A federal investigation into a complaint that Arizona removes students from English learning programs even if they cannot read, write and speak the language proficiently appears stalled, says a prominent public interest attorney.
Tim Hogan, executive director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, initially filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights last November. In January, the agency accepted Mr. Hogan’s complaint “for resolution” and began an investigation.
Now, Mr. Hogan says conversations with federal officials lead him to believe nothing will come of the Office of Civil Rights investigation, and he is gathering information to decide whether to file a lawsuit.
“I’m not going to wait anymore for these guys to finish up,” he said. “It’s an important issue and we won’t let it drop. I’m just disappointed we’re not seeing more action from the U.S. Department of Education.”
Mr. Hogan’s beef with the state is that students classified as English language learners were being deemed English-proficient, even though they failed one or more sections of the state’s proficiency exam, known as SELP, or Stanford English Language Proficiency. The test consists of three sections gauging the student’s proficiency in reading, writing and speaking English.
As reported by Arizona Capitol Times in January, data from six school districts show that nearly 65 percent of the ELL students in those districts who were reclassified to “English proficient” did not achieve a “proficient” score in at least one of the SELP subtests in the 2004-05 school year.
In one district — Creighton Elementary — none of the 1,342 reclassified ELL students were deemed proficient in all three sections of the test. Meanwhile, in Tucson Unified School District, 2,671, or 37 percent, of the district’s 7,223 ELL students were deemed proficient after taking the SELP test. Of those students reclassified, 1,510, or 57 percent, tested below proficiency in one or more subtest.
Of the 5,006 ELL students reclassified in those six districts during the 2004-05 school year that did not pass all three sections of the SELP exam, 1,348, or 27 percent, were found not proficient for two sections.
Three students — one in Cartwright Elementary District and two in Creighton — tested lower than proficiency in all three sections of the exam, yet were considered proficient and were removed from the ELL program.
Statistics for the recently completed 2005-06 school year were not available.
State Board OKs changes to test
In a July 10 meeting, the State Board of Education approved augmentations to the SELP test that help it better conform to state standards. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said the SELP test was chosen initially because it met more Arizona standards than other off-the-shelf proficiency exams.
The new test will be known as AZELLA, or Arizona English Language Learner Assessment.
“Now we will be testing what teachers are teaching,” Mr. Horne said.
The changes to the SELP test, he said, were not done in response to the complaint Mr. Hogan filed last year. Rather, the test was always intended to be modified to better meet the state’s specific standards.
Mr. Hogan said filing a federal lawsuit is a possibility, but he first wants to see SELP test data from the most recent school year and take a look at what changes were made to create the AZELLA test.