a tiny flaw that made a huge mess
Did you know that after a Spanish-dominant student passes a very difficult English proficiency test, they are still not reclassified as English proficient until they also meet other academic criteria?
We didn’t either until we started hearing from parents that their very fluent child was still in the English Language Development (ELD) class, even though they had passed the test. This caused us some concern because in middle and high school, using ELD for a class period reduces students’ access to the arts, leadership opportunities and other electives. And we know that these things are research proven to be academically beneficial!
It turned out that there was a tiny procedural flaw at the district level that no one would have noticed except the people directly impacted by it. It was causing students to slip through the cracks. We are pleased to report that through our direct advocacy in working with parents, students, school administrators and district representatives, and the flaw is now fixed!
This is just one example of how Unidos South OC listens to our community and maintains the flexibility needed to dedicate dozens of hours to projects like this one that will make lasting (though often invisible) positive changes in our community.
More details:
Through relationships in the neighborhood and at schools, our team discovered that there were only two windows of time per year that a student could reclassify from English Learner to English Proficient. If they had a bad day on their standardized testing during that quarter, but had already demonstrated English fluency through the English proficiency test, they would be held back in ELD for another half school-year when they could try again to see if their academic test scores and their English proficiency test scores all passed the threshold on the same day. If they didn’t, the student would have to retake the English proficiency test (that they had already passed the previous year) and miss a whole year of possible electives.
The Unidos South OC team gathered community voices, researched statewide regulations and district protocols, and interviewed Cat Thompson and Ryan Healy at Marco Forster Middle School. We then brought all this to the attention of our school Board Trustee Gila Jones and Dr. Michael Gomez at the CUSD leadership, explaining that we had a procedural gap that was actually against the state-mandated implementation requirements.
The wonderful trustee and staff of CUSD were so attentive! A meeting was held just a couple months later and the procedure was changed. As of school year 2024-2025, students will be reclassified as English Proficient as soon as they meet all the criteria - immediately passing them out of the ELD class and allowing them access to an elective.
