ESL Students struggle to keep up with peers

[Felecia Briscoe]

This is an interesting story.  It would be nice to know how the design
of the study.  A pertinent question is whether ESL students are being
compared against their English as a first language peers in the same
school.  These results could be easily explained if students are being
compared with students in other schools or even other school districts.
It could be that ESL students tend to be in schools and school districts
that are under funded compared to school districts that have a low
number of ESL students (in fact this likely to be the case).  So the
problem could be not in the ESL factors but in difference of funding
between schools with high ESL populations compared to low ESL
populations.  The other concern of course is the quality of the ESL
programs.  Poor quality programs will produce poor results...  So the
problem might not be the ESL itself, but rather the programs designed
for ESL students.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
[mailto:owner-lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu] On Behalf Of Harold F.
Schiffman
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 8:09 AM
To: Language Policy-List
Subject: ESL Students struggle to keep up with peers



"Stuck in a spin cycle" - San Gabriel Valley Tribune,
12/4/04

ESL students struggle to keep up with peers according
to a report by Cal Poly Pomona and So. California
Edison.

www.sgvtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,205%257E12220%257E2575478,00.html

By Michelle Rester
Staff Writer


Friday, December 03, 2004 - Area students who speak English as a second
language score below other students in all subjects at a rate that
doubles by the time they hit 10th grade, according to a report looking
at education in the San Gabriel Valley. It's a fast-growing group that
includes about 30 percent of students in the San Gabriel Valley. It
appears they never acquire enough language and literacy skills to keep
up with other students as they become older and are exposed to more
difficult course work.

"Despite district efforts to change these patterns, analysis over the
past two years shows very little improvement with trend patterns
remaining almost identical year to year,' according to a report by
researchers at Cal Poly Pomona, "The Conditions of K-12 Education in the
Greater San Gabriel Valley.' The report was funded by Southern
California Edison. "More than any other factor, learning English as a
second language remains the greatest predictor of low student
achievement, even greater than socioeconomic status.'

As many as 70 percent of the 10,400 students in the Mountain View School
District in El Monte are English Language Learners from kindergarten
through eighth grade. Some eventually are redesignated as proficient in
English, but many never make it, officials said. "I think it's a really
complicated problem and I don't think that there's a simple answer to
it,' said Jane Russo, assistant superintendent of educational services.
"I think some of the issues that English Language Learners have to deal
with are like those of other students. So it could be a difficulty in
learning, it could be they didn't learn in a research-based program or
didn't have enough phonics early enough. What they all need is a
structured English language program.'

Russo believes the English Language Learners in her district have made
improvements in the last year, after a new program was put in place that
puts more attention on language development. Students learning English
receive up to an extra hour each day in English language development,
while other students work on something else, Russo said.

Even when English Language Learners begin San Gabriel Valley schools in
the primary grades, many never pick up the language enough to do well in
any of their subjects from history to math, said Joan Bissell, dean of
the College of Education and Integrative Studies at Cal Poly Pomona. "By
grade 10, the difference between English language learners and all
students has doubled,' Bissell said. "It's really quite a call to
action.'

"These differences, which are manifested in the early grades and
increase by the later grades, have significant educational, social and
economic implications since these students make up about one-third of
the school population,' according to the report.