English Testing Only: Better for Whom??

Is it fair to give students a standardized test in English, when they don’t understand English?? Will doing this help them learn English?? Will this assess if these students are “proficient” accurately? Basic logic tells us that students, who don’t know English, won’t do well on a test in English. Whether they know the subject matter or not, giving someone a test written in an unknown language doesn’t give accurate results. There are some accommodations on the PSSA tests that were made for students that don’t speak English, but these accommodations are not nearly enough to help the problem. A mixture of logic, statistical evidence, and stories show the ways these accommodations fail the students it is claimed they help. While it may not be important to everyone that Spanish-speaking students be given a fair deal when it comes to education and standardized tests, some of these students are a part of our generation. The future is in each generation and fostering communication instead of misinterpretation and alienation would create a better world during that time.