How are assessments handled for English language learners?
No Child Left Behind requires that all children be assessed. In order to make AYP, schools must test at least 95 percent of the various subgroups of children, including English language learners. For English language learners who take the regular assessments, states must provide reasonable accommodations. Accommodations may include native-language versions of the assessments. However, in the area of reading and language arts, students who have been in U.S. schools for three consecutive years must be assessed in English, with an additional two years as needed, on a case-by-case basis. Recognizing that there are small groups of students who are unable to take the reading/language arts assessment because of language barriers, the secretary of education provides the following flexibility in determining who is tested: English language learners in their first year of enrollment in U.S. schools have the option of not taking the reading and language arts assessment. These students would take t
