No Child Left Behind

[Sarah Supahan]

Thanks Mia. I'll write him.

Sarah


On Jan 24, 2005, at 12:15 PM, MiaKalish at LFP wrote:

> Here in New Mexico the language teachers do not need to be
> credentialed by
> the State as if they were imports from New Jersey. They do have to be
> credentialed by their Tribe. I don't know what the precise details are
> of
> how this works, but, Joseph Suina, who is at UNM, 3 or so hours up the
> road
> from us, could tell you exactly what happened for Cochiti Pueblo,
> because he
> was involved in that effort at talked about it at AILDI at U. Arizona a
> couple of years ago.
>
> Here is the information I copied for him from this web page
> (http://coe.unm.edu/ForFacStaff/fs_list.cfm?ID=211):
>       Joseph Suina , Associate Professor
>       jsuina at unm.edu
>       Office: Hokona Hall, Room 246
>       Tel: (505) 277-7781
>       Messages: (505) 277-3175
>
>
> I think the people at UNM will be much more familiar with this than we
> are
> here at COE at UNM.
>
> Good luck.
> Mia
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sarah Supahan" <ssupahan at HUMBOLDT.K12.CA.US>
> To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 12:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [ILAT] No Child Left Behind
>
>
>> This is a timely discussion because right now in our school district
>> we
>> are dealing with yet another problem with NCLB, namely that 'all
>> teachers have to be credentialed' in order for the district to receive
>> funding for the classes. My understanding of the Languages Act was
>> that
>> no one can require languages teachers to have a credential if they are
>> qualified to teach the language. At this point we have one such
>> teacher
>> who is very qualified to teach Yurok, but who is not credentialed.
>>
>> Any thoughts on how to address this issue? Our district is resorting
>> to
>> speak to legal council about it, but I doubt that these attorneys know
>> a lot about the Act.
>>
>> Sarah Supahan
>>
>>
>> On Jan 24, 2005, at 11:37 AM, MiaKalish at LFP wrote:
>>
>>> You know, I spoke with Ken Mayer, who was one, if not the primary,
>>> author,
>>> of NCLB, and I asked him specifically whether students could be
>>> taught
>>> in
>>> their native languages and he said the choice was up to the school
>>> district.
>>> I have heard other comments from people, one of which is that
>>> students
>>> have
>>> 3 years to develop English proficiency.
>>>
>>> However, there is no requirement for "English only", and with
>>> technology,
>>> there is no reason why people can't have lessons in both the Native
>>> language
>>> AND in English. This is hard to do with paper and pencil, and
>>> published
>>> books, but it is a piece of cake with technology.
>>>
>>> Of course on the other side, I have been preaching this for years,
>>> and
>>> have
>>> even developed technology for Athabascan material development with
>>> dictionary facilities, but there haven't been any takers. All I hear
>>> is that
>>> the language should be on CD.. . .
>>>
>>> sigh
>>> Mia
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Richard LaFortune" <anguksuar at YAHOO.COM>
>>> To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
>>> Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 12:07 PM
>>> Subject: [ILAT] No Child Left Behind
>>>
>>>
>>>> --- "MiaKalish at LFP" <MiaKalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> was there supposed to be an attachment or a link?
>>>>> mia
>>>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>>
>>>> Native Language Programs Running Afoul Of No
>>>> Child Left Behind. 22 January 2005 Mike
>>>> Chambers, The Associated Press. The Associated
>>>> Press State & Local Wire. Copyright 2004
>>>> Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
>>>>
>>>> [Some western Alaska schools that for decades
>>>> have taught and helped preserve the Native Yupik
>>>> language are in a quandary over meeting new
>>>> federal testing requirements under the No Child
>>>> Left Behind Act. In the Lower Kuskokwim School
>>>> District, third grade children taught almost
>>>> exclusively in the Yupik language may be required
>>>> to pass federal tests written in English. In
>>>> Alaska, where Natives speak 20 aboriginal
>>>> languages and dialects, meeting a uniform federal
>>>> law could ultimately be too expensive, conflict
>>>> with Native cultural traditions as well as the
>>>> local control that the rural villages treasure.
>>>> Not many states face the issues that we do,' said
>>>> state Education Commissioner Roger Sampson. Under
>>>> the federal law, students would be tested
>>>> annually from grades 3-8 and again in high
>>>> school. States could make accommodations for
>>>> language barriers, but after three years in U.S.
>>>> public schools the children would be required to
>>>> take English-only tests. Aside from the Heritage
>>>> Language programs in more than 30 rural public
>>>> schools, Alaska's largest city of Anchorage has
>>>> more than 93 languages spoken by students,
>>>> Sampson said. Already cash strapped, the state
>>>> can little afford to translate tests into more
>>>> than 100 languages, education officials said.
>>>> And even if it could, the Yupik language, though
>>>> spoken by thousands of Alaska Natives from Norton
>>>> Sound to Bristol Bay, does not translate as
>>>> completely as Spanish or other European
>>>> languages. For instance, mathematics to American
>>>> children is based on units of 10, where
>>>> increments of 20 are used in Yupik math and
>>>> numerous English words have no Yupik
>>>> counterparts. The Lower Kuskokwim School
>>>> District, which oversees schools in Bethel and
>>>> surrounding villages has had an intensive Yupik
>>>> language program for about 30 years, said
>>>> Superintendent Bill Ferguson. A similar program
>>>> instituted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in
>>>> earlier years was seen as a progressive way to
>>>> assimilate Native children into English fluency.
>>>> Since then, it's become a way for Yupik-speaking
>>>> Natives to sustain their language and culture
>>>> just as other Alaska Native languages dwindle. I
>>>> feel strongly that our kids should speak Yupik
>>>> fluently, said state Rep. Mary Kapsner, of
>>>> Bethel. I really feel this isn't just an academic
>>>> issue about benchmark tests, but about cultural
>>>> and social well being.]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> __________________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>