Culturally and Linguistically Adapted School Systems: Promising Practices from Odds-Beating Elementary Schools (original) (raw)
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Language policy is de facto as well as de jure (Shohamy, 2006). In Ontario, de jure policy limits the linguistic media of communication in the classroom to English and French, following the Official Languages Act. For the most part, spaces for nonofficial minority languages, encapsulated under the rubric: international languages, are found in the marginalia of public education—after school in heritage cum international language classes, or in limited high school options where European languages such as German and Spanish make their way into traditional language object study. Policy, though, is also de facto, invisibly forged through social practice. Without intervention, schools can and do support attitudinal biases against nonofficial language use. Numerous teachers at Joyce Public School in Toronto can recall incidents where newcomers to Canada were singled out in the classroom and bullied for their perceived lack of English. Interestingly stories extend to supply teachers as well as children. In this city, where over 50% of all children entering school speak a language other than English or French at home, all public schools welcome a slice of the super-diverse urban population that has come to characterize this city. Every class is linguistically diverse. At Joyce Public School, about 2/3 of children speak a nonofficial minority language at home. Teachers participating in school-university research to develop socially responsive literacy education banded together to design and teach cross-curricular projects that focused on the theme of respect. This presentation describes how the culture of an elementary school changed over the course of a 10-year collaborative action research project (2002-2012) and outlines the positive collateral effects in its de facto language policy.
English Language Learners in America's Great City Schools: Demographics, Achievement and Staffing
Council of the Great City Schools, 2013
The tables above show the varying numbers appearing in the cited reports and studies that use differing data sources, spans of comparison, and methodologies in their estimations. All sources indicate, however, that ELL enrollment is outpacing the nation's total enrollment growth and that the total number of ELLs in U.S. schools hovers around 5 million students.
2017
Almost two and half years ago, I embarked on a dissertation project for my doctorate in Urban Education Studies and Teacher Education. I was curious to explore the achievement outcomes of immigrant students (from non-English speaking countries) and English Language Leaners (ELLs) in an urban classroom. This study entailed understanding how urban teachers supported this population of students throughout their learning processes, as well as how teachers made sense of and carried out instruction for this group of students in today's urban classrooms. My ultimate goal as a teacher educator was to translate what I learned from this study into principles and practices to be shared with new teachers. After several setbacks related to finding a suitable site, I received permission to conduct the research in an urban high school within five miles of a large Midwestern state capitol. The population in this school district was dense and homogenous, with huge housing and other socio-economi...
2017
The English Language Learner (ELL) student population in the U.S. has been rapidly increasing over the past decade. Between 1998 and 2009, the number of ELL students in U.S. public schools increased by 51% while the general student population increased by merely seven percent (U.S. Department of Education). At present, one in ten students is classified as "ELL", and it is predicted that 25% of students will be categorized as such by 2025 (TESOL, 2013). While the population of ELL students continues to grow, the academic performance of this group continues to evidence a consistent and substantial achievement gap over time (Gándara & Hopkins, 2010; Olsen, 2009). The growing population of ELL students combined with the persistent achievement gap has generated concern and specific policy responses by states and districts. For example, in California, where ELLs constitute 25% of the student population (Rumberger & Gándara, 2005), ELL students are required to take English Language Development (ELD) and modified instruction (or "sheltered") courses. Some districts and schools also provide bilingual education or dual immersion, usually with the goal of transitioning ELL students to English-only instruction. Yet these interventions are failing to close the achievement gap for ELL students. This is especially true for Latino ELL students, who make up 75% of the national ELL student population (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2010), and 84% of the ELL population in California (California Department of Education). The academic performance of Latino ELL students in particular remains far below that of other students (
Education Northwest, 2010
8.6 percent of total public school enrollment in the Northwest. To address these changes, many district leaders in the Northwest are taking a direct role in supporting the education of ELLs. These leaders are looking for programs, strategies, and practices to help this growing population of students develop English proficiency while simultaneously mastering academic content. The following lessons are derived from Education Northwest's research, evaluation, and technical