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<div id="gmail-alpha"><div id="gmail-alpha-inner"><div id="entry-76300" class="entry-asset gmail-asset gmail-hentry"><div class="gmail-asset-header"><h1 id="gmail-page-title" class="gmail-asset-name entry-title">s Betsy DeVos About to Scrap the Federal Office for English-Language Learners?</h1>
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By <span class="gmail-vcard gmail-author">Corey Mitchell</span> on
<abbr class="gmail-published" title="May 10, 2018 4:23 PM">
May 10, 2018 4:23 PM
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<p><img alt="30-SR-ELL-Early-ELLs-Teacher-students-blog.jpg" src="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/30-SR-ELL-Early-ELLs-Teacher-students-blog.jpg" class="gmail-mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0px auto 20px;" width="500" height="333"></p>
<p>Education and immigration advocates are pushing back against a Trump
administration plan that would consolidate the federal office that helps
guide education for millions of English-language-learner and immigrant
students.</p>
<p>Under the proposal, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos would
fold her department's office of English-language acquisition into the
broader office for elementary and secondary education, according to
advocacy groups briefed this week on the department's potential plan.</p>
<p>The proposal also calls for eliminating the director's position for
the English-language acquisition office, a job currently held by José
Viana.</p>
<p>Education Department officials told advocacy groups that the latest
plan to restructure would allow the department to merge English-learner
support with services provided to other disadvantaged student groups—a
decision that ELL advocates say would actually work against the best
interests of the students. The move is part of a broader <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/02/28/several-ed-dept-offices-target-of-reorganization.html">effort by DeVos and her deputies to revamp the agency</a>, which <em>Education Week</em> first reported about in February.</p>
<p>In a statement, Education Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Hill said:
"The department is in the early stages of considering how best to break
down silos, improve policy and program coordination and ensure all
students have the support, attention and resources they deserve from the
department."</p>
<p>The office of English-language acquisition, created during the George
W. Bush administration, has had its clout diminished over the past
decade. Near the end of his presidency, authority over most of the $800
million in federal Title III funds that go to states and districts to
support instruction for English-learners was shifted to the office for
elementary and secondary education—which could now totally absorb the
English-language office.</p>
<p>There are an estimated 5 million English-learners in public K-12
schools in the United States—and their academic proficiency and high
school graduation rates lag behind those of their native
English-speaking peers.</p>
<p>Citing the prevalence of English-learners in public schools and their
struggles, an 18-group coalition—including the American Federation of
Teachers, Californians Together, League of United Latin American
Citizens, Migration Policy Institute, National Association for Bilingual
Education, TESOL International Association, and UnidosUS—wrote to DeVos
this week, asking her to pour more resources into the office of
English-language acquisition.</p>
<p>The reorganization "would necessarily and inevitably diminish the
time, attention, and supporting expertise and analysis applied to EL
issues," their letter to DeVos reads. "Rather than diminishing the role
of OELA by subsuming it in a much larger organization, where it would be
forced to compete for resources and attention, we believe that the
present time affords an opportunity to strengthen OELA."</p>
<p>The groups also questioned whether DeVos has the right to reorganize
the office because federal law requires that the office have a director
who reports directly to the education secretary.</p>
<p>The coalition worries that lumping in English-learner issues with
those of other students under Title I would undermine an office that has
already taken its fair share of lumps. Advocates and researchers
contend that policy decisions made during the Obama administration also <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/12/12/14ncela_ep.h32.html">weakened the clout and capacity of the office</a>, leaving schools across the country without clear direction and coherent policy and practices on English-learner education.</p>
<p>The lack of commitment to the office has also prevented the nation from adequately addressing the <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2018/01/solve_ell_teacher_shortage.html">national shortage of qualified bilingual teachers</a> and meeting the growing national <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/09/16/districts-diversify-languages-offered-in-dual-immersion.html">demand for language-immersion programs</a>, the advocates argue.</p>
<p>Here's a look at the advocacy groups' letter to DeVos:</p>
<p><span style="margin:12px auto 6px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:14px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal;display:block"> <a title="View DeVos OELA Reorganization Coalition Letter on Scribd" href="https://www.scribd.com/document/378828520/DeVos-OELA-Reorganization-Coalition-Letter#from_embed" style="text-decoration:underline">DeVos OELA Reorganization Coalition Letter</a> by <a title="View corey_c_mitchell's profile on Scribd" href="https://www.scribd.com/user/118260415/corey-c-mitchell#from_embed" style="text-decoration:underline">corey_c_mitchell</a> on Scribd</span></p><p></p>
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<p><a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2015/09/education_department_to_develo.html">Ed. Department Project to Focus on Newly Arrived English-Language Learners</a></p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2015/09/feds_offer_step-by-step_guide_.html">Feds Offer Guide to Providing Quality Education for English-Language Learners</a></p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2014/01/ed_dept_falling_short_in_suppo.html">Ed. Dept. Falling Short in Support of English-Learners, Report Says</a></p>
<p></p>
<p><em>Photo: Teaching assistant Richard Nolasco listens to Joshua
Flores and Ke'mari Barnes during their prekindergarten class at Tulsa's
Dual Language Academy. The population of Oklahoma's second-largest
school district has shifted dramatically in recent years, with nearly 1
in every 3 students coming from homes where Spanish is the primary
language. </em><em>--Shane Bevel for Education Week</em></p>
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<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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