Volume 20, Number 3
May/June 2004
Assessing Young Immigrant Students
Are We Finding Their Strengths?
by Evangeline Harris Stefanakis
Currently, one in five public school students in the U.S. is either the child of immigrant parents or is an immigrant her- or himself. Yet it is far too easy for these children, especially those whose dominant language is not English, to "fail" preschool screening and later testing and to enter school with the label "special needs." Many teachers and specialists are sensitive to the limitations of standardized tests, but state law mandates that kindergarten screening take place so that the system is "in compliance."
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