[Editor’s Note: Sue Carrel and Leo Gorenstein were contracted by the State of Washington’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction through the School of Teaching English as a Second Language (STESL) to produce a ten-hour workshop for parapros for whom English is not their first language to help the parapros pass the ParaPro Assessment test. The article below is an account of their findings concerning parapros and the test in the first workshop using their curriculum. The workshop was held January 22, 25 and 27 in Burien, Washington, just south of Seattle.]

“I work with three and four year olds and an autistic child,” said Lucia at a ParaPro Assessment test prep workshop in late January just south of Seattle. The ten-hour workshop, held over three days, was attended by 18 parapros from the Seattle to Tacoma area who have other languages than English as their first language.

In fact, of the 18 parapros at the workshop, at least three work only with primary age children, two with pre-school aged children, one as a liaison for Cambodians, one who assists new immigrants to enter the school system and provide special services to families, one works as a crossing guard, recess assistant and paraeducator, and all provide essential services for their schools and students.

Despite the fact that the 18 parapros held a variety of jobs that require many different skills, all but two of the18 must take and pass the same tricky exam (and in many cases irrelevant exam with a preponderance of test questions aimed at the upper grades and beginning high school level) by early 2006 or lose their jobs that typically pay in the low $20,000s for one school year.

A tricky test that requires a myriad of skills

According to the Educational Testing Service (ETS) that publishes the “ParaPro Assessment”, the test is not tricky. On page 14 of the Study Guide ETS produces and sells for $25 it’s stated: “There are no trick questions on the test. (Some questions may be difficult for you, but they were not written in order to trick you or other test takers.)”

However, in question 54 in the study guide’s practice test on a problem dealing with solving an algebraic equation with the solution of 20 given, one of the incorrect response choices states, “Replace the x in the equation with 20, divide by 5, and check to see if the left and right sides of the equation are equal.”

It is very common for many math teachers to teach students to divide both sides (by five in this case) of an equation. Is leaving out ‘both sides’ just a fair distracter or just plain tricky because one would assume both sides?

ETS also states that 40 percent of the test (12 of the 30 questions in each of the three test sections — reading, math and writing) are “application” questions, ETS’ attempt to test the parapros on their jobs in the classroom. However these questions (which along with the “skill” questions cover a myriad of skills in reading, math and writing) are mainly aimed at the upper levels of elementary school classrooms. Very few are aimed at the primary or pre-school level where many parapros work. So, while the practice test is filled with questions asking the parapro how to best help students with outlining, how to make an essay persuasive, comparing six fractions mainly by changing to decimals or equivalent fractions in 24ths without a calculator (no calculators allowed on the test) and asking about relationships in a 35 line passage, there are no questions asking parapros how to best help primary students with addition.

According to the study guide on page two, part of the reason that the test exists is to measure the ability of parapros to assist in classroom instruction. By analyzing the application questions on the test however, skills needed in reading, math and writing for primary, pre-school and special-needs classroom instruction are largely left out.

18 Workshop participants: many jobs

As shown above, the 18 participants in the January workshop hold a variety of jobs. None of them worked in classrooms above the fifth-grade level. (Elementary schools in the Seattle area tend to be K-5, unlike Chicago’s K-8). While all of the participants help students, the test questions held very little relevance for their daily jobs. But the test does hold a great deal of relevance to them keeping their jobs.

According to the study guide which states on page two, “The ParaPro Assessment was developed in response to the federal legislation known as No Child Left Behind, which was signed into law by President Bush in January 2002.” The law mandates that beginning January 8, 2002, paraprofessionals be required to have one of the following:

• An associate of arts degree

• Two years of College

• A passing score on a test that measures reading, writing and mathematics and the ability to assist in the instruction of reading, writing and mathematics

So, all but two of the 18 workshop participants who have two-year degrees must pass the test. But, although the test is of great importance to the parapros, it is impossible to tell the parapros what they have to do to pass the test

15 problems don’t count and are the questions weighted?

One of the important bits of knowledge a teacher imparts to his/her students is what it takes to pass. But it’s difficult to find out what score it takes to pass ETS’ “ParaPro Assessment.”

The study guide states that five questions in each section — reading, math and writing — don’t count. Armed with that knowledge and the fact that the State of Washington requires a 461 score which translates to 51 correct responses on the test, teachers could give the students a broad range of how many problem a test taker needs to get right in order to pass.

It was clear from the scoring key in the back of the ETS practice test booklet (which lists passing scores by state) that 51 out of 90 would pass if you missed all 15 questions that don’t count and that it would require 66 out of 90 if a test taker got all 15 that don’t count correct. However, it was then learned from a state official who talked to ETS that the questions were weighted. How they are weighted was not clear and ETS did not make it clear according to the state official. Therefore, there was no way to tell the students what was required to pass the test.

In the back of ETS’ Practice Test booklet (a 33-pager you can buy for an additional $12 from ETS) there’s a scoring guide that has five questions and answers shaded. To tally the final score, one is supposed to count only the unshaded questions, a fact one won’t know when they get the actual 90-problem test. The guidelines don’t mention anything about weighting of questions as did the ETS official on the telephone.

ETS’ unchallengeable view

The ETS assertively states on page two of its study guide, “The test measures skills and knowledge in reading, mathematics and writing as well as the ability to apply those skills and knowledge to assist in classroom instruction.” ETS also asserts that its questions aren’t tricky and implies that the questions assess a parapro’s job fairly and that its test fairly assesses what parapros should be able to do on their jobs.

It makes and implies the above even though it won’t let anyone know definitively what passes the test. Additionally it has made a judgement that the law implies no allowances should be made for different needs in different classrooms.

And ETS is charging quite a bit of money for its services and publications. The State of Washington paid $37 for the study guide and practice test for the 18 workshop participants (a demonic $666 total). Each of the 16 who will take the test will be charged $40 for test registration (another $640) with an assortment of other possible fees (see ets.org/ parapro) surrounding actually taking the test.

At the end of the three day workshop, the parapros (whose first languages include Cambodian, Thai, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, French and a few others) while feeling better about the test due to the workshop, were quite concerned about their futures, jobs, schools and children they love.

One parapro summed up the feelings of many at the end of the workshop when she said, “I’ve been in my district for 24 years. Now I’m scared.”
 

A China Story By Leo Gorenstein Editor’s Note:  After Leo Gorenstein and Sue Carrel held a workshop that they developed through the School of Teaching English as a Second Language (STESL) for Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to help parapros pass the ParaPro Assessment, they held a workshop for State of Washington trainers who would then teach the curriculum to parapros around the state. The training session was held January 27 in Renton, Washington, just south of Seattle.  Gorenstein related a story to the trainers from Carrel and Gorenstein’s 1997-98 teaching experience in China that compared Chinese workers to Washington parapros.

"When Sue and I taught English as a Second Language, really English for a Specific Purpose, in Shanghai during the 1997-98 school year, for the first semester all of our students were Chinese PhD students in science.  But, during the second semester, I also had a class of about 15 workers from a factory in a town – not a city since it only had one or two million people – about 700 miles northwest of Shanghai.  The people in charge of the factory wanted these particular workers to improve their English for a number of business reasons. That class was fun!  I didn’t have to give grades.  We could just have a good time with language.  We went on picnics together.  And the class went well as all 15 were improving their English.  However, there were one or two that could not speak English very well, although quite a bit better in comparison to the Chinese I spoke. About one week before the eight-week special class was to end the group leader came to me and informed me that I would have to give each of the 15 a grade.  And not just any grade, but a number from zero to 100. I was terribly upset.  But, I made out grades.  Then the next day the leader came back to me and told me that if I kept the grades that I’d assigned, Mr. Zhu wouldn’t be paid for the eight weeks of the class. I changed my grades. It seems that in China, at least in this instance, that workers might not get paid if their score is too low.  Will it be in the State of Washington that workers lose their jobs when they don’t pass a test? Sue and I have just spent two days with 18 wonderful parapros and will finish the workshop with a third session later today.  We can see they are highly qualified for their jobs and that they deeply care about their schools and students.  We think that their schools and students are lucky to have them.  We feel that it is very important for all educators to stand up strongly and oppose high stakes tests that don’t make sense and that punish, rather than help our fellow workers and our students.