsat a disadvantage, Sigman says that No Child Left Behind claims thatstates must develop tests to the most "practical extentpossible."When asked if the one-year period was unfair to some students whoneed more time to develop English skills, Sigman says, "most of ourELL students come to us in kindergarten kindergarten[Ger.,=garden of children], system of preschool education. Friedrich Froebel designed (1837) the kindergarten to provide an educational situation less formal than that of the elementary school but one in which children's creative play instincts would be and the testing begins at theend of the second grade year. We believe very strongly that students...become as fluent fluent/flu��ent/ (floo��int) flowing effortlessly; said of speech. as possible so they have full access to thesystem."English Language Learner PrepResults from the California English Language DevelopmentTest (a required state test for ELL students)School year Percentage meeting requirement2002-03 32%2003-04 40%2004-05 44%