For Foreign-Born Students, FCAT Can Shatter Dreams

By LAURA GREEN

Northport -- Alesia Dunchyk's parents left their jobs, family and familiar language two years ago in Belarus, a former part of the Soviet Union, with dreams of college for her, her brother and sisters.

"They had a good life. They had jobs," Dunchyk, 18, said. "They lost everything and started from zero just for me."

Now, Dunchyk, who has earned straight A's at North Port High School, worries her parents' sacrifice will be for nothing if she can't graduate from high school.

The odds in favor of Dunchyk succeeding are slim.

For students across the state whose first language is not English, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, meant to measure their knowledge, has instead become a test of their English skills. It is a test many of them fail.

In Sarasota County, not one high school senior in the the school district's program for struggling English speakers has passed the reading FCAT, a graduation requirement.

Despite taking it as many as five times, all 68 seniors in the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program have failed the test.

Even the students who have graduated into regular classes because their English skills have improved are failing almost without exception.

Only one of the 25 seniors who is classified as "formerly Limited English" has passed the reading test.

In Sarasota County, North Port's Russian and Ukrainian students and Sarasota's Spanish-speaking students are particularly at risk.

"These kids are so successful in their own country," said Zarghuna Rogers, an ESOL teacher. But here, she said they "are goin! g through a frustration beyond anyone's imagination."

In Florida, all students must take the FCAT, even if they have enrolled from another country the day before the test is administered.

Though these students struggle with conversational English, the high school reading test includes high-level vocabulary, such as the word "disgorged," which can mean to surrender or to vomit, depending on the context.

The state allows a two-year grace period for ESOL students before their scores count. But high school students -- the ones who have the most to lose by failing -- are the exception. They must pass both the math and reading tests before they graduate.

Students who enroll in high school less than a year before graduation receive some accommodations. A teacher can translate the directions into their native language and help with definitions.

Other foreign students with more than a year in school can use a dictionary translating English words to their first language and extra time to take the test. But the dictionary must contain only word-to-word translations, no definitions or parts of speech.

Students have complained that the dictionaries often don't contain all of the words they need to translate. Some schools don't have dictionaries in all the necessary languages.

The first time Dunchyk took the FCAT, she read so little English that she resorted to guessing at the answers.

When she took it a third time last month, she could read all of the passages, although she had to look up some words in her dictionary.

In less than two years, her conversations have evolved from phrases like "My name is ..." to American idioms, such as the one she uses to describe her situation now: "My hands are tied."

She has adopted the American name Alicia, and wants to start looking at colleges like her peers in North Port High School's senior class.

But without a passing score on the FCAT, she said there's no point in thinking of becoming an ophthalmologist.

If Dunchyk finds out next month she failed the test a third time, she'll have only one more shot before graduation.

Then her options include attending a 13th year of school or trying her luck at another test.

Students who can't pass the FCAT may graduate if they can earn a certain score on the SAT or ACT, college placement exams. On the SAT, they need a score of 410 on the verbal section and 370 on math. The cutoff score on the ACT is 15.

That alternative doesn't offer much hope.

Most students who can't read well enough to pass the FCAT don't score high enough on the SAT either.

Only about 100 students statewide were able to graduate using SAT or ACT scores during the 2003-2004 school year, the first year the alternative exams were counted. Figures were unavailable for the last school year.

Students who know the content, but can't express it in English, need other options, said North Port High School Principal George Kenney.

"It's a pretty unfair situation," Kenney said.

Educators said that despite reading difficulties, many of the ESOL students manage to do well in a classroom setting because they excel in math and science, classes that require less reading.

Many ESOL students also understand English when it's spoken better than in the written form, said Don Blair, the Sarasota schools ESOL coordinator. Thus, they learn well in a lecture setting.

But with little expectation of getting into college without a high school diploma, some ESOL students said they have become depressed and consider dropping out.