The Effects of High-Stakes Accountability Measures on Students With Limited English Proficiency

• Published in: Urban education (Beverly Hills, Calif.) Vol. 53; no. 9; pp. 1154 - 1181
• Main Author: Blaise, Jean G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.2018; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Accountability; Achievement tests; Barriers; College students; Competence; Disadvantaged; Educational Assessment; English language; English Language Learners; Ethnography; Foreign Students; Graduate students; Haitians; High School Students; High Stakes Tests; Immigrants; Language acquisition; Language policy; Language usage; Learning Readiness; Limited English proficiency; Limited English Speaking; Mathematics Skills; Parent Attitudes; Public Schools; Second Languages; Secondary school students; Social environment; Standardized Tests; Student Attitudes; Students; Testing Problems; Massachusetts (Boston); Boston Massachusetts; United States > US; mathematics; social; readiness; subjects; language; English; drop-out rates; educational equity; identity; LEP; No Child Left Behind; programs; poverty; urban education; postsecondary education; ethnography; ESL
• ISSN: 0042-0859; 1552-8340
• DOI: 10.1177/0042085915613549

This article reports on a 3-year ethnographic study in a Boston Public school of the performance of Haitian students on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) and its lasting and likely impact upon them. MCAS is a mandated exam required for students to graduate from high school. Although there are certain provisions for students with limited English proficiency (LEP) to participate under the mandate, LEP students face the test with an enormous disadvantage compared with other students. The issue of second language acquisition appears to have been completely dismissed in the mandated policy. In light of the challenges faced by students with LEP, the article focuses on the core issues at hand in the Massachusetts standardized exam. It analyzes the complexities of language use and acquisition with respect to students with LEP, the pitfalls of the mandated exam, and the effects and impacts created by MCAS on students and their communities. It suggests that an educational system should take into consideration the complexity of acquiring a second language in a particular social context and develop new testing policies and requirements for students whose first language is not English.