Homework

Research Question:
Are standardized tests unfair for minority and disadvantaged students?

Rothstein, Richard. "Leaving "No Child Left Behind" Behind." SIRS. 2008. American Prospect. 7 Dec 2008 .

In his article, Richard Rothstein analyzes the negative effects of the No Child Left Behind law. One thing he mentions is that one reason disadvantaged kids have a poor performance is that they don’t have adequate schools to attend, and also that those same kids will come to school scared or hungry, which doesn’t help their performance at school. Also, children who do not pass the tests given to them receive more attention and instruction than children who do pass. Therefore, schools with many children like that focus more on good instruction than preparing for tests. Another problem with NCLB is that they expect high standards and if they keep increasing these standards, the already large number of schools failing would increase. The article also states that schools get punished for not making “adequate yearly progress” towards getting students to be proficient at these challenging standards, even if the students are disadvantaged or disabled.



Zehr, Mary Ann. “Hurdles Remain High for English-Learners." SIRS. 2008. Education Week. 7 Dec 2008 .

In this article, Mary Ann Zehr tells the story of Ong Vue, who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Thailand. She only spoke Thai and Hmong. Although she had made huge progress throughout high school, she had to take the state of California’s math exam twice before she passed, and also had to take the English exam multiple times. Also, since she wasn’t passing the state tests, it was taking a toll on the school’s hope to reach the national adequate yearly progress. An issue that is brought up in this article is that some schools aren’t preparing students for these sorts of tests. Instead, in the days leading up to one of these tests, some teachers go on teaching the regular curriculum and only briefly mention the test and say things such as “get a good night sleep” and “eat breakfast.” While these tips are helpful, it is suggested that teachers should be preparing students more for the tests.

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