One of the most pressing challenges facing the nation鈥檚 K-12 public schools comes, quite literally, down to the basics 鈥� the ABCs.
With the benefit of a grant from the Department of Education, researchers at the College of Education and the Center for the Study of At-Risk Students have been working with five Washington school districts to help English language learners, or ELL students, succeed in the classroom. The Language Acquisition Project intends to arm both teachers and paraeducators with teaching strategies that will help students learn English and stay on track in their education. Success, according to one researcher, is critical.
鈥淕iven the demographic changes we鈥檙e experiencing, I think that public education in this country is going to be about how well we educate immigrant students, ELL students,鈥� said Tom Stritikus, an assistant professor in the College of Education. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 do it well, public education will fail.鈥�
Stritikus is quick to point to a recent study from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction that illustrates the demographic trend. Nineteen districts in the state already have at least 25 percent of their students enrolled in a program for ELL students, according to the study. And in at least six districts a majority of the students are ELL.
With limited English language proficiency these students often have lower levels of academic performance and drop out more often than their English-fluent peers. The number of such students is steadily increasing and at the same time the push for higher academic standards is continuing. That combination poses a problem that won鈥檛 easily be fixed.
But to try, Stritikus and Mark Gray, a doctoral candidate and C-STARS researcher, devised a class for educators in the five partner districts. The curriculum will help teachers and paraeducators better understand the student populations they鈥檙e dealing with and provide them with pedagogical strategies to help the students succeed.
鈥淪tudents who are immigrants have more than likely had a very different kind of education than their American teachers had,鈥� Gray said. 鈥淣ot only has it taken place in another culture and another language, but there are all kinds of different models even within countries.鈥�
Students from urban areas of Mexico, Gray says, usually come into the classroom with more advanced skills in math and science than their American peers. Students from rural Mexico, however, might not have gone to school at all. Students from many Asian and east European countries are used to authoritarian teachers and passive students.
But while the students come from varied educational backgrounds, they鈥檙e often met by the same reaction from their American teachers, Gray says.
鈥淭he tendency is to pity them,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ell it turns out that that feeling of pity is a little bit misplaced. They鈥檝e generally got good strong families with rich traditions. And they鈥檝e got lots of skills.鈥�
For that reason the curriculum focuses a great deal on the skills, not the deficiencies, the students likely bring to the classroom. In fact, students who are learning English often bring a maturity and drive to their education that mainstream students simply don鈥檛 have.
In addition to his work at the UW, Gray is a program administrator for the English language learners program in the Auburn School District. He tells the story of one Korean student in his district who, at age 14, decided she needed to move to the United States to live with an aunt and uncle, who she鈥檇 never met, for her high school years. The move, she reasoned, would help her get a good grasp of English before she began her college studies in the U.S.
鈥淪he鈥檚 not ready to hit a university classroom yet, but she鈥檚 going to be,鈥� Gray said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 getting wonderful grades, just by sheer grit and determination. There鈥檚 lots of stories like that out there.鈥�
One proven way to effectively focus on a student鈥檚 academic strengths is to provide instruction in both English and the student鈥檚 primary language from a qualified teacher. Unfortunately that鈥檚 not realistic in the current climate. There simply aren鈥檛 enough qualified teachers who speak Spanish, Russian, Chinese or any of the more than 150 languages spoken in public schools in Washington.
But paraeducators, who often come from the same language groups as many of a school鈥檚 immigrant students, can help bridge that gap.
鈥淪o many of our school districts鈥� populations of at-risk kids are from cultures that are different from the mainstream cultures that the teachers come from,鈥� said Al Smith, C-STARS director. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very reliant, linguistically and culturally, on paraeducators.鈥�
The classes Stritikus and Gray designed began in earnest last month and will continue into December. In the broadest sense the classes are intended to improve performance among ELL students. But there are slightly different goals for the teachers and for the paraeducators.
鈥淭hey have different needs,鈥� Gray said. 鈥淭he teachers need hands-on teaching strategies that they can access in order to feel that they are moving forward with instruction. They need strategies that help them engage students. With the paras it鈥檚 all about empowerment. It鈥檚 teaching them to recognize the skills that they have.鈥�
The class is currently available in its pilot form for educators in the Grandview, Kent, Mabton, Sunnyside and Toppenish districts. The Kent group meets on the 91探花campus while the other four districts meet on the Heritage College campus in Toppenish. The goal eventually is to offer the class on a wider basis throughout the state.