Author Archives: Inessa

State Testing in the Time of Corona

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Schools function best when they follow processes. Students, families, and staff know what to expect. Everything stays in compliance with state and federal laws. We follow the process year after year. Fine tuning and increasing efficiency until a pandemic hits. Then, we scramble.

At the start of every year new students who may qualify for English Language (EL) support services in Washington state take the ELPA21 screener. I wrote a previous blog post that went into greater detail about the test, but here’s a quick overview: students new to the school qualify to take the test based on answers given on school registration forms. The test is mostly taken by incoming Kindergarten students and a few older students, who are either new to the country or state.

As a result of the pandemic no students at my school took the ELPA21 screener.

Therefore, every child, whose families indicated their first language as other than English or that they speak a language other than English at home, became a provisional EL student. They received EL services.

About a month and a half ago my school transitioned from a fully online learning model to a hybrid model with the option for families to stay fully online. Almost immediately the state wanted every student attending school in person to take the ELPA21 summative assessment within a very narrow time period. Provisional EL students needed to begin taking the test within a week.

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Good-Bye ELPA21

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Standardized testing.

This phrase stirs up a lot of emotions in the world of teaching. If you work in a public school, you probably experienced some sort of instinctual reaction yourself. Did you remember the long, monotonous stretches of time spent monitoring students? Or the pressure from administration for students to perform?

I am not sure how you personally responded, but I am willing to guess the thought of standardized tests failed to put a smile on your face.

When most elementary school teachers think of standardized tests in our state, they think of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC). However, I am an English Language (EL) Specialist, so standardized testing makes me think of ELPA21.

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An Immigrant Story

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I moved to the United States in the late 90’s during a wave of Slavic immigration to Washington State. The Soviet Union fell apart and the Eastern European countries under communist control were (and still are) filled with corruption as a result of the socialist dictatorship, offering few opportunities for economic advancement. In Ukraine people today buy test scores and degrees, bribe doctors to receive care despite having nationalized healthcare, and pay off the mafia to operate businesses. Last year my cousin was killed over two dollars. No wonder my parents decided to abandon everything they knew to seek new opportunities in the United States. Like thousands of other Slavs, my family moved to Washington State with nothing to their name.

You’re probably wondering how my personal story relates to school and school policy. For the past few years my district promoted trainings in diversity and equity, challenging staff members to examine their thinking and biases. The trainings coupled with personal experiences and anecdotes from other Slavic teachers and students made me realize that these trainings are often approached from a solely Americanized perspective often not accounting for the immigrant experience.

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Night School For Kindergarteners

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Equity is a buzzword in education. We hear it used by staff, administrators, and presenters. Under regular circumstances the practical application of equity seems to fall short of the ideal. During a pandemic, ensuring equity for students when teaching digitally becomes an almost insurmountable challenge. 

This school year my district stepped up to tackle this challenge with an innovative approach: an evening school option for elementary students. 

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The Struggle Between EL & SPED

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My family moved to the United States almost twenty-three years ago from Ukraine. My younger brother turned six that summer and attended first grade in Washington. Our family moved before his third-grade year, marking the start of his struggle with school.

My brother in fifth grade, age 10.

My parents don’t recall ever being notified of the placement. They say, I brought it to their attention at the end of his fifth-grade year when I asked them why he qualified for the SPED program. My parents first had me explain what SPED meant. Then, they contacted the school to ask the same question: what about my brother qualified him for SPED?

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ESSB 5395: Concerning Comprehensive Sexual Education Part II

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In my previous post I discussed the reactions of EL parents about ESSB 5395, the new sexual education law. I interviewed EL parents and my school’s social worker, Janice, to dive deeper into the issues relating to this controversial law. The question remains: how can schools and EL parents reach a common understanding regarding ESSB 5395 with cultural and linguistic barriers in place?

Even though the EL parents I interviewed opposed ESSB 5395 and their children’s participation in sexual education, many felt torn about the law in some ways. They agree with Jancie about sexual health being extremely important in preventing sexual abuse. As one parent said, “Some children suffer horrific sexual assaults and steps need to be taken in order to protect them.” 

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ESSB 5395: Concerning Comprehensive Sexual Education Part I

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ESSB 5395 first came to my attention this fall. Generally, the Slavic community tends to be apolitical, which stems from generations living in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. There you knew the winner of an election before stepping into a voting booth, which bred distrust in the integrity of government processes. My grandmother, a U.S. citizen for over two decades, never cast a vote. Suddenly, people, who debated the trustworthiness of voting over dinner, protested in Olympia. 

Why?

ESSB 5395.

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Every Dot is a Child

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Who could have imagined 2020 as a year of unprecedented change and uncertainty? The closing of schools and statewide quarantine orders requires flexibility on the part of teachers. We’re still working–albeit from home. 

I’ve been participating in staff as well as Specialist and Building Leadership team meetings through Google Hangouts (as a side note, some teachers use this online platform to meet with their classes). In many ways our conversations in these meetings relate to the new challenges we need to overcome in our profession. In other ways, our conversations return to the usual concerns of our field.  

Your students may not be taking the SBA this year, but you will see plenty of other data on their academic performance. The data may come from iReady, DIBELS, MAPS, or another assessment preferred by your district. 

The push in education is toward data informed instructional practices like the work done by John Hattie through Visible Learning. During PLCs, staff meetings, or as part of evaluations, teachers look through data–numbers, graphs, and percentages–to gauge student progress and plan for remediation or instructional changes. Now is the perfect time to analyze data and adjust instruction to accommodate for the needs of our students. 

But please remember: every dot is a child. 

A graph depicting my student’s growth from baseline to summative assessment in vocabulary knowledge.
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Homework is Dead, Long Live Homework

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At the beginning of this year I interpreted at a parent-teacher conference for a Ukrainian third grade student. He was a second year English Language (EL) learner.  The teacher praised both his academic and social progress. His mother listened politely and nodded at the appropriate times. At the end of the conference, the teacher asked if she had questions. The mother asked,  “Why is my son getting so little homework?” 


A note written by a Ukrainian parent. Translated it states:
Please give my son more homework in all subject areas.

More than a decade ago, Alfie Kohn wrote, “The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing.” Stanford published a study in 2014 showing the pitfalls of homework. Other studies cropped up. All detailing the ineffectiveness and negative impacts of homework. With homework steadily gaining a bad reputation, my district and school decided to encourage teachers to decrease the amount of homework given to our K-5 students. 

Parents noticed. 

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Can We Talk?

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My parents in 1999. When we immigrated to the U.S.

I can count the number of times my dad came to one of my school events on one hand. The most memorable was my high school graduation. Until I saw him sitting in the stands, I hadn’t been sure he’d come.

Was it because he didn’t care about my education? He kept a close eye on my grades and always repeated, “You can do anything. You just have to want it.” Was it because his work schedule didn’t allow it? He was self-employed and so had a flexible schedule.

Like many parents of the students in our classrooms, he did not speak English. My dad never felt comfortable in the school environment, because he never became a proficient English speaker. The moment he left Ukraine and stepped foot on U.S. soil he went from being respected and competent to ignorant.

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