U.S. Warns Va. Not to Set Aside Reading Test ; State Officials Say Traditional Test May Be Unfair to Immigrants

By MARIA GLOD

The U.S. Department of Education threatened this week to take “enforcement action” against Virginia if any school districts defy a federal mandate to give reading tests to thousands of immigrant students.

In a sharply worded letter, Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon said he is distressed that some school districts might violate the No Child Left Behind Act. Simon urged Virginia to enforce the law. If it does not, he said, federal education officials could step in, possibly withholding funds.

The dispute began last year when federal education officials rejected the reading exams that Virginia has given to many students learning English, because the tests don’t cover the same grade- level material as those given to students fluent in English. Virginia educators fighting the mandate say that students who haven’t mastered the language are likely to fail a traditional test and that it is unfair to administer it.

Virginia’s congressional representatives requested a yearlong extension on the requirement that the state begin using a new assessment.

“It is logistically impossible for Virginia to develop, test and train personnel in a new assessment for use in April 2007,” the delegation wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

Last week, the Fairfax County School Board voted to refuse to give the reading test, which is administered in the spring, to many immigrant children. The Harrisonburg School Board passed a similar measure, and Arlington County school officials are considering such a step.

On Wednesday, federal education officials denied Virginia’s request to use the old test for another year. They have said that Virginia educators had been aware of federal requirements for years and had ample time to design a new test. State officials disputed that, saying that they learned last spring that the assessment Virginia had used might be rejected.

Despite Wednesday’s warning from Simon, Fairfax Superintendent Jack Dale said he stands by the School Board’s decision. Fairfax will continue to test how well students with limited proficiency are learning to read, speak and write English, he said, but will only give Virginia’s Standards of Learning reading tests to students who have made significant progress.

Simon said in an interview that students learning English must be tested on grade-level material to determine whether they are making progress. He asked Virginia state Superintendent for Education Billy K. Cannaday Jr. to ensure that local school districts comply.

“No Child Left Behind says all children will be able to read and do math at grade level,” Simon said. “The whole point of No Child Left Behind is to find out what they know and don’t know and target resources. . . . We want the law to be followed.”

Cannaday said he is profoundly disappointed in the federal response. “Our superintendents have sworn to uphold the law, but they also have a moral and ethical contract with the community, and I think they are trying to balance the two,” Cannaday said.

About 10,200 Virginia students are affected by the change, state education officials said. Students who have been in the United States less than a year are exempt from taking the reading tests.

Times-Dispatch staff writer Lindsay Kastner contributed to this report.

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