Zainab Muhammad

ESC 759- Foundations of Bilingual and Bicultural Education

Professor Smith

No Child Left Behind and Implications for English Language Learners

As educators, we understand that all of our students have goals and unique challenges to meet
them. Federal legislation has changed in the last few decades to create a more efficient learning
process for all K-12 students. While this mandate has been useful in many areas, the questions
that Ill ask throughout this essay will be how realistic has the initiative No Child Left Behind or
NCLB been in meeting the needs of emergent bilinguals. Also, Ill explore if NCLB is teacher
and student friendly and if not, what ways educators can tailor learning in their classroom to suit
the needs of their emergent bilingual or EB students to be more effective.

NCLB and ESL students

NCLB is a federal initiative headed by former President George W. Bush and his administration
in 2001. As had been the tradition since Lyndon B Johnson, this education initiative was created
to refocus the objective of American education. The mission of NCLB was to create a curriculum
that had all students testing at their grade level or higher. NCLB created stringent education
requirements for schools and states. Title I of NCLB, which provides federal funding to schools
with low-income students, required "...schools to meet state-established Annual Yearly Progress
(AYP) goals and to achieve 100% proficiency relative to those goals by 2014"( Winke, P. 2011).
The reaction to this new initiative and its expectations was met with foreboding and speculation,
as is the norm when new education policy is rolled out. The greatest issue that school
administrators, parents and communities wanted to know was if it would be effective. In the case
of immigrant students and their communities, their concern was a bit more specific. Their
concern was, how will this initiative include us? This is a question that I think is constantly
asked, at least with educators, as were constantly working with the goal of adjusting and

Zainab Muhammad
ESC 759- Foundations of Bilingual and Bicultural Education
Professor Smith

redressing pedagogical black holes'. It would stand to reason that parents are also asking the
same question and trying to improve outcomes, albeit in a different context. The concern may be
verbalized as why does my child need to take this exam in English or how can that teacher
teach my child when they dont speak the same language.

With consideration to English language learners, there are many markers of NCLB that can be
concerning for emergent bilinguals learners and educators.
Standardized Testing
An expectation of NCLB is to create a federal guideline for output with the standarized test used
to determine the effectiveness of instruction. Again, while this may be helpful for politicians to
determine where and how funds are expended, the types of standardized exams that many EB are
required to take are not entirely useful in assessing their proficiency. For these students, there are
no federal mandates that allow for students to take exams in their native language. In some cities
with large immigrant populations, some students are allowed to take exams in their native
language up until theyre in their third year of English instruction. These exams are almost
entirely in Spanish. Even for students taking these exams, a lack of cultural awareness serves a
barrier for even these students; simply because a student comes from a Spanish speaking country
does not mean that that student has a written understanding of Spanish. Also, many students from
Spanish speaking countries speak regional languages that are not Spanish. A lack of linguistic
sensitivity and awareness in test development serves as a disadvantage for EB students and
equates to academic bias. "When measuring the progress of ELLs, little confidence can be placed
in tests that assume a mastery of English skills and that were never designed with ELLs in mind.

Zainab Muhammad
ESC 759- Foundations of Bilingual and Bicultural Education
Professor Smith

This principle holds true not only in reading/language arts assessments but in mathematics
assessments as well" (Crawford, 2004)

EB students are expected to take and produce results that would be the same for native speakers.
NCLB included a mandated that stated that, ... 95% of students within each subgroup
including ELLs who have been in the United States less than 1 yearmust be tested for a school
or district to meet its AYP (U.S. Department of Education, 2004b). Also, since each subgroup
must achieve the same school and statewide AYP goals that apply to the general population,
ELLs must also meet English language proficiency benchmarks through additional tests.
(Winke, 2014) Even when these students work from bilingual language instruction to mainstream
English language classes, as we understand, these students will still use the influence of their
mother tongue. Whether its interference or language blending, from a trans-languaging
perspective, we know that emergent bilingual students will use elements of their language to
build their understanding of English. As such, emergent bilingual students being asked to
perform on the same level as students performing with one language seems impractical.

There were mandates to oversee and regulate language instruction before NCLB. "As a result of
NCLB and its emphasis on testing, the Bilingual Education Act was renamed the English
Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act" (Wiese &
Garcia, 2001). The changes in name also signaled a shift in the approach to bilingual education.
...even though the act still leaves with state and local educators the ability to choose from
instructional methods, "the statement of purpose and accountability requirements make clear that
the primary objective is English acquisition"(Owens, 2014). Again, from a trans-languaging

Zainab Muhammad
ESC 759- Foundations of Bilingual and Bicultural Education
Professor Smith

frame of reference, this places an importance or priority on a single language that can be
interpreted as bias at most or a clear sign of linguistic ignorance at the least. While it is
understandable that students are taught to build proficiency in English, not determining clear
goals and objectives certainly can lead to instances where the students home language is
progressively erased out of the education process. If were completely aware and understanding,
we know that language is culture; to teach in a climate that doesnt make provisions for bilingual
education a means that students will learn in an atmosphere that has the potential to be culturally
exclusionary.

Recommendations to create positive changes and adjustments

The Every Student Succeeds Act was implemented by President Obama to, again, readjust
education policy and practices to be more aligned with the needs of American students and to
define goals and projected outcomes. Some issues that I raised have been addressed as it
concerns ELL students, although massive changes have yet to take effect. There are still changes
that need to occur to ensure that ELL students are receiving a high-quality education. NCLB
hoped to be beneficial for the EB student in a number of ways. In regards to teacher training,
educators were, and continue to be, required to be highly qualified. However, what it means to be
highly qualified is subjective. The norm for ESL educators does not demand that the teacher
has proficiency in another language. Perhaps the field of bilingual education have been
challenging to staff; there hasn't been a need for educators to develop an awareness of their
student's language, on a tangible level as a requirement to teach ELL learners. Some progressive
educators have proposed that the requires to becoming an ELL teacher work as follows; "Year 1:
Intensive language training from the State Department and practice as a tutor in a school setting;

Zainab Muhammad
ESC 759- Foundations of Bilingual and Bicultural Education
Professor Smith

Year 2: Placement as a (federally-funded) assistant teacher in schools with high percentages of

DLLs and coursework focused on language development and practical teaching strategies; and
Year 3: Official certification and placement in classrooms with high percentages of
DLLs"( Menken, 2006) . If we talk about real trans languaging, perhaps for it to be fully
effective, the educator should have an understanding of what it means to speak that language, or
at a minimum, how difficult it is to learn a new language.

While the above is a systemic change, there are changes that educators can address in the
classroom.
Translanguaing and how to change the course
Being an English language instructor means that one is doing a number of jobs in one; were
working as teachers primarily, but we also serve as advocates, community liaisons, and cultural
ambassadors. While we have to continue to keep ourselves aware of mandated changes and
advocate for our students when we see unfair practices, one can only do but so much. I believe
that exclusion, bias, and underdeveloped curriculum can be combatted if the educator works
deliberately and diligently.

A progressive language teacher will embrace models like trans languaging as a tool to develop
and foster high-level education in the classroom. Trans-languaging ask the teacher to consider
the students linguistic background in the development of lesson and content. The educator
would;
Make use of the students home language to make connections to content objectives

Zainab Muhammad
ESC 759- Foundations of Bilingual and Bicultural Education
Professor Smith

The teacher should develop a system that incorporates the different languages of each student
with their lesson plans. Teaching content vocabulary is also helpful to using the student's
language to create a bridge to English.

Build language proficiency through cultural development

Students should feel culturally represented in the classroom. Instruction should be geared to
move students away from their home language and towards English, as per NCLB mandates.
However, teachers can certainly add elements of students cultural background to their lessons.
Thus can be done by incorporating songs, stories, lessons about food or holidays and other
cultural elements that students can identify with. By doing this, teachers can also build cultural
bridges to teach about other cultures.

Establish peer mentorship for the benefit of language instruction

In the past, some schools discouraged students speaking their home language in school. What
followed where whole generations of students that developed a certain level of apprehension
speaking their home languages. In many instances, home language understanding was partially
or entirely lost. This should not happen. In a classroom that incorporates practices of trans
languaging, students will use their home to work collaboratively with students they share
linguistic similarities. In this way, again, students are developing a bridge between English and
their native language.

All of these suggestions can easily take place and be aligned to city, state and federal mandates.

Zainab Muhammad
ESC 759- Foundations of Bilingual and Bicultural Education
Professor Smith

References
Crawford, J. (2004, September 14). No Child Left Behind: Misguided Approach to School ...
Retrieved August 14, 2016, from http://www.nabe.org/Resources/Documents/NCLB
page/NABE_on_NCLB.pdf

Hakuta, K., and Beatty, A., eds. (2000). Testing English-language learners in U.S. Schools:
Report and workshop summary. National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy
Press.

Zainab Muhammad
ESC 759- Foundations of Bilingual and Bicultural Education
Professor Smith

Menken, K. (2006). Teaching to the Test: How No Child Left Behind Impacts Language Policy,
Curriculum, and Instruction for English Language Learners. Bilingual Research Journal, 30(2),
521-546. doi:10.1080/15235882.2006.10162888

Owens, S. (2014). Foundations for Multilingualism in Education: From Principles to Practice ,

by Esther J. de Jong. Bilingual Research Journal, 37(1), 101-104.
doi:10.1080/15235882.2014.893268

Wiese, A., & Garcia, E. E. (2001). The Bilingual Education Act: Language Minority Students
and US Federal Educational Policy. International Journal of Bilingual Education and
Bilingualism, 4(4), 229-248. doi:10.1080/13670050108667730

Winke, P. (2011). Evaluating the Validity of a High-Stakes ESL Test: Why Teachers' Perceptions
Matter. TESOL Quarterly, 45(4), 628-660. doi:10.5054/tq.2011.268063