At Animo Jefferson Middle School many students have to take a test known as The English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC). The ELPAC is a test that students at AJMS who are bilingual take every year. A student who is an emergent bilingual is someone who might come from a different place or at home they might just speak a different language than English. Most of our students that are English learners are students that are Spanish speakers at home. So throughout the year these students get special classes to help them learn English and in the middle of the year they get a test to see how much English they’ve learned.
Why is this important?
Assistant Principal Eric Brito talked about the importance of ELPAC testing and explained what it does for students.
“Its very important because we want to have students that are able to be successful in the United States and other places in the world, and learning English is important to do that,” said Brito
How does the ELPAC work?
Brito explained the program and how it works.
“Different grades have different classes that are like an extra English class. In those classes Ms. Briseno, Ms. Ramirez, and Mr. Farkas are the main teachers so the times change depending on the period and grade,” said Brito.
He continued: “These students have the class everyday through the whole year, this year we even did some like Saturday. Every year we are doing better and better, we hope that more of our students score higher on the test, so that is my goal just getting better every year.”
Students reflect on taking the ELPAC
Students at AJMS that recently took the ELPAC explained some of the strategies they used and how they felt about the ELPAC.
Guadalupe Miguel, an eighth grade student who took the ELPAC said, “In the ELPAC testing some strategies I used are taking notes and reading the question.”
Another student, eighth grader Eulalia Chiroy took the ELPAC said, “In ELPAC we do a test from reading, listening, and writing. I feel like the ELPAC test helps me in a way where in my other classes I listen better. Some strategies I used in the ELPAC were taking notes.”
Martin Sandoval, another eighth grader who took the ELPAC said, “I think the ELPAC is helping me in general because it’s helping me build up my future not just in school.”
