English Learners Left Behind: Standardized Testing As Language Policy

In the wake of recent federal legislation, high-stakes standardized testing is being emphasized in educational systems across the US for all students, including English language learners (ELLs). Yet language proficiency mediates test performance, so ELLs typically receive scores far below those of other students. Menken (linguistics, Queens College, City University of New York) argues that tests have become de facto language policy in schools, shaping what is taught in school, how it is taught, and in what languages. She focuses on New York City schools as an example of how schools have responded to testing mandates. Distributed in the US by UTP Distribution. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kate Menken is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at Queens College of the City University of New York (CUNY), and a Research Fellow at the Research Institute for the Study of Language in an Urban Society at the CUNY Graduate Center. Previously, she was a teacher of English as a second language.