Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Students mastering English
Officials are pleased state-sanctioned achievement tests show improvement in Glendale Unified.
By Angela Hokanson
GLENDALE — The percentage of Glendale Unified School District students who are mastering the English language — as measured by achievement on the state’s test of English language proficiency — went up 2 percentage points between last year and this year, a bump that pleases school district officials.
The state on Wednesday released the data for the 2007-08 California English Language Development test, which measures the English proficiency level of students whose primary language is not English.
Out of the 5,871 Glendale Unified students who took the test this year, 45% met the test’s criteria for English language proficiency. That’s an increase from last year, when 43% of the Glendale Unified students who took the test met the same criteria for English language proficiency.
“We’re glad about that,” said Lila Bronson, the school district’s director of instructional technology, assessment and evaluation.
The increase indicates that the school district is successfully helping students reach language proficiency, Bronson said.
“I think the overall trend is that we’re going up,” she said.
The language development test is given annually to all students in kindergarten through 12th grade who are designated as English language learners. The test assesses students’ abilities in listening and speaking in English. Students in second grade and above are also tested on reading and writing in English. The test designates students’ abilities as being: beginning; early intermediate; intermediate; early advanced and advanced.
In order to meet the test’s criteria for English language proficiency, students had to reach an overall score of “early advanced” or “advanced” on the test, and they had to reach the “intermediate” level or higher on each test category — such as reading or writing, according to the state. Glendale scores not only went up, they were well above the statewide numbers for students reaching English proficiency, said Alice Petrossian, the assistant superintendent for elementary education.
This year, 33% of students across the state who took the language test hit the proficiency criteria, compared to Glendale’s 45%.
“When you outperform the state by 12 percentage points, that is really something to celebrate,” Petrossian said.
Overall, the number of Glendale Unified students who are still learning English — students who are often immigrants — has declined. That decline shows up in fall in the number of students who took the language development test this year, said Joanna Junge, the district’s director of special projects and intercultural education.
Last year, 6,198 students in the district took the test; this year, 5,871 took it.
Among Armenian-speakers, the district’s largest foreign language group, 43% of students reached English proficiency on the test this year. The same percentage of Armenian-speakers tested as proficient last year.
The school district has experienced a recent influx of Armenian-speaking refugees from other countries, officials said. These recent immigrants tend to have minimal English skills, which could have contributed to the lack of an increase in the number of Armenians who are becoming English-proficient, Junge said.
Among Spanish-speakers, the district’s second-largest foreign language group, the percentage of students reaching English proficiency increased from 36% last year to 38% this year.
Gains in English proficiency among this group are a good sign as the school district has prioritized closing the achievement gap between Latino students and other students this year, Bronson said.
“That’s really going to help us overall in closing the achievement gap,” she said.
The school district’s third-largest foreign language group is Korean. The percentage of Korean-speaking students reaching proficiency also increased by 2% between last year and this year, from 55% to 57%.
Scores on the state language development test are only one factor used to determine whether a limited-English student should be “reclassified” as an English-proficient student. In Glendale, those other factors include teacher input, parent input, additional writing tests, and performance on the state tests of academic content.
ANGELA HOKANSON covers education. She may be reached at (818) 637-3238 or by e-mail at angelahokanson@latimes.com.
The state on Wednesday released the data for the 2007-08 California English Language Development test, which measures the English proficiency level of students whose primary language is not English.
Out of the 5,871 Glendale Unified students who took the test this year, 45% met the test’s criteria for English language proficiency. That’s an increase from last year, when 43% of the Glendale Unified students who took the test met the same criteria for English language proficiency.
“We’re glad about that,” said Lila Bronson, the school district’s director of instructional technology, assessment and evaluation.
The increase indicates that the school district is successfully helping students reach language proficiency, Bronson said.
“I think the overall trend is that we’re going up,” she said.
The language development test is given annually to all students in kindergarten through 12th grade who are designated as English language learners. The test assesses students’ abilities in listening and speaking in English. Students in second grade and above are also tested on reading and writing in English. The test designates students’ abilities as being: beginning; early intermediate; intermediate; early advanced and advanced.
In order to meet the test’s criteria for English language proficiency, students had to reach an overall score of “early advanced” or “advanced” on the test, and they had to reach the “intermediate” level or higher on each test category — such as reading or writing, according to the state. Glendale scores not only went up, they were well above the statewide numbers for students reaching English proficiency, said Alice Petrossian, the assistant superintendent for elementary education.
This year, 33% of students across the state who took the language test hit the proficiency criteria, compared to Glendale’s 45%.
“When you outperform the state by 12 percentage points, that is really something to celebrate,” Petrossian said.
Overall, the number of Glendale Unified students who are still learning English — students who are often immigrants — has declined. That decline shows up in fall in the number of students who took the language development test this year, said Joanna Junge, the district’s director of special projects and intercultural education.
Last year, 6,198 students in the district took the test; this year, 5,871 took it.
Among Armenian-speakers, the district’s largest foreign language group, 43% of students reached English proficiency on the test this year. The same percentage of Armenian-speakers tested as proficient last year.
The school district has experienced a recent influx of Armenian-speaking refugees from other countries, officials said. These recent immigrants tend to have minimal English skills, which could have contributed to the lack of an increase in the number of Armenians who are becoming English-proficient, Junge said.
Among Spanish-speakers, the district’s second-largest foreign language group, the percentage of students reaching English proficiency increased from 36% last year to 38% this year.
Gains in English proficiency among this group are a good sign as the school district has prioritized closing the achievement gap between Latino students and other students this year, Bronson said.
“That’s really going to help us overall in closing the achievement gap,” she said.
The school district’s third-largest foreign language group is Korean. The percentage of Korean-speaking students reaching proficiency also increased by 2% between last year and this year, from 55% to 57%.
Scores on the state language development test are only one factor used to determine whether a limited-English student should be “reclassified” as an English-proficient student. In Glendale, those other factors include teacher input, parent input, additional writing tests, and performance on the state tests of academic content.
ANGELA HOKANSON covers education. She may be reached at (818) 637-3238 or by e-mail at angelahokanson@latimes.com.
Save/Share
 |
 |
|
| GLENDALE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD MEETING WRAP-UP | Dinner is served at GCC |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of glendalenewspress.com.
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site.
Not registered yet?
RSS