School Administrators Work To Develop Foreign Language Exams

With New York State no longer developing final exams for select foreign languages and threatening to eliminate more due to budget restrictions, a group of Long Island school administrators has met in an effort to develop proficiency tests for middle school and high school students.

The Foreign Language Association of Chairpersons and Supervisors (FLACS), which includes representatives from 60 school districts across Nassau and Suffolk counties, held a public meeting Wednesday at Half Hollow Hills East High School in Dix Hills. FLACS officials said the group is working to fill the void created by the state. Districts that do not join the consortium will have to create these exams for themselves, since the state is no longer providing them.

Recently, New York eliminated the creation of all non-English language exams at the middle school level and of Hebrew, Latin and German Regents exams at the high school level. The state will continue to create Regents exams for Spanish, French and Italian, but it also considering eliminating the creation of the Italian exam for the 2011-12 school year.

As a result of these decisions, the burden of creating exams now falls to local schools. In addition, costs associated with the development of the test is also passed to local school districts, but exact figures on what it will cost Long Island school districts are not available.

"What we are doing is not sexy but it is critically important," said Francesco L. Fratto, public relations officer for FLACS. "We have to protect our foreign language programs. It is vital to our students' success. We have to ensure that our children have the appropriate assessments. The state is putting us at risk, but we are going to react properly."

In addition to his role with FLACS, Fratto also serves as director of Language Other Than English/English As A Second Language with the Half Hollow Hills School District.

According to Fratto, the state made the decision to cut the exams in October and is now threatening to charge school districts for each child that takes a Regents or assessment exam. "Even though the state has given us such a hard task to handle, we are all coming together and we don't have a problem sharing our process," he added.

And with the state likely to put forward further cuts in state aid next year, administrators are preparing for more challenges in the future. "We're not seeing a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow yet," said Carmen Campos, president of FLACS and head of the foreign language department with the Cold Spring Harbor School District. "And we'll probably have even more work next year. But it has to be done."

Dr. Geoffrey Gordon, superintendent of the , said the district started planning with with various neighboring school districts and organizations such as BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) and FLACS upon notification that the State Education Department would no longer produce the exams.  

After careful investigation, he and Dr. Nicholas Stirling, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, determined that FLACS was most most prepared to take on what they describe as a "challenging unfunded mandate."

Port Washington's own John Placella, foreign language department chairperson, is the immediate past president of FLACS and co-chair for the development of the Latin Regents. Stirling said that Placella and FLACS provide shared leadership in maintaining high standards for foreign language departments and most importantly ensuring that the curriculum continues to provide students with the opportunity to be at least bilingual.

"In order for our students to compete and function effectively in a world economy, foreign language proficiency is a skill that must be supported," said Gordon, who notes that he is a long-time supporter of foreign language at all levels. 

He added: "We are a school district that never shies away from a challenge and I am sure the work of the FLACS organization will ultimately benefit all students."