Pierce on Assessment

This article by Pierce describes the impact of assessment on English language learners from national tests such as the NCLB. Statements published by Education Week editorial especially intrigued me. For example, “NCLB is wreaking havoc because it fails to reflect what we know about standardized testing and how children learn.” (p. 311) Our country is comprised of multicultural children and not all are alike or similar. We have basic human needs that are similar and yet we are different. The funds of knowledge in each culture is different and it highly influences our ways of doing, knowing, and being. Maybe a question to ask, although arbitrary (if that’s the word), is if there’s standardized tests out there, is there a “standardized” American?

NCLB has affected our schools as well as our communities in many negative ways. One of them affects our Yup’ik language. I know of some parents and community members who, at one time or other, said leaning in English will help our Yup’ik students to succeed in school. And that English learning will help them pass the required tests in order to graduate. To make it short, I’ve heard that not one test fits all groups of students across the nation. There’s always going to be problems and I think this article points out many of those problems.