Educators also say the system is flawed because tests used to measure progress don’t provide a full picture of what a student has learned.
Progress learning English is measured with standardized tests like the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS), which Hubbs uses. For immigrant students with limited formal education, test-taking and other learning skills are foreign.
Abdille was born in Somalia but grew up mainly in Kenya, and didn’t attend school beyond third grade.
"For someone like me who had no education before, it’s like I started from zero," she said.
Though Abdille didn’t have much formal schooling, she began classes more prepared than some. Students may arrive not knowing how to hold a pencil.
Patty Flynn, who teaches an early-level Hubbs English language learner class, said she currently has a student who’s entering her second year and is struggling to improve.
For a recent class exercise that required students to fill out a doctor’s form, Flynn said, the woman wrote all of her responses under the line, rather than over it.
"Out of a 24-question test, there’s so much they need to learn," Flynn said.
But even students who make progress initially may later encounter roadblocks that could push them out of a program.
Students who get to an intermediate or early advanced level have to take a particularly difficult form of the CASAS test, said Hubbs teacher Lia Conklin Olson.
Many of these students want to go to college, but sometimes won’t be able to pass the test in two years and have to be referred out.
Conklin Olson and Sparks said they’d like to see a more comprehensive assessment — something like Hubbs’ internal scale, which evaluates students on reading, listening, speaking and "soft" skills.
But for now, standardized tests are the requirement, and teachers are trying to figure out the best way to guide students through them.
"When I look through this building, the amount of experience and education and passion for these learners is really, really high," Sparks said. "So I think that really speaks to how difficult an issue this is."
A WIDE-REACHING ISSUE
And the effects reach beyond ABE classrooms. The number of Minnesota parents whose "lack of basic skills" impedes their children’s success is increasing, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.
When immigrant parents learn English, they’re better able to help their children in school, Sparks said.
"People feel like they’re willing to have their taxpayer dollars go to K-12, and now they’re starting to be willing to have their taxpayer dollars go to early childhood … they’re not so excited about money for adults," she said.
Abdille’s oldest daughter is 13, and the two often work on homework together. Abdille hopes to become a nurse, and her daughter dreams of becoming a doctor.
"She gets motivated when she sees me on the table and doing homework," Abdille said of her daughter. "And she’s able to help me, it makes her feel good."
The effect of some people not developing English proficiency has the potential to stretch into the workforce. Immigrants are increasingly needed to fill employment gaps. But immigrant communities have "the highest risk" for low literacy skills, Park said.
Ultimately, she said, it’s an issue of people not being given an opportunity to show what they can do.
"If you’ve got artificial barriers in people’s way, what you’re doing is denying them the opportunity to make something of their lives," Park said. "You’re throwing away human capital."