Abstract
The educational accountability systems of both the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 and the state of Florida (as of 1999) were modeled after Texas' system, despite its flaws. NCLB reaches for all students to achieve academic proficiency and designates students with limited English proficiency (LEP) as an important subgroup. As we work with NCLB, the situation in Florida can be illustrative for other states. This case study examines circumstances for LEP students in Florida's system to inform educators and policymakers nationwide. More specifically, the purpose of this case study was to examine (a) Florida's high-stakes testing requirements for LEP students; (b) trends in reported LEP students' grade 10 test scores; (c) options for LEP students who do not pass the high-stakes test; and (d) Florida's drop-out rate, especially for LEP students. Investigations revealed that the Florida Department of Education: (a) Follows the U.S. Department of Education's (USDOE) directive in reporting the scores of LEP students for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for NCLB, which can inflate aggregated test scores of LEP students, thereby also inflating aggregated scores of standard curriculum students; (b) Maintains state policies that encourage LEP students to drop out of high school; and (c) Allows policies that can results in a deflation of the reported drop-out rate. The importance of results for other states and educational agencies is discussed.