Massachusetts: Silence on the English learners' gap

[Francis Hult]

Via lgpolicy...
 

Silence on the English learners' gap

 By Roger Rice and Jane Lopez
August 4, 2008

GOVERNOR DEVAL Patrick's recent Readiness Project report has received
cautious praise for being rich in new and bold ideas. But for at least
one group of students whose persistent failure all but defines the
achievement gap, the Readiness Project is virtually silent. The
administration has offered no ideas to help English Language Learner
students who need help most urgently. An educational policy of benign
neglect is no policy at all and simply will not do.

That the Commonwealth's current record with English learners is
abysmal is beyond serious doubt. There are more than 140,000 students
in K-12 classes whose first language is not English. More than 50,000
of these are considered to be English Language Learners, or ELL,
students who are not proficient in reading, writing, speaking, or
understanding the English language and who require specialized
services in English and academic content instruction. They go to
school in nearly 300 school districts, vocational schools, regional
schools, and charter schools. About 55 percent are Latinos but many
come from countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe as well.

By nearly any measure, the state is failing miserably to educate this
group of its most vulnerable children.


Full story:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/08/04/silence_on_the_english_learners_gap/



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