Championing the Success of English Learners
“Study: ELLs Who Reach Proficiency Quickly Fare Better,” (Learning the Language Blog) March 15, 2012.
But it’s rare to find states or local school districts with policies that specifically address the unique needs of long-term ELLs. Californians Together, an advocacy group in California, is pushing policymakers in that state to do just that because as many as 25 percent of English learners there are long-term ELLs.
The November/December 2010 edition of Leadership published by the Association of California School Administrators contains two wonderful article about the research and district efforts to address the language and academic needs specific to long term English learners. The research article is written by Dr. Laurie Olsen, author of Reparable Harm, and the district perspective is written by Jennifer Robles, director of Bilingual Education Programs, Ventura Unified School District. These two articles are posted with permission of Leadership magazine, published by the Association of California School Administrators.
Participatory Leadership for English Learner Success Changing Course for Long Term English Learners
Nearly 60% of English-language learners in California’s high schools have failed to become proficient in English despite more than six years of a U.S. education, according to a study released Thursday.
In a survey of 40 school districts, the study found that the majority of long-term English-language learners are U.S. natives who prefer English and are orally bilingual. But they develop major deficits in reading and writing, fail to achieve the academic English needed for educational success and disproportionately drop out of high school, according to the study by Californians Together, a coalition of 22 parent, professional and civil rights organizations.
The flaws in California’s English-language programs have placed hundreds of thousands of children in academic jeopardy, dashing their dreams for college and imperiling the state’s economic future, the study found. The offspring of immigrants make up 55% of Los Angeles County’s child population. Click here to read more.
Systemic issues in California’s public education have created a majority of high school English Learners who despite many years in our schools are still not English proficient and have developed major academic deficits, according to a recent study authored by Californians Together and funded by the California Community Foundation.
The report, Reparable Harm: Fulfilling the Unkept Promise of Educational Opportunity for California’s Long Term English Learners, calls upon state policymakers and leaders to provide solutions and outlines basic principles and promising approaches for school districts to meet the needs of English Learners more effectively.
Executive Summary Press Release Reparable Harm Power Point The Complete Report Spanish Executive Summary
“Report Finds Long-Term ELLs Languishing in Calif. Schools,” May 27, 2010.
A portrait of long-term English-language learners in 40 California school districts shows that the specific needs of such students are largely being ignored, a statewide coalition of education and civil rights groups contends in a new report.
Based on survey data, the study
by Californians Together found that 59 percent of English-language learners in secondary schools in the districts had been in U.S. schools for more than six years without reaching a sufficient level of English proficiency to be reclassified as fluent. It also found that few school districts had programs or formal approaches designed especially for the long-term English-language learners.