Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990                   TAG: 9006080837
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.                                LENGTH: Short

FAILING TEST BY ONE POINT BARS IMMIGRANT FROM GRADUATION

No exceptions are made on the district's competency tests, which all students must pass to graduate, said Superintendent Pat Sandro.

"I'm sure people would say, `Just give her the test again,' " Sandro said. "But if you don't have standards, where do you draw the line?"

Ngoc-Nu Lam, 21, spoke virtually no English when she arrived from her native Vietnam six years ago. She has a B average at Union High School, and has been accepted at Ferris State University, where she hoped to study computer science.

Sandro said Lam can retake the test in August, but Lam and supporters are urging Sandro to have the test regraded or allow her to retake it immediately. They say the wait might jeopardize college financial aid, even if she passes.

Peggy Chance-Hicks, a Grand Valley State University tutor who works with Lam in a bilingual student program, said Lam failed the conversational English part of the test in which students read a paragraph and rewrite it conversationally.

Conversational English is one of Lam's weaknesses because her family speaks Chinese or Vietnamese at home, Chance-Hicks said.

She said the way the section is graded may have an inherent cultural bias.

"When the test becomes a barrier to a student - who through their own tenacity and self-perseverance will become a success - then it is a problem," Chance-Hicks said.