Arizona Made Its English Fluency Test Easier to Pass. Experts Say It Will Harm Students’ Ability to Succeed.

Samantha Ramos, an English language development teacher at John B. Wright Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona, recently led a phonics lesson focused on the short "i" sound. Her 15-year career in the classroom saw her instruct students primarily composed of Spanish-speaking Latino children, who remain in the program until they pass a test demonstrating English fluency.

Known as "structured English immersion," or colloquially as "English-only," all instruction must be conducted in English, restricting students' exposure to core subjects like math and science. The test, the Arizona English Language Learner Assessment (AZELLA), measures students' progress in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

This approach has been mandatory since 2000, when Arizona voters passed Proposition 203, banning bilingual education in public schools.

However, the Arizona Department of Education recently decided to make the test easier to pass, lowering the passing grade to better align with outgoing Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne's support for Arizona's English-only policies. Education experts, including Katie Bernstein, an applied linguist at Arizona State University, warn that this change will negatively impact tens of thousands of students.

Such students, who are already part of the lowest-performing group on standardized tests, will be further disadvantaged as they exit the structured English immersion program before gaining sufficient language proficiency. Bernstein explains that placing such students in classrooms where they lack understanding of English will hinder their language and content learning, leading to the worst possible outcomes for these students.

The Arizona Department of Education previously addressed a similar issue when federal officials determined the AZELLA test version administered between 2006 and 2012 was not a valid measure of English language proficiency. As a result, the state settled a case, agreeing to help school districts find and provide intervention services for the previously harmed students. The settlement required the state to revamp the AZELLA test, raising the proficiency test score threshold for qualifying as proficient in English.