Facing Deficits, Some States Cut Summer School

The New York Times

July 02, 2009

A year ago, Florida's Brevard County Schools ran a robust summer program here, with dozens of schools bustling with teachers and some 14,000 children practicing multiplication, reading Harry Potter and studying Spanish verbs, all at no cost to parents. But this year Florida's budget crisis has gutted summer school. Brevard classrooms are shuttered, and students like 11-year-old Uvenka Jean-Baptiste, whose mother works in a nursing home, are spending their summer days at home, surfing television channels or loitering at a mall.

Throwing a Lifeline to Struggling Teachers

The Washington Post

July 02, 2009

Jean Bernstein rang a cowbell, her cue to quiet the sixth-graders at Roberto Clemente Middle School for a lesson on multiplying decimals. "You need to settle down," she said. Last fall, Bernstein entered Peer Assistance and Review, a Montgomery County, MD program that identifies struggling teachers and tries to help them improve. Those who do not face dismissal.

Wisconsin Provides In-State Tuition Rates to Undocumented Students

Education Week

July 02, 2009

In her Learning the Language blog, Mary Ann Zehr writes, "Wisconsin becomes the 11th state to permit students who are living illegally in the country to pay in-state tuition rates at state schools, according to a story published this week in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel."

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Teach For America Program Expands to Twin Cities

Minnesota Public Radio

July 01, 2009

The highly touted and controversial Teach for America program announced today it would expand into the Twin Cities. Forty college graduates will teach in public and charter schools around the Twin Cities this fall, the first class of 120 recruits Teach for America is sending to the metro area over the next three years.

Storm Lake District Revises English Fluency List

Des Moines Register

July 01, 2009

School officials in Storm Lake, Idaho say they overestimated the number of students last year who were not fluent in English. Officials said 100 students, nearly a tenth of "English language learners" in the 2008-09 school year, did not deserve the label. They included an honor student who was punished when she refused to take a fluency test, and whose case garnered national attention. The label is significant because it qualifies school districts for more federal money and puts students on the hook for government-required language tests.

Study: Latino Teens Benefit From Sharing Two Cultures with Parents

Education Week

July 01, 2009

In her Learning the Language blog, Mary Ann Zehr writes, "Latino adolescents are happier and healthier if both they and their parents have one foot firmly planted in Latino culture and the other in U.S. culture, a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found. In other words, Latino adolescents are less likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as abusing alcohol or drugs or dropping out of school, if they take steps to stay involved in their culture of heritage and their parents also take steps at the same time to integrate into U.S. culture."

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In Queens, Life and Failing Economy Derail Dream

NPR

June 30, 2009

Joe Alonzo is the type of person who thinks ahead. When he was a teenager, he laid out a 10-year plan. "I would go to college right around 18, graduate around 22, and probably wouldn't get married until I was 25 or 26," Alonzo tells NPR guest correspondent Judy Woodruff. Today, Alonzo is 24 and plans to get married this year, without the college degree he'd planned for and — for the moment — without a job. The urgency of finding one has been elevated by his fiancee's pregnancy; the baby is due in January.

Children's Books, ESL Materials to Get Late Fines at Seattle Libraries

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

June 30, 2009

The Seattle Public Library Board of Trustees voted unanimously last week to impose overdue fines on previously exempt children's books and English-as-a-second-language materials, charge a $5 fee for interlibrary loans, and limit the number of materials a user can check out and place holds on. University of Washington student Alice Tsoi told the board the changes would disproportionately affect the people that rely most on the library — immigrants and the homebound.

Column: State, Local Budget Cuts Slash Adult Education

San Francisco Chronicle

June 30, 2009

California is about to reach another benchmark by offering fewer adult education opportunities to its residents than — well, just about any other state. When classes resume in the fall, most of the state's 2 million adult education students will pay registration fees for all classes, including high school equivalency and English as a Second Language classes, two classes that have traditionally been free.

How Should We Teach English-Language Learners?

NPR

June 29, 2009

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Arizona has not violated federal laws that require schools to help students who do not speak, read, or write English. Despite the federal mandates, these kids often fail to do well in school. So why haven't schools figured out the best way to teach English to non-English-speaking students?

Mock Graduation Takes Place on Behalf of DREAM Act

Education Week

June 29, 2009

Several hundred high school and college students, along with young immigrant workers, donned graduation gowns and walked in a procession to "Pomp and Circumstance" recently in sight of the U.S. Capitol. They carried signs that said "I graduated. Now what?" and "It's not my fault my parents brought me here 4 a better future."

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Summer Camp Aims to Hone English Skills While Making It Fun

Rome News-Tribune (GA)

June 29, 2009

When Maggie Porto, a gradudate student at Berry College, first came to America, she only knew Spanish, and the transition from Spanish to English was anything but easy. "The teachers were kind and patient, but had they been ESOL certified, it would have made things a lot easier," she said. Porto is one of the 12 teachers who are part of the ESOL summer camp at Georgia's Alto Park Elementary.

Supreme Court Orders Fresh Look at Arizona ELL Case

Education Week

June 26, 2009

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in favor of Arizona officials who had challenged lower federal court decisions that the state must provide adequate funding for its English-language learners. In a 5-4 decision, the court decided in Horne v. Flores that the lower courts didn't fairly consider "changed circumstances" that had occurred since parents in the Nogales, Ariz., school district had filed the original lawsuit in U.S. District Court.

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Supreme Court Sides with Arizona in Language Case

The New York Times

June 26, 2009

The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Arizona officials who said the federal government should not be supervising the state's spending for teaching non-English-speaking students. The 5-to-4 decision reversed a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which said the state was still violating a law that required "appropriate action" to help English language learners overcome language obstacles.

High Court Eases Oversight of English Program

NPR

June 26, 2009

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday that lower courts need to take another look at whether Arizona schools are providing enough English-language programs. The lower courts had said the schools' programs were not meeting federal requirements.

Teaching Literacy in the City Benefits Learners, Tutors

UCLA Today

June 26, 2009

The mostly immigrant adults attending Centro Latino for Literacy in downtown Los Angeles usually speak only Spanish. They come to learn to read and write their language, motivated by a panoply of hard-luck tales that they share with the UCLA interns who teach them to trace the letters of the alphabet.

L.A. Schools Budget Cut, 2,000 Teachers Gone

NPR

June 25, 2009

The Los Angeles Unified School Board has approved a budget that will trim nearly $1.6 billion over the next three years. More than 2,000 teachers will be laid off, as well as thousands of other school employees.

Twice as Many Advance out of Language Class

The Arizona Republic

June 25, 2009

Nearly 40,000 Arizona students will advance out of English-language learning programs and into regular classes this coming school year, more than double the number of students who made the move just two years ago, the Arizona Department of Education recently reported.

Hispanics Make up Majorities at 7 Cleveland Public Schools, Prompting Call for Special Help

The Plain Dealer (OH)

June 25, 2009

The city's near West Side is a school system within a school system. It's dominated by a Hispanic community whose presence is growing almost by default as Cleveland's population shrinks. The most recent figures for a cluster of seven West Side schools show that Latinos account for 45 percent to 78 percent of the enrollment in each building. Leaders of the Hispanic Roundtable, a regional organization devoted to education and other concerns, say the numbers call out for special help from district Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders.

Two Students, Two Schools: 20 Miles and a World Apart

Los Angeles Times

June 24, 2009

Meet Kyle Gosselin and Henry Ramirez. Kyle attends La Cañada High; Henry was at South L.A.'s Jefferson High before moving to Texas. Their backgrounds may be worlds apart, but their dreams are similar. In the 20 or so miles that separate Jefferson High School from La Cañada High, in the miles between inner city and suburb, there exists a social chasm so deep as to seem unbridgeable.