Special Review Assessment (SRA) Testimony
New Jersey Board of Education
February 20th, 2008
Trenton, NJ
Good afternoon. My name is Jory Samkoff and I am here today presenting testimony on behalf of NJ Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages/NJ Bilingual Educators (NJTESOL/NJBE). NJTESOL/NJBE is the professional organization of more than thirteen hundred public school and university educators who work directly with the immigrant population in New Jersey. Our website, http://www.njtesol-njbe.org, contains detailed information about our organization. We are the state affiliate of two prestigious national groups (TESOL and NABE) and an Affiliate Special Interest Group of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). In addition, I am an ESL teacher for Clifton Public Schools as well as an adjunct instructor in the Linguistics Department at Montclair State University.
I would like to share some concerns as well as offer several recommendations that we support regarding the Special Review Assessment (SRA) process specifically related to English Language Learners (ELLs). Last year, approximately 11,000 New Jersey high school students took the SRA. Out of these students, approximately 2,000 were ELLs. The SRA provided the latter students with an educational opportunity that they otherwise would not have been afforded due to the fact that their English language skills were still in the process of developing. The joint policy briefing created by the City University of New York, The Education Law Center, The Institute on Education Law and Policy at Rutgers University, Newark, and the Project GRAD program in Newark, entitled, “New Jersey’s Special Review Assessment: Loophole or Lifeline?” raises many pertinent issues concerning the exam in question; many issues dealing directly with ELLs.
In this study, one Abbott district superintendent states, “If the SRA were eliminated, sure a small portion would pass the HSPA. But given that a substantial majority of our students are Hispanic [and] largely immigrant, if SRA were eliminated — the ELL population, Hispanics, Eastern Europeans, they are academically able…We are an immigrant society — it would be more detrimental. Even if they exit out of [the]ELL [category], they are not proficient by their junior year, not in content areas. How can we give a kid who has been here for three years the same exam as the kid who has been raised in the U.S. speaking English and attending school for 12 years?”
The concerns presented by the New Jersey Board of Education in the powerpoint presentation, “Creating a NJ High School Diploma That Counts” (August 2006) are legitimate ones. They include:
§ difficulty of handling the tests in a secure manner;
§ reliance of some urban districts on SRA as a “substitute” for the HSPA;
§ critics stating SRA has become a “backdoor” to a diploma.
However, the problems presented are ones that can be rectified. NJTESOL/NJBE supports Dr. Jay Doolan and Dr. Timothy Peters’ recommendations outlined in their presentation, “The SRA: Alternative Approaches to Meeting New Jersey’s High School Assessment Requirements.” Their recommendations include:
§ Establishing specific SRA administration windows;
§ Have state test vendors assign and distribute performance tasks;
§ Continue availability of translated Performance Assessment Tasks (PATs) in Spanish and 2-3 other languages;
§ Require districts that are heavy “users” of SRA to submit a plan for reducing their reliance on it;
§ Implement an enhanced alternate high school assessment program in 2009-2010 or as soon as possible;
§ Rename program to reflect these changes: e.g. Alternate High School Assessment.
As educators, we recognize the importance of preparing ELLs for life beyond high school and that the SRA process must be modified and amended to reflect the academic skills that colleges and employers expect.
Unfortunately, only a limited amount of research has been conducted in this domain. I have spoken with several English language high school teachers who recounted students’ success stories after having passed the SRA, but valuable scientific research is lacking, even though Abbott regulations required a study on SRA usage within Abbott districts (N.J.A.C. 6A:10A-3.2 (e) 6). How can one do away with an exam that has not be studied in this way? What happens to the ELLs who pass the SRA? Do they go to college? Do they graduate from college? Without data to back up educators’ assumptions about the SRA process, how can we eliminate such a potentially life altering exam?
The authors of “New Jersey’s SRA Process: Lifeline or Loophole?” explain that:
Despite much discussion of this topic, there has been little research on the role of the SRA in allowing youth to meet New Jersey’s graduation standards. Aside from aggregate totals of the numbers of students graduating through HSPA and SRA, little data have been gathered on the demographic characteristics or educational experiences of these students, their access to opportunities to learn and their postsecondary outcomes compared to those of high school dropouts. There has been no longitudinal study of the educational careers or the comparative post-secondary outcomes for HSPA graduates, SRA graduates and dropouts. One obstacle to data-driven policy analysis has been the long-noted absence of a statewide, student-level database, which makes tracking student progress through New Jersey’s K-12 system impossible. A telling example of the limitations this puts on informed policy-making can be found in recent SRA history.
In addition, Commissioner Davy, Dr. Doolan, and Dr. Peters state in their presentation “Standards and Expectations: Alternative Approaches to Meeting New Jersey’s High School Assessment Requirements” that “it might be wiser to improve the alternate mechanism that we have instead of trying to invent a completely new one.”
I would like to conclude with a personal account written by Nur Aksoy, an ELL, to Commissioner Davy when she was told that the SRA process may be eliminated,
I came to America on July 23, 2000 from Turkey when I was a senior in high school. I started as a junior in Kearny High School in September 2000. Although I was in the United States less than a year, I had to take a standardized test called the HSPA. I passed the math portion of it since math is universal but I could not pass the English part. It was not because I was too lazy to study or did not pay attention to the test as some of my native speaker classmates did. I just hadn’t had enough time to practice speaking and to study English in this country to pass the test. Without the SRA program and my SRA teachers I would not have graduated from high school and I would not have continued my education. Right now, I am a senior majoring in Business Administration at Bloomfield College with a 3.7 GPA. After I graduate I want to get my Master’s degree in Accounting.
I am able to manage to work full time Monday through Friday 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. as the Secretary of the Center for Global Studies Department at Bloomfield College, take three classes in the evenings, and still keep my GPA high. I honestly do not think that I would have gone this far if I was held back more years in high school. Therefore, I am thankful that my high school had the SRA program with educated, patient, and helpful teachers. I learned how to use the English language effectively from my SRA teachers who pushed me further to get my diploma. Indeed, now it is really discouraging to hear that the SRA program will be eliminated soon.
As a student who got her high school diploma with the help of the SRA program, I would like to ask what would happen to those who are in the same situation as I was. Will they have the same chances to get their education as me? Immigrants are already having too many hardships while adjusting and are struggling trying to pursue a degree or complete their education. Taking away the SRA program from them is the same as taking away their right to get an education.
Finally, I believe SRA program is not a privilege to the immigrants but it is their
right. So, please don’t take it away!
For many English language learners, like Nur Aksoy, the SRA does not represent a “backdoor” or a “loophole,” but instead a window of opportunity that allows highly motivated and deserving English language learners to pursue what so many immigrant students dream of—the highly desired American college degree. On behalf of New Jersey ELLs and NJTESOL/NJBE, I am asking you to revise, not reject, the SRA process. Thank you for your consideration of my testimony.