<html><head><title>LAUSD English learners show improvement</title></head><body>This article was mailed to you by: <b>Francis Hult</b><br>The sender included this message:<br>LAUSD English learners show improvement<br>Click to <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/ci_3511539">View this Article</a><p><font size='3'></font><p><center><font size='5'><b>LAUSD English learners show improvement</b></font></center><p><font size='4'></font><br><font size='2'>By Lisa Mascaro, Staff Writer<br>LA Daily News<br></font><P><font size='3'><!-- body start -->Los Angeles students learning English as a second language continued to make progress on an annual English-language fluency exam, according to results being released this morning by the state Department of Education.<p>
Nearly half of Los Angeles Unified School District's English language learners scored above intermediate levels-slightly more than the previous year and a few percentage points better than the state average.<p>
The annual California English Language Development Test was given to 1.3 million students statewide last summer and fall as part of state and federal requirements to test students' proficiency in learning English.<p>
In LAUSD, the test was given to more than 245,700 students for whom English is not their first language. The district enrolls 315,400 students English-language learners who speak 88 different languages. The vast majority-94 percent-are Spanish speaking.<p>
Schools in LAUSD started teaching English-only immersion in 1999 after voters passed Proposition 227, which essentially did away with bilingual education.<p>
Federal No Child Left Behind regulations further require annual English proficiency exams.<p>
Ventura County students also made gains, according to the results.<p>
A full story will appear in Thursday's print edition of the Daily News.<p>
Test results are available online at <a href="http://www.cde.ca.gov">www.cde.ca.gov</a><p><!-- body end --><p>This e-mail was initiated by machine [10.148.8.5] at IP [10.148.8.5].</font></body></html>