The Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues of California

1
The Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues of
Californias Implementation of No Child Left
Behind

• Coachella Valley Unified School District
• Dr. Paul Grafton
• Alma González
• One Voice Conference
• July 6, 2008

2
Coachella Valley Unified School DistrictThermal,
California 2007 2008

• 1,200 Square Miles Attendance Area
• 17,750 Students
• 98 Hispanic
• 91 Free/Reduced Lunch
• 25 Migrant
• 75 Speak Spanish in the Home
• 64 English Language Learners

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Statement of Our Beliefs

• Full Support of NCLB Accountability
• ELL Students Should Learn to Read, Write, and
  Speak English to the Level of Native Speaker as
  Soon as Possible
• A Child takes from 4 to 7 years to Reach Academic
  English Language Proficiency (CELDT Level 4 or
  Higher)

4
Implementation of NCLB in California

• Adequate Yearly Progress Federal Measure
  Based on Percentage of Students At or Above
  Proficient
• Academic Performance Index State Measure
  Based on Growth in Points on a Scale of 200 - 1000

5
California Testing Program- English/Language
Arts, Math, Science, and History Social Science

• California Standards Test gr. 2 through 11
• CAPA gr. 2 through 11
• California Achievement Test gr. 3 7
• California High School Exit Exam gr. 10, 11 and
  12

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Language of the Tests Used to Calculate AYP/API

• All Tests are printed in English
• No translation into Spanish by the teacher other
  than the Directions
• Word to Word English/Spanish glossary can be used
  for Math and other content areas but not ELA
• Students who can not Read, Write, or Speak
  English may be Tested Together and/or have Extra
  Time but within one Sitting

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Language of the Tests, cont

• Test Results of English Language Learners are
  included in
• AYP beginning the Second Year of Attendance
• API beginning the First Year of Attendance
• (Second Year as of 2007)

8
What Does NCLB Say?

• NCLB allows testing in the primary language for
  three years and up to two additional years on a
  case by case basis and the results to be counted
  in the calculations of AYP States such as Ohio
  and New Mexico make use of this flexibility,
  California does not.

9
Reading First

• NCLB Reading Program K - 3
• Evaluation Based on Reading First Achievement
  Index (RFAI) Score
• District Academic Achievement Comparisons and
  Continued Funding Based on RFAI
• 70 of RFAI comes from California Testing Program
  CST and CAT/6

10
Determining the English Language Proficiency of
English Language Learners

• Students (K 12) whose Primary Language is
  Spanish are given the California English Language
  Development Test in Listening, Speaking, Reading,
  and Writing which result in an Overall Score
• Students are placed into one of Five Categories
  Beginning, Early Intermediate, Intermediate,
  Early Advanced, or Advanced

11
English Language Proficiency, cont

• To move from an English Language Learner to
  Fluent English Proficient, a Student must be at
  the Overall Early Advanced Level with No Sections
  of the Tests below the Intermediate Level
• The NCLB mechanism for evaluating Adequate
  Progress of English Language attainment is Title
  III AMAO 1, AMAO 2, and AMAO 3

12
What are the CELDT Levels of Students New to our
District?

• In 2005 2006 of the 2,374 students who took
  the Initial CELDT
• 46 were CELDT Level 1
• 60 were CELDT Level 1 or 2
• 81 were CELDT Level 1, 2, or 3

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What are the CELDT Levels of Students New to our
District?

• In 2006 2007 of the 1,904 students who took the
  Initial CELDT
• 60 are CELDT Level 1
• 75 are CELDT Level 1 or 2
• 91 are CELDT Level 1, 2, or 3

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Title III NCLBs Accountability Measure for
ELLs English Language Attainment Are We
Successful at Teaching our Students English?

• 2004 AMAO 1 Yes AMAO 2 Yes AMAO 3 No
• 2005 AMAO 1 Yes AMAO 2 No by lt2 AMAO 3
  No (ELA 13.2/Math 18.7)
• 2006 AMAO 1 Yes AMAO 2 No by lt1 AMAO 3
  No (ELA 14/Math 21.7)
• 2007 (CELDT rescaled) AMAO 1 No by 7.6
  AMAO 2 No by 7.7 AMAO 3 (ELA 15.8 No/Math
  24.3 Yes)

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Failure to Meet NCLB Goals

• There is an increasing penalty
• Must Provide Transfers to Parents who Request
  that their Student goes to Another School
• Must Arrange Vendor-provided Tutoring
• Change School Structure
• State Take Over or Close School

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Questions We Asked

• Does Giving a Test to a Student in a Language the
  Student does not Understand affect the Estimates
  of Academic Achievement the Test Reports for that
  Student?
• If so, what is the effect on the NCLB
  Accountability Measures calculated from those
  Test Results?

17
Methodology

• Matched Case
• Isolated Students by CELDT Level
• Applied API/AYP inclusion/exclusion rules to
  Students in each CELDT level
• Applied API/AYP calculations/cutpoints to Student
  test results in each CELDT Level

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Adequate Yearly Progress2006 2007
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Academic Performance Index2006 2007
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Adequate Yearly Progress2005 2006
21
Academic Performance Index2005 2006
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Adequate Yearly Progress 2004 2005
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Academic Performance Index 2004 2005
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Academic English Language Proficiency

• What would Happen if only the Scores of ELL
  Students who had attained Academic English
  Language Proficiency on the CELDT (Early Advanced
  or Advanced) were used in calculation of AYP/API?

25
Changes from CDEs AccountabilityProgress Report
2007
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Changes from CDEs AccountabilityProgress Report
2006
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Changes from CDEs AccountabilityProgress Report
2005
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Solutions? Further Research?

• Continue to test all students but EXCLUDE CELDT
  1, 2, and 3 scores from AYP/API calculations, OR
• Continue to test all students but SUBSTITUTE the
  SABE/Aprenda/STS scores for CST scores in AYP/API
  calculations, OR
• Continue to test all students but INCLUDE the
  SABE/Aprenda/STS scores in AYP/API calculations.

29
The Myth of Similar Schools Ranking for Schools
with Large Numbers of English Language Learners
Anecdotal

• Next time you check the CDE website for your
  similar schools list of comparable schools
• Go to Data Quest CDE web site for CELDT
  reporting
• Look at the CELDT Levels of those schools the CDE
  lists as similar to your school
• If their number of students at CELDT Levels 1, 2,
  and 3 are lower than your schools number of
  students at CELDT Levels 1, 2, and 3
• Then they are not Similar Schools

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Questions?

• Dr. Paul Grafton paulg_at_coachella.k12.ca.us
• Alma Gonzalez agonzalez_at_coachella.k12.ca.us