High- stakes achievement test for ELLs
Write an argument for or against high-stakes achievement test for ELLs. Support your claim based on the
article and/or your experience.
Introduction
It is very imperative for every education system to have checks and balances that would
ensure that students get the best training. One way of ensuring high quality of education is to
monitor performance of individual students from time to time. The main role of high stakes
achievements tests is to ensure that all students are at the same desired level (August, 2012).
When students pass the mark set in the said tests, then they will be considered to have achieved
all aspects as required by the system. There have been arguments for and against the high
High- stakes achievement test for ELLs
achievement tests. This discussion has examined the argument against high stake achievement
tests for ELLs
Inclusion of English Language Learners (ELLs) in the high stake achievement tests may miss the
point (August, 2012). While this group of students may be up to standard to the required level,
their inability to elaborately express themselves in the English language will be a disadvantage.
Although the high stake achievement tests are intended to test the academic understanding of
students, English learners are high disadvantaged. They are likely to miss out on the pass mark of
a test because of the English language challenge.
The high stake tests are considered unfair and discriminative. They do not give a fair chance to
non-English speaking students. This aspect of the tests has brought about a contention as to
whether the intention is to raise the standards of education or to unfairly discriminate the non-
English speaking students,
Conclusion
To this extent, there ought to be balance so that high stake achievement tests are not used
solely to determine the eligibility of a student to move to the next level.
High- stakes achievement test for ELLs
References
August, D. (2012). Improving schooling for languageminority students. Washington, DC:
National Academy ofScience.
Holmes, D., Hedlund, P., & Nickerson, B. (2010). Accommodating ELLs in state and local
assessments. Washington, DC: National Clearinghousefor Bilingual Education.
