Groups complain of discrimination in CSAP testing

DENVER—Although the English versions of the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests are updated annually, the Spanish versions haven’t been updated since 1997.

And scores of students who take the Spanish CSAPs do not count toward their school’s performance grade, which could hurt some schools under the state education reform plan.

The discrepancy between the handling of English and Spanish versions of the high-stakes test amounts to discrimination against Spanish-speaking students, two bilingual education groups have charged. At least one group is considering legal action if lawmakers fail to correct the problem.

“It becomes an equity issue and an equal protection issue under the Constitution of the United States because what is done for one group must be done for the other group,” said Lorenzo Trujillo, chairman of Common Sense Colorado.

Reading or writing portions of the CSAP tests this year were administered to all students in grades three through 10, up from last year, when students in grades three, four and seven took one or both portions. Starting next year, reading and writing tests will be given to all students in grades three through 10.

Students’ scores are used to grade their school’s performance, and poorly performing schools that do not improve within three years could be put under new management by the state as charter schools.

The Spanish-language version of the CSAP tests – the only version other than the English tests – were administered to about 1,500 students, or about 2 percent of the approximately 56,000 students who took the tests last year.

One-quarter of the questions in the English version of the tests are replaced by new questions every year. The discarded items are distributed to schools for students and teachers to gain familiarity with the test.

The Education Department paid for the first Spanish version of the CSAP from its existing budget in 1998, but lawmakers have never provided funding to update it.

The department cannot afford to update the test each year without additional money, officials said.

“This is not an optimum situation, however it does maintain a Spanish test and there is value there,” said state Education Commissioner Bill Moloney, Colorado’s top public school official.

He also said while the tests have not been updated, they appear new to each student.

“It’s the first time he or she has seen it, so I don’t think the impact on individual students is that different,” Moloney said.

During legislative budget debates this month, Rep. Val Vigil, D-Denver, tried unsuccessfully to include up to $400,000 in the Education Department’s budget to update the Spanish version of the CSAP. Opponents cited the state’s already tight budget and constitutional limits on spending.

According to a recent study of state assessment policies in the 1998-99 school year by the George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education, all 50 states and the District of Columbia test students to measure their academic achievement.

Eleven states that year, the latest for which national information was available, allowed Spanish-speaking students to take at least part of the test in their native language, said center Director Charlene Rivera. Only a few states included those students’ scores in their school’s or school district’s overall performance rating.

Trujillo, also the principal of Lester Arnold High School in Adams County, said his group and others may seek resolution through a lawsuit.

It is critical to continue use of a Spanish-language version of the CSAP tests, said Sheila Shannon, president of Associated Directors of Bilingual Education and a professor of bilingual education at the University of Colorado-Denver.

Using English-language tests to measure the academic achievement of students who are not fully proficient in English does not show how well they meet state education standards, it simply measures their fluency in English, she said.



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