SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell and the California State Board of Education are asking the U.S. Department of Education to allow California to continue to assess the English proficiency of kindergarten and first grade students based on listening, speaking, and comprehension skills. The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law that California is seeking to change would require all students, including K-1st graders, to also be tested in reading and writing.

"We want all children to successfully learn English and be able to demonstrate their comprehension of both the spoken and written word," O'Connell said. "However, waiving the reading and writing testing requirement for very young children just makes sense. Kindergarteners and first graders will benefit far more from additional classroom instruction than from a time consuming one-on-one administration of reading and writing tests. Furthermore, testing experts question the reliability of reading and writing assessments for such young students."

California's English proficiency test, the California English Language Development Test (CELDT), currently assesses listening, speaking, and comprehension skills in kindergarten through grade twelve, and assesses reading and writing skills in grades two through twelve. NCLB requires all states to test all English language learners in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. This waiver request is consistent with O'Connell's ongoing effort to reduce unnecessary testing.

O'Connell and Ruth E. Green, President of the State Board of Education, sent the attached letter to the U.S. Department of Education requesting the waiver.

O'Connell and the State Board will encourage other states across the country to seek similar waivers to protect classroom instruction time for kindergarten and first grades students.

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Letter to Ray Simon - PDF (44KB; 2pp.; Revised 23-Oct-2006) | DOC (481KB; 2pp.; 23-Oct-2006)