[lg policy] Davis High English immersion program lauded; will new board policy send it ‘backward’?
Harold Schiffman
haroldfs at gmail.com
Fri Sep 21 14:44:37 UTC 2018
Davis High English immersion program lauded; will new board policy send it
‘backward’?
By Ken Carlson
kcarlson at modbee.com
-
-
-
-
- LinkedIn
<https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.modbee.com/news/local/education/article218668970.html&title=Davis
High English immersion program lauded; will new board policy send it
‘backward’?>
- Google+
<https://plus.google.com/share?url=https://www.modbee.com/news/local/education/article218668970.html>
- Pinterest
<https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://www.modbee.com/news/local/education/article218668970.html&description=Davis
High English immersion program lauded; will new board policy send it
‘backward’?&media=https://www.modbee.com/latest-news/jkzqz8/picture218701240/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1140/IMG_JVG9K.So.11.jpg_3_1_FQE82R47_L410062411.JPG>
- Reddit
<https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https://www.modbee.com/news/local/education/article218668970.html>
- Print
- Order Reprint of this Story <https://www.mcclatchyreprints.com>
September 19, 2018 05:53 PM
A program for immigrant high schoolers in Modesto City Schools has won
awards for immersing the students in English, enabling them to complete
graduation requirements and attend college.
Yet, leaders of the program say a new school board policy will make things
tougher for the students to get the college education they need to thrive
in their adopted country.
“We feel we are going backwards,” said Amelia Herrera, a teacher at Davis
High School’s Language Institute. “There are going to be quite a few
students that could have gone to a four-year college caught in the
crosshairs of the new policy.”
The students in the Davis program include recent immigrants from Latin
American countries and refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan whose families
were resettled in Modesto.
Breaking News
Be the first to know when big news breaks
The Davis program helps the students with acculturation and gives them
confidence to pursue an education. A new district policy, however, won’t
allow the college-bound students to use a “fifth year” option to take
courses making them eligible for university admission.
In addition, the extra year can’t be used for improving their English in
order to succeed in college.
Program leaders and district officials said this week that the college
options for LI graduates are now mostly limited to junior college. The
fifth year or “super senior” option is only for completing high school
graduation requirements, school board President Amy Neumann confirmed.
“The district is trying to provide a high school diploma to as many
students as come through the door,” Neumann said. “Whether they get to A-G
depends on the student.” A-G is a term referring to University of
California coursework requirements.
Lindsey Bird, who’s been coordinator of the Davis program, created in 2009,
said she was not aware of the change in policy until students, by order of
the district office, were moved from language classes to mainstream
classrooms at the start of the fall semester. There’s concern some newcomer
students had not acquired enough English ability to learn in those
classrooms.
Bird said early this week that she has not been able to give parents much
of an explanation for the new policy. “We started asking questions and (the
district) kept telling us it was the will of the board,” she said.
Students in the Language Institute often need extra time to prepare for
college, because they first need to learn English and then take mainstream
coursework. It’s virtually impossible for teenage new arrivals to squeeze
in college eligibility courses unless they have an extra year.
Many granted an extra year are simply getting a fourth year of high school.
Upward of 90 percent of Language Institute graduates each year have moved
on to college, which is among the reasons the program earned awards from
the California School Board Association and California Department of
Education in 2015. About 10 percent of the graduates last year had plans to
attend a four-year college and many planned to attend Modesto Junior
College.
The program’s top students have regularly spoken at school board meetings
about equal opportunity in higher education. Last spring about 20 LI
students who applied for an extra year were placed in limbo while the
school district worked on a fifth-year policy, which is offered to students
districtwide who have good behavior. Foster teens or children of military
families sometimes exercise the option.
To help accommodate the newcomer students, the school board approved an
enrollment policy that places 16- or 17-year-olds in 10th grade to help
them catch up on the education they missed during the resettlement process.
In addition, the new fifth year option is open to 19- or 20-year-olds.
Students must be able to graduate in that extra year.
At a May workshop and two board meetings in June, LI students and members
of a coalition that supports them urged the board to support the students’
desire for a diploma and college education. Supporters did not hear board
discussion, however, on imposing restrictions on fifth-year coursework.
“We would have hit the roof had they told us our students were not eligible
for the time they need to graduate literate and university eligible,” said
Bird, who’s an outspoken advocate for the students.
Trustee Chad Brown said Tuesday that he recently heard about the changes
affecting the Language Institute. “It was not my intent,” he said. “I
really want to research this more.”
Marla Mack, associate superintendent of education services, said that
completing requirements for a diploma is the purpose of the district-wide
fifth-year option. She said that 80 percent of LI students self-report a
plan to attend MJC after graduation. In some cases, students in the
Language Institute might be able to work in A-G classes by the time they
graduate.
Bird suggested that district officials may not understand that her students
need the extra time to work on English literacy before attending MJC. The
refugees and immigrants, many of whom arrive with limited English and gaps
in education, face serious obstacles to getting an education.
Rosario Piceno, whose daughter just entered the program, said the freshman
should have more options when it’s time to graduate from high school.
“I went to MJC and got stuck and never finished,” the parent said. “There
was not enough room in the classes I needed. My daughter has wanted to be a
veterinarian since she was 4 years old.”
Joy Koski, a site coordinator for the district’s Advancement Via Individual
Determination, or AVID, program, said the service to help students prepare
for college admission has to show it’s inclusive of the entire student
population. A number of LI students wear the AVID shirts when they speak at
school board meetings.
“We have had a lot of success with students coming into the (Language
Institute) and not had that many who needed extra time,” Koski said.
Language Institute graduates who are at four-year colleges are an
inspiration for younger students who have the same dream.
“It is disappointing we are not going to continue with that process,” Koski
said
Read more here:
https://www.modbee.com/latest-news/article218668970.html#storylink=cpy
--
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Harold F. Schiffman
Professor Emeritus of
Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305
Phone: (215) 898-7475
Fax: (215) 573-2138
Email: haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/
-------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20180921/fc506275/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list
More information about the Lgpolicy-list
mailing list