The calendar lies forgotten in a corner of the classroom. (Meili Robles/Borderzine.com)

Nahuatl, the Aztec language that once graced Canutillo Elementary was displaced by pragmatism

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CANUTILLO, Tx. – While many schools are integrating bilingual studies into their programs, one teacher went beyond the two-language system at Canutillo Elementary to include Nahuatl, the Aztec language. Carlos Aceves, a fifth grade teacher at the school, began teaching Nahuatl and the Aztec calendar to his students in 1995. But in the same way that the Spanish did away with the Aztecs, the need to prepare students to take the state mandated achievement tests purged the Native American language from the curriculum. “The first year I did it without telling anybody,” recalls Aceves.

Some students do well on the test, but are not competitive when it comes to entering the real world said CISD Superintendent, Dr. Edward Gabaldon. (/Borderzine.com)

Achievement tests tend to pervade the school year, limiting other activities

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EL PASO – The preliminary scores of the new STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) test measuring the achievement of grade-school students came out this past summer prompting some in the Texas education community to ask if too much time is now spent on testing. “The Texas school system is good. It has good teachers and good students, but the problem is the accountability emphasis,” said Dr. Edward Gabaldon, Superintendent for the Clint Independent School District. Gabaldon said he is in favor of testing and accountability. However, he said he is concerned with the number of days dedicated to testing and the amount of pressure that the test puts on the students, parents and teachers.