About a year ago I had the privilege of walking two of our Nepali sixth grade girls--refugees whose families had resettled in Kansas City--through the application process for an afternoon scholarship program. Part of the application involved a placement test which had three portions to it: reading, math and writing.
When I picked the girls up from the placement test, I asked them how it went. With a panicked expression they asked me, “Kristen, what is a spaceship?” The writing assessment prompt that they were asked to respond to involved a spaceship, and they didn’t know what that was. Two of our brightest girls who spoke very good English had no clue what a spaceship was.
This fall, we are setting out with the goal of teaching everyone what a spaceship is. Well, not really, but we are hoping that through partnership with students, families, community members and volunteers we will be able to expose a select group of students to enrichment activities and experiences that will set them up for success!
Who are these kids? They are the 11 new Bhutanese Leaders in Training students! We are thrilled to be launching this new branch of Mission Adelante’s Leaders in Training program to our Bhutanese students. This fall marks the fifth year of the Latino Leaders in Training and the first for the Bhutanese. We are excited about dreaming of the future the Lord holds for these kids, and what it will hold as they become leaders, changing their lives, families and communities!
1 comment
Wow-just another example of the cultural assumptions/biases of standardized testing. :/
I'm rejoicing with you at the launch of the Bhutanese LIT!
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