When Lori Phanachone, a Laotian American teenager born in California, told officials at her new Iowa high school that a language other than English was spoken in her home, she was categorized as an “English Language Learner” and forced to take a basic English proficiency exam.  She passed the test as a sophomore, and felt the requirement to take it again the following year was insulting.

Despite her 3.9 GPA, school officials said she was “illiterate” because she refused to continue taking the English Language Development Assessment (ELDA). They called Phanachone’s refusal “insubordination” and suspended her for three days.

The plot thickens, however – it appears that the high school may have misused Panachone’s indication of Lao as the primary language spoken in her home in order to obtain extra federal funds available for students determined to have limited English proficiency.  “[The school] labeled me an English Language Learner when I enrolled without even bothering to test me. All I want is to continue my education without the school labeling me unfairly,” said Phanachone.

See the full story here on Colorlines.com.