Guide for Action - Ways to get involved

1. TAKE THE TESTS!
Here are a list of TAKS and RPTE release tests that you can download and take. By doing this, you can get a firsthand view of what the TAKS tests look like in both their English and Spanish versions. You can also look at the RPTE and make a judgment about whether proficiency on it indicates readiness to take the TAKS in English and study academic content solely in English.

Download by clicking (pdf files)

3rd grade TAKS in English - July 2004	3rd grade RPTE
3rd grade TAKS in Spanish -July 2004	4th and 5th grade RPTE
5th grade TAKS in English - April 2004	6th to 8th grade RPTE
5th grade TAKS in Spanish - April 2004	9th to 12th grade RPTE
10th grade (exit-level) TAKS (only in English) - April 2004	for other years' tests, click here
for other levels of TAKS or other years' tests, click here

Now that you've taken the test, click here to send a comment on it to your U.S. Senators or Representative, your State Senators or Representative, or your State Board of Education representative

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2. Get locally involved! Ask your local school board or superintendent how your district supports English Language Learners and bilingual education instruction. If you don't like what you hear, make your dissatisfaction known!

3. Contact your governmental representatives Click on this link to find your U.S. Senators or Representative, your State Senator or Representative, or your State Board of Education representative. Send them all emails. Let them know that you will no longer tolerate bias against English Language Learners in this state.

4. Demand multiple, compensatory criteria as assessments for all students, but particularly English Language Learners. That's fancy talk for saying, "Don't test our kids in just one way. Use several ways to get a balanced perspective before making judgments on the child, teacher, or school." To lend your support for a bill proposing this, click here.

5. Keep bilingual education alive. Currently, our state is "throwing away" bilingual education by valuing a transition to English-only instruction. Does this make sense for the future of our state? According to former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, "It is high time we begin to treat language skills as the asset they are, particularly in this global economy." This quote was taken in 1994. How long do we have to wait?

6. Expand the RPTE from three levels to five. If we really wish to measure the transition of students from zero English to readiness for academic work on grade level, we need to recognize what years of language acquisition research tell us - five years is ambitious, seven is still normal, and three is... a recipe for failure.