North Jersey Council of Bilingual and ESL
Supervisors
Co-chairpersons:
Nicholas Calamusa, Passaic Public Schools and Janina
J. Kusielewicz, Clifton Public Schools
Office of Bilingual Education, 745 Clifton Avenue, Clifton New Jersey 07013 – (973) 470-2264
Eunice Y.
Couselo, Director
Office of
Specialized Populations
Brian
Robinson, Director
Assessment
Office
Fred Carrigg,
Special Assistant
Abbott
Division
Department
of Education
PO Box 500
Trenton, New Jersey 08652-0500
Dear Ms.
Couselo, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Carrigg,
Schools
around the state of New Jersey provide a variety of types of Bilingual
and ESL programs to meet different local student, demographic and district
needs. In order to accurately measure student learning and achievement in the
New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards, assessment must be aligned with
the type of instruction offered. Where instruction does not align with assessment,
then assessment data cannot give an accurate picture of student learning.
The premise
of the “No Child Left Behind” legislation in New Jersey is to provide inclusive instruction
based on the NJCCCS in order for all children to be able to achieve proficiency.
A one size fits all assessment system excludes English Language Learners from
being part of an accountability system that effectively measures their
progress. NCLB requires all subgroups of student to demonstrate proficiency at
established state levels. The state of New Jersey needs to adopt assessment policies
which will accurately measure the Language Arts, Mathematics and Science achievement
of English Language Learners in different types of programs and will enable
large segments of this population to be considered successful in district data
collection. This needs to be done in an equitable manner, regardless of
knowledge of English.
The present
system of testing English Language Learners using the same monolingual English
assessment designed for native English speakers is inadequate and not
equitable. Therefore the North Jersey Council of Bilingual and ESL Supervisors
respectfully recommends the creation of the following
types of assessments for the various grade levels impacted by the state wide
assessment program.
- Native Language Assessments in Spanish
in Language Arts, Mathematics and Science for students enrolled in fully
developed bilingual programs that incorporate native language instruction.
- Sheltered English Assessments
in Language Arts, Mathematics and Science for students from many language
groups and/ or who are learning predominantly with an ESL approach.
- Valid and Reliable Performance Assessment
in Language Arts, Mathematics and Science for those newly arrived
student’s who do not yet have enough English to interface with a sheltered
English assessment. Please note that while students taking a native
language assessment can demonstrate success almost immediately upon
arrival in a New Jersey school district, students need
to have sufficient English language skills to participate in a sheltered
English assessment.
- Special Review Assessment
materials available in multiple languages to ensure that English Language
Learners in high school programs are afforded the possibility of
graduation and are not excluded from higher education.
The North Jersey
Council of Bilingual and ESL Supervisors appreciates
your time and efforts on behalf of New Jersey’s diverse population of English Language
Learners. Should you require further clarification regarding the above
mentioned recommendations please do not hesitate to contact the organization
chair-persons at the above address.
Sincerely,
Nicholas
Calamusa, Co-chairperson
Janina J. Kusielewicz, Co-chairperson