The Augusta Chronicle

METRO

February 25, 2003

Bill may excuse pupils

from mandatory tests

By Ashlee Griggs and Melissa Hall
Staff Writers
When Jiaguang Chu moved to
Augusta last year, there were many
obstacles to overcome - a new
school, new language.
The Chinese native's biggest
challenge, though, was the Georgia
High School Graduation Test.
"It was very hard, but I passed
everything except the science part,"
the 18 year-old said of the five-sec-
tion test.
Each year, Mr. Chu and other
immigrant students face a lan-	tered," said Rep. Teresa Greene-	gram. Twenty students are in the
guage barrier in addition to rigor-	Johnson, D-Lithonia, the bill's spon-	Grovetown program - three are
ous academics, but some legislators	sor and a fornrer English teacher	Russian and the others are Latinos.
would like to give them" more time	from DeKalb County who has also	Principal Joan Moore said about 4
to master English before holding	taught in a program called English	percent of her pupils are Spanish-
them to the same standards as	to Speakers of Other Languages.	speaking.
other Georgia students.	Lynne Woo, who teaches English	Ms. Moore said she would like to
If approved, House Bill 33 could	to Speakers of Other Languages at	see House Bill 33 go a step further.
exempt international students, with-	Glenn Hills High School, said she	"The administrative point of
out English skills from all state-	thinks the legislation is a good idea	view is that these children need
mandated student assessments for	but doesn't know whether all stu-	more time to be able to read the
their first year of enrollment in a	dents will take advantage of it.	language before they can respond
Georgia school.	"Some or my students think it is	to questions," the principal said.
"We have a growing population	better to go ahead and take the	”There are some students who
of immigrants here in Georgia, and	tests to see how they do. That way	aren't prepared, even after their
we need to be sure we are giving	they know what to expect," she said.	second year in the classroom."
the immigrant students a fair op-	Grovetown Elementary School is	House Bill 33 would let a com-
portunity to learn the language	one of the two schools in Columbia	mittee decide whether a student
before holding them accountable	County that has the English to
for the skil1s they haven't mas-	Speakers of Other Languages pro-
may take the test, but the school	chal, whose school has Latinos
would still be able to deny the	in addition to children from
student’s participation.	Africa and Korea.
“When they come in and are	A house study committee is
required to take the standard-	looking at the bill to see whe-
ized testing at the state level,	ther it violates the federal No
it’s usually just a frustration to	Child Left Behind Act.
them, and we don’t get back	Rep. Ben Harbin, R-Evans,
enough data or information that	said he’s not sure he would sup-
would be helpful to us because	port the measure.
they are really unable to test in	“I would be concerned that it
English at that point in time.”	could be misused to not put the
said Stevens Creek Elementary	pressure on getting those kids to
School Principal Michelle Pas-	learn English quickly,” he said.
	“I would have to hear a lot of
	arguments as to why that is a
	good idea.”
	Reach Ashlee Griggs and Melissa Hall at
	(706)724-061