Education

Sen. Webb Has Considered Legislation on Testing ELLs

By Mary Ann Zehr — March 15, 2007 1 min read
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Virginia Senator Jim Webb’s communications director Jessica Smith called me--and sent an e-mail--to say I was wrong to suggest in my post yesterday that Sen. Webb hasn’t spent much time considering the request from the Virginia School Boards Association to introduce legislation that would affect how some U.S. school districts carry out the testing of English-language learners this school year.

Here’s an excerpt from her e-mail message providing additional information:

“I told you we hadn’t seen the specific language of the legislation in question—so it’s hard for the Senator to take a firm stand at this time. But our office has met several times with the Virginia School Boards Association [at least two meetings with our office this week], and we have a good working relationship with them. I think to say that we haven’t spent much time considering the legislation is an incorrect and inappropriate judgment.”

Ms. Smith still hasn’t given any indication, though, about whether the senator intends to introduce the legislation or not.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Learning the Language blog.