Non-English speakers post low reading scores in Fairfax

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372 days ago: More than a third of N. Virginia schools fail No Child Left Behind requirements

Fairfax (Map, News) - Fairfax County students at the bottom rungs of English proficiency performed dismally on Virginia’s standardized tests, with only 35 percent of fourth-graders and only 12 percent of eighth-graders passing, according to Standards of Learning test results unveiled Thursday.

“It’s an extremely low pass rate, which is not a great shock because the kids don’t understand English,” Deputy Superintendent Richard Moniuszko said at a news conference.

Last school year was the first in which the federal government compelled Virginia to test the reading skills of non-English-speaking students alongside their native counterparts.

The tests were given to students from third to eighth grade who had been in the country longer than a year.

As a substitute to those assessments, Fairfax school administrators pursued the “Virginia Grade Level Alternative” to give a different picture of performance.

The VGLA, which relies on work samples from the students, was implemented as a pilot program this year in six Fairfax schools and netted nearly 97 percent pass rates, according to Moniuszko.

For schools that adopt the VGLA standards, the more positive test results will make them appear to be performing better under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Virginia schools were forced to conduct the grade-level reading testing after a quarrel with the U.S. Department of Education. The agency told Virginia during the last school year that its prior, more flexible system of measuring English reading ability would not meet the standards of No Child Left Behind.

Fairfax was not alone in posting low reading test scores for low-level limited-English students. Only one in four of the students in Arlington County passed, according to a spokesman. Alexandria also expected poor results.

“It’s nonsensical for a youngster that doesn’t speak English to demonstrate mastery of a test that’s about English and reading,” said Monte Dawson, executive director of monitoring and evaluation for Alexandria Public Schools.

Fairfax officials did find encouraging results as students progressed through English instruction. At the highest levels, students performed in the 80th and 90th percentiles.

wflook@dcexaminer.com

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372 days ago: More than a third of N. Virginia schools fail No Child Left Behind requirements