November 1, 2018 Hot Topics

Every year our classrooms are becoming more and more diverse and it is our

responsibility to attend to each and every student’s needs. More specifically, our English language

ELLs, who are likely to learners have dire needs that are essential to academic, social and emotional success. While their
perform poorly on
needs for success are important, the question raises if we should hold them to the same standards
standardized paper
and pencil tests for a as our native speaking English learners in our classroom when it comes to high stakes testing?
variety of reasons that
do not reflect these
students' ability to
learn, fall into this
category. All students must be held to a standard and many people believe that the high stakes standard

should be the same for all learners despite their background. This is to because norm tests are to

hold each and every student to the same accountability for the same cognitive material. That is the

whole idea behind that type of assessment, all students that are the same age are expected to meet

the same expectations at the same time even if they are not the “average child.”
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Standards and ELL’s

It is essential that we hold all of our students to a standard, but does the standard need to

be to pass a standardized test at the end of the year? Can we differentiate and alter our assessment

values just like we do our instruction? According to the article Education Policy and Our

Perception of ELL Performance, “students who fail to meet standards are measured by high-stakes

tests are penalized, or they cause their schools to be penalized. ELLs, who are likely to perform

poorly on standardized paper and pencil tests for a variety of reasons that do not reflect these

students’ ability to learn, fall into this category.”