Non-English-speaking students won’t be given the national Stanford 9 achievement test this month, upsetting a principal who pushed passage of an English-only law by state voters.

Margaret Dugan, Glendale High School principal who was co-chairwoman of English for the Children, said she asked the Arizona Department of Education to give all children the test rather than excuse some because of language barriers.

“We want the testing to be done this spring so we will have some baseline data. Otherwise, we won’t have anything to compare to,” Dugan said. “Students will have been in English immersion for almost a whole school year before they take the test.”

About 530,000 Arizona students took the Stanford 9 last year, and about 51,000 children were excused because of language barriers.

But state Associate Superintendent of Schools Billie Orr said there are not enough tests available to give to all students this spring since districts ordered the tests before Proposition 203 was approved by voters in November. The new law, which goes into effect in July, also requires that all students be taught in English only. Placement in bilingual programs would require waivers under the new law.

The law also means that a Spanish version of the AIMS test will be given this spring for the last time to third, fifth and eighth graders. Next spring, AIMS will be given only in English, Orr said.

Educators in districts with large numbers of immigrant students who don’t speak English worry that their districts’ test score averages will plummet when non-English-speaking students are required to take the Stanford 9. The test compares skills in math, reading and language to students nationally.

“I don’t mind having the students tested, but the results would be misleading if we group the data of students who are new to this country and do not speak English with the rest of the students in the school,” said Carol Peck, superintendent of the Alhambra Elementary district.

About 6,000 of Alhambra’s 14,000 students are not proficient in English. They come from 55 countries and speak 31 languages.

However, Orr said the data for non-English-speaking students likely will not be separated when calculating a school’s average scores.



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