District Takes Action to Fill Niche Teaching Jobs

The De Soto Explorer (KS)

January 30, 2008

A Kansan school district is feeling the statewide teacher shortage, and is fighting back. The De Soto Board of Education last week approved 5-0 a proposal to reimburse teachers in the district who complete their special education or English language learners certification. The board waited to approve the policy until negotiations could occur between the district and the De Soto Teacher's Association.

Superintendents Rally in Phoenix for State Funding

The Kingman Daily Miner

January 29, 2008

More than 100 school superintendents recently rallied in Phoenix to convince state legislators to fund the English Language Learners program they made a law in 2006 and which takes effect at the start of next school year. "We have between 167 and 187 ELL students, and they'll be required to receive English language development for four hours per day," said one superintendent. "With the model adopted it would cost us between $400,000 and $500,000 to implement. That includes hiring an extra teacher we would keep in the second and third years of the program." Administrators also shared concerns regarding the budget forms developed by the state Department of Education, a news release from the Arizona School Administrators Association states. Those forms require districts to deduct from their costs federal funds as stated in the original law. However, a federal court in Tucson has ruled those deductions can't be required.

Many School Districts See an Increase in English Learners

North County Times (CA)

January 29, 2008

In the last decade the number of students in California schools learning to speak English has increased more quickly in school districts that already had a large percentage, according to state numbers. Enrollment appears to be particularly rising in inland communities as lower-income, Spanish-speaking families leave expensive coastal areas and as migrant workers move their families into communities with plenty of agricultural work, school officials speculate.

Rethinking Remedial Education

Inside Higher Ed

January 29, 2008

Across California, community college leaders are writing action plans for improving so-called "basic skills" (otherwise known as remedial or developmental) and English as a Second Language education as part of a system-wide initiative. Foundations have poured in funds to improve instruction and the scaffolding that supports it. And in the classrooms, often with foundation support, faculty are talking about developmental education in new ways, re-imagining what it is and how to do it, and experimenting with curricular innovations — with the goal of creating models for other instructors operating in solitude behind their classrooms' closed doors.

ESL Kindergarten Spaces Doubled

The Vancouver Sun (Canada)

January 29, 2008

Canada's Greater Victoria school district is looking at doubling the number of full-day, English-as-a-second-language kindergarten classes it offers in an effort to reach as many students as possible. ESL kindergarten, which has provincial funding, is currently offered at two of the district's elementary schools, but the district is gauging interest in adding classes at two more schools in schools that serve big ESL populations.

Arizona Law Takes a Toll on Nonresident Students

The New York Times

January 28, 2008

When Marco Carrillo, a naturalized American and a high school valedictorian, went to meet with his college counselor, her major worry about his future had little to do with his SAT scores or essay or extracurricular activities. It had to do with his citizenship. Such questions have become commonplace in Arizona, where voters passed a 2006 referendum, Proposition 300, that forbids college students who cannot prove they are legal residents from receiving state financial assistance. One of several recent immigration statutes passed by Arizona voters and legislators frustrated by federal inaction, the law also prohibits in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. Administrators at several campuses fear that the provision has priced some out of their classes, particularly at the state's popular community colleges.

To Face New Challenge, Teachers Schooled in Spanish

The Durham News (NC)

January 28, 2008

North Carolinian school secretary Beverly Joy used to pull her school's ESL teacher out of class each time she had to make a phone call to a Spanish-speaking parent. This year, something changed — Joy decided it was time to learn a little Spanish. As Durham schools officials turned their focus to customer service this year, several staff members realized a good start to improving school-family relations was pretty simple — speak the same language. It would give both the school workers and Spanish-speaking parents more confidence in communicating, and also would help relieve those ESL teachers from always being tapped for extra translating work. So the school district has arranged for a Durham Technical Community College Spanish instructor to give district educators Spanish lessons.

Tests Could Provide Language Challenges

Daily Herald (IL)

January 28, 2008

When it comes to administering standardized tests to students this spring, officials of an Illinois school district are facing a multiple choice problem of their own. Students who speak limited English will not be able to take an adapted test as they have in past years. To help these students, the state will provide a glossary of "non-content-based words." But such accommodations will only be available in 10 languages, although dozens more languages are spoken in the district. Teachers and assessment directors say that these changes are going to put students in a difficult situation and will not be a true measurement of what they know.

Maryland School System Struggles to Provide Interpreters

Gazette.Net (MD)

January 28, 2008

Almost every day, Frederick County Public Schools' English Language Learning Department fields a request for an interpreter to communicate with a family who doesn't speak English. While schools often need a Spanish speaker to translate transcripts or talk to a family about PTA meetings, more elaborate scenarios are becoming common — last week a request as made for an interpreter who spoke a Nigerian language. With a growing and increasingly diverse population of foreign-born students, Frederick County Public Schools is facing a more pressing need for services to support them.

Schools Exploring New Languages for Curriculum

Westborough News (MA)

January 28, 2008

A Massachusetts school district is looking into the possibility of expanding the district's foreign language programs, taking into consideration which languages will offer the best preparation for students' careers and futures in a global economy, and will offer students practical operating knowledge of cultures in real life applications. While no decisions have yet been made, the language that has been most predominately talked about is Mandarin Chinese. Other languages like French and Spanish are likely to continue to be taught, as well as Latin and even Greek, which some committee members have recently suggested.

Group Puts Cost Increase for ELL Law at $300 Million

Education Week

January 25, 2008

School administrators across the state say chickens are coming home to roost for the Arizona Legislature and its handling of a potentially costly education funding issue. Trying to resolve a class-action lawsuit over the adequacy of programs for students learning English, the Legislature in 2006 enacted a law that sets new mandates on instruction and created a process for school districts to get state dollars to cover the costs. That pricetag amounts to $304 million in increased costs if the state doesn't shortchange districts and provides them with the necessary funding, according to Arizona School Administrators, a statewide association.

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New Study: Hispanic Students Lack Parental Involvement in College Decision-making

Diverse Magazine

January 25, 2008

Parents of minority students are less likely to be involved in college-related decision-making with their children than their White counterparts, a new survey by the Higher Education Research Institute indicates. Dr. Sylvia Hurtado, director of the Higher Education Research Institute, housed on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, describes the lack of parental involvement for minority students as troubling, particularly in the case of Hispanic students. The report reveals that White students are far less likely than students of other races or ethnicities to indicate "too little" parental involvement in dealing with college officials. Only 12 percent of White students surveyed reported "too little" involvement from their parents in dealing with college recruiters and counselors, compared to 32 percent of Latinos.

A Common Language: New Approach to Teaching English as a Second Language Is Under Consideration Here

Mail Tribune (OR)

January 25, 2008

Some of Stephanie Bartlett's middle school students played the role of restaurant wait staff. Others pretended to be ordering from a menu. All of them were practicing how to speak English. The lesson was one example of a new approach toward teaching English to students who speak another native language. Like Bartlett, teachers throughout Oregon have been trained in Systematic English Language Development, an instructional methodology that focuses on teaching students practical English, from ordering a steak and baked potato at a restaurant to returning a defective product to a store. By also adopting a curriculum, school officials hope to bring consistency to ELL instruction throughout the district and reinforce the instructional techniques teachers learned in their recent training.

Transition to Bilingualism

Inside Higher Ed

January 25, 2008

Last week at New Jersey's Fairleigh Dickinson University, 24 Korean-speaking degree-seekers began a new, three-year associate in arts degree program in which they simultaneously enroll in ESL and credit-bearing courses — the latter taught largely in Korean the first year, equally in English and Korean the second, and only in English the third. The program is modeled on a very similar program for Spanish-speakers that Fairleigh Dickinson introduced in fall 2003.

Halifax School Juggles Refugee Numbers

CBC (Canada)

January 25, 2008

An elementary school in Halifax is struggling to accommodate a growing number of refugee students, including 16 who have arrived just since December. Duc d'Anville Elementary School has 68 children from almost 30 countries in its English as a Second Language program. The students receive half-hour lessons in groups of five to 10 students at a time. The addition of 16 students since Dec. 1 is straining the school's resources, administrators say. "We're reaching such a crux in the numbers," said teacher Diane Walker. "We're getting to the point that we don't have enough chairs, and we can't put anymore chairs in the room. We're going to look at graduating children out, whether they're ready or not."

English Classes Required in Arizona's Public Schools

The Arizona Daily Star

January 23, 2008

Beginning next school year, all public schools in Arizona will be required to teach four hours of English a day to students who aren't proficient in the language. But the state mandate concerns officials in some districts, who wonder where they're going to find the money, space, and teachers to support the program.

Immigration Issues Could Cloud County Schools' NCLB Results

The Tennessean

January 23, 2008

Efforts to put a Tennessee school district back in the good graces of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) continue, but unexpected challenges could threaten progress. Despite the efforts made to improve the district's situation with NCLB, the ripple effect caused by a recent immigration scare in the region during December could hamstring the school system. All told, approximately 11 percent of the county's Hispanic students are no longer in classrooms. Should they return for whatever reason before the end of the school year, the school system will be held accountable for their test scores and that could impact whether benchmarks are met this year for NCLB.

ESL Students Exceeding Expectations

The News-Dispatch (IN)

January 23, 2008

The Michigan City Area School District (MCAS) is seeing a number of success stories in its English as a Second Language program due to the hard work of teachers and students alike. For example, the state expected 40 percent of ESL students to increase their performance on standardized tests by 12 points. In MCAS, 63 percent exceeded that expectation. The state expected 50 percent of students with limited ability in English to reach what is called a Level 5 English language proficiency in spring of 2007. In MCAS, 65 percent of students reached that goal. While the majority of the 210 ESL students in MCAS are native Spanish speakers, others come to school speaking Arabic, Polish, Chinese, several dialects of the languages of India, and a dozen or so other languages.

Bilingual School Piques Area's Interest

Evening Sun (PA)

January 23, 2008

Two public hearings for a bilingual charter school proposal many thought would be controversial caused little stir. But that doesn't mean people aren't talking about Pennsylvania's Vida Charter School; there has indeed been some backlash from the community. Nevertheless, the school's founders note that interest in the school has come not only from Latino parents but from English-speaking parents who want their children to be fluent in Spanish. School board leaders are taking notice of the community's discussion about the school, and have suggested that even if Vida's application is denied, the district might want find a different way to address the needs Vida has highlighted.

Grade School Revamps As More Latino Students Arrive

Star Tribune (MN)

January 23, 2008

Since Roxana Segura's family moved to a mobile home park in Inver Grove Heights, she has watched the Latino population blossom in her Minnesota community. The number of children from Skyline Village attending the school has doubled in the past few years, to about 70, including many students whose families speak Spanish at home. "I don't think that the school was kind of prepared for all these changes," said Segura, who has two children enrolled at Pine Bend. In response, the school is revamping its relationship with the mobile home park. This month the school plans to roll out an after-school tutoring program. Third- through fifth-grade students will get help with their homework in the community room at Skyline Village. In addition, extra English lessons will be offered at Pine Bend for a half-dozen kindergarteners. The school has also recruited volunteers to spend one-on-one class time with students who are just learning the language.