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Elena sat opposite me in the soft glow of my office lamp. Her youthful face pressed forward, her expression all earnestness and hope. She began quietly, describing her immigration from Mexico not many years earlier and her almost immediate enrollment at the local community college, her plan to pursue a degree in health professions. She had requested a meeting, she said, because I was the composition coordinator and one of the few Latinx faculty members at the college. She hoped I would understand the difficulties she was encountering in her chosen program of study. I listened, taking notes.
Like all incoming students at the college, Elena had been required to take timed, multiple-choice examinations-part of a package of tests purchased by the college specifically for the purpose of "placing" incoming students in writing and math-to determine where in the sequence she would begin her English composition courses. After placing into the college's first level of developmental writing, Elena spent two full years acing preparatory and then college-level composition courses (taking three writing classes per year on the quarter system). At long last she was prepared to take her program's entrance exam-another purchased test, which is also a timed, multiple-choice examination intended to "place" students as well as to assess students' aptitude, though this test is specifically intended for use by health professions programs. However, after several unsuccessful attempts at the program entrance exam, Elena sought assistance from departments, programs, and deans across campus. Finally, she was referred to me.
It was not that she didn't know the material, Elena explained. Her answers on the exam were always correct. She simply couldn't read the questions quickly enough to complete the exam within the time allotted. Perhaps, as a secondlanguage English speaker, she wondered if she might be allowed some additional time to complete the test. When she went to the program to inquire about the possibility, coordinators noted that the test was designed to ensure all program candidates had a "fair and equal" chance to gain admittance. Fair and equal, they made it clear, meant that everyone was treated the same. The only variation of this policy was designated for students with disabilities, so Elena was referred to the campus "disability resources" office. There, Elena was...