Question:
Last year my daughter's best friend, who is of Puerto Rican descent,
moved from Ohio to Florida. She attended 7th grade in a public school
there.
Yesterday she was visiting us at our home and talked about being required
to take an ESL comprehension test, even though she was born in Ohio and
English is her native, not second, language. She tried to argue her way
out of it but was required anyway. She said there were children required
to take it who spoke no other language but English because they had
checked the Hispanic block on the school registration form.
What could be the purpose of this? Do the schools receive extra funding
if they can claim more ESL students? I couldn't think of another reason.
Answer:
I'm not in Florida, and state regs are most likely quite different there,
but the brief answer to your question is: federal statute, interpreted and
carried out by state regulations. Law requires that each guardian
enrolling a student complete a HLS (Home Language Survey), four questions
regarding the languages spoken at home by parents and student. If one of
the first three questions is answered with a language other than English,
we are required to test for language proficiency in both languages. We
are then required to notify the parents of test results and _offer_
English Language Development services (such services are designed by the
school district and submitted to state for approval. Parents' choice as
to whether or not services are desired.
May seem intrusive, but consider the state of affairs for second-language
students pre-1974 (Lau vs. Nicols was precedent-setting case): students
who may have been in need of such services were not identified, and
oftentimes asked to "sink or swim" in all-English classes.
Submit Your
Own Answer!
