{"id":27,"date":"2026-09-16T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/?p=27"},"modified":"2026-09-16T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:00:00","slug":"arizona-made-its-english-fluency-test-easier-to-pass-experts-say-it-will-harm-students-ability-to-succeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dwts-elimination.myftp.biz\/?p=27","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Made Its English Fluency Test Easier to Pass. Experts Say It Will Harm Students\u2019 Ability to Succeed."},"content":{"rendered":"


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Samantha Ramos stood at the front of her second grade classroom, a small mic clipped to her lanyard amplifying her instructions as she began a phonics lesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we get our arms ready?\u201d asked Ramos, who\u2019s taught at the John B. Wright Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona, for 15 years. She brought her right palm to her left shoulder as the students imitated her movements.<\/p>\n

Ramos, who specializes in teaching English as a second language, was leading a lesson that day on the short \u201ci\u201d sound. She told the students to pronounce each letter with a different gesture \u2014 touching the shoulder for the \u201cw,\u201d the elbow for the \u201ci\u201d and the hand for the double \u201cl\u201d \u2014 before sounding out the word \u201cwill.\u201d They repeated the process for other short \u201ci\u201d words \u2014 \u201cdig,\u201d \u201cwig\u201d and \u201cfit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lesson is part of a daily block of language instruction, ranging from two to four hours long, that Arizona students learning English as a second language are required to take. The students, most of them Spanish-speaking Latino children, remain in the program, separated for part of that time from their peers whose primary language is English, until they pass a test showing they\u2019re fluent enough to learn in a mainstream classroom.<\/p>\n

The program is known as \u201cstructured English immersion,\u201d or colloquially as \u201cEnglish-only\u201d because all instruction is required to be in English. This limits their time for core subjects, like math and science, that are critical to academic success and college readiness. Arizona is the only state with English-only laws still in effect for its public schools.<\/p>\n

But the number of students enrolled in the curriculum has tumbled dramatically this year. At the Tucson Unified School District, where Ramos teaches, the percentage of test-taking students who scored high enough to be classified as proficient in English more than doubled \u2014 from 10% in 2025 to 24% in 2026.<\/p>\n

Rather than a big leap in fluency, however, the test results reflect the Arizona Department of Education lowering the grade needed to pass. The changes were approved by outgoing Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, a longtime Republican defender of Arizona\u2019s English-only policies.<\/p>\n

Experts warn this change will do lasting harm to tens of thousands of Arizona students who will exit the structured English immersion program before they know the language well enough to succeed. Such students are already part of the lowest-performing group on standardized tests, and the loss of specialized instruction could further harm their long-term academic success, according to education researchers.<\/p>\n

Past attempts by the Arizona Department of Education to reclassify large numbers of children learning English as fluent prompted federal investigations by the departments of Justice and Education. Federal officials contended placing such students in classrooms where they struggled because they lacked knowledge of English violated their civil and educational rights, and Arizona agreed to a settlement more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s happening now could be a repeat of that, said Katie Bernstein, an applied linguist and professor of early childhood education at Arizona State University.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re put in a class where you don\u2019t understand what\u2019s going on at all, you\u2019re not learning language or content,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so those are the worst outcomes of all, are students who are not given any language services.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ramos teaches her students phonics during a daily block of English-language immersion.<\/span> Cassidy Araiza for ProPublica<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Nearly 1 in 10 students enrolled in Arizona public and charter schools marked in their school registration forms they speak a language other than English at home. State law mandates that they be assessed for fluency and placed in structured English immersion, and each spring they take the Arizona English Language Learner Assessment, or AZELLA, to measure their progress in reading, writing, speaking and listening.<\/p>\n

This approach has been required since Arizona voters passed a 2000 ballot initiative, Proposition 203, banning bilingual education in public schools. Still, officials have periodically made changes to the proficiency test.<\/p>\n

The U.S. departments of Justice and Education determined the version of AZELLA administered between 2006 and 2012 \u2014 coinciding with Horne\u2019s first two terms as the state\u2019s top education official \u2014 was \u201cnot a valid measure of English language proficiency and readiness.\u201d As a result, the state had removed at least 28,000 students from structured English immersion who still lacked proficiency in reading and writing the language.<\/p>\n

The Arizona Department of Education was found to be in violation of civil rights laws that ban discrimination on the basis of race and national origin by schools that receive federal funds. The state voluntarily entered a settlement, which stressed that the law requires \u201ceducation agencies to take appropriate action to overcome language barriers that impede students\u2019 equal participation in instructional programs.\u201d<\/p>\n