Report: When Young Spanish-Speaking Students are Tested in Spanish, Math Scores Improve

A recent report in Educational Researcher touches on the intersection of two hot-button education issues: dual language learners and testing.

The report examines the difference between giving a young Spanish-speaking child a math test written in Spanish or in English. At the end of kindergarten and at the end of first grade, the Spanish-speaking students tested significantly better on the Spanish-language test than on the English-language test.

More than 1,600 students from 701 different classrooms were tested, using data available in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K). The study was authored by Joseph P. Robinson, an assistant professor in educational psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

As Robinson points out, many of the accommodations given to young dual language learners are borrowed from the special education field, without much regard to whether they are effective for children who speak another language at home. Some believe that math is a “language-neutral” subject and that the language of testing doesn’t matter.

The study clearly points to the contrary: The young children performed better when they were tested in their native language, which poses some interesting questions to policymakers and state governments. If young dual language learners’ scores are being statistically underreported, then these children are likely being placed on slower math tracks and they may likely believe that their understanding of math is worse than it actually is. Meanwhile, assessments are becoming more important in determining a child’s progress in school, not to mention that school, district, and state’s educational success overall. Yet, only nine states—Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, and Wisconsin— allow children to take math tests that have been translated into their native language. Could other states be effectively shooting themselves in the foot by not allowing these extra accommodations?