Our English Language Learners

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Over the past few years, the English Language Learner (ELL) population in my Long Island district has at least doubled. That is true for our surrounding districts as well. McRel just completed their most recent report on ELL in the US. Although I knew the ELL population was growing, I was surprised at their findings.

*There are 4.7 million ELL students in the U. S., nearly one in ten. (National Center on Ed. Statistics, 2012)
*While western states have the largest concentration of ELL students, federal data documents an increase in all but 12 states.
*More than 25% of ELL students speak a language other than Spanish. Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, and Haitian Creole are the 3 most common languages following Spanish.

ElL's academic performance significantly lags that of their non-ELL peers. In New York, after being in the country for one year, students are required to sit for any and all state testing. So, if a child is in fourth grade, they must take the English Language Arts exam. If a student is in eleventh grade, they must sit for the U.S. History exam. I have imagined myself sitting for an exam on the history of China in Mandarin, after spending one year in the country. There is no question that I would fail.

My grandmother came to this country at the age of 15. She could not speak one word of English. English was her third language. Her accent always remained heavy and she always struggled with getting a joke in English. My grandfather arrived at 17. English was also his third language. When he was drafted into World War I, his English was still so weak that when he was involved in one of his first combat missions, he did not understand the expression, "Heads Up." He was wounded and permanently lost the use of his right hand. Somehow my grandparents were able to work hard enough to open their own factory and raise a family. I wonder what would have happened to them in the schools of today.

Students who remain in an ELL program for several years are called long-term English learners. In California this has been defined as a student who has been in the United States' schools for at least 6 years. Typically, long term ELL students have grade point averages below 2.0 and are two to three years below grade level in ELA and math. Many drop out of high school. Many general classroom teachers lack the specific knowledge and skills to bring ELLs to proficiency in the four domains of language acquisition: speaking, reading, listening, and writing. Regardless of teacher training, classroom teacher attitude towards ELLS can significantly impact the instruction they received.

When teachers did not engage ELLs as participants in classroom instruction, mainstream students followed suit and did not spur their participation or seek to work with them. Ownership of the ELL students by the teacher was critical(Yoon, B.,2008).

Only 12 states use an English Language Proficiency test. Eighteen states leave classification to the discretion of each district. In 2010-2011, 16% of kindergarteners came from households where English was not the primary language. Some researchers establish that by 2020 the number of preschool age children using or exposed to a language other than English will outpace their peers who speak only English at home (Education Week, 2013). When an awareness of this increasing need is added to the fact that critical brain development occurs between zero and five, it is not surprising that states are expanding their preschool programs.

Currently, only three states have recognized that speaking more than one language is an asset--not a liability. California, New York, and Illinois have enacted legislation to create a State Seal of Bi-literacy to affix to the diplomas of high school graduates who demonstrate a high level proficiency in one or more languages in addition to English.

Professional development and teacher training in this area is critical. Currently, 15 states have no provisions requiring teacher certification candidates to have any expertise or training in working with ELLs. Four states, including Florida require all classroom teachers to complete training in the teaching of English as a second language. This must change. Florida's certification requirement for regular and special education classroom teachers go beyond those in other states. All teaching candidates must take a minimum of 15 semester hours of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) covering 5 areas:
1) methods of teaching
2) ESOL curriculum and materials development
3) cross-cultural communication and understanding
4) applied linguistics
5) testing and evaluation of ESOL

Florida has not often been held up as a paradigm for education. In this case, let's take a page from the Sunshine State.

PISA and Poverty

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The following information was taken from Education Week --January 8, 2014 www.edweek.org/go/commentary

The results of the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment or PISA were released last month. The results were released by Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education. He said, "Americans need to wake up to this educational reality--instead of napping at the wheel while emerging competitors prepare their students for economic leadership. Results are a picture of educational stagnation."

The scores reported were the average scores. No detailed information was released.

In 2009 when the detailed information was released important insights were released along with the data that really paint a very different picture. This information was reported by Martin Carnoy and Richard Rothstein in their report titled "What do International Tests Really Show About U.S. Student Performance?" They revealed that 38% of students who sat for the 2009 PISA were from the two lowest socioeconomic categories. That is the largest percentage of low income test takers among our comparative nations. It is a fact that students from low-income families throughout the world score far lower than students from more advantaged families on these tests. In 2009,the U.S. had the highest poverty rate--22%_- of any of the comparative nations, yet our PISA sample included 38% low-income students. If our sampling was so skewed it gives us little confidence in the validity of the test.

So how do our students' scores look when we compare them in a fairer, disaggregated manner? Much better. In fact, if you look carefully at our students' scores in comparison with those of countries with somewhat similar socioeconomic profiles France, Germany, and the United Kingdom---our lower-income students score the highest among these nations, on both the reading and the math tests. American schools with fewer than 10% low-income students score at the very top. American schools with fewer than 25% low-income students are near the top. The achievement gaps on the reading and math tests--between upper income students and lower income students are smaller in the U.S. than in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Mr. Duncan's flawed snapshot of American students' achievement is part of his unrelenting message that our mediocre schools are placing our nation's economic well-being at risk.

We are not napping Mr. Duncan. Instead of continuing with this doomsday rhetoric that serves to tear down the morale of our teachers and parents, we urge you to take a closer look at some of the successful schools in our country. There are thousands of them. Please call me if you need directions.