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Phillips, M. (2006). [|Standardized tests aren’t like t-shirts One size doesn’t fit all]. //Multicultural Education//, 14(1), 52-55 In her article, Phillips discusses how, in the wake of the George w. Bush’s 2002 //No Child Left Behind// Act, many children have, in actuality, been left behind. She discusses the biases the tests used to judge Adequate Yearly Progress often have for students who are members of a culture other than that of the dominant culture. Along with addressing these biases, she discusses some possible reasons for student failure due to multicultural backgrounds; and she tackles, in general terms, some solutions. Ask any educator about //No Child Left Behind//, and most will convey strong opinions about how this 2002 act negatively impacts the classroom, learning and assessment of student achievement. The parameters of the Act are well known, basically stating that students need to measure yearly the progress of their students through testing. And the schools that do not show adequate progress each year will receive federal intervention and government aid to bring their school “back on track.” In theory, it’s great. But so many things are: i.e. communism, to be trite. The fact of the matter is that the testing that is used to assess adequate yearly progress (AYP) has pigeon-holed students and teachers into a cycle that does not adequately represent achievement, especially in today’s increasingly diverse American society. In her article //Standardized Tests Aren’t Like T-shirts: One Size Doesn’t Fit All//, Michele Phillips does a great job at addressing many of the concerns educators have about the standardized tests that are used to measure AYP. Chief among these is the fact that these tests are written for and graded by members of the dominant culture of America: White, middle class citizens (Phillips, 2005). Because of this there is inherent bias in the test, and that bias negatively affects the scores of most children of ethnic background. Two main biases that Phillips addresses in terms of how standardized tests can hinder measuring true academic performance in ethnic students are the language used in the test and the culture (especially that practiced directly at home) of the student. Language and understanding the structure of standardized English is one of the most important keys to unlocking success on a standardized test. This creates a problem for both non-native speakers or speakers of non-standardized English, such as Spanglish and Ebonics. Phillips states “The most obvious problem present to non-native speakers or to those who speak a nonstandard variety of English is whether they have familiarity or knowledge of the words and linguistic structures of standard English” (Phillips, 2005). If a student does not possess the skills to read the language and decode properly, then there is no way they can score well. The second bias that Phillips discusses is that of culture. She asserts “schools are being held responsible for raising the test scores of ethnic and socioeconomic groups that appear to hold deep-seated attitudes towards academic performance—attitudes that schools can do very little, perhaps nothing, to alter” (Phillips, 2005). In my own classroom I have seen this to be the case. Often, with students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, there is an attitude that testing is unimportant, because the student and their family does not see an importance in academic achievement. Many times members of these family have only a high school diploma or less, and instill in their children that they, too, can “make it” without. In my own experience I believe that these two concepts, language and culture, do indeed present the greatest challenges for ethnic students to overcome. At District 87 we spend a great deal of time each Fall before school is back in session discussing the “achievement gap”: the gap in performance between the students of our dominate culture, white, and our multicultural students, African Americans and Latinos. Every year 11th grade students take the Prairie State Achievement Test (PSAT), and, every year, there is a discrepancy between the number of white students who score acceptably, and the number of African American and Latino students who do. At District 87, there are students who are English Language Learners (ELL) at our school, and they are thrown into the mix and their scores are counted in with the rest. We also have students who, because of family and their specific culture at home, see less value in education than they do in practical applied work, or who do not possess the correct reference point to be able to answer the question correctly. Perhaps is these tests were formatted in such a way that considered students such as these, the “achievement gap” could close. Standardized testing is in dire need of reformation. Until tests can be created that measure the ability of //all// students (because, isn’t that indeed what standardized tests //should// do?), they should not be used as a system of measurement of a school’s success. Standardized tests need to step away from addressing the dominant culture alone and think of ways to incorporate the voices of ethnic students. Until they do, the //No Child Left Behind// Act will continue to fail to live up to it’s name.
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