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Fourth graders streamed one at a time through the playground door at Denver’s Valdez Elementary, a snaking jumble of energy and untied shoelaces.

Most bounded up the stairs to their classrooms. Only a few stopped to give a quick side hug to the staff member who was squinting in the sun and holding the door. Two of the huggers were Jesus and Leiker, who arrived in Denver from Venezuela a few months ago.

The boys, ages 9 and 10, are among the more than 38,000 migrants who have come to Denver in the past year after fleeing political and economic crises in their home countries.

Some of the new arrivals are families with children like Jesus and Leiker. Denver Public Schools has enrolled more than 3,200 of these young people since the start of the school year.

A majority arrived after the October cutoff date that determines how much per-student funding DPS gets from the state, creating a financial shortfall for the state’s largest district and causing schools to scramble for resources.

But not all schools. The new students are concentrated in a couple dozen of DPS’ more than 200 schools, which the district has been calling hotspots. The main reason is because the schools offer specialized instruction in both English and Spanish.

Valdez, also known as Escuela Valdez, has a longstanding dual language program. It’s also right up the street from a city-run shelter inside a Quality Inn, which Principal Jessica Buckley said everyone simply calls “The Quality.” Valdez, which had about 400 students last year, has welcomed more than 100 new students in the past few months.

Valdez Elementary — or Escuela Valdez — is a dual language school in northwest Denver.

Every classroom in the northwest Denver elementary school is at capacity with 35 children — except the fourth grade, which before last week had 29 per class.

In the face of this new reality, Valdez has had to make adjustments. Some of the shifts have been beautiful. Others have been hard. “The bright spots are the growth of our kids and our community,” Buckley said. “The challenge is resources.”

Jesus and Leiker met at The Quality, where both of their families were staying, and became fast friends. They say they are like brothers: “Somos como hermanos.”

This is what one school day looked like recently for Jesus and Leiker, whose last names Chalkbeat is withholding to protect their identities as they navigate life in a new country.

Valdez is ‘an excellent place to land’

The boys were the first two to enter the classroom, walking shoulder-to-shoulder and chattering.

“OK! Sit in a place where you think you can focus well,” teacher Isabelle King said in Spanish.

Jesus and Leiker scurried to opposite corners of a classroom rug imprinted with a map of the United States. Jesus sat cross-legged above the state of Michigan, and Leiker scrambled to a spot near California. They said “buenos días” to the classmates next to them. Following the teacher’s prompt, they also named their favorite sport.

“Fútbol,” Jesus said with a smile.

The fourth grade class had been watching video clips about children with disabilities. That day’s clip featured a girl who was Deaf and used a sign language interpreter at school.

When the teacher paused the video to ask for one way the students were the same as the girl and one way they were different, Leiker raised his hand. In Spanish, he said that he was different because he could talk to his friends directly, without an interpreter.

Jesus, in the blue polo shirt, listens as teacher Isabelle King gives instructions during morning meeting in her fourth grade classroom.

That’s possible at Valdez because all of the students speak Spanish. As a dual language school, Valdez doesn’t admit native English speakers after kindergarten. In the younger grades, as much as 90% of the classroom instruction is in Spanish to immerse students in the language.

Whereas other schools in Denver and around the country have had to use technology, sometimes as rudimentary as Google Translate, to communicate with new students and families from Venezuela, no interpreters are needed at Valdez.

“We are an excellent place for these kids to land,” Buckley said. Because everyone speaks Spanish, she said, the new students are “able to interact and learn and be themselves.”

Students learn the language of play

In the gym, P.E. teacher Jessica Dominguez told the students to split into teams.

“Me and Leiker!” Jesus shouted in Spanish.

For the next 40 minutes, their team rotated between basketball, four square, and a rock climbing wall. The boys dominated at basketball, sprinting around the half court and shouting “rápido, rápido!” — fast, fast! — as their teammates were shooting.

The girls dominated at four square. Jesus struggled. After he lost for serving the ball when he wasn’t supposed to, a girl paused the game to explain the rules to him in Spanish.

“He didn’t know,” she told her classmates.

Leiker, in the top left square, and Jesus, standing behind him in line, play four square with their classmates during P.E.

Staff at Valdez agree that the new students have enriched the school linguistically. Whereas in the past students — and even adults — would often default to English when speaking with each other, now it’s most practical to speak in Spanish. That way, everyone understands.

The phenomenon was on display at recess, too. Soccer has long been the most popular activity at recess, Buckley said. But now, Spanish is what is spoken on the field.

“Leiker! Leiker! Atrás! Atrás!”” a teammate called out, urging him to pass the ball behind.

The second most popular game is a new one called gaga ball. In contrast to the Spanish spoken on the soccer field, all of the students playing gaga ball spoke in English.

At the shrill tweet-tweet of a whistle, Jesus, Leiker, and the other soccer players ran to the cafeteria for lunch. Leiker’s cheeks were flushed pink as he waited for his macaroni and cheese. Jesus brought his lunch from home, but he still stood in line with his friend.

Together, they found seats at a round table with two other fourth-grade boys.

“You guys played soccer today?” Assistant Principal Cesar Sanchez asked in Spanish.

“Sí!” they answered in unison.

“We lost,” Leiker added.

“Does it matter if you win or lose?” Sanchez asked. “What matters?”

“Have fun!” they said in unison.

Soccer is the most popular game at recess at Valdez Elementary. On this warm winter day, Jesus, kicking the ball, Leiker, and the other students used rock-paper-scissors to pick teams.

Teachers make academic adjustments

It’s always been the case at Valdez, like at all schools, that some students are ahead academically and some are behind, and teachers must adapt their lessons. But with the newly arrived students, teachers have had to differentiate to new extremes. Valdez has welcomed some fourth graders who don’t know how to write their names, Buckley said.

Jesus and Leiker can read and write in Spanish. They said they went to school in Venezuela before coming to the United States. Still, their teachers — especially literacy teacher Giovanni Leon, who the students call Don Gio — have had to make adjustments, working to strengthen the new arrivals’ reading and writing skills in their native language while also starting from scratch in English, teaching them the alphabet and the sounds the letters make.

On this day after P.E., Jesus and Leiker’s class started their literacy block on the carpet, where Leon explained the day’s assignment: to read an 1873 speech by women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony and answer questions about the text.

Leiker, far left, and Jesus, third from the left, work on writing complete sentences.

But the text and the questions were in English, part of Valdez’s 50/50 split between English and Spanish in the upper grades. For years, the language rotation was very black-and-white. With the new students, it’s become more gray.

As most students paired up to begin reading the Susan B. Anthony speech, Leon called Jesus, Leiker, and three others to a C-shaped table in the back of the room. They would be reading and answering questions about another text, a fairy tale, in Spanish.

First, however, Leon had them practice writing complete sentences with a subject and a predicate, a capital letter at the beginning, and a period at the end. He gave them a subject in Spanish — el perro, the dog — and asked them to finish the sentence.

Many newly arrived students at Valdez are practicing literacy skills in their native Spanish while also learning English.

“The dog is playing in the yard,” Leiker wrote in Spanish in his notebook.

“The dog is barking,” Jesus wrote.

A while later, when Leon pointed out that Leiker was missing a period, the boy swirled the tip of his pencil several times, making a period so big his teacher couldn’t miss it.

Jesus has a lightbulb moment

While many things are different at Valdez these days, some things are the same. One of those is that students, including the new arrivals, continue to have what teachers call lightbulb moments — the moment of joy and discovery when an academic concept clicks.

On this day, something clicked for Jesus in math.

Math is not Jesus’ favorite subject. Both boys said they like recess and lunch best, followed by snack. Leiker said he thinks music class, where they learn to play instruments, is the hardest. Shaking his head, Jesus said that for him, it’s math.

Leiker, left, and Jesus, right, giggle as they work side by side on math problems on their computers.

During part of the math block, the boys were sitting with King at her C-shaped table. To help explain 5 x 30 to Leiker, King took out a bucket of yellow cubes stuck together in groups of 10. Leiker portioned the cube stacks into five piles of three and counted them up.

Jesus sat next to him, working on addition. But the yellow cubes caught his eye.

When Leiker got the right answer — 150 — Jesus let out an, “Ohhhhhhhh!”

Jesus put his own work aside and helped Leiker with his next problem: 30 x 40. Using a bigger set of yellow cubes, the boys counted in Spanish. They spoke in unison, just like they had when they were talking about soccer at lunch. “100, 200, 300, 400…

“1,200!”

“That’s it,” King said.

The boys beamed.

Valdez will need more desks

Just past 3 p.m., Jesus, Leiker, and their fourth-grade classmates streamed out of Valdez through the same playground door they’d entered seven hours earlier, in the same jumbly line.

Buckley stood on the blacktop, surveying the scene.

Valdez has more students now than at any time in recent history. The school is so full that when newly arrived families show up in the office looking to register their children, as three had that day, the secretary often has to redirect them to nearby elementary schools.

Jesus, left, and Leiker, right, walk to their classroom at Valdez Elementary, which has welcomed more than 100 newly arrived students this year, many of them from Venezuela.

Valdez has hired more paraprofessionals and an intervention teacher to help the new students catch up. It has also bought more books and scrounged for hand-me-down furniture. The assistant principal, Sanchez, has at times driven around the city in his own truck, collecting spare desks from elementary schools that don’t have as many students.

A few hours before class was dismissed for the day, Buckley learned the school would need two more desks. The district was in touch to share that two newly arrived students — in fourth grade, the only grade at Valdez with any more room — would be enrolling the following week.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

An existing program for migrant students can’t help schools with the current influx of new students. Here’s why.

2024-02-22T18:59:22+00:00

Some of Colorado’s most diverse school districts, including Aurora and Greeley, are used to waves of immigration bringing in new students in the middle of the year.

Recently, families from Burma have moved into Greeley, and Aurora officials recall hundreds of new students from Afghanistan after U.S. troops pulled out.

But this year, the midyear wave is even bigger, with most students arriving from Venezuela and other South American countries. And it is overwhelming some district systems.

“We’re running at 300% our normal typical average for the school year,” said Brett Johnson, chief financial officer for Aurora Public Schools, referring to the number of midyear enrollments, which are up from the typical 500 to 800 in a year.

Schools need everything from new desks and more classroom space, to more teachers, bilingual staff, and specialized teachers who can administer screening tests to determine students’ levels of English proficiency and help them learn English.

But many of the new students from South America arrived after the Oct. 1 cutoff that determines how much per-student state funding each district will get. And although government officials refer to this new group of immigrants as “migrants,” the students do not qualify for money from the federal Migrant Education Program.

What does the Migrant Education Program do?

The Migrant Education Program began in 1966 and was designed to support the children of farmworker families. To qualify for the program, students must have parents who work in agriculture, or work in the field themselves, usually in temporary or seasonal positions, and must have moved between school districts within the last three years.

Some of the children might belong to families who travel around the country following the seasonal availability of farm work. They aren’t necessarily new to the country, and many already are fluent in English. Immigration status doesn’t matter, just as it doesn’t for the students who arrived this semester. By law, all children can access free public education.

In Colorado, there were about 4,500 agricultural migrant children aged 1 through 21 this year — fewer than the thousands of new students from South America. The $7.5 million federal allocation for the state helps younger children succeed in school and focuses on keeping teens and young adults up to age 22 in school instead of dropping out to work full time.

Advocates from the program travel to farms or worksites to enroll children in the program and convince older students up to age 22 to stay in school. The program works with families, visiting their homes, supporting their mental health, and figuring out what other barriers might exist for the students to learn. The funding also pays for school supplies, tutoring, and summer programming.

“A lot of our families have needs that are pretty basic, if we just try to push education on them they’re not ready a lot of times,” said Tomás Mejia, Colorado’s director for the Migrant Education Program. “If we help them be well enough, help the parents and adults be well enough to help the kids, that can really help a lot more.”

The new South American students also need the same types of support. For both groups of students, educators say there’s a need to build trust and provide help that goes beyond the classroom.

The Greeley school district usually enrolls the largest number of agricultural migrant students in the state, and Greeley also is seeing a wave of non-agricultural migrant students. One school recently enrolled 19 new students in one day. An elementary school is now so full that teachers are starting to operate out of mobile carts, moving from room to room, instead of having a classroom.

School districts are addressing student needs

The Greeley district’s existing welcome center, which has always helped the community’s immigrant population, is playing a big role in helping the district welcome and make families feel like they belong, said Brian Lemos, director of instruction and English language development.

But the district is also relying on community partners to help families learn to use technology, learn English, and to offer help with housing or employment.

“There’s definitely unique needs,” Lemos said. “They’re new to the country. All of them have needs as far as language acquisition.”

“A lot of these students are coming to us with severe trauma,” said Theresa Myers, a spokesperson for the Greeley district. “Some of the families from Venezuela, they’ve been trying to travel for months. Our impact on our mental health services is real.”

Right now, the district has a mental health counselor at every school. But 35 counselor and social worker positions in the district were funded by ESSER dollars that won’t be available after September. Now the district is trying to figure out how to keep the much-needed positions.

Although Colorado gives school districts extra money to assist students who are learning English, most school districts say they have to use money from their general fund to cover the services they provide because that specific money isn’t enough.

And since so many of these students arrived after October 1, the districts didn’t get the money for them this year. (If students are still enrolled next fall, the districts will get money then.) In the meantime, school districts are having to hire new staff including paraprofessionals to help teachers with larger-than-normal class sizes. In Aurora, “We have several instances in which elementary schools came back from Christmas break with almost 100 more kids than before,” Johnson said.

Legislators in Colorado are drafting a $24 million proposal to give districts some funding for these midyear enrollees. It won’t be the total funding that districts usually get per student, but it might help.

State lawmakers haven’t filed the proposal, but there are promising signs it’ll pass once they do. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has said he supports sending extra funding to districts enrolling new students, and the proposal is coming from lawmakers on the powerful Joint Budget Committee, which plays a major role in how the state spends its money.

Johnson said that Aurora isn’t waiting to see that money transferred before hiring needed positions or addressing needs. He hopes the state will reimburse some of the expenses if the money does come.

While leaders say they aren’t cutting budgets or making adjustments, they are starting to think ahead. Maybe that will mean having roaming teams that can go to the schools most impacted on a short term basis to deal with the work of helping students new to the country.

“The hard part is no one knows how long this phenomenon will last,” Johnson said. “We are trying to start putting in some thought in the long-term, if there’s a better system.”

For now, schools are helping new students from South America adapt.

“When a new student enrolls who is new to the country it’s also a matter of the daily school routines — it’s also teaching them the routines of a typical school day,” Johnson said.

That can take up a lot of time for school staff. But not all schools are receiving high numbers of new students. Schools near shelters, apartments or housing where agencies have helped migrants get settled are enrolling more students.

Educators say they aren’t currently thinking about transferring students to different schools to avoid overcrowded classrooms, but Greeley leaders say they have changed enrollment boundaries when schools were getting too full in previous situations. They might consider it if the enrollment boom continues.

School educators say, still, they want kids in school, they understand that children must learn and the faster they can connect them to educators, the better.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Almost half of migrant families who got 60-day eviction notices moved out of NYC shelters

2024-03-01T19:34:40+00:00

This article is part of an ongoing collaboration between Chalkbeat and THE CITY.

Beatriz, a Venezuelan mother of two young girls, got a 60-day notice to leave their Midtown migrant shelter last November.

The next day, she said, she was out hunting for apartments.

Working under the table in an Irish pub in Hell’s Kitchen, she’d been able to save some money, pooling it with her boyfriend and a cousin and his family. It was enough for the upfront costs to rent a three-bedroom apartment in Crown Heights they would all share. By the time her 60 days ran out, Beatriz and her girls had already moved out of the shelter.

“We’re totally thankful,” Beatriz, who asked that her last name be withheld fearing immigration consequences, said in Spanish. “We’ve been given so much.”

Beatriz is among the first swath of migrant families with children to see their time in city shelters run out under a newly implemented city policy for migrant families in certain shelters. Notices started coming due in early January, and of the around 7,500 parents and children who reached their 60-day limit, half have moved out, according data through late February from the mayor’s office.

A further breakdown of the data released by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s last month on the 60-day policy found that of about 4,750 families who’d had their time expire through early February, 29% of them, or about 1,300 families, reapplied for shelter and were transferred to new shelters. The remaining 16% stayed in the same shelter where they were originally placed.

Among those who’ve gotten the notices are families like Beatriz’ who came in the fall of 2022 and had more than a year to find work and make connections in New York City.

But many who received the notices have entered the migrant shelter system since the rule has been in place, like families living at the sprawling tent facility at Floyd Bennett Field, or those at a recently opened family shelter in an old warehouse in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill, who’ve had much less time to get their bearings in a new country.

Migrants leaving the Row Hotel stored their belongings on the sidewalk before heading to a new shelter, Jan. 4, 2024.

The mayor’s office didn’t return a request for additional comment on the new data, but members of the Eric Adams administration have repeatedly defended the shelter stay limits, crediting them for driving down costs. They also say the policy is keeping the number of migrants in city shelters — which hovers at around 64,000 people — from continuing to grow. The numbers have even slightly dipped in recent weeks, despite more than a thousand newcomers arriving each week.

For adult migrants who are subject to strict 30-day shelter limits, with days or weekslong waits to get another cot, many have resorted to sleeping on the streets or trains, in overcrowded mosques, or unsanctioned commercial spaces. This week, Gothamist reported on one couple living in a school bus.

The Adams administration has repeatedly said its main goal is not to have families with children sleeping on the streets. In all, city officials said they’ve given 9,100 families shelter eviction notices so far. While some like Beatriz have landed on their feet, critics of the 60-day policy say many more parents and children who can’t afford to move out have been put through unnecessary turmoil.

“The 60-day shelter limit for families with children is one of the cruelest policies to come from City Hall in generations, evicting families from shelter in the middle of winter, and displacing kids from their schools in the middle of the school year,” said Lander, who has promised to investigate the policy. He pointed out City Hall has relatively little information on what happens to migrants when they leave shelters.

“Where did those nearly 2,500 parents go? Were they in a dangerously overcrowded basement? Were they sleeping on the street? We have no idea.”

‘Families going dark’

Schools with migrant students forced to move because of the 60-day rule have been grappling with the logistical and emotional fallout of the disruptions.

“Just said goodbye to another four newcomers who are moving away after being with us for a year,” said one Manhattan principal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Lots of tears from the kids and adults.”

Upper West Side parent Naveed Hasan, who sits on the city’s school board, the Panel for Educational Policy, has been part of an informal group of parents, school staff, and local elected officials working to find students who disappear suddenly from classes.

“It’s really like families going dark and then leaving people really confused. Where are they, and how can we help them?” Hasan said. “And I think this is sort of the intended effect of a policy.”

Testifying at a City Council hearing Friday, Molly Schaeffer, the head of the city’s office of Asylum Seeker Operations, said that 90% of children who were evicted in the month of January remained in their same school, though she didn’t give specifics. “We really did prioritize education and the education of the youngest children when making these types of choices and moves,” she said, adding the office tried to keep families in the same borough as their youngest child’s school.

Migrants leaving the Row Hotel stored their belongings on the sidewalk before heading to a new shelter, Jan. 4, 2024.

Schools that recently got influxes of new students are already seeing them transferred to shelters in other parts of the city, leaving staffers with whiplash.

“In a month we had more than 50 students…and now I don’t know what’s going to happen with them,” said Carolina Zafra, a teacher at P.S. 46 in Clinton Hill, among several schools in the area that received a sudden surge in students, following the opening of a new shelter for families in a converted warehouse.

School staffers knew the new students were subject to the 60-day shelter stay limit, but were holding out hope that city officials wouldn’t enforce it, Zafra said.

The school wrote letters for families to bring back to the shelter showing they were enrolled in a nearby school in the hopes it might get them a reprieve. But when teachers came back from mid-winter break this week, they found that many of their students had already been moved. Zafra has one student who’s now commuting to the school from Manhattan and she heard about another living by JFK airport.

“I’m more concerned about all the emotional distress those children already experienced and now again moving them from something I thought was settled for them,” she said.

One mom who arrived from Venezuela in December and enrolled her two kids at P.S. 46 said her family was transferred from the Hall Street shelter to a shelter in Midtown Manhattan last week.

The mom, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said she never considered transferring her kids to a new school, even though her commute is now close to an hour.

“They have a lot of patience with the children,” she said of the school, in Spanish. “I didn’t want to change their school because they feel good there.”

Homeless students in New York City are entitled to transportation under federal law so that they can remain in the same school if they move. Kids and parents in temporary housing are eligible for free MetroCards, and younger students can also get assigned to school bus routes, though that process can take some time.

But the mom said their MetroCards are still pending, and since the family has no income to pay the fares, they often have to sneak through open emergency gates. Her husband has already received a fine for doing so.

Still, the Venezuelan mom considers herself lucky compared to other families from the school who were placed in shelters even further away, she said.

‘I felt such relief’

Among those 16% of families who’ve been able to remain in their shelters, according to the data from the comptroller, many are living at the remote tent shelter located at Floyd Bennett Field. Some describe their extended stay there as both a blessing and a curse.

Geraldine, a 38-year-old mother of three from Venezuela, who moved into Floyd Bennett Field last December, said getting used to the tents was a challenge: the long walks in the cold across a vast marshland to the nearest bus stop, the bathrooms and showers in trailers outside of the living quarters, the lack of privacy and constant cries of collicky children. The disruptions during severe weather have also been hard, like the January evening when the city evacuated thousands of residents to a nearby school due to high winds.

Venezuelan migrants Geraldine, Jhon and their daughter Yorliannys, leave the Floyd Bennett Field family shelter for the day, Jan. 25, 2024.

Still, as her eviction date approached she prayed the family would get to stay put, dreading the disruption of packing up and starting again somewhere new. The family collected their belongings the night before their mid-February move-out day, still unsure what would happen. But when her husband checked in with staff the next morning, he was told they could get another 60 days in the same cubicle.

“I felt such relief,” Geraldine said, who asked that her full name not be used to protect her family’s identity. “We didn’t have to go all the way to [Midtown] with the kids,” she said, referring to the process of reapplying for shelter at the Roosevelt Hotel. Instead their kids continued at their schools without interruption.

“The idea is to finish our time here, save up money and move out,” she said.

‘I feel good, and I’m afraid, at the same time’

Beatriz’ hunt for their new home was difficult, as it is for many New Yorkers. She fronted $500 to someone promising an apartment and spent a day standing in the rain outside what she thought was her new apartment in Astoria before realizing it was a scam.

When a rental finally came through, she and her daughters moved out little by little, shuttling their belongings on the subway over the course of several days. After the winter break, Beatriz pulled her kids out of school and transferred them to ones closer to their new Crown Heights home, unable to make the bi-borough commute. Her 7-year-old daughter seems to be adjusting, while her 11-year-old is having a more difficult time.

“She misses all her friends from class,” Beatriz said.

Beatriz relishes being able to cook for herself and the family again, something she couldn’t do for more than a year living in a hotel room. She’s enjoying the privacy and peace of having their own place. But she also feels the anxiety of so many New Yorkers living paycheck to paycheck, that a little disruption could lead to an inability to make rent and send her back to shelter.

“I feel good, and I’m afraid, at the same time,” Beatriz said. “And the fear, because if one of us loses our job, god willing, how would we pay rent?”

Gwynne Hogan covers Brooklyn for THE CITY.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Many migrant students need mental health support. Here’s why this program is a go-to for schools.

2024-03-11T09:00:00+00:00

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When thousands of Syrian families fleeing violence resettled in Canada several years ago, Ontario’s school mental health agency wanted to give schools tools to help refugee children process their traumatic journeys and adjust to their new lives.

The children didn’t necessarily need intensive support. But kids were bursting into tears and struggling to explain how they felt. Parents, too, noticed their usually social children had become more withdrawn and were struggling to make friends. That was especially common after kids had been in Canada for a few months and the honeymoon period ended.

So a team of experts in child mental health put their heads together and developed a program for newcomers that focuses on their strengths and who they can turn to for support. Known as STRONG, the program is now used across the U.S. in several cities serving lots of newcomers, including Chicago, Boston, Seattle, New York, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Little Rock, Arkansas. Many others are asking for training, as schools struggle to meet the needs of students who’ve been through difficult journeys with limited school mental health staff, and even fewer bilingual ones.

STRONG, which stands for Supporting Transition Resilience of Newcomer Groups, can’t solve everything. Some kids may still need more intensive mental health support — and finding the time and staff to run these groups can be challenging. But many experts, educators, and students themselves see the intervention as a promising tool to help newcomers forge connections and head off mental health struggles before they turn into a crisis.

“They’ve just really appreciated the opportunity to connect with other kids,” said Lisa Baron, a psychologist who trains schools to use STRONG and directs the Boston-based Center for Trauma Care in Schools. “A lot of them said that they just had not really known that other kids were feeling the same way as they were.”

Why some newcomers struggle with mental health

Newcomer students can be refugees or asylum-seekers or the children of undocumented immigrants. Some arrive with families, some arrive alone. Some have been in the U.S. for just a few days or weeks, while others have been here longer. And while their experiences vary, they’ve often faced various hardships, from hunger to abuse.

Many children did not feel in control during their travels, and now crave stability and predictability.

It can also be difficult for newcomer families to access mental health services in the U.S. — driving home the importance of offering help at school. There’s often stigma around seeking treatment, and some families fear that doing so could put them at risk for deportation.

Here’s how STRONG typically works: The school identifies a group of students who are close in age and relatively new to the U.S. who could benefit from extra support. Then the school makes sure parents are on board, which can mean having careful conversations, especially if families are unfamiliar with schools offering mental health support.

The group meets for 10 sessions, usually during the school day. Early sessions help students understand that it’s normal to feel overwhelmed or stressed sometimes. Kids learn different relaxation techniques, such as curling their toes into the floor as if they were standing in a mud puddle, or visualizing the sights and smells of a favorite place.

In later sessions, they learn coping and problem-solving skills, such as how to map out steps to achieve a goal. Kids who are shy about speaking English could identify people they’d feel safe practicing with.

“The coping skills [are] what will stay with you forever,” one Ontario student told Canadian researchers for a 2019 report. “Whenever you are in a stressful situation, you will always remember what to do.”

In STRONG, students learn various problem-solving and coping skills.

What makes STRONG unique and appealing to many schools, said Colleen Cicchetti, a pediatric psychologist who helped develop the intervention, is that it takes a strengths-based approach.

“There were strengths that were inside you that you had in your home country that are still with you, here, today — how do we build on them?” said Cicchetti, who directs the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and now trains schools on how to use STRONG. “We really want young people and their parents to say: ‘This is a part of who I am and what I’ve experienced, but it shouldn’t define who I am entirely.’”

That’s what attracted the attention of mental health and school staff in the Madison, Wisconsin area. The district tried tweaking another group that addresses student trauma to help newcomers, but realized it wasn’t quite meeting their needs.

Kids need to “talk about good memories and coping strategies, not necessarily the exposure to the traumatic event,” said Carrie Klein, a school mental health coach for Madison Metro schools, which is considering using STRONG.

For Jennifer Moorhouse, a teacher who works with English learners at Brighton Park Elementary School in Chicago, STRONG has been transformative for her and her students.

Related: Amid Chicago’s migrant influx, one school is trying to help newcomer students navigate trauma

Over the last year, Moorhouse has run four STRONG groups — known as “clubs” at her school — alongside school counselor Stephanie Carrillo. The program helped Moorhouse get to know newcomers’ families, and has made students comfortable to seek her out when they need essentials like toothpaste or body wash.

Brighton Park Elementary School threw a quinceañera for newcomer students who were sad they would miss celebrating in their home country.

The group has helped in unexpected ways, too. When kids said they weren’t eating at school because they didn’t like the food, Moorhouse figured out they did like Ritz crackers and Skinny popcorn, so she keeps those on hand. And when she found out some newcomers were crying in the bathroom, upset that they were going to miss their quinceñera back home, the group threw a big party at school, complete with balloons and empanadas.

“The students really have created this bond with Ms. Moorhouse — that’s their person,” said Cecilia Mendoza, the assistant principal. “Every student needs someone. For someone new entering the country, entering a new school, having someone is even more important.”

Brighton Park is one of 83 schools across the district that’s been trained in STRONG, with another 50 schools in line to be trained next school year.

Why talking about their journeys can help newcomers

When experts first developed STRONG, they imagined it would be delivered by social workers, school counselors and other mental health staff, since many newcomers have experienced trauma.

But given that mental health professionals are often stretched or in short supply, more schools are asking for others to be trained, too, said Sharon Hoover, a psychiatry professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine who helped create STRONG.

Now, many schools run STRONG sessions with two adults. A teacher with language or cultural skills can act as the interpreter, while the staffer with mental health training takes on tasks such as screening children for post-traumatic stress.

“We don’t want to be irresponsible with the curriculum and just throw it into the hands of anybody who has no mental health training at all,” Hoover said. “But on the other hand, we don’t want to restrict it in a way that’s going to lead to it not getting to students who might benefit.”

On a recent Tuesday morning, Hoover and Bianca Ramos, a STRONG trainer, showed what a one-on-one session that invites students to share about their journey can look like during a virtual training for two dozen school staffers.

The group, mostly social workers and school counselors from Connecticut, had gathered to learn strategies to help newcomer students from many parts of the world, including Haiti, Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and Ukraine.

Related: We are facing a migrant mental health crisis. More school social workers could help

In the video demonstration, Hoover sat beside Ramos in the corner of a blue-walled room. Ramos, a Chicago-based social worker, played the role of a 13-year-old girl who’d fled Guatemala without time to say goodbye to family and friends after her father was killed. Hoover explained that talking about something hard can be like stepping into cold water.

“The more we do it, slowly and gradually, usually the more comfortable we get,” Hoover said. “You don’t have to dive right in.”

In early sessions of STRONG, students learn various relaxation techniques and that it's OK to feel stress sometimes.

In the scenario, as the young girl neared the U.S.-Mexico border, robbers threatened to take her family’s few belongings. Hoover asked how she got through that time, using it as an opportunity to draw out the child’s strengths.

“I had this picture of my mom and I just remember looking at it, and trying to stay hopeful that I was going to be able to see her again,” Ramos said. And she had her little sister to watch out for: “I was like a mom to her.”

“That’s amazing,” Hoover replied, pointing out how brave and caring the child had been.

Later, Hoover asked if the girl was having trouble sleeping, reliving any memories, or feeling sad a lot. She wasn’t, but thoughts of her dad did pop into her head in class, making it hard to concentrate. Hoover made sure that wasn’t happening too much, and then kept the door open to talk more in the future if anything changed.

In Chicago, Moorhouse has seen that some kids feel relieved when they share about their journey. But she also cautions that it can be a lot for other students and teachers to take in. After one student shared details that made Moorhouse tear up later, she realized she couldn’t probe too deeply in her conversations with the student, and needed to let the school counselor step in.

“We’re not therapists,” she said. “That’s very important for teachers to realize.”

STRONG can help students, but there are challenges

STRONG is still being rigorously evaluated in the U.S. But research conducted by Western University in Canada, where STRONG was first piloted during the 2017-18 school year, has shown promising results.

Evaluations from across Ontario found the program helped kids build trust, increase their confidence, and develop a sense of belonging at school. Students reported that STRONG helped them feel more welcome and connect with their peers.

STRONG can also shift school culture and help the entire staff become more attuned to newcomers’ needs. When Moorhouse notices certain patterns of behavior, she shares that with other teachers, so they can keep an eye out.

That could be explaining why some kids may not want to take off sweaters or jackets — after border agents took everything they had except for what they were wearing at the time — or that playing certain sounds, like chirping birds or rushing water, could be upsetting to kids whose journey involved swimming or walking through the jungle.

There can be practical challenges. School leaders may be hesitant to pull kids out of class for STRONG when they are struggling academically. Elizabeth Paquette, who’s part of the team that trains school staff in Ontario, said it can be tricky to get enough kids together in smaller schools and rural communities without resorting to virtual groups that can make it harder for students to make friends.

And if groups use more than two languages, the interpretation needs can take away from the group’s conversational flow.

Still, Moorhouse said the group can be a place for kids to talk about those academic struggles, whether they’re lost in class or frustrated because they already know the content, but can’t yet express themselves. This year, especially, kids want to talk about school stress even more than their journeys.

“They were struggling with: ‘Do I give up?’” Moorhouse said. And her message was: “Let’s keep finding other ways to work through this. What are your thoughts?”

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Apps are helping teachers communicate with families that don’t speak English

2024-03-13T22:36:31+00:00

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Emma Gonzalez Gutierrez has struggled to communicate with the teachers of her five children for years.

She’s tried to stay engaged. She’s attended meetings, gravitated toward Spanish-speaking staff, and relied on translators, including her kids, over the years.

Now, thanks to an app that McElwain Elementary, her Adams 12 school, started using this year, she’s found opportunities to engage in new ways with her youngest child’s education.

Recently, the kindergarten teacher texted her on the app, ReachWell, which allows the teacher to text in English and parents to receive the messages in their own language. The teacher told Gonzalez Gutierrez that her daughter had won a student of the month-type award and invited her to come to the school to surprise her daughter when the award was presented. The small gesture that meant so much to Gonzalez Gutierrez.

“For me it was very exciting,” Gonzalez Gutierrez said. “It was so valuable that she was able to let me know.”

ReachWell and similar translation apps have become more common, and for some teachers, they’ve become crucial as educators work to communicate with the rising number of families that don’t speak English. The apps often allow the communications between parents and teachers to feel personal. Some teachers say it has helped parents open up about issues their child or family is having, which then helps teachers better engage with students.

In addition to seeing text from teachers in their native language on ReachWell, parents can respond in their native language and teachers see the replies in English.

Kayli Brooks, a teacher at Tollgate Elementary in Aurora, uses the app Talking Points, which also allows her to text parents. It also translates texts between parents and educators but does not require families to download an app.

“Families will share that they’re struggling with transportation, or here’s why maybe they’re acting out, or they might text me and say ‘hey this thing happened at home and I think my child is going to be really sad at school today,’” Brooks said. “It’s a huge deal. Families want to be involved in their child’s education no matter where they’re from, no matter what language they speak.”

Brooks said that since her Aurora school began using the app in 2020, she is much more successful at collecting permission forms, for example.

With migrant families who are new to the country and are “kind of overwhelmed,” she said, texting them through the app has also helped them better understand basic information they need to get their children started in school.

Communication that feels personal, through a text, is often more manageable for families than directing parents to online forms and resources, she said.

Sara Olson, principal of McElwain Elementary, said the ReachWell translation app is “a tool that provides equitable access.”

“It’s almost mind boggling to me that some of these folks have maneuvered schools for years not having access,” Olson said. “As a parent I can’t imagine not having access to the information, to the teachers. Every child and family member has a right to have that access.”

Olson said she did not have trouble having all families at her school download the app.

Zuben Bastani created the app ReachWell after he said he saw that some families at his child’s Denver school weren’t getting all the communications. He said he saw children excluded from field trips after arriving at school, unknowingly unprepared — wearing sneakers on the day of a snowshoeing trip, for example — because their families hadn’t understood the school communications.

“It became real apparent, real fast, which families were aware and showed up and which weren’t,” Bastani said.

The app is in use in many schools and districts in the metro area and across the country in places like Pittsburgh. In addition to schools, the company is also partnering with some emergency service agencies to provide emergency notifications — such as shelter-in-place or evacuation orders during natural disasters — that non-English speaking populations can receive in their home language.

Jean Boylan, a community liaison at McMeen Elementary in Denver, also uses ReachWell at her school, but said she also has used Google’s translation app on her phone to greet parents face to face as they pick up students from school. She said staff are all looking for as many ways as possible to communicate.

In her school, concerns about whether new immigrant families have access to the internet, have led staff to start printing materials too. McMeen is one of a couple dozen Denver schools that have enrolled a significant number of new students from Venezuela and elsewhere this year.

But anytime they can communicate with the ReachWell app, it saves time and energy, Boylan said.

The app helps because there are so many languages spoken by families. She said there’s a map in her office with at least 27 countries highlighted, reflecting where the school’s current families come from.

Bastani said ReachWell has found that because parents have to download the app and self-select from more than 130 languages what their preferred language is, many schools find that they’ve been undercounting how many languages their families speak.

On average, they discover 25% more languages after a few months, ReachWell leaders said.

Boylan is now working with Bastani to build out a resource page that ReachWell offers in the app for families. It may include ways for families to access help such as for food or housing.

For parents like Gonzalez Gutierrez, the personal communications they have with teachers are the most critical.

Gonzalez Gutierrez said earlier this year, she realized her kindergartener had become frustrated with an online program the school used for kids to learn math. It was causing the child stress and fear and Gonzalez Gutierrez said she didn’t know how to talk to the teacher about it — until she realized that she could text her.

Letting the teacher know what the problem was allowed them to work together to solve it.

“It’s worth it,” Gonzalez Gutierrez said. “It’s been such a gift for me.”

This story has been updated to reflect that users do not have to download the ReachWell app to get messages through ReachWell, though the downloading the app is an option.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

This New York City counselor used to teach math. Now she helps migrant students destress at school

2024-03-15T14:00:08+00:00

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As a middle school math teacher, Lisset Condo Dutan’s days often revolved around fractions and equations. But when the pandemic hit, her virtual classroom became a place where students came to confide in her.

“I would only see them through a screen, and they would share with me: I lost my grandma, I just lost my dad, I just lost my mom,” she said. She tried her best to listen, but she knew they needed more. “They didn’t really have the emotional support that they needed.”

Lisset Condo Dutan works with newcomer students at an elementary school in Queens through the nonprofit Counseling in Schools.

Driven by those conversations, Condo Dutan went back to school to get her master’s in counseling — while she was teaching full-time — and became a school counselor.

Last fall, she took a position with the nonprofit Counseling in Schools, which places school counselors in dozens of schools throughout New York City. Condo Dutan now works at P.S. 149 in Queens, not far from where she grew up. She was among a dozen bilingual or bicultural counselors that the nonprofit hired to meet the needs of a growing number of migrant students who’ve enrolled in the city’s schools.

Now, she spends her days popping into classrooms to see if newcomers need any help and meeting with students in small groups or one-on-one.

“Even though they went through a lot, they’re the strongest people that I’ve ever met,” she said. “I admire that.”

Condo Dutan spoke with Chalkbeat about how art therapy, breathing exercises, and sharing details from her visits to Ecuador have helped her connect with her students.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What are some of the mental health or social-emotional needs that your newcomer students have?

A lot of them have undergone some sort of trauma. Especially when they share their journey coming here to New York, either what they saw on their way here or what they saw at the detention centers at the border. It impacts them a lot.

Thankfully, a lot of the teachers pick up on these little emotions. Maybe they walk in sad one day or they look upset, or there’s a change in behavior. They’ll ask: Can you please just check up on the student? And when you check up on them, you realize that there’s a lot of things that are still bothering them.

They’ll share: You know, I had this nightmare, I’m still thinking about this. I remember when we were crossing the river. Or, honestly speaking, they’ve seen people pass away on their way here. Unfortunately, they’ve seen bodies and stuff like that. And these are third graders, second graders, fifth graders.

That’s still there for them. So, sometimes they do have days where they’re a little off. [It’s important] to provide them with that support and that safe space.

When you’re starting to build a relationship and a rapport with a student who has been through a really tough journey, what are some of the things you do to help establish that you’re a safe person and that they’re in a safe place?

I let them speak about their culture. A lot of these students are very proud of where they come from, so I give them that opportunity and that time to teach me about themselves.

Sometimes, we’ll share memories. But usually, we do a lot of art therapy. For most of them, that’s easier. Markers, crayons, glitter, pens, paints — anything that I have in the office.

They’re drawing their favorite dishes, their favorite places, or their favorite people that they left behind, as well as their pets or any traditional celebrations. For example, for Christmas, they shared that certain countries have a whole festival for like a week. They would draw bumper cars and parties, and certain cultural outfits.

What are some of the acculturation struggles that you’re seeing?

Usually, what they share is that it’s just hard overall. In their countries, they would have more freedom. There would be much more fresh air and free space for them to run around. Coming here and being in an apartment, or being stuck in school, it’s different for them.

They’ve slowly been getting accustomed to school life. It’s been a lot of teaching them how to schedule their time, time management, as well as asking them what other resources they need in order to feel comfortable.

What strategies or coping skills have you taught students that they’ve found helpful?

We’ve done a lot of breathing exercises. Sometimes [their exposure to trauma] does get them a little uneasy. They really like [an exercise called] smell the flower, blow out the birthday cake candle.

I usually ask them: If I had a flower in my hand, how would you smell the flower? And they would inhale and breathe in. And when I ask them to blow out a birthday candle, they blow out through their mouth. It teaches them how to not take quick breaths.

I’ve also done a lot of cooked spaghetti, uncooked spaghetti. I have students basically tense up every part of their body. So they’ll become very stiff, like uncooked spaghetti. And then I allow them to become like cooked spaghetti, very noodly, so they let go of everything.

It’s allowing them to take notice of what part of their body is under stress, and teaching them how to express themselves when they feel that stress.

How does being able to speak Spanish allow you to connect with the students in ways that wouldn’t be possible if you didn’t speak their language?

Instead of having to translate what they’re feeling, they’re able to just express themselves exactly how they feel.

If I don’t understand something, I do ask them: Oh, what do you mean by this? It could be because of cultural differences. I take that time to let them teach me about what they’re trying to say, or what they’re trying to get out.

Do you ever share things about yourself with the students to help make a connection with them?

My parents are Ecuadorian, and I do bring that to the table. When I go to Ecuador, I visit my grandpa, I go to the countryside, I go to the city, and I’m able to share that with them. Even if the child is not from Ecuador, they’re more open to opening up to me because they realize: She’s been outside of New York, she understands what’s going on in other countries.

Lisset Condo Dutan often shares stories about visiting her family in Ecuador as a way to connect with the students she works with.

They ask me: Have you tasted salchipapas? Have you tasted a traditional dish called tripa mishqui? I’m open to sharing that information with them, and they’re usually very happy [to talk about it].

Where my grandpa lives, it’s like a farmland. A lot of them came from farmland. So, me being able to say: You know, when I go to Ecuador, I spend a week with my grandpa, and I help him feed the cows and feed the horses. That usually sparks something in them. They look at me like: You did that? I used to do that! Little things like that have really helped me connect with them.

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Amid influx of students new to the country, English development teachers in Colorado feel overwhelmed

2024-03-20T23:44:05+00:00

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This school year has been overwhelming for teachers like Joel Mollman.

As an English language development teacher at Hamilton Middle School in Denver, Mollman has had to take on more work to keep up with the growing number of students who need help learning English.

In previous years, for example, his school might have only received three students a month who needed to be screened for English fluency. This year, he screens at least three new students each week — a process that takes one to two hours per student.

“It could quickly take up two of my mornings where I could be in classrooms,” Mollman said.

Across the state, English language development teachers describe similar scenarios.

As many schools have experienced an influx of new students with limited English skills all year, their roles have been changing.

Traditionally, these teachers are tasked with screening new students, teaching English as a second language, administering English fluency tests, and coaching other classroom teachers.

Now they must also support many students who are new to the country in much larger classes than typical.

As of the end of February, seven of Colorado’s districts — Denver, Aurora, Cherry Creek, Greeley, Adams 12, Jeffco, and Mapleton — told Chalkbeat they had enrolled more than 5,600 students new to the country after October count.

Some schools, in particular ones where there haven’t traditionally been large numbers of English learners, have relied on their English language development teachers to be the main support for children new to the country. Some of the teachers describe helping students and their families navigate a new country, and even taking in a child whose family was living in a car, during a bout of chickenpox.

Often, they say, certain parts of their job have fallen to the wayside, and state advocates say that in small districts, even screening students to identify their English needs, a crucial step, gets skipped.

Cynthia Trinidad-Sheahan, president of the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education, said districts don’t have the manpower, and often don’t know what to do.

“The expertise is lacking with some of the districts,” Trinidad-Sheahan said. “How do we get training to the teachers that are in these rural districts? And it’s not just on the paraeducators and teachers. The administrators leading these buildings do not have a clear understanding of language acquisition.”

Teachers start by testing for English fluency

When a student who is suspected of not being fluent in English is enrolled in school, the district is required to screen them to identify their language level and needs for services. That screening is supposed to happen within two weeks of enrollment.

In a typical year, that occupies time in the beginning of the school year for English language development teachers. This year, with some schools receiving new students every week, that process has taken up a lot more time.

At Hamilton Middle, where Mollman is also team lead for the school’s multilingual team, he’s taken on the role of screening all students this semester. Official state numbers show 40% of Hamilton’s 700 students have been identified as English learners.

In addition to administering the tests, Mollman has to block off a few hours per week to do the paperwork for the district. That requires entering scores and other information into the computer, and three school staff members to sign off.

Last semester, another English language development teacher on his team was sharing the load, but with so many new students, that teacher had to take on another class, giving up one of her free periods. Mollman now does all the screening.

Each Monday, he starts his week preparing for testing, double-checking the schedules given to new students to make sure they’re in the right classes, tracking down Chromebooks if they haven’t received them, and sometimes making calls as he tries to figure out what proficiency the new students have in their native language.

Kayli Brooks, a teacher at Tollgate Elementary in Aurora, said screening new students didn’t consume her job only because her school was able to get help from Aurora district leaders who stepped in to do that work.

But she recalls how many of the students arrived just before the annual testing window for ACCESS tests, the tests English learners take each year to measure their progress in English fluency. Those students had to take both tests within days or weeks.

“Every office or room was filled with testing,” Brooks said. She said it was heartbreaking to pull students and have them realize they had to take yet another English test they wouldn’t be able to do well on.

It’s hard to find time to help more students

Both Brooks and Mollman said that in their schools, giving students a block of English language instruction — a legally required practice — has not stopped.

But other help for students and staff has.

Brooks, for instance, said she used to pull groups of students such as those new to the country out of class for extra English instruction where she would let them practice speaking. She used to cater those sessions to phrases and vocabulary the students might encounter in other content classrooms such as science or social studies so they might feel more able to participate.

“All of that stopped,” Brooks said. “It came to an absolute screeching halt.”

In recent weeks, as the number of new students has slowed, she started back on a rhythm of reconvening some small groups of students.

“They are so happy,” Brooks said. “They want to learn. I taught them last week some basic advocacy: I need water. I need the bathroom. I need food.”

Still, she isn’t doing as much as she would like. And she hasn’t been able to help other classroom teachers in her school. At Tollgate, she said, about 60% to 75% of students are considered level 1 English learners, which means they don’t have any English fluency.

“We have a little over half of every classroom filled with students who don’t speak English, so half of their students are understanding what they say,” Brooks said. “Our team wants to — and should be — supporting teachers and having professional development around this. It’s just been such an overwhelming time that it’s not something that’s happening.”

Trinidad-Sheahan said districts need to allow English language development teachers to coach other teachers so the responsibilities for teaching students gets shared.

At the schools seeing an influx of emerging bilingual students, she said, instructional coaches should be teachers with experience in teaching English learners.

Mollman said at his Denver school, his team is trying to help other content teachers, but “we’re still trying to figure out the best way to do this.”

In other years, at his school teachers may have paired new students with other students who also speak the same language. But with so many new students, including some who speak Spanish and others who speak Arabic, it’s not always possible.

He’s also trying to get teachers to adapt how they grade students who don’t yet speak English. But it’s all a challenge.

“Some teachers are very good at adapting,” Mollman said. “Some have really struggled with it and we haven’t quite found the solution.”

Teachers feel unprepared for student needs

Even teachers who have experience working with students learning English as a new language say they’ve felt unprepared at times this year.

Dakota Prosch, is an English language teacher at Academia Ana Marie Sandoval in Denver, where she teaches fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students at the dual language Montessori school. In a typical year, her students are already close to fully bilingual. Because of the school model, and being a magnet school, most students by fourth grade have been in the school since kindergarten.

But this year, because of the large numbers of migrant students in Denver, the school has had to accept new students. It means Prosch is now working with students who have just arrived in the country and speak no English.

“We don’t have any materials for students who don’t speak English,” she said.

In February, the district provided some materials used at newcomer centers, but Prosch wishes she had gotten those resources sooner. For at least 30 minutes a day, she pulls aside the new students to work with them on some English development.

“There’s essentially two classes in one,” Prosch said. “I cannot deliver the same instruction.”

Most of her students are usually analyzing text. She tries to have her new students do that too, but many are just trying to learn what a sentence is and “how to put their tongue between their teeth” to learn the sounds different letter combinations make.

Still, Prosch said, “they’re really awesome kids and I’m really glad to have them.” It’s a sentiment echoed by other teachers.

Lawmakers are discussing a plan that would give some school districts additional funding for the students new to the country who have enrolled after October count when school funding is set.

Mollman agrees that more resources would help.

Right now, he said, schools like his are making tough decisions, such as choosing between bringing in a second English language development teacher or another science teacher. At his school, this year, they added a new ELD teacher to relieve a class that had more than 40 students.

“It was a pretty easy decision this year, but that then impacted one of our teams more severely than others,” Mollman said.

But, even without funding, teachers say their roles have to adapt to meet the needs of students.

“The goal is to ensure all of our students are successful regardless if they’re language learners or not,” Mollman said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado will allow some of this year’s new migrant students to skip state tests

2024-03-22T22:39:54+00:00

Some students who are new to the U.S. and enrolled in Colorado schools after the official October count will not have to take any standardized tests this spring.

That’s according to new guidance issued recently by the Colorado Department of Education.

The department changed the guidance as school districts are seeing unprecedented numbers of new students who are new to the country. Teachers have described various challenges they’ve faced trying to educate migrant students, and the students are unlikely to do well on standardized state tests given in English. As of February, the Denver, Aurora, Cherry Creek, Greeley, Adams 12, Jeffco, and Mapleton districts told Chalkbeat they had enrolled more than 5,600 newcomer students after October count.

Denver Public School leaders told their school board this week that in their case, the majority of students new to the country will fall into that category to be exempt from testing.

Colorado students who are identified as new to the country and have no or limited proficiency in English already are exempt from taking standardized English reading and writing tests for at least their first year of school. Before the new guidance, they were expected to take standardized math and science tests with accommodations.

This spring, if students are new to the country, have no or little English fluency, enrolled after October count, and had limited or interrupted schooling before arriving, they can also skip the math and science tests.

Limited or interrupted schooling includes not attending school for six consecutive school calendar months prior to Colorado enrollment or having two or more years of missed schooling compared to similarly aged students in the U.S. Students who had limited school options in their home country because of war, civil unrest, or needing to travel a long distance to an available school could also qualify for that designation.

Students who have not had interrupted schooling will still be expected to take math and science tests with accommodations. Their participation will count toward overall participation rates, but their scores will not be factored into school ratings for state or federal accountability systems.

Colorado tests students in third through 11th grades. CMAS English and math tests are given to students in third through eighth grade. Science tests are only given to students in fifth, eighth, and 11th grades. In high school, students take the PSAT in ninth and tenth grades, and the SAT in 11th grade.

Families can always opt students out of tests.

In Colorado, this year’s spring testing window begins April 8, after most districts come back from spring break.

Reporter Ann Schimke contributed to this report.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

How a Humboldt Park school is helping parents learn English and gain confidence

2024-04-03T17:00:00+00:00

This story was originally published in Block Club Chicago.

All is quiet inside a Humboldt Park elementary school filled with student artwork, class pictures and flags — except for one classroom, where there’s soft chatter in English and Spanish.

It is home to Lowell Elementary School’s first English as a Second Language class, where about 15 parents and relatives of the school community meet Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

The group is a mix of new arrivals from Latin America, mothers, and relatives from other countries who wanted more opportunities to practice English, help their children with homework, and integrate into the neighborhood.

For some, learning English is also their ticket to getting a job and enrolling in college classes to further enrich their lives in Chicago, they said.

“I want to learn English so I can go to school and get a degree and acclimate here,” said Francelys Tineo, who arrived from Venezuela a few months ago and whose daughter attends Lowell. “My husband is trying to get work while I am in class, but we can’t work here yet. But I want to better communicate with people when I can get a job.”

María Taylor shows off her homework as she takes an English as a Second Language class at Lowell Elementary School.

Like many Chicago Public Schools, Lowell, 3320 W. Hirsch St., has seen an influx of migrant children enroll over the past year, growing its already high Latino student population, according to school data. The school has 304 students, 95% of whom are low-income students and 38% of whom are English learners, data shows.

Data on how many new arrivals have settled into Lowell since last year was not available, but the district has welcomed about 5,700 newcomers in collaboration with the city’s family services department, a CPS spokesperson said.

Noelia Llamas, who has lived in Humboldt Park for 18 years and is from Mexico, is on Lowell’s bilingual board and is a member of the school’s parent advisory council. She was one of the mothers who pushed the school to offer the program, she said.

As the Spanish-speaking parent group grew, they kept asking school officials what could be done to have more opportunities to learn English that fit their schedules, she said.

School liaison Maya Bral reached out to Literacy Chicago — a volunteer group that offers free English classes, digital literacy and workforce skills to adults — to see if it could send a teacher to the school.

The school began a partnership with the nonprofit in November, making Lowell one of the first CPS schools to offer the free class after the pandemic, Bral said.

“We need parents to learn and get practice writing and speaking in English so we can get more confidence, help our kids with homework and get more involved with the community,” Llamas said.

The attendance and level of engagement from parents has greatly benefited the school community, Bral said.

“Teachers are reliant on the teachers as much as the teachers are reliant on the parents, so I think (the class) has helped foster that sense of community even more and a sense of agency for the parents,” Bral said.

Wendy Hernandez and Carmelina Martinez work on their classwork.

Many who attend the class told Block Club it has helped them boost their confidence, let go of fears in pronouncing words incorrectly, and create lasting friendships and a greater sense of community.

Progressing from basic skills such as directions and letter pronunciation to more complex skills like reading and writing in English has given parents a valuable opportunity — and it’s free and accessible, parents said.

Carmen Tello, who is from Ecuador and has lived in the neighborhood for eight years, said the class has helped her come out of her shell and strengthen communication with her son.

“I need to communicate with my son and my community and with people from the school who help him, even doctors, so it’s very important to have this skill and train my English,” Tello said. “In all the jobs I have had, everyone speaks Spanish, so there has been no need to learn English, but now I want to. … I am still scared, but I try anyway. Now I have more confidence in speaking and pronouncing words correctly.”

From the other side of the classroom, teacher Marisol Guzman has seen the women blossom and feel more powerful in their language skills, she said.

Marisol Guzman (left) helps a student with a lesson on pronouns.

Through Literacy Chicago, Guzman has taught English literacy classes for three years around the city, and she has seen how the classes can empower attendees.

“There is something really powerful of just saying the words, even if it doesn’t sound right, just moving your tongue,” she said. “It’s a blessing to see them try, and putting themselves out there is powerful and very beneficial to them, as well.”

Guzman teaches all of her classes in English for a full immersion and only switches to Spanish as a last resort, she said.

“I like to challenge them and get them to work together, because I won’t always be here,” Guzman said. “If we have a new student, they may feel lost and need help, but others have been here a long time and can help, which is a good lesson and good to have a mix of learning.”

Llamas, who works with the school’s parent council to organize events at the school and the park, said the class has broadened her horizons. She hopes the class can help more parents looking to get more involved with the community and assimilate.

“I’ve been here 18 years, and it’s never too late to learn,” she said. “I know English, but this has helped with my pronunciation and confidence a lot. I am grateful.”

How the 2024 National Teacher of the Year helps English learners adapt in rural Appalachia

2024-04-03T19:50:00+00:00

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As an English as a Second Language specialist at her Tennessee school and a long-time member of her rural Appalachian community, Missy Testerman often finds herself straddling two worlds, trying to bridge the divide.

That could mean anything from accompanying a student and his mother to get a refill for epilepsy medication, to showing the staff at the local courthouse how to use a translation app so they can communicate with immigrant families.

“Simple gestures such as sitting with my students’ families at high school graduation or a school play goes a long way in helping them find acceptance in our rural area since I have belonged to this community for decades and others trust my lead,” Testerman wrote recently. “I take this role as ambassador seriously, and I am thankful for the opportunity to connect these groups.”

And now, Testerman will be serving as an ambassador on an even bigger stage: She’s the new National Teacher of the Year.

Testerman, who teaches English learners at Rogersville City School, earned the title on Wednesday as part of a competition run by the Council of Chief State School Officers. She was previously named Tennessee’s top teacher for 2023.

She’ll spend the next year traveling the country, speaking out about issues she says teachers need to be making noise about, including the persistent mental health challenges kids are facing and the need to offer services even as COVID relief funding dries up.

“At times, it feels as though state legislatures across this country are passing laws that do not address actual problems,” Testerman wrote in her application. “Schools had to hire someone to scan every book in the building under the guise that pornography is lurking in a kindergarten classroom, yet we do not have funding to hire a behaviorist to help with the kindergarteners who are disrupting classrooms every day.”

Chalkbeat spoke with Testerman about how field trips to the post office help her English learners, why she went back to school at the age of 51, and why it’s important for lawmakers to understand what’s really happening inside the nation’s classrooms.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

You got your ESL endorsement after teaching for 30 years. Is there a moment or an interaction you had that made you think: ‘I’m going to go back and do this right now’?

Yes, actually, there was. One of my closest allies at school was our ESL teacher. She came to me and let me know that she was moving at the end of the school year. She had done a phenomenal job, not just educating these students and helping them acquire the English language, but also serving as their family resource person in our community. So I was very worried about who was going to advocate for these families.

The next day, I received an email that went out to everyone who was teaching in the state of Tennessee, explaining how the Tennessee Grow Your Own program works. One facet is that teachers who are already licensed could add an endorsement area in a hard-to-fill position, and that year, it was math, special education, and ESL. I was 51 years old, not your typical college student. But I enrolled, and at the end of the year, I was able to transition into her role and become the advocate for my students’ families.

You talked about how much you enjoy getting to be the first person who takes your ESL students to the library, or the post office, or the courthouse. Why is it important to you to do that, and how does that help your students and their families?

Many of my students are their family’s translators. They are the ones calling and making doctor’s appointments at 7 years old, or they are the ones who are translating documents.

Missy Testerman is the 2024 National Teacher of the Year. She teaches English learners at Rogersville City School in Tennessee.

A lot of times, my students are in a situation where pretty much all they do is come to school and go back home. They haven’t had the typical exposure to the things that we’re talking about. They may pass the post office every day, but they don’t understand: This is where I go when I need to mail a package.

Or they may be aware that we have a library, but there’s a language barrier for their parents to be able to take them to the library and explain that they need a library card.

Those are experiences that I get to have. And not only do I get to have them with my students, and open up that pathway for them to be able to share with their families, but also it helps the people in my community to see my families as just another member of the community. It helps them to adapt to living in our rural area.

You’ve been talking with educator prep programs and offering your feedback. What are some of the ways that you’d like to see teacher training improve or change?

The literacy piece is always a big thing. We passed a law called the Tennessee Literacy Act in 2021, and that requires that anyone entering into our classrooms be proficient in the science of reading, and how to teach literacy at any level — not just to students coming in. That’s been part of the conversation.

I’m also talking to them about the types of mental health challenges that we’re seeing, so that they can work that into the curriculum for students to be prepared, and to know what resources are available in schools.

As National Teacher of the Year, what do you want to make sure policymakers are better educated about?

I want our policymakers to know what’s going on inside our classrooms. For far too long, policy has been made by people who are not education experts. They’re not teachers, they don’t spend a lot of time within classrooms.

But we’re not going to make anyone aware unless our teachers are willing to speak up and be advocates — for their students, themselves, our profession — by being honest about what our struggles are, and what will make those struggles better.

Right now, I feel like the most pressing issue that schools across our country are facing are mental health challenges. I’m in a pre-K-8 school, so I’ve seen lots of different situations, anything from depression in our older students, where they are just totally withdrawn from the school situation — they don’t want to be there. That affects their education, obviously, and it also leads to chronic absenteeism.

In our younger students, what I’m seeing and what I’m hearing from other teachers is that students are showing up unable to regulate, or to deal with their frustrations.

These mental health challenges don’t just affect the child experiencing the crisis, or the teachers, they affect every kid in the classroom, every school employee who tries to help and intervene. I see that as a particular challenge.

You wrote in your application that ESSER funds are winding down, but we’re still dealing with big challenges around academic recovery and mental health. How do you think your advocacy can help raise alarms about some of the things that you’re seeing?

That $122 billion that was invested into schools helped schools hire mental health counselors, guidance counselors, behaviorists, and other support staff. And we know we’re still struggling with student mental health at this time. For those supports to be taken away can lead to a very difficult situation.

I hope that I empower teachers to share what that looks like, and why that’s difficult, and why that interrupts the learning of other students in the classroom, so that systems all across the country can figure out a way to make up for those funds and keep the supports in play.

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Perder mi español es como perder parte de quien soy

2023-01-27T13:00:00+00:00

El español era mi primer idioma; de hecho, era el único que hablaba hasta que cumplí 5 años y empecé a ir a la escuela en Estados Unidos.

Al principio, ir a la escuela me daba miedo porque no hablaba inglés. Lloraba y buscaba cómo explicar de la mejor manera que me dolía el estómago y necesitaba ir a la enfermera. Luego le decía a la enfermera que tenía que irme a casa.

Ashally De La Cruz

Ahora me resulta difícil imaginarme batallando con el inglés, porque el inglés me resulta mucho más natural que el idioma en el que dije mis primeras palabras en la República Dominicana. A los 17 años, escribo, pienso y hasta sueño en inglés.

Pero mi mamá nunca aprendió inglés bien. La mayor parte de mi vida, le he traducido los documentos del gobierno al español. He traducido formularios escolares, reuniones de padres y maestros, mensajes de texto, correos electrónicos y hasta canciones de la radio.

Hace aproximadamente un año, mi mamá (que es asistente de salud en el hogar) me llamó desde el trabajo. Mayormente trabaja con gente que habla español, pero la paciente nueva solamente hablaba inglés. La mujer quería un pan específico del supermercado y había perdido la paciencia intentando explicarle eso a mi mamá.

La gente tiene muy poca paciencia con los que hablan poco inglés. Preguntan, con un tono de prejuicio en la voz: “¿Cómo es posible que hayas vivido tanto tiempo en Estados Unidos y todavía no sepas hablar inglés?” Suponen que mi mamá, después de 12 años aquí, es perezosa o simplemente no quiere aprender el idioma.

No obstante, verdad es más complicada. Aprender un nuevo idioma en la etapa de adulto requiere tiempo y energía, y no es fácil contar con eso cuando se trabaja muchas horas, a veces de un día para otro, solamente para poder subsistir. Los inmigrantes deberían contar con opciones fáciles y a precio razonable para aprender un idioma nuevo. Mientras algunos países ofrecen cursos gratuitos e ilimitados para aprender un idioma, e incluso les pagan a los inmigrantes para que aprendan el idioma local, Estados Unidos no lo hace.

Yo trato de tener eso en mente cuando ayudo a mi mamá y cuando me piden que interprete para los clientes de Old Navy, donde trabajo los fines de semana. Hacerlo toma tiempo y esfuerzo, y además me distrae de mis responsabilidades en el trabajo, pero la expectativa es que yo lo tome como si no fuera gran cosa.

Últimamente ha sido aún más difícil porque siento que mi español se me está olvidando. Los investigadores conocen esto como “desgaste del idioma natal” y es común entre las personas, especialmente los niños, que pasan largas temporadas lejos de su país y de su idioma materno.

Después de 12 años en Estados Unidos, hay palabras en español que siempre se me olvidan. Digo “thing” en vez de “cosa”, por ejemplo, y a veces necesito utilizar Google Translate solo para poder conversar con mi mamá. Como ya no hablo español tan bien como antes, mis conversaciones con ella son cada día más breves. Lo que antes era una larga conversación ahora se convierte en hablar sobre cosas sin importancia. Y la realidad es que la conversación no se siente genuina.

Cada vez que me cuesta recordar una palabra o frase en español, me desespero. Siento que las mejillas se me calientan y se enrojecen. Sé lo que estoy tratando de decir, pero no recuerdo cómo hacerlo. Busco otras palabras, pero terminan sonando raras. A veces me rindo cuando no consigo transmitir lo que quiero porque sé cómo decirlo en un idioma, pero no en el otro.

En esos momentos, se siente que estoy perdiendo una parte importante de quien soy: la parte dominicana. Mi mamá y yo no celebramos muchas de las tradiciones dominicanas. Lo único que nos conecta a nuestro país natal es nuestro idioma español y la comida dominicana (como mangú con queso frito que suena al masticarlo, tajadas delgaditas de salami crujiente y tostones con sal).

Este año, una de mis resoluciones de año nuevo es hablar español todos los días con mis amigos que lo hablan. A veces deseo haberme esforzado más por mantener mi nivel de español, pero era algo que nunca pensé que perdería.

Aprender un idioma nuevo es difícil. Pero también es difícil mantener uno que ya se sabía.

Ashally De La Cruz es estudiante de duodécimo grado en la Escuela Superior Central Park East de Nueva York. Hasta ahora ha sido aceptada en 10 universidades y está en proceso de elegir una.

Traducción: Milly Suazo-Martinez

Con la llegada de estudiantes nuevos al país, los maestros de inglés en Colorado se sienten abrumados

2024-03-25T18:47:36+00:00

Este año escolar ha sido abrumador para los maestros como Joel Mollman.

Mollman, un maestro enfocado en desarrollar el idioma inglés en la Escuela Media Hamilton en Denver, ha tenido que hacerse cargo de más responsabilidades con la creciente cantidad de estudiantes que necesitan aprender inglés.

En años anteriores, por ejemplo, su escuela quizás recibía tres estudiantes al mes que necesitaban ser evaluados para verificar su nivel de inglés. Este año, Mollman evalúa a por lo menos tres estudiantes nuevos cada semana—un proceso que tarda de una a dos horas por estudiante.

“Rápidamente puede llenar dos de mis mañanas en lugar de que esté en salones de clases”, Mollman dijo.

Alrededor del estado, los maestros en programas para desarrollar el idioma inglés describen situaciones similares.

Ya que muchas escuelas han recibo una gran cantidad de estudiantes con habilidades limitadas para comunicarse en inglés este año, el papel de estos maestros ha estado cambiando.

Tradicionalmente, estos maestros tienen la responsabilidad de evaluar a estudiantes nuevos, enseñar inglés como segundo idioma, dar exámenes de dominio del inglés, y asesorar a otros maestros en los salones de clases.

Ahora también deben apoyar a muchos estudiantes que son nuevos en el país en salones mucho más numerosos de lo normal.

A finales de febrero, siete de los distritos escolares en Colorado—Denver, Aurora, Cherry Creek, Greeley, Adams 12, Jeffco y Mapleton—le dijeron a Chalkbeat que más de 5,600 estudiantes recién llegados al país se habían inscrito en sus distritos, justo después del conteo de octubre.

Algunas escuelas, en particular aquellas donde tradicionalmente no han tenido muchos estudiantes de inglés, han dependido de los maestros en sus programas de desarrollo del idioma inglés para que sean el apoyo principal de los niños recién llegados al país. Algunos de los maestros dicen que están ayudando a los estudiantes y sus familias a guiarse en un país nuevo, y hasta han aceptado a un niño cuya familia estaba viviendo en un automóvil durante un episodio de varicela.

Con frecuencia, dicen, han tenido que descuidar ciertas partes de su trabajo, y promotores estatales dicen que en distritos pequeños, hasta evaluar a estudiantes para identificar sus necesidades con el idioma inglés—un paso crucial—se omite.

Cynthia Trinidad-Sheahan, presidenta de la Asociación para la Educación Bilingüe en Colorado, dijo que los distritos no tienen la fuerza laboral, y con frecuencia no saben qué hacer.

“Algunos distritos no cuentan con la experiencia necesaria”, Trinidad-Sheahan dijo. “¿Cómo hacemos llegar la capacitación a maestros que están en estos distritos rurales? Y no es solo para los asistentes de educadores y maestros. Los administradores que lideran en estos edificios no tienen un entendimiento claro de la adquisición del idioma”.

Los maestros empiezan evaluando aptitudes del idioma inglés

Cuando se sospecha que un estudiante inscrito en la escuela no habla inglés con fluidez, el distrito debe evaluarlo para identificar su nivel de fluidez y necesidades para recibir servicios. Esta evaluación debe suceder en las dos primeras semanas después de que se inscribe.

Durante un año típico, ese proceso toma el tiempo de los maestros dedicados al desarrollo del idioma inglés al principio del año escolar. Este año, con algunas escuelas recibiendo estudiantes nuevos cada semana, ese proceso ha tomado mucho más tiempo.

En la escuela Hamilton, donde Mollman también es líder del equipo multilingüe, él se ha ocupado de evaluar a todos los estudiantes este semestre. Las cifras oficiales del estado muestran que el 40 por ciento de los 700 estudiantes en Hamilton han sido identificados como estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Además de realizar las evaluaciones, Mollman tiene que apartar un par de horas por semana para preparar la documentación para el distrito. Esto requiere ingresar las calificaciones y otra información en la computadora, y tres integrantes del personal deben dar su aprobación.

El semestre pasado, otro maestro de desarrollo del idioma inglés en su equipo estaba compartiendo las responsabilidades, pero con tantos estudiantes nuevos, ese maestro tuvo que encargarse de otro salón de clases, y ya no tiene uno de sus períodos libres. Mollman se encarga de realizar todas las evaluaciones.

Cada lunes, empieza su semana preparando las pruebas, verificando los horarios que se dan a los estudiantes nuevos para asegurar que estén en sus clases correctas, consiguiendo Chromebooks si todavía no los han recibido y, a veces, haciendo llamadas mientras trata de averiguar qué tanto dominan su lengua materna los estudiantes nuevos.

Kayli Brooks, una maestra en la Escuela Primaria Tollgate en Aurora, dijo que evaluar a los estudiantes nuevos no consumía su trabajo solo porque su escuela logró obtener ayuda de los líderes del distrito, quienes asumieron las responsabilidades de ese trabajo.

Sin embargo, recuerda la cantidad de estudiantes que llegaron justo antes del período de pruebas anuales para las pruebas ACCESS—las pruebas que los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés toman cada año para evaluar su progreso en el idioma. Esos estudiantes tuvieron que tomar esas pruebas con días o semanas de diferencia.

“Cada oficina o salón estaba lleno con [estudiantes] tomando pruebas”, Brooks dijo. Mencionó que fue doloroso sacar a estudiantes de sus salones y que se dieran cuenta de que tendrían que tomar otro examen en inglés en el cual no les iría bien.

Es difícil encontrar tiempo para ayudar más

Tanto Brooks como Mollman dijeron que en sus escuelas darles a los estudiantes un período de enseñanza en inglés—un práctica que la ley requiere—no ha dejado de suceder.

Pero dar ayuda a estudiantes y al personal sí se ha pausado.

Brooks, por ejemplo, dijo que solía sacar a grupos de estudiantes, como aquellos recién llegados al país, para darles enseñanza adicional en inglés, donde practicaban hablar el idioma. Solía usar esas sesiones para enseñar frases y vocabulario que quizás los estudiantes escuchaban en otras materias, como ciencias o estudios sociales, para que sintieran que podían participar más.

“Todo eso paró”, Brooks dijo. “Se detuvo abruptamente”.

En semanas recientes, conforme la cantidad de estudiantes nuevos ha ido aminorando, Brooks empezó a reunir nuevamente a algunos grupos pequeños de estudiantes.

“Están tan contentos”, Brooks dijo. “Quieren aprender. Les enseñé la semana pasada sobre [cómo abogar por sí mismos] de forma básica: Necesito agua. Necesito ir al baño. Necesito comida”.

Sin embargo, no está haciendo tanto como le gustaría. Y no ha podido ayudar a otros maestros en su escuela. En Tollgate, dijo, alrededor del 60 al 75 por ciento de los estudiantes se consideran estudiantes de nivel 1 que están aprendiendo inglés. Esto significa que no dominan el inglés para nada.

“Tenemos un poco más de la mitad de cada salón de clases lleno con estudiantes que no hablan inglés, así que la mitad de sus estudiantes están entendiendo lo que [los maestros] dicen”, Brook dijo. “Nuestro equipo quiere—y debería—apoyar a los maestros y ofrecer desarrollo profesional sobre esto. Solo ha sido una época tan abrumadora que no es algo que esté sucediendo”.

Trinidad-Sheahan dijo que los distritos necesitan permitir que los maestros dedicados a desarrollar el idioma inglés asesoren a otros maestros, para que así las responsabilidades de enseñarles a los estudiantes se compartan.

En las escuelas con un gran número de estudiantes bilingües emergentes, dijo, los asesores de enseñanza deben ser aquellos maestros con experiencia ensenándoles a estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Mollman dijo que en su escuela de Denver, su equipo está tratando de ayudar a los maestros que enseñan otras materias, pero “seguimos tratando de decidir cuál es la mejor forma de hacer esto”.

En otros años en su escuela, los maestros quizás formaban parejas con estudiantes nuevos y otros estudiantes que también hablaran el mismo idioma. Pero con tantos estudiantes nuevos, incluidos algunos que hablan español y otros que hablan árabe, a veces no es posible.

También está tratando de que los maestros modifiquen cómo califican a los estudiantes que todavía no hablan inglés. Pero sigue siendo un desafío.

“Algunos maestros son muy buenos para adaptarse”, Mollman dijo. “Algunos han tenido bastantes desafíos con eso, y todavía no hemos encontrado la solución perfecta”.

Los maestros tampoco se sienten preparados

Hasta los maestros que tienen experiencia trabajando con estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés como un idioma nuevo dicen que este año a veces no se sintieron preparados.

Dakota Prosch es una maestra que enseña inglés en Academia Ana Marie Sandoval en Denver, donde enseña a estudiantes de cuarto, quinto y sexto grado en una escuela Montessori de lenguaje dual. Durante un año típico, sus estudiantes ya casi son bilingües totalmente. Debido al modelo de aprendizaje de la escuela, y por ser una escuela especializada, la mayoría de los estudiantes de cuarto grado han estado en la escuela desde kindergarten.

Pero este año, por la gran cantidad de estudiantes migrantes en Denver, la escuela ha tenido que aceptar estudiantes nuevos. Eso significa que Prosch ahora trabaja con estudiantes que acaban de llegar al país y no hablan nada de inglés.

“No tenemos ningún material para estudiantes que no hablan inglés”, dijo.

En febrero, el distrito proporcionó algunos materiales que se usan en centros para estudiantes recién llegados, pero Prosch quisiera haber recibido antes esos recursos. Por lo menos 30 minutos al día, separa a los estudiantes nuevos para trabajar con ellos en habilidades para desarrollar el inglés.

“Esencialmente hay dos salones de clases en uno”, Prosch dijo. “No puedo ofrecer la misma enseñanza”.

La mayoría de sus estudiantes usualmente están analizando texto. Prosch intenta que sus estudiantes nuevos hagan lo mismo, pero muchos solo están tratando de aprender lo que es una oración y “cómo poner su lengua entre sus dientes” para aprender los sonidos que hacen las diferentes combinaciones de letras.

Sin embargo, Prosch dijo, “son niños realmente maravillosos y estoy muy contenta de tenerlos”. Es un sentimiento que también comparten otros maestros.

Legisladores están hablando sobre un plan que les daría fondos adicionales a algunos distritos escolares para estudiantes nuevos en el país que se hayan inscrito después del conteo de octubre cuando los fondos escolares se determinan.

Mollman está de acuerdo con que más recursos ayudarían.

En este momento, dijo, las escuelas como la suya están tomando decisiones difíciles, como elegir entre traer a un segundo maestro al programa de desarrollo del idioma inglés (ELD, por sus siglas en inglés) o a otro maestro de ciencias. En su escuela, este año, agregaron a un nuevo maestro de ELD para ayudar en un salón que tenía más de 40 estudiantes.

“Fue una decisión bastante fácil este año, pero eso impactó a uno de nuestros equipos más seriamente que a otros”, Mollman dijo.

Pero hasta sin fondos, los maestros dicen que sus roles deben adaptarse para cubrir las necesidades de los estudiantes.

“El objetivo es asegurar que todos nuestros estudiantes logren el éxito sin importar si están aprendiendo el idioma o no”, Mollman dijo.

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre los distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Chicago tendrá un consejo escolar que será elegido. ¿Qué preguntas tienes?

2024-02-29T11:00:00+00:00

En menos de un año, las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago tomarán juramento a sus primeros miembros electos del consejo escolar.

Pero incluso con una fecha firme de juramento del 15 de enero de 2025, muchas preguntas sin respuesta aún permanecen sobre la elección del 5 de noviembre que daría paso a los nuevos miembros del consejo- y cómo el consejo funcionará una vez en su lugar. La ley estatal establece que 10 miembros serán elegidos este año, pero los legisladores están debatiendo si elegir a los 21 ahora. (El alcalde Brandon Johnson pidió recientemente a la legislatura que se asegure de que sólo la mitad sean elegidos este año, informó el Sun-Times).

La legislatura estatal también debe finalizar los límites de los distritos para los miembros del consejo escolar. Los legisladores parecen haber acordado un tercer borrador del mapa el pasado noviembre.

Una vez que los miembros presten juramento el próximo enero, ¿qué sigue? ¿Cómo funcionará el consejo en comparación con el consejo que sustituirá?

Chalkbeat Chicago quiere escuchar tus preguntas sobre las próximas elecciones para el consejo escolar y sobre los miembros elegidos del consejo escolar. Vamos a tratar de responder a tus preguntas a través de nuestros reportajes mientras seguimos las campañas y las elecciones de este año.

Responde a la encuesta aquí o rellénala abajo. No utilizaremos tu nombre en nuestros reportajes sin tu permiso.

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Reema Amin es una reportera que cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago para Chalkbeat Chicago. Ponte en contacto con Reema en ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Institute for Nonprofit News.

New report lays out roadmap for improving how Hispanic students in Denver are educated

2024-03-19T19:43:31+00:00

Unequal resources across schools, a lack of Latino teachers and leaders, and a “perpetual undervaluing” of Latino culture are among the barriers facing Hispanic students, families, and staff in Denver Public Schools, a new report found.

Called the La Raza Report and released publicly Tuesday, the report was commissioned by the district to identify barriers and opportunities in the community, and to understand their impact.

The Denver school district, the largest in the state, has more than 45,000 students who identify as Hispanic or Latino — 51.8% of all students. The population had been increasing but started declining at the start of the pandemic. The report also highlights that gentrification has shifted the population within the city and contributed to resegregation.

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero said at a press conference Tuesday that nothing in the report was surprising. Data on student outcomes over the years has been heavily reported. He said the report gives the district a roadmap to help students feel like their voices are heard.

“It was painful to hear or read, I should say, the lived experience of some of our Latino students who, even amongst their Latino groups, really expressed a lack of sense of belonging,” Marrero said. “That was painful, that was painful, because it’s something that is a reality.”

The Denver-area company that wrote the report, the Multicultural Leadership Center, LLC, spent months conducting focus groups, research, surveys, and other analysis.

Research on the district spanned a 15-year period, from 2008 to 2022. The research group put together 51 focus groups with over 600 participants to capture student, family, and teacher perspectives. It also conducted a survey with over 3,000 participants.

The work does not include perspective on the recent influx of migrant students into the school system because the research predated it.

In one of the more pointed sections, the report authors identified “the brown ceiling” as a barrier the district should better understand.

“Included in the brown ceiling is the finding that employees feel that the district, rather than capitalizing on its human capital to ensure equity and excellence for Latino students, frequently requires that Latinos ‘act white,’ ignore their Latino cultures and suppress the cultural assets they bring to the district,” the report states.

The report also identified cultural resilience and the persistence of various community groups as a strength that has led to positive changes in the district. Some of those changes, like curriculum and programs for culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and more opportunities for students to become bilingual, will help new Spanish speaking migrant students arriving recently, the report said. Previous generations had to fight for such opportunities, it notes.

The report concludes with 35 recommendations for the school district and the city. The recommendations range from systemic, including asking the city to help plan for a continued influx of immigrant families and students, to specifics that call for reviewing transportation options for West and Lincoln high schools.

The recommendations also note the district must find a better way to ensure that resources to schools in the district are being equitably distributed.

“We really hope that this is a chance for DPS and the City and County of Denver to be able to say we now know where we’re going,” said Steve DelCastillo, the Multicultural Leadership Center’s principal investigator. “We’re at a crossroads, we’re going to make the right decisions, and years from now people are going to look back and say that was a differentiating point for DPS and most importantly, for the Latino community.”

Marrero said he expects to take up the recommendations that relate to the district.

First steps will be to hire someone within the next week or two to lead the district’s newly launched Latinx success team, he said. The position will help the district dig deeper into the recommendations.

Among the recommendations:

For the district: To coordinate with local foundations, non-profit organizations, and higher education institutions to establish student tutoring programs funded by Denver employers.
For the district: To work with the city and the Regional Transportation District, or RTD, to develop a transportation system for students and families who need it, “even in those areas where providing such a service may not be cost-effective but is socially just.”
For students: To develop a strategy for increasing recruitment and participation in the Seal of Biliteracy program, which allows students to learn and demonstrate proficiency in English and another language. The seal is awarded at graduation and is meant to show colleges and employers that the student has demonstrated proficiency in two languages. Given that many DPS students already speak more than one language, the report says this program should be promoted more.
For parents: To develop a districtwide bilingual parent leadership institute focused on understanding the DPS educational system and the roles parents can play in the children’s education, including working with teachers and administrators. The institute must also include a multicultural component, including parents of color who “can use this venue to work on the issues related to cultural conflicts within groups and among the various cultural groups.”
For teachers: To expand the pool of Spanish-speaking teachers from various subject matter areas and to increase opportunities for concurrent enrollment, which allows students to simultaneously earn high school and college credit.
For school leaders: To establish a Latino Leadership Pipeline and a Latino Leadership Mentorship Program. Another recommendation is to consider redrawing the boundaries for West High School and to periodically review all boundaries to account for gentrification and other population shifts.
For the central office: Cultural sensitivity and cultural competence training for all central office employees. “Staff have reported overt and covert racist remarks,” the report states.

Read the report below:

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the last name of Steve DelCastillo.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Los centros comunitarios de las escuelas de Denver ayudan a las familias con comida, ropa, clases de inglés y mucho más

2024-03-19T17:16:37+00:00

Mientras su hijo de 5 años asiste a la guardería de la Primaria Colfax, al oeste de Denver, Maelka también asiste a clases. En un trailer cerca del parque de juegos, ella y otras tres mamás aprenden inglés.

Un jueves reciente, el grupo practicó las letras y los números en inglés jugando bingo.

“B eleven,” dijo la maestra.

“¡Eleven! ¡Eleven!” Dijo Maelka. Luego tradujo el número a español — “once” — para sus compañeras.

El trailer en la Primaria Colfax es uno de los seis “centros comunitarios” de las Escuelas Públicas de Denver, y las clases de inglés son de las más populares. Estos centros comunitarios, establecidos en 2022 por el Superintendente Alex Marrero, tenían el propósito de enfocarse en dos generaciones a fin de mejorar las vidas de los estudiantes, y por lo tanto ayudan tanto a los niños como a los padres con todo, desde comida y ropa hasta asesoramiento financiero y citas médicas en clínicas móviles.

Ahora que más de 3,500 estudiantes inmigrantes se han inscrito en las Escuelas Públicas de Denver desde que empezó el año escolar, los centros están prestándoles cada vez más servicios a sus familias mientras rehacen sus vidas en Denver. Este flujo de familias ha estirado bastante la capacidad de los centros, pero los líderes del distrito escolar dijeron que siguen estando comprometidos con solicitar más donaciones y subvenciones para apoyar la labor.

“Necesito aprender inglés para entender, para trabajar — y también para aprender”, dijo Maelka. “Es importante saber hablar el idioma del país en el que te encuentras”.

Maelka y su familia llegaron a Denver de Venezuela a principios de diciembre. Después de pasar un tiempo en los refugios de la ciudad, encontraron una casa de alquiler cerca de la Primaria Colfax. Chalkbeat no está revelando el apellido de Maelka para proteger su privacidad.

Las clases gratis enseñan mucho más que a hablar inglés, el cual ofrece la promesa de empleos mejor pagados. Los centros también fomentan un sentido de comunidad, dijo la administradora Jackie Bell. El día del cumpleaños de Maelka, otra mamá le hizo un pastel y lo trajo a la clase.

Los centros también sirven como lugar de ayuda. Cuando una de las mamás llegó a la clase con dolor por un diente infectado, el personal del centro rápidamente la conectó con una clínica dental gratuita. Cuando el personal vio a estudiantes caminando a la escuela sin abrigos, el centro consiguió una subvención para comprarles abrigos de invierno nuevos a los niños. Cuando la abuela de un niño autista le dijo al personal del centro que él solamente comía una marca de arroz, ellos lograron conseguirlo para tenerlo en la tiendita del centro.

“Ese es el mensaje a nuestros padres del Distrito: ‘Queremos que estén aquí’”, dijo Bell.

Karen Rodríguez compra refrigerios para su hija Carely, de 11 meses, en la minitienda del centro comunitario de la Primaria John H. Amesse.

Hay “magia” en lo que hacen los centros

Los centros comunitarios son una expansión de un programa anterior llamado Family and Community Engagement Centers, a menudo conocidos por su abreviatura como Centros FACE. El centro de la Primaria John H. Amesse, en el extremo noreste de Denver, fue uno de los dos Centros FACE originales.

Marrero visitó el centro en la John H. Amesse al principio de su superintendencia. En su pared, la gerente Carla Duarte tiene enmarcado un mapa de la ciudad en el que Marrero dibujó a mano su visión de tener un centro similar en cada región de Denver. Ahora que han pasado dos años, los seis centros ofrecen los mismos programas que los centros anteriores y más, dependiendo en parte del espacio disponible en cada uno.

Dos de los centros tienen minitiendas de comida con productos frescos y carne congelada, mientras que otros cuentan con despensas repletas de alimentos no perecederos y enlatados. Todos los centros distribuyen pañales, pero algunos están asociados con una organización local sin fines de lucro para regalar asientos protectores y carriolas. Al menos uno tiene una boutique de ropa usada similar a una tienda de segunda mano. Algunos están ahora trabajando con la red de atención médica Denver Health, que estaciona su clínica móvil en el centro y atiende a los pacientes en citas de media hora.

El personal de los centros también varía. Todos conectan a los padres con programas que les ayudan a pagar facturas, pero algunos tienen asesores financieros y clases sobre cómo establecer un presupuesto familiar. Otros centros ayudan a los padres a encontrar trabajo. El coordinador de desarrollo de mano de obra del centro del extremo noreste ayudó recientemente a un padre emigrante que había trabajado como barbero en Venezuela durante 24 años a conseguir un empleo en una barbería de Denver.

Cuando un centro no tiene un servicio en particular, el personal refiere a las familias a otro que sí lo tiene.

“Esa es la magia de los centros comunitarios”, dijo Duarte. “Todos somos muy diferentes”

El centro de John H. Amesse es uno de los más grandes y con mayor movimiento. Sus espacios están repartidos por toda la escuela en salones de clase convertidos y oficinas que estaban vacías.

Un miércoles reciente por la mañana, los estudiantes adultos en una clase de GED estaban practicando matemáticas y celebrando con cupcakes que un compañero había aprobado sus exámenes.

En un salón pequeño al lado de la biblioteca, dos mujeres acunaban a los bebés de las estudiantes de GED. Una de ellas, refugiada de Afganistán cuyos hijos asisten a las escuelas del distrito, vino por primera vez al centro comunitario buscando ayuda para pagar el alquiler de su familia. A través de un traductor que hablaba dari, su idioma materno, ella hizo una pregunta importante.

“Me miró y dijo: “¿Tienes algún trabajo para mí?”

Duarte estaba buscando cubrir un puesto en la guardería, pero no estaba segura si ella podía hacerlo por la barrera de idioma. Casi todos los empleados del centro hablan español, pero ninguno hablaba dari. Pero el distrito escolar dijo que sí, y ahora la mujer está aprendiendo inglés en las clases del centro — y también español.

“Ella es increíble”, dijo Duarte. “Es la mejor decisión que hemos tomado”.

Hay una historia similar al otro lado del pasillo, donde una antigua participante dirige una clase de “jugar y aprender” para niños pequeños y sus padres, y que ese día estaban ocupados soplando burbujas de jabón con popotes.

Muchos de los padres que van a las clases de “jugar y aprender” también asisten a clases de GED o de inglés en el centro. Ingrid Alemán tuvo que dejar de ir a las clases del centro porque su hijo Dylan (de 2 años) lloraba demasiado cuando lo separaban de ella en la guardería. Pero ella y su hijo todavía vienen a las clases de “jugar y aprender”.

“Él está aprendiendo a relacionarse con otros niños”, dijo Alemán. “Y a mí me ayuda estar con otras mamás que pueden darme consejos. Porque en la casa —”

“Eres solo tú y los niños — " dijo Duarte.

“En la casa es una locura”, dijo Alemán riendo.

La maestra Mayra Lagunas, a la derecha, ayuda a los estudiantes Hugo Esparza (centro) y Janeth Carhuamaca (izquierda) en matemáticas durante una clase de GED en el centro comunitario de la Escuela Primaria John H. Amesse.

Hay inmigrantes entre las más de 4,000 familias atendidas

Operar cada centro cuesta unos $737,000, lo que equivale a un costo anual total de unos $4.4 millones, según Esmeralda de la Oliva, directora de los centros del distrito. Cuando Marrero anunció la iniciativa en 2022, él dijo que los centros se financiarían en parte con los ahorros de los recortes que hizo en la oficina central del distrito como parte de una reorganización.

En los dos últimos años, los centros han atendido a más de 4,000 familias, según de la Oliva. Eso incluye a más de 1,000 padres inscritos en clases de educación para adultos. Además de las clases de GED y de inglés, algunos centros ofrecen clases para ayudar a los padres a aprobar los exámenes de ciudadanía y clases para enseñarles español a los padres que hablan inglés.

En las clases se han matriculado unos 350 adultos recién llegados y los centros han atendido a 600 familias inmigrantes este año, dijo de la Oliva. Las clases de GED están a capacidad, y de la Oliva dijo que está buscando más fondos para las clases de GED y de inglés, las minitiendas y las despensas de alimentos de donantes privados y organizaciones sin fines de lucro, que incluyen la recién establecida New Arrivals, Students & Family Fund de la Fundación de Escuelas Públicas de Denver.

La labor de prestarles servicios a las familias inmigrantes, muchas de las cuales tienen historias desgarradoras, puede pesar en los corazones y las mentes del personal del centro, dijo de la Oliva, y por esa razón el distrito planea ofrecer capacitación intensiva de autocuidado para el personal a partir del próximo mes. Pero el trabajo está marcando una diferencia.

De la Oliva recordó a una familia que vino a un centro este año escolar buscando pañales tres semanas después de llegar de Colombia. En un mes, la mamá se matriculó en clases de GED y de inglés. En dos meses, el papá estaba trabajando para el departamento de transporte del DPS, que se ha caracterizado por su escasez de personal.

El centro en la Primaria Swansea en el norte de Denver, está a 15 minutos a pie del Western Motor Inn, que ha servido como refugio no oficial para cientos de inmigrantes. Hace un mes, Swansea había inscrito a más de 50 estudiantes inmigrantes — y el centro estaba dándoles servicios a sus familias y a otras personas que se enteraban al correrse la voz, dijo la gerente Sandra Carrillo.

La gente entraba por la puerta del centro, a veces en grupos de seis o más miembros de la familia, dijo Carrillo. “Nos decían: ‘Acabamos de llegar hoy’”. El personal del centro se puso manos a la obra, proporcionando desde calcetines y ropa interior hasta ayuda para inscribir a los niños de 4 años en el nuevo programa preescolar gratuito de Colorado.

Entre los recién llegados al centro de Swansea había un hombre ciego de 27 años, dijo Carrillo. No tiene ningún documento de Venezuela que valide que es legalmente ciego. Esto ha resultado en obstáculos para que él consiga servicios como Access-a-Ride de RTD, que les ofrece transporte a personas con discapacidades. Pero el centro está haciendo todo lo posible por eliminar esos obstáculos.

La meta de este hombre es estudiar economía y ciencias de computadora en una universidad, nos dijo Carrillo. Él se matriculó en las clases de inglés del centro, pero todo el material era impreso en papel. Carrillo dijo que la administración aprobó rápidamente que el centro trabajara con una organización local sin fines de lucro a fin de conseguirle el software que necesita para participar en las clases.

“Cuando las familias nos hacen saber que están pasando por algo, acudimos a toda la comunidad para ver quién tiene recursos”, dijo Carrillo.

Aunque el trabajo puede ser complicado, la meta es sencilla.

Como nos señaló Carrillo, “Familias más felices, estudiantes más felices”.

Melanie Asmar es la corresponsal jefa de Chalkbeat Colorado. Comunícate con Melanie por correo electrónico a masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Milly Suazo-Martinez

Aplicaciones ayudan a que los maestros se comuniquen con familias que no hablan inglés

2024-03-13T22:35:42+00:00

Read in English

Por años, Emma Gonzalez Gutierrez ha tenido dificultades para comunicarse con los maestros de sus cinco hijos.

Ha intentado mantenerse involucrada. Ha asistido a reuniones, gravitado hacia el personal que habla español, y dependido de traductores, incluidos sus hijos, a lo largo de los años.

Ahora, gracias a una aplicación que su escuela en Adams 12, la escuela Primaria McElwain, empezó a usar este año, ha encontrado oportunidades para participar de nuevas maneras en la educación de su hija más pequeña.

Recientemente, la maestra de kindergarten le mandó un mensaje de texto usando esa aplicación, ReachWell, que permite que los maestros escriban en inglés y que los padres reciban mensajes en su propio idioma. La maestra le dijo a Gonzalez Gutierrez que su hija había ganado un premio parecido a “estudiante del mes” y la invitó a ir a la escuela para sorprender a su hija cuando le dieran el premio. Fue un pequeño gesto que significó mucho para Gonzalez Gutierrez.

“Para mí fue muy emocionante”, Gonzalez Gutierrez dijo. “Fue muy valioso para mí que pudo hacerme saber”.

ReachWell y aplicaciones similares de traducción se han convertido en algo más común y, para algunos maestros, se han convertido en una herramienta esencial para comunicarse con una creciente cantidad de familias que no hablan inglés. Las aplicaciones con frecuencia permiten que los mensajes entre padres y maestros sean personales. Algunos maestros dicen que han ayudado a que los padres se abran sobre problemas que su hijo o familia está teniendo, lo cual ayuda a que los maestros interactúen mejor con los estudiantes.

Además de ver los mensajes de texto de los maestros en su lengua materna en ReachWell, los padres pueden responder en su propio idioma y los maestros ven las respuestas en inglés.

Kayli Brooks, una maestra en la escuela Primaria Tollgate en Aurora, usa la aplicación Talking Points, la cual también le permite enviar mensajes de texto a los padres. También traduce los mensajes entre padres y educadores, pero no requiere que las familias descarguen una aplicación.

“Las familias comparten que están teniendo dificultades con el transporte, o esta es la razón por la que [el estudiante] está comportándose mal, o quizás me texteen y digan: ‘Oye, esto pasó en la casa y creo que mi hijo va a estar muy triste en la escuela hoy’”, Brooks dijo. “Es algo enorme. Las familias quieren estar involucradas en la educación de su hijo sin importar de dónde sean, sin importar qué idioma hablen”.

Brooks dijo que desde que su escuela en Aurora empezó a usar la aplicación en 2020, ha tenido mucho más éxito recolectando formularios de permisos, por ejemplo.

Con familias inmigrantes recién llegadas al país y que están “bastante abrumadas”, dijo, enviarles mensajes de texto por la aplicación también las ayuda a entender mejor la información básica que necesitan para que sus hijos empiecen la escuela.

La comunicación personal, a través de un mensaje de texto, con frecuencia es más fácil de manejar para las familias que pedirles a los padres que se dirijan a formularios o recursos en línea, Brooks dijo.

Sara Olson, directora de la escuela Primaria McElwain, dijo que la aplicación ReachWell es “una herramienta que proporciona acceso equitativo”.

“Casi no logro entender cómo estas personas se han guiado por las escuelas durante años sin tener acceso”, Olson dijo. “Como [madre], no puedo imaginarme no tener acceso a la información, a los maestros. Cada niño e integrante de la familia tiene derecho a tener acceso”.

Olson dijo que no tuvo problemas para que las familias en su escuela descargaran la aplicación.

Zuben Bastani dijo que creó la aplicación ReachWell después de que vio a familias en la escuela de Denver de su hijo que no estaban recibiendo todos los mensajes. Dijo que vio a niños excluidos de excursiones cuando llegaban a la escuela sin estar preparados, sin saberlo—como usando tenis cuando había una excursión para caminar por la nieve, por ejemplo—porque sus familias no habían entendido los mensajes de la escuela.

“Fue obvio, muy rápido, qué familias estaban informadas y se aparecían y qué familias no”, Bastani dijo.

La aplicación se está usando en muchas escuelas y distritos en el área metropolitana de Denver y alrededor del país en lugares como Pittsburgh. Además de con escuelas, la compañía también se está asociando con algunas agencias de servicios de emergencia para proporcionar alertas de emergencia—como órdenes de quedarse en casa o evacuaciones durante desastres naturales—que las poblaciones que no hablan inglés pueden recibir en su lengua materna.

Jean Boylan, una facilitadora comunitaria en la escuela Primaria McMeen en Denver, también usa ReachWell en su escuela, pero dijo que además ha usado la aplicación de traducciones de Google en su teléfono para saludar a los padres en persona cuando pasan a buscar a sus estudiantes. Dijo que el personal escolar busca tantas maneras como puede para comunicarse.

En su escuela, inquietudes sobre si las nuevas familias inmigrantes tienen acceso a internet, han resultado en que el personal empiece a imprimir materiales también. McMeen es una de un par de docenas de escuelas en Denver que han inscrito a una cantidad significativa de estudiantes nuevos de Venezuela y otros lugares este año.

Pero cada vez que pueden comunicarse con la aplicación de ReachWell, ahorran tiempo y energía, Boylan dijo. La aplicación ayuda porque las familias hablan muchos idiomas diferentes. Boylan dijo que hay un mapa en su oficina con por lo menos 27 países resaltados que reflejan de dónde vienen las familias actuales de la escuela.

Bastani dijo que ReachWell encontró que, debido a que los padres descargan la aplicación y seleccionan ellos mismos su idioma preferido de una lista de más de 130 idiomas, muchas escuelas descubren que no han estado contando todos los idiomas que sus familias hablan.

En promedio, descubren 25 por ciento más idiomas después de un par de meses, los líderes de ReachWell dijeron.

Boylan ahora está trabajando con Bastani para aumentar el contenido en una página con recursos que ReachWell ofrece en la aplicación para las familias. La página incluye información sobre el acceso a recursos como comida o vivienda para las familias.

Para padres como Gonzalez Gutierrez, la comunicación personal que tienen con los maestros es esencial.

Gonzalez Gutierrez dijo a principios de este año que notó que su estudiante de kindergarten estaba frustrada con un programa en línea que la escuela usaba para que los niños aprendieran matemáticas. Estaba causándole estrés y temor a la niña, y Gonzalez Gutierrez dijo que no sabía cómo hablar con la maestra sobre eso—hasta que se dio cuenta de que podía mandarle un mensaje de texto.

Compartir con la maestra cuál era el problema permitió que trabajaran juntas para resolverlo.

“Vale la pena”, Gonzalez Gutierrez dijo. “Es un regalo para mí”.

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado que distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Denver’s Lincoln High School gets more time to improve, as State Board praises efforts

2024-03-14T01:07:09+00:00

When Colorado officials ordered Denver’s Lincoln High School to work on a turnaround plan to improve the achievement of its students, no one knew schools would be interrupted by the pandemic just a month later.

But the school pushed forward with its improvement plan, despite the switch to remote learning and a more recent influx of new students. And although the school’s test scores and state rating remained low this year, State Board of Education members praised Lincoln’s progress Wednesday and agreed to give its leaders more time to boost its rating.

So far, school leaders have completed a leadership program with the University of Virginia, created a new ninth grade academy, and rolled out new career-focused pathways for students. A program called PTECH allows students to stay in high school for a fifth or sixth year to earn an associate’s degree in business. Lincoln’s first participants are graduating this spring.

Those changes were made possible partly by Lincoln’s status as an “innovation school,” a model allowed for state-ordered improvement plans that gives the school autonomy from some district and state rules and provisions of the teachers union contract.

Lincoln was one of just two Denver schools with state-ordered improvement plans. The other, Manual High School, received an improved rating this year. If it sustains that rating for one more year, it can be freed from its state orders.

Lincoln, on the other hand, has not improved and had to have its plan reviewed this year. The state board unanimously approved a district plan on Wednesday that will keep Lincoln as an innovation school while the state monitors its progress.

If the school doesn’t manage to earn a higher state rating by 2026, then it will have to return to the state for another hearing.

When a school receives several years of low ratings, the state is obligated to order an improvement plan, which can include requiring external management, turning the school into a charter or even closing it. Recently, State Board members have stayed away from those drastic options. One alternative has been to grant innovation status.

With Lincoln, State Board members said they were encouraged that school and district leaders’ assessment of the school and its ability to improve mirrored the feedback from the community, the Colorado Department of Education staff, and an external state review panel.

“I’m constantly reminded of, we leave a school alone, great things happen,” said State Board member Angelika Schroeder. “What you’re offering is something really special.”

Under the district’s plan, Lincoln will continue to expand its offerings for workforce development while students are in high school.

The school will also focus more in the coming years on attendance. Currently, the average attendance rate at Lincoln is 83%, up from 81% last year.

Principal Antonio Esquibel said attendance rates are low among new immigrant students who are facing other challenges that make it difficult to attend school, such as housing instability.

School leaders also talked about the challenges they’ve faced most recently in supporting a rise in students who are new to the country. Lincoln High School houses one of Denver’s newcomer centers, which help students who are new to the country adjust to life in an American high school.

Esquibel said the school enrolled another six new students Wednesday.

He said the school has added staff, and is now doing an orientation every Monday for new students and their families. The orientation introduces them to Lincoln and the U.S. school system, and to living in southwest Denver.

As part of the improvement plan, the school will also expand its efforts to help all teachers accommodate their lessons for English learners through sheltered instruction, where teachers can adjust lessons to incorporate help for English learners throughout the day.

About half of Lincoln’s roughly 1,000 students are identified as English learners, but about 75% identify Spanish as their first language. With so many arriving students who are new to the country, those percentages are rising.

“Every teacher has to be a teacher of English learners at Lincoln,” Esquibel said.

The school also uses a model it calls TNLI that offers students Spanish instruction and then slowly moves toward more English instruction, allowing students to remain bilingual, Esquibel said.

“We know if given the right supports and resources, our students flourish,” he said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

How the reading retention bill moving through Indiana Statehouse impacts English learners

2024-02-23T17:30:22+00:00

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Update: The Indiana legislative session ended on March 8, 2024. Here are the education bills that did and didn’t pass.

A bill that would hold back more third graders in Indiana has raised alarms among teachers of English language learners, who say the retention mandate ignores research on language acquisition, and could violate federal law.

Senate Bill 1 — a priority bill for GOP lawmakers this year — requires schools to remediate young students who don’t demonstrate reading skills and retain most third graders who don’t pass the state reading test, the IREAD3. It’s part of a legislative effort to address the state’s literacy scores, which have declined for more than a decade.

The bill has passed the Senate and is heading for a full vote in the House with support from the Indiana Department of Education.

The bill includes “good cause” exemptions to retention for several groups of students, including English learners who have received services for less than two years and whose teachers and parents agree that promotion is appropriate.

But advocates for English learners say that the exemption for this population doesn’t align with what research says about how long it takes for students to learn a new language.

With a growing population of 93,000 English learners in Indiana, and a history of shortages of educators licensed to teach language learners, advocates worry that English learners will be denied an appropriate education if they’re retained. The state also has an increasing number of immigrant students, some of whom will need language services.

Advocates also say the provision conflicts with the state’s implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which gives students six years to demonstrate proficiency in English before their schools face a penalty. Federal law also states that English learners should not be retained solely on the basis of their English language proficiency and that they are entitled to age-appropriate curriculum and participation in school programs.

State officials who support the bill, however, say it does not conflict with federal law or state rules.

Sen. Linda Rogers, the bill’s co-author, said in a statement that the language conforms with federal guidance, and that the bill’s authors “worked to ensure that was the case as the legislation was being written.”

And the Indiana Department of Education said in a statement that federal guidance requires school districts to help students become English proficient and participate in regular classes “within a reasonable period of time.”

Per the bill, that reasonable amount of time is two years to make sure EL students aren’t retained only because of “their lack of English proficiency and before they have been provided with meaningful opportunity and academic instruction,” the IDOE statement said.

But learning a new language can take anywhere from five to 14 years, said Patricia Morita-Mullaney, a professor of language and literacy at Purdue University and past president of the Indiana Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, or INTESOL.

English learners who are retained under the provisions of Senate Bill 1 could sue the state for failing to meet federal requirements, Morita-Mullaney said.

“Indiana is setting itself up for an enormous class action lawsuit,” Morita-Mullaney said.

Meeting the needs of English learners

Historically, most of Indiana’s young English learners were U.S. citizens who had attended American schools since kindergarten, Morita-Mullaney said. A large percentage then could become eligible for retention in third grade, when they are in their fourth year of receiving English language services — an insufficient amount of time, she said.

The effect would be a penalty for the child, instead of the school as currently outlined by ESSA, she said.

Current Indiana law exempts English learners from retention.

In addition to concerns about violating federal law, holding students back based on their English proficiency has a negative impact on their content knowledge, said Donna Albrecht, a professor of ENL/ESL at Indiana University Southeast and a member of the advocacy team at INTESOL. Instead, teachers should be trained in methods that teach content and language at the same time.

“It’s not that they weren’t taught to read; they’re learning two languages. It takes more time,” Albrecht said. “By the time they reach fourth and fifth grade, they’re surpassing their monolingual peers.”

Of the 2,819 English learner students who failed the IREAD-3 statewide in 2023, 1,922 received a good cause exemption from retention, while 897 did not. Most of the latter — 868 students — were promoted to fourth grade anyway. Such “social promotion” has increased in Indiana schools over the last decade.

Retaining hundreds more students will affect both urban districts like Indianapolis Public Schools, which has a large population of English learners, as well as small, rural districts where these students make up a large share of the population, Morita-Mullaney said.

In both cases, schools will need to staff additional third grade classrooms with teachers who are prepared to teach English learners, Morita-Mullaney said. Indiana schools have struggled to find enough qualified teachers for English learners — another federal requirement.

“They’ll move teachers to third grade, or they’ll bring in new people who have never been in high-stakes testing environments before,” Morita-Mullaney said.

Improving Senate Bill 1 for English learners

There are 93,625 English learners in all grades statewide in 2023-24, according to Indiana Department of Education data.

To improve the bill for English learners, INTESOL recommends changing the exemption language to reference scores on Indiana’s assessment for English learners — WIDA.

Under the organization’s proposed language, students who score less than a 5.0 proficiency level on WIDA, the score needed to exit the English learner programs and join the general student body, would be eligible for an exemption if they fail IREAD3.

On average, students gain half a level of proficiency per year on the assessment, said Albrecht. But even students who gain a full level of proficiency each year may not be ready to pass the IREAD-3 in third grade if they started learning English in kindergarten.

It’s not clear from available state data at what WIDA level students can typically pass the IREAD-3, Albrecht added. Comparing data has been challenging due to years of changes in state and federal testing, Morita-Mullaney said.

The state Department of Education said WIDA measures English language proficiency at grade level, as mandated by ESSA, while IREAD3 measures reading proficiency overall.

Advocates pushed back on this interpretation saying WIDA focuses on all parts of language, but IREAD is designed to test reading for native speakers.

Bill author Rogers also said that retention would not conflict with Indiana’s ESSA plan.

“The legislation highlights early identification of students that may not be reading proficient by the end of third grade. These students will be provided remediation and summer school aligned with the Science of Reading,” Rogers’ statement said. “The goal is not to retain anyone that doesn’t have a good cause exemption and ensure that ‘Every Child Learns to Read.’”

Previously, proponents said that retention will remain a last resort for students after they have more intervention and multiple attempts to pass the test. Still, retention is a necessary step in some cases, they said, giving students another year to develop literacy skills.

Both Rogers and Secretary of Education Katie Jenner have said they don’t believe very many students will be retained after receiving increased intervention.

“This is a crisis for our state right now and we have no time to waste,” Jenner said at a Wednesday meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee.

The bill is scheduled for a second reading in the House on Monday.

You can track Senate Bill 1 on the General Assembly website.

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

Indianapolis Public Schools plans new approach to teaching English learners

2024-03-08T12:00:00+00:00

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At Lew Wallace School 107, principal Arthur Hinton sees students come from all over the world.

The sounds of Spanish, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, and Arabic can fill the halls of the K-6 school on the west side of Indianapolis, near the “international marketplace” neighborhood. In recent years, the school has attracted more students whose families hail from Haiti, speaking French or Creole.

Roughly 70% of the 509 students are classified as English language learners, a population that has only increased since Hinton arrived in 2020.

“Don’t blink again,” he joked. It might grow even more.

Lew Wallace is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse schools in the district. But its growing share of English language learners is emblematic of a trend that’s appearing across Indianapolis Public Schools.

More than a quarter of the district’s students are now classified as English language learners — over 6,700 as of late February, an increase of over 2,000 students since 2017-18. As in many other districts, staffing up for those levels has been a challenge. At the end of February, the district had eight vacancies for English as a New Language teachers, out of 110 positions total. Bilingual assistants can be even harder to come by: The district had 24 vacancies as of that date for its 76 positions.

Amid a larger push for equity in its Rebuilding Stronger reorganization, the district now plans to reimagine how it serves English language learners. Officials say instruction for these students should be more consistent across school buildings, and allow students to learn alongside their native English-speaking peers. Students learning English, they say, should not be restricted from classes such as music or art because they are pulled away for separate English language learner instruction.

The plan includes assigning each school at least one leading English as a New Language “teacher of record,” responsible for overseeing the school’s English language learner program. It also involves more incentives for staff — including a $2,000 stipend for lead teachers and reimbursement for some English as a New Language teachers who also train to become certified to teach English language arts.

The plan is one of the district’s budget priorities for the 2024-25 school year.

“It’s going to be hard, without a doubt,” said Arturo Rodriguez, the district’s director for English as a New Language. “We’re up to the challenge.”

IPS plan encourages more co-teaching, less separation

In a sixth grade classroom at Lew Wallace, Ana Gonzalez sits with a small group of six students, alternating between Spanish and English as she teaches the concept of claims, evidence, and reasoning in language arts.

Just a few feet away, the main classroom teacher is reviewing the same topics with the other students. At Gonzalez’s table, though, the focus is on the English learners.

“You guys in class have been working on claims — finding a claim and finding evidence,” Gonzalez tells her students. “Tener, como, un reclamo y evidencia.”

The school uses a form of co-teaching, where English language learners are in the same classroom as their native-speaking peers, and learning the same things at the same time.

Ana Gonzalez, who teaches English as a new language, sits with sixth-graders in a small group to review the classroom lesson for the day. Gonzalez switches between English and Spanish while teaching amid the larger class of native English speakers.

This is the type of model that the district hopes all schools will embrace.

Right now, instruction for English language learners varies from school to school. Only some IPS elementary schools offer co-teaching, while others don’t have enough staff. Sometimes teachers are used as interventionists — staff who pull students away from class to work directly with them on their specific needs — rather than as co-teachers.

At the middle and high school levels, some English language learners do not have access to electives, because their English as a new language instruction is held during those times.

The district’s plans would mean less separation, and more exposure to the mainstream classroom as students learn English.

The philosophy: Everyone is an English as a New Language teacher.

An English as a New Language teacher “is supposed to help support language development, not necessarily spending their whole day doing intervention,” Rodriguez said. “There are some places where more than 80% of the day, that’s all they’re doing.”

At each school, a lead teacher of record will be responsible for the battery of tests that English language learner students must take to ensure that they pass the language proficiency test known as WIDA ACCESS.

That will free up the school’s other English as a New Language teachers to teach more throughout the day, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez is also hoping those lead teachers will monitor proficiency on state exams for English learners, which dropped after the pandemic, as it did for other student subgroups.

Last year, 47.9% of these students passed the third-grade IREAD exam, while 3.2% reached proficiency on both English and math sections on the ILEARN in grades 3-8, according to state data. (The figures do not include charter schools in the district’s autonomous Innovation Network.)

The district hopes to train English as a New Language teachers and main classroom teachers on the new changes.

Staffing poses a challenge

At Lew Wallace, Hinton acknowledges that he’s blessed to have five English as a New Language teachers. The school also has four bilingual assistants speaking Spanish and Arabic.

But at other schools in the district, filling those roles may be more challenging.

As of early March, the district anticipated the need to fill about one dozen English as a New Language teaching positions for the next school year.

Bilingual assistants, Rodriguez said, are particularly difficult to find amid stiff competition among districts. The district urgently needs candidates who speak Swahili, Kinyarwanda, French, and Haitian Creole, he said.

IPS hopes a few initiatives can help with the staffing needs.

The district is beginning to reach out to local universities to build a pipeline of bilingual assistants who can eventually transition into certified teaching positions, Rodriguez said.

The latest contract with the teacher’s union approved in November also offers base-pay increases for English as a New Language teachers and other in-demand positions.

And IPS also plans to offer English as a New Language teachers in middle and high school incentives to become dually certified to teach English language arts. That could reduce the number of staff needed to teach both topics.

The district would reimburse teachers for the cost of taking the Praxis certification exam for English language arts, which is over $100.

Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org.

Fútbol y fonética: un día en la Escuela Valdez de Denver con dos estudiantes recién llegados

2024-02-20T22:59:06+00:00

Read in English

Estudiantes de cuarto grado en la Escuela Primaria Valdez iban pasando uno por uno a través de la puerta del patio de recreo, formando una bola de energía serpenteante con los cordones desatados de los zapatos.

La mayoría subieron las escaleras a sus salones de clases. Solo un par se detuvieron para darle un abrazo rápido al integrante del personal escolar, quien tenía los ojos semicerrados por el sol que le pegaba de frente mientras mantenía la puerta abierta. Dos de los estudiantes que lo abrazaron fueron Jesus y Leiker, quienes llegaron a Denver de Venezuela hace un par de meses.

Los niños, de 9 y 10 años de edad, figuran entre las más de 38,000 personas migrantes que han llegado a Denver durante el último año después de escapar crisis políticas y económicas en sus países de origen.

Algunos de los recién llegados incluyen familias con niños como Jesus y Leiker. Las Escuelas Públicas de Denver (DPS, por sus siglas en inglés) han inscrito a más de 3,200 de estas personas jóvenes desde el inicio del año escolar.

La mayoría llegó después de la fecha límite en octubre que determina cuántos fondos por estudiante DPS recibe del estado, lo cual ha creado un déficit financiero para este distrito escolar, el más grande en el estado, y causado que las escuelas enfrenten dificultades para obtener recursos.

Pero no todas las escuelas. Los nuevos estudiantes están concentrados en un par de docenas de las más de 200 escuelas de DPS, a las cuales el distrito llama hotspots (literalmente, focos o puntos calientes). La razón principal es porque las escuelas ofrecen enseñanza especializada tanto en inglés como en español.

Valdez, también conocida como Escuela Valdez, ha ofrecido por mucho tiempo un programa de lenguaje dual. También está ubicada cerca de un refugio que la ciudad administra adentro de un Quality Inn, el cual la directora Jessica Buckley dijo que todos simplemente le dicen “el Quality”. Valdez, una escuela que tuvo menos de 400 estudiantes el año pasado, ha dado la bienvenida a más de 100 estudiantes nuevos en los últimos meses.

Todos los salones de clases en la escuela primaria ubicada en el noroeste de Denver han alcanzado su límite de 35 niños — excepto los de cuarto grado, en los que antes de la semana pasada había 29 estudiantes por salón.

La Escuela Primaria Valdez—Escuela Valdez—es una escuela de lenguaje dual en el noroeste de Denver.

De frente a esta nueva realidad, Valdez ha tenido que hacer modificaciones. Algunos de los cambios han sido bellos. Otros han sido difíciles. “Los aspectos positivos son el crecimiento de nuestros niños y nuestra comunidad”, Buckley dijo. “El desafío son los recursos”.

Jesus y Leiker se conocieron en el Quality, donde sus familias se estaban quedando, y se hicieron amigos enseguida. Dicen: “Somos como hermanos”.

Así fue un día en la escuela la semana pasada para Jesus y Leiker, cuyos apellidos Chalkbeat no está publicando para proteger sus identidades mientras se guían por su vida en un nuevo país.

Valdez es un “excelente lugar para llegar”

Los niños fueron los dos primeros en entrar al salón de clases, caminando hombro a hombro y platicando.

“¡OK! Siéntate en un lugar donde creas que te vas a enfocar bien”, la maestra Isabelle King dijo.

Jesus y Leiker se apresuraron a ir a esquinas opuestas en la alfombra con un mapa de Estados Unidos que cubre el piso del salón. Jesus se sentó con las piernas cruzadas arriba del estado de Michigan, y Leiker logró agarrar un lugar cerca de California. Dijeron “buenos días” a sus compañeros sentados junto a ellos. Siguiendo las instrucciones de la maestra, también nombraron su deporte favorito.

“Fútbol”, Jesus dijo con una sonrisa.

El salón de cuarto grado había estado viendo videoclips sobre niños con discapacidades. En el videoclip de ese día apareció una niña con sordera que usaba un intérprete al lenguaje de señas en la escuela.

Cuando la maestra pausó el video para preguntar sobre una forma como los estudiantes se parecían a la niña y una forma como eran diferentes, Leiker levantó la mano. En español, dijo que él era diferente porque podía hablar directamente con sus amigos, sin un intérprete.

Jesus, con la camiseta azul tipo polo, escucha mientras la maestra Isabelle King da instrucciones durante la reunión de la mañana en su salón de clases de cuarto grado.

Esto es posible en Valdez porque todos los estudiantes hablan español. Como una escuela de lenguaje dual, Valdez no admite a estudiantes que hablan inglés como lengua materna después de kindergarten. En los grados para niños más pequeños, hasta el 90 por ciento de la enseñanza en el salón de clases es en español para que los niños estén inmersos en el idioma.

Mientras que otras escuelas en Denver y alrededor del país han tenido que usar tecnología, a veces tan rudimentaria como Google Translate, para comunicarse con estudiantes y familias nuevas de Venezuela, en Valdez no se necesitan intérpretes.

“Somos un excelente lugar para que estos niños lleguen”, Buckley dijo. Porque todos hablan español, dijo, los estudiantes nuevos “pueden interactuar y aprender y ser ellos mismos”.

Los estudiantes aprenden el idioma del juego

En el gimnasio, la maestra de educación física Jessica Dominguez pidió que los estudiantes que se dividieran en equipos.

“¡Yo y Leiker!” Jesus gritó.

Durante los siguientes 40 minutos, su equipo rotó entre básquetbol, cuatro recuadros y una pared para escalar. Los niños dominaron en básquetbol a la vez que corrían rápidamente por la media cancha y gritaban: “¡rápido, rápido!” mientras sus compañeros de equipo tiraban la pelota a la canasta.

Las niñas dominaron en cuatro recuadros. Jesus tuvo dificultades. Después de perder por haberle pegado a la pelota cuando no era su turno, una niña pausó el juego para explicarle las reglas en español.

“Él no sabía”, les dijo la niña en inglés a sus compañeros de clase.

Leiker, en el recuadro superior izquierdo, y Jesus, parado atrás de él en la fila, juegan a los cuatro recuadros con sus compañeros durante la clase de educación física.

El personal en Valdez está de acuerdo en que los nuevos estudiantes han enriquecido lingüísticamente a la escuela. Mientras que antes los estudiantes — y hasta los adultos — con frecuencia terminaban hablando en inglés cuando hablaban entre ellos, ahora es más práctico hablar en español. De esa forma, todos entienden.

El fenómeno también fue visible durante el recreo. El fútbol ha sido por mucho tiempo la actividad más popular durante el recreo, Buckley dijo. Pero ahora, el español es lo que se habla en la cancha.

“¡Leiker! ¡Leiker! ¡Atrás! ¡Atrás!” gritó un compañero de equipo, pidiéndole que le pasara la pelota hacia atrás.

El segundo juego más popular es uno nuevo llamado pelota gaga. En contraste con el español que se habla en la cancha de fútbol, todos los estudiantes que jugaron pelota gaga estaban hablando en inglés.

Al escuchar el agudo tuit-tuit del silbato, Jesus, Leiker y los otros jugadores de fútbol corrieron a la cafetería para almorzar. Leiker tenía las mejillas rojas mientras esperaba a que le dieran su macarroni con queso. Jesus trajo su almuerzo de casa, pero igual hizo la fila con su amigo.

Juntos, encontraron asientos en una mesa redonda con dos niños más de cuarto grado.

“¿Jugaron al fútbol hoy, chicos?” preguntó el subdirector Cesar Sanchez en español.

“¡Sí!” contestaron al unísono.

“Nosotros perdimos”, Leiker agregó.

“¿Importa si ganamos o perdimos?” Sanchez preguntó. “¿Qué es lo que importa?”

“¡Divertirse!” dijeron al unísono.

El fútbol es el juego más popular durante el recreo en la Escuela Valdez. En este día cálido de invierno, Jesus, pateando la pelota, Leiker, y otros estudiantes usaron el “piedra, papel o tijera” para elegir equipos.

Los maestros adaptan las lecciones

Siempre ha sido el caso en Valdez, como en todas las escuelas, que algunos estudiantes están más avanzados académicamente y algunos más atrasados, y los maestros deben adaptar sus lecciones. Pero con los estudiantes recién llegados, los maestros han tenido que diferenciar la enseñanza aún más. Valdez ha recibido a estudiantes de cuarto grado que no saben cómo escribir sus nombres, Buckley dijo.

Jesus y Leiker pueden leer y escribir en español. Dijeron que fueron a la escuela en Venezuela antes de venir a Estados Unidos. Sin embargo, sus maestros — especialmente el maestro de lectoescritura Giovanni Leon, a quienes los estudiantes llaman Don Gio — han tenido que realizar modificaciones, trabajando para fortalecer las aptitudes de lectura y escritura de los recién llegados en su lengua materna mientras también empiezan desde cero en inglés. Les están enseñando el alfabeto y los sonidos de las letras.

Este día, después de educación física, la clase de Jesus y Leiker empezó su sesión de lectoescritura en la alfombra, donde Leon explicó la tarea del día: leer un discurso de 1873 de la activista de derechos de la mujer Susan B. Anthony y contestar preguntas sobre el texto.

Leiker, a mano izquierda, y Jesus, tercero de la izq., trabajan para escribir oraciones completas.

Pero el texto y las preguntas eran en inglés, parte de la división 50/50 que Valdez hace entre el inglés y el español en grados más avanzados. Por años, la rotación del idioma era muy marcada. Con los nuevos estudiantes, se ha hecho más flexible.

Mientras la mayoría de los estudiantes se ponían en parejas para empezar a leer el discurso de Susan B. Anthony, Leon llamó a Jesus, Leiker y tres otros a una mesa en forma de C atrás del salón. Iban a leer y contestar preguntas sobre otro texto, un cuento de hadas, en español.

Sin embargo, primero Leon les pidió que practicaran escribir oraciones completas con un sujeto y un predicado, una letra mayúscula al principio, y un punto al final. Les dio un tema en español — el perro — y les pidió que terminaran la oración.

Muchos de los estudiantes recién llegados a Valdez están practicando sus aptitudes de lectoescritura en su lengua materna—español—a la vez que aprenden inglés.

“El perro está jugando en el patio”, Leiker escribió en español en su libreta.

“El perro está ladrando”, Jesus escribió.

Un poco después, cuando Leon señaló que a Leiker le faltaba un punto, el niño dio vueltas con la punta de su lápiz tantas veces que escribió un punto tan grande que hubiera sido imposible que el maestro no lo viera.

Jesus tiene un “momento ajá”

Aunque muchas cosas son diferentes en Valdez últimamente, algunas cosas son iguales. Una de esas es que los estudiantes, incluidos los recién llegados, siguen teniendo lo que los maestros llaman “momentos ajá” — el momento de alegría y descubrimiento cuando entienden un concepto académico.

Este día, Jesus tuvo un momento ajá en matemáticas.

Las matemáticas no son la materia favorita de Jesus. Ambos niños dijeron que lo que más les gusta es el recreo y el almuerzo, seguido por el bocadillo. Leiker dijo que piensa que la clase de música, donde aprenden a tocar instrumentos, es la más difícil. Moviendo la cabeza, Jesus dijo que para él, son las matemáticas.

Leiker, izq., y Jesus, der., se ríen mientras trabajan lado a lado en problemas de matemáticas en sus computadoras.

Durante parte de la sesión de matemáticas, los niños estuvieron sentados con King en su mesa en forma de C. Para explicarle cómo calcular 5 x 30 a Leiker, King sacó una cubeta con bloques amarillos pegados entre sí en grupos de 10. Leiker dividió los grupos de bloques en cinco montones de tres y los contó.

Jesus estaba sentado junto a él, trabajando en sumas. Pero los bloques amarillos le llamaron la atención.

Cuando Leiker obtuvo la respuesta correcta — 150 — a Jesus se le escapó un, “¡Aaahh!”

Jesus puso de lado su propia actividad y ayudó a Leiker con su siguiente problema: 30 x 40. Usando más bloques amarillos, los niños contaron en español. Hablaron al mismo tiempo, igual que lo habían hecho cuando hablaron de fútbol durante el almuerzo: “100, 200, 300, 400…

“¡1,200!”

“Eso es”, King dijo.

Los niños sonrieron orgullosamente.

Valdez necesitará más escritorios

Justo después de las 3 p. m., Jesus, Leiker y sus compañeros de cuarto grado salieron de Valdez por la misma puerta por la que habían entrado del patio de recreo unas horas antes, formando la misma fila desorganizada.

Buckley estaba parada en el asfalto, supervisando la situación.

Valdez tiene más estudiantes ahora que en cualquier momento en años recientes. La escuela está tan llena que cuando familias recién llegadas se presentan en la oficina para inscribir a sus hijos, como lo habían hecho tres de ellas ese día, la secretaria con frecuencia tiene que indicarles que vayan a otras escuelas primarias cercanas.

Jesus, izq., y Leiker, der., caminan a su salón de clases en la Escuela Valdez, la cual ha recibido a más de 100 estudiantes recién llegados este año, muchos de ellos de Venezuela.

Valdez contrató a más asistentes de maestros y un maestro de intervención para ayudar a que los estudiantes nuevos se pongan al día. También compró más libros y logró encontrar muebles usados. El subdirector, Sanchez, a veces ha tenido que manejar por la ciudad en su propia camioneta para recolectar escritorios disponibles en escuelas primarias que no tienen tantos estudiantes.

Un par de horas antes que terminara el día escolar, Buckley se enteró de que la escuela necesitaba dos escritorios más. El distrito se había comunicado para compartir que dos estudiantes recién llegados — en cuarto grado, el único grado en Valdez que todavía tiene cupo — se iban a inscribir la próxima semana.

Melanie Asmar es la corresponsal jefa de Chalkbeat Colorado. Comunícate con Melanie por correo electrónico a masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

‘Growing our readers’: How the Sheridan district has revived its once-closed high school library

2024-02-16T20:05:03+00:00

For years, the Sheridan district’s high school library was just empty space — a few shelves, no books, no staff.

Now, the library is thriving. Students hang out there during lunch or other free periods. They read, play games, and can even take a literature class.

The space has transformed from bare to buzzing.

“We just had old tables and chairs,” said Jenn Alevy, the digital teacher librarian. “Throughout the five years, our space has changed so much.”

Among the changes: new furniture, including a puzzle table hand-built by a student in the school’s former woodshop class.

While some schools are having to cut librarians or letting libraries languish as school budgets are strained and others are grappling with book bans, the Sheridan library continues to grow because of voter-approved funds passed in 2018.

Trenity Briscoe, 16, works on her book project during a class in the library at Sheridan High School.

Pat Sandos, the outgoing superintendent, had just been hired in 2018 when he decided to put the promise of school librarians into the proposed mill levy tax request. Before the tax measure, the district used about $40,000 from reserves to get the space ready.

“I just couldn’t believe we didn’t have a library at the high school,” Sandos said. “It’s the hub of the school. So much goes on there.”

When Sandos talked to people in the community, many didn’t know the 300-student high school had been left without a library after the county library pulled out of the school into its own building.

Having the county library in the district was complicated, leaders said, because it was difficult to control who was in the school building just for the public library. And, Sandos said, having the library nearby was not the same as having an in-house teacher librarian who could collaborate with teachers and build relationships with students.

That’s what Alevy has done.

“There’s so much opportunity, it’s critical,” Sandos said.

Leticia Salazar, a senior at Sheridan High School, said Alevy has helped her through many rough times, including a recent death in her family. Last semester, she was a library assistant. Now, she just hangs out at the library because she finds it a safe and peaceful place.

“She’s awesome,” Salazar said, of Alevy. “And she got me into reading.”

When Alevy was hired in 2019 after voters approved the tax request, she started reviving the library by ordering books and working on a three-year plan to create more integration between technology and learning.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, schools went to remote learning, the library shut down – and Alevy’s plan to incorporate more digital learning became a plan she had to integrate right away.

She was the go-to for teachers on any technology questions, and helped many navigate remote learning software.

Now that schools have gone back to in-person learning, she still tries to collaborate with teachers, recommending books for various lessons they plan and suggesting ways to incorporate reading or digital learning when appropriate.

Students hang out at the Sheridan High School library during lunch or other free periods, including to play games.

Maegan Daigler, the district’s executive director of assessment & technology, said the mill levy funds pay for the salaries of librarians at the district schools and funds each year are also used to help grow the library’s collection.

The goal is to grow the book collection about 10% each year as funds allow, she said.

“It’s a priority,” Daigler said.

During the time the library was closed due to remote learning, Alevy ordered digital books for students to check out, but has since found that students prefer physical copies of books to read.

The library now has more than 4,500 books, including a few hundred Spanish books, many Stephen King novels, the popular Colleen Hoover titles, and lots of manga.

For many of the Spanish books, Alevy likes to get the English and Spanish versions so students can read them side-by-side if they like. She also gets some audiobooks that can be a helpful addition when students are trying to learn English.

From left to right Students Aidan Cordova, 17, Rock Himebaugh, 17, and Isaac Rosales, 16, play the card game UNO in the library during their lunch break at Sheridan High School.

The students in newcomer classes check out lots of books, she said. About a third of the school’s 300 students are English learners.

“Students will challenge themselves when they’re picking up a book,” Alevy said. “If it gets them to read, I will buy them.”

This year Alevy started offering a new elective class, Introduction to Literature, where students read, write about what they read, and then will promote the books they read in the library.

“We’re growing our readers,” Alevy said. “It’s slowly working.”

Each of the 10 students in the class picked a theme and planned out which books they would read this semester to fit that theme.

One of the school’s most avid readers, Kaitlyn Miller, a 15-year-old sophomore, has already read six books for the class this semester. She’s focusing her project on two themes: mystical creatures, and how people feel when they lose someone they love.

As Miller described her project, she noted: “I probably need to get some more books.”

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the last names of Leticia Salazar and Rock Himebaugh, and to reflect that the Sheridan library has more than 4,500 books in its collection now.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Esta maestra de Colorado lucha por lograr un cambio para los estudiantes bilingües

2024-02-14T23:05:35+00:00

En segundo grado, Carlota Loya Hernández pasaba mucho tiempo coloreando en su asiento. No hablaba inglés y su maestra no hablaba español, así que los lápices de colores y el papel eran su actividad favorita en la escuela de San Luis Valley en Colorado.

En la escuela intermedia, las cosas habían cambiado. Loya Hernández estaba tomando la clase de matemáticas avanzadas y estaba en camino a tomar clases más avanzadas en la secundaria. Con el tiempo, obtuvo su diploma universitario y se convirtió en maestra en el distrito escolar del Boulder Valley.

Hoy tiene un doctorado y aboga por los estudiantes bilingües, trabajando para asegurar que ellos tengan las oportunidades educativas que merecen.

“El mayor problema de las escuelas públicas es la falta de respuesta al brillante e increíble talento de todos y cada uno de los niños, especialmente los bilingües y multilingües”, dijo ella.

Carlota Loya Hernández.

Loya Hernández, que es especialista en matemáticas y en programas para estudiantes sobresalientes y talentosos en la Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer, una escuela de inmersión en dos idiomas en Boulder Valley, fue nombrada maestra bilingüe de primaria del año 2023 por la Asociación de Educación Bilingüe de Colorado. Ella habló con Chalkbeat sobre cómo aseguraba que las reuniones de padres y maestros tuvieran un 100% de asistencia, qué le dijo a la mamá de un estudiante y por qué le preocupan los sentimientos en contra de los inmigrantes.

Esta entrevista ha sido levemente editada para acortarla y hacerla más precisa.

¿En qué momento decidiste ser maestra?

Como estudiante de intermedia y secundaria, recibí capacitación para ser tutora de estudiantes porque con frecuencia venían a mí para que los ayudara. En la universidad, fui tutora de matemáticas y ciencias. Nunca tuve planes de ser maestra y quería ser ingeniera arquitectónica por mi amor a las matemáticas y al arte. Pero era mi vocación.

Abandoné la universidad por dificultades económicas y por no saber sobre las ayudas financieras. Conseguí un trabajo como gerente de un restaurante y comencé mi carrera en el distrito de Boulder Valley como una tutora de idioma natal. Disfruté mucho trabajando con estudiantes inmigrantes y refugiados, que a menudo eran ignorados o no recibían apoyo en los salones de clase regulares. Esto me enfureció y me impulsó a volver a la universidad y obtener un diploma de maestra.

¿Cómo influyó tu propia experiencia en la escuela en tu manera de enseñar?

Recuerdo mi primer día de segundo grado en la Center Elementary School. Acabábamos de mudarnos a San Luis Valley desde Silverton. Tuve apoyo bilingüe en Kinder y en primer grado porque acababa de llegar al país, pero en segundo grado mis opciones eran nadar o hundirme. Mi maestra no me entendía y yo no la entendía a ella. Me dio lápices de colores y me dejó colorear. Yo era muy feliz porque me encantaba el arte.

En la escuela intermedia, me asignaron a una clase de matemáticas avanzadas. En la secundaria tomé clases avanzadas de lenguaje, matemáticas y ciencias. Como hija de trabajadores agrícolas con pocos recursos en casa, la escuela se convirtió en un refugio seguro. Me iba muy bien en todas las clases, excepto en Educación Física. La única C que recibí fue en educación física porque tenía que vestirme para la clase. Mi papá no me permitía usar pantalones cortos y tampoco contaba con los medios para comprarme pantalones de sudadera.

La Center High School me abrió las puertas a un mundo de oportunidades y me nominó para la beca Spud Bowl del Adams State College en Alamosa (que ahora es la Adams State University). Gané la beca completa, y fue la clave para acceder a una educación superior y a un futuro lleno de posibilidades. Se convirtió en mi boleto para salir de la pobreza.

Cuéntanos cuál es la lección que más te gusta enseñar. ¿De dónde salió la idea?

Me encanta desarrollar lecciones que realmente conecten con los estudiantes, impacten en su forma de pensar y les ayuden a entender conceptos importantes. Para enseñar conceptos matemáticos importantes, como fracciones, decimales y porcentajes, preparé una lección utilizando el libro If the World Were a Village de David J. Smith.

El enfoque era muy matemático, pero los estudiantes pudieron analizar los datos y llegar a sus propias conclusiones. La lección permitió que mis estudiantes pensaran más allá de su propia existencia en su ciudad, más allá de las fronteras, y se enfrentaran a las graves desigualdades en el acceso a educación, atención médica, condiciones básicas para vivir, como acceso a agua potable, vivienda y alcantarillado, y pudieran imaginar la gran pobreza de tantos que literalmente se están muriendo de hambre. Nos permitió entender lo agradecidos que debemos estar por todo lo que tenemos en Estados Unidos, lo afortunados que somos y la gran cantidad de oportunidades que tenemos.

¿Cuál es el mayor reto que enfrentan tus estudiantes bilingües?

Los sistemas de opresión en todos los ámbitos de la vida de los estudiantes. Las manifestaciones de racismo incluyen programas de doble idioma adaptados para las familias blancas. La mayoría de los estudiantes de nuestro distrito que obtienen el Sello de Alfabetización Bilingüe (que demuestra que pueden leer y escribir tanto en inglés como en otro idioma) no son hablantes nativos de ese otro idioma.

Los estudiantes bilingües siguen estando sobrerrepresentados en educación especial, en referidos por disciplina y en escuelas alternativas con currículos técnicos en vez de en programas preuniversitarios y cursos AP/IB. Y no están suficientemente representados en clases avanzadas de todas las áreas, incluidas las de español. [A menudo], no se les identifica como sobresalientes y talentosos.

Estos son los sistemas contra los que lucho a diario. En mis tres semestres en la Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer, tenemos 25 estudiantes en matemáticas avanzadas solamente en cuarto y quinto grado. Cuando empecé en Pioneer solo había seis estudiantes. Hay otros 30-40 estudiantes en los grados más pequeños que están encaminados a toma clases de matemáticas avanzadas.

Como soy nerd para los datos, llevo cuenta del progreso de los estudiantes e identifico a los que tienen altas capacidades, tanto en matemáticas como en leer y escribir en ambos idiomas. Estamos en nuestro tercer año del Boulder Universal Advanced Math Program para estudiantes de cuarto y quinto grado.

La mayoría de los líderes de distritos y escuelas se enfocan en el nivel más alto de desempeño. Hay una urgencia por trabajar en la “brecha”, pero eso hace poco para mejorar una escuela. Tenemos que adoptar la mentalidad de desarrollar talento y oportunidades de aprendizaje avanzado para “subir la barra”.

¿Qué fortalezas notas en tus estudiantes bilingües?

Los estudiantes bilingües/multilingües están por encima del estándar, pero la fijación es que están por debajo del grado. Ellos logran un nivel más alto de lenguaje y de desempeño académico y social. Son el futuro de nuestra sociedad, ya que son ciudadanos con mentalidad global y serán los cuidadores del planeta. Los estudiantes bilingües/multilingües tienen más conciencia social a la hora de respetar y valorar diferencias, ya sean culturales, de idioma, religiosas, espirituales o de otro tipo.

Cuéntanos alguna anécdota memorable, sea buena o mala, en la que el contacto con la familia de un estudiante cambió tu perspectiva o estrategia.

Mis papás nunca pudieron ir a mi escuela cuando yo era niña porque trabajaban todo el día en los campos de lechugas o papas y llegaban tarde del trabajo. No tenían atención médica ni beneficios, y por lo tanto no podían darse el lujo de faltar al trabajo. Como maestra, me aseguré de quedarme hasta tarde y visitar los hogares de mis estudiantes para conectar con sus padres. Siempre me propuse y conseguí el 100% de asistencia en mis conferencias.

En mis 30 años como educadora, nunca vi a un padre o madre que no se preocupara por su hijo(a). La idea de que los padres no se preocupan, que están mal equipados para apoyar a sus hijos, tiene una base cruel y racista que contribuye a que los estudiantes de color sean vistos de manera más desfavorable, especialmente los que provienen de poblaciones de inmigrantes y refugiados. Por el contrario, esas familias cruzaron el continente a pie, huyeron del peligro y el hambre en su país de origen, y dejaron todo y a todos atrás para poder ofrecerles a sus hijos la mejor oportunidad para el futuro.

Una vez llamé a la mamá del payaso de la clase. Era un niño brillante que se negaba a hacer su tarea. Interrumpía la clase porque siempre estaba haciendo otra cosa y era muy gracioso. La madre contestó el teléfono: “¿Qué hizo Mario ahora?” Como estaba altavoz, Mario y el resto de la clase escucharon lo que dijo. No pude evitar reírme un poco, porque la estaba llamando para felicitarla por lo bien que Mario había hecho un examen o una actividad. Pero ese niño era y es brillante. Estoy seguro de que actualmente es un ciudadano exitoso y bilingüe que está aportando a la sociedad. No seguía las instrucciones siempre, pero tenía un potencial increíble. Para mí era tan obvio como el día; pero no todo el mundo es capaz de ver más allá del color de piel, trasfondo o comportamiento de un estudiante.

¿Qué está ocurriendo en la comunidad y afecta lo que pasa en tu salón de clases?

Nuestros estudiantes se ven afectados por el sentimiento antiinmigrante de este país, los asesinatos de latinos y negros a manos de la policía, los sistemas de prisión que alejan a los padres de sus hijos, la amenaza de los servicios sociales, y la falta de recursos en la comunidad, como vivienda básica, alimentos, atención médica, un salario digno y seguridad. La elección de un presidente — Donald Trump — que en su discurso y acciones proyectaba tanto odio, trajo miedo y angustia a las escuelas bilingües.

Los estudiantes estaban llorando mientras los maestros estaban en shock. Ese día tuve que quedarme en casa porque no podía afrontar la realidad de las elecciones. Este miedo ha regresado en 2024 porque el odio vuelve a afectar a todos los estudiantes de color, limita su humanidad y amenaza el bienestar y la seguridad de sus familias.

¿Qué estás leyendo en tu tiempo libre?

“Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal” y “We Want to Do More than Survive,” ambos escritos por Bettina L. Love. Me interesa mucho este tipo de literatura que trae a la luz y expone las causas raíz de las desigualdades en educación y sociales en la escuela y la sociedad. Este podría ser el enfoque de la siguiente fase de mi vida: enseñarle a la próxima generación la historia del racismo y la opresión en Estados Unidos para que puedan contribuir a cambiar la sociedad para que sea más equitativa.

Ann Schimke es reportera senior de Chalkbeat y cubre temas relacionados con la educación en la niñez temprana y la alfabetización temprana. Para comunicarte con Ann, envíale un email a aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Traducido por Milly Suazo-Martinez

Bilingual students miss out on advanced classes and gifted education. This teacher fights for change.

2024-01-30T20:24:49+00:00

In second grade, Carlota Loya Hernández spent a lot of time coloring at her desk. She didn’t speak English and her teacher didn’t speak Spanish, so crayons and paper were her go-to activity at school in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.

By middle school, things had changed. Loya Hernández was taking advanced math and headed for even more advanced coursework in high school. Eventually, she earned her college degree and became a teacher in the Boulder Valley School District.

Today, she has a Ph.D. and is a champion for bilingual students, working to ensure they get the educational opportunities they deserve.

“The greatest problem in public schools is a lack of responsiveness to the brilliance and incredible talent evident in each and every child, especially bilingual and multilingual children,” she said.

Carlota Loya Hernández poses for a school photo.

Loya Hernández, who is a math and gifted and talented specialist at Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer, a dual language immersion school in Boulder Valley, was named the 2023 bilingual elementary teacher of the year by the Colorado Association of Bilingual Education. She talked to Chalkbeat about how she ensured 100% attendance for parent-teacher conferences, what she told the mother of a class clown, and why she worries about anti-immigrant sentiments.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

As a middle and high school student, I was trained as a peer tutor because my fellow students would often come to me for help. In college, I tutored other students in math and science. I never planned to become a teacher and wanted to become an architectural engineer due to my love of both math and art. But it was my calling.

I dropped out of college due to financial hardship and a lack of knowledge about financial aid. I got a job as a restaurant manager and began my career with the Boulder Valley district as a native language tutor. I greatly enjoyed working with immigrant and refugee students who were often ignored or not supported in the mainstream classroom. This angered me and propelled me to go back to college and get a teaching degree.

How did your own experience in school influence your approach to teaching?

I remember my first day in second grade in Center Elementary School. We had just moved to the San Luis Valley from Silverton. I had bilingual support in kindergarten and first grade as I was new to the country, but in second grade it was sink or swim. My teacher did not understand me, and I did not understand her. She gave me crayons and let me color. I was happy as could be as I loved art.

By middle school, I was pulled for an advanced math class. I was in advanced language arts, math, and science in high school. As the child of farm workers with few resources at home, the school became a safe haven. I thrived in all my classes, except PE. The only C I received was in PE because I had to dress for class. My father did not allow me to wear shorts nor did I have the means to buy sweatpants.

Center High School opened the door to a world of opportunities and nominated me for the Spud Bowl Scholarship at Adams State College in Alamosa — now Adams State University. When I won the full-ride scholarship, it was the key to accessing higher education and a future full of possibilities. It became my ticket out of poverty.

Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach.

I love to develop lessons that really connect with students, impact their thinking, and help them understand important concepts. To teach important math concepts, such as fractions, decimals and percentages, I created a lesson using the book ”If the World Were a Village” by David J. Smith.

The focus was very mathematical, but students were able to analyze the data and come to their own conclusions. The lesson allowed my students to think beyond their own existence in their town, past borders, and to grapple with the grave inequities in educational access, medical care, basic living conditions, such as access to clean water, housing, and sewage, and to imagine the great poverty of so many that are literally starving to death. It allowed us to understand how grateful we should be for all we have in the U.S., how fortunate we are, and the great amount of opportunity we have.

What is the biggest challenge your bilingual students face?

The systems of oppression in all realms of students’ lives. Racist manifestations include dual-language programs tailored to white families. The majority of the students in our district who earn a Seal of Biliteracy, showing that they can read and write in both English and a non-English language, are not heritage speakers of the non-English language.

Bilingual students continue to be overrepresented in special education, discipline referrals, and alternative schools with technical tracks instead of pre-collegiate programs and AP/IB coursework. They are underrepresented in advanced coursework in all areas, including Spanish. [Often], they are not identified as gifted and talented.

These are the systems I fight against daily. In my three semesters at Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer, we have 25 students in advanced math just in fourth and fifth grades. There were only six students when I started at Pioneer. There are another 30-40 students in the younger grades who are in the pipeline for advanced math.

As a data nerd, I monitor students’ progress and identify students that have high ability, in both math and biliteracy (both languages). We are in our third year of the Boulder Universal Advanced Math Program which serves students in fourth and fifth grade.

Most district and school leaders do not focus on the high end of achievement. There is an urgency to work on the “gap,” but, that does little to improve a school. We must develop a mentality of talent development and advanced learning opportunities to raise the bar.

What unique strengths do you observe in your bilingual students?

Bilingual/multilingual students are above standard, although the fixation is that they are below grade level. They rise to a higher level of language and overall academic and social achievement. They are the future of our society as they are globally minded citizens and will be the caretakers of the planet. Bilingual/multilingual students have more social conscientiousness in respecting and valuing differences — whether it is cultural, linguistic, religious, spiritual, or otherwise.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.

My parents were never able to go to my school when I was a child as they worked all day in the lettuce or potato fields and arrived late from work. They had no medical care or benefits, so they could not afford to miss work. As a teacher, I made sure I stayed late and did home visits if necessary to connect with my students’ parents. I always aimed for and achieved 100% attendance at my conferences.

In my 30 years as an educator, I never saw a parent that did not care for their child. The idea that parents do not care, that they are ill-equipped to support their child, has cruel and racist underpinnings that contribute to the deficit perspective of students of color, especially immigrant and refugee populations. On the contrary, families have walked across the continent, fled danger and hunger in their home country, leaving everything and everyone behind so they can provide the best opportunity for their child’s future.

One time, I called a mom whose son was the class clown. He was a brilliant child who refused to do his work. He was disruptive to the class as he was always off-task and hilarious. The mom answered the phone with, “What did Mario do now?” She was on speaker phone and both Mario and the class heard her response. I could not help but chuckle a bit as I was calling to congratulate her on how well Mario had done on a test or activity. But that child was and is brilliant. I am sure he is a very successful and highly bilingual citizen contributing to society. He was not compliant at all times but he had incredible potential. It was as obvious as day to me; but not everyone is able to see beyond a student’s color, background, or behavior.

What’s something happening in the community that affects what goes on in your classroom?

The anti-immigrant sentiment in this country, police killings of Latinx and Black people, the prison systems that keep parents from their children, the threat of social services, the lack of community resources such as basic housing, food, medical care, a living wage, and safety all impact our students. The election of a president — Donald Trump — with all of that hate in his speech and actions brought fear and anguish into bilingual schools.

Students were crying as teachers were in shock. I had to stay home that day as I could not deal with the reality of the election. This fear has returned in 2024 as the hate returns to impact every student of color and limit their humanity and threaten the well-being and safety of their families.

What are you reading for enjoyment?

“Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal” and “We Want to Do More than Survive,” both by Bettina L. Love. I have become very interested in this type of scholarship that addresses and exposes the root causes of educational and social inequities in schooling and society. This might be the focus for the next phase of my life; to teach the next generation the history of racism and oppression in the U.S. so they can contribute to changing society to be more equitable.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Here’s what it was like for me to transition from ESL to mainstream classes

2023-08-01T11:00:00+00:00

“So, who knows what shoe brand hasn’t changed since it was first created?” my summer instructor asked.

The room was silent. Then several of my fellow English learners murmured among themselves, but no one seemed to know the answer.

As the kid who had a knack for knowing the most trivial and random facts, I knew the answer: Converse. The shoes have looked the same since 1917.

Converse, only two syllables, I told myself. I could say two syllables. And yet, the thought of it made me recoil.

Chalkbeat Student Voices Fellow Karen Otavalo created this piece of artwork. “I am wearing the same clothes I wore the day I moved to the U.S.,” she told Chalkbeat. “The flag in the background represents my Ecuadorian heritage, and the colors speak to the familiarity of my mother tongue, Spanish. America looms over me, engulfing me in the uncertainty of a new language. I venture into a new chapter of my life.”

In the meantime, my classmates shouted random shoe brands. I shook my head until, by process of elimination, someone finally said it: “Converse!” The instructor smiled. “Yes, that’s right,” she said. “Converse hasn’t changed since 1917.”

I sat back, and I told myself that next time, I’d speak up.

But this cycle repeated itself at school, in group discussions, and during everyday conversations. When I had to speak, the anxiety could be excruciating. I would have been more comfortable standing quietly in front of a stadium full of people than speaking to one person.

I know this challenge is not mine alone. More than a quarter of U.S. schoolchildren are immigrants or have at least one immigrant parent, according to the director of the Immigration Initiative at Harvard. And for those newcomers learning English, the journey to fluency can be long, uncomfortable, and lacking mandated support.

Meanwhile, students’ degree of linguistic proficiency doesn’t just impact their academic trajectory; it can affect their mental well-being, too, according to a study published in the journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. That finding mirrors my journey as an immigrant coming from a Hispanic background, and it is an experience shared among many immigrant children arriving in the United States.

Language acquisition is rarely a linear path.

After moving from Ecuador to the United States, I quickly swiftly acquired English writing and reading skills, but my listening and speaking skills still needed development. Sixth grade was my first year at a U.S. school, and by seventh grade, I was placed in advanced ESL. In the classroom, I felt safe and supported as I practiced my English, but outside, the world seemed intimidating. So I clung to the close-knit community we, immigrant students and our teachers, had created. We were united by moments of laughter, tears, and the shared struggles of navigating a new world.

Karen Otavalo

My English progressed. But whenever I thought about transferring to a regular classroom, I pushed it to the back of my mind. I wasn’t ready yet.

However, time slipped through my fingers, and when I entered eighth grade, high school applications were just around the corner. I grappled with what I knew needed to happen next. The high school I wanted to attend didn’t have an ESL program; to apply, I’d have to be in a mainstream classroom. My teachers went above and beyond to make that transition happen. Recognizing my potential, they made sure language wouldn’t be a barrier. I’ll be forever grateful to them.

“It’s for the best,” one of my teachers had assured me. It was, indeed, for the best, but the best path isn’t always the easiest.

During those initial months of transition, words eluded me. When they did surface, that all-too-familiar fear rippled through me. Speech used to be one of the things I was strongest at, and seeing myself fail at something so essential — not only to get my ideas across but also to be taken seriously — was disheartening. It didn’t help that despite hours of practice sometimes it seemed like I wasn’t getting better.

I learned quickly that impatience doesn’t help things along. Language acquisition is rarely a linear path. More effort doesn’t always translate into more progress. Instead, I had to learn to be patient, and that isn’t an overnight transformation either. I still had my moments of frustration, but eventually, I got used to the ebb and flow of the learning process.

There was no single “aha” moment. Even now, I haven’t eradicated every ounce of fear that comes with speaking up. But here’s the thing with languages: They are not destinations; they are never-ending journeys. Even for native speakers. A moment of absolute readiness may never come, but taking that leap even when you are terrified makes it all the less daunting the next time around.

Karen Otavalo is a rising high school junior who adores drawing and writing in her free time. This fall, she’ll enroll in the global politics track of the IB program at her high school. She works as a youth advisor at National Crittenton and is a Chalkbeat Student Voices Fellow in Newark. In the future, she hopes to help underserved communities through creativity and literacy.

Cómo una llamada de mi abuela me hace retroceder en el tiempo

2023-06-22T11:55:00+00:00

Read in English

“Estudia mucho mijita, ¿sí?”, me recuerda mi abuelita cada vez que la llamo a Ecuador, y su voz resuena en el teléfono. Está a más de 3,000 millas de distancia, pero incluso desde aquí, en Newark, Nueva Jersey, puedo oír los pregones de los vendedores mientras una música retumba por las calles.

Asegúrate de estudiar mucho, ¿de acuerdo?

Karen Otavalo

Es una petición sencilla y una frase común en todas las culturas y geografías. En el caso de mi abuela materna, María Isabel, sé que viene de querer para mí lo que ella no pudo tener: educación, independencia y oportunidades profesionales. Cuando ella era pequeña, su clase favorita era la de historia, y llevaba un cuaderno en el que dibujaba figuras históricas, decoraciones y banderas de distintos países.

Aunque soñaba con terminar la secundaria y hacer trabajo humanitario, tuvo que dejar la escuela y empezar a trabajar a los 12 años para mantener a su familia. También hicieron los arreglos para que se casara cuando sólo tenía 16 años. Esa era la realidad para muchas jóvenes en Ecuador, especialmente para aquellas con recursos limitados.

Ella quería más para sus hijos.

Pero cuando mi mamá tenía 16 años, también abandonó la escuela y se puso a trabajar. Ella se cansó de tener que cubrir sus zapatos rotos con pintura blanca porque estaba fuera del alcance de su familia comprar unos nuevos. En busca de independencia, ella se marchó para volver un año después, cuando mi abuela la convenció de que terminara la secundaria. Lo hizo, y luego se esforzó para ir a la universidad mientras también criaba a una hija pequeña: yo.

Luego, cuando yo tenía 11 años, nos mudamos a Estados Unidos y nos instalamos en Newark. Incluso antes de poder hablar inglés fluido, se matriculó en la universidad, decidida a aprovechar las oportunidades que le ofrecía un país como los Estados Unidos. Como inmigrante, ella luchó contra las barreras del idioma y la impaciencia de la gente, quienes suponían que su poco dominio del inglés significaba que ella no era inteligente. Mi mamá siempre les demostró que estaban equivocados. En mayo, mi madre se graduó con honores de la universidad.

Yo tengo 16 años. La misma edad que mi abuela tenía cuando la obligaron a casarse, y la misma que tenía mi mamá cuando dejó la escuela. A menudo pienso en lo diferente que es mi vida de las suyas. En dos generaciones tanto ha cambiado: donde vivimos, los idiomas que hablamos fuera de la casa y las normas que rigen los logros de las mujeres.

En Ecuador, las oportunidades y el buen empleo son escasos. La edad prevalece sobre la sabiduría, y por eso no se promueve que los jóvenes a hablen en la manera que se hace en Estados Unidos. Esta experiencia me ha hecho darme cuenta de lo afortunada que soy por vivir en un país con espacios y programas que empoderan a la juventud.

Por eso decidí matricularme el año que viene en el Bachillerato Internacional de mi escuela (conocido como IB), un programa famoso por su riguroso currículo. Dar este paso me ha hecho reflexionar sobre mi abuela y mi mamá, las mujeres que hicieron posible que yo recibiera una educación de primera clase.

Aunque mi gratitud es inmensa, viene acompañada de la presión silenciosa de tener éxito y de una necesidad inquebrantable de lograr algo. Con un plan de perseguir mis sueños más allá de lo que creí posible, está en mi abrazar esta nueva comunidad y asegurarme de que mi trayecto de vida es uno que no me arrepienta.

Tengo 16 años, la misma edad que mi abuela tuvo cuando la obligaron a casarse, y la misma que tenía mi mamá cuando dejó la escuela.

Mi mamá y mi abuela son las que soportaron la cruda realidad de una sociedad austera y aun así han conseguido vivir como ganadoras de la vida. Sus historias son unas de sacrificio, pero sus sacrificios no son lo único que las hace extraordinarias. Sus vidas también se definen por la esperanza y la perseverancia. Por ejemplo, mi abuela, que ahora tiene 54 años, está recuperando lo que no pudo vivir de joven, como tomar clases de tejer, bailar, cantar y salir con sus amigas. Mi mamá, por su parte, está manejando su propia empresa pequeña y tiene planes de obtener una maestría en contabilidad. Sus vidas siguen siendo complejas y muy afectadas por nuestras circunstancias, pero siempre han logrado perseverar.

Por eso, cuando mi abuelita, al otro lado del teléfono, me dice: “Estudia mucho mijita, ¿sí?”, un millón de pensamientos cruzan mi mente porque sé lo mucho que esa simple petición significa para ella y para nosotras.

“Si, lo haré”, le respondo.

Palabras no me valen para expresar mi gratitud por el camino que me han forjado pero en ese momento es simplemente perfecto.

Karen Otavalo es estudiante de décimo grado y en su tiempo libre adora dibujar y escribir. Este otoño se matriculará en el programa de IB y su curso elegido se enfoca en el estudio de la política mundial. Ella también trabaja como Consejera Juvenil en Crittenton Nacional y es becaria de Chalkbeat Student Voices en Newark. En el futuro, espera ayudar a las comunidades desfavorecidas a través de creatividad y servicio a la comunidad.

I helped two migrant teens enroll in Chicago Public Schools. It was anything but straightforward.

2023-08-23T19:15:00+00:00

The first week of school highlights yet another facet of the challenge Chicago faces in supporting newly arrived migrants: enrolling their children in school. For the past two days, I saw it up close while helping two migrant families enroll their daughters at a neighborhood high school in Brighton Park.

These families, recent arrivals from Venezuela, are among more than 1,200 migrants currently sleeping in police stations; about 6,500 more are staying in local shelters.

Maureen Kelleher

Since mid-July, Chicago Public Schools has been beefing up its efforts to enroll migrant students. The district opened a welcome center at Clemente Community Academy in West Town. School officials say they have enrolled about 1,000 new English learners over the summer and expect 1,000 more to enroll in the coming weeks. However, there’s no way to tell how many of them are recently arrived migrants. In a last-minute push, the district said teams from the Office of Language and Cultural Education are visiting police stations to help migrant families staying there to enroll.

And together with mutual aid groups supporting migrants at police stations, the Chicago Teachers Union held a Zoom training for volunteers helping families enroll and signed up migrant students as part of a back-to-school party at union headquarters.

Yet some families are still struggling to get their children in school. As the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times reported, volunteers and young migrants staying in South Side neighborhoods with few Latino students say schools have turned them away because they lack staff qualified to teach English learners.

But even enrolling in schools with the staffing to support new arrivals can be daunting, especially in high school, where the red tape is extra-thick. As a volunteer with the mutual aid network for the 9th District police station in Bridgeport and a longtime education writer, this is what I saw. I’m sharing it here with the families’ permission. Their names have been changed because their asylum cases are pending.

Monday, Aug. 21, 2023

7:45 a.m., Kelly High School, 4136 S. California Ave.

While hundreds of Kelly students wait to enter school on the first day of the new year, I’m meeting aspiring freshmen Sofia and Marianna and their respective mothers as they get out of another volunteer’s car.

Inside, a security guard tells us registration for new students doesn’t start until 9 a.m. We can wait or come back later. The four of them haven’t had breakfast, so we head out.

8 a.m., Tio Luis Tacos, 3856 S. Archer Ave.

Over plates of pancakes for the girls and eggs with nopales, chorizo, and cecina for the grown-ups, we get to know each other a little. We speak in Spanish, though mine is only mediocre. Like many migrants coming to Chicago, Rosa, Sofia’s mom, says her family has been at the Bridgeport police station for three weeks. She and her husband have two children: Sofia and a 1-year-old boy.

Maria, Marianna’s mom, tells me her family has been at the station for just 10 days. In addition to Marianna, she and her husband have two other children: a 10-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl. Both of them have already been enrolled at Holden, a neighborhood elementary school close to the police station. Her 10-year-old went to Holden on time for Day 1; her little girl has to wait while they make sure the preK has enough room for another student.

They tried to enroll Marianna there, too, but the school staff said she had to move on to high school due to her age: She’ll turn 15 in February.

Marianna has a taste for the salsa roja on the table with the chips, which makes both moms laugh. From volunteering, I know that Venezuelans, unlike Mexicans, don’t usually like their food spicy. Sofia is the more talkative one, convincing Marianna to have pancakes with her. Both girls love the pancakes, which vanish quickly. The sausage, not so much. Sofia takes some of her scrambled eggs in a to-go box.

9:10 a.m., Kelly High School, Door 4

When we get back to Kelly, a few other families are waiting by the registration entrance — Door 4. They have been buzzing, but no one is answering. I press the buzzer just for good measure, then text one of the lead volunteers with the District 9 group, who teaches at Kelly.

It’s starting to get hot outside. Maria holds her manila envelope full of papers up against her right cheek to shield her face from the sun.

After a few minutes, the Kelly teacher opens the door for us. We walk up to the security guard, who is helping with registration. She looks at the papers in Maria’s folder and a smaller stack of papers Rosa brought. Both moms have their daughters’ birth certificates, but neither has any transcripts from previous years. Both girls completed seventh grade in Colombia before making the trek to the U.S., their mothers say, but there are no records.

The security guard says she can’t register them without a transcript evaluation. How do you do a transcript evaluation without transcripts? We’re not sure what to do next, so we step out.

The Kelly teacher meets us outside and texts me a photo of a flyer outlining a two-step process for transcript evaluation. It’s translated into Spanish and Chinese. Step 1: Call the downtown office to make an appointment. Step 2: Bring the following documents downtown for review: a birth certificate and/or passport (if they have one) and any grades or transcripts they have from previous schools they attended outside the U.S.

I call the office to ask if we need an appointment, and the woman on the phone says we can come right away. So, off we go.

On the way, we make a pit stop back at the police station to pick up Sofia’s little brother. Rosa thinks it’s better for her to have him if we’re going to be gone for a while.

Maria’s husband, Juan, is at the station with Marianna’s little sister, who can’t start school today. They want to come, too. Juan especially wants to meet me since we haven’t met before and now I’m driving his wife and older daughter all over town. So we all pile in my ‘97 Camry. Juan sits shotgun; the moms and kids are squished together in the back.

On the way north to the Loop, I ask Marianna’s and Sofia’s parents if registering their children for school in Colombia had been easier. They say yes.

10:25 a.m., Chicago Public Schools Central Office, 42 W. Madison St., Garden Level

We walk through the revolving doors and down the stairs. Two security guards sit behind a Plexiglas barrier. I explain that we called ahead and name the person who is expecting us.

After a short wait, another staffer comes to meet the two families. She interviews them in Spanish and confirms both girls were born in Venezuela. Then she asks, in Spanish, “What school are you accepted to?” The girls and their families all give blank stares because they haven’t memorized the name of their soon-to-be high school yet.

“Kelly,” I answer.

The central office staffer asks, “Is that a neighborhood school?”

“Yes.”

Later that night, I received messages that suggest I might have misheard the question about neighborhood school. It’s possible she asked me, “Is this the neighborhood school?” The messages I received indicated that CPS wants families currently in police stations to register at the neighborhood school nearest the station, and then transfer if the school can’t provide the services they need.

But that’s really hard on people who have been living in constant motion, especially children. Our mutual aid group decided to bring them to Kelly because it is a convenient bus commute from the police station, has bilingual teachers, and English as a second language class. There’s also a teacher there who is also a mutual aid volunteer to help them if they have any problems.

Finally, the staffer comes back with some new papers to add to each family’s stack, allowing them to go ahead and register their daughters as ninth-graders at Kelly.

11:54 a.m. Kelly High School, Door 4

We’re back. This time, Door 4 is propped open. We tell the security guard we went downtown and show her the additional papers. She gives each family a packet of enrollment papers to fill out.

The security guard asks Rosa for her ID. It’s back at the police station. Rosa, Sofia and the little guy pile in the car with me to go get it.

By 1:05 p.m., we’re back at Kelly for the fourth time today. The chances Sofia and Marianna will get any class time on Day 1 have already vanished. Now I’m afraid Sofia’s registration gets pushed another day too.

But the guard gives her a number – 45 – on an index card and tells us to wait in the auditorium. Marianna and her family are already there, among a dozen other families, holding an index card with a number, too. Hers is 40.

1:30 p.m., Kelly High School Auditorium

While waiting, Sofia and Marianna fine-tune all the paperwork. Heads bowed, they tick off the to-dos. Media release, done. Consent for school text messages, done. Racial/ethnic survey, done.

A short woman walks in and calls the number 33. A family follows her out of the auditorium. Sofia’s baby brother sleeps in his mom’s lap. Marianna’s little sister miraculously fell asleep while sharing a wooden auditorium seat with her big sis. The older girls are yawning. Eventually, they each put their head on their mother’s shoulder, their long hair hiding their faces as they burrow in for a rest.

There are two counselors down near the stage. I ask them what happens next. They say the girls must get registered in the main office; then, they can receive class schedules. If the girls don’t make it to the main office today, they will have to come back at 9 a.m. tomorrow and keep on waiting.

Suddenly, there are end-of-day announcements coming over the intercom. They’ve missed the first day, and it’s looking like they won’t be able to attend class tomorrow, either.

2:47 p.m. Kelly High School Main Office

Finally, Marianna’s number – 40 – is called. I follow her family to the main office, where they get to wait again, this time in padded office seats.

When Marianna and her parents start talking with the school clerk, she asks for two proofs of address. I interrupt and say, “They are STLS,” which means students in temporary living situations. These students are legally entitled to enroll in school without the usual documents.

Once that’s done, I play with the 4-year-old while Marianna and her parents hand over the paperwork. Eventually, the clerk shares the good news before the bad: Marianna is officially registered. But tomorrow she’ll have to come back at 9 a.m. tomorrow to take an English proficiency test before she gets a class schedule.

We head back to the auditorium. Sofia and her family aren’t there; their number has been called, too. Both girls are registered and can test tomorrow.

We leave Kelly around 3:40 p.m. No one except Sofia has eaten since breakfast; she had her leftover eggs.

Tuesday, August 22

9:10 a.m. Kelly High School, Library

Tuesday morning, Sofia, Marianna, their moms, and the 1-year-old all come with me to Kelly while the girls take the English-language placement test. While we all wait in the library, a teacher brings in a box of donut holes to share with all the families waiting to register or have their children test for English placement. After about half an hour, a teacher comes in to take Sofia and Marianna downstairs for testing.

I leave them my cell number to call when the test is finished. When I return, the girls and their mothers are outside, talking with two young women who appear to be Kelly students. I join the circle between Sofia and Marianna and ask in Spanish, “How did it go?”

“Excellente!” Sofia says with a wide smile. Marianna smiles shyly, and I stretch my arms each way to give them both a quick shoulder hug. Soon after, the conversation wraps up, and we head back to the station.

Wednesday, August 23

8:00 a.m. Kelly High School, Main Office

At the office, the girls get paper printouts of their schedules. The secretary says they can get IDs and bus passes at lunchtime.

When they see they have a class together, they squeeze hands and smile. Then they head to their first-period class: English as a Second Language.

Maureen Kelleher is a volunteer with the District 9 mutual aid group and a longtime education writer. She previously wrote a First Person piece about choosing a new school for her daughter.

In our schools, many families speak Mixteco. So we decided to translate children’s books into the Indigenous language.

2023-09-29T21:26:31+00:00

For the past four years, I served as superintendent of Oxnard School District, located 30 miles up the California coast from Malibu. But unlike Malibu, most of our school district’s 14,000 students come from low-income, Spanish-speaking families.

Yet, not all of our Latino families consider Spanish their first or second language. Nearly 500 families reported speaking Mixteco, an Indigenous language of Southern Mexico, which has scores of variants. For a long time, though, Mixteco wasn’t represented in any of our literacy materials, often making it hard for families to read together.

Karling Aguilera-Fort

Despite the prevalence of the Mixteco language, our students sometimes felt ashamed to report their Mixteco heritage or identify with their unique language and culture, Argelia Alvarado Zarate, one of our school district’s Mixteco translators and community support liaisons, told the Oxnard school board last spring.

“I was told not to say that I spoke Mixteco because it was something that we couldn’t share with other people who weren’t from our community,” said Alvarado Zarate. Growing up, she said, she yearned to have something in her native language to show that speaking Mixteco was “nothing to be ashamed of.”

Looking to change this, Alvarado Zarate and others on our family and community engagement team decided to support our Mixteco families and bring their culture to life through storytelling. The idea to translate digital books into Mixteco first sprouted a few years ago at a family reading night at one of our schools. There, Norma Zarate Cruz, another one of our school district’s Mixteco translators and community support liaisons, translated a book into Mixteco for some of the families in attendance.

Because Mixteco isn’t a written language, we had to make some decisions to ensure the greatest accessibility.

“They’re always told to go home, read to your child,” Alvarado Zarate told the school board. “But the same answer that they always give the teachers is, ‘I don’t know how to read or write.’”

Mixteco is a spoken — not a written — language.

Recognizing the literacy barriers that our Mixteco-speaking families faced, Alvarado Zarate and Zarate Cruz approached our school board with an idea to help these students and their families read together. They got approval to translate some of our digital books available on myON, the educational software company Renaissance’s digital reading platform. The app gives students access to digital books that match their desired language and interests.

The book cover of “The Bear Says Thank You,” translated into Mixteco.

We then partnered with Renaissance and worked with them to translate digital books into written (transliterated) and spoken Mixteco. Now, Mixteco-speaking families throughout Oxnard have 25 books they can enjoy together. For the first time, our families can listen to stories in their native language and read stories that appreciate and preserve their rich culture.

Alvarado Zarate and Zarate Cruz carefully chose the book titles, looking for topics that would most engage Mixteco-speaking students in the younger grades. They chose themes focused on overcoming bullying, maintaining cultural pride, and spreading kindness, including “Tasha Viun Caáchl Oso,” translated from “Bear Says ‘Thank You.’”

Because Mixteco isn’t a written language, we had to make some decisions to ensure the greatest accessibility. In each of the digital books, the text follows Spanish phonics, and the recording was spoken in the San Martin Peras variant of Mixteco. The audiobooks include two familiar voices: Zarate Cruz’s and Alvarado Zarate’s.

I know how important it is to foster inclusivity, diversity, and an appreciation for the languages and cultures that make our communities thrive. I also know what it’s like to feel excluded as a non-native English speaker. I’m originally from Venezuela, where I worked in special education before I began teaching in the Spanish Bilingual Special Education setting at San Francisco Unified School District several years ago. From there, I came to Oxnard.

At Oxnard School District, we designed a student profile to message the key traits we wanted our students to develop before they graduated. Two of these traits connect to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and one focuses on developing students to be global thinkers. We want our students to interact and solve problems with people across a diverse spectrum of races, ethnicities, and gender identities. The other focus speaks to students’ development into digital learners who carry with them a sense of cultural identity and pride, so as they learn to solve the problems of the future, they never forget where they’ve come from.

Our Mixteco translation project supports these goals — encouraging families to embrace their native language. To truly reflect diversity, equity, and inclusion, we know that content must go deeper than honoring heroes and holidays. We cannot pretend that we understand and reflect the different cultural backgrounds of our student population if we don’t elevate others who can speak to those experiences.

With this effort, Mixteco has “been given light,” as Alberto Mendoza, a district parent support liaison, put it. “It’s been given that space to say yes, you and your language are part of us.”

Dr. Karling Aguilera-Fort served as Superintendent of Oxnard School District from 2019–2023. Earlier this year, Dr. Aguilera-Fort accepted a role as the Site Associate Superintendent of Educational Services at San Francisco Unified School District.

Meet Colorado’s ‘Oscars of Teaching’ winner

2024-01-12T23:27:04+00:00

Teacher Caleb Flores knew a top-secret assembly was planned at his northern Colorado high school. The principal wanted the building to look flawless and for students to be on their best behavior. Flores wondered if an important government official was visiting on that December day.

Turns out that the visiting dignitaries, speeches, and gym full of cheering students were for him. Flores, who teaches English language development and language arts at Greeley West High School, had won a Milken Educator Award — also known as the” Oscars of Teaching.” The award, which is for early and mid-career teachers, comes with a $25,000 cash prize.

“I was speechless,” said Flores, who was the only Colorado teacher to win the award this year. “The entire day was phenomenal and something that I will always treasure.”

Flores, who was raised in Greeley and attended college there, talked to Chalkbeat about how coaching youth football changed his career path, why he began incorporating music into his lessons, and how a student’s request for a letter of reference humbled him.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Was there a moment when you decided to become a teacher?

As a college student, I was a business marketing major at the University of Northern Colorado. Throughout my sophomore and junior years, I was a little league football coach with my college roommate. We had a blast getting to know the kids that we coached, and coaching was always the highlight of my week. I made the decision in my junior year to switch my major to English to pursue a career in teaching.

The moment that made me decide to pursue culturally and linguistically diverse teaching was after college. Since I switched majors as a junior, I could not graduate with a teaching license. I began my career in Greeley-Evans District 6 working as a migrant advocate. My job involved supporting migrant families and students, most of them English learners, to make it to graduation. I fell in love with the role and saw that population as the subject area that I wanted to teach. I then applied to be an English language development teacher at Greeley West and enrolled in an alternative licensure program to receive my teaching license while working my first year.

How did your own experience in school influence your approach to teaching?

My parents had me and my siblings when they were young, so they did not have the opportunity to pursue a college education until we were older. My dad received his degree when I was in high school, and my mom and I graduated college on the same day. My parents always told us that they expected us to attend college right after high school, so I took school very seriously growing up.

I was always a talkative student in class, but I was fortunate enough to have teachers who were patient with me and held me to a high standard. These high expectations were crucial to me as a student to be able to perform well enough to be able to receive a scholarship to attend college. My parents and teachers were able to change the trajectory of my and my siblings’ education. (Both of my siblings also graduated from college.) This is something that I know firsthand can influence my students. I hold my students to a high standard and communicate with their families often to encourage them to perform well enough in high school to, hopefully, have the chance to pursue post-secondary education.

Tell us about a favorite lesson to teach. Where did the idea come from?

As an English 9 teacher, we incorporate students’ culture within our lessons so that students can see themselves within our classroom and our instruction. The idea for my favorite lesson came from a 9th grade student curriculum advisory committee. They wanted to incorporate music within our poetry unit — specifically, music that represented them.

One of my favorite poems that we annotate is a Spanish song called “Corrido de Juanito” by Calibre 50. The song is a first-person narrative describing the perspective of an immigrant to the United States named Juanito. The song is entirely in Spanish (we don’t provide a translation at first), so it makes my Spanish-speaking students the experts for the lesson. After annotating the song, students dispersed into small groups to discuss what they interpreted from the song and the themes it presented. After discussions, students do a comparative analysis project based on a song of their own choice and the themes that it presents. We’ve had amazing conversations and projects that students created from this unit.

What are your go-to strategies for connecting with new students, whether they’re new to your building or new to the country?

When they enroll in my class, we begin with an enrollment meeting with the student and family. This is such a crucial step because it helps ease the family’s apprehensions about enrolling in a school in the U.S. We make sure that the students understand their schedule, provide them with any school supplies that they need, and give them and their families a tour of the school.

When students arrive in my language development class, I always introduce them and involve them in the collaborative classroom activity for the day to encourage them to get to know their new classmates. Allowing this time for students to cooperate has been so crucial to building a sense of community within my class.

As a mentor to new teachers, what advice do you share?

Teaching is not meant to be done in isolation; get to know the staff and community of your school and learn from the experts who have found success. That definitely helped me learn and grow when I first started.

I would also encourage new teachers to embrace the diverse student populations. For me, it was teaching language learners. They may not be the easiest students to educate. They come with gaps in their learning, emotional traumas, and many responsibilities outside of school. However, they are some of the most thoughtful, inspirational, and fulfilling students that I have had the pleasure of teaching. Learning how to properly educate language learners made me a better teacher.

Caleb Flores, a teacher at Greeley West High School and a recent recipient of the Milken Educator Award, center in the black robe, poses for a photo with students at their graduation.

Tell us about a memorable time — good or bad — when contact with a student’s family changed your perspective or approach.

One of the most memorable moments came from a student who was a part of my Language Development class. He had asked me if I would be willing to write a character reference letter for him. After calling his uncle, his legal guardian, I found out that the letter was to be presented to a judge because the student was facing an order for deportation. I knew that this was a pivotal moment for the student and his family, so we went and contacted several of his teachers to get letters of recommendation on his behalf. My wife and I attended court with him and saw firsthand the legal battles and additional barriers that my students face just to receive an education. My student was allowed to stay. It was a great moment. He is a junior now and is on track for graduation.

I was humbled that my student and his family trusted me to share what was going on, and it reminded me how important it is to be accessible to my students.

What was the biggest misconception that you brought to teaching?

My biggest misconception was about classroom management. I went into teaching thinking that one had to be stern, tough, and unkind to run an effective classroom. I came to find out that the opposite was true; most students did not respond to teachers who yelled. My style of classroom management is more around building relationships. I still hold students accountable and have high expectations for them, but when students misbehave or distract others, I can address it without embarrassing or disrespecting them.

What are you reading for enjoyment?

I just finished the book “Brown Enough” by Christopher Rivas. It’s a personal memoir and a social commentary about being brown in the U.S. and how to find one’s identity, sense of belonging, and place within it.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago is seeing an influx of migrant students. Are schools ready to serve them?

2023-08-16T10:00:00+00:00

Leer en español.

¿Mami, estamos en casa?

That’s what Baltazar Enriquez heard last year as he passed out food to migrants at Union Station: The question came from a toddler: “Mommy, are we home?”

“I was about to give her some apples,” he said. “Her question just hit me. It dawned on me — I said the same question to my mom when I arrived.”

The moment of déjà vu brought Enriquez, president of the Little Village Community Council, back to when he was 3 years old and migrating from Mexico to Chicago.

“The answer was the same: ‘Yes, we’re home,’” Enriquez said. “So now that they’re here, they’re making Chicago home, how do we assist them to make sure they understand the system?”

That toddler was just one of thousands of new immigrants arriving in the city. Last August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott started busing migrants to Chicago and other sanctuary cities, a move that some Democrats, including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, called a political stunt. Since then, more than 12,000 migrants, many of them asylum-seekers, have come to Chicago.

Chicago Public Schools did not say exactly how many migrant students have joined the district. However, CPS saw an increase of just over 5,400 English learners during the course of last school year, according to district enrollment data obtained by Chalkbeat.

Gabriel Paez, who first started working in the district a decade ago, said he’s never seen an influx of students at this level. He currently works as a bilingual coordinator at a Humboldt Park elementary school and is chair of the Chicago Teachers Union Bilingual Education Committee.

“We need to treat it with the urgency that it deserves,” he said. “Teachers who are trying to prepare for the upcoming school year really need to be ready for the onslaught to continue.”

In a statement, a CPS spokesperson said the district works with every student to “identify support needs regardless of country of origin.” But multiple teachers and immigrant advocates say many students are stuck without adequate resources.

Ahead of the coming school year, Chalkbeat Chicago analyzed enrollment and staffing data to examine the learning landscape for these kids. Here are the takeaways.

English learners increased by more than 5,000 students last year

The district determines English learners by screening students who come from non-English-speaking homes for their English proficiency. The increase of English learners bucks the overall trend of declining enrollment in CPS.

Last year’s increase brought the total number of English learners in the district above 77,000 as of June 7, the last day of the 2022-23 school year. Based on that data, English learners are nearly a quarter of the total student population in CPS.

It’s difficult to know how many students are recently-arrived migrants. District officials note that some students may migrate and already speak English; other students may speak a language other than English and are classified as English learners without having recently migrated to Chicago. So the increase of English learners doesn’t necessarily reflect the actual number of migrant students, but it can offer an estimate of the size of that population.

Kids wear backpacks they received at a back-to-school giveaway in 2022. As students enroll, they are screened for whether they speak a language other than English.

Once a school enrolls 20 or more students with the same language background, state law requires the school to implement a Transitional Bilingual Education program. Full-time TBE programs require educators to teach core subjects in both English and the native language of those students. The school must also provide instruction of English as a second language.

The state monitors bilingual programming to determine whether each school meets requirements. A WBEZ analysis in 2020 found over 70% of schools’ bilingual programs fell short based on the district’s own evaluations.

But it’s complicated to square the data on English learner enrollment with the number of staff actually providing bilingual education.

Designated bilingual teachers decline, but bilingual endorsements grow

Paez, the CTU Bilingual Education Committee chair, said schools may have staff that can speak with and support English learners, but that’s not a substitute for a bilingual program. Over the last year, he said, many schools have been operating on an emergency basis to address students’ needs.

“It can help a kid who needs translation or a kid who needs help transitioning from one classroom to the next or learning the school building,” he said. “If we have miscellaneous employees who aren’t certified teachers who are coming into classrooms and expected to be the way that child gets to participate, it doesn’t do right by the child.”

To teach students in their native language in a TBE program, a teacher must have a bilingual endorsement, according to an Illinois State Board of Education spokesperson. Another endorsement – in English as a second language — allows a licensed educator to teach English to non-native speakers, said the spokesperson.

A Transitional Bilingual Education program must do both — teach students in their native language and teach them English.

A review of publicly available and internal staffing data shows a mixed bag in Chicago Public Schools. The number of teachers designated as bilingual teachers has declined since 2015.

But not all educators who provide bilingual instruction are designated as bilingual teachers in CPS staffing data, according to the district. This analysis also doesn’t include charter and contract schools, as the district does not track their full staffing data.

Most of that decrease comes from a drop in the number of part-time bilingual teaching positions, according to a Chalkbeat data analysis.

Meanwhile, more than 6,000 teachers have endorsements in bilingual education or English as a second language (ESL) as of October 2022.

Educators can earn these endorsements through coursework and teaching experience. Bilingual endorsements also require the teacher to earn a degree in a language other than English or pass a language proficiency test.

However, it’s not clear which of these teachers actively use their endorsements in the classroom setting.

The number of teachers with endorsements has been on the rise in recent years. The district partially subsidizes the cost of ESL and bilingual endorsements, which is a provision in the Chicago Teachers Union’s current contract.

Ben Felton, chief talent officer for CPS, said the district aims to continue increasing teachers with endorsements.

CPS also uses its Teacher Residency program to train bilingual teachers over a one-year period, bringing in people changing careers or CPS staff wanting to move into a teaching position.

“Our Teacher Residency program is our most surefire way to invest in bilingual staff to make sure they become bilingual teachers,” Felton said. “We also felt this sense of urgency this year, knowing that there are newcomers that we need bilingual talent and we’re investing in that way.”

There also might be staff at schools who can speak a different language, but have none of these titles or endorsements.

Bilingual services vary by school and language

The most recent wave of people migrating to Chicago primarily come from Venezuela, where an economic and humanitarian crisis has driven millions out of the country. The official language of Venezuela is Spanish — but students are walking into schools with a variety of language and cultural backgrounds.

So even in neighborhoods with more Spanish-language resources and schools with more bilingual staff, there are challenges, said Enriquez, the organizer in Little Village, a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood.

For example, he said, some recent migrant students speak Kʼicheʼ, a language spoken by some Indigenous people in Guatemala, and must navigate school without much support. Paez also pointed to students coming in speaking Kichwa or Quechua, the most-spoken Indigenous language in the Americas.

The state also requires bilingual programs to teach students about the history and culture of their homelands. That kind of curriculum is crucial, said Andrea Ortiz, director of organizing for Brighton Park Neighborhood Council.

“As a district, we have to figure out ways to invest and listen to our teachers and incorporate them in creating culturally relevant curriculum that speaks to the increase of families that are moving in,” she said. “A lot of the families that are coming are from Venezuela, and there’s huge cultural differences from Venezuelans and other Latinos that are here.”

Translating curriculum can be an issue too. The district’s optional universal curriculum Skyline currently has pre-K-8th grade courses in social science and world history translated into Spanish. CPS plans to roll out math courses in Spanish later this month. This fall, the district said CPS will begin developing Spanish language arts courses.

But that doesn’t address every students’ learning needs, said Kathryn Zamarron, a music teacher in CPS.

“We don’t have it in Urdu, in Arabic, in Amharic, in Vietnamese,” she said. “It’s not even enough in Spanish.”

CPS full-time substitute teacher Rebekah Amaya said bilingual services are needed for children recently arriving, but will also help other students. They work at a school in Brighton Park, a neighborhood that is predominantly Hispanic and Latino on the Southwest Side.

“It’s going to benefit the students that have already been lacking in those resources for a really long time, especially here on the South Side,” they said. “This just creates more of a catalyst for us to work harder to improve and increase our bilingual services.”

Trauma support and mental health services needed

Amaya said schools can be more than a place of learning – they also are a way for students to connect with social support, such as free meals and health services. They volunteer at the 9th district police station, and they said that overwhelmingly, parents are hoping for their children to get mental health care in schools.

But Amaya also said not every school has enough resources to meet that need, so enrollment plans need to be intentional.

“In the long run, it’s going to be more beneficial to the students and their environment and their mental health to send them to schools that can receive them and do have those services for them,” Amaya said.

In the past few years, CPS has doubled the number of social workers and budgeted for over 630 social work positions in the most recent public staffing file. The district also allocated $13 million in new funding for school nurses, social workers, and case managers in its fiscal year 2024 budget.

But according to a Chalkbeat analysis of the list provided by the district showing teachers with endorsements in August, only one social worker has bilingual or ESL endorsements. About 5% of the district’s 800-plus counselors and 28% of roughly 250 case managers have bilingual or ESL endorsements; some may have both.

Migrant students legally entitled to enrollment, but can still face instability

This summer, CPS launched a pilot welcome center at Roberto Clemente Community Academy, open to migrant students living in the West Town and Humboldt Park neighborhoods. Families can get their students enrolled in CPS, as well as connect with medical care, language support, and transportation resources.

That welcome center is a step in the right direction, said Amaya. But they said so many more neighborhoods need those services. They said mobile enrollment teams could be a good solution, especially given the housing and transportation challenges that families face.

“A lot of families have had to travel on like two or three buses – multiple hours – just to get to a job or just to get to a health care location,” they said. “It’s more important to meet families where they’re at and make that a little bit easier for them.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks at a press conference at Roberto Clemente Community Academy before the opening of a Chicago Public Schools pilot welcome center for newly arriving families. The center serves the West Town and Humboldt Park neighborhoods.

CPS works with the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Department of Family and Support Services at shelters to coordinate enrollment for some students in shelters and hotels, according to the district.

But for families sleeping on police station floors and in shelters, unsure of when they might live permanently, enrollment in school can be daunting. A question looms: What happens if they enroll in a school and then move across the city or even out of Chicago?

Under federal law, students in temporary living situations are legally entitled to enroll even if they lack the required paperwork, such as proof of residency or health records.

Once a child is enrolled, they are also entitled to stay enrolled in the same school for the entire school year and receive transportation, even if they move.

But staying in the same school might not be practical for all students. Zamorran, the music teacher in CPS, also volunteers at police districts on the South Side, and she said the constant threat of movement takes a toll on students. The thought of ultimately transferring a child — after the long journey they’ve endured and finally settling them into a school — can be a painful one, she said.

“There’s this great question of: ‘Is this another trauma to my child,’” she said. “To…tell them: ‘This is your community and you belong here,’ and then take them from there?”

There’s a need for education, resources, and housing — but, advocates say, there’s also a need for a home.

Enriquez — the organizer in Little Village — remembers how important that feeling of home was when he moved from Mexico to Chicago as a kid. So Enriquez said he and other organizers will continue putting pressure on the district and the school board to give newcomers enough resources and support.

“We’re gonna fight to make sure we get a quality education, we get equal racial representation,” Enriquez said. “And if we’re not invited to the table, we’re bringing in our folding chairs.”

Max Lubbers is a reporting intern for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Max at mlubbers@chalkbeat.org.

Kae Petrin is data and graphics reporter for Chalkbeat. Contact Kae at kpetrin@chalkbeat.org.

Padres de Colorado: ¿Necesitan ayuda para pagar el preescolar? Vean estos programas.

2023-09-18T18:41:50+00:00

A partir de este otoño, Colorado está ofreciendo entre 10 y 15 horas de educación preescolar gratuita a todos los niños de 4 años como parte del programa preescolar universal del estado. Más de 40,000 familias ya lo solicitaron, pero el proceso de solicitud sigue abierto y estará disponible durante todo el año.

¿Pero qué pasa si necesitas que tu hijo o hija reciba más de solo 10 a 15 horas de clase semanales?

Hay varias formas de obtener ayuda financiera para esas horas adicionales. El programa de preescolar universal pagará hasta 30 horas de preescolar a la semana para algunos niños. Esos niños tienen que ser de familias con bajos ingresos y estar en una de las siguientes categorías: Estar aprendiendo inglés, no tener hogar, vivir en un hogar de crianza (foster home) o tener un plan de educación especial.

El mero hecho de ser de una familia con bajos ingresos no basta para calificar para las 30 horas — pero muchas familias hispanohablantes pueden calificar si sus ingresos caen bajo cierto nivel.

Hemos recopilado una lista de otros programas que pueden ayudar a cubrir las horas adicionales de preescolar, que incluyen Head Start, el Colorado Child Care Assistance Program, y para los residentes de Denver, el Programa Preescolar de Denver. El condado de Summit también ofrece ayudas para la matrícula de preescolares con su Programa de PreKinder de Summit, pero el plazo de solicitud generalmente es del 1 al 31 de mayo.

Las familias de militares pueden ser elegibles para ayuda financiera a través del programa Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood, establecido para familias que no pueden acceder a los programas de guardería operados por el servicio militar porque hay listas de espera o porque están lejos de sus hogares.

Por último, vale la pena preguntar en el centro preescolar de tu hijo si ellos ofrecen becas o descuentos que puedan ayudar a reducir el costo del programa.

Si tienes preguntas sobre el preescolar universal o sobre cómo añadir horas, llama al servicio de ayuda del preescolar universal al 303-866-5223 o o comunícate con el grupo local de tu condado que está ayudando a operar el preescolar universal.

Este es un resumen rápido de algunos de los programas que pueden combinarse con el preescolar universal para darles un día completo de clases a los estudiantes.

Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP)

¿Qué es? Un programa estatal que ayuda a las familias con bajos ingresos a pagar por el cuidado de los niños, incluido el preescolar. Los padres deberán estar trabajando, buscando trabajo o asistiendo a la escuela.

Quién es elegible: Las familias cuyos hijos son ciudadanos o residentes legales permanentes y cuyo ingreso familiar esté entre el 200% y el 270% del límite federal de pobreza. Eso es entre $60,000 y $81,000 para una familia de cuatro. Cada condado establece sus propios criterios de ingresos, así que verifica los detalles aquí dependiendo en dónde vives.

Ayuda financiera: El CCCAP paga por la mayor parte de los gastos de guardería de las familias que califican, y la cantidad pagada varía según las horas de cuidado que necesite el niño por encima de las horas de preescolar universal. Las familias que califican también tienen que pagar una cuota de los padres: un copago basado en los ingresos, el tamaño de la familia y el número de niños que van a la guardería.

Cómo solicitar: En línea en inglés o español, o comunícate con el departamento de servicios humanos de tu condado.

Lo que debes saber sobre combinar con la educación preescolar universal: Solamente algunos preescolares participan en el Colorado Child Care Assistance Program. Pregúntale al proveedor de preescolar universal que hayas seleccionado si acepta el CCCAP, o busca su nombre en la solicitud de preescolar universal y haz clic en “Ver más información”. Aparecerá una ventana con información sobre el proveedor y te dirá si ellos aceptan el CCCAP o si ofrecen otro tipo de ayuda financiera.

Algunas familias que califican para el CCCAP podrían no recibir la ayuda debido a la escasez de fondos, sobre todo una vez que se agoten los fondos del estímulo federal por COVID en 2024.

Programa Preescolar de Denver

¿Qué es? Un programa en Denver que cuenta con matrícula basada en los ingresos para niños de 4 años en preescolar, sin importar los ingresos de la familia.

Quién es elegible: Residentes de Denver con hijos de 4 años que asistan a preescolar, independientemente de su estatus migratorio.

Ayuda financiera: Los créditos de matrícula varían entre $36 y $1,227 mensuales por un máximo de 12 meses, y se le pagan a la escuela a nombre de la familia. Usa la calculadora de crédito de matrícula del Programa Preescolar de Denver para calcular tu crédito de matrícula mensual. Los créditos se basan en el tamaño de la familia, los ingresos y la calidad del centro preescolar seleccionado.

Cómo solicitar: En línea en cualquier momento en inglés o español, o comunícate con el Programa Preescolar de Denver llamando al (303) 595-4377 o escribiendo a info@dpp.org. Hay solicitudes en formato PDF disponibles en chino/mandarín, francés, ruso, vietnamita, somalí, amárico y nepalí.

Lo que debes saber sobre combinar con la educación preescolar universal: Solicita el preescolar universal primero, y después de que tu hijo o hija se haya matriculado en un preescolar, solicita el Programa Preescolar de Denver. Esto es necesario porque la solicitud del Programa Preescolar de Denver requiere que las familias indiquen el centro preescolar al que asiste su hijo o hija. La mayoría de los centros de preescolar de Denver que están participando en el preescolar universal también participan en el Programa Preescolar de Denver, pero hay algunos que no. Checa aquí para encontrar los centros preescolares que están participando en el Programa Preescolar de Denver.

Head Start

¿Qué es? Un programa financiado con fondos federales que ofrece educación preescolar gratuita, servicios de salud y apoyo familiar a niños de familias con bajos ingresos, independientemente de su estatus migratorio.

Quién es elegible: Niños de 3 a 5 años de familias con ingresos que igualan o son menos que el límite federal de pobreza. Esto equivale a $30,000 anuales para una familia de 4. Los niños sin hogar, en hogares de crianza (foster care) o cuyas familias reciben asistencia pública también son elegibles independientemente de sus ingresos.

Ayuda financiera: Head Start es un programa preescolar gratuito que ofrece un horario de clases parcial o completo a los niños.

Cómo solicitar: Busca aquí para encontrar proveedores cerca de ti y comunícate directamente con el centro para solicitar. Si necesitas ayuda para encontrar un proveedor de Head Start, llama al 866-763-6481.

Lo que debes saber sobre combinar con la educación preescolar universal: Solamente algunos proveedores de preescolar ofrecen Head Start. La solicitud de preescolar universal también muestra si los proveedores participan en Head Start. Para obtener ayuda, comunícate con el proveedor de Head Start que te interesa o con el grupo local que ayuda a operar el preescolar universal.

Ann Schimke es reportera senior de Chalkbeat y cubre temas relacionados con la niñez temprana y la alfabetización temprana. Para comunicarte con Ann, envíale un email a aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Las escuelas de Colorado recibieron más dinero para los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés. ¿En qué se está usando?

2022-03-03T18:13:11+00:00

Personal nuevo, capacitación adicional para los maestros, y poco de dinero directamente para las escuelas.

Estas son algunas de las cosas que algunos distritos de Colorado han planificado con los fondos estatales nuevos para atender mejor a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Pero otros distritos que también recibieron ese dinero, y que tienen decenas de miles de estudiantes de inglés, no están planificando agregar ningún servicio nuevo.

El estado no está monitoreando cómo los distritos usan los fondos, y tampoco obligándolos a usar el dinero para su propósito.

Cuando los legisladores de Colorado decidieron el año pasado darles más dinero a los distritos para atender mejoer las necesidades de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés, la idea era que esos estudiantes requieren servicios adicionales para poder acceder el mismo nivel de educación que sus compañeros. Los legisladores reconocieron que la falta de acceso a Internet y las barreras de idioma habían hecho más difícil que algunos estudiantes participaran en el aprendizaje remoto, y querían que los distritos tuvieran los recursos necesarios para ayudar a esos estudiantes en particular.

Según las cifras estatales, el estado proporcionó aproximadamente $16,800 millones en fondos adicionales para los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés. A pesar de las buenas intenciones, los defensores dicen que los fondos no son suficientes para que los distritos atiendan adecuadamente a los estudiantes de inglés, y a algunos les preocupa que el estado no creó maneras para asegurar que las escuelas y los distritos estén usando el dinero para los servicios que los estudiantes requieren.

Es bueno hacer más, ¿pero entonces cómo se verá cuando lo reciban? Yo le pregunté a Cyntha Trinidad-Sheahan, persidente del grupo de defensa sin fines de lucro Colorado Association for Bilingual Education. ¿Cómo ustedes van a educar a los distritos, darles apoyo y luego responsabilizarlos? Ese es el detalle que se le olvida al estado.

Muchos distritos no están agregando servicios

De una docena de distritos que contestaron las preguntas de Chalkeat acerca del uso de los fondos adicionales, solo cinco describieron cambios en sus servicios.

La mayoría de los distritos dijo que como siempre han gastado más dinero en servicios para los estudiantes de inglés del que el estado les ha provisto, el dinero adicional simplemente está ayudando a cubrir lo que el distrito ya gastó en el pasado. En la mayoría de los casos, el aumento en fondos todavía no cubre servicios para los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés, dijeron los funcionarios.

Entre esos distritos están el Distrito Escolar de Denver y el Distrito Escolar Jeffco, el más grande del estado. Ambos indicaron que no han agregado servicios con los fondos nuevos.

El distrito de Denver, que atiende la mayoría de los estudiantes de inglés (aunque no cuenta con la proporción más alta), recibió este año más de $9 millones específicamente para el aproximadamente 30% de sus estudiantes identificados como estudiantes de inglés, a diferencia de los más o menos $5.9 millones que recibió en años previos según las cifras del estado. Sin embargo, los funcionarios del distrito dijeron que ellos asignan aproximadamente $30 millones cada año a servicios para los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Los funcionarios dijeron en una declaración escrita que el dinero que el distrito asigna de sus fondos generales para apoyar a los estudiantes multilingües excede por mucho la asignación de fondos recibida por el estado, aun tomando en cuenta los fondos adicionales provistos este año escolar.

Trinidad-Sheahan dijo que parte del problema es que los presupuestos de los departamentos que atienden estudiantes se han mantenido estancados por años, aun cuando los distritos estaban viendo cambios demográficos (los cuales que implican diferentes necesidades), o a pesar de tener fondos adicionales disponibles.

Muchos de esos presupuestos no han aumentado; se han mantenido iguales por años, dijo ella. Cuando ese dinero entró, nunca se vio como fondos adicionales.

Añadiendo programas nuevos

Los distritos que han usado los fondos estatales adicionales de este año para aumentar los servicios también gastan más en los estudiantes de inglés que lo que el estado les da para esos servicios. De todos modos, estos distritos decidieron usar los fondos estatales para tener más servicios.

El distrito escolar en Eagle, donde aproximadamente un 30% de los estudiantes están aprendiendo inglés, recibió casi el doble en fondos estatales de lo que había recibido previamente para esos estudiantes. De todos modos, los $864,000 que recibe del estado cubren menos de un 29% de sus gastos anuales de más de $3 millones en los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Este año escolar, el distrito agregó personal para expandir el programa bilingüe del distrito en las escuelas intermedias y también pagó por capacitación para los líderes del programa. Las escuelas de Eagle han estado expandiendo su programa bilingüe desde el año 2012-13, y este año lo está ofreciendo en cinco de las ocho escuelas primarias y todas las cuatro escuelas intermedias.

Los distritos, tanto los nuestros como otros, hacemos lo que se necesita cuando vemos las necesidades, dijo Melisa Rewold-Thuon, asistente al superintendente del distrito. Por supuesto que nunca hay suficiente.

El programa bilingüe atiende a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés como segundo idioma, y también a estudiantes de hogares que hablan inglés y desean que sus hijos sean bilingües.

Nosotros pensamos que darles a ambas poblaciones la oportunidad de aprender otro idioma y cultura está uniendo a nuestros estudiantes, dijo Rewold-Thuon.

Aunque no está necesariamente cubierto por los fondos nuevos, el distrito también contrató maestros bilingües del exterior porque no puede encontrar suficiente personal calificado para sus programas bilingües. Previamente el distrito contrataba más o menos unos cinco maestros del exterior anualmente, pero este año está contratando 30.

Las escuelas secundarias de Eagle agregaron maestros de desarrollo del idioma inglés. Más o menos desde el año pasado se ha visto una nueva ola de inmigrantes adolescentes, que incluye menores no acompañados, y estos estudiantes llegan con brechas en su educación, en parte por las interrupciones de la pandemia.

Un día, los funcionarios de Eagle quieren desarrollar un programa para los estudiantes inmigrantes nuevos, pero por ahora, sin tener ese programa, los maestros de desarrollo del idioma inglés de Eagle están asumiendo el rol de trabajadores sociales para guiar a los estudiantes inmigrantes nuevos mientras se ajustan a su nueva comunidad y encuentran recursos para navegarla.

Nuestro distrito está muy, muy dedicado a satisfacer las necesidades de todos nuestros estudiantes, dijo Rewold-Thuon. Cuando consideramos la equidad, algunos estudiantes necesitan apoyo adicional hasta para poder lograr ese nivel básico de educación. Por eso es que esos fondos adicionales son tan importantes para nosotros.

Flexibilidad para las escuelas

Anita Pizzo, maestra de desarrollo del idioma inglés en secundaria en Aurora, dijo que en las últimas dos semanas su escuela ha recibido 15 estudiantes que acaban de llegar al país. Son procedentes de Congo, Afganistán, Latinoamérica y otros lugares.

Los maestros en Eagle están notando que, por las interrupciones de la pandemia, cada vez más de esos estudiantes nuevos en Aurora llegan sin haber asistido nunca a la escuela secundaria. Pizzo dijo que esos estudiantes a menudo han aprendido a depender de Google Translate, y ahora es necesario enseñarles a dejar de usarlo y aprender inglés.

Todos los maestros necesitan más capacitación para atender a esos estudiantes, dijo Pizzo.

Al igual que muchos otros distritos, Aurora le asigna a cada escuela un presupuesto basado en la cantidad de estudiantes matriculados. Ahora mismo, la fórmula de Aurora para asignar fondos a las escuelas no toma en cuenta si los estudiantes están aprendiendo inglés, pero sí considera otros factores de riesgo. El próximo año escolar cada escuela recibirá $195 adicionales por cada estudiante de inglés, y los principales tendrán flexibilidad para usar ese dinero como lo consideren necesario.

Para algunas escuelas, el aumento por los estudiantes de inglés no será mucho, pero para otras escuelas, podría ser suficiente para contratar a una persona adicional, por ejemplo.

Aurora, uno de los distritos con la mayor proporción de estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés, recibía $3.6 millones del estado y ahora está recibiendo $6.3 millones. El Jefe de Finanzas (CFO) Brett Johnson dijo que el distrito ya había estado gastando más de $6.1 millones cada año para que todas las escuelas contaran con maestros líderes como Pizzo. Los fondos nuevos del estado, hasta ahora, han ayudado a compensar por lo que el distrito ya estaba pagando.

El próximo año escolar, el distrito dividirá $1.2 millones para que las escuelas los usen a su discreción.

Algunos maestros y defensores dicen que les gustaría que haya más transparencia en cómo sus escuelas y distritos están usando los fondos del estado y de otras fuentes destinados a apoyar a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Pizzo dice que ella tiene otras ideas para apoyar las necesidades de los estudiantes, como por ejemplo cambios en el currículo o contratar paraprofesionales que apoyen a los estudiantes mientras están en clases que se imparten completamente en inglés. Otros maestros también dicen que les gustaría ver más capacitación, tutorías o hasta más especialistas que puedan ayudar a los maestros a ajustar sus lecciones para ayudar a los estudiantes de inglés en sus salones.

Trinidad-Sheahan dijo que una idea para responsabilizar a los distritos sería pedirles que expliquen cómo los fondos que están gastando van a apoyar directamente a los estudiantes en cada nivel de dominio del idioma inglés. Ella dijo que los estudiantes más nuevos son los que necesitan más apoyo, como los que acaban de llegar, o los que están en los niveles más bajos de dominio del inglés.

Pero en ocasiones, dijo, ella ha visto que los distritos le dan prioridad a gastar en programas o materiales que apoyarán a un número mayor de estudiantes, como por ejemplo en un currículo o una clase de inglés que, aunque quizás incluya un par de estudiantes cuyo nivel de bilingüismo es más avanzado, los estudiantes más nuevos no pueden ni siquiera matricularse en esa clase hasta que tengan más dominio del inglés.

¿Los distritos pueden realmente probar que están beneficiando a todos los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés de todos los niveles? Sería difícil probarlo, dijo Trinidad-Sheahan. Estos fondos deberían ser adicionales. Los estudiantes deberían recibir más.

Yesenia Robles es reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado y cubre asuntos relacionados con los distritos escolares K-12 y la educación multilingüe. Para comunicarte con Yesenia, envíale un mensaje a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

La vida es dura para los estudiantes de intermedia y secundaria que tienen dificultad para leer. Esta escuela pública de Colorado quiere ayudar.

2022-05-26T16:26:08+00:00

Read in English.

Kaylee, estudiante de octavo grado vestida con un hoodie azul claro, le leyó una lista de palabras (una por una) a la maestra Jessica Thurby. Batalló un poco con algunas: Leyó ‘debate’ como “deblate”, sacred como “secret” y defend como “define.”

Ambas repasaron las palabras que Kaylee no leyó bien. Cuando intentó leer la palabra sacred otra vez, Kaylee dijo “Se ve como la palabra scared”.

“Así es,” dijo Thurby. “Por eso el cerebro adivinó automáticamente. Pero estamos tratando de no hacer eso, ¿recuerdas?”

Para los estudiantes que llegan a la escuela intermedia sin contar con buenas destrezas de lectura, estas palabras se convierten en barreras que les impiden entender y dificultan el aprendizaje. Un programa nuevo en la escuela Alameda International Junior/Senior High School de Lakewood está tratando de ayudar.

El programa Bright MINDS, lanzado el otoño pasado, ofrece tutorías intensivas de lectura para ayudar a 14 estudiantes de séptimo y octavo grado que tienen dislexia u otras dificultades para leer. Los líderes escolares tienen planes de agregar un grado cada año hasta que Bright MINDS incluya hasta el 12mo grado, y el objetivo final es que sirva de modelo para otras escuelas en el distrito Jeffco (cuya matrícula es de 78,000 estudiantes) y el resto del estado.

Bright MINDS ha surgido en un momento en que los líderes de educación de están bastante enfocados en mejorar la enseñanza de lectura en la primaria, con iniciativas que incluyen requisitos nuevos de capacitación para los maestros de Kinder hasta tercer grado, y límites más estrictos en el currículo de lectura. Pero aparte de ser un modesto programa de lectura subsidiado, quienes establecen las políticas en el estado le han dado muy poca atención a las decenas de miles de estudiantes de secundaria que tienen problemas para leer.

La especialista en aprendizaje/lectura Jessica Thurby trabaja con un estudiante del programa Bright MINDS. El programa comenzó con 14 estudiantes de séptimo y octavo grado, pero agregará un grado adicional cada año hasta llegar al duodécimo.

Los estudiantes que no saben leer bien enfrentan consecuencias a largo plazo. Están en mayor riesgo de abandonar la escuela, ganar menos ingresos como adultos, y de terminar en el sistema de justicia criminal.

Los líderes del departamento de educación estatal dicen que el rol de ellos es mínimo en cuanto a resolver el problema de estudiantes mayores que no saben leer, ya que no existe ley equivalente a la Ley READ de 2012, que los obliga a ayudar a los estudiantes más pequeños que estén batallando para leer.

“Como no hay una ley similar a la Ley READ, no existe estructura en cuanto a la lectura y escritura en [los grados] cuarto hasta 12”, dijo Floyd Cobb, director ejecutivo de enseñanza y aprendizaje en el Departamento de Educación de Colorado. “Esa responsabilidad recae mayormente en los distritos”.

Los expertos dicen que el panorama de control local de Colorado significa que hay una amplia variedad en los tipos de ayuda adicional provista a los estudiantes de secundaria que no leen bien — si es que hay alguna.

“Siempre somos honestos con las familias sobre el hecho de que, a medida que los estudiantes siguen subiendo de grado, a menudo hay menos recursos para el tipo de intervención recomendada”, dijo Laura Santerre-Lemmon, que dirige la clínica de neurosicología de desarrollo en la Universidad de Denver, un centro que frecuentemente hace evaluaciones de dislexia en niños.

Si bien los líderes educativos de Colorado han trabajado para mejorar la instrucción de lectura en la primaria, han prestado menos atención a los estudiantes de secundaria que tienen dificultades con la lectura.

Enemigo de la seguridad en sí mismos

La dislexia, una discapacidad de aprendizaje que afecta entre un 15% y 20% de la población, tiene la capacidad de ser devastadora para los estudiantes y hacer que las tareas escolares de rutina les causen estrés y vergüenza.

Elise, estudiante de 13 años y participante en el programa Bright MINDS, tartamudeaba al leer en voz alta en la primaria y los otros niños la llamaron estúpida porque leía lentamente y no sabía deletrear bien.

La niña de séptimo grado, que tiene dificultad para escuchar los sonidos de las palabras, recuerda cómo finalmente se memorizó la palabra “people” porque la maestra estaba bastante frustrada con ella.

“Memoricé muchas palabras de esa manera porque temía que ella se enojara conmigo”, dijo.

Aun después de identificar que un estudiante tiene dislexia, los problemas pueden persistir si no reciben el tipo adecuado de ayuda. Brody, otro estudiante de Bright MINDS, fue diagnosticado en quinto grado con dislexia y calificó para recibir servicios de educación especial. Su mamá, Kristina Trudeau, dijo que sin embargo no estaba teniendo progreso en su escuela en el condado de Adams.

Estaba leyendo a nivel de Kinder, y reconocía únicamente palabras básicas como “cat” y “dog”. En un momento, ella descubrió que el programa de lectura que los maestros de Brody estaban usando no era recomendado para estudiantes con dislexia.

Trudeau ha visto el impacto real de las dificultades para leer de Brody. Una noche lo encontró llorando solo en el cuarto de lavandería. Se había propuesto hacerse cena, pero no podía leer las instrucciones en el paquete de pasta china.

“Me rompió el corazón”, dijo Trudeau. “Él piensa de manera diferente. Aprende de manera diferente. Y merece que esas necesidades sean atendidas”.

¿Qué tan grande es el problema?

La escasez de datos hace difícil cuantificar cuántos estudiantes de intermedia y secundaria están teniendo problemas para leer en Colorado.

Más de la mitad de los estudiantes de intermedia en Colorado tuvieron puntuaciones de poco rendimiento en los exámenes de lectura y escritura del estado en 2019, el último año en que los estudiantes de sexto, séptimo y octavo grado tomaron el examen. Es una medida aproximada, sin embargo, en parte porque el estado no separa los resultados de lectura y de escritura.

El alcance de los problemas de lectura es más claro para los estudiantes más pequeños porque la ley de lectura de Colorado de 2012 requiere que las escuelas identifiquen a los estudiantes con problemas significativos de lectura desde Kinder hasta tercer grado y que definan planes para ayudarlos a mejorar. De hecho, el estado ha separado fondos para ayudar a este grupo de estudiantes.

La Asistente del Director de Alameda, Andrea Arguello (a la izquierda), diseñó el programa Bright MINDS junto con el sicólogo de la escuela, Todd Ognibene (a la derecha) y las maestras Jessica Thurby y Sarah Richards.

En contraste, para los estudiantes de cuarto hasta 12mo grado no existe ese requisito — y tampoco los fondos — aunque algunos estudiantes continúan sus planes de la ley READ por más tiempo después del tercer grado. Unos 48,000 estudiantes de Colorado en los grados cuarto hasta 12mo estaban en planes de la ley READ en 2021, lo cual representa un 8% de los estudiantes en esos grados.

Grado	No cumple las expectativas	Cumplio parcialmente	Se acercó a las expectativas	Total que no cumplieron
6	9.8%	18.3%	28.3%	56.4%
7	13.3%	16.9%	23.2%	53.4%
8	15.0%	16.2%	21.9%	53.1%

Porcentaje de estudiantes que no cumplieron expectativas en las pruebas de lectura CMAS

Estos datos vienen de las pruebas CMAS de literatura del 2019. Los estudiantes de secundaria toman las pruebas PSAT o SAT y no están representados.

Grado	Estudiantes
6	14.7%
7	11.7%
8	8.4%
9	6.1%
10	4.2%
11	2.6%

Porcentaje de estudiantes secundarios con plan de la ley READ en 2021

Pero muchos estudiantes con dificultad para leer nunca son identificados para tener un plan de lectura porque sus problemas no son lo suficientemente graves en los primeros grados o porque ellos ocultan sus debilidades con vocabulario avanzado, excelentes destrezas verbales, y otras estrategias de compensación. Esos estudiantes a menudo se las ingenian para seguir subiendo de grado con las calificaciones mínimas aunque no hayan captado gran parte de lo que leían.

Ese fue el caso de Collin, estudiante de séptimo grado y aficionado al lacrosse que vive en el distrito Jeffco y está matriculado en el programa Bright MINDS.

Su mamá, Leslie Dennis, dijo que hasta el segundo grado Collin podía tomar exámenes de lectura usando una herramienta que le leía los pasajes. A su hijo siempre le fue bien en los exámenes, pero en tercer grado tuvo que leer los pasajes por sí solo y sus puntuaciones bajaron drásticamente. Sin embargo, Collin no recibió un Plan de la ley READ; solamente recibió sesiones de ayuda para ayudarle a ser más fluido al leer — es decir, poder leer rápido, sin errores, y con la expresión apropiada.

Las sesiones no fueron suficiente. Collin obtuvo calificaciones promedio en toda la primaria, pero todavía titubeaba al leer algunas palabras, odiaba leer en voz alta, y se llamaba “tonto” a sí mismo.

Dennis sabía que el problema tenía que ser mayor, y dijo “pero no sabía exactamente cuál era”.

Finalmente, en quinto grado y siguiendo el consejo de otra mamá, llevó a su hijo a hacerse una prueba privada y descubrió que tenía dislexia.

Equidad y acceso

El programa Bright MINDS — donde ‘MINDS’ es la sigla de Multisensory Intensive Dyslexia Support — fue una idea de Jason Glass, pasado Superintendente del Distrito Jeffco, nos dijo Todd Ognibene, sicólogo escolar de Alameda y coordinador de Bright MINDS. Cuando Glass dejó de ser superintendente en 2020, otros administradores continuaron el plan.

“Salté de la alegría porque esto era algo que el distrito… finalmente reconoció que se necesitaba”, dijo Ognibene.

Alameda, donde casi tres cuartas partes de los estudiantes califican para comidas con subsidio, fue seleccionada para ser la sede del programa por su ubicación centralizada. Ognibene y Andrea Arguello, Asistente del Director de la escuela, diseñaron Bright MINDS junto con Thurby, maestra de educación especial, y Sarah Richards, maestra de inglés como segundo idioma y cuya hija tiene dislexia.

Para asegurar accesibilidad, no requieren un diagnóstico de dislexia, cuya prueba privada puede costar cientos de dólares. En su lugar, el equipo evalúa a los solicitantes del Distrito Jeffco y otros distritos del área metropolitana de Denver para detectar características asociadas con dislexia u otros problemas de lectura relacionados.

Encontrar un programa de dislexia estructurado dentro de una escuela pública es una agradable sorpresa para muchas familias. Las escuelas privadas que ofrecen servicios similares son bastante caras.

Algunos padres le han dicho a Ognibene, “Esto fue más difícil que encontrar una aguja en un pajar”.

Los estudiantes del programa reciben 80 minutos de lectura diarios. Aproximadamente la mitad recibe la ayuda más intensa, un programa de intervención aprobado por el estado llamado Wilson Reading System. La otra mitad, que cuenta con destrezas de lectura un poco mejores, usan Just Words, otro programa de Wilson.

Bright MINDS está apenas empezando, pero los primeros resultados son prometedores. Desde el otoño hasta el invierno, los estudiantes que participaron mejoraron un 68% más de lo esperado típicamente en lectura.

“Estoy agradecida… Por esto es que yo estaba exactamente peleando”, dijo Trudeau, la mamá de Brody. “No es justo asumir una deuda de $30,000 al año simplemente para que tu hijo reciba la educación correcta”,

Este año, Bright MINDS incluye algunos estudiantes que están en el programa de educación especial, algunos que tienen otros planes de aprendizaje, y otros que no tienen ningún plan. Algunos estudiantes hablan inglés como segundo idioma.

Los estudiantes del programa también reciben ayuda con destrezas como planificación y organización, ya que es común que otros trastornos ocurran junto con la dislexia, como por ejemplo déficit de atención/hiperactividad.

Los estudiantes de Bright MINDS no tienen que faltar a sus clases básicas para asistir a su clase diaria de lectura. En su lugar, simplemente no se matriculan en una de las clases electivas. Además, Thurby o Richards los acompañan en sus clases básicas para asegurar que estén recibiendo la ayuda necesaria para absorber el contenido.

Arguello, que también tiene dislexia, recuerda el impacto que tenía ser sacada de las clases generales en la escuela para recibir ayuda con la lectura.

“Me tomó mucho tiempo ponerme al día”, dijo.

La especialista en lectura Sarah Richards (a la derecha) mide un minuto durante un descanso del programa Bright MINDS. El programa ha tenido resultados prometedores hasta ahora, y los estudiantes han mostrado una mejora 68% mayor desde el otoño al invierno de la que normalmente se anticiparía.

Cambio en la atención

Hay señales de que pronto habrá más ayuda para los estudiantes de los grados mayores.

En 2020, el gobierno federal le otorgó $16 millones en grants a los distritos de Colorado para ser destinados a iniciativas de lectura y escritura que cubran desde la niñez temprana hasta la secundaria. Hasta ahora diez distritos han recibido los grants, y estos incluyen Aurora, Cherry Creek, St. Vrain Valley, Harrison, Lewis-Palmer y Sheridan.

Además, esta primavera se aprobará una ley para requerir que los directores de primaria y los intervencionistas que trabajan con estudiantes de cuarto hasta 12mo grado completen una capacitación en enseñanza de lectura similar a la que ya se les requiere a los maestros de los grados K-3.

Jill Youngren, consultora que está ayudando a los distritos St. Vrain y Sheridan con sus grants, aboga por una estrategia sistémica para ayudar a los estudiantes que están batallando con la lectura — asegurar que los educadores usen las evaluaciones correctas, identifiquen el problema raíz, y sepan cómo impartir enseñanza que resuelva la brecha.

“Si se empieza temprano todo eso se puede evitar, pero no podemos tirar la toalla por un niño que no recibió la instrucción correcta y decir, ah pues, lo sentimos, así es la vida, qué pena”.

Los estudiantes de Bright MINDS y sus padres dicen que este año el programa los ha ayudado con mucho más que lectura, deletreo y redacción. Ha logrado que la experiencia de tener dislexia se siente menos aislante.

“Ha sido excelente”, dijo Elise, “Es como tener un montón de hermanos y más padres que te están cuidando”.

Una encuesta rápida de las metas profesionales entre los estudiantes de Bright MINDS demostró una gran variedad: Astronomía, medicina, guardabosque, ingeniería y jugador de béisbol. Ognibene dijo que la prioridad es empoderar a los estudiantes para que logren sus metas.

“Queremos que se gradúen de Alameda sabiendo que esencialmente no existe opción que no puedan perseguir”, dijo.

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Ann Schimke es reportera senior en Chalkbeat y cubre temas de niñez temprana y de lectura y escritura en la niñez temprana. Comunícate con Ann escribiéndole a aschimke@chalkbeat.org.

Las escuelas de Boulder están implantando la co-enseñanza para atender a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés

2023-06-06T16:19:36+00:00

Chalkbeat Colorado es un noticiero local sin fines de lucro que informa sobre las escuelas públicas en Denver y otros distritos. Suscríbete a nuestro boletín gratis por email en español para recibir lo último en noticias sobre educación dos veces al mes.

El año pasado, en la clase de primer grado Susan Tran en el Distrito Escolar de Boulder Valley, ella y otra maestra trabajaron en equipo, ayudando a los estudiantes a enfocarse en el lenguaje de las matemáticas, descifrando problemas matemáticos y usando palabras para comparar, contrastar y describir formas diferentes.

La labor de estas dos maestras es parte de los cambios que el distrito escolar de Boulder está haciendo en la manera en que los estudiantes identificados como aprendices de inglés reciben servicios en las escuelas primarias.

En lugar de sacar a los estudiantes de su salón de clases diariamente por aproximadamente 45 minutos para que aprendan inglés, el distrito está adoptando un modelo de enseñanza conjunta, en el que un maestro especialista visita los salones de clase regulares para ayudar a dirigir una lección para todos los estudiantes junto con el maestro de ese salón.

“Cada vez que ves a un maestro nuevo, aprendes algo nuevo”, dijo Tran. Aproximadamente la mitad de los estudiantes de su clase están aprendiendo inglés.

“Noté que los estudiantes estaban hablando con un vocabulario académico más sólido y con frases más completas”, dijo Rachelle Weigold, una de las maestras de inglés que trabajó con Tran. “Creo que han sido avances realmente fantásticos”.

Es un cambio que algunos padres hispanos habían pedido hace años y que el distrito ya había probado antes, pero sin tener éxito.

En la escuela primaria Alicia Sánchez en Lafayette, donde trabajan Tran y Weigold, casi un 36% de los estudiantes están aprendiendo inglés (en algunos salones, hasta la mitad), o sea, son estudiantes que hablan principalmente otro idioma que no es inglés. Por eso, la escuela ya llevaba tiempo probando la co-enseñanza. Sin embargo, este año hubo un nuevo enfoque en la planificación intencional antes de probar con lecciones enseñadas por dos maestros. La co-enseñanza durante la clase de matemáticas también fue algo nuevo.

Este próximo otoño, otras ocho escuelas se unirán a las cuatro que empezaron a usar el modelo este año. Los planes son que la mayoría de las escuelas primarias de Boulder hagan el cambio en los próximos años. Cada escuela decide qué asignatura combinar con las lecciones de inglés, pero muchas se están enfocando en la clase de matemática.

Según las leyes federales de derechos civiles, los distritos escolares tienen que proporcionarles servicios a los estudiantes identificados como aprendices de inglés para que aprendan el idioma y puedan tener acceso a una educación.

En Boulder, donde alrededor de un 7% de los estudiantes están en el programa para aprender inglés, esos servicios se habían prestado principalmente a través de un modelo en el que los niños salían de su salón para recibir lecciones de inglés con maestros especialistas y luego regresaban a tomar el resto de sus clases.

Es raro que los distritos escolares cambien su forma de ofrecer servicios.

Pero por mucho tiempo, los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés en el Distrito Escolar de Boulder Valley han tenido grandes diferencias de puntuación en los exámenes estatales en comparación con los estudiantes cuyo primer idioma es inglés.

Los resultados más recientes de las pruebas estatales mostraron una brecha de 54.7 puntos de porcentaje, una de las diferencias más amplias del estado. En 2022, un 9.1% de los estudiantes que estaban aprendiendo inglés en el distrito de Boulder obtuvieron una puntuación de dominio del idioma o más en los exámenes estatales, en comparación con un 7.9% del mismo grupo de estudiantes que obtuvieron puntuaciones de dominio o más a nivel estatal. Por otro lado, un 63.8% de estudiantes de Boulder cuyo primer idioma es inglés obtuvieron o superaron las puntuaciones esperadas.

Los líderes del distrito han dicho que una de sus metas a largo plazo es mejorar los resultados de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés y cerrar esa brecha. A corto plazo, las metas giran en torno a mejorar la capacidad de los maestros para apoyar a los estudiantes durante todo el día y darles un mejor acceso a su educación.

Una de las metas más importantes “es no separar a los estudiantes de sus compañeros de grado y que no se sientan diferentes”, dijo Kristin Nelson-Stein, directora de educación cultural y lingüísticamente diversa del Distrito Escolar de Boulder Valley.

Los líderes del distrito dijeron que ya habían probado la co-enseñanza, pero que no había funcionado del todo.

“La verdad es que no funcionó”, dijo Meghan MCracken, coordinadora de educación cultural y lingüísticamente diversa del distrito de Boulder Valley. “Realmente no teníamos apoyo al más alto nivel para cambiar el programa”

Randy Barber, portavoz del distrito, dijo que la prioridad ha sido mejorar los sistemas de enseñanza para los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés, pero que toma tiempo escuchar a los padres y conseguir que todos estén de acuerdo en cómo deben cambiar las cosas.

En esta ocasión, parte de lo que ayudó para que todos estuvieran de acuerdo fue visitar el Distrito Escolar de Cherry Creek para observar cómo ellos usan los modelos de co-enseñanza para desarrollar el inglés.

Los padres preocupados fueron una fuerza de impulso

Los padres latinos habían pedido estos cambios hace años. Muchos pensaron que sus recomendaciones habían caído en el olvido.

Ana Lilia Luján fue una de las líderes de padres que hizo esa recomendación. Su hijo, que acaba de graduarse del distrito este año, tuvo problemas con el inglés la mayor parte de su tiempo en la escuela. Cuando empezó la escuela intermedia y todavía no progresaba en su aprendizaje del inglés, Lujan decidió sacarlo del programa.

“Yo tenía mucho miedo de quitarle esas clases, pero dije, no ya eran muchos años”, dijo Luján. “Lo quité y lo pusieron en clases regulares. Eso le ayudó grandemente. Su autoestima cambió. Su inglés mejoró porque estaba escuchando a niños que sabían más”.

Luján, que pasó años tratando de entender cómo se identifican y atienden los estudiantes que necesitan aprender inglés, dijo que ha llegado a creer que los métodos de sacarlos del salón de clases no son eficaces.

“Eso de sacar a los niños no funciona”, dijo Luján. “Llega un punto en que si no te gradúas de los servicios, nunca te vas a igualar con los demás. Y ellos piensan que no son inteligentes. Es como el sistema los está tratando”.

Ella dijo que quiere que los distritos reconozcan que los estudiantes son inteligentes, a pesar de las dificultades que puedan tener en los exámenes estatales.

“No confundamos el no saber un lenguaje con falta de capacidad intelectual”, dijo Luján.

A Luján también le preocupa que no haya suficientes padres que tengan el tiempo que ella tuvo para informarse sobre el complicado sistema o para aprender que otros modelos podrían funcionar mejor. Eso significa que son menos los que pueden abogar por cambios, lo que reduce la presión sobre los distritos para que sean creativos a la hora de buscar soluciones para mejorar el aprendizaje, dijo.

Los investigadores que estudian el desarrollo del idioma inglés dicen que el modelo de separar a los estudiantes tiene ventajas, pero que no suele ser el más eficaz. No obstante, cambiar a la co-enseñanza no es automáticamente mejor, dicen.

“A veces sacar a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés del salón hace que los niños se sientan estigmatizados o no tan inteligentes como los demás niños de la clase normal”, dijo Kathy Escamilla, investigadora y antigua directora del BUENO Center for Multicultural Education en el campus de la Universidad de Colorado en Boulder. “Por otro lado, la co-enseñanza podría funcionar bien en matemáticas. Podría ayudar a los niños, pero eso depende de las estrategias usadas”.

Ester J. de Jong, profesora de educación cultural y lingüísticamente diversa en la Universidad de Colorado-Denver, dijo que los modelos de separación de los estudiantes pueden ofrecer entornos de aprendizaje seguros y funcionan mejor cuando ayudan a los estudiantes a aprovechar lo que aprenden en sus salón de clases regulares el resto del día.

Una vez que los estudiantes llegan a cierto punto en su aprendizaje de un idioma nuevo, no hay razón para sacarlos de un salón de clases de inglés sólo para que reciban más enseñanza en inglés, dijo de Jong. “Pero eso no significa que los estudiantes no tengan necesidades que no hay que cubrir”.

Los grupos aislados pueden ser especialmente útiles para estudiantes inmigrantes nuevos, que posiblemente tienen necesidades más específicas.

Los líderes del distrito dijeron que los estudiantes recién llegados todavía pueden ser sacados del salón para recibir apoyo durante los primeros meses en el distrito escolar, hasta que estén listos para recibir ayuda en el salón de clase regular.

Según los investigadores, ambos modelos requieren que los maestros estén bien preparados y tengan tiempo para coordinar.

Los maestros de la primaria Sánchez dicen que el cambio a la co-enseñanza ha sido un trabajo duro, pero que su estructura les ha permitido planificar bien, coordinar bien, y aprender los unos de los otros.

La planificación les ayuda a ajustar las clases para los estudiantes con capacidades diferentes, dijeron los maestros, pero nunca segregan a los estudiantes en el salón de clases simplemente por el hecho de que estén aprendiendo inglés.

Elizabeth Dawson, otra maestra de la primaria Sánchez, dice que los estudiantes pueden tener necesidades diferentes por traumas pasados, niveles de pobreza u otros factores externos.

“Hay muchas razones por las que los estudiantes podrían necesitar apoyo con el idioma”, dijo Dawson.

Luján, la madre del distrito de Boulder, es optimista, pero dijo que seguirá atenta para ver si el cambio contribuye a mejorar los resultados de los estudiantes latinos del distrito.

“Esa va a ser la pregunta”, dijo Luján. “El que estén haciendo este cambio pues ya es ganancia. Pero todavía hay que ver qué resultados da. Ese siempre fue mi punto”.

Yesenia Robles es reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado y cubre temas sobre los distritos escolares K-12 y la educación multilingüe. Para comunicarte con Yesenia, envíale un mensaje a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Programas bilingües de Denver enfrentan problemas por muy pocos estudiantes y amenaza de cierres

2022-07-12T11:55:00+00:00

Read in English.

El primer día de la escuela de verano en Denver, seis niños que empezarán el primer grado tomaron un examen de deletreo. Usando lápices con gomas de borrar nuevas, deletrearon palabras como noche, jugo, pequeño y vecino.

“Número tres es la palabra — es un poco larga — ‘pequeño,’” dijo la maestra.

Una niña con espejuelos y un lazo grande color rosa miró el papel que tenía en frente y trató de hacer los sonidos.

“P–p-p-pequeño,” susurró en voz baja mientras escribía una “p” al lado del número 3.

Estos niños de 6 y 7 años están matriculados en el programa de educación bilingüe de las Escuelas Públicas de Denver, y por eso aprenden deletreo, lectura y matemáticas en español. Mientras van adquiriendo más destrezas académicas básicas, también aprenden inglés, y con el tiempo hacen la transición a una enseñanza que se da cada vez menos en español.

Los padres y educadores de Denver lucharon por este tipo de programa bilingüe — conocido como enseñanza de transición en el idioma nativo, o TNLI (transitional native language instruction) — y una orden de un tribunal federal requiere que el distrito lo ofrezca en cada escuela que tenga un mínimo de 60 estudiantes que hablan español y están aprendiendo inglés.

Sin embargo, los programas bilingües de Denver están enfrentando una gran amenaza: cada vez hay más escuelas con muy pocos estudiantes.

Los altos costos de vivienda y reducciones en las tasas de natalidad están reduciendo la matrícula en las escuelas públicas, y en especial en las comunidades históricamente latinas de Denver. Ha sido difícil llenar los salones de clase bilingües en las escuelas primarias, y los métodos alternativos, como combinar dos grados en un salón, no sirven bien los alumnos. El distrito ya había decidido cerrar cuatro programas pequeños TNLI — pronunciado “tin-li” — a principios de este año, pero después cambió de parecer.

El distrito también está considerando cerrar algunas escuelas completamente. Más de la mitad de las escuelas que cumplen los criterios recomendados para un posible cierre tienen programas TNLI. Esas 15 escuelas representan casi una cuarta parte de las 65 escuelas del distrito que tienen salones de clase bilingües.

Consolidar escuelas podría permitir programas más robustos, pero eso conlleva su propio costo.

“Esta escuela es parta de nuestra comunidad,” dijo Yuridia Rebolledo-Durán, madre de dos estudiantes de la Escuela Primaria Colfax, en una manifestación frente a la escuela el pasado mes de abril. “Es muy importante para nosotros como padres que nuestros hijos puedan hablar dos idiomas.”

Padres y maestros pelearon por educación bilingüe

Las investigaciones apoyan generalmente la eficacia de una educación bilingüe. En Denver, los estudiantes que aprenden inglés y adquieren dominio de ese idioma históricamente han tenido buenas puntuaciones en los exámenes estandarizados del estado. Los administradores de alto rango de las escuelas de Denver también apoyan esa idea.

“Nos entristece mucho el hecho de que la reducción en matrícula esté impactando nuestras escuelas bilingües,” dijo Nadia Madan Morrow, antigua maestra bilingüe que dirigió el programa de educación multilingüe del distrito hasta que fue recientemente promovida a Jefe de Asuntos Académicos, (CAO). “Estamos esforzándonos para determinar cómo ofrecer enseñanza en idioma nativo en las escuelas que están continuamente volviéndose más pequeñas.”

Las madres de los estudiantes de la Colfax Elementary School en Denver en la manifestación en abril en contra del cierre de Colfax por las Escuelas Públicas de Denver a causa de la reducción en matrícula.

No obstante, ese no siempre ha sido el caso.

Algunos educadores castigaban a los estudiantes que hablaban español en clase, una práctica que terminó en feroces protestas. En 1980, un grupo local llamado Congress of Hispanic Educators demandó al distrito por violar los derechos de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

La determinación del juez federal en ese caso fue en contra del distrito. En 1984, Denver entabló su primer decreto de consentimiento, un acuerdo legal de brindar educación bilingüe. Ese decreto se ha modificado dos veces.

La versión más reciente, en vigencia desde 2013, dice que el distrito tiene que ofrecer programas TNLI en las escuelas que tengan más de 60 estudiantes de habla hispana que estén aprendiendo inglés, emplear maestros bilingües calificados, y usar currículos y exámenes de alta calidad en español.

“Nuestros padres bilingües quieren que sus hijos sean bilingües,” dijo Kathy Escamilla, miembro del Congress of Hispanic Educators y profesora jubilada de la Universidad de Colorado de bilingüismo y alfabetización bilingüe, lo cual significa poder hablar, leer y escribir en dos idiomas. “Ellos quieren la oportunidad para que su cultura y su historia estén representadas.”

El decreto de consentimiento se aplica únicamente a los estudiantes que hablan español, y que representan la porción más grande de estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés en Denver. Los demás estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés reciben enseñanza totalmente en inglés, a veces con la ayuda de maestros o tutores que hablan su idioma. El árabe y el vietnamita son el segundo y el tercer idioma nativo más común.

La cantidad de estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés en Denver ha subido y bajado durante una década, y lo mismo ha ocurrido con la cantidad de estudiantes inscritos en programas TNLI y el número de escuelas que los ofrecen.

En el pasado, el distrito revocaba el programa TNLI de cualquier escuela que tuviera menos de 60 estudiantes de habla hispana que estuvieran aprendiendo inglés, dijo Madan Morrow. Pero cuando el distrito trató de hacer esto el invierno pasado en cuatro escuelas primarias — Colfax, Cheltenham, Traylor y Schmitt — los miembros del Congress of Hispanic Educators pusieron resistencia.

Se acercan posibles cierres de escuelas

Tres de las cuatro escuelas han perdido tantos estudiantes, que están en riesgo de ser cerradas en el futuro cercano. Esto aumentó la preocupación de la comunidad de perder el TNLI.

Hace un año, la junta escolar electa en Denver aprobó una resolución que dice que los padres, maestros y otras personas deben ayudar a desarrollar un plan para consolidar las escuelas pequeñas. Las escuelas de Denver reciben fondos por cada estudiante, y las escuelas pequeñas batallan para poder pagar cosas como clases electivas y personal de salud mental.

El distrito hizo una lista de 19 escuelas que participarían en el proceso. La meta era que las comunidades en esas escuelas sugirieran ideas de cómo consolidar las escuelas.

Pero la lista causó pánico, y el Superintendente Alex Marrero la eliminó.

Cambiando la estrategia, el distrito este año seleccionó un comité asesor de la reducción en matrícula y le asignó definir los criterios para cerrar una escuela con poca matrícula.

El comité reveló los criterios propuestos el mes pasado: Se deben considerar para consolidación las escuelas primarias e intermedias con menos de 215 estudiantes el próximo año, así como las escuelas con menos de 275 estudiantes que anticipen perder entre un 8% y 10% de los estudiantes en los próximos años; de igual manera se deben considerar las escuelas chárter independientes que estén teniendo dificultades financieras.

Veintisiete escuelas operadas por el distrito tuvieron menos de 275 estudiantes este pasado año. Como las 19 escuelas en la lista original, la mayoría de las 27 escuelas atienden a poblaciones estudiantiles con más de 90% estudiantes de minorías raciales, y más de un 90% provenientes de hogares de pocos ingresos.

Quince de las 27 escuelas tienen programas TNLI, incluida la Colfax Elementary, donde los padres y defensores tuvieron en abril una manifestación en contra del cierre de la escuela. Varias madres dijeron que viven cerca y caminan con sus hijos a la escuela porque no pueden manejar.

“Me preocupa, porque ¿cómo voy a llevar a mis hijos a otras escuelas?” Esto nos dijo Cecilia Sánchez Pérez, madre de dos estudiantes de Colfax.

Escamilla, del Congress of Hispanic Educators, también asistió a la manifestación.

La Escuela Primaria Colfax es una de cuatro escuelas de Denver que casi perdió su designación para ofrecer “instrucción transicional en idioma nativo” en este pasado año escolar debido a la reducción en matrícula.

“Entendemos que DPS está enfrentando decisiones difíciles con respecto a presupuesto y a la reducción en matrícula,” dijo. Sin embargo, agregó: “con demasiada frecuencia estos cambios afectan de manera desproporcionada a las comunidades de raza negra, latina y pobres.”

Si el distrito les quita la designación TNLI a la Colfax y las otras tres escuelas, los defensores temen que los estudiantes se van a quedar sin programas bilingües. Aún con autobuses gratis a una escuela TNLI cercana, las familias van a dudar en dejar las escuelas que conocen y aman.

El Congress of Hispanic Educators también cuestiona las proyecciones de matrícula del distrito y le preocupa que los padres no han sido consultados, dijo Escamilla.

Debido a la resistencia de los padres, Denver acordó mantener la designación TNLI en Colfax, Cheltenham, Traylor y Schmitt. Pero Madan Morrow dijo que la reducción en estudiantes de habla hispana significa que los programas podrían no ser tan robustos.

Menos estudiantes significa cambios en el salón de clase

Muchas de las escuelas TNLI de Denver todavía tienen una matrícula saludable. Pero en las escuelas que no tienen suficientes estudiantes que hablan español en cada grado, el TNLI se ve diferente.

A menudo, dijeron los educadores, las escuelas mezclan dos grados en el mismo salón, algo que no es académicamente ideal ni popular con los padres. O las escuelas combinan estudiantes que hablan español nativo con estudiantes que hablan inglés nativo, una asignación difícil hasta para los maestros de más experiencia.

Kim Ursetta, que enseña preescolar bilingüe en la Traylor, tuvo este pasado año una combinación de estudiantes de inglés nativo y de español nativo por segunda vez en sus 28 años de carrera.

“Es difícil,” dijo ella. “Uno está constantemente saltando de un idioma a otro, y no importa lo que hagas, solamente les podrás enseñar la mitad del tiempo que normalmente tendrías.”

Si combinar estudiantes no es posible, a veces las escuelas ponen estudiantes que hablan español en salones que solo enseñan en inglés y envía a otro salón para aprender ciertas materias en español. Eso puede hacer que los estudiantes se sientan marginados o que se pierdan algunas actividades electivas divertidas.

Esto es algo que Carrie Olson, miembro de la junta escolar que fue maestra bilingüe en Denver por 33 años antes de su elección, vio con sus propios ojos. A Olson le preocupa cómo la reducción en matrícula está afectando los programas TNLI y le ha pedido repetidamente a la junta que hablen del tema.

Madan Morrow dijo que los directores y el personal del distrito están trabajando en planes para el próximo año escolar.

“Sabemos que cualquier cantidad de enseñanza en el idioma nativo es mejor que nada,” dijo ella. “Lo que estamos tratando de determinar en estas cuatro escuelas es, ‘¿qué cantidad es perfecta? ¿Cuánto les podemos dar para que sea beneficioso sin que tengan que estar en un sistema así todo el día?’”

Melanie Asmar es reportera senior de Chalkbeat Colorado y cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Denver. Para comunicarte con Melanie, escríbele a masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Martha Urioste, la ‘Madrina de Montessori’ en Denver, luchó por la educación bilingüe

2022-12-28T18:24:37+00:00

Chalkbeat Colorado es un noticiero local sin fines de lucro que informa sobre las escuelas públicas en Denver y otros distritos. Suscríbete a nuestro boletín gratis por email en español para recibir lo último en noticias sobre educación.

Cuando Martha Urioste visitaba las escuelas de Denver como defensora de la educación bilingüe, con frecuencia se acercaba a los estudiantes para decirles algo que su abuela le dijo a ella.

“No dejes tu español”.

Sus esfuerzos con el Congreso de Educadores Hispanos de Denver ayudaron a establecer programas bilingües que, con el paso de las décadas, beneficiaron a miles de niños en Denver. Urioste, que fue maestra y luego directora, también trajo la educación Montessori a las escuelas públicas de Denver, empezando en una comunidad en la que la mayoría de los estudiantes eran de familias negras y latinas de pocos ingresos.

Urioste falleció el 8 de diciembre, a la edad de 85 años, y siempre estaba pensando en la educación. Su amiga y colega Kathy Escamilla la visitó en el hospital un par de días antes, y dice que Urioste le pidió que le contara las últimas novedades en las escuelas de Denver.

“Se la pasaba instigando cosas buenas”, dijo Darlene LeDoux, educadora latina desde hace mucho tiempo que ahora trabaja en la oficina del ombudsman de las Escuelas Públicas de Denver, y que conoció a Urioste por décadas. “Siempre estaba asegurando que siempre fuéramos más lejos, hiciéramos más y nos esforzáramos más por los niños.”

Según su obituario y las personas que hablaron en su servicio de recordación esta semana, Urioste nació en Nuevo México y se mudó a Denver cuando era adolescente. Después de graduarse de universidad en 1958, inició una carrera como maestra de primer grado en la Escuela Primaria Gilpin, que ya está cerrada. Urioste fue maestra de primaria y de intermedia, y hasta dio clases de español para el distrito en la televisión pública.

Obtuvo dos maestrías y un doctorado, y con el tiempo llegó a ser directora asistente en la Escuela Secundaria North y luego directora de la Escuela Primeria Mitchel en el noreste de Denver a mediados de la década de 1980. Un tribunal federal ordenó que el Distrito de Escuelas Públicas de Denver dejara de segregar sus escuelas, pero la migración de estudiantes blancos a los suburbios y a las escuelas privadas hizo más difícil que la Mitchell y un par de escuelas más pudieran cumplir la cuota de estudiantes blancos ordenada por el tribunal.

En un breve documental producido por la ciudad como parte de la serie “I Am Denver”, Urioste contó: “Nos dijeron, ‘¿Qué van a hacer para asegurar que niños blancos y niños de clase media se suban a un autobús y vayan al noreste de Denver?’”

Urioste eligió la educación Montessori, que en ese momento no estaba disponible en ninguna de las escuelas públicas de Colorado. Fue a Roma a estudiar el currículo, que alienta a los niños a trabajar de manera independiente en tareas prácticas y aprender de los demás en salones de clase con niños de múltiples edades.

En su velorio, su amiga Erlinda Archuleta recordó cómo la maleta de Urioste se abrió cuando salía del vuelo de regreso a Denver.

En vez de recoger su ropa, Urioste le dijo a su hermano (que había ido al aeropuerto a buscarla): “‘¡Encontré la solución! ¡Montessori!’”, contó Archuleta. “Lo menos que le importaba era su ropa.”

La hija mayor de Honey Niehaus estaba en Kinder el primer año que se ofreció Montessori en la Mitchell. El programa era maravilloso, dijo ella. No obstante, Urioste y otros notaron que los estudiantes blancos estaban progresando más rápido que los de minorías, dijo Niehaus — una desigualdad que Urioste quería eliminar estableciendo un programa Montessori para bebés y niños pequeños.

Un edificio abandonado al frente de la escuela Mitchell fue la oportunidad. Niehaus miró adentro un día y le preocupó lo que vio. Dice que corrió a la oficina de Urioste y le preguntó a la directora qué iba a hacer con respecto a las actividades de drogas al otro lado de la calle.

“Ella me miró y dijo, ‘Cariño, ¿qué vas a hacer tú al respecto?’”, nos contó Niehaus. “Dondequiera que iba, conseguía más personas para el sistema. Siempre que conocía gente que auténticamente se preocupaba por los niños y la educación, ella los apoyaba”.

Con ayuda de los líderes de la comunidad, políticos y voluntarios, Urioste y otros compraron el edificio y lo transformaron en Family Star, una escuela Montessori de niñez temprana que abrió sus puertas en 1991. La escuela capacitó a las mujeres de la comunidad para ser las primeras maestras. Más tarde, Niehaus fue la directora ejecutiva.

Más de 30 años después, Family Star tiene dos escuelas en Denver y las Escuelas Públicas de Denver cuentan con cinco escuelas Montessori. A Urioste se le conoce como “La Madrina de Montessori”. El programa original de la escuela Mitchell ahora está en la Denison.

Además de ser la pionera de Montessori, Urioste fue miembro del Congreso de Educadores Hispanos (CHE), que demandó a las Escuelas Públicas de Denver por su tratamiento de los estudiantes que hablan español. La demanda resultó en el decreto modificado actual de consentimiento, que requiere que el distrito proporcione educación bilingüe para los estudiantes cuyo primer idioma es el español.

Urioste fue miembro del CHE por 50 años. Escamilla, que se unió al grupo en la década de 1990, dijo que aparte de por su defensa de la educación bilingüe, Urioste también será recordada por ser mentora de los maestros más jóvenes, a quienes alentaba a obtener diplomas de educación avanzada y ser líderes.

Carrie Olson, miembro del Consejo Escolar, fue contratada por Urioste como maestra bilingüe de primer año en la Mitchell en 1985. Olson recuerda cómo Urioste la encontró llorando un día en su salón de clases.

“Entró, me tomó de las manos y dijo, ‘Carrie, vas a ser una maestra excelente. No te puedes dar por vencida. No puedes dejar de ayudar a estos niños’”, dijo Olson en el evento de recordación.

Otros dijeron que Urioste tenía un excelente sentido del humor. Era bien fanática de los Denver Broncos, le encantaba jugar en las máquinas tragamonedas, y era una “bonafide groupie de Cher” que solía viajar a Las Vegas con su hermano Richard para ver a la cantante en concierto, dijo Archuleta.

Craig Peña, cuyo padre Robert trabajó junto a Urioste en el CHE, dijo que la recordaba como “una mujer increíblemente capaz, increíblemente atenta, sumamente amable y bien cariñosa.

“Pero tampoco era alguien que se dejara manipular”, dijo. “No se puede confundir la amabilidad y gentileza por debilidad”.

Melanie Asmar es reportera sénior de Chalkbeat Colorado y cubre historias sobre las Escuelas Públicas de Denver. Para comunicarte con Melanie, envíale un mensaje a masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Centro en el distrito Adams 12 atiende a estudiantes recién llegados al país

2023-10-19T19:03:55+00:00

Un reciente viernes por la tarde, alrededor de 23 estudiantes de diferentes grados estaban tomando un examen de matemáticas sobre exponentes en el centro para recién llegados de Thornton High School.

Se oía un zumbido en el salón de clases. Los estudiantes se estaban ayudando entre sí.

“Si no estamos seguros, está bien”, les aseguró la maestra Adria Padilla Chavez a sus estudiantes. “Retrocedemos y volvemos a aprender”. Luego repitió sus instrucciones en español.

Padilla Chavez y otros integrantes del personal escolar en el centro para recién llegados ayudan a los estudiantes que acaban de llegar al país a adaptarse a la vida en una high school estadounidense. Mientras el programa va creciendo, los estudiantes están recibiendo mucho más que lecciones de inglés. Están formando amistades con personas de todo el mundo, participando en su aprendizaje y abriéndose camino hacia la graduación. El programa está ayudándolos a soñar en un futuro que quizás nunca habían imaginado.

“Nos gusta darles la bienvenida a nuestros estudiantes a una comunidad en la que sientan que pertenecen”, dijo Frida Rodriguez, una promotora de jóvenes y familias en el centro. “Es muy importante tener un lugar donde sabes que perteneces. Conectan con el personal que les proporciona un sentimiento de ayuda y apoyo y cariño. Sentirse realmente queridos es muy importante”.

Joan Madrigal Delgado, de 17 años, ha sido estudiante en el centro para recién llegados por un mes, su primera experiencia en una escuela de Estados Unidos. Ya siente que su vida está cambiando.

Le impresiona ver cómo lo ayudan los maestros, y cómo le piden que piense y participe en las conversaciones.

“Realmente no tenía ninguna posibilidad en mi país”, dijo Madrigal Delgado, quien vino de Cuba. “Se siente bien. Ahora aspiro a todo”.

Está comenzando a pensar sobre la universidad y en dedicarse a una carrera en medicina veterinaria.

El centro para estudiantes recién llegados, el primero en las Escuelas Five Star de Adams 12, se inauguró en agosto con 30 estudiantes. Ahora, un par de meses después del inicio del año escolar, el centro cuenta con más de 90 estudiantes, con nuevos estudiantes inscritos cada semana y familias que corren la voz en la comunidad.

Los estudiantes vienen de muchos países, pero uno de los factores principales que resultaron en la creación del centro fue la llegada de refugiados de Afganistán hace casi dos años. Muchos viven en el área de Thornton alrededor de la high school.

Adams 12 fue uno de cuatro distritos que recibieron un subsidio de la Fundación Comunitaria Rose este año para ayudarlos a apoyar la educación de estudiantes recién llegados, especialmente aquellos de Afganistán.

La fundación trabajó con el Programa de Servicios para Refugiados de Colorado—una unidad que forma parte del Departamento de Servicios Humanos de Colorado—para establecer el Fondo de Integración de Refugiados, el cual distribuyó subsidios.

El distrito usó esos fondos, junto con algunos fondos federales de asistencia por COVID, y sacó $868,000 de su fondo general para establecer el centro y pagar por el personal. El centro tiene su propia secretaria de admisiones, quien llama a las familias que otras escuelas identifican y las invita para que vayan al centro.

El distrito está ofreciendo transporte. Cerca de 45 de los estudiantes que asisten al centro llegan en autobús a la high school. Y las promotoras como Rodriguez, quien habla español, y Imran Khan, quien habla pashai y darí, también ayudan a las familias para que encuentren recursos en la comunidad.

Una característica singular del centro, dice la directora Manissa Featherstone, es que tiene a su propio consejero que ayuda a los estudiantes para que establezcan su trayectoria hacia la graduación. Featherstone dijo que muchos centros para recién llegados se enfocan en enseñarles ingles a los estudiantes, y que a veces eso significa que se retrasan en las clases que los ayudan a acumular los créditos necesarios para graduarse.

En el programa de Thornton High School, los estudiantes toman todas las clases principales en el centro, pero toman sus clases electivas con el resto de los estudiantes, o cuando necesitan una clase más avanzada. Un asesor de enseñanza que trabaja para el centro ayuda a personalizar la ayuda de los estudiantes.

“Podemos proporcionar esas clases”, Featherstone dijo. “Solo depende de las necesidades individuales del estudiante y de qué tipo de estudios escolares ha cursado”.

Aria Padilla Chavez (arriba al centro), maestra en el centro para estudiantes recién llegados, trabaja en un examen de matemáticas con sus estudiantes.

Los estudiantes también participan en actividades extraescolares, clubes y deportes en la escuela.

El programa puede recibir hasta 150 estudiantes, Featherstone dijo. Está diseñado para que los estudiantes pasen un año ahí después de llegar a Estados Unidos y luego se cambien al programa regular de la escuela.

Mohammad Ali Dost, de 14 años, llegó de Afganistán hace un par de años, e inicialmente estudió en una escuela media del distrito que no tenía un programa específico para estudiantes recién llegados. Ahora en el centro de Thornton High School, dijo que está contento pues le está ayudando a mejorar su inglés.

Dost dijo que les dice a otros estudiantes: “Si quieres mejorar tu inglés rápidamente, ven al centro para recién llegados”.

Dost también ayuda a los estudiantes que hablan su misma lengua materna, pashai, con el tipo de aprendizaje e interacción entre pares que el personal del centro celebra.

Featherstone dijo que los estudiantes actuales con frecuencia se ofrecen como voluntarios para liderar visitas guiadas con estudiantes nuevos y ayudarlos a que se familiaricen con su nueva escuela.

“Observamos a estudiantes que se [ofrecen inmediatamente] y dicen: ‘Yo los llevo””, Featherstone dijo. “Están muy emocionados cuando un estudiante llega”.

Las promotoras primero les enseñan las cosas básicas a los estudiantes nuevos, por ejemplo cómo usar su casillero. Recientemente estudiantes también aprendieron sobre el homecoming y la semana del espíritu.

“Muchos estudiantes no tenían idea alguna de lo que era. ¿Por qué es gran cosa el partido de fútbol [americano]?” Rodriguez dijo. “Les mostramos videos. Estaban emocionados de tener esa experiencia. Seguían diciendo: ‘Voy a poder ir a un baile’”.

Algunos estudiantes también dicen que están impresionados con la seguridad de las escuelas en Estados Unidos, después de venir de otros lugares donde no siempre se sentían seguros.

“Están muy preparados”, Madrigal Delgado dijo.

Ismael Piscoya, de 17 años y proveniente de Perú, dijo que está impresionado con la cantidad de tecnología disponible. Todos los estudiantes en el distrito, no solo el centro, reciben un Chromebook.

No tardas nada en encontrar información, Piscoya dijo.

Maria Fernanda Guillen, de 18 años y originaria de México, dijo que se siente empoderada en su aprendizaje.

“En México, no teníamos una voz en la escuela”, Guillen dijo. Ahora está pensando en un futuro en biotecnología y emocionada por el comienzo que está obteniendo en el centro.

“Es lindo tener amigos de otros países”, dijo.

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado, cubriendo distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Los preescolares de Colorado enfrentan nuevos estándares para atender a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés

2023-04-05T22:39:42+00:00

Cada mañana, los estudiantes del Early Excellence Program del norte de Denver empiezan el día con una canción en inglés y español. Los cuentos y las sesiones de lectura también se hacen en ambos idiomas. A los niños se les anima que hablen ambos, pero nunca se les obliga.

Éstas son algunas de las formas en que los maestros de este prestigioso preescolar tratan de darles a sus estudiantes una base sólida en su lengua materna mientras se preparan para la escuela, algo que los investigadores coinciden en que es útil para los niños más pequeños que están en programas bilingües.

Mientras el estado se prepara para poner en marcha el preescolar universal, un nuevo programa financiado por los contribuyentes a partir del próximo año escolar y que ofrece horas de preescolar gratuitas para todos los niños de 4 años y a algunos más pequeños, las autoridades le han dado prioridad a los niños que no hablan inglés en el hogar. El estado les ofrecerá a esos niños más horas de educación preescolar gratuita y promete — por primera vez — que los programas tendrán que utilizar estrategias de enseñanza que hayan comprobado ser de ayuda para los estudiantes multilingües.

Sin embargo, a pocos meses de que empiece el programa, todavía hay grandes interrogantes sobre si se está haciendo lo suficiente para darlo a conocer, cómo será la programación, y qué ayuda obtendrán los proveedores para mejorar lo que ofrecen.

Jennifer Rodríguez-Luke, líder de Early Excellence, dice que las familias con las que trabaja no saben bien cómo llenar la solicitud o si califican. Ella ha asignado a un miembro del personal para ayudarles en el proceso, pero no ha tenido mucho éxito para conseguir solicitantes nuevos.

Hasta ahora, los únicos preescolares que parecen calificar para a su programa son los que ya ayudaron a pasar por la aplicación y están inscritos.

“Para un nivel 5 en el corazón de Denver, esperábamos tener por lo menos 10 estudiantes nuevos”, dijo Rodríguez-Luke.

Le preocupa que esto signifique que las familias vulnerables de Colorado no están solicitando el preescolar universal y se pierdan un aprendizaje que ha demostrado encaminar a los niños hacia el éxito en la escuela.

Según las leyes de Colorado, los niños de 4 años identificados como estudiantes de inglés son elegibles para recibir horas adicionales de preescolar. Las horas adicionales — 30 en lugar de 15 — dependerán de la financiación estatal. El estado tiene que primero asegurar que puede cubrir el costo de una parte de la educación preescolar de todos los niños de 4 años que la soliciten. Los estudiantes multilingües de tres años pueden calificar para 10 horas semanales de preescolar gratuito.

Los niños que están aprendiendo inglés se encuentran entre los que más podrían beneficiarse del preescolar, una de las razones por las que estos estudiantes son elegibles para recibir más horas de preescolar.

Pero en el año escolar actual, solamente 29 estudiantes de preescolar de todo el estado han sido identificados como estudiantes de inglés, según los datos proporcionados por el Departamento de Educación de Colorado.

Aunque no está claro cómo será el sistema nuevo este otoño, crear un proceso para identificar a los estudiantes multilingües y establecer estándares sobre cómo se les enseñará será beneficioso para los estudiantes, aunque todavía esté en proceso, dicen los investigadores.

“Se está intentando crear un sistema que ni siquiera sé si existe”, dijo Guadalupe Díaz Lara, profesora adjunta del Departamento de Estudios sobre la Infancia y la Adolescencia de la California State University. “Si estamos pensando en estas inversiones, ¿por qué no lo hacemos de una manera que sea de mayor calidad para los niños?”

Aún no está claro cuántas familias con estudiantes multilingües están solicitando el preescolar

Los líderes de Colorado se han apresurado a establecer un programa nuevo de Prekinder universal, que sustituirá un programa preescolar más pequeño financiado por el estado para niños de familias con bajos ingresos o que tienen otros factores de riesgo.

Pero, aunque las solicitudes se abrieron en enero, las partes críticas del programa todavía no se han establecido.

La ley que creó el preescolar universal también ordena que el departamento de estado nuevo establezca estándares de calidad que los proveedores de preescolar participantes deberán cumplir. Entre esos estándares habrá normas para identificar, evaluar y atender a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo dos idiomas. Pero esos estándares todavía no se han creado.

En varios programas estatales y federales anteriores para niños en edad preescolar, los proveedores cumplían reglas diferentes para educar a los estudiantes más pequeños que estaban aprendiendo inglés. El preescolar, a diferencia de la educación K-12, no ha tenido requisitos consistentes para identificar a los niños que necesitan apoyo para aprender un idioma y tampoco estándares sobre cómo sería la enseñanza.

El departamento de estado nuevo que está supervisando el despliegue del preescolar universal no ha podido proporcionar cifras sobre cuántos de los niños que hasta ahora se han inscrito para el otoño marcaron la casilla que indica que no dominan bien el inglés. Los funcionarios dicen que le están pidiendo a cada proveedor que hable con las familias para verificar si los padres marcaron esas casillas correctamente.

Es posible que con el tiempo se necesite otra manera de seleccionar a los estudiantes. Este es uno de los requisitos de la ley de preescolar universal.

Cuando las familias soliciten el preescolar universal gratuito (incluso las que indiquen que su hijo o hija tiene un dominio limitado del inglés), podrán buscar proveedores y hacer una lista de sus preferidos. Además, también pueden buscar proveedores y averiguar cuáles tienen personal o programas bilingües. La solicitud en línea está disponible en tres idiomas: inglés, español, y árabe.

El proceso de asignación le dará prioridad a la preferencia de la familia, no importa si ese programa tiene personal o programas bilingües. Eso significa que los proveedores que antes no anticipaban atender a esta población de niños podrían acabar con estudiantes inscritos identificados como niños que están aprendiendo inglés. Dependiendo de los estándares que se establezcan, es posible que tengan que hacer más para satisfacer las necesidades de los niños.

Los líderes estatales dicen que los proveedores de preescolar no podrán negarle una plaza a un estudiante por no dominar el idioma, pero reconocen que algunos no estarán preparados inmediatamente.

Aunque gran parte del sistema aún está siendo creada, la infraestructura para los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés es la más atrasada porque la investigación, los estándares y las prácticas fueron limitadas previamente.

Dawn Odean, directora de preescolar universal del estado, dijo que la creación por parte del estado de un sistema desde cero representa una oportunidad.

“Tenemos una oportunidad única de lograr avances más significativos en el entorno multilingüe”, dijo Odean. Ella quiere que el departamento ayude a los proveedores, dijo, y no les penalizará por no cumplir los estándares inmediatamente.

“Podemos convertirlo en un acto de cumplimiento, pero eso no va a ayudar a los estudiantes”, dijo Odean.

En cambio, dijo Odean, el departamento se enfocará en ayudar a todos los proveedores a mejorar.

Las familias enfrentan confusión en cuanto a su elegibilidad

Ana Paola Burrola Bustillos tiene dos hijos en Jeffco, entre ellos uno de 4 años inscrito en el preescolar de Foster Dual Language PK-8. Ella dice que no sabía que el estado estaba por abrir un programa de preescolar universal gratuito, y opina que es algo positivo aunque su hija, que pasará a Kinder este otoño, no podrá aprovecharlo.

Burrola Bustillos dijo que le gusta Foster para sus hijos porque cree que ser bilingües les beneficiará.

“Siento que si ellos aprenden en los dos idiomas van a estar mejor más adelante, en todo, para comunicarse con las personas, en los trabajos, pues en su vida diaria”, dijo Burrola Bustillos.

Patricia Lepiani, presidenta de The Idea Marketing, dijo que su grupo fue contratado en enero para darle publicidad al preescolar universal, pocos días antes de que se abriera el plazo de solicitud.

Lepiani explicó que un 25% de los $527,000 del presupuesto de mercadotecnia está dedicado a llegar a las familias que no hablan inglés, un porcentaje más alto que el que la mayoría de los proyectos asigna, dijo. Lepiani calcula que en Colorado un 21% de la población del estado habla español, aunque no todos son monolingües.

Lo que más rápido se hizo, nos dijo, fueron los anuncios en las redes sociales, y más tarde se colocaron letreros en consultorios dentales locales y tiendas como la Carnicería/Mercado Los Dos Toros en Denver, la Panadería Contreras en Denver, y Ay Wey Snack en Aurora.

Los letreros grandes dicen “Medio día de preescolar gratuito para todos los niños de Colorado” e incluyen un código QR y un enlace a la página web del preescolar estatal. Un cartel más pequeño en español señala que los niños que empiezan Kinder sin preparación tienden a quedarse rezagados y exhorta a los padres a “asegurar que sus hijos estén listos”.

Un anuncio para el preescolar universal en la Neveria la Unica en Aurora.

El presupuesto no fue suficiente para cubrir anuncios de radio o televisión, dijo Lepiani.

La campaña más grande que Idea Marketing ha planificado incluye capacitar a embajadores y personas de la comunidad que corran la voz y ayuden a las familias a llenar la solicitud. Ese proyecto empezó a mediados de marzo. Entre las organizaciones con las que están colaborando se encuentran Latinos Unidos de Greeley, The Rocky Mountain Welcome Center y Padres Adelante Family Services.

También se hace énfasis en educar a las familias sobre la importancia de la educación preescolar.

“Hemos estado haciendo todo lo posible lo más rápido posible, y en el menor tiempo posible”, dijo Lepiani. “El despliegue de personas en todo el estado toma un poco más de tiempo”.

Parte del trabajo es llegar a los líderes de la comunidad para que las familias reciban el mensaje de por qué es importante la educación preescolar y cómo sus hijos pueden obtener apoyo, dijo Díaz Lara.

En California, muchas de las familias con las que trabaja Díaz Lara piensan erróneamente que inscribir a sus hijos en programas bilingües podría confundirles y causar retrasos en su desarrollo. Pero darles apoyo para el idioma a los estudiantes en la casa puede beneficiarles, dijo, y el personal del preescolar solamente necesita saber cómo apoyar ese desarrollo.

En Early Excellence, donde un miembro del personal ayuda a las familias a llenar la solicitud, algunas familias piensan que no calificarán porque ganan demasiado dinero o porque ya son bilingües y no consideran que sus hijos tengan un dominio limitado del inglés. Algunas personas indocumentadas o con estatus migratorio mixto no están seguras de si tienen permitido solicitar.

“Ya da miedo entrar en un sitio web y dar tanta información”, dijo Rodríguez-Luke. “Simplemente no queremos que se pierdan en el sistema”.

Por eso, Rodríguez-Luke está trabajando en traducir la página web de la escuela a español con la esperanza de publicar más información y extender una invitación abierta para ayudar a las familias a lenar la solicitud de preescolar gratuito.

La maestra Rosario Ortiz en Early Excellence Program of Denver le enseña los nombres de materiales de arquitectura a dos estudiantes.

Los investigadores dicen que la clave es preparar a los maestros

Según los investigadores, hacen falta más estudios para determinar cuáles son las mejores estrategias para la enseñanza de estudiantes multilingües de preescolar, pero algunas cosas están claras.

“Ser bilingüe no es suficiente”, afirma Cristina Gillanders, profesora asociada de educación en la niñez temprana de la Universidad de Colorado en Denver. “Hay que tener la preparación necesaria para enseñar a estos niños. Tienes que entender lo que es bilingüismo y cómo los niños bilingües aprenden”.

Algunos proveedores de preescolar que atienden a niños que no hablan inglés se enfocan mayormente en tener personal bilingüe.

Joe Ziegler, director de educación en The Family Center/La Familia en Fort Collins, que atiende una población mayormente hispana, dijo que su programa para niños desde las seis semanas de edad hasta los 5 años no es oficialmente bilingüe según su currículo, pero que él se ha enfocado en contratar personal diverso y bilingüe. Entre un 50% y 70% de los estudiantes más pequeños empiezan entendiendo español solamente.

Cuando el programa empezó por primera vez, nos dijo, la escuela a menudo tenía que depender de los hermanos mayores para ayudar al personal a comunicarse con las familias. Desde entonces han podido dejar atrás esa situación contratando a más personal bilingüe, y ahora el enfoque es asegurar que todo el personal entienda las mejores prácticas de inclusión.

“Ahora lo hacemos todo con mayor intención”, dijo Ziegler. “Ahora nuestro énfasis está en entender cuál es la experiencia de una familia y un niño”.

En las escuelas públicas de Aurora, los preescolares llevan mucho tiempo utilizando una prueba para determinar cómo los estudiantes están progresando en su dominio del inglés. El distrito dice que un 54% de sus 2,100 estudiantes de preescolar está aprendiendo inglés.

Los investigadores dicen que los exámenes tradicionales que se usaban con estudiantes de más edad son difíciles de administrar a niños de 3 y 4 años, que tal vez no sean capaces de permanecer sentados por suficiente tiempo, usar una computadora o sujetar un lápiz.

Cynthia Cobb, la directora de educación en la niñez temprana del distrito de Aurora, dice que los exámenes que los maestros usan en los preescolares de Aurora no son exámenes tradicionales de escritorio. Los maestros observan a los estudiantes en el salón para llevar cuenta de su progreso en muchas áreas, incluso sus destrezas de idioma.

“A los niños pequeños generalmente les va fatal en exámenes tradicionales. Su desarrollo está constantemente fluctuando”, dijo Gillanders. “Para tener una mejor idea del desarrollo de un niño, hay que estar con él o ella más tiempo”.

Por eso es clave capacitar a los maestros para que entiendan lo que están observando en los niños.

Cobb dijo que el distrito de Aurora cree firmemente que poder identificar y apoyar a los estudiantes es un beneficio. Y nos dijo que los estudiantes tienen más probabilidades de dominar el inglés si empiezan a aprenderlo desde el preescolar.

Aunque es posible que los proveedores de preescolar tengan que hacer cambios, Cobb dijo que todo resultará bien.

“Es un proceso de aprendizaje”, dijo Cobb.

Ziegler sabe que los estándares que el estado probablemente creará para educar a estudiantes como los suyos posiblemente incluirán capacitación adicional para el personal, algo que sabe que puede ser positivo, pero agregó que acceder a capacitación adicional para su personal ha sido un reto.

Él se ha asociado con el distrito escolar local para darles capacitación profesional a sus maestros sobre cómo ayudar a los estudiantes que todavía no entienden bien el inglés. Pero cuando los propios maestros buscan clases adicionales, muchas solamente se ofrecen en Denver, a unos 90 minutos en auto.

Otros miembros del personal, que hablan principalmente español, tienen dificultades para encontrar clases en español. Ziegler dijo que su centro está trabajando con una universidad comunitaria a fin de desarrollar algunas clases para el personal que puedan ofrecerse en español.

“En nuestra comunidad, realmente no veo esos recursos”, dijo Ziegler, que cree que un programa universal de preescolar será finalmente beneficioso. “Pero ahora mismo, es bien estresante. Es como si estuviésemos construyendo el avión sobre la pista”.

Yesenia Robles es una reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre los distritos escolares K-12 y la educación multilingüe. Para comunicarte con Yesenia, envíale un mensaje a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Esta paraeducadora bilingüe de Colorado dejó la escuela en quinto grado. Ahora le apasiona ayudar a los estudiantes a aprender.

2021-12-21T16:38:00+00:00

Read in English.

A Guillermina McLean le encanta trabajar con sus estudiantes de Kinder que no hablan inglés, porque dice que se siente identificada con ellos.

McLean llegó a Estados Unidos desde México sin hablar inglés y tuvo que retomar sus estudios muchos años después de cambiar la escuela por el trabajo cuando era niña.

“Al principio tengo que explicarles cómo se dice ir al baño y todas las cosas básicas”, dijo McLean. “Se sienten muy cómodos porque cuando dicen algo y luego se dan la vuelta y me miran como ‘por favor, ayúdame’, yo sólo digo ‘sí, yo también estuve allí’ Los entiendo.”

McLean, que cumplirá 75 años dentro de unos meses, fue reconocida como paraeducadora del año por la Asociación de Educación Bilingüe de Colorado. Ella ha trabajado en las escuelas de Aurora durante más de 20 años.

El reconocimiento fue una sorpresa que al principio ella pensó que podría mantener en secreto. Pero cuando sus colegas de la escuela se enteraron y otros maestros empezaron a felicitarla, ella se limitó a decirles: “Solamente estoy haciendo mi trabajo”

No quiere que la gente piense que ella es más importante que los demás. Es parte de un equipo, dijo.

Paraeducadora bilingüe del año Guillermina McLean

A McLean le apasiona la educación porque cuando era niña, ella no la tuvo.

Creció en México como la mayor de 15 hijos, y sus padres la sacaron de la escuela en quinto grado para ir a trabajar. Pero cuando cumplió 18 años, decidió volver a aprender.

“Mi mamá me decía: ‘¿no te da vergüenza ir?’ Y yo le decía, ‘no, no me da vergüenza’. Yo tenía muchas ganas de ir”.

Por eso iba a la escuela durante el día y trabajaba por la noche. Cuando se graduó a los 28 años, estaba casada y vivía en El Paso, Texas, y viajaba todos los días a Juárez, México para estudiar.

“No tuve una infancia como la que quiero que tengan estos niños”, dijo McLean. “Creo que eso me motiva a lograr que todos los niños vayan a la escuela. Dije, si tengo hijos, irán a la escuela pase lo que pase”

Tuvo dos hijos, y ambos fueron a la universidad. Ahora, uno es ingeniero y el otro es científico, dijo.

Y ella también ha seguido aprendiendo.

Su esposo no hablaba español, así que después de terminar los estudios y mudarse con él a Virginia, se matriculó en clases para aprender inglés.

“Tomé clases dondequiera que iba”, dijo.

Eso incluyó tomar una clase de literatura americana en una secundaria de Virginia para conocer gente nueva. Cuando su familia se mudó de nuevo a Denver, se apuntó en clases en el Emily Griffith Technical College.

Durante la década de sus 50, y después de trabajar durante años en un restaurante, se arriesgó y solicitó un puesto en una escuela.

El distrito de Aurora le ofreció capacitación para ser asistente educativa. Trabajó durante 11 años en la Kenton Elementary, y luego se convirtió en paraprofesional en Fulton Elementary, donde ha estado otros 11 años.

Ahora está considerando la posibilidad de jubilarse al final del año escolar. Cada año, correr detrás de los niños se le hace más difícil. También cree que cada año llegan más estudiantes de Kinder que necesitan ayuda adicional.

Pero aun así, la ayuda adicional que ella presta para enseñar a los niños en pequeños grupos es su parte favorita del trabajo, y algo que ella cree que los padres no siempre se dan cuenta de que hace.

“Nosotros ayudamos a los niños a aprender”, dijo.

También dijo que ahora le impresiona cuando uno de los niños con los que trabaja empieza el año sabiendo deletrear su nombre.

“Es muy difícil, y ahora es más difícil aún”, dijo McLean. “Por eso quería hacer más grupos. Yo les ayudo a tener ese deseo de aprender. Algunos vienen a mí sin nada”. A veces se quedan mirando a la maestra, y este es el momento en que empiezan a hablar en inglés. Un inglés bastante entrecortado, como el mío”.

Como los niños con los que trabaja proceden de lugares más diversos, incluidos más de Centroamérica que de México, y algunos de países africanos, dice que ella también aprende de los niños. Aprende sobre su comida y su cultura.

Si se jubila, sospecha que volverá a las escuelas, como voluntaria. No puede imaginarse sentada en la casa. “No tiene sentido”, dijo.

“Todavía estoy aprendiendo. Siempre voy a estar aprendiendo”.

Estos estudiantes tuvieron más retrasos académicos durante COVID. ¿Cómo están respondiendo las escuelas en Colorado?

2023-11-08T19:00:00+00:00

Los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés quizás hayan enfrentado mayores obstáculos durante la pandemia y necesitan apoyo adicional, según dicen expertos y defensores en el campo de la educación.

Los resultados de las pruebas estatales en 2023 muestran que los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés se encuentran más rezagados en comparación con otros grupos de estudiantes que sus pares en 2019, y están teniendo más dificultades para retomar el camino. Tuvieron la reducción más grande en sus habilidades en las principales pruebas estatales de artes del idioma inglés y matemáticas y también mostraron menor crecimiento que sus pares en 2019.

Los resultados de las pruebas no son la única señal de alarma. El 40 por ciento de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés faltaron tanto a la escuela el año pasado que se los identificó como ausentes crónicos, comparado con solo un tercio de otros estudiantes de Colorado.

Se han establecido dos métodos notables para ayudar a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés con su desempeño académico a raíz de COVID.

Un puñado de distritos escolares observaron a sus estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés avanzar más del promedio, o demostrar un mayor crecimiento que el resto de los estudiantes. Líderes en esos distritos dijeron que priorizaron la enseñanza conjunta en lugar de sacar a los estudiantes de clases generales para recibir enseñanza específica sobre el desarrollo del idioma inglés. Por lo menos un distrito usó fondos federales por COVID para proporcionarles servicios de tutoría a esos estudiantes.

Pero algunos otros distritos dicen que no han asignado recursos ni estrategias específicas para ayudar a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés. De hecho, sin importar datos recientes y lo que los analistas del estado digan sobre el tema, niegan que la pandemia haya afectado desproporcionadamente a estos estudiantes. Dicen que la composición demográfica de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés ha cambiado y ahora incluye a más estudiantes recién llegados al país.

“Hay distritos que no parecen estar muy preocupados con los estudiantes bilingües emergentes”, dijo Cynthia Trinidad-Sheahan, presidenta de la Asociación de Educación Bilingüe de Colorado.

Representantes del estado en el campo de la educación dicen que no pueden darles más dinero a los distritos para ayudarlos con los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés a menos que los legisladores autoricen más gastos o nuevos programas. “Eso lo deberá contestar la Asamblea General”, dijo Floyd Cobb, comisionado de la Asociación de Educación de Colorado, al preguntarle cómo la agencia espera cerrar la brecha entre los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés y estudiantes[AC1] que hablan inglés como primer idioma.

La mayoría de los datos sobre calificaciones de pruebas muestran una tendencia negativa

Cuando las escuelas implementaron la enseñanza virtual al principio de la pandemia, algunas escuelas enfrentaron dificultades para ofrecer apoyo con el desarrollo del idioma inglés. Los estudiantes no tenían un entorno para practicar su nuevo idioma, y en sus hogares muchas familias no podían apoyarlos con el aprendizaje virtual. Y cuando las escuelas regresaron a la enseñanza presencial, algunas familias de estudiantes que estaban aprendiendo inglés titubearon más que otras familias para enviar nuevamente a sus hijos de inmediato al salón de clases.

Las desigualdades en las calificaciones de las pruebas entre los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés y quienes hablan inglés como primer idioma no son nuevas. Una razón es que la gran mayoría de los estudiantes del inglés están tomando pruebas en inglés antes de entender totalmente el idioma. Una cantidad limitada de estudiantes puede tomar pruebas de artes del idioma en español, pero esos resultados también reflejan calificaciones mucho más bajas que los estudiantes en 2019, mientras que los que hablan inglés como primer idioma en los mismos niveles de grado casi ya se recuperaron.

Las calificaciones de este año en la prueba ACCESS, la cual evalúa la habilidad de los estudiantes para dominar el idioma inglés, muestran que una porción más pequeña de estudiantes lo dominan en 2023 comparado con 2019. Y hace cuatro años, el 9.4 por ciento de estudiantes de primer grado obtuvieron una calificación de nivel 1, el nivel más bajo. Pero en 2023, casi un cuarto de los estudiantes de primer grado obtuvieron el nivel más bajo.

Cuando el estado publicó las calificaciones de CMAS en agosto, los representantes estatales dijeron que la mayoría de los grupos de estudiantes históricamente desventajados había regresado a los niveles de crecimiento prepandemia, excepto los estudiantes multilingües en la materia de artes del idioma inglés. Dijeron que sin acelerar su aprendizaje, esos estudiantes “continuarán retrasándose aún más”.

“Creo que tenemos una cantidad creíble de evidencia para poder decir que nuestros estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés se vieron afectados por COVID—y afectados desproporcionadamente”, dijo Joyce Zurkowski, directora ejecutiva de evaluaciones en el Departamento de Educación de Colorado.

Algunos distritos minimizan las tendencias negativas de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés

A pesar de lo que los datos significan para personas como Zurkwoski, los líderes de algunos distritos piensan que los datos de los estudiantes que estaban aprendiendo inglés en 2019 no son comparables con los datos de estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés en 2023 debido a recientes llegadas de inmigrantes de Afganistán, Ucrania y América del Sur, quienes han cambiado la composición demográfica de esos grupos.

Representantes del estado dicen que aunque eso ha afectado a muchos distritos, las cantidades de recién llegados no son suficientes como para explicar todas las reducciones en los datos de logros.

En Cherry Creek, líderes del distrito dicen que están monitoreando cuántos estudiantes están logrando dominar el inglés. En Colorado, para que un estudiante deje de ser identificado como estudiante del inglés, los maestros usan datos de las calificaciones de ACCESS y pruebas estatales. Pero también pueden usar sus propias observaciones y datos internos para probar que un estudiante ya no necesita ciertas clases y servicios en inglés.

Holly Porter, directora de apoyos para el idioma en Cherry Creek, dijo que usualmente alrededor del 85 por ciento de los estudiantes se consideran como competentes en el idioma inglés a tres años de haber ingresado al distrito, y el 95 por ciento alcanza esa designación en cinco años.

Aunque las cantidades más recientes todavía no están disponibles, Porter dijo que la tendencia se ha mantenido constante.

Porter también dijo que los estudiantes que dejan de recibir servicios para el inglés siguen desempeñándose bien en la escuela y muestran un crecimiento por arriba del promedio en pruebas estatales, lo cual confirma los avances.

“Encontramos que muchos estudiantes estaban rezagados, no solo los estudiantes multilingües”, dijo.

En el distrito escolar de Harrison en Colorado Springs, Rachel Laufer, asistente del superintendente de enseñanza y aprendizaje, dijo que los desafíos que surgen con estudiantes recién llegados es que “las escuelas están trabajando para apoyar no solo las necesidades del lenguaje y académicas de las familias, sino también los otros obstáculos que existen para las familias que acaban de llegar al país”. Las familias necesitan ayuda con el transporte, la vivienda y otras cosas para que los estudiantes puedan ir a la escuela a aprender, dijo.

Aunque no les preocupan los datos, los líderes del distrito de Harrison dijeron que han realizado algunos cambios en cómo ayudan a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés y a los recién llegados en particular.

En los últimos años, el distrito ha intentado aumentar el personal para asegurar que haya por lo menos un maestro certificado para trabajar con estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés en cada escuela, en lugar de tener que dividir su tiempo en diferentes escuelas. El distrito también está probando lentamente la enseñanza conjunta.

Laufer dijo que Harrison priorizó que los estudiantes del inglés y con discapacidades regresaran al aprendizaje presencial. Pero cuando el distrito usó el aprendizaje híbrido y los padres pudieron decidir si enviar o no a sus hijos a la escuela, fue más probable que los estudiantes que estaban aprendiendo inglés se quedaran en casa.

“Fue una mayor preocupación para ellos”, Laufer dijo. “Creo que podrías conectar eso con algunos de los datos”.

Aumentando el entusiasmo entre los maestros para ayudar a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés

Hay algunos distritos en Colorado donde algunos de los datos entre los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés son más positivos.

En Pueblo 60, por ejemplo, la calificación del crecimiento este año en la prueba de CMAS en artes del idioma de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés ahora es más alta que para los estudiantes que hablan inglés como primer idioma. En el distrito escolar 3J del Condado de Weld, la calificación del crecimiento en matemáticas mejoró entre 2019 y 2023.

La mejora no es uniforme en los distritos. En 3J, por ejemplo, a pesar de mejoras significativas en el crecimiento de las pruebas de matemáticas de CMS, el crecimiento en la prueba de ACCESS disminuyó.

Mientras tanto, los estudiantes de Adams 14 mostraron un crecimiento significativo en las pruebas ACCESS para ver si dominan el inglés—el crecimiento más alto entre distritos grandes—pero no mostraron mejoras en otras pruebas estatales.

En Pueblo, los líderes del distrito dijeron que ya estaban trabajando para renovar la educación de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés antes de la pandemia.

La high school abrió un centro para estudiantes recién llegados hace siete años. En los últimos cinco años, el distrito ha trabajado en su filosofía de enseñanza y en que la enseñanza concuerde con los estándares de contenido.

Tanto Pueblo como 3J también han trabajado para reducir la cantidad de tiempo que a los estudiantes los sacan del salón de clases para recibir enseñanza sobre el idioma inglés, una estrategia que también se está usando en otros distritos como Harrison y Boulder donde los datos son menos positivos.

En escuelas primarias de Pueblo 60, la enseñanza donde se saca a los estudiantes del salón general ya no ocurre durante matemáticas ni lectura. En la escuela media, los maestros van a las clases de los estudiantes en lugar de sacarlos.

Ese fue un cambio que los maestros mismos sugirieron.

“Realmente estaban en sintonía con lo que sus estudiantes necesitaban así que aceptamos su sugerencia y dijimos: ‘bueno, intentemos eso y veamos si marca una diferencia’”, dijo Lisa Casarez, la especialista en adquisición del idioma inglés del distrito escolar de Pueblo. Ahora, en las escuelas de educación media, piensa que eso ha sucedido.

Los datos del estado muestran que los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés en las escuelas medias de Pueblo 60 obtuvieron calificaciones más altas de crecimiento en las pruebas de CMAS sobre las artes del idioma que los estudiantes en escuelas primarias y sus pares que ya dominan el inglés en escuelas de educación media.

Tanto en 3J como en Pueblo, líderes dijeron que han observado más entusiasmo entre todos los maestros para aprender cómo ayudar a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

El departamento de educación del estado ahora obliga que todos los maestros reciban capacitación en Educación Cultural y Lingüísticamente Diversa cuando renuevan sus licencias. Eso significa que aprender cómo ayudar a esos estudiantes ya no es responsabilidad de unos pocos educadores con licencias especiales.

“Hemos observado mucho interés entre los maestros de educación general para apoyar a los estudiantes multilingües”, dijo Jenny Wakeman, asistente del superintendente en 3J. “Eso es algo que han hecho naturalmente”.

También ayudaron fondos adicionales. Wakeman dijo que su distrito usó algunos fondos federales por la pandemia para proporcionar intervenciones adicionales, incluida más tutoría, específicamente para estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Mientras tanto, dijo que los maestros ahora están haciendo sus propios estudios de libros para aprender aún más sobre cómo ayudar a los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés. Ese es el tipo de actitud que Zurkowski con el departamento de educación de Colorado dice que se necesita para ayudar a esos estudiantes a ponerse a la par.

“Sabemos que esas brechas eran grandes antes de la pandemia, [y] son grandes después de la pandemia”, Zurkowski dijo. “Justifican esfuerzos intensivos de intervención”.

Test scores say COVID was especially rough on English learners. Not all school districts agree.

2023-11-08T19:00:00+00:00

English learners might have been hit especially hard during the pandemic and need extra targeted support, experts and advocates say. But some school district leaders aren’t yet concerned about the data.

Results from 2023 state tests show English learners are further behind their peers from 2019 compared with other student groups, and they’re struggling more to get back on track.

On the main state tests in English language arts and math, the biggest falloff in proficiency between 2019 and this year is for English learners. They also showed less growth. Of those taking the SAT and PSAT for example, only students with disabilities showed less growth.

Helping English learners recover from the pandemic has been a complex problem nationwide. And test scores aren’t the only warning sign about how English learners in Colorado schools are faring: While nearly a third of Colorado students were chronically absent last year, for example, 40% of English learners missed enough school to get that label. In Colorado, English learners make up 12% of all K-12 students. Some districts have much higher concentrations than others.

There have been two notable approaches to English learners in COVID’s wake when it comes to academics.

A handful of school districts where English learners made up more ground than the average, or had better growth than non-English learners, said they prioritized co-teaching instead of pulling students out of mainstream classes to receive specific instruction on English language development. At least one district used federal COVID aid to give those students tutoring. And some district leaders also said they’ve noticed more teachers are now interested in learning strategies that specifically help English learners.

But in other districts, leaders say they haven’t devoted specific resources or strategies to help English learners. In fact, regardless of recent data and what state analysts say about it, they deny that the pandemic had an outsized impact on these students. They point to the changing makeup of English learners, among other factors.

“There are districts that don’t seem to be very concerned with emerging bilingual students,” said Cynthia Trinidad-Sheahan, president of the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education,

Whether these students get extra resources and support could depend on Colorado politics. After the Colorado Department of Education published the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) scores in August, Associate Commissioner Floyd Cobb answered a question about how the agency would help close the gap between English learners and their peers by saying: “That’ll need to be answered by the General Assembly.”

Most test score data shows negative trend

When schools instituted remote learning at the start of the pandemic, some schools struggled to keep offering English language development. Students didn’t have an environment in which to practice their new language, and at home many of their families struggled to support them in accessing remote learning. And when schools resumed in-person instruction, some families of English learners were more reluctant than others to immediately send their children back to classrooms.

Test score disparities between English learners and native English speakers aren’t new. One reason is that the vast majority of English learners are testing in English before they have a full grasp of the language.

A limited number of students can take the test in Spanish for a couple of years. But results show those students did much worse than their 2019 counterparts, while native English speakers in the same grade levels have nearly recovered.

This year’s scores on the ACCESS test, which measures students’ English fluency, show that a smaller share of students are proficient in 2023 than in 2019. And four years ago, 9.4% of first graders scored at a level 1, the lowest level. But in 2023, 23.3% of first graders scored at the lowest level.

In some cases, the decline in the share of English learners achieving proficiency is just a handful of percentage points. But that doesn’t necessarily capture the pandemic’s impact.

For example, out of every 100 English learners in the fourth grade who took the CMAS language arts test for reading and writing, roughly eight met expectations, down from about 12 out of 100 in 2019. For every 100 students who aren’t English learners, about 49 met expectations this year, where 54 out of 100 met expectations in 2019.

Both groups’ proficiency rates dropped by around four to five percentage points. But four fewer English learners achieving proficiency means their share of who met expectations has dropped by roughly a third — far more proportionally than the decline for non-English learners.

Separately, CMAS growth scores, in which students’ performance is compared to peers who performed similarly in the past, also show English learners aren’t making the same growth as other student groups now, or as English learners did in the past. Students who are behind need a growth score above 50, on a scale of 0-100, to catch up.

When the state released CMAS scores in August, state officials said that groups of historically disadvantaged students were back to growth levels from before the pandemic, except for multilingual learners on English language arts. They said that without accelerating their learning, those students “will continue to fall further behind.”

“I believe we have a credible amount of evidence to be able to say that our English learners were impacted by COVID — and impacted disproportionately,” said Joyce Zurkowski, chief assessment officer for the Colorado Department of Education.

Some districts downplay negative trends for English learners

Despite what the data tells people like Zurkwoski, some district leaders think that the data for English learners in 2019 isn’t comparable to data for English learners in 2023 because of the recent waves of immigrants from Afghanistan, Ukraine, and South America, changing the demographics and make up of those groups.

State officials say that while that has impacted many districts, the numbers of new arrivals aren’t enough to completely account for all of the drops in achievement data.

District leaders have had access to state test data for months but have focused on different data points.

In Cherry Creek, district leaders say they’re monitoring how many students are becoming proficient in English. In Colorado, to move a student out of the English learner designation, teachers use ACCESS scores and state test score data. But they can also use their own observations and internal data to make the case that a student no longer requires specific English classes and services.

Holly Porter, director of language supports for Cherry Creek, said that typically about 85% of students are deemed English proficient within three years of entering the district, and 95% reach that status within five years.

Although the most recent numbers aren’t available yet, Porter said that trend has remained consistent.

When she looks at CMAS scores and other state data, Porter points out that participation dropped, including among English learners. One reason is that in 2018, the federal government asked states to allow some newcomer students to not take state language arts tests for the first year they’re enrolled.

These students tended to show very high growth because they were starting from a point of knowing no English. Porter said excluding these students made data for English learners look worse.

But that change was already in effect before the pandemic struck.

Still, for Porter, when comparing the pre-pandemic environment to what followed, she says “it’s just not the same kids, not the same data, not the same experiences. For me there’s too many variables there to say this is a definite issue until I can look at it for a couple years out of COVID.”

From 2019 to 2023, the growth score of Cherry Creek’s English learners fell from 48 to 45. Growth scores for non-English learners went up from 46 to 50 over the same time span.

Porter said, however, that growth scores for students who have reached English proficiency have held steady at 53. Students remain monitored as former English learners for two years after they stop receiving language services. Seeing that these students do well on state tests, and that the percentage of students exiting services is still high, Porter said, is additional reassurance that students are getting the English instruction they need to do well in school after they stop getting services.

Porter said the district isn’t necessarily doing anything to target the recovery of English learners, though 350 newcomer students are getting tutoring through a grant.

“We found that a lot of students were behind, not just multilingual learners,” she said.

In the Harrison school district, leaders also are slightly skeptical about comparing this year’s data with pre-pandemic scores. English learners in Harrison showed above average growth on ACCESS tests in 2019, with a score of 61, but that dropped rapidly to 51 in 2023. On CMAS language arts and math tests, student growth scores showed that English learners made less progress than other students.

While Cherry Creek attributes lower scores to excluding data from newcomer students, leaders in Harrison say a large influx of newcomers has contributed to lower scores. Both say the population of students has changed from from 2019 to 2023.

District leaders say that’s because starting in January 2021, they saw a dramatic increase in the number of refugees from Afghanistan, Guatemala, and Honduras who aren’t native English speakers.

Rachel Laufer, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, said the challenges that come with more newcomers is that “schools are working to support not only the language and academic needs of families, but also the other barriers that exist for families that are new to the county.” That includes helping with transportation, housing, and other resources.

While they aren’t worried about the data, Harrison district leaders said they have made some changes to how they help English learners and newcomers in particular.

In the last few years, the district has tried to increase staffing to ensure there is at least one licensed teacher working with English learners at each school, instead of having to have them split their time across sites. The district is also slowly trying more co-teaching.

Laufer said Harrison prioritized bringing back groups like English learners and students with disabilities to in-person classes. But when the district used hybrid learning and parents could decide whether to send their children to school, English learners were more likely to stay home.

“It was a bigger concern for them,” Laufer said. “I think you could connect that to some of the data.”

Getting teachers enthusiastic about helping English learners

There are a few Colorado districts where some of the data was more positive for English learners.

In Pueblo 60, for example, the growth score this year for English learners on the CMAS language arts test is now higher than it is for non-English learners. In Weld County 3J, their growth score in math improved from 2019 to 2023.

The improvement isn’t uniform within districts. In 3J, for example, despite the significant growth improvements on CMAS math tests, growth scores for ACCESS tests dropped from 56 in 2019 to 41.5 in 2023.

Adams 14 students, meanwhile, showed significant growth on ACCESS tests for English fluency — the highest among large districts — but they didn’t show improvement on other state tests.

In Pueblo, district leaders said that they were working on revamping education for English learners even before the pandemic.

The high school opened a center for newcomer students seven years ago. For the last five years, the district has worked on its philosophy of teaching and on aligning instruction to content standards.

Both Pueblo and 3J have also worked to reduce the extent to which students are pulled out of classes to receive English language instruction, a strategy also happening in other districts like Harrison and Boulder where the data is less positive.

In Pueblo 60 elementary schools, pull-out instruction no longer occurs during math or reading classes. In middle school, teachers are going into students’ classes instead of pulling them out.

That was a change suggested by teachers themselves.

“They really were in tune with what their students needed and so we took a cue from them and said ‘well lets go ahead and try that and see if that made a difference,’” said Lisa Casarez, Pueblo’s English language acquisition specialist. Now, for the middle schools, she thinks it has.

State data show English learners in Pueblo 60 middle schools had higher growth scores on language arts CMAS tests than elementary students or non-English learner middle school peers.

In both 3J and Pueblo, leaders said they’ve seen more enthusiasm from all teachers to learn how to help their English learners.

3J leaders traced that shift to a few years ago when the district rolled out state-mandated rules requiring many teachers to receive training in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education when they renewed their licenses.

That meant that learning how to help these students didn’t just fall to the dedicated staff member licensed to work with English learners.

“We’ve seen a lot of interest from general education teachers to support multilingual learners,” said Jenny Wakeman, assistant superintendent for 3J. “That’s something they’ve done naturally.”

Additional funding also helped. Wakeman said her district used some federal pandemic aid — known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER — to provide additional interventions specifically for English learners, including before- and after-school tutoring.

In the meantime, she said teachers started a book club to learn even more about how to help students who are learning English. That’s the kind of attitude that Zurkowski of the Colorado education department says is necessary to help those students catch up.

“We know that those gaps were large pre-pandemic, they are large post-pandemic,” Zurkowski said. “They warrant intensive intervention efforts.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Influx of asylum seekers pushes NYC’s homeless student population to record high

2023-11-01T10:00:00+00:00

The number of homeless students attending New York City schools reached a record high last year after thousands of asylum-seeking families entered the city’s shelter system, a new analysis shows.

Roughly 1 in 9 students were living in shelters, “doubled up” with relatives or friends, or otherwise without permanent housing at some point in the school year, according to state data compiled by Advocates for Children, a group that supports the city’s most vulnerable students.

The city’s population of homeless students was astronomical even before the recent influx, with the number of kids lacking permanent housing exceeding 100,000 for each of the past eight years – a stark indication of the city’s ongoing housing crisis.

But the sudden arrival of thousands of families fleeing dire conditions in Latin America and other parts of the world pushed the figure to nearly 120,000 last school year — a 14% increase over the previous school year. It’s an all-time high, even as the city’s overall student enrollment has plummeted, according to Advocates for Children, which has been crunching this number annually for more than a decade.

The number is likely to be even higher by the end of this school year. Roughly 12,500 new students in temporary housing have enrolled in city schools since July, according to an Education Department spokesperson.

“Our young people experiencing homelessness are some of our most vulnerable students, and it is our on-going priority to provide them with every support and resource at our disposal,” spokesperson Jenna Lyle said in a statement.

The increase has profound implications for city schools.

Homeless students face significant educational roadblocks, from the added logistical challenges of getting to school from distant shelters to the trauma that comes with losing permanent housing.

An astounding 72% of students living in homeless shelters were marked chronically absent last year — meaning they missed at least 18 days of school, according to data compiled by Advocates for Children. For all students in temporary housing, including those living doubled up, the rate was 54%, and for kids in permanent housing, it was 39%.

Students living in shelters were also more than four times as likely as kids with permanent housing to transfer schools last year, and less than half as likely to score proficient on state reading exams, according to the data.

Advocates fear the number of school transfers will spike even higher this year due to a new city rule that requires families in some shelters to exit the system every 60 days and either find alternative housing or re-apply for shelter. Families that re-apply would have no guarantee of ending up in the same shelter or even the same borough.

Mayor Eric Adams said the new policy is necessary to relieve severe overcrowding in shelters and free up space for new arrivals. He promised the city would work to ensure that students don’t have to transfer schools whenever possible.

Students who end up in homeless shelters far from their schools are entitled under federal law to transportation so they don’t have to transfer, but given the difficulty of coordinating the rides and the stress of the long commutes on families, that often amounts to “a right in name only,” said Jennifer Pringle, the director of Advocates for Children’s Learners in Temporary Housing project.

An Education Department spokesperson said district superintendents will ensure that transportation requests from homeless students are prioritized.

Schools go all out to help homeless students

Schools often devote considerable resources to supporting families in temporary housing with everything from transportation to basic needs like laundry.

At VOICE charter school in Long Island City, Queens, a sudden explosion of enrollment of students in shelters transformed educators’ approach to working with families.

Historically, the K-8 school enrolled no more than 20 homeless students in a year, said Principal Franklin Headley. But last year, given the school’s proximity to a cluster of recently converted shelters housing asylum-seeking families and an effective outreach strategy, the school enrolled hundreds of newly arrived families. It now serves roughly 270 students in temporary housing, Headley said.

The school’s 15-person operations team pivoted to focus almost exclusively on supporting the newly arrived families, fanning out to shelters to survey families’ needs and establish relationships with shelter staff, said Director of Operations Karina Chalas.

That work yielded several new school initiatives, including an after-school program to help parents who needed child care (because of shelter rules prohibiting them from leaving kids alone) and a laundry room for families without washers and dryers in their shelters.

Staff worked hard to keep attendance tabs on the new arrivals, even as families moved to new cities and states or transferred to shelters in other parts of the city. The school helped arrange bus or train transportation when possible for families who moved to different neighborhoods so kids didn’t have to transfer schools.

“They built a community here already,” Chalas said. “We try as hard as we can to give them any option of ‘here’s what we can do.’ After a while, if it becomes too much, we know as a school we tried everything we can do.”

Budget woes could unleash more instability for homeless students

All that support requires additional resources and expertise – and advocates say the city is still not providing enough help.

A city Education Department initiative last year that hired 100 new staffers, called community coordinators, to work directly in shelters to support families with educational needs is funded by one-time federal pandemic aid that expires at the end of this year.

Meanwhile, a plan to hire an additional 12 staffers this year to support homeless students is on hold because of a hiring freeze related to city budget cuts, advocates said.

“Losing the shelter-based Community Coordinators would almost certainly increase the already sky-high rates of chronic absenteeism and make it even more difficult for students in shelter to succeed in school,” said Kim Sweet, the executive director of Advocates for Children, said in a statement.

City officials have rolled out some new investments, including revamping the Education Department’s school funding formula to give extra dollars to schools for every student in temporary housing. The Education Department also employs 100 school-based social workers devoted to supporting homeless students.

Lyle, the Department spokesperson, said the agency plans to “work with our partners at the city and state levels to identify and establish supports for our students in temporary housing, while contending with the city’s financial reality.”

Staffers at schools serving large numbers of asylum-seekers remain worried about how the new 60-day shelter rules will affect their families. Chalas, the staffer at the Queens charter school, said she’s heard many families at her school talking about cramming into shared apartments together rather than re-enter the shelter system.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Adams 12’s first newcomer center offers students support and a path to graduation

2023-10-19T19:04:03+00:00

About 23 students from mixed grades were taking a math quiz on exponents at the newcomer center at Thornton High School one recent Friday afternoon.

The class was buzzing. Students were helping each other.

“If we’re not sure, it’s OK,” teacher Adria Padilla Chavez assured her students. “We go back and relearn.” Then she repeated her instructions in Spanish.

Padilla Chavez and other staffers at the newcomer center work to help students who are new to the country adjust to life in an American high school. As the program grows, students are gaining much more than English lessons. They’re making friends from around the world, engaging in their learning, and getting on a path to graduation. It’s helping them dream of futures they might not have imagined before.

“We like to welcome our students into a community where they feel like they belong,” said Frida Rodriguez, a youth and family advocate at the center. “It’s so important to have a place where you know you belong. They connect with staff that provide them a sense of help and support and love. Truly feeling loved is really important.”

Seventeen-year-old Joan Madrigal Delgado has been a student at the newcomer center for a month, his first experience in a U.S. school. He already feels his life changing.

He’s impressed by how teachers help him, and ask him to think and participate in discussions.

“I really didn’t have any possibilities in my country,” said Madrigal Delgado, who came from Cuba. “It feels good. Now I aspire to everything.”

He’s starting to think about college and considering a career as a veterinarian.

The newcomer center, the first in Adams 12 Five Star Schools, opened in August with 30 students. Now, a couple months into the school year, the center has more than 90 students, with new students enrolling every week and families spreading the word in the community.

The students come from many countries, but one of the main drivers for the development of the center was the influx of refugees arriving from Afghanistan around two years ago. Many live in the Thornton area around the high school.

Adams 12 was one of four school districts to receive a grant from the Rose Community Foundation this year to help support education for newcomers, particularly from Afghanistan.

The foundation worked with the Colorado Refugee Services Program — a unit within the Colorado Department of Human Services — to set up the Refugee Integration Fund, which gave away the grants.

The district used that money, along with some federal COVID relief money, and pulled $868,000 from the general fund to start up the center and pay for staff. The center has its own registrar, who calls families flagged to her by other schools and invites them to attend.

The district is offering transportation. About 45 of the newcomer center students get bused to the high school. And advocates like Rodriguez, who speaks Spanish, and Imran Khan, who speaks Pashai and Dari, also help families find resources in the community.

One unique feature of the center, says director Manissa Featherstone, is that it has its own counselor to help students map their way to graduation. She said many newcomer centers focus on teaching students English, and sometimes that means delaying classes that would earn them the credits required to get on track to graduate.

At the Thornton High program, students take all their core classes within the center, but are integrated into the mainstream high school for elective classes, or when they need a more advanced class. An instructional coach who works for the center helps customize the help for students.

“We’re able to provide those classes,” Featherstone said. “It just depends on the individual student’s needs and what schooling they’ve had.”

Newcomer Center teacher Aria Padilla Chavez, top center, works on a math quiz with her students.

Students also participate in extracurricular activities, clubs, and sports at the high school.

The program can accommodate up to 150 students, Featherstone said. It’s designed so that students spend a year there after they first arrive in the U.S., and then move on to regular high school programming.

Mohammad Ali Dost, 14, arrived from Afghanistan a couple of years ago, and was initially attending a middle school in the district without a dedicated newcomer program. Now at the center, he said he’s happy it’s helped him improve his English.

Dost said he tells other students: “If you want to improve your English quickly, come to the newcomer center.”

Dost also helps students who speak his home language of Pashai, the kind of peer-to-peer learning and interaction that staffers celebrate.

Featherstone said current students often volunteer to give new students tours and to help familiarize them with their new school.

“We see students jumping in and saying. ‘I’ll take them,’” Featherstone said. “They’re really excited when a student arrives.”

The advocates teach students the basics at first, like how to use a locker. Recently students also enjoyed learning about homecoming and spirit week.

“A lot of students had no idea what it was. What was the big deal about the football game?” Rodriguez said. “We showed them videos. They were just excited to have that experience. They kept saying, ‘I get to go to a dance.’”

Some students also say they’re impressed by the security of schools in the U.S., having come from other environments where they didn’t always feel safe.

“They’re very prepared,” Madrigal Delgado said.

Ismael Piscoya, 17, from Peru, said he’s amazed at the amount of technology available. All students in the district, not just the center, get a Chromebook.

It takes no time to look up information, Piscoya said.

Maria Fernanda Guillen, 18, from Mexico, said she feels empowered in her education.

“In Mexico, we didn’t have a voice in school,” Guillen said. Now thinking about a future in biotechnology, she’s excited about the start she’s getting at the center.

“It’s nice to have friends from other countries,” she said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago teachers urge State Board of Education to help with ongoing migrant crisis

2023-10-19T00:49:30+00:00

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Chicago teachers are urging state education officials to help the city’s public schools with an influx of migrant students, many of whom lack basic needs such as clothing, medical care, and housing.

Teachers told board members on Wednesday during the state board’s monthly meeting that Chicago schools are struggling to meet the needs of newly arrived school-age migrants. Some teachers said classrooms have become overcrowded, schools don’t have enough bilingual educators, and many students need access to bilingual social workers or school counselors for social-emotional support.

Diane Castro, a bilingual preschool teacher at Lorca Elementary School, said the 3- and 4-year-old students she works with have endured so much and need more than her school can provide.

“Our students are … doubled and tripled up in apartment buildings,” said Castro. “The children are in clothes that are too small and shoes that are too big. Our children have not had proper medical or dental care.”

More than 18,500 migrants have come to Chicago since August 2022, according to city officials, though it’s not clear exactly how many are school-aged. Chicago Public Schools officials have pointed to climbing numbers of students identified as English learners and those living in temporary living situations as an estimate for how many newcomers are now in CPS.

The teachers’ push for help comes as city and state officials are calling on the federal government to come through with additional funding and support.

During the spring legislative session, state lawmakers filed a bill to help support migrant students by requiring the state board to create New Arrival Student Grants for schools. But the bill didn’t move past the rules committee.

In late September, Gov. J. B. Pritzker announced $41.5 million for Illinois cities seeing an influx of newcomers. Chicago got more than $30 million of that money. But in early October, Pritzker made a plea to President Joe Biden for support, calling the pace of new arrivals “untenable” for Chicago and Illinois.

A Chalkbeat Chicago analysis of staffing data over the summer found a decline in the number of designated bilingual teachers in recent years, but an uptick in teachers with bilingual or English as a Second Language endorsements. The analysis also found that the ratio of staff with bilingual credentials or titles to students was increasing as more English learners have enrolled.

Syvelia Pittman, a teacher at Nash Elementary School on the city’s West Side, has seen that play out on the ground. She told the state board Wednesday that her school serves about 50 newcomers, increasing the school’s enrollment in preschool to third grade. However, the school does not have any bilingual educators and teachers often use Google translate to speak to students.

Pittman asked the state board to provide schools with additional funding to hire more teachers and provide current teachers with support to obtain a certificate in bilingual education.

In addition to the increased need for bilingual educators, teachers said students are coming to schools without their basic needs being met.

Gabriel Paez, a bilingual educator at Cameron Elementary School in the West Humboldt Park Neighborhood and Bilingual Education Committee chair for the Chicago Teachers Union, said some students lack shoes and clothes and need access to vaccination to attend school. With Chicago’s harsh winter around the corner, students will need warmer clothes, winter coats, and housing.

“We have 20 newcomers in each grade level who arrive daily and in worsening conditions. Many of my students arrive stripped of their basic needs,” said Paez. “Medication, clothes, shoes, socks, medical attention, housing, and mental health, are all falling on already overburdened and understaffed schools.”

Paez urged the state board to provide winter supplies, emergency housing assistance, and first aid kits along with bilingual social workers and counselors.

Paez also asked the board to give students who are migrants an exception from the state’s English-only exams such as the Illinois Assessment of Readiness because it would be “damaging and retraumatizing” to students who do not understand the language.

Chicago Public Schools’ enrollment increased by 1,000 students for the first time in more than a decade this year. District data shows more than 7,800 additional students were classified as English learners this year compared to last year. Normally, the annual increase is by an average of 3,000 English learners.

The number of students identified as living in temporary housing also increased compared to last year. Migrant students are considered Students in Temporary Living Situations, or STLS, and guaranteed admission to local public schools despite not having a permanent address.

On the 20th day of the school year, when the district took its official enrollment count, a spokesperson cautioned against attributing the bump to “any one group of students.” Earlier in July, a top mayoral aide suggested to the Chicago Sun-Times that newcomer students would reverse CPS enrollment declines.

The Illinois State Board of Education will make a budget recommendation to Pritzker before his State of the State and budget address which typically happens in February.

Reema Amin contributed to this report.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education, and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.

At one magnet school, Chicago’s bus crisis has parents grasping for options — or leaving

2023-10-13T18:14:26+00:00

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Mónica Meléndez spent the first half of the last school year driving her three kids at least an hour each way to Inter-American Magnet School in Lake View.

She felt she had no choice after the district said it would not provide transportation at the beginning of the year for two of her children.

By the time all her kids got bus service in the second semester, Meléndez was exhausted — especially on days she spent another hour driving to work.

So shortly after Chicago Public Schools announced this summer that it wouldn’t provide busing to about 5,500 eligible general education students, largely those in gifted and magnet programs, Meléndez and her husband pulled their two youngest children out of the school. It was a wrenching decision: The Spanish dual language school felt perfect for the couple, who are originally from Puerto Rico and want their children to be bilingual.

Meléndez recalls telling her husband: “Sweetie, I can’t do this anymore.” Their oldest, a seventh grader, now takes a CTA bus two hours each way.

The family’s decision illustrates one way Chicago’s school bus crisis could impact enrollment and the socioeconomic and racial diversity of the city’s magnet and gifted programs. Many of these schools were created under a federal desegregation consent decree, but have been criticized for lacking diversity and enrolling larger shares of white and Asian American students since federal oversight ended in 2009. As working-class families find it difficult or impossible to take their children far distances to school, the absence of a transportation option could segregate the schools even more.

Parents at Inter-American are looking for solutions, as other gifted and magnet programs have also sought their own alternatives to the lack of busing.

Inter-American is already seeing the impact and some families have left.

“I would be really worried about what this change would mean for the demographics for these schools and for the goals of magnet schools in Chicago more generally,” said Halley Potter, an expert on school integration policy and a senior fellow at The Century Foundation.

Parents share transportation challenges

Citing a severe driver shortage, Chicago Public Schools announced in late July that it would limit bus transportation this year to students with disabilities and those who are homeless, both groups which are legally required to receive transportation. The district is currently under state watch to make sure it’s meeting those legal requirements.

The district said it has pursued several solutions to hire more drivers, including boosting driver pay rates by $2 – to $22 to $27 an hour – and hosting hiring fairs. But as of late last month, the district still had only half the number of drivers on hand and announced that busing would not be extended to more families for the rest of the semester. The district offered CTA cards to the 5,500 children who lost busing, but as of late last month, just about 1,600 took that option.

In a statement, CPS spokesperson Samantha Hart said the district is “acutely aware” of the challenges families are facing with longer commutes.

“We are committed to continuing to work with our vendors, City partners and our families to identify solutions and ensure every eligible student has safe, secure, and reliable transportation to and from school,” Hart said.

The transportation crisis has already had a small impact on enrollment at Inter-American, where nearly half of the school’s 641 students come from low-income families. Fifty-three families were eligible for transportation at the school. As of Oct. 2, six children have transferred out of the school due to the lack of transportation, according to the district.

At least two more children transferred out after Oct. 2 because of transportation issues, said Maria Ugarte, chair of Inter-American’s Local School Council. Ugarte has also heard from many parents who are considering leaving, and she wonders how lack of busing will impact next year’s enrollment.

At a meeting last month with the school’s principal, one parent said he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up the commute to school. A mother shared that her commute involves taking the CTA with her three children, including a 2-year-old, every morning and evening— and doing that daily is becoming stressful.

Alexis Luna, who lives in Belmont Cragin, splits dropoff and pickup responsibilities for her third grade daughter with the girl’s father. But her daughter may have to miss school on days that the girl’s father is out of town for work, since Luna’s work schedule is inflexible and she can’t take days off.

Luna “lost everything” when her business closed during the pandemic, so she cannot afford to miss work or quit. She said she is struggling to pay for the increased gas costs.

For Rocio Meza, the lack of transportation means she can’t search for a job this year as she handles the hourlong pickup and dropoff each way at Inter-American for her 12-year-old daughter. She’s also responsible for driving her older son with disabilities to doctor’s appointments on some mornings, which sometimes makes one of the children late.

She and her husband have discussed transferring their daughter out of Inter-American – two other schools are within a few blocks of their house – but the family loves the school.

”Do I really want to do this and give up the education and experience she’s getting at Inter-American to go to another school?” Meza said.

Some attempts to find solutions at the school level haven’t come to fruition.

The school’s principal, Juan Carlos Zayas, launched a voluntary task force with parents to look for ways to ease the transportation issue. Ideas included a rideshare app and hiring a bus company on their own, according to recordings of the meetings. Both options would likely be too costly for parents, task force members said. For example, one parent found a company that would charge $158 per child this month — if the bus was full with just a couple of stops.

The district granted the school $157,000 in funding to host before- and after-school programs to accommodate more flexible pickup and dropoff times. The principal recently surveyed families for their interest and expects programming to start Oct. 23, a district spokesperson said.

Last month, Luna tried to distribute a survey to arrange carpooling for interested parents. The survey asked for information such as where their child’s old bus stop was and how many children they had. Zayas emailed Luna and several other parents that the “attempt to collect personal information” was a “clear violation” of district policy and that it was circulated to teachers without his knowledge.

District officials pointed to a CPS policy that prevents anyone from circulating ads, subscription lists, meeting invitations, books, maps, articles, or other political or commercial materials among school employees or students without approval from the principal or other district officials.

Still, some parents are trying to figure out carpool arrangements, Luna said.

Transportation woes could decrease diversity in magnet programs

During CPS board meetings, parents at magnet and gifted programs have said they are worried that the lack of transportation will most greatly impact children whose parents don’t have flexible work schedules to take young children on lengthy transit commutes or the money and time to drive them. That could force less-resourced families to transfer out of magnet programs or gifted programs or choose not to apply for them for next school year.

Once seen as a solution to the city’s segregated schools, the city’s magnet, gifted, and selective enrollment programs have been criticized for failing to achieve their diversity goals. A 2019 WBEZ analysis found that just 20% of these schools met the definition of racial diversity embedded in a now-lifted court order for Chicago to integrate its schools.

CPS uses a lottery for enrollment in magnet programs like Inter-American. Seats are offered based on the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood a student lives in. Sometimes priority is given to siblings or to students living close to the school.

Inter-American lacks racial diversity — 85% of its students this year are Hispanic, and 10% are white, according to district data. However, the school is more socioeconomically diverse, with 47% of its students coming from low-income families, still far below the district’s average of about 71%.

During one of the task force meetings, one parent expressed concern that working-class families would leave, and more local families from the surrounding affluent Lake View neighborhood would get seats — changing the face of the school.

At the same time, less transportation for magnet and gifted families could mean more students enrolling in their neighborhood schools. Bolstering neighborhood schools is a priority for Mayor Brandon Johnson.

After pulling her daughter and son out of Inter-American, Meléndez enrolled them in her local neighborhood school, Canty Elementary. There, about half of the students are Hispanic, 44% are white, and about 2% are each Black and Asian American. Just over 43% come from low-income households.

Her daughters like the school so far, Meléndez said. Canty, which is not a dual-language school like Inter-American, is just a five-minute drive away from home. But the outcome of their story is likely not the norm: In a city as segregated as Chicago, more integrated neighborhood schools like Canty are a rarity.

Potter, from The Century Foundation, said Chicago Public Schools has done “really important work” in finding ways to spur diversity in selective and magnet schools. The district’s lotteries that try to enroll students from different socioeconomic backgrounds often result in more racial diversity, too, she said.

But, Potter said, “without transportation support, a lot of that can fall apart.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Tenn. study on rejecting federal education funds has ‘no predetermined outcome,’ leader says

2023-10-05T14:50:17+00:00

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A leader of the group of lawmakers exploring whether Tennessee can feasibly reject nearly $1.9 billion in federal education funding says that the panel’s work will begin in early November, and that its findings — not politics — will guide its recommendations.

“There is no predetermined outcome for this working group, or for what the information we gather is going to show,” Sen. Jon Lundberg, a co-chair of the panel, said Wednesday.

“We want to look at what federal education money we get, where it goes, what we’re required to do to get those funds, and ultimately what’s the return on the investment,” the Bristol Republican told Chalkbeat. “I think this will give us a good overview.”

Lundberg, who also chairs the Senate Education Committee, was responding to criticism from Democrats that Republicans are seeking to undermine public education, cater to charter and private school interests, and advance the political aspirations of House Speaker Cameron Sexton, a Crossville Republican and likely candidate for governor in 2026.

In February, Sexton said Tennessee should consider forgoing U.S. education dollars to free schools from federal rules and regulations, and should make up the difference with state funding. On Sept. 22, he and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, an Oak Ridge Republican, appointed eight Republicans and two Democrats to the working group to look into the idea and report back by Jan. 9, when the General Assembly convenes a new session.

Most of the federal money the state receives supports low-income students, English language learners, and students with disabilities. Tennessee school districts that are most reliant on U.S. dollars tend to be rural, and have more low-income and disabled students, less capacity for local revenue, and lower test scores in English language arts, according to a recent report from the Sycamore Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

Sen. Jon Lundberg

On Thursday, Lundberg and co-chair Debra Moody, a Covington Republican who chairs a House education committee, released the panel’s schedule showing five days of meetings in November, with the kickoff meeting on Nov. 6.

If the committee finds ways for the state to feasibly wean itself from federal education money that Tennesseans help generate through their taxes, Lundberg expects legislation to come out of its work. But he acknowledged that state revenue collections have lagged in recent months, potentially making it harder to cut the cord.

“Revenues are a valid concern, but that’s not our charge at this point,” he said. “We just want to do a deep dive on where we stand.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Bo Watson warned lawmakers in August that Tennessee likely will need to begin curbing state spending. But on Wednesday, he endorsed the panel’s task.

“I think it’s premature to say whether there will be budget constraints,” said the Hixson Republican. “Evaluating our programs and our funding is always a healthy exercise.”

Even if officials decide the state can afford to pass on federal funds, JC Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, questions whether it could effectively manage resources designed to support underserved communities and ensure equal access to education.

He cites the Achievement School District as one example of poor oversight for a state-run program intended to serve students attending low-performing schools. The turnaround district took over dozens of neighborhood schools beginning in 2012, mostly in Memphis, and turned many of them over to charter operators. But it has had few successes to show for its decade of work.

Lundberg said that example shouldn’t stop the state from investigating the possibility.

“Do I trust the state more than the federal government? Absolutely,” Lundberg said. “I think that government that operates closest to the people is the best government.”

Gov. Bill Lee has said he’s open to the idea and denounced what he called “excessive overreach” by the federal government. However, he didn’t give specific examples on education when answering questions from reporters last week.

Advocates for historically underserved student populations say federal oversight is needed to ensure that the state and local districts adequately provide for every student and school.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats pointed out that the federal government provided nearly $30 million last year to public schools in Cumberland County, which Sexton represents. That’s 44% of the East Tennessee district’s budget. Three school districts in Anderson County, where McNally lives, received $31 million in U.S. funds, which covered 32% of their budgets.

You can look up exactly how much federal education funding is on the line for every Tennessee county.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information about the panel’s meeting schedule.

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Denver teachers scramble to help as migrant students face loss of housing

2023-09-29T20:50:43+00:00

Read this story in English.

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Editor’s note: On Monday, Denver Human Services extended the time that families can stay in city-provided shelter to 37 days, a week longer than previously. The change applies to people who arrive on or after Oct. 4. However, due to the large number of people arriving daily, individuals without children will get to stay in city-provided shelter for just 14 days, a week less than before.

As the number of migrants arriving daily in Denver rises, schools are starting to see a significant number of new students. And educators are worried about how to help them as migrant families encounter the limits of official support.

At Denver’s Bryant Webster Dual Language School, some teachers report classes of 38 students — a lot higher than last year. A teacher who screens students for whom English is not their home language has had to screen 60 students this year — up from a handful in typical years. And they’re trying to help students as they’re dealing with trauma, learning how to navigate a new country and a new school system.

“You work the whole day and you just want to make sure you do the best with the resources you have and so you build relationships with kids, and you have the connection to them,” said Alex Nelson, a fourth grade teacher at Bryant Webster. “Then you find out their story.”

Students who arrived near the start of the school year and were starting to settle in are facing a new challenge and a new trauma. Families get just 30 days in either a hotel or shelter paid for by the city. But then they have to find another place to live. In a city with soaring rents where many longtime residents also struggle to find housing, new arrivals sometimes find themselves with nowhere to go.

The first time a migrant family with children at Bryant Webster ran out of time on its housing voucher, teachers and a school intern spent hours calling shelters and everyone they could think of to try to find a place for the family to stay. They encountered waitlists and a lot of dead ends.

“We didn’t know what happened after the voucher expired until one of the new families said ‘our stay is up, and we don’t know where to go tonight,’” Nelson said. “We’ve never been prepared so we didn’t know how to handle it.”

The family ended up leaving to spend the night in a car, though Nelson said district officials were able to connect with them later that evening. Still, Nelson said it was really hard on the entire school to end the day that way.

Like in New York City schools and other districts nationwide, Denver school officials are on the frontline receiving requests from migrant families for help. In Denver, some teachers are just starting to connect their efforts with nonprofits, through the teachers union, and with other organizations, but coordination is still sporadic.

And even when working together, there are daunting obstacles. After the limited duration of city vouchers for migrants, the different social services available have different rules that can create confusion about what might jeopardize migrants’ legal standing. And the potential overlap between help for migrants and support for the city’s homeless population is something Denver officials are trying to avoid.

After helping the first Bryant Webster family, teachers heard from more families in the same situation. Some organizations are helping, but each time a new family comes forward, teachers worry if they’ll be able to find them assistance. At least three more are slated to lose their shelter this weekend.

“You can just feel the kids are stressed. It disrupts everything,” said Cecilia Quintanilla, an early childhood teacher at the school.

Denver has seen up to 250 migrants arriving per day this week, but it’s unclear how many are children.

Schools join Denver effort to help migrants find stability

Right now, it’s hard to track how widespread the surge of migrants in schools really is.

District officials in Denver did not respond to requests for comment. Teachers at Bryant Webster believe they’ve had around 60 newcomers arrive after the first day of school and counting. Other school districts in the state are also reporting surges of newcomers, the term schools use to refer to students arriving from outside the U.S., in the last few months.

The Colorado Department of Education doesn’t track those numbers and officials said they have not been asked to provide support to schools dealing with these surges.

Denver officials said that as of last week the city was currently sheltering 456 children under age 16. The city has seen up to 250 new individuals arriving per day this week, but numbers for children aren’t available for this week.

At another Denver school, Escuela Valdez, teacher Jessica Dominguez estimates they’ve received about 20 newcomer students this year. This week, they learned about a family that had already been sleeping outdoors after losing their shelter. Educators stayed up late into the night trying to find them a place to stay and ultimately were successful. But that may not always be the case.

“Kids are being involved now,” she said. “That puts a different face to what we might think is homelessness.”

Dominguez isn’t the only person who feels that way. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a former educator, said at a press conference Thursday that he has seen kids sleeping under blankets with families outside the city’s Wellington Webb building as they wait for staff to show up so they can ask for help.

“No kid should be in that context,” Johnston said.

Early that same day, at a migrant reception center in northeast Denver, a steady stream of men, women, and children arrived for processing. The official hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but staff often start earlier and stay until everyone has somewhere to go.

Some arrivals have family in the Denver area and ask to come here or even make their own way. Others get on buses in El Paso regardless of destination and then need to make a plan.

They’ve already made a hazardous journey and overcome many obstacles to leave behind dangerous situations in their home countries.

Jon Ewing, a spokesman for Denver Human Services, said the arrivals are smart, resourceful, and well-organized.

City workers collect basic information about the new arrivals, provide contact information for relevant social services and direct them to shelter. Individuals are eligible for 21 days of free shelter and families are eligible for 30 days. The city isn’t tracking what happens after that.

“Thirty days is not a long time to sort out your life, and we get that,” Ewing said. “But we have to move people through. There is a limit to what we are able to do.”

Ewing said city staff are working to coordinate as best they can between nonprofits, city services, and the school district — there are large group chats buzzing all day.

Ewing said the city tries to make sure people understand how expensive Denver is so they can make informed decisions. But they may have good reasons for wanting to stay here.

Ewing said the migrant and homeless populations are very different and face different challenges. New arrivals are never directed to homeless shelters, and many services are provided through different channels in order to be responsive to each group’s needs.

There are also different funding sources with different rules, when it comes to providing services for U.S. citizens and residents experiencing homelessness, versus migrants seeking asylum or another protected status.

Then there are legal concerns. Cathy Alderman, chief communications and public policy officer for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, said that organizations like hers are also concerned about inadvertently providing resources that would then make people ineligible for earning legal status — a common worry they hear from migrants, and one that Alderman and her team don’t have enough expertise to help navigate.

Still, she said that some of the migrant families might qualify for housing assistance from the coalition, but qualifying takes time.

“The problem is we have so many in the system right now waiting for housing,” Alderman said. “That system makes housing matches based on vulnerabilities. It’s a process. It certainly doesn’t move fast.”

She said that another problem for families is finding affordable housing with multiple bedrooms. Longer term vouchers, such as Section 8 vouchers, often don’t cover a large portion of the rents people might encounter in Denver.

“In Denver specifically we have a very, very, very minimal stock of really affordable housing,” she said. “We have a lot of market rate and luxury units that are sitting empty.”

With all the challenges migrant students and their families are confronting, teachers say they appreciate that so many are working to help. But they also wish they were more prepared to help students and families who come to them with such big worries.

“We don’t have what we need to welcome these families to the better life that they were searching for,” said Nelson, the teacher at Bryant Webster. “It’s just really hard to see the consequences of that.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

She teaches recent immigrants. Here’s how she makes her NYC classroom a safe space to learn English.

2023-09-21T15:22:16+00:00

It was in the days and weeks after 9/11 that Elana Rabinowitz, then working in advertising, decided to become a teacher. “When the towers collapsed and the tone of the city changed, I did, too,” she said. “I wanted to help people, desperately.”

Rabinowitz had worked abroad and already had a certificate in teaching English to speakers of other languages, so she put her skills to work in the classroom. More than two decades on, she is an ESL teacher and coordinator at Middle School 113 The Ronald Edmonds Learning Center in Brooklyn.

In recent years, many of her students have been recent arrivals to the United States — children from asylum-seeking families who fled violence and economic hardship. Some of them had been out of school for months or years as they made their way to the U.S.

Rabinowitz wants them to feel comfortable sharing their stories and identities. As soon as a new student is placed in her class, Rabinowitz buys a flag from their country of origin. But she wants them to feel at home in New York City, too, so she decorates her classroom with cozy secondhand furniture she finds at stoop sales.

When New York City Public Schools started earlier this month, an estimated 21,000 new migrant children had enrolled. As a longtime teacher of new arrivals, Rabinowitz spoke to Chalkbeat New York about how educators and families can help support English learners in their school communities.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Elana Rabinowitz with some of her students.

What drew you to teaching English learners?

I was already on an international path. I had been in the Peace Corps in Sri Lanka. I had run a language school in Ecuador. I had become proficient in both Sinhala and Spanish. I knew that learning the local language was the key to connecting with people. I wanted to do that for someone else.

What’s your favorite lesson to teach and why?

Anything that involves writing, even if it is just a picture and a word. I love when the students at every level can express themselves in prose. I find that poetry is often the universal form of communication, and anything from an acrostic poem about their ancestors to a sensory poem about their homeland always gives me the chills. It is giving students a voice who may not feel that they have one in another class, and their work is often spectacular.

Back in 2019, a student of ours was one of only 33 Latino students accepted to Stuyvesant that year, amid the controversy around specialized high school testing. I immediately wanted to know how he felt about it and was able to work with him to get his first op-ed published. He even got paid! Now that was a great day.

What’s something happening in the community that affects what goes on inside your classroom?

The recent arrival of asylum seekers. The most recent arrivals have banded together to become fast friends. It’s funny how many teachers and staff suddenly know Spanish now and use it to make our students feel comfortable. When new arrivals are placed in my classroom, I immediately order flags from their countries.

Last year, two of the girls grabbed their flags and started singing Ecuadorian and Venezuelan pledges of allegiance in Spanish. It was beautiful. I try to incorporate aspects of their cultures in my classroom whenever possible. Many of my students are fantastic artists, so they paint scenery from their countries, and we display it in my room to remind them of their homes. I also add pictures of activities we do together to let them know that this is their home, too.

What new issues arose at your school or classroom last school year, and how did you address them?

Having such a large group of newcomers arriving at once. We now had students who spoke little to no English sitting in classes. Many had missed months, if not years, of school and came with so many needs. A group of us banded together to make sure they had appropriate clothing, school supplies, and emotional support. It was the heart of winter, and kids were coming to school without socks or jackets!

This support is ongoing. Once funding was established, we were able to create morning, after-school, and Saturday academies specifically to assist our newcomers in their transition. The students would learn English by doing — making waffles, playing soccer and basketball, painting pictures, and doing neighborhood walks, which ended in ordering pizza from a local pizzeria. They particularly liked learning how to order pizza!

Elana Rabinowitz enjoys pizza with a group of her students.

How do you think schools and educators can better meet the needs of immigrant and refugee students?

First off, stop with the ridiculous Spanish LAB, which is used to measure English-language proficiency. The test they have me administering is from 1982, the same year Michael Jackson sang “Thriller.” We need updated assessments in their native languages that can be scored before a child enters a school.

Also, newcomers need more English than the 360 minutes a week. At minimum, their first six months should be spent with intensive English courses. They can attend gym, math, lunch, and one other elective with their English-speaking peers, but the idea of having a child with no English sit in an ELA class is preposterous. Many teachers just put them on a computer all day or hand them translated text with no instruction. It is demeaning and staggers learning. These students have already been through enough to get here; we should be making them feel more comfortable — not lost or different.

What can families do to support migrant families in their school community?

Families and the local community can help by assisting with translating, donating basic supplies, and making the children feel welcome. A school in our building had parents volunteer on the weekends, and we coached the kids in soccer. We all had a blast! Some of the students would run into the parents in the neighborhood, and they greeted each other fondly.

How do you build rapport with the families of your students who have recently arrived in the U.S.?

I conduct meetings with the parents when the children arrive and try to offer a special welcome breakfast to make them feel comfortable. Last year, we had flags from all their countries and special food that we thought they would enjoy. I also work with dual-language teachers to stay in contact and help families find language classes, tutoring, and basic supplies.

What’s one thing you’ve read that has made you a better educator?

Reading about the concept of the affective filter, which is an imaginary filter that becomes an impediment to learning another language. If the filter is high, students are stressed and self-conscious, and language learning is delayed. If it is low, they feel safe and take more risks, which helps with language acquisition.

So many adults tell me they hated learning Spanish or French in school, probably because they were so self-conscious. I constantly write grants to buy supplies and use secondhand chairs, lamps, and cabinets to ensure that my classroom has a cozy feel similar to a home. I make sure that students are comfortable and respect each other so that they learn with ease.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received, and how have you put it into practice?

Seek out the educators who inspire you, watch them, sit in on their classes, and adjust.

Gabrielle Birkner is Chalkbeat’s features editor and fellowship director. Contact her at gbirkner@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools enrollment is stable for first time in more than a decade

2023-09-20T02:26:40+00:00

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Enrollment in Chicago Public Schools is flat for the first time in more than a decade, according to preliminary data obtained by Chalkbeat.

New preliminary numbers for this school year show just over 322,500 students are registered at CPS schools. The data represents enrollment as of the end of the day Monday, the 20th day of the school year, when the district traditionally takes its official count. On the 20th day of last school year, 322,106 students were enrolled according to official data.

CPS enrollment has been in decline for 12 years, so this year’s shift is significant.

In the past decade, the district’s student body shrunk by 20%, with the district seeing multiple year-over-year declines of roughly 10,000 students. The dramatic contraction began after the 2011-12 school year, which was the last year CPS saw a bump in enrollment, from 402,681 to 404,151 students. Last year, Chicago lost its standing as the nation’s third largest district.

Enrollment now appears to be leveling off in Chicago. In the past year, the city has welcomed thousands of migrant families from the southern border and in July, a top mayoral aide suggested that newcomers were boosting enrollment in schools.

A district spokesperson, however, said enrollment changes are due to multiple reasons and cautioned against attributing the shifts to “any one group of students.”

“We will offer more analysis and context to our enrollment figures later this month,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said in a statement. “We are honored and privileged to serve each and every student.”

It’s too early to tell if this is the start of a new trend, said Elaine Allensworth, who studies education policy and is Lewis-Sebring Director of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research.

“If it’s just a one-time pause in the trends of declining enrollment, it might not have a big overall long-term effect, but it’s really just hard to say right now since we don’t know what will happen in the future,” Allensworth said.

Thinning enrollment was driven by factors such as dipping birth rates and other population changes. With the onset of the pandemic, districts across the country enrolled fewer students, with more than 33,000 students falling off Chicago’s rolls since the fall of 2020.

Shrinking schools have left CPS officials and mayors to contend with how to best fund classrooms, especially as student needs grew during the pandemic. Enrollment has long been a determining factor for how much state and federal money a district gets. Mayor Brandon Johnson has been an outspoken critic of tying enrollment to funding, but past mayors have funded schools within CPS based on how many kids they serve.

Even with fewer students, the district’s budget has grown to $9.4 billion. That’s roughly flat compared to last year’s budget, but up from a decade ago when it hovered around $6 billion. A new state funding formula and a wave of pandemic recovery money have helped offset enrollment declines. Though state money is increasing, the district has recently seen fewer dollars than expected due to lower enrollment and increased property wealth.

According to preliminary enrollment data analyzed by Chalkbeat, there are 5,767 more students learning English as a new language this school year than last year. That’s a sizable jump: CPS has historically enrolled an average of 3,000 new English learners annually, a district spokesperson said.

CPS officials said they do not track immigration status of students. They have pointed to the growth in English language learners as one sign of newcomers, but emphasized that not all English language learners are newcomers.

The district enrolls migrant students in three ways. First, like any student, migrant children can enroll directly at schools. They can also make an appointment at the city’s new welcome center housed inside Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School on the West Side.

Finally, enrollment teams are going to families’ homes, after receiving information from the city’s Department of Family and Support Services about those in need of help who can’t make it to the welcome center, said Karime Asaf, chief of the district’s Office of Language and Cultural Education.

Schools across the district have historically struggled to meet state regulations for providing proper support for English learners. When finding a school with the right program for English learners, officials try to stay within a two-mile radius of the child’s home, Asaf said.

Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, which provides extra support for kids and families at a handful of Southwest Side schools as part of the district’s sustainable community schools initiative, said they’ve noticed an increase in migrant families among the parents they serve who don’t have stable housing.

Last year, the organization placed a case manager part-time at a high school in Back of the Yards that needed extra help with parents as they enrolled more migrant students, said Sara Reschly, deputy director of the group’s community services division.

At Brighton Park Elementary School, case manager Lupe Fernandez said newcomer families currently have very basic needs, such as undergarments and help navigating the CTA. The school is planning to create a free “closet” where families can pick up things they need for free.

“If there are schools that have those strong community partnerships, you know, like that would be a place to start because then you can wrap services around the whole family,” Reschly said.

Asaf, with the district, said they are processing more school transfers among newcomers as those families find new homes or more permanent housing.

Preliminary data analyzed by Chalkbeat show this school year, nearly a quarter of Chicago Public Schools students are learning English as a new language — a figure that trumps other large districts. For example, 14% of students in New York City public schools, the nation’s largest district, were English learners last school year.

The preliminary data signals the continuation of another trend over the past decade: a decline in the share of students from low-income households. Preliminary data indicate that number is 67%, down from 73% last school year.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

First day of school for NYC: Smiles, sweat, and fears of a possible bus strike

2023-09-07T21:54:13+00:00

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Bronx student Avery Collazo began the school year on Thursday with an annual tradition: donning a bright blue T-shirt proudly exclaiming, “First Day of Second Grade.”

“He likes to stand out, to be a little different,” said Avery’s dad, Albert Collazo, who also brought a uniform shirt just in case.

The family joined dozens of others dropping off their children in the P.S. 121 schoolyard as the first day of school for New York City’s nearly 900,000 students brought out an array of emotions.

Some caregivers shed tears as they watched their kids walk inside the school building. Some kids smiled confidently; some shyly. There was also some sweat. High temperatures prompted a National Weather Service heat advisory, and the Education Department directed schools to limit outdoor activities after 10 a.m. Some educators and parents reported broken or non-existent air conditioners while some families were also concerned about overheated students on school buses.

Avery is enrolled in P.S. 121’s “gifted and talented” program, which pulls students from different neighborhoods. His mom, Elida, praised the city’s move to expand such programs, calling it “a great opportunity for a lot of other children.”

From left, Elida Collazo, Avery Collazo and Albert Collazo pose for a portrait on the first day of school at P.S. 121 in the Bronx.

Because the family has to travel outside of their zoned school to bring Avery to the program, they rely on a yellow school bus for transportation. Even though school bus drivers vowed to stay behind the wheel this week, families were still on edge about a possible strike, which could affect an estimated 86,000 students, or more than half of the children who ride yellow school buses.

“We’re definitely hoping no strike happens,” Collazo said.

For P.S. 121 mom Phyllis Moore, the new school year represented a fresh chance to get involved in her daughter’s education following her recovery from a stroke last year.

“I’m ready to be here, to get involved, to be on the school board, to do what I need to do,” said Moore. “We’re excited.”

Her daughter Lanyah, a fourth grader, has been in the school since kindergarten. She was excited to return to school with more age and experience, she said, but the 8-year-old was still nervous to find out who her teacher and classmates would be.

Schools Chancellor David Banks joined Mayor Eric Adams at P.S. 121, in the Bronx’s District 11, which is one of the districts in the first wave of the NYC Reads initiative. In a major shift in how the nation’s largest school system teaches its youngest children how to read, elementary schools in 15 of the city’s 32 local districts must switch to one of three literacy programs this year, with the rest following next year. District 11 selected EL Education, a curriculum that some schools in the area had already implemented.

“What I am going to be laser-focused on is ensuring every single child in the school system is on grade level no later than third grade,” Banks said. “The broader issue is, for even kids who don’t have dyslexia, they can’t read. And that’s because we haven’t taught them properly how to read.”

The push to change literacy instruction comes after years of attempts to improve the city’s middling reading scores — and after a widely used curriculum, which focused heavily on independent reading without enough explicit phonics instruction, was largely discredited.

Outside of P.S. 165 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, most parents said they hadn’t heard about the city’s curriculum mandate. The school, along with every elementary campus in District 23, is required to use a curriculum called Into Reading — by far the most common program that superintendents have mandated.

Sherifa Adams said her 6-year-old daughter Kaydence was already picking up reading skills, and Adams has mixed feelings about the change. “It’s first grade, so she’s already used to something,” said Adams, who learned about the curriculum mandate from a reporter. “I hope that this new reading curriculum only makes it better and not worse for her.”

The school plans to hold a curriculum night next week and will share more information about the new reading program with families then, an Education Department spokesperson said.

The literacy mandate may signal a wider effort to come, Education Department officials noted. The city is already pushing such changes for early education and ninth grade algebra. Some high school superintendents have opted to implement literacy instruction mandates on their own accord.

Students and families on the first day of school on Thursday at P.S. 165 Ida Posner in Brooklyn, NY.

Meanwhile, the city also continues to grapple with how it will accommodate the influx of children from asylum-seeking families. Banks announced Thursday that the city is hoping to address the chronic shortage of bilingual teachers by reducing a bureaucratic hurdle. For educators who are already certified in bilingual education but teach other areas, they will no longer lose tenure by switching subjects, Banks said. The move would affect about 500 teachers.

Despite the ongoing challenges, the first day of school also marked the tremendous progress that many of the newcomers have made since arriving last year.

At I.S. 93 in Ridgewood, Queens, one student who arrived in the country six months ago speaking no English made enough progress to enroll in an honors dual-language class this year. He was part of a team that won a classwide engineering competition Thursday, said his teacher Sara Hobler.

“This sort of thing is why I teach,” Hobler said. “It makes you take a step back for a moment and remember why you go through all the difficult parts of the job — for those looks on those kids’ faces when they realize they’re going to thrive.”

Busing woes, even without a strike

It has become all too common for students to have problems with yellow school buses, particularly on the first day of school. This year was no exception, as union officials continue negotiating with the city over a new contract. There were nearly 1,300 bus delays reported on the Office of Pupil Transportation’s website as of 4 p.m.

Brownsville mom Anika Smith said she received limited information about bus service and had yet to receive pick up and drop off times, even though her second grade son is entitled to transportation because of a disability.

Smith accompanied her son on Thursday to greet his teachers. Though the family lives a few blocks away from school, the mom said ongoing disruptions would be a “catastrophe,” forcing her to scramble to find relatives to help with transportation or rearrange her nursing shifts at a local hospital.

“I’m gonna have to take off a couple of days, switch around my hours,” Smith said. “I lose wages. I could get a write up … the hospital’s already short staffed.”

Outside her son’s school, P.S. 165, a staff member told a small group of families gathered in the schoolyard about the city’s contingency plans, including MetroCards or rideshare services for children with disabilities, those in temporary housing, or children in foster care.

Students and families arrive for the first day of school at P.S. 165 in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Naomi Peña, a mother of four children with dyslexia and co-founder of a Bronx-based literacy program, said her son’s bus arrived at their home just 10 minutes before his school was scheduled to start. By the time he arrived on campus, he was more than two hours late, meaning he missed his entire morning literacy block, she said.

The late bus – along with her daughter’s class having no working air conditioning – led to a disappointing first day of school, Peña said.

“It’s frustrating because I am just one parent that experiences these things, but it’s part of a larger ecosystem of hundreds of thousands of parents,” she said. “It shouldn’t happen. It shouldn’t. Our kids deserve better, especially on their first day.”

Enrollment, mergers, and navigating the system

Over the past five years, K-12 enrollment has fallen by more than 120,000, which can have big consequences for schools since funding is tied to student headcount.

At Brooklyn’s P.S. 165, for instance, enrollment dipped below 200 students last year — one of a growing share of elementary schools in central Brooklyn and across the city below that threshold. Though small schools can be more expensive for the city to run on a per-student basis, several parents said there are benefits, too.

“With a small school environment, she will get the help that she needs,” said Crystal Salgado, referring to her 6-year-old daughter, Cianna. “The teachers actually know the kids.”

For her part, Cianna was so excited to be back at school that she zoomed past her mother into the schoolyard. She said she was most excited for lunch, preferably pizza.

Crystal Salgado and her 6-year-old daughter, Cianna, arrive for the first day of school at P.S. 165 in Brooklyn. Cianna hoped for a pizza lunch.

Some school communities began to see controversial mergers last school year, like one at Lafayette Academy, which joined with West Side Collaborative.

Despite opposition from both of these small Upper West middle schools, the proposal passed. Morana Mesic, a former PTA president at West Side Collaborative who opposed the merger, said her seventh grade son cried last night as the realization hit that he wouldn’t be returning to the small school that had felt like home. Instead, he’ll be attending West End Secondary School, a much larger 6-12 school on the Upper West Side that he transferred to over the summer.

“He’s going into a whole new environment all over again, so he did have a really emotional reaction,” she said. “He was anxious, frustrated, and scared, saying, ‘I don’t know if I’m gonna be accepted.’”

Just over 30 blocks north, on the Upper West Side campus Lafayette shares with two other schools, families fanned into a crowded street, greeted by welcome signs and an energetic traffic conductor shouting, “Good morning! Good morning! Happy first day!”

Some students matched the excitement as they approached the building.

One Manhattan School for Children student said she couldn’t wait for “math, seeing my friends, writing, and anything I learn.”

Nearby, Jeanelle and Zaki Jarrah, stood next to their eighth-grader Finn. The family is new to the city, having just moved from Flagler Beach, Florida, a few weeks ago.

They said they were looking forward to their son developing closer connections in a smaller school environment. But they didn’t have a clear idea why they picked the Manhattan School for Children.

“We have absolutely no idea what we’re doing,” Jeanelle Jarrah said, laughing. “The school system here is so overwhelming.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Julian Shen-Berro is a reporter covering New York City. Contact him at jshen-berro@chalkbeat.org.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Career-focused graduation pathway for English learners takes root in Perry Township

2023-09-07T19:10:06+00:00

For over a decade, Southport High School teacher Amy Peddie has led classes of students who are English language learners through the intricacies of getting ready for college, like filling out applications, finding financial aid, and writing personal essays.

This year, she’s teaching a class with a new emphasis: Getting ready for a career by writing cover letters, resumes, and professional emails. In a recent exercise, students contacted companies they were unfamiliar with to ask about job and training opportunities.

“One student said, ‘I thought this was an [English learner] class, but this feels like a work class,’” Peddie said.

Peddie’s course is part of a new graduation pathway for students who are learning to speak and read in English, where students can train for the workforce during high school and graduate with a job and a diploma in hand. It’s the first local graduation pathway in the state to specifically cater to English learner students who have limited English proficiency.

This pathway is part of a growing emphasis in Indiana and nationwide on preparing students for jobs without the necessity of a two- or four-year degree, as college-going rates have declined from several years ago and skilled trades face a worker shortage.

In Indiana, lawmakers have pushed to “reinvent high school” to make it more relevant to in-demand careers.

At Perry schools, which educate around 4,600 English learner students, the second largest population in the state, the pathway also gives students another way to meet Indiana’s graduation requirements and local hiring needs. Like the college-going class, it aims to help newly arrived students navigate a potentially unfamiliar process.

“If your choice is college, great, but if not, that’s not something to look down on,” said Southport Principal Amy Boone. “We want to have options and opportunities.”

Southport has around 600 students receiving English language services, Boone said, and district officials say they’re expecting a record enrollment this year of students who have recently relocated to the United States from other countries. In Indiana, this population grew 52% from 2017 to 2022.

The population is not only growing, but changing, Boone said: More students have arrived in recent years with less experience in formal education, both as a result of the pandemic and international conflict.

But once they enroll, they’re still required to meet Indiana graduation requirements that include demonstrating postsecondary skills. Students with extenuating circumstances could be granted a waiver, but this approach will be limited going forward under a state law passed this year.

If English learners are missing reading and writing skills in their first languages, a traditional career and technical education course may be inaccessible, even with the aid of translation, Boone said.

The new graduation pathway provides students who enrolled in U.S. schools in seventh grade or later a way to meet graduation requirements through classes on business math and personal financial responsibility, as well as internships and mock interviews. It’s also meant to help students develop their English proficiency through speech and English as a New Language classes.

In addition to being the first such local pathway for graduation in Indiana, Perry’s track for English learners is one of just two in the state that equips students with general career skills, rather than focusing on a specific trade or industry.

This year, an initial section of students piloting the pathway has already discussed what they hope to do after high school — answers that included working as barbers or cosmetologists.

Peddie said she hopes to take them on field trips to visit local salons and see that work up close. But she’d also like to introduce them to other industries, like manufacturing, where local companies are actively hiring.

Boone said the key to the program is to balance student interests with community needs.

Local staffing companies that already place the parents of Southport students in jobs are working with Perry schools on the new pathway.

The district itself could employ students to work on campus beautification projects, and then hire them after graduation knowing they have the required skills, Boone said. Southport High School, for example, recently hired a current student to work in the cafeteria.

“There’s been a pendulum shift,” Boone said. “We pushed for a long time on college, but there’s value in the trades, too.”

Aleksandra Appleton covers Indiana education policy and writes about K-12 schools across the state. Contact her at aappleton@chalkbeat.org.

5 things we’re watching this school year in NYC

2023-09-07T10:00:00+00:00

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More than 900,000 New York City public school students are slated to resume classes on Thursday with the customary mix of excitement, jitters, and joy.

In recent years, one acute crisis after another has overshadowed the start of classes, from chaotic efforts to restart in-person classes during the height of the pandemic to a bruising battle over budget cuts and an influx of asylum seekers that began last summer.

This year is proving to be no exception in the nation’s largest district: Families and educators are bracing for a school bus driver strike that could affect some 80,000 students, including many of the city’s most vulnerable. Union officials promised that the first week of service would not be interrupted, but the threat of a strike still looms.

Climate-related issues also affected this year’s start, just as they impacted the end of last school year. The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for Thursday, forcing schools to limit outdoor activities between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m, school officials said.

But it’s not just acute challenges facing the city as the school year resumes.

Thorny long-term enrollment and budget issues that have been simmering for years could also come to a head this year with a fiscal cliff looming.

It will also be a pivotal school year for schools Chancellor David Banks, as his signature initiative to overhaul literacy instruction starts rolling out.

Here are five big issues we’ll be watching closely as this critical school year begins:

Asylum seekers continue arriving

The influx of asylum seekers to New York City that began last summer has shown no signs of abating. The Education Department has enrolled an estimated 21,000 newly arrived students since last summer, including 2,500 since this July.

There’s plenty of room in city schools: K-12 enrollment has fallen by more than 120,000 over the past five years.

And educators and families across the city have mobilized over the last year to welcome the newcomers with everything from basic needs to language support.

But lingering challenges continue to undercut the city’s efforts to support the newcomers, starting with gaps in the process for quickly enrolling them in school.

And once they arrive, many won’t attend schools with bilingual teachers. A report last year from the Independent Budget Office found that under half of the schools that enrolled asylum seekers last year had a certified bilingual teacher on staff, reflecting a long-running shortage.

Banks has said new efforts are in the works to step up recruitment of bilingual teachers.

A fiscal cliff looms

New York City schools have been profoundly reshaped by an infusion of $7 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds meant to help school districts climb out from under the shadow of the pandemic. Among the big ticket items entirely or largely funded by that money are:

Summer Rising, the city’s free summer school program combining recreation and academics for roughly 100,000 kids each of the last three summers. The program has proven so popular that 45,000 families were turned away this year.
500 new social workers spread across the city to help address mounting mental health challenges.
A program to shore up school budgets after enrollment losses. Prior to the pandemic, when schools lost students, their budgets were slashed accordingly. But the city has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid to blunt the impact of those budget cuts.

All of those programs and more will be on the chopping block next school year, since the federal relief money must be spent by October 2024. That will likely spur some fierce and thorny battles over prioritizing existing money, or finding new sources of funding.

Banks’ signature initiative takes off

Banks has largely defined his tenure around a single goal: improving the teaching of literacy.

At the center of that goal is a sweeping initiative to overhaul the curriculum that schools use to teach reading in an effort to standardize practices across schools and abandon approaches that have been increasingly discredited. Fifteen of the city’s 32 community school districts will start this year using one of the three new pre-approved curriculum options, with the rest following next year.

But mandating new curriculums is just the first step. Changing something as deeply ingrained as how schools teach reading will require buy-in from staff and ongoing supervision and training. Officials have promised a robust training plan, but recently scrapped the department’s large in-house literacy coaching program and have so far largely outsourced professional development to curriculum publishers and other outside groups.

It’s not just elementary literacy in Banks’ crosshairs: the Education Department is also mandating a ninth-grade algebra curriculum at some high schools, as well as an early childhood curriculum, and First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg said Wednesday that the agency plans to look “very, very closely” at the curriculums used in all core classes across all grades in the coming years.

Teachers: We want to hear from you about what kind of training you are receiving — and need — to effectively use the new curriculum.

Enrollment and attendance challenges linger

The influx of asylum seekers over the past year helped slow the enrollment bleeding, but the long-term trends are unmistakable: New York City’s public schools are losing students.

The reasons are complex, including a drop in young students entering school during the pandemic, and a surge in families leaving New York City for more affordable destinations.

But the impact for the school system is profound. As of last year, the Education Department had 201 schools with fewer than 200 students. That’s more than twice the number of tiny schools 15 years earlier.

Since school budgets are largely tied to enrollment, ultra-small schools often struggle to offer enough courses and extracurricular variety to function. In the long run, there will likely be increasing pressure on the city to consider closures or mergers.

It’s not just enrollment patterns reducing the number of children in city schools on any given day: Chronic absenteeism has also spiked, jumping from an average of around 25% before the pandemic to 36% last school year (down slightly from 41% the year before), officials said. Chronic absenteeism is closely linked to adverse academic outcomes, and the city’s efforts to improve attendance could be a core part of efforts to recover from pandemic losses.

NYC students, staff face ongoing academic, emotional challenges

The ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and disrupted years of schooling continue to reverberate, touching everything from standardized test scores, to elevated levels of absenteeism, to teachers’ and students’ mental health, to spikes in youth violence.

The city has launched a grab bag of both big ticket and smaller scale programs to address those sweeping challenges, some of which will be at risk when federal stimulus money expires next year.

But others are still getting off the ground, including a telehealth initiative to expand therapy access to teenagers. Banks said Wednesday that the program will roll out by the end of 2023 and will be free and open to all city teenagers ages 13 to 17.

In many ways, all of the city’s big educational initiatives, from the literacy curriculum overhaul to efforts to preempt and prevent youth violence can be seen through the lens of addressing the lingering scars of the pandemic — and recovery remains a core challenge for the school system.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Meet Jianan Shi: Chicago’s new Board of Education president

2023-08-31T10:00:00+00:00

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Jianan Shi describes himself as “an immigrant that’s fallen in love with Chicago.”

Born in China, he immigrated first to Toronto at age 5 and later to Boston at age 8. Raised and later adopted by his aunt and uncle, Shi said he was undocumented until age 16 and was “very much in the shadows as a kid,” always fearful of being deported.

Shi moved to Chicago in his twenties and taught at Solorio Academy High School.

“One of the reasons I think I love Chicago is I got to choose Chicago,” Shi said.

Now, Mayor Brandon Johnson has chosen Shi, 33, to be president of the Chicago Board of Education. He’s the first Asian American and youngest person in recent memory to hold the high-profile appointment to oversee the city’s largest sister agency and the state’s second largest employer. Previously, he served as the executive director of the parent group Raise Your Hand, though he’s not a parent yet himself.

When Shi reflects on his own education, he said he thinks a lot about access and opportunity. As an English learner, he developed a love of books early on and remembers getting extra reading support and sneaking “a few more books” than the three each student was allowed from the library, which he noted was staffed with a full-time librarian.

Shi sat down for an interview with Chalkbeat Chicago this week wearing a blazer and a T-shirt from the Solorio DREAM Team, a club for undocumented students advocating for immigrant rights, with a colorful butterfly and the saying: “Fear only limits your dreams.”

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

You’ll likely be the last school board president on a fully-appointed Chicago Board of Education. Are there policies or practices you’d like to implement in the next two years before the shift to a hybrid and later elected school board?

It’s been 42 days so far, and I have 505 left. I feel the urgency of this work. Part of the reason why I accepted this role was to help transition us towards a fully elected school board. I think some folks in Chicago lack the imagination that we can have expanded democracy, right? I know, it’s gonna be messy, but it needs to be iterated on. We’re already meeting with the board staff to look at different structures.

The previous board, especially Vice President Elizabeth Todd Breland, has been doing work around that. The Agenda Review Committee is one way to start being more transparent. We’ve stood up the Special Education Committee. A lot of it is setting the tone of how a board should act. We should be in community, and we should be communicating publicly, way more than before. I think there’s a lot of work to do around training to make sure board members are ready. This is a $9.4 billion institution with lots of moving pieces.

Do you envision the 21-member Board of Education almost like a mini Chicago City Council?

I don’t know how often we’ll have all 21 folks in full agreement. I think that’s the beauty of democracy and discourse, right? We’ll get a chance to really have tough conversations in public and together. There aren’t many models for a 21-member school board and so the board staff has done a lot of work. And I’m hopeful that we can also work towards a way where these positions are compensated.

The board announced in July it would meet on the last Thursday of the month instead of Wednesday to not conflict with City Council meetings. Last week, the board set the time and date of its next meeting to be in the Austin community on the West Side and in the evening. Previous boards have done that, but only as a sort of one-off event. Are you committing to doing that regularly?

We’ve already committed to three — one in the Austin community in September, one at Kennedy High School, and another we’ve committed to the south side. I believe it’s almost every quarter we’re doing it. I hope that we continue that. We want to, again, set the culture and tone so that when the new school board gets elected, they understand that it’s our role to be out in the community. I also hope to do office hours in the community.

Chicago is now the nation’s fourth largest school district and has lost about 80,000 students in the past decade. As board president, how do you plan to grapple with the declining number of students enrolled in CPS?

I want us to shift from looking at lagging indicators, and move towards how we invest in communities. If we provide well-resourced neighborhood schools, if there’s abundant social services and affordable housing in Chicago, those communities will grow back, right? I am maybe stubborn enough to believe that an institution like ours, and all of our sister agencies cannot be influential in the population in Chicago.

I think we need a comprehensive plan, from pre-K to 20. And what does that look like in your neighborhood and region? If I send my kid here, I know that they’re going to do pre-K to 8 here, there’s gonna be a great high school nearby that has the programs that I want to see my kids in, and then also access to community college and higher ed or jobs. That’s what we need to tell parents. That you can choose any neighborhood and you will find a path.

Chicago is seeing an influx of migrant students. It’s not clear if all schools have enough bilingual staff, the enrollment process is not quick, and there have been reports of migrants being turned away at some schools. There are volunteers, union staff, and district officials working to enroll children. But what more, if anything, can be done to streamline that process, as potentially more buses show up?

It’s not “if.” More buses will show up. And it’s intentionally chaotic, right? It’s intentionally disruptive … Chicago should be a sanctuary city, but there are so many challenges in making sure our newcomers’ needs are met.

It’s about food, shelter, and education. We’ve enrolled, I think 1,700 (students) in the last two months, and we’re enrolling 1,000 more. We’ll be strategic about placing them in schools where they’re best fit. But then these are also folks who are STLS (Students in Temporary Living Situations). I think we have 15 shelters in the city, but that’s not a permanent solution. So how are we looking towards housing? I know that’s starting to go outside of what is in my purview. Some folks tell me to stay in my lane, quote, unquote, but then we’re not actually addressing those students and families (needs).

Last fall, a report required by the law creating an elected school board outlined several costs the Board of Education may take on as it becomes more independent from City Hall. This could exacerbate financial problems for the school district. What is your plan for sorting out the financial relationship between the board and the City of Chicago?

That’s part of the transition towards the 21-seat school board: How do we create working relationships? The city understands in order for it to succeed, the education system needs to succeed. There’s a lot to look at and I think this is just the beginning of the conversation. I’ve read both reports. Ultimately we need more revenue. We’re woefully short from the federal government, from the state government. I think that’s where my focus is.

The deadline to spend down federal COVID recovery money is next fall. There are a number of initiatives, such as the CPS Tutor Corps, expanded summer school, and additional staffing, including academic interventionists and social workers, that have been supported with this money. What happens when that money runs out?

When I think about that question, I often get, I don’t know, a little upset. Because wealthy communities never have to make that choice. Schools in the suburbs do not have to make that choice. What I appreciated about being on Mayor Johnson’s transition committee, is that we tried to shift out of a scarcity mindset and think about what students need.

The federal government provided us money that allowed us to hire these interventionists and allowed us to hire staff for after-school programs. These aren’t just good to have for students. These are essentials. And we need to maintain those.

To be honest, the amount of ESSER money we got doesn’t even meet the gap that we are owed from the state. And that’s a formula that says all the things that we need. Yes, we need to look at how money is allocated and reduce waste. But again, it’s my job as board president to build a coalition of folks that work towards increasing revenue for Chicago Public Schools at every level. Before January, I intend on meeting with every elected (official) that touches Chicago.

Wow, that’s a big task.

It is a lot. But I think it’s clear to me that one, I want to listen because they also hear from schools and their needs. But it’s important to know that the whole state needs more revenue. There’s a lot of things that we can work together on whether it’s transportation or early childhood. But the evidence-based funding formula is obviously a big one. We’re still owed a billion dollars from the state on that alone.

Are you going to advocate for any changes to the 2021 law that created the 21-member elected school board for Chicago?

I think that’s a collaborative conversation. The Chicago school board will be voting on a legislative agenda in January that we will all abide by and all advocate for. It’ll be the first time ever, so leading up to that we are having those discussions.

Again, I personally do believe that board members should be compensated. As a former immigrant, I obviously believe that non-citizens should have the right to vote and that was recommended by the transition committee. But that’s a long process. I want to make sure that folks feel safe doing that and there’s the structures and systems in place. It’s not just a snap of a finger. I think there’s also stuff around eligibility that needs to be examined.

The previous board approved a smaller-than-usual capital plan in June and Mayor Johnson said a supplemental plan would come later this year. Chicago Public Schools has not had a Master Facilities Plan since 2018 and in the past, many school construction decisions were made behind closed doors. Many school buildings are old and in need of repairs or updates. How will the new school board approach capital planning?

Let’s just say I’m eager to work with the district on a comprehensive facilities plan that actually looks at how we want our buildings and programs to look in the next 10 years. There’s a lot of data that’s still being collected. And then we are going out to the community in the fall. I don’t think dates are set yet, but we made it very clear to management that something like this requires lots of community engagement around what we want to do with our buildings, what programs you want to see in neighborhoods, and again, how do we rebuild this idea of neighborhood schools, feeder networks, where there are rich programs.

There’s going to be an emphasis on Sustainable Community Schools. In these 42 days, what I’ve understood about Sustainable Community Schools is I think everyone supports them, they just don’t know it yet. Who doesn’t want wraparound programs? Who doesn’t want deep, authentic community engagement, and culturally relevant curriculum? Those are all things that I think every school wants. How do we work towards that?

And the goal is to have 200 Sustainable Community Schools by the end of the mayor’s first term, right?

The education transition committee report said 200. I think the appetite is to expand. But I want to make sure we do it right. That we serve students. Sustainable Community Schools haven’t really had consistency to thrive with a pandemic and everything. I went to three schools on my first day, and they said it was a game changer, a lifesaver. They have additional staff, restorative justice, and a trauma coordinator. It’s all these great things that make a school whole. It’s what makes students feel like they are ready to learn. And what ultimately has parents send them to those schools, right?

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

As asylum seekers continue arriving in NYC, some face school enrollment delays

2023-08-29T23:06:57+00:00

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As scores of asylum-seeking families continue arriving in New York City, the city’s efforts to quickly enroll their children in public schools are often failing to keep pace, according to families, advocates, and education department staffers.

The mammoth task of managing the new arrivals’ school enrollment has been hampered by insufficient staffing, inexperienced shelter operators, and gaps in language access, people familiar with the process said.

That’s left some families waiting weeks for school placements or without seats at all yet, sparking concerns that some kids won’t have their school plans finalized by the start of classes on Sept. 7, and that schools won’t have adequate time to prepare for new students before the year begins.

“Even prior to all this there was a tremendous need” for education department staffers working directly in homeless shelters to help families with school-related issues, said Jennifer Pringle, a project director at Advocates for Children, an organization that advocates for children in shelters, among other groups.

Advocates for Children had pushed the education department to hire 150 full-time shelter-based staffers before the influx of asylum seekers began, and last year, the city committed to hiring 100. But advocates say that number is insufficient to address the current needs.

“You’ve opened dozens and dozens of new shelters with no additional staff,” Pringle said. “To me, it’s utterly not surprising that there are enrollment delays, and in fact, I would be shocked if there weren’t.”

New shelters spark staffing concerns

More than 100,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City since last summer, with many taking residence in a rapidly expanding network of homeless shelters. An estimated 19,000 children so far have enrolled in the city’s public schools, with around 500 registering since July, according to an Education Department spokesperson.

The volume of the influx has sparked dire warnings from Mayor Eric Adams, who has said that city services are strained to capacity and that the city needs additional help from the state and federal governments.

Job one for the Education Department is identifying the new arrivals and getting them appropriate school placements – meaning, among other things, that the family has a way to get there and the school offers the necessary language support.

Staffers from the department’s division of students in temporary housing, including the 100 community coordinators hired last year, are tasked with fanning out to shelters, talking to the new arrivals about school enrollment, and helping them fill out registration forms, which are then delivered to the Education Department’s family welcome centers.

But a staffer involved with the process said employees are struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing number of shelters and new arrivals.

“They don’t have enough staff, they’re working like dogs, and it’s a bit of a disaster,” the staffer said.

In some cases, single employees are covering multiple shelters at once, handling case loads of between 250 and 500 kids, the employee said.

“The number of people is outrageous,” the staffer said. “There are so many children. If you go into a shelter … and the family is out that day, you don’t get registered. … Those kids are getting missed.”

Another roadblock is that many of the new emergency shelters the city has opened to accommodate the influx are operated by relatively new providers without experience helping families with school sign-ups.

“I just think everyone is stretched really thin, there’s a lot of new kids on the block … and in the meantime, children and families are not going to have the experience we believe they should,” said Catherine Trapani, the executive director of Homeless Services United, a coalition of 50 of the city’s long-running homeless shelter operators.

Dan Weisberg, the first deputy chancellor of the Education Department, said enrollment for the new arrivals has generally “gone smoothly.”

But he acknowledged the speed at which the city has had to open new family shelters has been “challenging. It means that we then have to scramble to assign somebody to go talk to the families about enrollment. So as long as that dynamic is happening … it will take a little longer for us to get help there.”

Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said “Project Open Arms,” a blueprint released last year for educating migrant children that emphasized interagency communication, remains in effect.

Families face waits for school placements

Norberto Priceño arrived from Venezuela in June with his wife and three children, and the family has been living in a shelter in Far Rockaway, Queens. Priceño said he’s received virtually no information from the shelter staff about how to access city services, and only found out how to enroll his kids in school from other families in the shelter.

He took his kids to a family welcome center last month and was told he’d hear back about school placements in 15 days, but so far has only gotten confirmation that one of his kids is registered.

“School starts next week, and we only have one confirmed to start school, we haven’t gotten an answer for the other two,” he said. “I’m worried for their education,” he added, noting that he doesn’t want any of his kids to miss class time.

One staffer at a family welcome center, who declined to give her name, said that enrollment with the new arrivals is proceeding as normal and that families generally only have to wait 24-48 hours.

But another agency staffer involved with enrollment said the wait times for the newly arrived families have been significantly longer this summer than in past years, sometimes taking several weeks.

An Education Department spokesperson said that the average turnaround time is about a week, and that the agency makes sure enrollment letters are sent directly to families at shelters, so they don’t have to return to the family welcome centers.

Deputy Chancellor Carolyne Quintana said staffers from the Education Department’s multilingual division and other central offices have been posted at family welcome centers throughout the summer to lend additional support.

Even after enrollment assignments are confirmed, some newly arrived families are still struggling to figure out how to make the school placements work.

Jenny Lozano and Andres Yara are Colombian immigrants who arrived earlier this summer and have been living at a shelter in midtown Manhattan — where the family of four is currently sharing one queen-sized bed. They said they had to wait about a month after first handing in their form to get a school placement for their 12-year-old daughter.

When they finally got their daughter’s school assignment, it was a school in Harlem roughly 80 blocks away from their shelter. Lozano said she was told that because of all the new arrivals, schools closer to her shelter were all full.

Younger students living in shelters are eligible for yellow buses if their schools are far enough away, but that access ends after sixth grade, just shy of covering Lozano’s daughter. Lozano is fretting about sending her daughter on the subway in a new city and country.

“She’s too small to send her alone on the train,” Lozano said.

Language gaps persist

Some advocates say the city is especially ill-equipped to work with the increasing number of families whose languages aren’t as commonly spoken in the city as Spanish.

Arash Azizzada, the founder of Afghans for a Better Tomorrow, which supports Afghan immigrants and refugees, said many of the Farsi- and Pashto-speaking families he works with have lots of questions about how to enroll kids in school, and are often going weeks without support at shelters.

“They aren’t pivoting fast enough to accommodate this population,” he said.

Trapani said staffers in her coalition of shelter operators use a city-contracted translation phone service, but often experience long waits and don’t have printed materials they can distribute to families who speak languages not included in the city’s list of the 10 most-spoken dialects.

It’s not just families affected by enrollment delays. Schools need as much lead time as possible to plan for students, especially if they want to take advantage of the precious few days with staff in school before students arrive. Any lags in the enrollment process could undermine schools’ planning efforts, advocates warned.

“We need clear data about where the asylum seekers are going to be concentrated so that those schools can get ready now,” said Dia Bryant, the executive director of Ed Trust-New York. “It’s not going to be enough in two weeks to say, ‘Oh no, this school has 60 asylum seekers.’ We need support with actually assessing their strengths and thinking about how to support their families.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Los estudiantes inmigrantes están aumentando en Chicago. ¿Las escuelas están preparadas para ellos?

2023-08-24T00:10:00+00:00

¿Mami, estamos en casa?

Eso es lo que escuchó Baltazar Enríquez el año pasado mientras repartía comida a migrantes en Union Station: Quien hizo la pregunta fue una pequeña niñita: “Mami, ¿estamos en casa?”

“Estaba a punto de darle unas manzanas”, dijo él. “Su pregunta me impactó. Entonces recordé que yo le hice la misma pregunta a mi mamá cuando llegamos”.

El momento hizo que Enríquez, presidente del Little Village Community Council, se remontara a cuando tenía 3 años y emigró de México a Chicago.

“La respuesta fue la misma: sí, estamos en casa”, dijo Enríquez. “Así que ahora que están aquí, y que están haciendo de Chicago su casa, ¿cómo les ayudamos para asegurarnos de que entienden el sistema?”

Esa niñita era sólo una de los miles de nuevos inmigrantes que estaban llegando a la ciudad. El pasado agosto, el gobernador de Texas, Greg Abbott, empezó a enviar inmigrantes en autobús a Chicago y otras ciudades santuario, una medida que algunos demócratas, incluido el gobernador de Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, tildó de truco político. Desde entonces, más de 12,000 inmigrantes han llegado a Chicago, muchos de ellos en busca de asilo.

Las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago (CPS) no dijeron exactamente cuántos estudiantes inmigrantes se han incorporado al distrito. Sin embargo, CPS experimentó un aumento de poco más de 5,400 estudiantes de inglés durante el año escolar pasado, según los datos de matrícula obtenidos por Chalkbeat.

Gabriel Páez, que empezó a trabajar en el distrito hace una década, dijo que nunca había visto una llegada de estudiantes de este nivel. Actualmente trabaja como coordinador bilingüe en una escuela primaria de Humboldt Park y preside el Comité de Educación Bilingüe del Chicago Teachers Union.

“Tenemos que tratarlo con la urgencia que merece”, dijo. “Los maestros que están intentando prepararse para el próximo año escolar tienen que estar listos para que continúe la ola de llegadas”.

En un comunicado, un portavoz de CPS dijo que el distrito trabaja con cada estudiante para “identificar las necesidades de apoyo sin importar su país de origen”. Pero múltiples maestros y defensores de los inmigrantes afirman que muchos estudiantes terminan sin los recursos adecuados.

Antes de que empiece el año escolar, Chalkbeat Chicago analizó los datos de matrícula y dotación de personal para examinar el panorama de aprendizaje para estos niños. Estos son los puntos clave.

El año pasado la cifra de estudiantes de inglés aumentó en más de 5,000 estudiantes

El distrito determina quiénes son estudiantes de inglés evaluando el dominio de inglés de los estudiantes que proceden de hogares donde no se habla ese idioma.. El aumento en los estudiantes de inglés es contrario a la tendencia general de reducción en la matrícula en CPS.

El aumento del año pasado elevó la cifra total de estudiantes de inglés en el distrito a más de 77,000 el 7 de junio, el último día del año escolar 2022-23. Según estos datos, los estudiantes de inglés representan casi una cuarta parte de la población estudiantil total de CPS.

Es difícil saber cuántos son inmigrantes recién llegados. Los funcionarios del distrito señalan que algunos estudiantes pueden emigrar y ya hablar inglés; otros estudiantes quizás hablan un idioma que no es inglés y son clasificados como “estudiantes de inglés” sin haber emigrado recientemente a Chicago. Por lo tanto, el aumento en estudiantes de inglés no refleja necesariamente la cifra real de estudiantes inmigrantes, pero puede ofrecer una aproximación del tamaño de esa población.

Niños con las mochilas que recibieron en un evento de regreso a la escuela en 2022. Al matricularse, los estudiantes pasan por una evaluación para determinar si hablan otro idioma que no es inglés.

Cuando una escuela matricula a 20 o más estudiantes con el mismo idioma de origen, la ley estatal requiere que la escuela establezca un programa de Educación Bilingüe de Transición, o TBE. Los programas TBE a tiempo completo requieren que los educadores enseñen las asignaturas básicas tanto en inglés como en la lengua materna de los estudiantes. La escuela también tiene que proporcionar enseñanza del inglés como segundo idioma.

El estado monitorea los programas bilingües para determinar si cada escuela está cumpliendo los requisitos. Un análisis de WBEZ en 2020 encontró que más de un 70% de los programas bilingües de las escuelas se quedaron cortos según las evaluaciones del propio distrito.

Pero es complicado cuadrar los datos de matrícula de los estudiantes de inglés con la cantidad de personal que realmente enseña educación bilingüe.

Los maestros bilingües designados se reducen, pero las acreditaciones bilingües aumentan

Páez dijo que muchas escuelas tienen personal que puede hablar con los estudiantes de inglés en su idioma natal y apoyarlos, pero que eso no sustituye un programa bilingüe. En el año pasado, dijo, muchas escuelas han estado operando con un plan de emergencia para atender las necesidades de los estudiantes.

“Eso quizás ayuda a un niño que necesita traducción, a un niño que necesita ayuda para pasar de un salón a otro, o para saber cómo es el edificio escolar”, dijo. “Si tenemos empleados que no son maestros certificados, entran a los salones, y se espera que eso sea la forma para lograr que un niño participe, eso no es lo que él o ella necesita”.

Según un portavoz de la Junta de Educación del Estado de Illinois, para enseñar a los estudiantes en su idioma materno se requiere que el maestro o maestra cuente con una acreditación bilingüe. Otro tipo de acreditación — la certificación de maestro de inglés como segundo idioma — permite que un educador con licencia les enseñe inglés a personas cuyo idioma materno no es inglés, dijo el portavoz.

Un programa de Educación Bilingüe de Transición tiene que lograr ambas cosas: enseñarles a los estudiantes en su idioma materno, y enseñarles inglés.

Los datos disponibles públicamente e internos sobre la contratación de personal muestra una combinación de cosas en las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. La cantidad de maestros designados como bilingües ha disminuido desde 2015.

Pero según el distrito, en los datos de contratación del CPS se refleja que no todos los educadores que dan clases bilingües han sido designados como maestros bilingües. Este análisis tampoco incluye las escuelas chárter ni las de contrato, porque el distrito no llega cuenta de toda la información de contratación de estas escuelas.

La mayor parte de esa reducción se debe a la disminución en el número de puestos de maestros bilingües a tiempo parcial, según un análisis de datos hecho por Chalkbeat.

Mientras tanto, en octubre de 2022 más de 6,000 maestros tenían acreditaciones en Educación Bilingüe o Inglés como Segundo Idioma (ESL).

Los maestros pueden obtener estas acreditaciones tomando cursos y mediante experiencia docente. Las acreditaciones en educación bilingüe también requieren que el maestro obtenga un diploma en un idioma que no sea inglés o pase un examen de dominio de ese idioma.

Sin embargo, no está claro cuáles de estos maestros utilizan activamente sus acreditaciones en el salón de clases.

El número de maestros con acreditación ha aumentado en los últimos años. El distrito subsidia parcialmente el costo de las acreditaciones de ESL y educación bilingüe, una disposición en el contrato actual del sindicato de maestros de Chicago (Chicago Teachers Union).

Ben Felton, jefe de talento de CPS, dijo que el distrito tiene como objetivo seguir aumentando la cifra de maestros con acreditaciones.

CPS también usa su programa de Residencia Docente para capacitar a maestros bilingües durante un año, atrayendo a personas que quieren cambiar de profesión o a personal de CPS que desea transferirse a un puesto de enseñanza.

“Nuestro programa de Residencia Docente es nuestra forma más segura de invertir en personal bilingüe para asegurar que se conviertan en maestros bilingües”, afirma Felton. “Este año también hemos sentido esta sensación de urgencia, sabiendo que hay recién llegados y necesitamos talento bilingüe, y estamos invirtiendo en eso”.

También es posible que haya personal en las escuelas que habla otro idioma, pero no cuenta con ninguno de estos títulos o acreditaciones.

Los servicios bilingües varían según la escuela y el idioma

La oleada más reciente de inmigrantes a Chicago procede principalmente de Venezuela, donde una crisis humanitaria y económica ha expulsado del país a millones de personas. El idioma oficial de Venezuela es español, pero los estudiantes están llegando a las escuelas con una gran variedad de idiomas y trasfondos culturales.

Por eso, incluso en los barrios donde hay más recursos en español y escuelas con más personal bilingüe, todavía hay retos, afirma Enríquez, el organizador de Little Village, una comunidad predominantemente mexicanoamericana.

Por ejemplo, dijo él, algunos estudiantes migrantes recientes hablan Kʼicheʼ, un idioma hablado por algunos indígenas de Guatemala, y estos estudiantes tienen que desenvolverse en la escuela sin mucho apoyo. Páez también señaló que los estudiantes llegan hablando Kichwa o quechua, el idioma indígena más hablado en las Américas.

El estado también requiere que los programas bilingües enseñen a los estudiantes la historia y la cultura de sus países de origen. Este tipo de currículo es crucial, dijo Andrea Ortiz, directora de organización del Brighton Park Neighborhood Council.

“Como distrito, tenemos que encontrar la manera de invertir y escuchar a nuestros maestros e incorporarlos en la creación de un currículo culturalmente relevante que hable del aumento de familias que se están mudando a la ciudad”, dijo. “Muchas de las familias que vienen son de Venezuela, y hay grandes diferencias culturales entre los venezolanos y otros latinos que están aquí”.

La traducción del currículo también puede ser un problema. El currículo universal opcional Skyline del distrito cuenta actualmente con cursos de ciencias sociales e historia universal traducidos a español para estudiantes desde PreKinder hasta octavo grado. CPS tiene planes de empezar cursos de matemáticas en español a finales de este mes. Este otoño, el distrito dijo que CPS comenzará a desarrollar clases de la lengua española.

Pero eso no resuelve las necesidades de aprendizaje de todos los estudiantes, dijo Kathryn Zamarron, maestra de música en CPS.

“No lo tenemos en urdu, en árabe, en amárico, en vietnamita”, dijo. “Ni siquiera es suficiente en español”.

La maestra sustituta a tiempo completo de CPS, Rebekah Amaya, dijo que los servicios bilingües son necesarios para los niños recién llegados, pero que también ayudarán a otros estudiantes. Ella trabaja en una escuela de Brighton Park, una comunidad predominantemente hispana y latina del Southwest Side.

“Va a beneficiar a los estudiantes que ya han carecido de esos recursos durante mucho tiempo, especialmente aquí en el South Side”, dijo ella. “Esto solo crea un catalizador para que trabajemos más duro para mejorar y aumentar nuestros servicios bilingües”.

Se necesitan servicios de apoyo para trauma y de salud mental

Amaya dijo que las escuelas pueden ser algo más que un lugar de aprendizaje: también son un medio para que los estudiantes se conecten con apoyo social, como comidas gratuitas y servicios de salud. Ella es voluntaria en la estación de policía del Distrito 9 y dice que en su inmensa mayoría, los padres esperan que sus hijos reciban servicios de salud mental en las escuelas.

Pero Amaya también dijo que no todas las escuelas tienen suficientes recursos para satisfacer esa necesidad, por lo que los planes de matrícula necesitan ser intencionales.

“A la larga, va a ser más beneficioso para los estudiantes y su entorno y su salud mental enviarlos a escuelas que puedan recibirlos y sí tengan esos servicios para ellos”, dijo Amaya.

En los últimos años, CPS ha duplicado la cantidad de trabajadores sociales y en el último expediente público de contratación ha presupuestado más de 630 puestos de trabajo social. El distrito también asignó $13 millones en nuevos fondos para enfermeras escolares, trabajadores sociales y administradores de casos en su presupuesto para el año fiscal 2024.

Pero según un análisis de Chalkbeat de la lista proporcionada por el distrito que muestra los maestros con acreditación en agosto, solamente un trabajador social tiene acreditación bilingüe o de ESL. Aproximadamente un 5% de los más de 800 consejeros del distrito y un 28% de los más o menos 250 administradores de casos tienen acreditación en educación bilingüe o de ESL; algunos quizás tengan ambas.

Los estudiantes inmigrantes tienen derecho legal a matricularse, pero aún pueden enfrentar inestabilidad

Este verano, CPS puso en marcha un centro piloto de bienvenida en la Roberto Clemente Community Academy, abierto a los estudiantes inmigrantes que viven en las comunidades de West Town y Humboldt Park. Las familias pueden matricular a sus hijos en CPS, y también conectarse con atención médica, apoyo de idioma y recursos de transporte.

Ese centro de bienvenida es un paso en la dirección correcta, dijo Amaya. Pero dijo que muchas más comunidades necesitan esos servicios. Ella dijo que una buena solución podría ser tener equipos móviles de matrícula, sobre todo teniendo en cuenta los problemas de vivienda y transporte a los que se enfrentan las familias.

“Muchas familias han tenido que viajar en dos o tres autobuses — durante varias horas — para llegar a un trabajo o a un centro médico”, nos dijo. “Es más importante ir a donde las familias están y hacérselo un poco más fácil”.

El alcalde Brandon Johnson habla en una conferencia de prensa en la Roberto Clemente Community Academy antes de la apertura del centro de bienvenida para familias recién llegadas a las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. Este centro piloto atiende a las comunidades de West Town y Humboldt Park.

CPS trabaja con el Departamento de Servicios Humanos de Illinois y el Departamento de Familia y Servicios de Apoyo en los refugios para coordinar la matrícula de algunos estudiantes en refugios y hoteles, según el distrito.

Pero para las familias que están durmiendo en el piso de estaciones de policía y albergues, sin saber cuándo podrán vivir de forma permanente en otro lugar, matricular a sus hijos puede ser intimidante. Todas tienen la misma pregunta: ¿Qué ocurre si se matriculan en una escuela y luego se mudan al otro lado de la ciudad o hasta fuera de Chicago?

Según las leyes federales, los estudiantes en situación de residencia temporal tienen derecho legal a matricularse, aunque carezcan de los documentos necesarios, como prueba de residencia o historial médico.

Una vez matriculados, los niños también tienen derecho a permanecer matriculados en la misma escuela durante todo el año escolar y a recibir transporte, aunque se muden a otro lugar.

Pero permanecer en la misma escuela podría no ser algo práctico para todos los estudiantes. Zamorran, maestra de música en CPS, también trabaja como voluntaria en los distritos policiales del South Side, y dijo que la amenaza constante de mudarse afecta a los estudiantes. La idea de trasladar a un niño — después del largo viaje que ha tenido que soportar y después de matricularlo por fin en una escuela — puede ser dolorosa, nos dijo.

“Existe esta gran pregunta de: ¿Es esto otro trauma para mi hijo?,” dijo ella. “O sea, decirles: ‘Esta es tu comunidad y tú perteneces aquí’, ¿y luego sacarlos de ahí?”

Se necesita educación, recursos y vivienda, pero, según los defensores, también se necesita un hogar.

Enríquez — el organizador de Little Village — recuerda lo importante que fue ese sentimiento de hogar cuando de niño se mudó de México a Chicago. Por eso, Enríquez dijo que él y otros organizadores continuarán presionando al distrito y a la junta escolar para que les den suficientes recursos y apoyo a los recién llegados.

“Vamos a luchar para asegurar que tengamos una educación de calidad y una representación racial equitativa”, dijo Enríquez. “Y si no nos invitan a la mesa, traeremos nuestras propias sillas plegadizas”.

Meet Giovanny Navarro, one of Chicago Public Schools’ newest teachers

2023-08-21T22:58:01+00:00

When Giovanny Navarro went back to Finkl Academy, where he had worked as a paraprofessional, he wasn’t sure his students would remember him. But as he walked into the classroom last year, they came running, some of them crying and giving him hugs.

“We miss you! When are you coming back?” Navarro recalls them saying.

The answer? Today.

For many students, it was the start of another school year. But for Navarro, it was a day full of firsts: His first day back at Finkl and his first time officially teaching solo.

Finkl Academy and other Chicago Public Schools welcomed students back on Aug. 21.

Last year, after working at Finkl for about four years, he took a break from the school — an intensive break — to learn from a mentor teacher at an elementary school in Englewood, while at the same time working on his master’s degree at National Louis University.

It’s all part of Chicago Public Schools’ Teacher Residency program. Launched in 2017, the program is tailored toward career-changers and district staff working in non-teaching positions, like Navarro. More than 150 teachers — the district’s largest group of residents since its launch — are in Navarro’s cohort. The vast majority are eligible to teach special education, early childhood education, or bilingual education, according to a CPS press release.

On Monday, Navarro said he was excited to be back and officially teaching at Finkl, a K-8 school where he’s spent years building relationships with children and their families. Finkl serves just over 200 students and is located between Pilsen and Little Village.

“It’s someone else’s kids, but they’re my students,” he said. “I always find ways to connect with them, to play with them, to teach them, to make their education memorable.”

Giovanny Navarro assists a student during a math class on the first day of school. In the corner, a math teacher also helps out a student. As a special education teacher, Navarro often collaborates, but this is the first year he is teaching without a mentor teacher.

He’s in his second year of his teacher residency. For the first year, residents are paired with a mentor teacher in a CPS school and paid roughly $40,000, according to the residency’s website. In the second year, they start teaching solo and earn a starting teacher salary of roughly $62,000. After completing the residency, teachers are expected to work for at least two more years in CPS.

The program aims to fill hard-to-staff positions, such as bilingual and special education teachers. Navarro is on his way to officially becoming both.

He still has some coursework to complete on his bilingual education endorsement, but Navarro grew up speaking Spanish. It’s a big part of why he chose to come back to Finkl — he said it’s where he feels like he can make the most impact. Nearly half of the students at Finkl come from non-English speaking homes and are learning English.

Navarro said he can relate. Around his sophomore year of high school, he migrated from Mexico to the U.S. and began learning English. Navarro said he hopes to help students like him to learn and believe in themselves. Over 5,000 new English learners joined the district over the course of last year.

“I have seen the struggle — how hard it is coming to a new country, where you don’t know people, you don’t know the language, the school looks totally different from other countries,” he said. “I want to be able to support students in not just education, but also in life.”

Navarro initially attended undergraduate school hoping to become a high school math teacher. But right after graduating, he started working in after-school programs at Finkl and said he fell in love with the work.

Since he had a secondary school teaching license, not an elementary school one, he couldn’t teach at Finkl right away. So he decided first to become a special education paraprofessional. But he said he saw an immediate need for special education teachers, especially teachers who could speak both English and Spanish.

After watching Navarro as a paraprofessional, Finkl Academy principal Nancy Quintana said she encouraged him to enroll in the residency program. Now, between his training in special education and his bilingual skills, she said, he could have been hired anywhere.

“There’s a national shortage, so he could have gone back to any school,” she said. “The mere fact that he came back to me is a true honor.”

Navarro said his training year required a lot of work — but ultimately felt rewarding. Both Navarro and his wife worked as teacher residents and returned to Finkl this year. In February, they had a baby boy. Juggling life, their own college work, and their jobs could get stressful, he said, but he’s grateful they could understand and support one another.

“We walked through this whole path together,” he said, “We both put a lot of effort into it. We were always doing what we had to and more.”

Giovanny Navarro stands in a math classroom at Finkl Academy. Throughout the day, he switches between classrooms.

This school year, Navarro said he’s mainly focused on understanding his students, from their motivations to their challenges. For some children, he said, school cannot be their number one priority.

“Sometimes we need to be able to identify who needs that extra help, and what are the reasons students are acting some way,” he said. “Seeing things on paper and seeing who does good and who doesn’t is easy — really looking, talking to them and finding the ‘why’ is what is hard.”

On Monday, he started laying some of that groundwork, spending most of the day getting to know his students and easing them back into learning.

He switched between classrooms, grades, and subjects. But no matter what or who or where he was teaching, he said he carried something with him: patience.

That’s his plan, for this first day and beyond.

Max Lubbers is a reporting intern for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Max at mlubbers@chalkbeat.org.

First day of school: Chicago Public Schools reopens under a new era of leadership

2023-08-21T21:28:02+00:00

Chicago Public Schools is officially back in session.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, the first Chicago mayor in recent history to send his children to public schools, kicked off the first day of classes by joining educators, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates outside Beidler Elementary School on the West Side.

Under a sweltering sun at 8:30 a.m., Johnson greeted parents and children in front of a chorus of reporters and cameras, before ringing the ceremonial bell to start the school year.

The joint appearance with Davis Gates, Martinez, and other district and union officials was unsurprising for the union-friendly mayor who came up through the CTU’s ranks, but still a break from the past when the union and City Hall officials would visit schools separately.

Despite the district facing a number of challenges ahead, including unreliable bus transportation, ongoing enrollment shifts, and an influx of immigrant students, Johnson focused on a new era of collaboration at the city’s public schools.

Later in the morning, after touring two other campuses, Johnson visited Kenwood Academy, where his son is now a sophomore.

Speaking to a history class, he likened the first-day icebreakers the teacher was doing to what he’s doing as the city’s new mayor.

“I hope that you will lean into the collaborative approach that your teacher is taking, because that is what we’re doing as a city,” Johnson told the students. “We’re building relationships, we’re collaborating so that we can make collective decisions together that ultimately can help transform people’s lives.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, and other city hall, school district, and union officials pose for a photo inside a classroom at Kenwood Academy on the South Side.

CPS claws back from enrollment losses

Visiting Beidler was a symbolic choice for the mayor. The school narrowly escaped closure about a decade ago and is now part of a program Johnson wishes to expand: the Sustainable Community Schools initiative, which aims to provide wraparound services and more programming for students and families.

But Beidler is among several other schools in the program that have lost at least a quarter of their enrollment since the initiative started.

The official enrollment count will not be known until after the 20th day of school in September. But last year, 80,000 fewer students were enrolled in Chicago Public Schools than there were a decade ago and it is now the nation’s fourth largest school district. Chicago’s declining enrollment predated the emergence of COVID-19, but continued during the pandemic.

And for many parents and kids arriving at Beidler Monday morning, more pressing thoughts — like wishing for a great year — were at the forefront. Dondneja Wilson hoped that her daughter, who started preschool, would “grow, and learn, and have fun.”

“She likes kids a lot, so I feel like that’s going to be her favorite part,” Wilson said.

Dondneja Wilson and her daughter pose for a picture outside of Beidler Elementary School.

Last year, data from the last day of school in June obtained by Chalkbeat showed little change in overall enrollment. However, the number of English learners grew by more than 5,000 students. District officials have pointed to the increase as an approximation of how many migrant students have arrived on buses in the past year.

Chicago is seeing an influx of newcomers, many of whom are seeking asylum, arriving by bus from the southern border in Texas.

The number of bilingual teachers in CPS has dipped since 2015, even as the English learner population has grown, according to a recent Chalkbeat analysis. While 6,900 teachers have earned bilingual education endorsements — more than ever before, according to the district — it’s unclear how many are actually assigned to teach bilingual education.

Educators and immigrant advocates have expressed concerns about whether schools can properly support these new students. Jianan Shi, president of the Board of Education, said the city’s new welcome center for migrant students on the West Side has enrolled “hundreds” of newcomer students. He’s requested more information on the system’s overall strategy for supporting newcomers.

A classroom door welcomes students in Spanish at Kenwood Academy in Hyde Park.

Outside Beidler, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez told reporters that “the biggest challenge” is ensuring that all newcomers are registered in school, but he said the district is well-positioned to serve them, noting that Chicago has one of the largest bilingual and dual language programs in the nation. About one-fifth of the city’s students are English language learners.

“The challenge we have right now is, again, keeping up with all the new asylum-seekers that are coming in, going to them, making sure that we’re able to register them, assess them,” Martinez said. “But we’re doing that as we speak now.”

Transportation woes continue on first day

Transportation woes that have plagued the district for the last few years also cropped up on the first day, as parents reported problems with bus routes and trips that took more than an hour.

Laurie Viets, a CPS parent of three children – two of whom have transportation written into an Individualized Education Program – said the district promised to have all transportation issues resolved by last Friday.

However, Viets found out on Friday that one of her children, a seventh grader, was not going to have transportation and another child, a first-year high school student, would have a long bus route. Today, it took 70 minutes to get to school; it’s normally a 12-minute car ride, Viets said.

Viets said she wished Chicago Public Schools would have given her more time to prepare for changes in the transportation plans. Now, she won’t have transportation for one of her children for up to two weeks and she is concerned that her other child will be on the bus without air conditioning in extreme heat until they shorten his route.

The district’s bus problems stem back to 2021, the first year back to full-time, in-person school after COVID forced CPS to close buildings in March 2020. Students were left waiting on the first day and beyond for buses that never showed. In emergency mode at that time, the district began offering $1,000 stipends for rideshare services such as Lyft and Uber. But the transportation troubles continued well into the school year.

Last year, some 365 students were waiting for bus routes the first week of school and in September, district officials said they were still working to reduce 90-minute rides for some students.

The district has blamed and continues to point to a nationwide bus driver shortage as causing the transportation troubles. It signed a $4 million contract with a longtime vendor and bus-routing software company to try to fix the issues.

But last month, on July 31, district officials announced that it would not be able to transport roughly 8,000 students on the first day of school. They offered $500 monthly stipends to families of CPS students with disabilities or those in temporary living situations. Both groups are legally entitled to transportation. The district said at the time that 3,000 students had chosen the stipend option.

Davis Gates called the transportation troubles “a disaster” and a “failure of privatization.” CPS contracts with private bus companies to provide students with transportation. Davis Gates said she would like to see the district bring busing “in-house” and experiment with having its own fleet of buses that could start small by covering field trips and sporting events and then grow.

“These are Band-Aid approaches. I have not seen anything transformative or revolutionary in this space. And again, three strikes you’re out,” she said. “This isn’t a good way to start the school year with respect to transportation.”

The district has previously increased pay rates for bus driver companies, and is hoping to do so again this year. Martinez said he hopes that will help fill the driver shortage.

Viets, the parent worrying about her children’s transportation, said more needs to be done.

“Next year, if CPS is going to start by Aug. 21, by Aug. 1 they should know what the routes are,” said Viets.

If Chicago finalizes plans the Friday before the start of school, she said, the district is “not giving parents any kind of respect at all. They’re not giving us an opportunity to make other plans when they mess up.”

As Viets noted, the extreme heat also adds to worries about long bus rides. The weather also raises concerns about conditions inside buildings once students arrive.

Air-conditioning, aging buildings prompt push for green schools

With temperatures expected to reach 100 degrees this week, Martinez said his team worked “around the clock” to ensure classrooms are equipped with air conditioning this week.

Martinez said every classroom has at least a window unit, a key union demand during the CTU’s 2012 strike that was implemented a couple of years later by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Still, in some cases, hallways are not air-conditioned, Martinez said.

Johnson has touted “climate justice” as a key focus of his administration and reiterated Monday that includes schools.

“Having buildings that are retrofitted, as well as an economy that’s built around green technology, some of that is top of mind,” he said.

Davis Gates used this week’s weather forecast to illustrate climate change’s impact on the city and why it underscores the urgent need for a new CPS facilities master plan, which hasn’t been updated since 2018. She added that building greener schools will be one issue the union will bargain over ahead of its contract expiration in 2024.

The school calendar’s pre-Labor Day start is an issue Davis Gates would immediately bargain over, she said. The late August start date began in 2021, matching up with many suburban districts.

The union was not able to bargain over the school calendar in 2019, Davis Gates said. But the passage of a 2021 state law reinstating some of the CTU’s bargaining rights could allow the calendar to be back on the table. The union’s contract expires next June and it’s likely the district and new mayor will begin negotiations with the teachers this winter.

The larger issues that officials highlighted were likely not top of mind for many students, such as 5-year-old Pierre, who started kindergarten at Beidler.

Asked what he was most excited about this school year, Pierre replied, “Playing.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s first day of school is almost here. Here are five things we’re watching this year.

2023-08-18T20:42:43+00:00

Chicago Public Schools’ estimated 320,000 students will head back to class Monday for a school year that will be marked by old issues — and some new concerns.

The district’s enrollment has been dwindling for at least a decade, raising questions about how to best fund schools still recovering from the effects of the pandemic.

Funding overall has become more complicated as the city’s federal COVID relief dollars dry up. Much of that money has been used for supporting existing and additional staff, many of them providing extra academic support for students.

As the district decides on how, if at all, to continue funding some of those programs, it must also contend with the continued enrollment of incoming immigrant students.

Here are five issues Chalkbeat Chicago will be watching this school year:

A fiscal cliff is approaching

This is the last full school year before Chicago must earmark how to spend what’s left of nearly $3 billion it received in COVID relief aid from the federal government. The deadline is September 2024.

That means the district will soon be staring down a financial hole that has been filled by that influx of federal funds since the pandemic.

The district spent a large share of pandemic relief money on staff salaries and benefits. The district also spent hundreds of millions of dollars on academic recovery efforts, including after-school programs, an in-house tutor corps, and more counselors, social workers, and other support staff.

District officials have projected a budget shortfall of $628 million by the 2025-26 school year, raising questions about how Chicago will sustain any programs and services supported by the federal dollars.

A financial analysis released under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot noted that CPS “will not have a funding source” to keep up these academic recovery and social-emotional learning efforts.

As the district’s financial picture is becoming more precarious, Mayor Brandon Johnson has shared lofty plans for schools, including expanding the Community Schools model — leaving complicated financial decisions ahead.

The district’s state funding could also be in jeopardy if it fails to comply with a state law requiring that at least two staffers at each school are trained on the use of student restraint and timeout. The deadline for that, coincidentally, is the first day of school.

Student academic needs persist

Three years since the onset of the COVID pandemic, there are still signs Chicago students need extra help in the classroom. Students appear to be improving in reading achievement, but they’re gaining less ground in math, according to recent state test scores obtained by Chalkbeat.

As the district’s COVID dollars fade out, questions remain about how district officials will approach academic recovery, and whether there will be efforts to keep any of the extra support CPS has funded with the federal dollars.

Some of those COVID dollars went toward the creation of a $135 million universal curriculum called Skyline, which has received mixed reviews. The district has pressed schools not yet using the curriculum to prove they’re using another high-quality option, so it’s possible more campuses will use Skyline this year.

Additionally, Illinois’ General Assembly passed a new law requiring the State Board of Education to create a literacy plan for schools, which is due by the end of January 2024.

District grapples with continued dipping enrollment

Chicago’s public school enrollment has dipped by 9% since the pandemic began — a trend also seen among other big-city school districts — and is almost one-fifth smaller than it was a decade ago. Last year’s enrollment dip of 9,000 students was enough to push the district’s ranking from the country’s third largest public school system to the number 4 spot.

This year’s enrollment figures won’t be publicly released until later this fall.

As the district’s student body has thinned out, funding has grown — to $9.4 billion for the upcoming school year. Still, as the district has logged fewer students — including those from low-income families — CPS has in recent years received less state funding than it has projected. And with COVID aid running out, officials must grapple with how to fund schools serving a fraction of the kids they used to. (There is a citywide moratorium on school closures until 2025.)

Some advocacy and interest groups, including the teachers union, believe funding should be divorced from enrollment, in part because investing fewer dollars will only encourage more families to leave or to never enroll in public schools. Just over 40% of new budgets for schools this year was determined by student enrollment, with the rest accounting for other factors, such as student demographics.

Still, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has emphasized that the district can’t factor out enrollment.

“In a large school district where schools serve 40 students, 400 students, and even 4,000 students, enrollment simply has to play a role in our funding formula,” Martinez previously told reporters.

Increase in migrant students poses new challenges

Last year, Texas officials began busing newly arrived migrants to Democratic-led cities, including Chicago. Since then, an estimated 12,000 migrants, many of whom are fleeing economic and political turmoil from South and Central American countries, have arrived in Chicago, While the district won’t say how many such students have enrolled, CPS saw roughly 5,400 new English learners last school year, Chalkbeat found.

Most Chicago schools have previously struggled with providing adequate language instruction for English learners. And with the city expecting more newcomers, educators and immigrant advocates recently told Chalkbeat that schools are not adequately resourced to serve these new students.

Some of these children may arrive without years of formal education and, if they’re learning English as a new language, are legally required to receive extra support.

The district’s number of bilingual teachers has dropped since 2015 even as the English learner population has grown, according to a Chalkbeat analysis. More teachers have earned bilingual education endorsements, which allows them to teach, but it’s unclear whether any of those educators are using those endorsements in the classroom.

District officials will be tasked with how to properly support these students. Officials had previously promised to release a formal plan by the first day of school but have not done so yet.

No district maps yet for the elected school board

As Chicago prepares to begin electing school board members next fall over the next two years, lawmakers have yet to approve maps that would designate which districts each board member would be elected from in the first round of elections. Ten members will be elected in November 2024, while the rest will be elected in November 2026, for a total of 21 members.

Illinois state lawmakers are in charge of approving those maps. In May, they extended their deadline to April 1, 2024, after concerns over whether the maps would match the makeup of the district’s student body or the city’s overall demographics.

Some observers cheered the extension. However, the delay presents new complications. If maps are not approved until April, the campaign season for the first set of districts would last just seven months, making it potentially challenging for candidates to prepare and for voters to have enough information ahead of Election Day.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado 2023 CMAS results show slow academic recovery, red flags for some students

2023-08-17T17:00:00+00:00

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State test scores released Thursday show signs that Colorado students are recovering from pandemic learning disruption, as 2023 scores approached 2019 levels in some grades and subjects.

But worrying signs remain that many students are still struggling.

The share of fourth and eighth graders who could read and write at or above grade level on CMAS tests taken this past spring remains more than 4 percentage points behind the share who could in 2019. Seventh and eighth graders are similarly behind in math. Each percentage point represents thousands of students who are not meeting expectations and who are less prepared for the next grade.

At the same time, fifth and sixth graders are posting similar scores in reading and writing to their peers four years ago, and in math, all elementary students are. At nearly every grade level, more students met or exceeded expectations in both language arts and math in 2023 than did in 2022, with fifth and seventh graders improving several percentage points in reading.

State education officials attribute the progress to a more normal school year, with fewer disruptions due to illness and safety protocols, as well as to school districts’ investments in new curriculum and tutoring to help students catch up. At the same time, staff shortages meant educators had less time to help struggling students, and many schools reported increases in students missing class.

The uneven recovery may be due to differences in where students were developmentally when COVID hit and school moved online — and how critical the material they missed during disrupted schooling was to the next grade level. Students who were in eighth grade in spring 2023 were in fifth grade when schools shut down in March 2020.

“There are some key learnings that typically occur in some grade levels that have impact down the road,” Joyce Zurkowski, chief assessment officer for the Colorado Department of Education, said on a call with reporters this week.

She said education officials consider “what typically is covered (in) fifth grade, second semester — and how that could be impacting our students in seventh and eighth grade.”

All Colorado students in grades three through eight take reading, writing, and math tests every spring. The tests are known as the Colorado Measures of Academic Success, or CMAS. Some students also take tests in science and social studies. High schoolers take the PSAT and SAT.

Scores for English learners raise concerns

Test scores for English learners and students who took the reading and writing tests in Spanish raise major concerns about how well these children are faring in school.

Just 18.7% of third graders who took the test in Spanish met or exceeded expectations, down 8.8 percentage points from 2019 — by far the biggest lag in student recovery. And just 14.2% of fourth graders who took the Spanish test met or exceeded expectations, down almost 5 percentage points from 2019.

State education officials said the trend calls for more attention to these students. Some of that will have to come from state lawmakers, who have set aside money and crafted new rules to support reading and math instruction, but not bilingual learners.

Floyd Cobb, the associate commissioner of student learning, made that clear this week. Asked what the state education department will do to close the gap between bilingual learners and English-speaking students, he said, “that’ll need to be answered by the General Assembly.”

“Our job here at the department is to make sure that we go about implementing the laws that the General Assembly passes, and in the event that someone writes a bill, and that bill makes it through, we’ll engage in our work to be able to support,” Cobb said.

Colorado’s Latino communities suffered a heavy toll during the pandemic, experiencing more illness and death, more job losses, and more economic instability than white Coloradans. Hispanic families are also less likely to have reliable internet access, and have been affected by rising rents and home prices that have pushed many of them out of their neighborhoods.

Colorado education officials are also watching with concern the test scores of middle school girls. Girls typically do better than boys in language arts, while boys do better in math. That hasn’t changed, but in some cases, gender gaps have narrowed because girls are doing worse. The number of eighth grade girls meeting or exceeding expectations in language arts is down 7.7 percentage points since 2019, and down more than 3 points just since last year.

“When we look at the national level, there’s been significant research that suggests young women have struggled more during the pandemic with depression and anxiety,” Colorado Commissioner of Education Susana Córdova said.

“It’s hard to say if that’s the reason why we’re seeing lower performance with young women than we are with young men,” Córdova said. “But I think it’s going to be important for us to continue to monitor and look at and to focus supports on young women.”

Colorado continues to have major gaps in proficiency rates based on student race and economic status. The share of white and Asian students scoring at grade level is 24 to 30 points higher than for Black and Hispanic students. The gaps between students living in poverty — as measured by eligibility for free- or reduced-price lunch — and their more affluent peers is more than 30 points in most grades and subjects.

These are longstanding problems, but Colorado education officials said they demand urgent attention.

How state officials, schools, teachers, and families use CMAS results

Critics of standardized tests say they are a better measure of the effects of poverty than of academic performance, but state education officials point out that they are the only statewide measure of how well students meet the state’s academic standards.

The state uses the test results to rate schools and districts, and to direct help to schools with lower scores and issue state improvement orders.

Parents can use their children’s individual test results to discuss strengths and weaknesses with teachers, and they can use state data to see how their school and district perform compared with others.

Schools and teachers can use the test scores to determine the subjects where students are furthest behind and find ways to help them improve.

In addition to the raw test scores, Colorado also calculates growth scores. Those scores measure how much progress students made compared with students who scored similarly to them the year before and are generally considered a better measure of the work educators do than raw test scores.

Because of the way the growth scores are calculated, the state average is always around 50 on a 100-point scale. Students who are behind need growth scores above 50 to catch up.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, Colorado students would need growth scores of 55 or higher to catch up to 2019 achievement levels, said Lisa Medler, the executive director of accountability and continuous improvement for the Colorado Department of Education.

Among districts with more than 1,000 students that serve a large portion of students of color, only Denver edged above 50 in growth in both language arts and math, and many districts had below-average growth scores.

Statewide, district growth scores for grades three through eight ranged from a high of 79 in math in Hinsdale County RE-1, a small district in southwest Colorado, to a low of 23, also in math, in Agate School District #300, a tiny district in the east.

Denver scores rebound, but big gaps remain

In Denver Public Schools, Colorado’s largest school district with nearly 88,000 students, test scores for most grades and subjects rebounded, but not quite to pre-pandemic levels.

There were a few exceptions. Third graders scored higher this past spring than four years ago: 40% met or exceeded expectations in 2023, compared with 39% in 2019.

The troubling trend of English learners falling further behind showed up in Denver’s test scores, too. Most English learners in Denver speak Spanish, and more than 1,600 Denver students took the state literacy test in Spanish. But only 21% met or exceeded expectations on the Spanish literacy test, down from 29% in 2019.

While English-speaking students are catching up from pandemic learning loss, students who are still learning the English language are not, the test data shows. The test score gap between English learners and English speakers is growing.

Denver has other gaps, too. Last year, Denver’s test score gaps between white and Black students, and between white and Hispanic students, were the biggest in Colorado. The gaps did not shrink this year. In fact, the gap grew in math between white and Hispanic students.

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero has said he wants to see the number of students scoring at grade level go up by 10 percentage points in reading and math by 2026 — a goal he included in the district’s strategic plan. The plan says test scores should improve even more for “some student groups,” an acknowledgement that Denver has big gaps to close.

This year’s test scores show only slight progress toward that goal. Proficiency rates in grades three through seven rose between 0.2 and 2.4 percentage points, depending on the grade. Eighth graders declined slightly in language arts.

On both the PSAT and SAT, fewer Denver students scored at or above a benchmark meant to indicate college readiness this past spring in literacy and math than did in 2019.

Adams 14 test scores remain low

The Adams 14 school district, which received state orders to reorganize after years of chronic low student performance, continued to see low scores.

At the high school level, students in every grade level tested had lower average combined scores than in 2019. The trend is similar statewide, but Adams 14’s scores are lower than the state’s average.

In grades three through eight, Adams 14 saw significantly lower scores districtwide compared with 2019, nearly across the board.

The biggest decrease was among fifth graders taking English language arts tests, only 12.7% of whom met or exceeded expectations. The only districtwide improvement was very small: just a 0.1 percentage point increase among sixth graders in math. Only 4.3% of those students met or exceeded expectations.

Looking at growth among Adams 14 students, the district and most of its schools had growth scores of less than 50. The two highest growth scores were for math at Dupont, with a 57.5, and language arts at Rose Hill Elementary which had a growth score of 58.

The test where Adams 14 had its highest percentage of students meeting expectations was on the language arts tests given in Spanish. Among third graders taking that test, for instance, 19.2% of students met or exceeded expectations, compared with 17.6% of third graders taking that test in English.

Adams 14 has one of the state’s highest proportions of students learning English as a second language, and historically has had trouble educating those students and complying with their civil rights. In more recent years, the district has implemented bilingual programming and created a plan that finally got federal approval for how to educate English learners.

Third graders still recovering in reading

Elementary students are still not yet up to pre-pandemic reading proficiency levels, despite big changes in how Colorado schools teach reading.

Statewide, 39.9% of the spring’s third graders met or exceeded expectations on reading tests. That percentage is lower than last year, and down from 41.3% in 2019.

Sheridan, Douglas County, Jeffco, and St. Vrain districts in the metro area showed significant improvements in third grade reading.

In Sheridan, the district went from having just over 10% of students meet expectations for reading in 2019 to 26.8% this spring. In the Douglas County school district, 58% of third graders met expectations in reading, up from 52% in 2019. The score put the Dougco district above most metro area districts.

The Jeffco school district also had increases, with 48.2% of third graders meeting reading standards, up from 46.3% in 2019.

Mapleton and Pueblo 60 districts have not been able to bring the percentage of students meeting expectations back up to 2019 levels. In Mapleton, 17.8% of third grade students met or exceeded reading expectations this spring, down from 28.1% in 2019. In Pueblo 60, 22.9% of third grade students met or exceeded reading expectations, down from 27.6% in 2019.

Among 10 districts that serve the highest percentages of students of color and have more than 1,000 students, all saw a decrease in the percentage of students meeting expectations in math. Westminster and East Otero in southeast Colorado had the smallest decreases in overall math scores. Among Westminster students 15.5% met or exceeded expectations in math this year, down from 16.4% of students in 2019.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Melanie Asmar is a senior reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado, covering Denver Public Schools. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

New MSCS board member Mauricio Calvo has one year to make an impact. Here’s how he plans to use it.

2023-08-15T23:41:36+00:00

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Mauricio Calvo, the newest member of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board, took his oath of office next to the children’s section of a public library, with the county’s juvenile court judge swearing him in.

This was purposeful, Calvo had explained. The ceremony was meant to represent his passions and priorities: literacy and juvenile justice, as well as workforce readiness and Latino students.

Calvo, a longtime Memphian and CEO of the advocacy group Latino Memphis, was appointed to the board to serve the remainder of Sheleah Harris’ term in District 5, representing students and families in Cordova.

“I’m taking this appointment with a big sense of urgency,” said Calvo.

The Memphis school board has not had a Latino member in recent history, and Calvo, a Mexican-American who became a U.S. citizen in 2018, believes he may be the first Latino in local public office. His presence on the board could be welcome representation for the families of thousands of Latino students who make up 18% of the district.

Calvo ran unsuccessfully for a City Council seat in 2019, and ran for school board in 2020, before dropping out to endorse Harris. Last year, he served on one of the committees that helped develop the state’s new school funding formula, known as Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement, or TISA.

As an appointed school board member, Calvo has just a year remaining in his term — he hasn’t decided whether he’ll pursue election next summer — but it’s poised to be a big year. The board is trying again to select a new superintendent, after its last attempt soured and Harris abruptly resigned.

Beyond that, the district faces persistent challenges with academic performance, a slow recovery from the pandemic, and relations with a state government that has pushed a strongly conservative education agenda.

Calvo talked to Chalkbeat about how he plans to guide the district through these challenges.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You are, at least in recent history, the first Latinx person in this position on the school board. What do you hope your colleagues learn from you in this year?

As far as I am concerned, yes, I am the first Latinx person I think in public office in Shelby County. I don’t think the Shelby County Commission, the Memphis City Council, or the school board ever had anybody. And I say this with a sense of, yeah, pride, but also humbleness and responsibility, because I do feel the pressure, in a good way. Some of that may be self-imposed. It could also be a little bit of impostor syndrome. It does come with a responsibility, because when you’re the first, you certainly don’t want to be, shouldn’t be, the last, or the only one. So that’s big.

“I think that matters in representation, particularly in a community that for so long, has been very Black and white.”

I’m also part of the LGBTQ community, and I’m open about that. I’m Mexican-American. I have an accent. I wasn’t born here. I am an American citizen now. I think there are a lot of intersectionalities. I think that matters in representation, particularly in a community that for so long, has been very Black and white. So it is disruptive in a positive way.

You were on the TISA subcommittee for ESL students. There’s quite a bit of funding for students who are English language learners. How do you, from your board seat, plan to evaluate how the board is spending funds toward those programs and toward resources, and whether or not they are working?

This is something very important. And although I keep saying that I represent everybody, obviously, I will have a special emphasis on English language learners.

When I sat on that committee, I actually made some public comments that it was disappointing. The whole process was complex. It felt very scripted. It felt that they had already arrived to decisions when they were asking us. I think at the end of the day, it’s better than what we had before — there’s more funding. But just funding alone is not going to do it. We need to make sure that the district is utilizing this extra money the right way.

Calvo will represent students and families in District 5, which includes Cordova, and also has an additional interest in supporting the district’s English language learners.

I would say that for this and for everything else we need, we need to get away from the “We have always done it this way.” I’m very much going to be looking (for), as a characteristic of the superintendent, somebody who’s very open to innovation, to benchmarking what is happening in other districts, because, you know, when we think about that, it is not only supporting the students that are English language learners. It’s also supporting their families.

But I think I saw there’s about 12,300 English language learners in the district. So I’m curious to see, what else are we doing? Are we just doing the bare minimum? Are we deploying enough resources to the schools with larger numbers?

Perhaps my soft spot is how we’re serving recent arrivals that are more challenging to fit into grade level. So you may have a child from Guatemala who’s 12 or 13, and he’s really too old to put in elementary school, but really if you just put him in middle school, they’re going to be completely lost.

I know we have a newcomer center. But I’m curious to see how well we’re doing with that.

The application for MSCS superintendent has been posted for Round 2. Sheleah Harris, your predecessor, was very publicly a critic of the process. What should your constituents know about how you plan to help the board navigate this process, and what you feel your role will be?

I would love to have a conversation with the search firm. I’m not familiar with the scope of this search team, if they’re just going to say, “Hey, here’s a group of people,” are they actually going to help us filter them? At what point do they stop and say, “Here’s the list,” versus really selecting? Do we have somebody coaching us, advising us how to select this?

I spoke with a member in the City Council, and he told me, “I believe that selecting this superintendent is as important, if not more important than selecting the next mayor.” And I think he’s right on. We cannot take this lightly, and we need to know what we are doing.

From crime, to economic development, to housing, to homelessness to nutrition — we have the future of Memphis on our hands. And we are asking this person to set the vision, to create a plan, to get the staff (for) 110,000 customers every day. If somebody doesn’t believe or doesn’t understand that, they really need to have a check-in with themselves.

It is time to stop saying them and us, private and public, you know, this or that, or Black or white. The superintendent is going to have to be somebody that can rally a ton of people. And we as a board have a humongous responsibility getting this right. I want to go to bed knowing that I did absolutely everything I could to help bring this person here, and then select the person, support that person, hold the person accountable. That is our main job.

I do have experience, because I’ve served on a number of boards, locally and nationally. But I am also not shy. I can check my ego at the door, and say, “We need help.”

You’ve obviously worked with state officials before in different capacities, even on TISA. How have you thought about how you will be able to advocate for Memphis with people who aren’t from here at the state legislature?

I do recognize that importance of the relationship with Nashville. I think having Rep. (Mark) White chair the education committee is key, because he understands Memphis. But we have — I have said this before, and I will say again — we have a legislature that, in general, does not like Memphis. But we are going to continue to build relationships.

I do plan to use any experience that I have in visiting Nashville and building relationships with people, because where Memphis goes, it’s going to be important for the future of Tennessee.

I’m very committed to building a relationship with the County Commission, with the City Council — not necessarily to say that they need to be funding (MSCS), because they probably don’t have the money. But that doesn’t mean that they cannot do anything for us.

There’s a Latina (as) the new (Tennessee) secretary of education. I haven’t had a chance to meet her. From what I have read, she’s probably more conservative than I would probably have liked.

“... we have a legislature that, in general, does not like Memphis. But we are going to continue to build relationships.”

I know education is important for the governor, and for the previous governor. I think we should advocate for districts to have the flexibility that they need, because not all districts are equal — ours being not only the largest, but probably the most diverse. But we have our own challenges. And as such, we deserve our own say. These are our taxes: people in Shelby County paying taxes, sending them to the state and then coming back. For the most part, we are paying for our education, and we have the right to have a strong voice on how we want that shaped.

How, as a leader, do you determine the leading challenges and evaluate how the district and how the city, the county are responding to them? How are you going to evaluate and prioritize?

I think we have to flip the narrative. Instead of having the district being blamed for everything, I think the district needs to say, “Hey, we’re big boys here. We have $2 billion. We have 200 schools. We have 110,000 children. We’re the second largest employer. What are we doing about all of these things?” That doesn’t mean that we have to solve all of those things. But it certainly means that our hands need to be, in some way or capacity, in a lot of those things.

It may not be the position, my responsibility, to tackle all of this, but I’m not the only board member. There are nine of us. And also there are 14,000 employees.

We need to embrace this role as a big, humongous player in the city.

I think the district works really well with some partners, and other partners either haven’t had a good experience or haven’t heard from the district in a long time. We need to be in all of these conversations, and also other people need to join us on this work. Because we can no longer just blame the district for everything.

There’s an expectation for example, from FedEx to sponsor things, to be here, to do this. People want the Grizzlies and St. Jude and FedEx to do well. People in general, whether you have kids or not in the public system, people should have a positive perspective about us.

How do we change the narrative and say, now the Grizzlies and St. Jude and FedEx don’t have to solve all the problems, but they are touching the problems, and we need to do the same. But we don’t need to do it alone. I need and we need people to join us on this work.

In closing, I want to say the opportunity is there. Yes, the challenge is also there. That’s why I’m doing this.

Laura Testino covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Laura at LTestino@chalkbeat.org.

This Harlem community center is powered by asylum seekers for asylum seekers

2023-08-15T21:29:43+00:00

Since coming to the U.S. from Guinea four months ago, 18-year-old Sadio Diallo splits his time between school and volunteering at a community center in Harlem called Afrikana.

The center opened a year ago to help asylum seekers and is run almost entirely by volunteers who are themselves asylum seekers.

Many of them are students like Diallo, who is studying for a GED diploma. He spends his days at the center translating for recently arrived African migrants who speak Arabic, Wolof, and Pulaar, taking each asylum seeker through every page of their SNAP application for food benefits and assisting them through the process.

Omar Sarr, 33, is a trilingual asylum seeker who arrived in the United States in December 2022. He is now fluent in English and volunteers at Afrikana five days a week.

Diallo isn’t volunteering at the center because of Mayor Eric Adams’s recent call for New Yorkers to step up and pitch in when it comes to supporting the migrant crisis. He’s doing it because he feels compelled to do so.

“I come here because the asylum seekers need my help,” Diallo said. But like the city, which is straining to support asylum seekers, Afrikana is also grappling with overwhelming needs.

“We’ve been able to keep our doors open through prayer, but we need more help,” said Adama Bah, the center’s founder.

She is now hoping to get other civic-minded high school and college students in the area to consider volunteering.

Nearly 100,000 newly arrived asylum seekers have arrived since the spring of 2022, and an estimated 18,000 newly arrived students have enrolled in the city’s public schools since then, according to city officials. Adams said he’s expecting an uptick in the number of families with children to arrive before school starts next month.

Migrants process applications for other migrants at the center.

Some days, as many as 300 asylum seekers have come through Afrikana’s doors, said Bah. The center has become a hub in the community, with asylum seekers helping each other. She connects them with others in the area when they don’t know the answers.

When Spanish-speaking families, for instance, don’t understand how to navigate the Education Department’s Family Welcome Centers, where they must go to enroll their children in school, Bah sends them to Rosa Diaz, an East Harlem parent leader. When Diaz comes across families struggling with housing or food insecurity, she sends them to Afrikana.

“This has all been incredibly difficult for asylum-seeking families, and Afrikana is alleviating those challenges,” Diaz said. “When a family goes to Afrikana, I know they will not be turned away.”

Migrants get social services support and more at Afrikana

The center operates from a small run-down space near the corner of 145th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard, stuffed between two larger storefronts. There is no signage and no description of the building’s purpose. Inside, migrants sit in a makeshift waiting area spread among a group of donated and mismatched chairs.

Afrikana is open five days a week from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., according to fliers wheat-pasted around the neighborhood. However, migrants line up outside the center as early as 6:00 a.m. Bah said that she and her staff are lucky if they leave before 7 p.m. most days. They have no appointment system unlike most nonprofits and government agencies, and this means they can never anticipate how many migrants will show up.

Imam Omar Niass and Adama discuss the day’s plan to assist migrants.

At Afrikana, migrants can expect to receive medical attention, shelter information, and help accessing citywide social services. There is also a daily prayer led by Imam Omar Niass, who frequently visits Afrikana to volunteer and is known for housing hundreds of migrants in the last two years in his mosque. On Fridays, a food pantry is set up for migrants and other Harlem residents. However, most migrants come to have their SNAP benefit applications completed.

Before the application can begin, migrants must have an email address and create a Human Resources Administration, or HRA, account. Then it’s a three-step process: filling out the nearly 20-page written portion, scheduling an appointment for a phone interview, and then going to a Benefits Access Center to submit the required documentation. The process is completed over weeks.

Until recently, Bah’s main focus has been Venezuelan migrants coming to New York City via Port Authority, but with more asylum seekers from African countries entering New York City, the demographics of people needing help have shifted from Latinos to Black migrants. In her 18 years of experience doing this kind of work, Bah said she’s seen Black migrants being treated differently.

“They are constantly rejected from social services, they are turned away from shelters. One shelter didn’t have a functioning shower or air conditioning for these migrants for over a week,” said Bah. Because of this, Bah spends a large amount of time going back and forth with government agencies advocating for the same African migrants, sometimes for days, rather than assisting new migrants every day.

Diallo refers to Bah as “sister” and says that she is the reason he is in school. She’s also a driving force behind his volunteer work there.

“She has done a great deal for me, and here at Afrikana she is doing a great deal for others,” said Diallo, who dreams of going to college after he gets his GED diploma.

Bah first came into the spotlight in 2005, when she was the protagonist of a harrowing documentary that told the story of her arrest by the FBI, who falsely accused her of being a potential suicide bomber and “imminent threat to the United States.” Bah went on to write about how her father’s forced deportation back to Guinea affected her livelihood. Now Bah’s focus is on keeping Afrikana running.

Bah understands the pressure of staying in school while trying to seek asylum, but she also knows how important it is for migrants to pursue their education. After last week’s document drop-off at the HRA office, Bah took the 14 migrants with her to Manhattan’s Education Opportunity Center off of 125th street in Harlem. This center offers free programs for people to learn English, get their GED diploma, and prepare for college.

Bah personally escorted them to the center because of concerns about how migrants are treated there. Even after she walked with them, many later told her they left without enrolling in education classes, turned away without support or instruction on what to do.

The Education Opportunity Center did not immediately respond for comment.

Bah receives anybody who is interested in volunteering, but she says her most consistent volunteers, whom she refers to as her staff, are made up of asylum seekers also navigating the New York City shelter system.

“They’re desperate to keep busy and help people. I tell them if they want to help others, they must help themselves,” Bah said.

Eliana Perozo is a reporting intern at Chalkbeat New York. You can reach her at eperozo@chalkbeat.org.

How a Bronx summer jobs program prioritizes undocumented youth

2023-08-07T22:25:39+00:00

Like many 17-year-olds, Beatriz spent the last year searching for an internship.

Unlike many of them, her immigration status made getting one nearly impossible.

Without a social security number, most internships were out of reach. Beatriz learned about one through a recruiter visiting her high school, but she was too scared to tell the recruiter why she never submitted the application. (Because of Beatriz’s undocumented status, we are not disclosing her last name.)

“I felt so misunderstood,” Beatriz said. “I could tell when the woman came back she thought I just didn’t care.”

Beatriz eventually found an internship elsewhere: She was among 40 undocumented students participating in Beyond Rising, an internship initiative created by Oyate Group, an anti-poverty nonprofit focused on access to health care, food security, and providing resources to undocumented students.

Beyond Rising has nearly doubled its internship class since it opened in 2022 with 22 students, but the needs remain great. There are at least 11,000 undocumented teenagers enrolled in NYC public schools, according to the organization.

While New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program, or SYEP, had 100,000 spots, none were open to undocumented students. Beyond Rising’s mission is to offer undocumented students career readiness resources above and beyond the ones available to documented New York City students.

The five-week paid internship places undocumented youth in administrative offices at Fordham University and Lehman College four days a week. On Fridays, students head back to Beyond Rising’s Bronx headquarters where they participate in mentoring meetings, skills training, and resume preparation. They also take field trips, such as visiting the Museum of The City of New York’s exhibit, “This Is New York - 100 Years of the City in Art and Pop Culture.”

Arefin, another intern this year, and Beatriz have been placed at Fordham where they’re working on a project called Her Migrant Hub, created by Fordham faculty, students, and female asylum seekers.

The work that many of the students have been doing this summer with the colleges is often connected to their own experiences and has given them opportunities to share what they’ve learned navigating the city as undocumented immigrants.

With the help of Fordham faculty and students, female asylum seekers developed a website that helps other female asylum seekers access health care and other social services regardless of their immigration status. Most importantly, they’re able to do all of this anonymously which keeps them safe since knowledge of their immigration status could have them deported.

From the work with Her Migrant Hub, Beatriz, and Arefin realized a specific community of young people weren’t being targeted: unaccompanied minors. Now, with the use of resources from Her Migrant Hub, they’re creating a pamphlet for unaccompanied minors — children who come to the United States without their parents or guardians. The handout covers basic “know your rights” information and includes a list of organizations and resources for newly arrived unaccompanied minors.

A Beyond Rising student holds up his new screen printed shirt.

“When we were designing the pamphlets and thinking about what resources to add, we kept asking ourselves, “What would I have benefited from that I never received?” said Beatriz.

The participants of Beyond Rising took part in a gallery walk and showcased their murals, drawing inspiration from their own lives to create their own collages.

Beyond Rising focuses on challenges faced by undocumented students

Beyond Rising aims to address common problems faced by undocumented students, such as not having access to a bank account, language barriers, and financial challenges.

Students are paid $2,500 over the course of their internship through a weekly stipend of $500 loaded onto a prepaid credit card. (The city’s Summer Youth Employment Programs runs a program called Pathways for students who face enrollment obstacles, such as not having social security numbers. The program aimed to reach 750 students this year with a stipend of about $500 for 60 hours of work.)

Jason Autar, Oyate Group’s chief operating officer, said that the choice to use a prepaid debit card for the students had a twofold mission: to keep students from carrying around $500 in cash, which could create unsafe situations, and to allow them direct access to their stipends.

For Arefin, the money will allow him to purchase a computer, a tool he’s hoping will simplify the college application challenges he’s going to face as an undocumented student. Having his own computer will keep him from having to share with his mother and siblings.

“I watched my brother struggle with applying for college and getting scholarships because of his status, so I know it’s going to be hard,” he said.

Beyond Rising has also hired employees who are able to empathize and provide solutions based on their own migrant experiences.

Alexander Reyes, Beyond Rising’s program coordinator, said the organization intentionally designed its application to be simple for students who might already be discouraged by poor grades, difficulties with English fluency, and involved applications. The application is short, it does not ask for a transcript, and students don’t have to submit letters of recommendation.

“This group of students may have the age but they don’t have the language, for us it’s about providing the access to meet them where they’re at based on their needs,” he said.

Arefin said knowing that the application didn’t require a transcript made him feel more confident.

Beyond Rising is open to students ages 16-20. That’s because some newly arrived students might be 19 but still in the 11th grade, said Reyes.

Augustina Wharton, the director of programs, said she went through all 312 applications for this year’s cohort.

“Every student was qualified enough, but we just didn’t have the resources to take them all,” she said. Bronx students were prioritized because of the organization’s ties to the community, she said.

A Bushwick Print Lab representative helps an undocumented student learn how to screen print.

Building community among students often living in shadows

The organization prides itself on creating a sense of community within its walls. On Fridays, students meet back at Beyond Rising’s Bronx headquarters where the students can be “just young people who want to dance and make art and explore architecture and engineering like any other students,” Wharton said.

On a recent Friday, students streamed into the office as Reyes prepared a breakfast of warm bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches, while Bushwick Print Lab prepared for the day’s activity: learning to screen print on T-shirts.

One student’s screen printing shirt

One student chose to layer a “Migrant Rights Are Human Rights” stencil on top of a bundle of flowers stencil to show how so much life had grown from an identity she was meant to fear.

Beatriz said that in 2017, during the Trump administration, she and her family feared for their safety and security like never before. As the oldest sibling, knowing her rights became more important.

She wanted to participate in this internship to share knowledge with her community about their rights as undocumented people.

“I’m learning about my own rights every day by being in this internship and that’s helping me help my community,” said Beatriz.

Eliana Perozo is a reporting intern at Chalkbeat New York. You can reach her at eperozo@chalkbeat.org.

‘Pervasive’ Denver school segregation harms Latinos, English learners, study finds

2023-07-31T16:16:00+00:00

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Denver schools remain intensely segregated by race and family income — conditions that have persisted for decades and play a major role in shaping educational opportunities, a new study finds.

Latino students and English learners are especially likely to attend schools where students of color living in poverty make up the large majority. Meanwhile, three-quarters of Denver’s white students attend schools where white and higher-income students make up a significant majority, despite making up just a quarter of Denver students overall, the study finds.

These more privileged schools boast graduation rates 10 to 40 percentage points higher than schools with high concentrations of poverty — and the benefits extend to students from all groups who attend these schools.

Kim Carrazco Strong of The Bueno Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Colorado Boulder and Craig Peña of the Latino Education Coalition, the study authors, write that “pervasive” school segregation affects everything from access to specialized services to gifted identification to graduation rates.

“These findings indicate that school segregation is a pervasive problem in Denver Public Schools, impacts a majority of certain student populations such as Latino and English Learner students, represents disparate and at times inferior resources and designations, and reflects reduced student outcomes,” write Carrazco Strong and Peña write.

As a child, Peña was one of the original plaintiffs in the Keyes case, which led to the first major desegregation order in a city outside the South and the first desegregation order to consider Latino students alongside Black and white ones.

The Keyes decision led to several decades of busing to ensure integrated schools. With the end of court-mandated busing in 1995 and the return to neighborhood schools, Denver schools resegregated almost overnight.

In a press release announcing the report, Peña said he was “extremely disheartened” by the findings.

“The segregation of Latino students is profound and pervasive,” he said. “It is my sincere hope that DPS and the Denver community will come together to address this and not allow yet another 50 years to pass of separate and unequal education.”

The report, titled Resegregation in Denver Public Schools: Overlapping Systems of Student Segregation, Disparate Contexts, and Reduced Outcomes, finds significant segregation persists in the district and that attending segregated schools shapes students’ educational opportunities.

For example, more than half the gifted and talented students in Denver attend schools with large concentrations of white and higher-income students.

“We hold that it is not that Gifted and Talented students are more likely to be White and wealthy but rather White and wealthy students are more likely to be seen as Gifted and Talented by Denver Public Schools,” the authors write. They said the failure to see the talents of other students “represents an institutional shortcoming” and goes against the district’s obligations to provide a good education to all students.

Because they post lower test scores and are perceived as struggling, schools with high concentrations of low-income students of color are more likely to receive what are known as intensive interventions. These can include help from content experts, leadership development, teachers coaching, and access to customized support networks.

The study authors say this additional support may be helpful, but “those schools also experience interruptions, stigma, curriculum redesigns, and teacher de-professionalization that can be perceived as negative or punitive by the educators and students within them.”

Denver’s student population is roughly one-quarter white and three-quarters students of color. Slightly more than half of Denver students are Hispanic or Latino. Roughly 63% qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch, a measure of poverty. A third of Denver students are learning English at school.

The study authors defined a school as segregated if its student population differed from the district average by 20% or more. More than half of Denver’s Latino students and more than half of the district’s English learners attend schools that are segregated based on race and income, the study found. White students and higher-income students are also much more likely to attend school with other students like themselves.

In schools where low-income students are concentrated, Black students on average are about as represented as they are in the district as a whole. And on average Black students are more represented in majority-white schools than Latino students are.

This is not the first report to identify widespread school segregation in Denver, and the problem has persisted through several superintendents and school boards. A 2006 study from Harvard University’s Civil Rights Project identified similar trends as the new report from the Latino Education Coalition and noted that Latino English language learners were especially isolated.

In 2017, the district convened the Strengthening Neighborhoods Initiative to recommend policy changes to reduce school segregation.

The new study does not address the causes of school segregation or recommend solutions. The authors call for further study to identify targeted solutions. Attending integrated schools is associated with better outcomes for all students and smaller gaps in test scores, graduation rates, and other measures of student achievement.

Many Denver neighborhoods are highly segregated. School choice allows students to enroll outside their neighborhood boundary, but transportation and other barriers limit who can use it.

A 2018 study by the advocacy and research group A Plus Colorado found that students of color were often overrepresented in local schools, compared with the neighborhood population, while white students were underrepresented. The finding suggests some white, middle-class families use school choice to avoid their neighborhood schools.

Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero said in a statement that he plans to partner with the Latino Education Coalition on identifying root causes and solutions.

“It is vitally important that we leave no stone unturned in finding the root causes, even if the findings make us uncomfortable,” he said. “While many factors led to this outcome we are not without blame. It is time for DPS to take a look in the mirror and see if any of our own actions may have contributed to the re-segregation of our schools. As Superintendent it is my duty to advocate for all our students by breaking down the systems of oppression when we find them.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago opens school enrollment center for migrant children and families

2023-07-17T20:28:56+00:00

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Recently arrived migrant families on Chicago’s West Side will get help with enrolling in school, receiving free school supplies, signing up for public benefits, and getting vaccinated at a new “welcome center” run by Chicago Public Schools and the city.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and city and district officials unveiled the new center at Roberto Clemente Community Academy, a high school in the city’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, on Monday. Officials said the center is a pilot effort — possibly the first of several such facilities across the city.

They also called it a centerpiece of a broader plan they have promised for better serving migrant families across the city, though the center will only help smooth the transition into the district for those living in the Humboldt Park and West Town neighborhoods.

The center, which will work with families by appointment only starting later this week, is estimated to cost roughly $750,000, according to CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who described it as a “very small investment” from the district’s operating budget.

More than 10,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since August, many sent on buses from Texas by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Roughly half are staying in temporary shelters, including police stations. Hundreds of school-aged children are among the new arrivals, though the school district has not shared exact numbers. Helping these families find permanent housing and easing children into local public schools are key challenges facing the Johnson administration.

The Chicago Teachers Union, which helped carry Johnson — a former union organizer — to victory in April, had criticized district officials for not doing more to support newly arrived migrant students. Union leaders said some schools were overwhelmed by an influx of such students and scrambled to provide translation and other basic services.

District leaders have said they were working on a detailed, comprehensive plan for helping migrant students, to be released before the first day of school on Aug. 21. That bigger plan is still to come, Martinez said Monday.

Johnson said the area around Clemente was one of the city’s most densely populated with newcomer immigrants.

“We’re going to stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, and we’re going to bring people closer together to make sure that the families who have been here have the full force of government and families who wish to call Chicago their home also have the full force of government,” Johnson said at the Monday press conference.

Martinez balked at saying exactly how many migrant students enrolled in the district this past school year — it’s in the thousands, he said — or how many the district expects to serve in the fall. That latter number is too fluid, he said, but he promised to have an update at the start of the school year.

Johnson said his office will track “outcomes with this center” in order to improve how it operates and also use it as a model to potentially expand to other neighborhoods.

At the new “welcoming center” on the high school’s second floor, families will make their way through several classrooms to get a string of services, officials said. Children will get an English language screening, receive free supplies, and get assigned to a school.

Martinez said the high school students will be assigned to Clemente while younger children will be enrolled at one of eight nearby elementary schools — Chopin, De Diego LaSalle II, Mitchell, Moos, Pritzker, Sabin, and Talcott.

“These are migrant families who come here to seek their dream, and we’ll be part of that dream,” said Martha Valerio, the community coordinator at Clemente, standing in front of a table piled with coats, running shoes, and backpacks. “We are all going to receive them with a warm smile.”

Families will meet with a social worker and get help signing up for medical, dental appointments, and public benefits, such as food assistance and Medicaid.

“These are the types of services we have to provide across the entire city,” Johnson told journalists in front of the center.

According to WBEZ, some migrants are now living in tents, rather than police stations or crowded shelters, as they wait for permanent housing. School-aged migrant children are eligible to be classified as Students in Temporary Living Situations – a status that protects children without permanent housing.

Meanwhile, some teachers have been volunteering their time this summer to get students ready for school.

Earlier this month, the police department opened an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against officers, including one accused of impregnating a recently-arrived teen, at a west side police station. The investigation prompted city officials to move migrants out of police stations.

Johnson said at the Monday event that the investigation is ongoing, with an update slated for Tuesday.

Reema Amin contributed.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago teachers help refugee youth navigate a new language, a new culture, and in the fall, new schools

2023-07-11T15:18:53+00:00

Sitting on the floor of a South Side police station and reading “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” by Eric Carle to two young Venezuelan refugees, Chicago teacher Melissa Faccini Deming suddenly seized on an idea.

She looked at the 5- and 7-year-old girls and launched into a Colombian folk song that asks the sun to “warm me up a little.” “Sol solecito, caliéntame un poquito,” sang Deming.

The children immediately joined in, along with their mother Maria and a chorus of other newly arrived migrants crowded into the lobby of the 22nd precinct police station in the Morgan Park neighborhood. Chalkbeat is not using their real names to protect their privacy as they seek asylum.

It was a brief moment of joy and familiarity for the mostly Venezuelan asylum seekers and refugees temporarily housed at police stations until the city finds more permanent housing.

More than 10,000 refugees and asylum seekers have arrived in Chicago since August, about half of them still staying in temporary shelters, police stations, and respite centers.

When Deming, a Chicago Public Schools elementary school teacher, heard about refugees placed in her neighborhood, she felt she had to reach out and offer them something special — familiarity. She made arepas and offered the traditional South American stuffed cornmeal patties as a taste of home.

Deming then realized she had something else to offer. On her next visit she brought books to read to the children. The kids loved it. This inspired her and a few local teachers to hold regular classes for the refugee children at the community garden across the street from the police station.

With the youngest learners, Deming danced and sang and read books, while retired teacher Laura Amaro read lesson books in Spanish with an older child at a picnic table.

Amaro said she hoped to allow the kids to feel a sense of normalcy and to help prepare them for new schools in the fall.

Retired Chicago Public Schools teacher Laura Amaro answered the call to help prepare the young children staying at the 22nd police precinct station for school in the fall. “Before you know it, September is going to be here,” said Amaro. “I want them to be ready.”

With migrants arriving regularly in Chicago on buses sent by Texas governor Greg Abbott, local officials do not know how many school-age children are among the refugees and asylum seekers, nor how many will enroll in Chicago Public Schools in the fall.

Many of these children have been out of school for months, have endured traumatic experiences, are not proficient in English, and live in unstable and under-resourced conditions.

The children, their adopted communities, and their teachers will cope with these together when the school year begins.

But volunteers and teachers like Deming and Amaro are spending their own time this summer to help them feel welcome.

While schools and the city have some systems to support English language learners, educators who work with refugees note that both students and teachers who work with them need more specialized support.

Refugee trauma is ‘very specific’

Maria and her two daughters endured a frightening and treacherous journey from their home in Caracas, Venezuela, to Chicago. They traveled on foot through seven countries, she said, begging for food in the streets and witnessing people drown in mud in the forests. She saw a woman die with her baby still in her arms.

“I saw horrible things in that forest,” Maria said. “I would not wish that forest on my worst enemy.”

Bilingual Chicago educators Sol Camano and Josh Lerner have seen trauma from these kinds of experiences manifest in different ways in schoolchildren.

For example, a student of Camano’s who had been separated from her mother for three years, struggled with transitions throughout the school day. One of Lerner’s students had difficulty forming relationships with peers and teachers.

“These children are coming from a lot of trauma, and the first thing cannot be academics,” said Camano. “It has to be, how can we help them work through this trauma … making sure there are bilingual therapists and teachers to be there with the child before you start to think about their math and literacy scores.”

The school district has invested more than $30 million in social and emotional learning and mental health resources, and last school year increased the number of social workers and counselors in schools, a district spokesperson said in a statement.

Still, Camano sought out her own training and researched trauma-informed education to better help her students.

“I think it’s very important for there to be more trainings for teachers or more information for teachers on how to help students that have this much trauma. And this is a very specific trauma,” she said.

She herself spoke only Spanish when she started school in 2000. Her parents had come to the U.S. from Argentina.

“I remember sitting on the sidelines as other children played and communicated with the teachers,” Camano said. “I could only say ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘please,’ ‘thank you.’”

During their Clothing Study, Sol Camano’s Pre-K students created a visual graph using photographs of their own shoes to practice categorizing items. One of the students placed their shoes in a category labeled “shoes for walking” and another student placed their shoes in a category labeled “shoes for running.”

Now, two decades later, she is a dual-language pre-K teacher at Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, where she teaches Spanish-speaking kids from all over Latin America.

In her classroom Camano prioritizes making her students feel welcome by helping them maintain their native languages and by including in her lessons books, food, decorations and music from their cultures.

“What I would have wanted so much as a child is to have gone to school and people speak to me in my language and invite me and welcome me, and be able to talk to the other students,” Camano said. “I didn’t really have that, so I make a big point to give that to my students as much as possible.”

At least a decade of research demonstrates better outcomes for English learners when their native language is used in the classroom.

For language learners who are also refugees “it’s [about] much more than language,” Camano said.

It all comes down to trust, according to Jeanine Ntihirageza, a Northeastern Illinois University professor of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

“You can make [learning] engaging, you can make it fun, but deep down if they don’t feel safe, they can’t learn,” said Ntihirageza, who also is founding director of the Genocide and Human Rights Research in Africa and the Diaspora Center. “Once the children feel kind of safe, then the world is open … but this comes with stability.”

Stability and safety can be hard to come by.

Back at the police station in Morgan Park, a few weeks into the classes, a bus arrived unannounced one day to take the kids and their families to shelters around the city. One child cried as she boarded the bus and said goodbye to Deming.

Two weeks later, more refugees arrived at the station, only one child among them — a precocious 4-year-old. Deming reconfigured her classes in the garden to offer English lessons to the now primarily adult group.

“It’s a very fluid project so far, which has been good, because it’s a very fluid situation so far,” she said.

Teachers offer refugees more than language

For recent arrivals, education challenges start long before entering a classroom.

Federal law gives refugees and other youth experiencing housing instability the right to immediately enroll in public schools even when they do not have records. Chicago Public Schools offers transportation, school supplies, and food assistance.

However, misinformation, unreliable internet connections, and lack of stability can still impede enrollment.

Deming says she has spoken with families who thought they were not eligible to enroll and others who believed that they could enroll only in a school two hours away.

When Maria was referred to a school for her daughters before summer break began in early June, she said it was too far to easily get there, and when one of her daughters got sick, she put it off. Now, she’s looking ahead to August.

According to a statement from the district, officials intend to share more information about accommodating more English learners later this summer.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration told the Chicago Sun-Times they may open an enrollment center for new arrivals at Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School and potentially in other locations before school starts on Aug. 21.

Many of the recent arrivals who’ll join CPS will qualify for bilingual education. While the district reported that it has 2,255 bilingual educators, it has a vacancy rate of 2.5% for bilingual positions, according to a district spokesperson.

Josh Lerner teaches a math lesson to a group of kindergarten students as part of the bilingual program at Peirce Elementary.

Last fall, “there were not enough bilingual certified staff, especially in the middle grades,” said Lerner, who teaches English learners at Peirce Elementary School in Edgewater. He is an English language program teacher and collaborates with administration and other teachers to optimize education for English learners at Pierce.

The teacher union contract recently increased the number of such positions and added incentives for bilingual certification.

Lerner thinks the district should remove barriers to school volunteering — like a long online form, fingerprinting, and hard-to-access information — to enable parents who are refugees or speak other languages to help in the classroom, provide bilingual help, and strengthen home-school ties.

“I have seen, firsthand, mothers who when I show them the online form they kind of reverse course and say no,” he said.

“My hope is that [my daughters] develop well and don’t get frustrated,” Maria said. “The most important thing is that they feel good and like going to their classes. From there, I’ll just hope everything goes well.”

Deming checks in with Maria and her daughters by phone and occasionally visits or has them over at her house. She hopes this will help them feel welcome in Chicago and in schools. Still, she worries.

“How many people will understand them and where they’re coming from?” said Deming, who is training to be a leader teacher through with CPS’s Personalized Learning Department to provide students with more personalized education that focuses their strengths and interests. “The more we can help them feel like there’s a desire to understand who they are first … that’s where connections can be forged.”

A previous version of this story said that Deming teaches preschool at Chicago Public Schools. She is an elementary school teacher.

Crystal Paul is a freelance reporter covering communities, arts, race and culture. Contact Crystal at crystal.l.paul@gmail.com or @cplhouse.

‘Master teachers’ develop strong English language instruction at Perry Township school

2023-06-30T11:00:00+00:00

When Sun Par arrived at Perry Township’s William Henry Burkhart Elementary from Myanmar as a fourth grader in 2007, she said “it was overwhelming” as a student who didn’t know English.

Even though her first few days at William Henry Burkhart were difficult, Par said as she and her peers “adapted to the culture and our environment” the teachers gave them “a loving welcome.”

Now, she’s back at her old elementary school as a tutor and translator. She attributes her passion for education to her former school and the teachers who worked with her.

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” Par said. “Growing up, I always tell myself, ‘Maybe I should go back to my former elementary school, so that I could give back what they gave me.’”

When Sun Par, left, arrived in Indianapolis from Myanmar in 2007, she got a warm reception at William Henry Burkhart Elementary School in Perry Township. She now works as a tutor and translator at the school.

Sun Par’s story isn’t an accident. William Henry Burkhart has been committed to improving English language instruction for refugees from Myanmar — which was previously known as Burma — since the first students from the country began arriving in the community nearly two decades ago, said Principal Darlene Hardesty, who used to be Par’s teacher at the school.

By implementing strategies like integrating language instruction into different activities and a support structure for teachers, Perry has tried to achieve this goal.

The school’s hard work has led to recognition. In June, William Henry Burkhart was shortlisted for a World’s Best School prize awarded by T4 Education, which was founded to establish and support a network of teachers and schools and “highlight innovation.” Burkhart is one of just ten schools worldwide that’s up for the group’s Community Collaboration award, which focuses on schools that use “a whole child approach based on equity and inclusivity.”

Hardesty said that welcoming students, regardless of background, into the school community is what Burkhart does best, and its “goal is to help them grow to the next level.”

T4 Education will announce the three finalists in September, and the winners in October. Each winning school will receive $50,000.

Indiana has had a relatively large population from Myanmar for some time. According to the Burmese American Community Institute, there are over 40,000 living in Indiana, almost 27,000 of whom live in Indianapolis. (The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 estimate for the population in Indiana is lower, at about 23,500.) There are over 4,000 students with family roots in Myanmar in Perry Township.

There has been an increase in English language learners in Indiana for several years. In 2005, the number of English learners was over 56,000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By 2022, that figure was over 77,000, the Indiana Department of Education reported.

In Perry Township, 28.3% of its over 16,000 students were English learners in the 2020-2021 school year.

Hardesty said she realized that she had to change her teaching style as more English learning students arrived beginning in 2005.

“As a fifth grade teacher, I was not used to instructing students who had no reading skills,” she said. “So that was very different. We needed to learn very quickly how to differentiate our instruction.”

Using master teachers to improve English language instruction

In response, Perry adopted the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) in 2007, which has eight parts such as interaction and practice and application. This method targets the needs of English learners by integrating language instruction into each classroom activity.

In addition, Perry Township began a partnership with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching in 2012 for each school, after an initial collaboration with two Perry schools beginning in 2010.

The structure includes the leadership of master teachers who guide professional development and demonstrate classroom strategies. Patrick Mapes, Perry’s superintendent, said that it’s important for teachers to have “this contact point to get better.”

Jenny Taylor has been a master teacher at Homecroft Elementary since 2014. Besides guiding professional development, master teachers analyze data from state assessments. Perry gathers this data by conducting monthly district-wide testing for language arts and math, according to Mapes. Master teachers also organize and oversee field testing in classrooms to better understand the effectiveness of different strategies.

Taylor said the most powerful shift in English language instruction for Perry was consciously thinking about how the four domains of reading, writing, speaking, and listening apply to each aspect of teaching using SIOP. She said with these methods, teachers constantly ask themselves how English learning students might absorb content.

“What reading are they going to struggle with?” she said. “When they’re listening to me talk, am I talking too fast? Do I need to change my vocabulary up to something that they understand?”

By building a strong foundation of development with teachers, Taylor said, she can focus on “the support to teachers that I can give” which ultimately helps students.

Helping a new generation of Burmese students

Par graduated from Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis in May 2022. Shortly after, she reached out to her former school looking for a position. Hardesty said she was a perfect fit.

“There was a moment this school year where she was teaching some first graders,” Hardesty said. “And she had out some of the phonics tiles, the letter tiles, and they were pushing and making words, doing sounds, and I just thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the moment right here. She’s doing what we taught her to do so long ago.’”

As a tutor and translator, Par works with several small groups of students who are at different levels of English learning. She said it’s wonderful to be able to relate to students.

“I remember within fourth and fifth grade, learning how to write basic things, even like writing my own name,” she said. “Just seeing them, I could feel they try so hard. But at the same time, as a teacher, we can see and push them harder. And that’s what I did, just like my teachers did with me.”

Jade Thomas is a summer reporting intern covering education in the Indianapolis area. Contact Jade at jthomas@chalkbeat.org.

Conozca a Susana Córdova, primera latina en el máximo cargo de educación en Colorado

2023-06-23T16:33:45+00:00

Susana Córdova es la primera latina en ocupar el máximo cargo de educación en Colorado.

Córdova, nació en Denver, donde estudió y llegó a ser superintendenta del distrito escolar más grande del estado, y está asumiendo el cargo de comisionada de educación después de haber trabajado en el Distrito Escolar Independiente de Dallas y en una organización educativa sin fines de lucro.

En una entrevista, Córdova dijo que le entusiasma volver a casa. Describió el cargo de comisionada como una forma poderosa de “influir en la educación del estado que me hizo ser quien soy”.

Córdova recibió el apoyo unánime de la Junta Estatal de Educación. Ella juramentará su cargo el 26 de junio y recibirá un sueldo anual de $300,000.

La comisionada saliente, Katy Anthes, se quedará hasta el 10 de julio con el título de asistente especial de la comisionada.

“Es difícil alejarse de algo en lo que se ha puesto el corazón y el alma, pero es mucho más fácil saber que le estoy entregando esto a una líder con experiencia, profesional, amable y conocedora”, dijo Anthes. “Estoy convencida de que Susana va a hacer cosas maravillosas”.

Córdova fue un educadora de carrera en Denver, donde fue maestra bilingüe y directora antes de convertirse en superintendenta. En noviembre de 2020 anunció que se ida de Denver para aceptar un trabajo como superintendenta adjunta de liderazgo y aprendizaje en el Distrito Escolar Independiente de Dallas. Córdova dejó el distrito de Dallas en agosto después de que otra candidata, Stephanie Elizalde, fuera elegida para reemplazar al Superintendente Michael Hinojosa, que se jubiló.

Desde que dejó el distrito de Dallas, Córdova ha sido superintendenta residente de la organización educativa sin fines de lucro Transcend. Allí, Córdova dirige una red de superintendentes y dice que ha aprendido más sobre los retos y las fortalezas de los distritos pequeños y rurales, así como los de los distritos urbanos y suburbanos.

Córdova dijo que en sus primeros 100 días se enfocará en conocer al personal del departamento de educación y ponerse a disposición de los superintendentes, el gobernador y otros líderes.

Córdova dijo que el papel de comisionada es muy diferente al de superintendente. Los distritos escolares de Colorado tienen mucha autoridad para tomar sus propias decisiones. La comisionada puede destacar los ejemplos positivos, ofrecerles a los distritos vías para que aprendan los unos de los otros, y asegurar que la investigación sobre cómo los niños aprenden se refleje en los salones de clase.

Córdova dijo que sus prioridades incluyen:

Mejorar la enseñanza de lectura y matemáticas
Ayudar a los estudiantes a recuperarse de las interrupciones por la pandemia
Apoyar a los estudiantes multilingües
Asegurar que los estudiantes estén preparados para la universidad o el campo laboral después de la secundaria
Ayudar a los distritos a manejar presupuestos reducidos y la reducción en inscripciones

En el primer año de Córdova en el cargo, un grupo de trabajo considerará hacer cambios en el sistema de responsabilidad de las escuelas, un proceso que expondrá los desacuerdos entre la comunidad educativa. Córdova dijo que ahora es un buen momento para estudiar este sistema, que mide la calidad de las escuelas basándose en los resultados de los exámenes estandarizados.

Los resultados de los exámenes ayudan a los funcionarios a entender qué los niños están aprendiendo y qué no, y eso sigue siendo importante, dijo Córdova.

“Pero también podría ser una oportunidad para fijarse en otras cosas que hacen que una escuela sea de calidad”, dijo.

Córdova pasó muchos años supervisando los esfuerzos de Denver por mejorar la educación de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés. Ella aprendió español de adulta después de haber crecido en una época en la que hablar ese idioma era motivo de mucha estigma.

Córdova dijo que está orgullosa del trabajo que Colorado ha hecho para desarrollar un sello de alfabetización bilingüe. Ese sello permite que los graduados de secundaria reciban un reconocimiento en su diploma por leer y escribir con fluidez en un idioma distinto del inglés. Ella espera ayudar a los distritos más pequeños y con menos recursos a apoyar mejor a los estudiantes en el aprendizaje del inglés y a valorar sus idiomas maternos.

“Siempre empiezo pensando en cómo enfocar nuestro trabajo con los estudiantes desde una perspectiva basada en las ventajas”, dijo. “Lo más importante que podemos hacer por nuestros estudiantes multilingües es valorar su primer idioma. Eso se puede lograr con enseñanza en su idioma materno o con otras maneras de reconocerlo como una ventaja”.

Erica Meltzer es directora de la oficina de redacción, cubre temas de política educativa y supervisa la cobertura de educación de Chalkbeat Colorado. Para comunicarte con Erica, envíale un email a emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

New York wants to revamp how schools are evaluated. Here’s what could change for now.

2023-06-22T16:45:25+00:00

How does the state determine whether schools are doing well or if they are struggling and need extra support?

Before the pandemic, state officials relied on standardized tests and high school Regents exams to figure out how well students were doing, along with other factors, such as graduation rates. But the public health crisis paused state testing and affected school performance metrics in other ways.

Now, education department officials are seeking a new, temporary evaluation system for the next two school years, with the hopes of creating something more permanent for the 2025-26 school year.

If a school is found to be struggling, it is required to develop an improvement plan that must be approved by local and state officials. Schools that don’t make progress for five years could face state takeover or closure — but it’s a route that state officials rarely took even before developing the current accountability system, which is meant to be less punitive for schools.

In the short term, over the next two years, state officials want to exclude certain science and social studies exams, as well as measures for student growth and college and career readiness, when deciding which schools need improvement. These changes are necessary, officials say, because schools are still missing a trove of data, such as enough student participation in state tests, because of the pandemic.

Already, the conversation is sparking some controversy. Some groups focused on education reform believe the move represents a step backward just as schools need more help as they recover from the pandemic. Other observers believe the state’s proposed plan is reasonable.

Ultimately, the federal government must sign off on these proposed changes, since the state’s accountability system is required by federal law and is written into New York’s federally required Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, plan.

“They’re doing a decent job of balancing what’s of interest in the state and the federal ESSA requirements, and incorporating all the instability and uncertainty that came with the slowdown of testing during the pandemic,” said Aaron Pallas, a professor at Teachers College and an expert in testing.

But Education-Trust New York, an advocacy organization focused on equity issues, worried that several of the proposed changes could mean masking “bright spots and disparities,” according to their written public feedback to the state.

“I think these next two school years are incredibly important for kids coming out of the pandemic,” said Jeff Smink, the group’s deputy director, in an interview with Chalkbeat. “We have to both give them all the support they need but also hold them to high standards, and I just don’t feel like we’re doing that right now.”

What metrics would still be used?

Under the state’s proposal, schools will still be measured on English language proficiency (based on a state language exam for English learners), graduation rates, how well students are doing in core subjects based on Regents and state test scores, and chronic absenteeism. In New York City, chronic absenteeism has been a pressing issue, with 41% of students last school year absent for at least 10 school days.

What do state officials want to ditch (for now)?

The state wants to put a pause on measuring academic progress based on certain goals for student scores on state English and math tests.

State officials say they want to update these goals — first set in the 2017-18 school year — before they use them to determine whether schools are struggling.

The state’s proposed plan would also pause the use of “Measures of Interim Progress,” which more broadly measures whether schools are meeting goals for academics and other things, like their graduation rates.

For elementary and middle schools, officials want to pause how they’ve been measuring student growth, largely because of the lack of testing data. Typically, they calculated student growth using three years of testing data, but the pandemic caused big disruptions: For example, just one in five New York City children took state exams in the 2020-21 school year, when most children chose to learn from home.

For high schools, officials won’t consider college, career, and civic readiness metrics, which include advanced coursework or extra credentials in specialized jobs-based courses. That’s because the pandemic may have hampered students’ access to some of these programs or courses, officials said. They also worried that the pandemic’s impact on learning may have caused students to perform worse academically than they otherwise would have, such as on AP exams.

What will the state do with data, even if it’s not being used to evaluate schools?

State officials still plan to provide all of this data to schools for “informational purposes only” for the next two school years, they said.

Why do state officials want to exclude elementary school science exams and high school social studies assessments?

Science tests would be excluded because the state has changed who must take those exams. Traditionally, students in fourth and eighth grades take the state science test. However, only eighth graders took the test this school year, as the state prepares to offer the exam next year to fifth graders instead of fourth graders. That means they won’t be able to compare results equitably across elementary and middle schools that have different grade configurations.

Fifth graders will take the exam next spring. Asked why those scores won’t be taken into account for the 2024-25 school year, a spokesperson said that it allows districts to have “consistency and predictability” for now, as they attempt to rebuild the accountability system.

While calling it a “logical” move, Ed-Trust argued that excluding science tests “undermines the importance of science education” and worried schools will have less reason to focus on it. The organization suggested that the state should instead work with local districts to “ensure a smooth transition” to the new science assessments without entirely removing it as one way to measure student performance.

On the high school level, officials want to pause using social studies tests because of multiple exam cancellations in recent years. The state looks at cohorts of students, such as the graduating class of 2023, when considering how they performed on these tests, namely the Regents exams for Global History and Geography and U.S. History and Government.

But students who will graduate this year couldn’t take Regents exams in 2021, when they were in 10th grade, because of the pandemic. U.S. History and Government exams were also canceled last year, when these students were juniors, in the wake of a mass shooting in Buffalo, with the state education department claiming there was material on the exam that could “compound student trauma.”

State officials have emphasized that this plan “in no way diminishes” the importance of science or social studies instruction.

How will schools be labeled if they need support?

The lowest performing schools are known as schools in need of Comprehensive Support and Improvement, or CSI. But the state won’t list new CSI schools until the 2025-26 school year because they identified a group of such schools this year under a tweaked system, and that process only happens every three years, officials said.

A total of 139 New York City schools were identified this year as in need of some level of improvement, with 83% of them listed as CSI schools, according to state data.

However, New York will identify schools for Targeted Support and Intervention, or TSI, next year, which must happen annually per federal law. Those are schools that aren’t meeting goals set for specific student groups, such as by race, economic status, and those with disabilities.

In one recent — and perhaps confusing — change, schools that are meeting or exceeding their goals are no longer called “Schools in Good Standing” and instead are now labeled by the state as schools identified for Local Support and Improvement, or LSI.

What will happen for the 2025-26 school year?

State officials plan to revamp the accountability system for the 2025-26 school year after collecting feedback from the public. The new plan will also incorporate any changes to the state’s graduation requirements, which could come as soon as the end of this year. The education department is rethinking the role of Regents exams in graduation, among other considerations.

Pallas said that the plan for the 2025-26 school year and beyond would still have to meet federal ESSA requirements and earn the buy-in of school district leaders — meaning that it likely won’t be “a dramatic break from the past.”

“It’s gotta be something that feels progressive but also comfortable,” Pallas said.

Thomas Wilburn contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Sheridan necesita un nuevo superintendente. El proceso ha dividido a la comunidad — otra vez

2023-06-20T22:57:44+00:00

El distrito escolar de Sheridan no tiene superintendente este mes — y tampoco un plan claro para abrir una búsqueda.

Algunos miembros de la junta escolar quieren nombrar al candidato interno recomendado por el superintendente saliente, Pat Sandos. Esta propuesta ha dividido a la junta, y uno de sus miembros está acusando al presidente de intentar sobornarla para que esté de acuerdo.

Mientras tanto, la junta ha acordado pagarle a Sandos su salario completo durante un año de transición a partir de julio, aunque se haya jubilado oficialmente el 31 de mayo. Los miembros de la comunidad han lanzado una petición para poner fin a la extensión de Sandos. Dicen que por mucho tiempo el distrito ha pasado por alto e ignorado las necesidades de padres y estudiantes, y es hora de un nuevo liderazgo.

El distrito, situado en el suroeste de Denver, atiende a unos 1,100 estudiantes, que incluyen un gran porcentaje de estudiantes de familias con bajos ingresos o identificados como sin hogar. Como muchos en el área metropolitana, el distrito está luchando con una reducción en la inscripción, lo que significa menos ingresos y presupuestos más ajustados.

El sindicato de maestros está buscando aumentos similares a los que se han acordado en los distritos vecinos, pero las negociaciones se han estancado. Mientras tanto, tanto los maestros como los padres reportan una alta rotación de personal y que hay puestos importantes vacantes.

Alejandra Balderrama, una madre de Sheridan, se involucró en la petición para solicitar que el superintendente actual se vaya antes porque a ella le preocupa la rotación de personal, especialmente la salida repentina del director de la escuela primaria después de que la escuela fuera reconocida por el crecimiento académico excepcional de sus estudiantes.

“No me parece justo”, dijo Balderrama.

Ella dijo que espera que un nuevo líder represente más estabilidad entre el personal y una mejor comunicación con los padres.

“Me gustaría que hubiera una comunicación constante no solo entre los maestros y los directores o la administración, sino también con los padres”, dijo Balderrama. “Es importante que nos permitan participar de verdad”.

La junta está dividida en cuanto a cómo buscar un superintendente

El superintendente Pat Sandos fue contratado en 2018 en medio de resistencia por los miembros de la comunidad que preferían a uno de los otros candidatos — un educador hispano del suroeste de Denver. Sandos, un candidato interno, fue elegido en una votación dividida.

En aquel momento, el miembro de la junta Daniel Stange dijo que el distrito necesitaba a alguien externo que escuchara las peticiones de cambio de la comunidad.

Esta vez Stange es presidente de la junta y cree que no es necesario gastar miles de dólares en una empresa de búsqueda de superintendente si hay un buen candidato interno.

“Nos envían el mismo tipo de superintendentes, filtran a su manera, y obtienes lo que obtienes”, dijo Stange. “Si queremos un resultado diferente, un tipo nuevo de superintendente, ¿por qué gastar dinero en contratar a una empresa de búsqueda?”

“Nuestra búsqueda interna está realmente enfocada en la cultura de nuestras escuelas”, añadió Stange. “Queremos una mujer bilingüe. La mayoría de la junta apoya a un candidato interno que cumpla ese requisito”.

Pero la veterana miembro de la junta Sally Daigle, que votó por Sandos en 2018, cree firmemente que la junta necesita hacer una búsqueda exhaustiva. El desacuerdo comenzó en la misma reunión de diciembre, cuando Sandos anunció su jubilación.

Sandos le recomendó a la junta que nombrara a su directora académica, Veronica Maes, como reemplazo. Él podría capacitarla durante su año de transición.

Daigle abogó por que el distrito contratara a la Colorado Association of School Boards, de la que es miembro activo, para encargarse de la búsqueda. A ella le preocupa que solo se considere a un candidato interno.

“Hay algo que no encaja en todo este asunto”, dijo Daigle. “Si no lo pensara, no hubiese argumentado por hora y media que debemos hacerlo así”.

En una tensa reunión de la junta celebrada esta primavera, que en ocasiones se convirtió en un griterío, Daigle leyó mensajes de texto de Stange que ella describió después como un intento de sobornarla para que aceptara el plan utilizando los pagos de reembolso como palanca. Sheridan es uno de los pocos distritos escolares de Colorado que les paga a los miembros de la junta, y permite que se les reembolse por ciertas reuniones y gastos.

“Te dije que aprobaría los costos para que trabajes con CASB si no mostrabas tanta resistencia con este tema”, dice el mensaje de texto de Stange que Daigle compartió con Chalkbeat. “Parece que nos quieres empujar a un proceso largo y costoso. Espero que recuerdes que somos una junta de 5 miembros. La mayoría manda, pero tener consenso siempre será una imagen de confianza a nuestros electores”.

“Fue amenaza, coacción o como quieras llamarlo. Estaba bastante enojada”, dijo Daigle.

Daigle es quien cuida a su mamá a tiempo completo y también es parte de un comité CASB que requiere reuniones mensuales. Ella quiere recibir compensación cuando el trabajo le requiera conseguir a otra persona para que cuide a su mamá.

Stange dijo que el mensaje no era soborno ni coerción, pero dijo que sabe que “a algunas personas les puede sonar así”.

Stange dijo que estaba molesto porque Daigle estaba “haciendo un alboroto” sobre la búsqueda de superintendente y dijo que había desacuerdo sobre si el trabajo de la conferencia CASB de Daigle debería contar como trabajo de la junta escolar.

Según una solicitud de expedientes, hasta el 21 de mayo solamente dos miembros de la junta habían recibido un pago desde que esa política entró en vigencia. Daigle recibió $1,725 y María Delgado-García, $1,093.

Las escuelas de Sheridan, incluida la Academia SOAR de la escuela secundaria alternativa, vista aquí en agosto de 2020, ofrecieron aprendizaje en persona durante la mayor parte de la pandemia.

La candidata interna dijo que su pasión es trabajar para cerrar las brechas de igualdad

Maes, que llegó a Sheridan como directora académica el año pasado, dijo que quiere ser superintendente para seguir trabajando en proyectos importantes.

“Toda mi vida, mi pasión ha sido cerrar brechas de igualdad, trabajar con estudiantes multilingües — es la razón por la que trabajo”, dijo Maes. “De niña solamente hablaba español, y mi experiencia para aprender inglés no fue notable. Cuando llegué a Sheridan el año pasado, este trabajo realmente fue de gran satisfacción”.

“Cuando Pat anunció que iba a jubilarse, me preocupó el trabajo”, dijo. “Estamos logrando mucha tracción”.

Stange se mostró encantado de contratar a Maes para ocupar el puesto más alto del distrito, y alabó su enfoque de la igualdad y el hecho de que es una mujer hispana.

Maes ha estado de acuerdo en no solicitar un salario más alto durante el año de transición para que el pequeño distrito solamente pague un sueldo de superintendente — el de Sandos. Sandos, por su parte, dijo que él todavía se considera como superintendente.

Daigle dijo que una búsqueda más amplia garantizaría que el distrito encuentre al mejor candidato. Y si ese candidato es Maes, ella se destacará aún más, dijo Daigle.

La junta podría votar para nombrar a Maes este mismo mes. En ese momento la junta espera recibir un informe sobre la opinión de la comunidad acerca de los objetivos y la dirección del distrito basado en una encuesta y en algunas reuniones. Si Maes está de acuerdo con las prioridades de la comunidad, tiene sentido nombrarla, dijo Stange.

Daigle está frustrado porque el distrito le ha pagado $12,000 a un par de consultores, el doble de lo que CASB habría cobrado, por llevar a cabo una búsqueda de superintendente que incluyera la participación de la comunidad. Stange señaló que los contratos de consultoría incluyen un plan estratégico, y que las opiniones de la comunidad también servirán de apoyo a ese plan.

Aunque los padres están de acuerdo con el presidente de la junta en que la representación es importante en un líder, a algunos les preocupa que cualquier candidato interno, hispano o no, pueda seguir ignorando sus peticiones.

Alexis Márquez, líder del grupo de defensa Sheridan Rising, dijo que el año pasado los padres de Sheridan presentaron una lista de peticiones al distrito — incluyendo que el distrito proporcione intérpretes de español para las reuniones de la junta escolar para que más padres puedan participar.

“No era una petición difícil, pero esta carta fue completamente ignorada. Ni siquiera se habló de ello”, dijo Márquez. “Esto es una evidente indiferencia hacia la comunidad. Si no hablas el idioma, no puedes participar”.

Sandos dijo que le gustaría añadir intérpretes a las reuniones de la junta escolar, pero que la logística y el costo han sido un reto. Otros distritos escolares con muchas familias hispanas, como Adams 14, han ofrecido servicios de interpretación desde hace años.

Maes dijo que no tenía conocimiento de la carta ni de la petición. Ella se ha asegurado de que las escuelas ofrezcan intérpretes para las reuniones con los padres, dijo. No era algo que había considerado para las reuniones de la junta escolar.

Maes dijo que una mejor comunicación con la comunidad sería una prioridad si ella es elegida como superintendente, junto con el reclutamiento de estudiantes y maestros nuevos.

“Solo quiero hacer el trabajo”, dijo. “Este tipo de cosas se interponen en ese camino”.

Sheridan needs a new superintendent. The process has divided the community — again.

2023-06-20T22:57:31+00:00

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The Sheridan school district has no superintendent this month — and no clear plan to open a search.

Some board members want to appoint the internal candidate recommended by the departing superintendent, Pat Sandos. That proposal has divided the board, with one member accusing the board president of trying to bribe her to go along.

Meanwhile, the board has agreed to pay Sandos his full salary for a transition year starting in July, even though he’s officially retired as of May 31. Community members have launched a petition to terminate Sandos’ extension. For too long, they say, the district has overlooked and ignored the needs of parents and students, and it’s time for new leadership.

The district on Denver’s southwest edge serves about 1,100 students, including a large percentage from low-income families or identified as homeless. Like many in the metro area, the district is struggling with declining enrollment, which means less revenue and tighter budgets. The teachers union is seeking raises similar to those neighboring districts have agreed to, but negotiations have stalled. Meanwhile, teachers and parents alike report high turnover and important positions sitting vacant.

Alejandra Balderrama, a Sheridan parent, got involved in the petition requesting the current superintendent leave sooner because she’s concerned about staff turnover, especially the sudden departure of the elementary school principal after the school was recognized for students’ exceptional academic growth.

“I really don’t find that to be fair,” Balderrama said.

She said she hopes a new leader will mean more stability among staff and better communication with parents.

“I would like constant communication between not only the teachers and principals or administration, but also with the parents,” Balderrama said. “It’s important for us to really be involved.”

Board split on how to search for a superintendent

Superintendent Pat Sandos was hired in 2018 amid pushback from community members who preferred one of the other finalists — a Hispanic educator from southwest Denver. Instead, Sandos, an internal candidate, was selected in a split vote.

At the time, board member Daniel Stange said the district needed someone from outside to listen to the community’s calls for change.

This time, Stange, now the board president, believes that there is no need to spend thousands of dollars on a superintendent search firm if there’s a good internal candidate.

“They turn out the same type of superintendent, filtering the way they do, and you get what you get,” Stange said. “If we want a different result, a new type of superintendent, then why would we be spending money to hire a search firm?”

“Our internal search is really focused on the culture of our schools,” Stange added. “We want a bilingual female. The majority of the board is supportive of an internal candidate that matches that.”

But veteran board member Sally Daigle, who voted for Sandos in 2018, feels strongly that the board needs to do a comprehensive search. The disagreement began at the same December meeting when Sandos announced his retirement.

Sandos recommended the board appoint his chief academic officer, Veronica Maes, to be his replacement. He would train her during his transition year.

Daigle advocated for the district to hire the Colorado Association of School Boards, of which she is an active member, to lead a search. The push to consider only one internal candidate concerns her.

“There’s something just not right about the whole thing,” Daigle said. “I would not argue for an hour and a half that we needed to do this if I didn’t think so.”

At a tense board meeting this spring that sometimes turned into shouting, Daigle read text messages from Stange that she later described as an effort to bribe her into agreeing with the plan using reimbursement payments as leverage. Sheridan is one of a few Colorado school districts that pays board members, allowing reimbursement for certain meetings and costs.

“I told you I would approve the costs for you to work with CASB if you didn’t give us a lot of pushback with this issue,” reads the text message from Stange, which Daigle shared with Chalkbeat. “It really feels like you are trying to push us into a costly and lengthy process? I hope you remember that we are a 5 member board. Majority rules but consensus will always provide a confident image to our constituents.”

“It was threatening, coercion, or whatever you want to call it. I was kind of pissed,” Daigle said.

Daigle serves on a CASB committee that requires monthly meetings and is a full-time caretaker for her mom. She wants to get compensated when she does work that requires her to make other care arrangements for her mom.

Stange said it wasn’t meant as a bribe or coercion, but said he knows that “to some people it might sound like that.”

Stange said he was upset that Daigle was “making a fuss” about the superintendent search and said there was disagreement over whether Daigle’s CASB conference work should count as school board work.

According to a records request, as of May 21, only two board members have received any payment since the policy took effect. Daigle received $1,725, and Maria Delgado-Garcia received $1,093.

Sheridan schools, including the alternative high school SOAR Academy, seen here in August 2020, offered in-person learning through most of the pandemic.

Internal candidate says her passion is in working to close equity gaps

Maes, who joined Sheridan as chief academic officer last year, said she wants to be superintendent to keep working on important projects.

“My entire life, my passion is closing equity gaps, working with multilingual learners — that is my why,” Maes said. “I was a Spanish-only speaking child, and I did not go through a great sink-or-swim experience. When I moved over to Sheridan last school year, it really was filling my bucket.”

“When Pat announced he was going to retire, it concerned me for the work,” she said. “We are getting a lot of traction.”

Stange said he’s happy to hire Maes into the top district role — lauding her approach to equity and the fact that she’s a Hispanic woman.

Maes has agreed not to request a higher salary during the transition year so that the small district will pay only one superintendent salary — to Sandos. Sandos, meanwhile, said he considers himself to still be the superintendent.

Daigle said a broader search would ensure the district finds the best candidate. And if that is Maes, she will still stand out even more, Daigle said.

The board could vote to appoint Maes as soon as this month. That’s when the board expects a report on community feedback on the district’s goals and direction, based on a survey and some meetings. If Maes agrees with the community priorities, it makes sense to appoint her, Stange said.

Daigle is frustrated because the district has paid a pair of consultants $12,000, twice what CASB would have charged to conduct a superintendent search that included community engagement. Stange said the consultant contracts include work on a strategic plan, and the community feedback also will support that work.

While parents agree with the board president that representation matters in a leader, some worry that any internal candidate, Hispanic or not, might continue to ignore their requests.

Alexis Marquez, a leader of the advocacy group Sheridan Rising, said that last year, Sheridan parents presented a list of requests to the district — including that the district provide Spanish interpreters for school board meetings so more parents could participate.

“It wasn’t a hard ask, but this letter went completely ignored. It was never even acknowledged,” Marquez said. “This is just a blatant disregard for the community. If you can’t speak the language, you can’t partake.”

Sandos said he would like to add interpreters to school board meetings but logistics and cost have been a challenge. Other school districts with large numbers of Spanish-speaking families, such as Adams 14, have offered interpretation for years.

Maes said she wasn’t aware of the letter or the request. She has ensured that schools offer interpreters for meetings with parents, she said. It wasn’t something she had considered for school board meetings.

Maes said better communication with the community would be a top priority if she’s chosen as superintendent, along with recruitment of new students and teachers.

“I just want to do the work,” she said. “This kind of stuff gets in the way of that.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado shaped Susana Córdova. Now she wants to make an impact as education commissioner.

2023-06-14T23:40:26+00:00

Susana Córdova has been named Colorado’s next education commissioner.

A Denver native who attended Denver schools and then rose to be superintendent of the state’s largest school district, Córdova will hold Colorado’s top education job after stints with the Dallas Independent School District and an education nonprofit.

In an interview, Córdova said she’s excited to come home. She described the commissioner job as a powerful way “to make an impact on education in the state that made me who I am.”

The State Board of Education voted unanimously to approve Córdova’s appointment Wednesday. After the vote, board members stood and applauded Córdova. She’ll take her oath of office June 26 and earn an annual salary of $300,000.

Board Chair Rebecca McClellan said Córdova was “uniquely positioned” to understand the challenges facing Colorado schools and the lived experiences of students, teachers, and district leaders.

Outgoing Commissioner Katy Anthes will stay until July 10, with the title of special assistant to the commissioner.

“It’s hard to step away from something you’ve put your heart and soul into, but it makes it so much easier to know I’m turning this over to a seasoned, professional, kind, knowledgeable leader,” Anthes said. “I am so confident that Susana is going to do wonderful things.”

Anthes announced in December that she would be stepping down in July. The board received 23 applications. It interviewed six candidates — four women and two men — and voted unanimously in May to name Córdova the sole finalist for the job.

Córdova was a career Denver educator, working as a bilingual teacher and principal before joining the administration and eventually becoming superintendent. She announced in November 2020 that she was leaving Denver to take a job as deputy superintendent of leading and learning in the Dallas Independent School District. Córdova left the Dallas district in August after another candidate, Stephanie Elizalde, was chosen to replace retiring Superintendent Michael Hinojosa.

Since leaving the Dallas district, Córdova has been the superintendent in residence for the education nonprofit Transcend. There, Córdova said she’s learned more about the challenges and strengths of small, rural districts as well as those of urban and suburban districts as she leads a network of superintendents.

Córdova said in her first 100 days, she’ll focus on getting to know the education department staff and making herself available to superintendents, the governor, and other leaders.

Córdova said the role of commissioner is very different from that of a superintendent. Local control is a deeply held value in Colorado. The commissioner can shine a light on positive examples, provide avenues for districts to learn from one another, and make sure research on how kids learn shows up in the classroom, she said.

Córdova said that in many ways her agenda is already set. She wants to continue Colorado’s efforts to improve reading instruction, support a new initiative to improve outcomes in math, bolster efforts to prepare students for life after high school, and help districts navigate the expiration of pandemic relief dollars and the challenges of declining enrollment.

Making sure dollars are spent well to support student mental health and academic tutoring will be critical, she said. Districts that have hired lots of new staff to support students will face tough decisions.

In Córdova’s first year on the job, a task force will consider changes to the school accountability system, a process that will expose fault lines among the education community.

“We’re at a really ideal point in time to look at our accountability system,” Córdova said. “It’s important to get a read on where kids are academically, and I hope that would continue. Colorado is a leader with its focus on growth [over proficiency]. But it also might be an opportunity to look at other things that make a quality school.”

Córdova spent many years overseeing Denver’s efforts to improve education for English learners. She learned Spanish as an adult after growing up in an era when its use was heavily stigmatized.

Córdova said she’s proud of the work Colorado has done to develop a seal of biliteracy. The seal allows high school graduates to receive recognition on their diploma for reading and writing fluently in a language other than English. She hopes to help smaller districts with fewer resources better support students in learning English and valuing their home languages.

“I always start with thinking about how we approach working with students from an asset-based way,” she said. “The most important thing we can do for our multilingual learners is valuing their home language. That can be instruction in their home language or other ways to recognize it as an asset.”

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Boulder district is changing how students receive language services, keeping English learners in the classroom

2023-06-06T16:19:55+00:00

In Susan Tran’s first grade class in the Boulder Valley School District this past school year, she and a fellow teacher worked as a team — helping students focus on the language of math, breaking apart word problems and using words to compare, contrast, and describe different shapes.

The two-teacher arrangement is part of changes the Boulder school district is rolling out in how students identified as English learners receive language services in elementary schools.

Instead of pulling students from their classroom for approximately 45 minutes a day to receive English language development, the district is moving to a co-teaching model, where a teacher specialist pops into regular classrooms to help lead a lesson for all students with the classroom teacher.

“Anytime you watch a new teacher, you learn something new,” said Tran. About half of the students in her class are English learners.

“I observed students speaking with more robust academic vocabulary and in more complete sentences,” said Rachelle Weigold, one of the English language development teachers who worked with Tran. “I think those were really fantastic advancements.”

It’s a change some Latino parents had requested years ago and which the district has tried out — unsuccessfully — before.

At Alicia Sanchez Elementary in Lafayette where Tran and Weigold work, nearly 36% of students — up to half in some classes — are identified as English learners, students who primarily speak a language other than English. Because of that, the school had already been trying co-teaching for some time. But this year there was a new focus on intentional planning before the co-taught lessons. Co-teaching during math class was also new.

Come fall, eight more schools will join the four that started the model this year. Most Boulder elementary schools are scheduled to make the switch in the next few years. Each school decides which subject to pair with the English language development, but many are focusing on math.

Under federal civil rights laws, school districts have to provide students identified as English learners with services to help them learn the language so they can access their education.

In Boulder, where about 7% of the district’s students are identified as English learners, those language services had primarily been provided through a pull-out model in which specialist teachers give students targeted instruction in learning English and being able to access the rest of their learning.

It’s rare for school districts to change how they offer services.

But Boulder Valley School District has long had some of the largest gaps in how students who are English learners score on state tests, compared to students who are native English speakers.

The most recent state test results showed a 54.7-percentage point gap, one of the widest in the state. In 2022, 9.1% of Boulder students identified as English learners scored proficient or above on state tests, compared to 7.9% of the same group who scored proficient or above statewide. But 63.8% of native English speakers in Boulder met or exceeded expectations.

District leaders have said improving outcomes for English learners and closing that gap is one of their long-term goals. In the short term, the goals are around improving teachers’ capacity to support students through the day and giving students better access to their education.

One of the most important goals “is not pulling students from their grade level peers and not having them feel different than,” said Kristin Nelson-Stein, director of culturally and linguistically diverse education in the Boulder Valley School District.

District leaders said they had tried co-teaching before but it hadn’t quite worked.

“It just didn’t stick really,” said Meghan McCracken, a culturally and linguistically diverse education coordinator in the Boulder Valley district. “We really didn’t have support at the highest levels for the program shift.”

Randy Barber, a spokesperson for the district, said improving systems for English language learner instruction has been a priority, but that listening to parents and getting everyone aligned on how things should change takes time.

This time, part of helping get everyone on the same page involved visiting the Cherry Creek School District to observe how they use co-teaching models for English language development.

Concerned parents were a driving force

Latino parents had asked for these changes years ago. Many felt the recommendations had been forgotten.

Ana Lilia Lujan was one of the parent leaders who made that recommendation. Her son, who just graduated from the district this year, struggled with English most of his time in school. When he was starting middle school and still not making progress in English language development, Lujan decided to opt him out of services.

“I was really scared of removing him from those classes, but I thought, no, it’s been too many years,” Lujan said. “I removed him and they put him in regular classes. That helped him a lot. His self-esteem changed. His English improved because he was listening to students that knew more.”

Lujan, who spent years trying to understand how students who are learning English are identified and served, said she has come to believe that the pull-out methods are ineffective.

“Taking kids out of class doesn’t work,” Lujan said. “Once you reach a certain point, the kids are never going to catch up to the others because of what they’re missing. And the kids think they’re not smart, because of how they’re being treated.”

She said she wants districts to acknowledge that students are smart, despite how they may struggle on state tests.

“Let’s not confuse not knowing a language with a lack of intellectual capacity,” Lujan said.

Lujan also worries that not enough parents have the time she did to learn about the complicated system or to learn that other models could work better. That means fewer are able to advocate for changes, putting less pressure on districts to be creative in looking for solutions to improve learning, she said.

Researchers who study English language development say the pull-out model has benefits, but is not generally the most effective. But moving to co-teaching is not automatically better, they say.

“Pull-out ESL sometimes makes kids feel stigmatized or not maybe as smart as the other kids in their regular classroom,” said Kathy Escamilla, a researcher and former leader of the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education at CU Boulder. “Now on the other hand, co-teaching might work fine in math. It might help the kids, but that depends on what strategies they’re using.”

Ester J. de Jong, professor of culturally and linguistically diverse education at the University of Colorado-Denver, said pull-out models can provide safe learning environments and work best when they help students build on what they learn in their regular classrooms the rest of the day.

Once students reach a certain point in language development, there’s no reason to pull them out of an English-language classroom just to get more English instruction, de Jong said. “But that doesn’t mean students don’t have needs that don’t have to be met.”

Isolated pull-out groups can be especially helpful for new immigrant students who might have more distinctive needs, she said.

District leaders said newcomer students may still be pulled out for support for their first couple of months in the school district, until they’re ready to receive help in the classroom.

Both models require teachers to have a lot of preparation and time to coordinate, researchers said.

Teachers at Sanchez said the shift to co-teaching has been hard work, but their structure has allowed for a lot of good planning, coordination, and learning from each other.

The planning helps them adjust lessons for students with varying abilities, the teachers said, but they never segregate students in the classroom simply based on the identification of being English learners.

Elizabeth Dawson, another teacher at Sanchez, said students might have different language needs based on past traumas, poverty levels, or other external factors.

“There’s very many reasons students might need language support,” Dawson said.

Lujan, the Boulder parent, is optimistic, but said she’ll still be watching to see if it contributes to better outcomes for Latino students in the district.

“That will be the question,” Lujan said. “The fact that they’re doing this is already a good step. But we still have to see the results. That’s always been my point.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

600 children would lose child care with end of free NYC program for undocumented families

2023-05-18T21:27:57+00:00

Angela and her family left their home in Colombia after her husband, a police officer, received multiple death threats amid rising violence in the South American country.

Along with thousands of asylum seekers, her family arrived in New York City in September. They made ends meet through her husband’s sporadic construction gigs, but Angela, unable to find affordable private child care, stayed home to watch her toddler son.

Then, through tips from other newly arrived Colombian mothers, Angela discovered a new city pilot program called Promise NYC, which in January began covering up to $700 a week in child care for low-income, undocumented immigrant families. In late March, Angela’s son, just shy of 2 years old, became one of about 600 children who received vouchers to enroll in subsidized day care or after-school programs that are otherwise unavailable to those without legal immigration status.

Angela has since started a part-time job cleaning, is taking courses that would allow her to work in construction, and is figuring out how to obtain legal immigration status. But that could all end on July 1, if the City Council approves Mayor Eric Adams’ proposed budget, which slashes the pilot program for next fiscal year.

“My child wouldn’t be able to share or he wouldn’t be able to learn and grow with other children in the day care that he is part of, and I would have to resort to finding alternatives that I’m not yet prepared for,” Angela said through a translator.

The move has confused program providers, advocates, and some City Council members, who described Promise NYC as successful and netting more demand than they expected. The mayor himself touted the $10 million initiative in his vision for early childhood education last year, but in recent months, advocates became worried that Adams would cut the program. Spokespeople for City Hall and the Administration for Children’s Services, or ACS, declined to explain the mayor’s decision.

”To take that away would mean, you know, possibly the family loses employment or a kid has nowhere to go during the day,” said Kimberly Warner, deputy director of legal, organizing, and advocacy services for the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, or NMIC, a nonprofit organization tapped by the city to help enroll children in Manhattan and the Bronx. “It would be very destabilizing.”

The mayor has proposed cuts across many city agencies, including about 3% of the education department’s budget, citing in part rising costs as more asylum seekers come to the city.

A group of about a dozen elected officials, including some City Council members and state lawmakers have called for the city to provide $20 million for the program next year, which would cover the same number of slots for a full year. Some are hoping for even more funding, as thousands of newcomer immigrants are expected in New York City.

In a statement, Queens Council member Tiffany Cabán, one of the lawmakers who pushed to create Promise NYC, said the program has been a “game changer.”

Without legal immigration status, undocumented immigrants have limited options for work, often turning to low-paying, under-the-table jobs. Nearly 29% of undocumented New Yorkers were living in poverty as of 2017, compared to 18% of naturalized citizens at the time, according to city estimates.

That means many likely struggle to pay for child care, but undocumented children typically don’t qualify for state or federally backed programs because they must be legal residents of the United States. HeadStart programs are an exception, but there are a limited number of seats, providers said.

Private care is pricey: In 2022, the median annual cost of toddler care in Manhattan was just over $17,800, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Three and 4-year-old children can attend many of the city’s free preschool programs, regardless of immigration status. But there are some programs within the city’s sprawling system, run through centers and by organizations outside of brick-and-mortar school buildings, that require children to be legal residents, including those that offer care past 3 p.m., advocates pointed out.

“That is the exact problem that Promise NYC was trying to resolve,” said Betty Baez Melo, director of the Early Childhood Education Project at Advocates for Children New York.

After advocacy from elected officials last year, City Hall agreed to launch the program. Adams even touted Promise NYC in his “Blueprint for Child Care & Early Childhood Education in New York City,” saying it would allow families to seek care “without compromising the confidentiality of their immigration status.”

The program was publicly announced in December 2022 and launched one month later, in mid-January. The four organizations charged with doing outreach and connecting families to child care are responsible for making sure families are eligible.

Warner, from NMIC, said she and her team were overwhelmed and “surprised” by the calls that immediately flooded in, mostly seeking care for kids ages 2 to 7 years old. They’ve enrolled 245 children across Manhattan and the Bronx and have roughly 150 people on a wait list. According to an ACS spokesperson, 600 children — the agency’s target — enrolled across all five boroughs by the end of April. Costs were fully covered for all but three children, the spokesperson said.

The Chinese-American Planning Council, which was tapped to oversee enrollment in Queens, has about 170 people on a waiting list, said Sumon Chin, the organization’s director of early childhood learning and wellness services.

Besides handling high demand, Chin’s organization also struggled to find child care options for infants and toddlers in certain pockets of Queens that are known as “child care deserts,” such as the Corona neighborhood. Along with keeping the program, Chin hopes the city will provide more funding so that each organization can hire more help, due to the demand and difficulty of the work.

Soneyllys, a mother from the Dominican Republic, enrolled her toddler son in day care through Promise NYC in February. Since then, she has noticed he’s talking and is generally more active at home. It also allowed her to work for the first time since coming to the United States two years ago, she said through a translator.

She worries that losing child care will make it difficult to get legal immigration status.

“I cannot afford day care, and I will not be able to give my child a better life because I don’t have the opportunity to find a full-time job that I can provide for my child,” she said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

NYC schools grasp for support as some migrant students miss out on mandated English instruction

2023-05-09T10:00:00+00:00

Miriam Sicherman looks at her Google Translate app or her pocket translator an average of 25 times a day while teaching fourth graders at the Children’s Workshop School in Manhattan’s East Village.

For a recent lesson on internet safety, she translated her presentation into Spanish and Russian ahead of time for her five newcomer immigrant students who speak those languages, but then used her phone to look up words like “password” or “email address” to respond to their questions. In an eight-hour school day, she repeats this process over and over again.

On top of the translation apps, Sicherman takes Duolingo Spanish lessons in her own time and accepts occasional help from a bilingual student and a Russian-speaking teacher at another school in her building.

Still, it sometimes feels impossible to explain in-depth concepts in a language other than her own.

An estimated 14,000 asylum-seeking immigrant students have enrolled in New York City public schools, city officials said last month. Teachers are finding that many of these children are learning English at the most basic level, and some hadn’t attended school regularly before arriving in the United States. The students are legally entitled to extra support, but some schools are struggling to provide it.

Failing to meet the needs of English language learners is not a new problem. Since 2016, the state has placed New York City on a corrective action plan because the district has failed to adequately support English learners, including not providing required services for those with disabilities. The plan, which has been extended multiple times over the past seven years, requires the city to gradually provide more of these services.

For Sicherman, it’s crucial that her English language learners get the support to which they are entitled. But there is just one part-time English-as-a-new-language, or ENL, teacher who provides this support to dozens of students at her school. That means Sicherman’s newcomers are getting a fraction of the extra help they should receive, she said.

“I can make them feel comfortable and safe — that I’m doing my best with, and I think I am achieving that — but they really are entitled to much more than that,” Sicherman said.

Sicherman’s concern is one that potentially many educators share, as thousands of new immigrant families have sought refuge in New York City this year, from Central and South American countries, as well as from Ukraine and Russia.

In anticipation of students’ arrival, the city launched “Project Open Arms” in the fall to send a total $12 million to schools that enrolled six or more newcomer students living in temporary housing. Officials also said schools that have enrolled more students than expected have received another $98 million this year.

Still, some teachers say their schools don’t have enough funding to hire more staff who are equipped to work with newcomer English learners. Some schools have the money, but have struggled to find teachers due to a long-standing shortage of bilingual teachers. That leaves teachers like Sicherman feeling overwhelmed and at times unequipped to properly help these students.

As the city expects another wave of newcomer immigrant families, teachers and advocates are worried it will become even more challenging to support English learners without more help from the city.

The New York Immigration Coalition has heard complaints throughout this school year that students aren’t receiving their required services, said Andrea Ortiz, senior manager of education policy.

“We shouldn’t be allowing students to be just housed in places where they’re not gonna be given the types of supports that they’re legally entitled to,” Ortiz said.

In a statement, education department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said officials are working closely with schools to “assess any gaps in resources and to provide solutions as expeditiously as possible.”

‘It’s kind of demoralizing’

Sicherman’s school has been waiting months for more help.

Over each of the past five years, her school enrolled between six and 13 English learners, according to demographic records. This year, roughly 60 English learners enrolled, Sicherman said.

School leaders volunteered in January to accept more asylum seekers, the spokesperson said. A crush of newcomer immigrant students began coming in February, but even after the principal requested more staffing help from the education department, the school still had just one part-time ENL teacher, Sicherman said.

Budget records show that the school received about $64,600 in funding from Project Open Arms, which can be used to pay teachers overtime, cover teacher prep periods, and pay substitutes, among other uses related to communication with parents. It’s not clear when the school received those funds. The principal did not respond to a request for comment to discuss the school’s challenges this year or explain how that money was used.

As beginner-level English learners, Sicherman’s five newcomer students should each be receiving 360 minutes a week of extra help building English skills, per state regulations for grades K-8. But they are only getting 135 minutes, since the part-time ENL teacher can only work with them for 45 minutes during each of her three days at the school.

Officials did not answer why the school hasn’t received more staffing help. Superintendent Carry Chan, who oversees Manhattan’s District 1, where the Children’s Workshop School is located, has appealed for the school to receive another full-time ENL teacher, a spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that the school also has a classroom teacher licensed to work with English language learners, and suggested they could tweak programming and use that person so that students are getting more services.

Sicherman said she’s constantly trying to balance those students’ needs with those of the 16 native English speakers in her class. She translates many lessons and uses other tools, including donated Spanish flash cards. But it’s difficult to explain topics in-depth, such as the Irish potato famine, or have a conversation about it. She relies “completely” on Google Translate for her Russian student, with whom the language barrier is so thick that Sicherman worries the child won’t be able to tell her if she’s feeling unwell.

Even lighthearted moments are hard. Sicherman recently pulled up Google Translate to tell a few of her Spanish-speaking students that they were “being silly.” Her bilingual student stopped her: Using the app’s suggested word “tonto” would be like calling the children idiots, he said.

“It’s kind of demoralizing,” Sicherman said. “I wish I could be teaching these kids, and I’m really not teaching them.”

There don’t appear to be immediate consequences for schools or districts who are not providing legally required services to English learners. J.P. O’Hare, a spokesperson for the state education department, said the corrective action plan requires the district to submit multiple reports a year about how they’re improving support for these students. In response, state officials share “direction and guidance” on where city schools need to improve and meet regularly with district staff.

Some experienced ENL teachers are struggling this year

Even experienced ENL teachers say they’re overwhelmed by the arrival of thousands of new immigrant students.

Brooklyn ENL teacher Melanie is usually paired with middle schoolers. But this year, as more English learners enrolled at her Bay Ridge school and one of her ENL colleagues went on leave, she was also asked to work with children in grades 2-5.

Melanie, who asked only to use her first name because she was not authorized to speak with the press, found she was “really struggling” to help younger students, since she’s used to helping older children who know how to read and write at more advanced levels.

The school couldn’t find a replacement for the ENL teacher on leave, who returned a few weeks ago.

For most of this year, Melanie served roughly twice as many children in the “beginner” level as she usually does, many of whom haven’t attended school in a while and are learning various skills, such as how to use an iPad. She was providing the legally required amount of support to these children, but she doesn’t think they received enough individual help, she said.

“I know going into it, I am not meeting their needs,” she said.

One Brooklyn high school enrolled about 30 new immigrant students between February and April, causing classes for beginner-level English learners to fill up to the legal limit of 34, said Nathan, an ENL teacher at the school who asked only to use his first name.

The school, which is used to serving many English learners, is staying afloat for now. They’ve created new classes with existing staff, and they’re using some funding to pay one person overtime in order to be a “migrant students coordinator,” who is charged with creating resources for newcomer families.

But if they get another similar wave of students, he’s unsure if the school has enough funding to add another class for beginner-level English learners or even meet legal mandates.

“That would require a lot of creative budgeting,” Nathan said.

Asylum seekers are a ‘blessing’ for one Brooklyn school

Some schools, such as those with dual language programs, seem better set up to welcome newcomer immigrants.

Asylum-seeking families have “been a blessing” for one Spanish dual language program in Brooklyn, where the number of English language learners has doubled this year, said F.C., a teacher at the school who requested only her initials be used because she was not authorized to speak to the press. Typically, the school doesn’t attract many native Spanish speakers. This year, the surge in enrollment has given both English and Spanish speakers a chance to learn from one another.

As a former newcomer immigrant herself, F.C. has used her experience to connect with students. She comforted a student who would occasionally cry because he was struggling in class and missed home. She told him once, “I used to cry, too, because I didn’t understand what everyone was saying, and that motivated me to learn.’” He gave her a hug.

Most schools don’t have dual language programs. There are 245 such programs across all grades for general education students, covering 13 different languages.

While those programs are “set up well” for English learners, they don’t exist everywhere, said Councilmember Rita Joseph, chair of the council’s education committee, who used to be an ENL teacher. Looking ahead, she thinks the education department will have to “pivot” as more asylum-seeking families make New York City their new home.

“We’re gonna have so much that we can no longer have part-time [ENL] teachers,” she said. “That’s the only way you can stay in compliance.”

Sicherman’s school recently launched an after-school program for English learners, which doesn’t count toward their legally required support but is helpful, she said. Her principal also bought each teacher a pocket translator, which Sicherman has found more useful than Google Translate. Sometimes students use it to talk with each other while she uses her phone app.

Five days after Chalkbeat reached out to the education department about the issues at Sicherman’s school, she discovered that their part-time ENL teacher would soon be working with them full time.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Parents who don’t speak English would have more access to translated documents under Colorado bill

2023-04-28T00:08:05+00:00

Read the full study here:

The personalized education plans that spell out how a school intends to support a student with a disability can run dozens of pages and be full of technical language.

And in many Colorado school districts, parents who speak a language other than English don’t see a copy of their child’s plan in the language they understand best until they’re being asked to sign a legally binding final version.

A bill in the Colorado legislature would change that, requiring that final education plans be translated, as also required by federal law, and allowing parents to request draft documents in their preferred language. A separate school finance bill would allocate $500,000 to offset school district costs for translating more documents.

By law, parents are a part of the team that comes up with each student’s educational plan — known as an IEP or individualized education program — alongside teachers and other school professionals. And federal law requires that the final version of an IEP be translated into a language parents can understand.

But community organizers and parent advocates said that’s too late in the process for parents to play their role effectively. Parents need to be able to understand draft documents and information from assessments so they can ask questions and provide feedback to the teachers who work with their children, they said.

“Non-English-speaking parents are signing legal documents that they cannot understand and are not able to participate in the decision-making process to support their children,” said Natalia Alvarez, an organizer with the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition who has worked with Spanish-speaking parents in the Boulder Valley School District to secure more translation.

Bri Buentello, director of government affairs for the advocacy group Stand for Children, is a former special education teacher. She said hearing from parents was a critical part of the IEP process, in particular for students with autism. Parents could provide valuable information about what works and what doesn’t for their child, and parents and teachers could work together to support a student’s learning and behavior.

“An IEP isn’t a good IEP unless the parents are providing their input,” Buentello said.

House Bill 1263 received broad bipartisan support in both chambers.

Democratic state Reps. Lorena Garcia and Mary Young are sponsoring the bill. Garcia also serves as the chief executive officer of the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition. Young is a retired special education teacher.

In the Boulder Valley district, officials already are doing a phased rollout of expanded translation services for IEP meetings. Special Education Director Michelle Brenner said the district previously offered oral translation of the main points in an education plan but didn’t provide written translation of draft IEPs or assessments of students’ skills and challenges.

School staff were responsible for calling interpreters off an approved list, and sometimes that task fell through the cracks.

After hearing over a period of years from parents and advocates that many parents felt like they couldn’t participate meaningfully in IEP meetings, the school district revamped its process, starting with three bilingual schools and then expanding to all the schools in Lafayette, where there’s a larger concentration of Spanish-speaking families.

“Even though we met the rules and the letter of the law, hearing that our families could not meaningfully participate, we wanted to do something about it,” Brenner said.

Don McGinnis, manager of translation and interpretation services for the district, said this meant centralizing the request system so that it just takes a few seconds for school staff to make a request, changing timelines to make sure documents can be translated and proofread with care, and developing large databases of appropriate terminology and legal language in Spanish.

“Removing those barriers means schools are using the services more, and parents feel more comfortable asking for them,” McGinnis said.

Where the district once spent $35,000 a year on IEP-related translation and interpretation services, it expects to spend more than $100,000 this year and possibly more going forward, as the service expands to all schools.

The district also has conducted training for teachers to improve communication with parents and sought out parent feedback on how the new system is working. Expanded services are new this year, but anecdotally, Brenner said, schools are making more requests for translation and interpretation, including more requests for interpretation for phone calls between teachers and parents.

McGinnis encouraged any district looking to expand translation of special education documents to meet with parents and ask them what they need.

“They need to figure out face to face what needs are not being met,” he said.

Bureau Chief Erica Meltzer covers education policy and politics and oversees Chalkbeat Colorado’s education coverage. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Study: Gifted education too often excludes English learners, students with disabilities

2023-04-06T23:16:35+00:00

Students who are learning English as a new language and students with disabilities are under-identified as gifted and talented in schools across the country.

Colorado is among the top 20 states with better representative rates, though schools still by far fail to identify a proportional level of English learners or students with disabilities for gifted programs. But state policies can improve representation of those students, according to a new study from NWEA, a not-for-profit research and educational services organization.

English learners are represented in gifted programs in Colorado at about one-quarter of their proportion of the school population. Nationwide, those students are represented at only one-eighth of their overall portion.

“Everyone is kind of bad, Colorado is a little better,” said Scott Peters, a senior research scientist for NWEA and one of the study’s authors.

In Colorado, about 110,000 students are identified as English language learners this year, about 12.4% of public school students.

The new study looked at federal data from 2017-18. It considered how various state policies affected access to gifted services, and whether the access was equitable.

The study examined whether the state mandates identification, whether it mandates schools to have formal gifted and talented education plans, whether the plans have to be approved by the state, whether they audit for compliance, and whether giftedness is considered an exceptionality under the state’s special education laws.

The study found that in states requiring formal plans for gifted services, schools were 10 percentage points more likely to offer services. In states auditing for compliance, the same schools were 23 percentage points more likely to offer gifted services.

Peters said Colorado uses all those levers.

Since 2015, Colorado has also provided grants for districts to improve or roll out universal screening tests to identify gifted children or to help hire staff to serve gifted children. Over the years, districts have requested more money than has been available. A recent report to the legislature said the state funded 38% of grant requests in 2020-21.

The legislature has now budgeted for a new five-year plan to fully fund the grant requests.

According to the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented, Colorado is third in the nation for access to gifted education, in part because it requires universal screening. Still, the group notes, equity gaps remain among student subgroups.

The association cites another study that estimates that an additional 17,000 to 22,000 students in Colorado should be identified and served as gifted but are not.

Peters said Colorado also stands out among states because more school districts tend to use local norms to identify gifted students, as opposed to comparing their students to national standards. He believes that also contributes to being able to achieve more equity.

NWEA’s study also identified the top 5% of schools with the highest representation of English learners in gifted education. Among those nearly 1,500 schools, 67 were in Colorado.

Those top 5% of schools tended to enroll fewer students, have lower academic achievement, and more students from low-income families.

The study noted that most of the conversation around equity in identifying students as gifted has focused on students of color and those from low-income families. And there’s little information about what factors might improve access to gifted education for English learners or students with disabilities.

But English learners and students with disabilities are the most under-represented groups in gifted education, the study said. The study aimed to begin to bridge that gap.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Is Colorado ready to serve English learners under new universal preschool?

2023-04-05T22:39:35+00:00

Every morning, students in the Early Excellence Program in north Denver start their day with a song in Spanish and English. Story time and reading circles also happen in the two languages. Kids are encouraged, but never forced, to speak both.

These are some of the ways teachers at this highly-rated preschool try to give students a strong foundation in their home language as they prepare for school — something researchers agree is helpful for young bilingual learners.

As the state prepares to roll out universal preschool, a new taxpayer-funded program starting in the next school year that offers preschool hours for free to all 4-year-olds and some younger children, officials have given priority to children who don’t speak English at home. The state will offer those children more hours of tuition-free preschool and is promising — for the first time — that programs will need to use teaching strategies proven to help multilingual learners.

But with the launch just months away, big questions still remain about whether enough is being done to get the word out, what programming will look like, and what help providers will get to improve their offerings.

Early Excellence leader Jennifer Rodriguez-Luke says the families she works with are confused about how to apply or if they qualify. She has assigned a staff member to help them through the process, but has had limited success in getting new applicants.

So far, the only preschoolers that appear will match to her program are the ones it already serves, who they have helped walk through the application.

“For a level 5 in the heart of Denver, we were hoping to at least have 10 new students,” Rodriguez-Luke said.

She’s worried it means vulnerable families across Colorado may not be applying for universal pre-K — and may miss out on learning that has been shown to set children on the path to educational success.

Under Colorado law, 4-year-olds identified as English learners are eligible for additional hours of preschool. The additional hours — 30 instead of 15 — are dependent on state funding. The state first has to make sure it can cover the cost of some preschool for all 4-year-olds who apply. Three-year-old multilingual learners can qualify for 10 hours per week of free preschool.

English language learners are among the children who could most benefit from preschool, which is one of the reasons these students are eligible for more preschool hours.

But in the current school year, only 29 preschool students statewide are currently identified as English language learners, according to data provided by the Colorado Department of Education.

Although it’s unclear what the new system will look like this fall, creating a process to identify multilingual learners and establishing standards for how they are taught will be a benefit for students, even if it’s still a work in progress, researchers say.

“You’re trying to create a system that I don’t even know is there,” said Guadalupe Díaz Lara, assistant professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Studies at California State University. “If we’re thinking of these investments, why don’t we do it in the way that’s the most high quality for kids?”

Number of families with multilingual learners applying is still unclear

Colorado leaders have rushed to set up new universal pre-K, which will replace a smaller state-funded preschool program for children from low-income families or who have other risk factors.

But even as applications opened in January, critical parts of the program are still not in place.

The law that created universal preschool also directs the new state department to establish quality standards that participating preschool providers will have to meet. Those will include standards on identifying, testing, and serving students who are dual language learners. But those standards haven’t been created yet.

Previously, under various state and federal programs for preschool age children, providers followed different rules for educating the youngest English learner students. Preschool, unlike K-12, has had no consistent requirements for identifying children in need of language support and no standards for how they should be taught.

The state’s new department overseeing the rollout of universal preschool has not been able to provide numbers on how many children so far enrolled for the fall checked the box indicating limited English proficiency. Officials say they are asking each provider to speak to families to verify that parents correctly checked those boxes.

A different way to screen students may be required eventually. It’s one of the requirements the law lays out for universal preschool.

When families, including those who indicate their child has limited proficiency in English, apply for universal free preschool, they can search providers and list their top choices. They can also search providers and learn which have bilingual staff or programs. The online application is available in three languages: English, Spanish, and Arabic.

The matching process will prioritize a family’s preference, regardless of whether that program has bilingual staff or programs. That means providers who have not previously been expecting to serve this population of children could end up with students enrolled identified as English learners. Depending on what standards are created, they may have further to go to meet the children’s needs.

State leaders say preschool providers will not be allowed to deny a child a spot because of language proficiency, but recognize that some won’t be prepared right away.

While much of the system is still being created, the infrastructure for English language learner students is furthest behind because research, standards, and practices have previously been limited.

Dawn Odean, the state’s universal pre-K director, said the state creating a system from nearly nothing represents opportunity.

“We do have a unique opportunity here to make more significant gains in the multilingual environment,” Odean said. She wants the department to help providers, she said, and won’t penalize them for not immediately meeting the standards.

“We can make it an act of compliance but that’s not what’s going to serve students well,” Odean said.

Instead, Odean said, the department will focus on helping all providers improve.

Families face confusion about their eligibility

Ana Paola Burrola Bustillos has two kids in Jeffco, including a 4-year-old enrolled in preschool at Foster Dual Language PK-8. She said she didn’t know the state was rolling out free universal preschool, and thinks it’s a good thing even though her daughter, who is moving on to kindergarten this fall, won’t benefit.

Burrola Bustillos said she likes Foster for her children because she believes they’ll benefit from being bilingual.

“I feel that if they can learn in both languages they’ll be better off when they’re older, in everything, in communicating with other people, in their jobs, in everyday life,” Burrola Bustillos said.

Patricia Lepiani, president of The Idea Marketing, said her group was contracted in January to market universal preschool, just days before the application opened.

Lepiani said that 25% of the $527,000 marketing budget is dedicated to reaching non-English speaking families — a larger percent than most projects would allocate, she said. In Colorado, Lepiani estimates, 21% of the state population speaks Spanish, though not all are monolingual.

The fastest thing to set up, she said, were social media ads, and later some banners that were set up at local dentist offices and shops such as the Carniceria/Mercado Los Dos Toros in Denver, the Panaderia Contreras in Denver, and Ay Wey Snack in Aurora.

The large banners say “Medio día de preescolar gratis para todos los niños de Colorado” — “Free half-day preschool for all Colorado kids” — and include a QR code and a link to the state’s preschool homepage. A smaller Spanish-language poster notes that kids who start kindergarten unprepared tend to stay behind and urges parents to “make sure your kids are ready.”

A large banner on the side of an ice cream counter at Neveria la Unica in Aurora promotes universal preschool.

The budget wasn’t enough to cover any radio or television ads, Lepiani said.

The larger campaign Idea Marketing has planned includes having community navigators and ambassadors trained to help get the word out and help families fill out the application. That part of the work launched mid-March. Among the organizations they’re partnering with are Latinos Unidos of Greeley, The Rocky Mountain Welcome Center, and Padres Adelante Family Services.

The focus is also on educating families on the importance of preschool.

“We have been doing everything we can as fast as we can, in the smallest amount of time,” Lepiani said. “The deployment of boots on the ground across the state takes a bit more time.”

Part of the work needs to be reaching out to community leaders to get the message to families about why preschool is important and about how their children can be supported, Díaz Lara said.

In California, many of the families Díaz Lara works with mistakenly think that putting their children into bilingual programs might confuse them and lead to developmental delays. But home language support can benefit students, she said, and preschool staff just need to know how to support that development.

At Early Excellence, where a staff member helps walk families through the application, some families think they won’t qualify because they think they make too much money or are already bilingual and don’t consider their children to have limited English proficiency. Some who are undocumented or have mixed immigration status are unsure if they are allowed to apply.

“It’s already scary to get on a website and give so much information,” Rodriguez-Luke said. “We just don’t want them to get lost in the system.”

So now, Rodriguez-Luke is working on also translating the school website into Spanish, hoping to put out more information, and offering an open invitation to help walk families though the application for free preschool.

From left, Ava Gabriella Garcia Seleey, 5, and Andrea Gonzalez Robles, 5, are learning names of architecture materials from teacher Rosario Ortiz at Early Excellence Program of Denver.

Researchers say teacher preparation will be key

More studies are necessary to identify the best strategies to teach multilingual preschool students, researchers say, but some things are clear.

“Being bilingual is not enough,” said Cristina Gillanders, associate professor in early childhood education at the University of Colorado Denver. “You have to have the preparation to teach these children. You have to understand bilingualism and how bilingual children learn languages.”

Some preschool providers that serve children who don’t speak English do focus primarily on having bilingual staff to help.

Joe Ziegler, education director at The Family Center/La Familia in Fort Collins, which serves a primarily Spanish-speaking population, said his program for children from six weeks old up to age 5, isn’t officially bilingual based on his curriculum, but he’s focused on hiring diverse and bilingual staff. About 50% to 70% of the young students start off only understanding Spanish.

When the program first started, he said, the school often had to rely on older siblings to help staff communicate with families. They’ve since been able to move away from that by hiring more bilingual staff, and now the focus is on making sure all staff understand inclusive best practices.

“We’re more intentional now,” Ziegler said. “There’s more of an emphasis now on understanding what a family and a child’s experience is.”

In Aurora Public Schools, preschools have long been using a test to identify how students progress in their acquisition of the English language. The district says 54% of the district’s 2,100 preschool students are English language learners.

Researchers say traditional tests used with older students are difficult to administer to 3- and 4-year-olds who may not be able to sit still long enough, use a computer, or hold a pencil.

Cynthia Cobb, the early childhood education director for the Aurora district, said the test teachers use in Aurora preschools aren’t sit-down tests. Teachers observe students in the classroom to track progress in many areas, including language skills.

“Young children are usually terrible test-takers. Their development is fluctuating all the time,” said researcher Gillanders. “In order to have a much more complete picture of the child’s development, you have to be with them for a longer period of time.”

That’s why teacher training to understand what they’re seeing in children is key.

Cobb said the Aurora district strongly believes that being able to identify and support students is a benefit. And, she said, students are more likely to eventually be proficient in English when they begin education in preschool.

While there may be changes preschool providers need to make, Cobb said it should all be for the best.

“It’s a learning process,” she said.

Ziegler knows the standards the state is likely to create for educating students like his will probably include additional training for staff, which he knows can be a good thing, but he said that accessing additional training for his staff has been a challenge.

He has partnered with the local school district to do some professional development for his teachers around supporting students who might not yet understand English. But when teachers seek out additional classes themselves, many are only offered in Denver, about a 90-minute drive away.

Other staff, who primarily speak Spanish, struggle to find classes offered in Spanish. Ziegler said his center is working with a community college to try to develop some classes for staff that can be offered in Spanish.

“In our community, I don’t really see those resources,” Ziegler said, who believes a universal pre-K program will eventually be beneficial. “But right now, it’s very stressful. We’re building the plane as we go.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

64% of NYC’s bilingual special education students didn’t get all of their services last year

2023-03-20T22:12:41+00:00

Nearly two-thirds of New York City students who are entitled to bilingual special education services are not receiving all of their mandated support, according to new figures released by the city’s education department.

At the end of last school year, just 36% of children who were assigned bilingual special education services received the correct amount of instruction from a certified bilingual teacher and in a classroom with the proper ratio of students and staff.

That means about 3,100 students did not receive their correct classroom placements, including those that are co-taught and include a mix of special and general education students, classes with higher staff ratios exclusively for students with disabilities, or situations where students are pulled out of their classrooms for small group instruction. By comparison, 88% of all students with disabilities were placed in the correct environment listed on their individualized education program, or IEP, which officials said is the highest rate on record.

The statistics are part of the city’s annual special education report and refer to services delivered last school year, when students were required to attend school in person for the first time since the pandemic led to shuttered buildings in March 2020. The report now includes more detailed breakdowns for students who are entitled to bilingual special education services, revealing troubling gaps between those students and their English-speaking peers.

For years, state officials have criticized the city for failing to provide bilingual special education services, placing the education department on a corrective action plan in part due to ongoing shortages of certified bilingual educators and service providers. Advocates emphasized that those problems are even more urgent now, as roughly 14,000 students have enrolled in the city’s public schools since July, many of whom are seeking asylum and may not speak fluent English.

“It is unconscionable that the city has yet to fully close the gaps for immigrants with disabilities,” Andrea Ortiz, senior manager of education policy at the New York Immigration Coalition, wrote in an email, noting that lost services and instruction during the pandemic hit English learners particularly hard. She added that caregivers who don’t speak English have also struggled to access translated IEPs and other special education documents.

City statistics also show significant gaps in access to other wraparound support, though there have been significant improvements since the previous school year. About 21% of bilingual students who were entitled to counseling services received none or only part of their required sessions, far higher than the 6% rate for all other students with disabilities. Meanwhile, 13% of students who were entitled to receive bilingual speech therapy received none or only part of their required sessions, about the same as last year. Only 3% of their English-speaking peers fell into that category.

Lori Podvesker, director of disability and education policy at IncludeNYC, also pointed to an increase in the share of English learners who are eligible for special education services but are waiting more than the required 60 days for an IEP meeting. About 32% of English learners fell into that category, up from 23% the year before.

“That’s significant — that shows the need for more bilingual evaluators and providers,” she said.

Education department officials noted in the report that one reason students may not receive all of their bilingual special education services is families may not want to relocate their children to schools that can offer the full range of support.

“Many families do not move their child to a school where a bilingual program is available, and the DOE does not force families to accept placement in a particular school for the reason of special education programming,” the report notes.

The department is working with superintendents across nine of the city’s 32 districts to add bilingual special education classes, according to the report. They are also using federal relief funding to offer small group instruction, often outside of their regular classrooms, for bilingual students who are not receiving all of their classroom services. Officials also wrote that they are trying to speed up special education evaluations, including by adding psychologists to school support teams and expanding after-school evaluation sites.

Still, advocates argue that families aren’t to blame if nearby schools can’t provide bilingual special education support, noting that traveling long distances to secure services may not be tenable for younger children, and the city’s yellow bus system is notoriously unreliable. Plus, some families simply aren’t offered services at all if there are no available seats, according to Janyll Canals-Kernizan, director of the Robin Hood Project at Advocates for Children, who works with families seeking bilingual special education services.

“It’s not just that families are being offered something and they’re rejecting it because it’s far away. It’s also that [they] are mandated to receive these supports on their IEPs,” she said, “and they just never get it.”

Under city law, the annual special education report is due by Nov. 1, though city officials did not release it until this month despite repeated requests. An education department spokesperson did not respond to a question about what caused the delay.

Reema Amin contributed.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Tennessee House speaker proposes task force to look into rejecting federal education funds

2023-03-13T21:18:16+00:00

House Speaker Cameron Sexton wants to create a task force to study the feasibility of Tennessee rejecting U.S. education dollars to free its schools from federal rules and regulations.

The Crossville Republican filed legislation Monday that would create an 11-member exploratory panel, chaired by Tennessee’s education commissioner, who is currently Penny Schwinn. If the bill is approved by the state’s GOP-controlled legislature, the group would begin meeting monthly by Aug. 1 and would be charged with delivering a strategic plan to lawmakers and Gov. Bill Lee by Dec. 1.

The task force also would include six legislators, two school superintendents, and two teachers — all appointed by Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally.

The proposal provides the first details of how Sexton would pursue the idea he floated last month at a Tennessee Farm Bureau reception in Nashville.

Declaring his desire to “do things the Tennessee way,” Sexton said the state should stop accepting nearly $1.8 billion in federal education dollars — most of which supports low-income students, English learners, and students with disabilities — and make up the difference with the state’s own funding. He told Chalkbeat that Tennessee would still provide programs that the federal government supports, but that he believes the state could do it better.

The legislation says, “the task force shall develop a strategic action plan to guide the administration and general assembly on whether it is feasible for this state and the political subdivisions of this state to reject federal funding for educational programs or purposes.”

Sexton also is asking the panel to identify processes for rejecting federal funding, as well as for eliminating restrictions tied to receipt of U.S. education dollars.

Asked if Sexton would accept the panel’s findings if it recommended against a funding pullout, his spokesman, Doug Kufner, responded that “those questions can be answered after the task force finishes its work.”

State lawmakers could consider creation of a task force as early as this week. The legislation, which is co-sponsored by Sen. Bill Powers of Clarksville, is scheduled to be taken up Tuesday by the House’s K-12 subcommittee and on Wednesday by the Senate Education Committee.

No state has ever rejected federal funding for its students and schools, because states generally need the money. U.S. dollars typically make up about a tenth of a state’s budget for K-12 education.

But leaders in Republican-leaning states such as Oklahoma and South Carolina have talked about the idea. And Tennessee’s governor and the Senate speaker are open to exploring the possibility, according to their spokespeople.

Tennessee Democrats oppose the change, and many Republican lawmakers have questions about what a funding pivot would mean for Tennessee students.

The lion’s share of federal education funding goes to schools that serve disadvantaged students. And there are other programs and grants funded through the U.S. Department of Education that target certain needs ranging from rural education and English language learners to technology and charter schools. There’s also a variety of federal school grants that go through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide free meals to qualifying students.

“This funding lifts up underserved students and rural schools and ensures every kid gets warm meals during the school year,” Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari, of Memphis, said in a statement. “No matter how many studies they do, there will never be a scenario where it’s a good idea to reject billions worth of federal funding for our students and teachers.”

Sexton has identified federally required tests as his main complaint about accepting federal education dollars, but he hasn’t listed others.

Critics suspect that his bigger objections are related to current “culture war” issues about curriculum and whether transgender students should be allowed to use school bathrooms or play sports consistent with their gender identity, which may not correspond with the sex that’s listed on their birth certificates.

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

The racist idea that changed American education

2023-02-27T20:00:00+00:00

This story was originally published on Feb. 22 by Vox.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Subscribe to our free newsletter to keep up with how public education is changing.

Almost exactly 50 years ago, Alex Rodriguez got his 15 minutes of fame when he was in sixth grade.

Now 61, Rodriguez recalls when news media swarmed his family’s small home in west San Antonio in 1973. “There was everybody and their grandma as far as reporters all over the place,” he said. “At the school, at the house, at the neighborhood. They were just going crazy.” The TV crews had cameras, he recalls, that “were bigger than a bazooka.”

In a way, the reporters were there because of him. In 1968, his father, Demetrio, had sued the state of Texas for underfunding his son’s school district, which was predominantly made up of low-income and Mexican American families. Alex recalls the third floor of his elementary school being condemned; when it rained, water would pour down the stairs. Three or four students shared one textbook.

The lawsuit, filed by Rodriguez and a number of other parents, remarkably, had reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Civil rights groups were hoping — and some reporters expecting — it to be the “Brown vs. Board of Education of the 1970s,” as a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal put it.

But as the case wound its way through federal court, a nascent counter-idea was blossoming: Maybe, an influential cadre of social scientists claimed, it didn’t matter how much money schools spent. In fact, maybe schools weren’t actually a key factor in what students learned.

Maybe — most insidiously — poor children of color weren’t likely to succeed in school no matter how well-funded their schools. This idea was spreading, appearing in academic journals and publications like the Atlantic and the Washington Post. A New York Times news article from 1970 included this startling line: “In the case of a slum child,” it read, citing supposedly cutting-edge research, “his chances of learning to read were quite limited, even though large amounts of money might be devoted to his education.”

Fifty years ago this year, the Supreme Court cited some of that same research to rule against the Rodriguez family. The racist notion that children in poverty could not benefit from additional or even equal resources may well have influenced the court’s decision.

“The poor people have lost again, not only in Texas but in the United States, because we definitely need changes in the educational system,” Demetrio Rodriguez told one of the reporters that Alex recalls descending on their home. The media soon left, and Alex went back to the same underfunded school. “It was famous for a day or two — then that was it,” he says now.

Admittedly, the legal and practical merits of the Court’s 1973 decision in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez are complex and up for legitimate debate. In the long run, the ruling was not the devastating blow to funding equality efforts that many advocates feared. Funding gaps due to property taxes have narrowed or fully closed, in part because state courts stepped in after the Supreme Court stepped aside.

Still today, thanks to the Rodriguez case, the Constitution does not protect the right to an education.

But that often took decades, and the decision had a lasting impact. It left multiple generations of low-income children, like Alex Rodriguez, in schools with lesser funding. This is particularly troubling because more recent evidence has found a meaningful link between spending and student success.

Still today, thanks to the Rodriguez case, the Constitution does not protect the right to an education. A recent effort by students in Detroit to garner some federal right to quality, adequately funded schools failed. For half a century, the decision has effectively closed federal courts to students and families seeking a better education.

On a Thursday morning in May 1968, hundreds of students walked out of Edgewood High School on the west side of San Antonio. They held signs: “‘Every student in America deserves a great education. Where is ours?” “We want a gym not a barn.” “Better library, better teachers, better schools.” They marched to the superintendent’s office with a list of demands. It was a sign of the civil rights-infused times — “the era of rising expectations among minority groups like the Mexican American youngsters” of the city, as the local San Antonio Express put it.

A number of parents had joined in the protest, and soon organized the Edgewood Concerned Parents Association. “When I heard kids saying they didn’t think they could make it in college because of their high school education, then that’s when I decided it was time to do something,” one parent said.

Demetrio Rodriguez — a sheet metal worker, military veteran, and then a father of three young boys — was among those frustrated parents. The group initially targeted their ire at district officials, concerned that they were self-dealing or hoarding money. But then they met with a local lawyer, Arthur Gochman, who pointed out that the district got dramatically less funding than others in the area. Maybe the schools’ problems stemmed not from mismanagement of money, but a lack of it.

Since the advent of public education in America, property taxes had been schools’ biggest source of funding. And because property values varied dramatically from place to place, school funding did too. (Today, state funding has eclipsed local dollars for schools, reducing or even eliminating gaps in dollars due to property taxes. But disparities still exist in some places and funding often isn’t targeted to the highest-needs students. )

Nationally, the correlation between property wealth and poverty was not perfect — in some places, especially big cities, expensive property sat next to deep poverty. But the link was strong enough to create large funding gaps between school districts. In 1972, the country’s most affluent districts were spending 40% more per student than the highest-poverty districts.

The San Antonio area was a perfect example. Alamo Heights — an affluent northern part of the city, which had kept Black and Hispanic residents out through racially restrictive covenants — had nearly 10 times the taxable property value as the Edgewood school district, which served mostly low-income, Mexican American children.

The consequences, then, were preordained, and state and federal funds couldn’t make up the gap either. When all the funding was added up, in 1968 Edgewood schools received $356 per student compared to $594 in Alamo Heights, just a few miles across town.

That translated into big differences in what the schools could offer. Teachers in Edgewood were paid much less than those in Alamo Heights. Probably because of that, half of them had only substandard credentials, compared to 11% in Alamo Heights, which also had more staff per student. Class sizes in Edgewood were an average of 28 kids. Alamo Heights had a counselor for every 650 students; Edgewood had one for every 3,100. Despite being in southern Texas, just one in three Edgewood classrooms had air conditioning.

On July 10, 1968, with the support of Gochman, who took the case pro bono, Demetrio Rodriguez and several other San Antonio families filed suit against Texas’s school funding system, which they claimed violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution by discriminating against low-income, Mexican American families across the state. “I thought, I ain’t got nothing to lose,” Rodriguez said later. “Maybe we could do some good.”

But far from San Antonio, a small group of social scientists had begun to question the importance of money in public education. Instead, some researchers implied — or even stated outright — that blame for low student performance lay mostly with low-income families of color themselves.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act had included a provision requiring the federal Office of Education to produce a study on inequality in education. Many assumed it would show the need for more investment in segregated Black schools. Two years later, the federal government released the results — which stunned many educators and policymakers. The massive analysis of close to 600,000 students showed large gaps in test scores between Black and white students, but didn’t find much evidence that better schools or more funding led to higher test scores. Lagging student achievement, lead researcher James Coleman concluded, was mostly due to “the home” and “the cultural influences immediately surrounding the home,” rather than schools or money.

The study “produced the astounding proposition that the quality of the schools has only a trifling relation to achievement,” wrote politician and Harvard professor Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who evangelized the Coleman report, as it came to be known, in speeches and articles.

Coleman’s data set was unprecedented, but his methods for teasing out the impacts of funding on student outcomes were crude. He couldn’t follow individual students’ progress over time or isolate the effect of an infusion of funding. “Coleman’s analysis was not only wrong but generated misunderstandings that remain sadly pervasive today,” wrote Stanford professor Caroline Hoxby in a 2016 retrospective.

Nevertheless, the report soon picked up widespread attention: discussed at congressional hearings, written about in newspapers and magazines, and pored over by academics. It also drew notice because it came soon after the 1965 passage of Title I, the first major federal education funding stream and a key piece of Lyndon Johnson’s “war on poverty.”

Coleman’s conclusion that families mattered more than schools seemed to bolster another high-profile report of the era: “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action,” written by Moynihan and published in 1965. This controversial analysis claimed that a rise in single parenthood was at the heart of a “tangle of pathology” among Black families. Moynihan said the point of the report was to spur government action to support low-income Black households. But some civil rights leaders condemned the report as shifting the blame for racial inequality onto Black people.

In 1969, this implication became explicit in an academic article published by University of California Berkeley psychologist Arthur Jensen. He claimed that IQ is nearly fixed at birth and that, therefore, extra funding for poor and Black children was doomed to fail because of what he viewed as their genetically low intelligence. This flagrantly racist argument was a sensation, garnering widespread press coverage. “Can Negroes learn the way Whites do?” was the headline in US News. “Born Dumb?” followed Newsweek. “Intelligence: Is there a racial difference?” asked Time magazine. The New York Times Magazine sympathetically profiled Jensen, describing his “severely trying moments” of being accused of racism.

This was a sign of the times, too: The heady optimism that the federal government could quickly end poverty and educational inequality had waned. The liberal coalition that had supported civil rights and Johnson’s war on poverty had splintered, amid white backlash and the Vietnam War. Riots rippled across American cities. White intelligentsia cast about for explanations for the persistent challenges of poverty, urban unrest, and racial inequality. Some landed on a convenient, age-old answer: the deficiencies of poor people of color.

That’s how in 1970, the Times could declare a “slum child” uneducable. Similarly, a 1970 Wall Street Journal news piece said that Title I funding to help students in poverty had produced “negligible” results. Lower test scores among children of color could be explained by either “genetic or cultural” factors, the article claimed.

In the introduction to a 1971 cover story on IQ, the editors of the Atlantic claimed that Moynihan, Coleman, and Jensen’s reports — “three landmark social documents” — had collectively called into question policy efforts to address racial inequity in education and elsewhere. Getting rid of racist laws had not eliminated economic and educational inequalities — “presumably,” they wrote, “because of internal barriers.”

A 1973 front-page Washington Post story opened with this analogy: “The doctors, you might say, keep telling the parents that their child’s case is hopeless, that no amount of money or variety of remedies will add up to a cure.” The piece was accompanied by a picture of a Black student in a remedial reading class.

There were other, legitimate reasons to question the efficacy of school spending, including a 1969 report from the NAACP concluding that Title I dollars were often being misused. The Coleman report, although methodologically flawed, was among the few empirical examinations of whether more money led to better schools. The problem was that some pundits and researchers had leaped from these early results to write off the impact of schools and funding altogether.

A number of Black academics and writers tried to combat this fatalist brand of social science. “Such studies are a throwback to the nineteenth century theorists who adopted Social Darwinism — the survival of the fittest — as a means of bolstering the privileged classes of society,” wrote Vernon Jordan in the Chicago Defender, a Black newspaper. “Now this old and ugly tradition is being revived.”

But this critique got much less attention from journalists and policymakers than the new educational fatalism, which had already migrated up to the White House.

Later serving as an adviser for President Richard Nixon, Moynihan sent the president an excerpt of Jensen’s paper on race and IQ, as well as two later memos that referenced Jensen’s claims. In a 1971 memo prompted by the Atlantic article on IQ, Moynihan claimed that psychologists believed that there was a “ranking of the major races” by intelligence: Asians, Caucasians, and then “Africans.” Moynihan expressed some anguish over this and described the conclusion as “not settled.” He also recommended Nixon not give up on social programs altogether.

Others were more fatalistic. White House adviser Patrick Buchanan, who later mounted bids for president, wrote a memo about the same article, saying it cast doubt on extra education spending. “Every study we have shows blacks 15 IQ points below whites on the average,” he wrote.

During a phone call with Moynihan, Nixon endorsed the idea of a racial hierarchy of intelligence. “What was said earlier by Jensen is probably very close to the truth,” said Nixon — who appointed four of the justices who, in just a few years, would decide Demetrio Rodriguez’s case.

But in 1971, three years after filing the lawsuit, Rodriguez still had good reason to be optimistic. In December, he and the other San Antonio parents won a major victory in federal court. ”The current system of financing public education in Texas discriminates on the basis of wealth,” a three-judge panel concluded unanimously. The question of whether more money could improve schools did not even come up in the decision.

Texas decided to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. The stakes were high not just in Texas, but beyond: Numerous other lawsuits had been filed against property tax–driven funding schemes across the country. But they were on a collision course with the new social science about the limits of school funding.

It was easy to miss, but phrases like “inequalities among people,” and “inadequate home life” were suggesting that children of color or children in poverty could not be expected to achieve high levels of academic performance, and so it would be fruitless to make funding more equal.

In a column for the New York Times, Moynihan wrote that while he sympathized with the Rodriguez plaintiffs, equal funding would not help schools. “The least promising thing we could do in education would be to spend more money on it,” he declared. The article was cited in the Texas brief before the Supreme Court.

It was possible to argue against the lawsuits based on legitimate questions about funding and outcomes, local control, or the constitutional issues at play. But at least in some cases, arguments lapsed into fatalism.

“In the view of many,” a 1971 Times story about the case claimed, “the true sources of educational deficiencies are rooted in the more basic inequalities among people and no amount of reshuffling of tax dollars, however just, is going to change that.”

“Do we as legislators have the responsibility to compensate for inadequate home life?” wondered an Oklahoma state legislator, as quoted by the Times.

It was easy to miss, but phrases like “inequalities among people,” and “inadequate home life” were suggesting that children of color or children in poverty could not be expected to achieve high levels of academic performance, and so it would be fruitless to make funding more equal.

One civil rights group was so concerned about the schools-don’t-matter narrative that it held a press conference in 1972 to beseech courts not to rely on this research. Such studies amounted to a “sophisticated type of backlash” to efforts to address inequality, said Kenneth Clark, a prominent Black psychologist whose research was cited in Brown v. Board of Education.

No matter. Attorneys defending Texas’s school funding scheme had seized on this research. “Beyond some minimum there is reason to believe that there is no relation between expenditures and quality of education,” lawyers for the state wrote in their brief before the court.

Justice Lewis Powell, whom Nixon had appointed to the Supreme Court in 1971 and who had previously served on the Richmond and Virginia school boards, wrote the majority opinion in San Antonio v. Rodriguez. It was a 5-4 ruling, with the four recent Nixon appointees forming the crucial majority bloc. If it had reached the court a bit earlier, it could have easily gone the other way.

Powell concluded it simply wasn’t the court’s role to meddle with complex funding formulas. Legally, Powell said that poor children and families do not warrant heightened constitutional protection from discrimination and that education is not a fundamental right.

Powell also raised questions about whether money matters — citing Coleman and Moynihan. “One of the major sources of controversy concerns the extent to which there is a demonstrable correlation between educational expenditures and the quality of education,” wrote Powell. The Los Angeles Times later reported that the issue of whether money mattered weighed significantly in the justices’ thinking. Powell did not himself claim that poor children of color could not learn or that schools did not matter, but the growing skepticism about education funding was deeply linked to that very idea.

The shadow of Brown v. Board of Education seemed to loom large in the case, but not in the way many expected. Enforcing desegregation had prompted a furious backlash and a host of practical difficulties that engulfed the court in litigation for decades to come. Deciding for the plaintiffs in the Rodriguez case, Powell wrote, would have led to an “unprecedented upheaval in public education.” Of course, Brown had led to such an upheaval. But Powell seemed to conclude that it simply wasn’t worth it this time.

“Powell felt that it would lead the Supreme Court into morass, like Brown v. the Board,” recalls Mark Yudof, a lawyer who worked on the case for the San Antonio parents. “It was a fear of being dragged into this unknown terrain that probably was the strongest factor.”

To Justice Thurgood Marshall, who had spearheaded the Brown litigation as a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the majority opinion was a betrayal of Brown. “The majority’s holding can only be seen as a retreat from our historic commitment to equality of educational opportunity,” he wrote in dissent.

But the case was over. There would be no federal right to an education then or now. Dozens of lawsuits in lower courts were suddenly dead.

“I cannot avoid at this moment feeling deep and bitter resentment against the supreme jurists and the persons who nominated them to that high position,” Demetrio Rodriguez told the New York Times after the decision.

The legal fights over school funding were just beginning.

After the loss in 1973, lawyers and advocates shifted their focus to state courts. They sued under state constitutions — which, unlike the federal constitution, typically guarantee some form of education explicitly — and won a string of victories in a number of states. That included Texas, where Demetrio Rodriguez and other parents won a decision in 1989, which eventually resulted in some property taxes from wealthy areas being redistributed to poorer communities, a scheme dubbed by Texas politicians as “Robin Hood.”

“I cried this morning because this is something that has been in my heart,” said Rodriguez at the time. “My children will not benefit from it ... but there is nothing I can do about it now.”

Meanwhile, the debate about money and schools had also shifted. In the decades that followed Rodriguez, many politicians and researchers continued to question whether more dollars bought more learning. But this contention became much less linked to racist and classist assumptions about which children could learn. Instead it focused on whether public schools were functional enough to use money effectively.

More recently, the debate has shifted once again. In a seminal 2016 paper, three economists found that children benefited when their schools got extra money due to a state court order. Other research, examining different funding changes, has generally reached a similar conclusion: Students, particularly low-income students, typically do better when schools get more funding. “The results are very, very consistent,” said Kirabo Jackson, a Northwestern University economist and leading researcher on school funding. “The vast majority of these studies find positive effects on student outcomes.”

Research in the wake of the Coleman report has also shown that while out-of-school factors, like poverty, do affect student learning, schools and teachers matter too. Of course.

The above history might give us pause before too quickly accepting the confident claims of social science. But at the least, the new research has erased any scientific veneer behind the claim that money or schools don’t matter. Still, the court has not seriously reconsidered the Rodriguez decision; instead, in 2009, it reiterated in even stronger terms that money is unlikely to improve schools.

Admittedly, what the school funding system would have looked like today had the Supreme Court ruled differently in Rodriguez is unknowable.

Jeffrey Sutton, a federal judge and former clerk to Lewis Powell, has argued that state courts proved better equipped to deal with local funding complexities and ended up successfully addressing the funding disparities in Texas and elsewhere. These court decisions really did help chip away at school funding disparities — although it took time. By 1992, the funding gap between poor and non-poor districts was down to 20%, as states began making up for property tax differences. Presently the gap, contrary to conventional wisdom, is basically zero on a national level. Edgewood, for instance, receives similar funding as Alamo Heights all these years later.

But other legal scholars take the view that federal courts abdicated their responsibility and could be doing more. They point out that funding gaps still do exist in certain places and that there is a consensus that children in poverty need not simply equal funding for their education, but more.

In 2016, a handful of students in Detroit filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking a “right to read.” After a fleeting victory before an appeals court, the full circuit court vacated the decision. In the end, the plaintiffs managed a meager settlement with the state of Michigan in 2020. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer promised to seek $94 million in extra funding for the city’s schools, but to date, it has not been funded.

It was nearly 50 years after Rodriguez, but the decision loomed large. It also has loomed in the background of Alex Rodriguez’s life.

After the decision, his schools, not surprisingly, didn’t change much. In the years that followed, the funding gap between Edgewood and Alamo Heights actually grew larger. Rodriguez graduated from high school in 1979 with little idea of what to do next. No one at the school had suggested he go to college. He doesn’t even recall thinking that was an option. Rodriguez worked for a while at an auto parts store, and then got a job driving a city bus. He did that for 36 years, logging over 2 million miles. He retired just over a year ago.

He lives a busy, fulfilling life now — running errands for his family, working on his truck, spending time with grandkids. He lives in the same house his parents did, the one on which cameras and reporters and lawyers descended 50 years ago. He has what he needs and doesn’t want more than that. He doesn’t live with any regrets. But Alex Rodriguez also understands that he was shortchanged. “I was one of the ones that suffered through the lack of education,” he says.

Matt Barnum is a Spencer fellow in education journalism at Columbia University and a reporter at Chalkbeat, where he’s written about education policy and politics since 2017.

This story appears courtesy of Vox.com and Vox Media, LLC. Chalkbeat’s typical republishing guidelines do not apply.

Tennessee is talking about rejecting federal education funding. What would that mean for kids?

2023-02-16T11:00:00+00:00

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Subscribe to our free Tennessee newsletter to keep up with the Shelby County public school system and state education policy.

When House Speaker Cameron Sexton recently floated the idea of Tennessee rejecting U.S. education dollars to free its schools from federal rules and restrictions, he made the pivot sound as simple as making up the difference with $1.8 billion in state funds.

“I don’t think the legislation would be too hard to do,” he said last week after publicly declaring his desire to “do things the Tennessee way” at a Tennessee Farm Bureau reception on Feb. 7.

But the way federal funding works is pretty complex. Some districts and schools are more dependent than others on that money, which is directed to schools that serve disadvantaged students and programs that target certain needs ranging from rural education and English language learners to technology and charter schools. A related web of state and federal laws and policies created in response to the federal grants also likely would have to be unwound.

Sexton told Chalkbeat he’s working on legislation to “start a conversation” about the possibilities. And once filed, his written proposal might answer some of the many questions that Tennesseans are asking about what such a change would mean for kids and schools.

But for now, here are a few answers, along with more questions to ponder:

Is the proposal in Tennessee serious?

While a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education dismissed Sexton’s comments as “political posturing,” the House speaker said he’s dead serious.

“I absolutely think we should do it,” Sexton told Chalkbeat.

Sexton noted that, based on the latest budget information, Tennessee could tap into $3.2 billion in new recurring revenues, which would more than cover any lost federal funds for education.

“Now is the time to look at it,” said Sexton, who as House speaker is one of the state’s most influential Republicans. “It doesn’t mean that you do it this year or you have to do it in the next six months, but it starts with the idea.”

Spokespeople for Republican Gov. Bill Lee and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally expressed openness to Sexton’s proposal, while several education leaders in Tennessee’s GOP-controlled legislature expressed outright enthusiasm.

“I would do everything in my power to pass that bill,” said Rep. Scott Cepicky, of Culleoka, who chairs a House education subcommittee and said he “wants Tennessee to have more autonomy when it comes to educating our kids.”

“It’s intriguing,” added Rep. Debra Moody, of Covington, chair of the House Education Instruction Committee. “I think my constituents at home would love it.”

Others were more reserved in their comments.

“It’s a thought-provoking idea, but I’d like to see details,” said Senate Education Committee Chairman Jon Lundberg, of Bristol. “I have questions about what federal strings would be removed and, more importantly, do those strings need removing? Right now, I don’t know.”

Can Tennessee say ‘no’ to federal money?

Probably. No state has rejected the funding so far, mainly because states typically need the money, which on average makes up about a tenth of their budgets for K-12 education.

But Republican leaders in other states have talked about the idea before, and Oklahoma lawmakers are currently considering legislation to phase out federal funding over 10 years for pre-K through 12th grade. A smattering of small school systems across the nation already have passed on federal money because of the cost of compliance.

“States do not have to accept federal funding at first glance,” said Matthew Patrick Shaw, assistant professor of law, public policy and education at Vanderbilt University. “These are carrot-stick programs in which the federal government has policy objectives and, in order to encourage states to go along with them, offers money that they believe states need to operate these programs.”

Would the change disrupt finances for students and schools across Tennessee?

Possibly, but a lot would depend on how it’s done.

Through a program known as Title I, the federal government distributes hundreds of millions of federal dollars to Tennessee schools that serve large concentrations of students from low-income homes to help improve achievement. If Tennessee replaced Title I funding with state money, would it still use the federal formula for distributing that money? Sexton hasn’t said.

The same question applies to federal funds that go to Title III programs to support English language learners, or for Title V programs to support rural education.

Sexton says Tennessee would still cover the costs of all of those programs, as well as free meals funded through assorted grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But in Memphis-Shelby County Schools, where all but eight of the system’s 155 district-run schools have Title I designations, some officials aren’t convinced about the stability of state funding.

“If Tennessee decided to do it our way, what does ‘our way’ look like?” asked school board member Amber Huett-Garcia, whose district expects to receive more than $892 million in federal funding next year.

“Would it achieve equity? Would Memphis continue to receive the share that it currently gets?” she continued.

What federal strings does Sexton want to cut?

Testing is the main problem, according to Sexton.

“I don’t think the TCAP test measures much of anything, and I think teachers would tell you that you’re teaching to a test,” said Sexton about the state’s annual test under the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program.

States that take federal money must give annual assessments in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school. They also are required to administer a science test one time each in elementary, middle and high school grades. Thus, each state must give 17 tests annually, though no individual student takes more than three of those tests in a given school year.

Sexton said Tennessee could scrap TCAP — which Tennessee developed through its testing companies to align with the state’s academic standards — and create a better test with the help of its educators.

But several education advocates note that states already have more flexibility than ever to develop their testing, evaluation, and accountability systems under a 2015 federal law crafted with the leadership of former U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

“When shepherding the Every Student Succeeds Act, Sen. Alexander was laser-focused on Tennessee and what Tennessee would need to be successful,” said Sasha Pudelski, national advocacy director for the School Superintendents Association.

States receiving Title I funds also must participate in national tests of fourth- and eighth-grade students in reading and math every two years. Known as the nation’s report card, the National Assessment of Educational Progress allows comparisons across states and is an important marker for showing how students are doing over time.

Lundberg, a key education leader in the Senate, said such testing data is important for Tennessee.

“I want to make certain that we’re able to continue comparing Tennessee to Montana or California or Michigan,” he said. “If we really want to be No. 1 in the nation in education, we need to be able to measure apples to apples across states.”

Incidentally, the TCAP exam that Sexton wants to scrap is the same standardized test that a 2021 Republican-backed reading law uses as the only criterion to determine whether third-graders can progress to the fourth grade. Lawmakers have filed numerous bills this year to address concerns about the retention policy, which kicks in with this year’s class of third graders.

What other federal mandates are considered burdensome?

Few would dispute that accepting federal funding comes with a lot of red tape. Mounds of paperwork and numerous audits of how money is spent are all part of a huge bureaucratic infrastructure that comes with administering billions of dollars of federal funding.

But Sexton, who said there are “a gazillion restrictions” he doesn’t like, did not enumerate other burdens beyond testing, despite Chalkbeat’s multiple requests to his office for a list.

Marguerite Roza, a Georgetown University professor who researches education finance policy, said she suspects the bigger objections are related to current “culture wars” about curriculum and whether transgender students should be allowed to use school bathrooms or play sports consistent with their gender identity, which may not correspond with their sex assigned at birth.

“Those strings come from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights,” Roza said.

Civil rights enforcement is the mission of that office based on the passage of federal laws such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of education amendments passed in 1972, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination based on race, sex, and disability.

And Tennessee has been at the forefront of culture war legislation. It passed more laws in 2021 aimed at limiting the rights of transgender people than any other state in the nation, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

The state also has passed laws in recent years to prohibit the teaching of certain concepts related to race and sex in classrooms and to allow an appointed state panel to ban certain school library books statewide if members deem them inappropriate for the ages of students who can access them.

If Tennessee rejects federal funds, would the state still have to ensure students’ civil rights protections under federal laws, including for students with disabilities?

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, is a federal funding statute that says schools must identify students with disabilities and provide them with a free and appropriate public education tailored to their needs. But generally speaking, legal experts say, those requirements apply only to states that accept IDEA funds.

“If I were a parent of a child with a disability, this would be a major concern,” said Gini Pupo-Walker, state director for The Education Trust in Tennessee. “Would my child’s rights and needs be protected without the federal funding and oversight?”

Sexton says the state would still fund services that are currently part of IDEA and would come up with a similar program that he believes could be better.

But the Tennessee Disability Coalition says there’s no assurance that a Tennessee version would give families the same or better protections than under IDEA or other federal laws designed to protect students with disabilities.

“It’s hard for the disability community to trust Tennessee when our state’s track record hasn’t been so great,” said Jeff Strand, the coalition’s government affairs coordinator. “Our state institutions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have a long history of abuses, and we continue to see a troubling pattern of actions such as our state’s choice not to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid services.”

Gov. Bill Lee speaks to advocates for people with disabilities gathered at the Tennessee State Capitol on Feb. 4, 2020.

Another concern is where families could appeal when the system isn’t working for their students. Under IDEA, they can call for a meeting at school to speak with teachers, administrators, and case managers. If they’re not satisfied, they can appeal all the way up to the Office of Civil Rights. Dozens of disability-related cases in Tennessee schools are currently being investigated by that federal office, which has the power to take away funding from states or schools that don’t follow the law.

“It’s already tough to live with a disability in Tennessee,” said Strand. “A change like this would cloud a specific longstanding avenue that ensures that the rights of students with disabilities are being protected. And it clouds it for no good reason.”

Beyond IDEA, federal civil rights laws are hard to unpack because some are also linked to receipt of federal funds, so it may depend on how state laws are structured.

The Office of Civil Rights also enforces Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a civil rights statute which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities, as well as Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which extends this prohibition against discrimination to government services such as public schools, regardless of whether they receive any federal financial assistance.

Several legal experts believe many Tennessee families likely would turn to the courts over alleged violations of those laws based on the state constitution, which guarantees equal access to a system of free public education, or the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law and due process of law.

“If you want to know how this change would affect children,” said Vanderbilt’s Shaw about the possibility of rejecting federal funds and restrictions, “there’s just a lot of uncertainty.”

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Tras el éxito de su programa de español, esta escuela de Denver ofrece ahora clases en árabe

2023-02-02T22:10:00+00:00

Antes de tomar clases de árabe en la secundaria North High School de Denver, Rachel Saghbazarian tenía que comunicarse con su abuela en el Líbano hablando lo que ella llamaba un “inglés chapurreado”. A menudo su papá tenía que hacer de intérprete, y demasiadas veces las ideas se perdían en la traducción.

Ahora, un año después de empezar las clases del maestro Mohamed Moghazy, Rachel espera volver a conversar con su abuela para preguntarle (esta vez en árabe) cómo fue mudarse al Líbano después de huir de Armenia, su país natal y devastado por la guerra.

“He podido hablar un poco más con mi abuela”, dice Rachel, una estudiante de 15 años que cursa el décimo grado. “Se está haciendo mayor y no voy a poder hablar con ella para siempre”.

Rachel es una de los cerca de 30 estudiantes de la secundaria North High School que han asistido a las clases de idioma y literatura árabe de Moghazy desde que comenzaron este año pasado. Entre ellos hay estudiantes como Rachel (hija de padre libanés cuyo primer idioma es el armenio, pero que también habla árabe), estudiantes cuyo primer idioma es inglés o español, y estudiantes inmigrantes nuevos que acaban de llegar de otros países.

Aunque el árabe es el tercer idioma más hablado en las escuelas públicas de Denver, el programa de Moghazy en la secundaria North es el único del distrito actualmente.

Este semestre, Moghazy está enseñando cuatro secciones y está preparado para expandir el programa al tercer nivel de árabe y a artes del idioma árabe el próximo año. Él graba la mayoría de sus lecciones con la esperanza de poder conectarse con otros maestros que quizás también quieren empezar sus propios programas de árabe.

Para él, las clases son una forma de ayudar a los estudiantes a aprender un idioma, volver a conectarse con sus familias y descubrir partes de su identidad que quizás no habían tenido oportunidad de conocer antes.

“Quizás sepan hablar árabe en casa, pero no aprendieron a escribirlo ni a leerlo y por eso cuando ven a alguien que lo hace, se motivan”, dice Moghazy. “Tal vez solían ocultar su identidad porque existe un concepto erróneo sobre lo que es el árabe y el Islam”.

Entre sus estudiantes también hay hablantes nativos de inglés o de español que quieren conocer otras culturas.

Un día a la semana, sus lecciones se enfocan más en la cultura que en el idioma: aprender un baile nuevo, beber y probar café árabe, comparar cómo el árabe puede sonar diferente en varias regiones, o aprender sobre los tatuajes de henna y comparar su significado con los tatuajes utilizados en otras culturas.

Ahora, Moghazy tiene la visión de ampliar su programa de árabe siguiendo los pasos del programa de español de la secundaria North, que es el más desarrollado del distrito. Le gusta la idea de preparar a los estudiantes para que obtengan el certificado de traducción o interpretación y obtengan créditos universitarios.

Y Moghazy es un gran defensor de los beneficios de aprender árabe, señalando que es el idioma oficial de 22 países, uno de los seis idiomas oficiales de las Naciones Unidas, y hablado por 500 millones de personas en todo el mundo.

“Está abriendo más oportunidades para ellos”, dice Moghazy refiriéndose a los estudiantes que están tomando sus clases. “Es importante que los niños aprendan más de un idioma”.

Mohamed Moghazy es maestro de lenguaje y literatura árabe. Dice que el árabe es un “idioma crítico”.

El programa de español sirve de inspiración

Mientras Moghazy busca ampliar su programa, está usando como modelo el programa español de la secundaria North, el único del distrito que cuenta con una nueva asociación con la Metropolitan State University.

La maestra Inmaculada Martín Hernández organizó el programa de español de manera que los estudiantes obtienen un Sello de Bilingüismo en su diploma de secundaria y están preparados y cerca de obtener un certificado para convertirse en traductores. Los estudiantes que asistan luego a la universidad Metro también tendrán todos los créditos necesarios para obtener una concentración universitaria en idioma español.

Los programas de español en el distrito se establecieron para ayudar a los estudiantes que estaban aprendiendo inglés (identificados como ELL) porque tener una clase de lenguaje en su idioma natal les ayuda a aprender otras materias, dijo Hernández.

Como Hernández tiene un doctorado en literatura, puede impartir cursos más avanzados que les ofrecen créditos universitarios a los estudiantes de secundaria. Moghazy también tiene un doctorado en diseño de aprendizaje, por lo que también puede ofrecer créditos universitarios en sus clases.

“Los estudiantes cuyo primer idioma es español batallan por llegar a la universidad, pero una vez tienen la oportunidad de tener éxito, se dan cuenta de que pueden tomar clases de español”, dijo Hernández, “y es como una puerta que se abre para ellos”.

Los líderes del distrito dijeron que están trabajando para ampliar los cursos de español en todo el distrito y acaban de poner en marcha un currículo común que los maestros pueden usar en lugar de crear el suyo propio. Algunas clases se ofrecen en línea, por lo que los estudiantes pueden beneficiarse incluso si el maestro calificado para el curso no está en su escuela. La cifra de estudiantes que hablan español y están tomando clases de español en el distrito aumentó de 1,863 a 2,196 el año pasado.

El programa de español también es parte del acuerdo decretado por un tribunal para atender las necesidades de los estudiantes que hablan español. El acuerdo requiere muchos servicios específicos para los estudiantes de inglés cuyo primer idioma es el español, pero no le impone al distrito los mismos requisitos para los estudiantes que hablan otros idiomas como lengua materna.

En la mayoría de los casos, las clases de español que no son impartidas en inglés cuentan como crédito electivos o créditos de idioma y no como clases de lenguaje y literatura. Los líderes del distrito quieren trabajar con el estado para cambiar eso, pero primero hay que resolver algunas cuestiones, entre ellas cómo esto cambiaría los requisitos para que los maestros puedan impartir las clases.

Ha sido difícil mantener programas similares en otros idiomas, dicen los líderes del distrito, en parte porque pocos maestros están calificados. Denver antes tenía programas de árabe en otras escuelas, entre ellas la South High School, donde el distrito alberga un programa para estudiantes inmigrantes nuevos.

Pero cuando los maestros se van, a menudo el programa desaparece con ellos.

“En cuanto a la creación de estos programas, todo el deseo está ahí y sabemos que tenemos los estudiantes para apoyarlo”, dijo Andrea Caulfield, especialista en currículo de idiomas del distrito.

Los portavoces de los distritos escolares de Aurora y Adams 12, dos distritos con grandes poblaciones de estudiantes refugiados, dijeron que no tienen conocimiento de que exista ningún programa de árabe en sus escuelas.

Durante la clase, Moghazy les dijo a sus estudiantes: “Tenemos que ser valientes para compartir nuestra identidad y nuestra cultura”.

Estudiantes citan muchas razones para querer aprender árabe

Además de enseñar árabe y planificar la ampliación del programa, Moghazy también es mentor de un pequeño grupo de estudiantes inmigrantes nuevos que hablan árabe. Los maestros de otras clases le envían tareas que él traduce para que los estudiantes puedan participar.

Es mucho trabajo, pero dijo: “Estoy encantado de hacerlo. Un día estuve en la misma situación y fue duro”.

Sophie Kruzel, de 14 años, es otra estudiante del programa de árabe. Su familia también es del Líbano, y dice que su familia está encantada de escucharla aprender el idioma.

Algunos estudiantes le dicen a Moghazy que sueñan con viajar a Dubai o trabajar con las Naciones Unidas. Sophie y Rachel dicen que están considerando estudiar carreras para trabajar con refugiados. Además de la alegría de conectarse con sus familias, ellas esperan que aprender árabe también les ayude en ese trabajo futuro.

“Es una labor muy importante para mí”, dice Sophie. “Debería haber más clases como ésta”.

Moghazy dijo que su trabajo también incluye conectarse con las familias.

Mientras estaba en el proceso de dar a conocer la clase, por ejemplo, conoció a una mujer cuya familia acababa de llegar de Libia. La mujer, madre de familia, dijo que le preocupaba cómo se adaptarían sus hijos al país nuevo y a empezar la secundaria. Estaba considerando no enviar a sus hijos a la escuela, le dijo a Moghazy.

Aunque la familia no estaba dentro de los límites de asistencia de la secundaria North High School, la mujer decidió enviar a sus hijos a North después de hablar con Moghazy y enterarse de que ellos tendrían la oportunidad de tomar clases de árabe y contar allí con un maestro que les entendiera.

“En Oriente Medio, los padres no tienen voz”, dijo Moghazy. “Cuando estoy hablando con ellos y les digo que tienen voz, no lo pueden creer. Se sienten confiados.”

Yesenia Robles es una reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre los distritos escolares K-12 y la educación multilingüe. Para comunicarte conYesenia, escríbele a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

One Denver teacher is growing a new Arabic program, teaching language and culture

2023-01-24T21:20:28+00:00

Before taking Arabic language classes at Denver’s North High School, Rachel Saghbazarian had to communicate with her grandmother in Lebanon using what she called broken English. Her father often had to serve as interpreter – and too many times, thoughts were lost in translation.

Now, a year after starting the classes taught by Mohamed Moghazy, Rachel hopes to be able to revisit conversations asking her grandmother — in Arabic this time — what it was like to relocate to Lebanon after fleeing her war-torn home of Armenia.

“I have been able to speak to my grandma a little more,” said Rachel, a 15-year-old sophomore. “She’s getting older and I’m not going to be able to talk to her forever.”

Rachel is one of about 30 students at North High School who have taken Moghazy’s Arabic language and language arts classes since they started last year. They include students like Rachel (the daughter of a Lebanese-born father whose family’s primary language is Armenian but who use Arabic as a shared language), native English and Spanish speakers, and new immigrant students who just arrived from other countries.

Although Arabic is the third most commonly spoken language in Denver Public Schools, Moghazy’s program at North is currently the only one in the district.

This semester, Moghazy is teaching four sections and ready to expand into the third level of Arabic language and Arabic language arts next school year. He records most of his lessons, hoping one day to connect with other teachers who might also want to start their own Arabic programs.

For him, the classes are a way to help students learn a language, reconnect with families, and discover parts of their identity they may not have had a chance to learn about before.

“Maybe they know how to speak at home but didn’t learn how to write or read, so when they see someone doing it, they get motivated,” Moghazy said. “Maybe they used to hide their identity because there’s a misconception between Arabic and Islam.”

His students also include native English speakers or native Spanish speakers who want to learn about other cultures.

One day a week, his lessons focus on culture more than just the language: learning a new dance, drinking and tasting Arabic coffee, comparing how Arabic might sound different in various regions, or learning about henna tattoos and comparing their meaning to tattoos used in other cultures.

Now, Moghazy has a vision of expanding his Arabic language program by following in the footsteps of the Spanish language arts program at North that is the most developed in the district. He likes the idea of preparing students to pass translation or interpretation certification and earn college credit.

And Moghazy is an enthusiastic proponent of the benefits of learning Arabic, pointing out that it is the official language of 22 countries, one of six official languages of the United Nations, and spoken by 500 million people around the world.

“It’s opening more opportunities for them,” Moghazy said, referring to the students taking his classes. “It’s important that kids learn more than one language.”

Mohamed Moghazy teaches Arabic language and language arts classes. He says Arabic is a “critical language.”

Spanish language arts path serves as inspiration

As Moghazy looks to expand his program, he is using North’s Spanish language arts program – the only one in the district that has a new partnership with Metropolitan State University – as a model.

Teacher Inmaculada Martín Hernández organized the Spanish language program so students earn a Seal of Biliteracy on their high school diploma and are prepared and close to earning a certificate to become translators. Those who transfer to Metro also have all the credits necessary for a college minor in Spanish.

The Spanish language arts programs in the district were started to help students identified as English learners because having a language arts class in their home language helps their learning in other content courses, Hernández said.

Because Hernández has a PhD, a doctorate in literature, she is able to teach more advanced concurrent enrollment courses that offer students college credit. Moghazy also already has a doctorate of education in learning design, so is also able to offer college credit in his classes.

“Spanish native speakers struggle to get to college, but once they have the opportunity to be successful, they realize they can take Spanish classes,” Hernández said, “and it’s like the door for them.”

District leaders said they are working to expand Spanish language arts courses across the district and just rolled out a common curriculum that teachers can use instead of creating their own. Some classes are offered online so students can benefit even if the qualified teacher for the course isn’t at their school. The number of heritage Spanish speakers taking Spanish language arts classes in the district grew from 1,863 to 2,196 in the past year.

Spanish language arts is also part of the district’s court-mandated consent decree agreement for serving Spanish-speaking learners. The agreement mandates many specific services for English learners whose home language is Spanish, but doesn’t hold the district to all the same requirements for students with other native languages.

In most cases, language arts classes that aren’t in English count as elective or language credits – not as language arts. District leaders want to work with the state to change that, but there are a few pieces to figure out first, including how it would change the requirements for teachers to be able to offer the classes.

It’s been hard to maintain similar programs in other languages, district leaders say, in part because few teachers are qualified. Denver used to have Arabic language programs at other schools including at South High School, where the district houses a program for new immigrant students.

But as teachers leave, often the program disappears with them.

“In terms of building these programs, all of the desire is there and we know we have the students to support it,” said Andrea Caulfield, the district’s world languages curriculum specialist.

Spokespersons for Aurora and Adams 12 school districts, two districts with large portions of refugee students, said they aren’t aware of any Arabic language programs in their schools.

During class, Moghazy told his students, “We have to be brave to share our identity and our culture.”

Students cite many reasons for wanting to learn Arabic

Besides teaching Arabic and planning the expansion of the program, Moghazy also mentors a handful of newer immigrant students who speak Arabic. Teachers for other content classes send him assignments that he translates for the students so they can participate.

It’s a lot of work, but he said, “I’m happy to do that. I was one day in the same position and it was hard.”

Sophie Kruzel, 14, is another student in the Arabic language program. Her family is also from Lebanon, and she said her family’s been excited to hear her learning the language.

Some students tell Moghazy they dream of traveling to Dubai or working with the United Nations. Sophie and Rachel both said they’re considering careers working with refugees. Besides the joy in connecting with families, they hope learning Arabic also helps them in that future work.

“That’s really important work for me,” Sophie said. “There should be more classes like this.”

Moghazy said his work is also about connecting with families.

As he was doing outreach to start the class, for example, he met a woman whose family had just arrived here from Libya. The woman, a mother, said she was worried about how her children would adjust to the new country and to starting high school. She was considering not sending her kids to school, she told Moghazy.

Even though the family was not in the attendance boundary to attend North High School, the woman chose to send her children to North after talking to Moghazy and learning that her students would have an opportunity to take Arabic classes and have a teacher there who could understand them.

“In the Middle East, parents don’t have a voice,” Moghazy said. “When I’m talking to them, telling them, you have a voice they can’t believe it. They feel secure.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Illinois public school enrollment continues to drop, preliminary numbers show

2023-01-23T20:12:54+00:00

A first glimpse at public school enrollment in Illinois shows continued declines in the overall student population, but an uptick in the number of students learning English.

Preliminary data released last week by the Illinois State Board of Education shows overall enrollment dropped by about 31,000 students — or 1.7% — between last school year and the current one, according to numbers as of Dec. 14. Chicago Public Schools accounts for at least a quarter of the decline. The district lost 9,000 students and its place as the third largest school district in the country.

The overall enrollment decline for students between pre-kindergarten to 12th grade across the state matches the trend prior to the pandemic. After the pandemic hit, state data showed about 69,000 students leaving public schools – about a 3.5% drop – during the 2020-21 school year.

Even as overall enrollment is down, the number of English learners continues to grow. The enrollment of English language learners also held steady during the pandemic, with a less than 1% drop during school years 2019-20 and 2020-21. The preliminary data for the 2022-23 school year indicates a 4% jump — from 255,000 last school year to 266,000 students this year.

Rebecca Vonderlack-Navarro, director of Education Policy and Research at the Latino Policy Forum, said that as the state continues to see an increase in English learners there is a need to ensure those students are being taught by qualified teachers.

“Illinois has a good track record serving English learners and valuing bilingual education,” said Vonderlack-Navarro. “We need to maintain and grow our commitment to quality bilingual education and grow the future teacher workforce.”

She noted that the state has dedicated additional funding to increasing the number of bilingual teachers. The State Board of Education created a $4 million grant from federal coronavirus relief funds to help school districts pay tuition for current teachers who have a bilingual endorsement but want to earn professional licensure and for current educators who want to earn a bilingual endorsement.

The state also increased the Minority Teacher Illinois Scholarship by $2.3 million for a total of $4.2 million, which is aimed at increasing the number of teachers of color and especially bilingual educators.

The preliminary data released last week also shows that more Asian American students and students who identify as more than one race are attending Illinois public schools. However, the number of White, Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander students dropped, though not as much as it did during the 2020-21 school year.

Among students from low-income families in Illinois, there was a slight increase in enrollment after major declines during the past three years. State officials said that may have been because free meals were offered to all students during the pandemic, regardless of whether districts collected income paperwork from parents.

The State Board of Education said it will have a better picture of enrollment for the 2022-23 school year when it publishes the annual Illinois report card data in October.

After COVID paused Regents exams, graduation rates for NYC’s English language learners surged

2023-01-19T19:31:54+00:00

Arnulfo Toribio was ready to drop out of high school.

It was 2020, and Toribio felt exhausted from learning years’ worth of material while balancing school with a full-time restaurant job. Before immigrating to New York City a few years earlier, he had spent much of his childhood working on a Mexican farm to support his family after his father died, missing at least six years of formal schooling.

A guidance counselor persuaded him to stay on track for a diploma, and Toribio got an additional boost just months before graduation: In response to the pandemic, the state canceled New York’s Regents exams, five of which students are required to pass in order to graduate. Students would still need to pass their courses. Toribio, who hadn’t passed his English or Algebra Regents after a couple attempts, graduated later that year.

“I benefited from that policy,” Toribio explained in Spanish through a translator. “It honestly helped me graduate.”

Bucking national trends, graduation rates rose across the state in the 2020-21 school year. Even more surprising, the rate catapulted for the city’s English language learners — rising by 14 percentage points to 60%, the largest increase on record for those students and a greater rise than other student groups.

The graduation rate spike seemed counterintuitive given that low-income immigrant communities had been severely affected by the pandemic, and many English learners found it more difficult to learn remotely. (Educators also found it difficult to teach remotely.)

Data obtained by Chalkbeat suggests that the temporary policy change — first canceling the English Regents and then not requiring a passing score on it to graduate in 2020-21 — removed a hurdle for English language learners trying to earn their diplomas. More English learners graduated during that time period, far fewer of whom passed the English Regents exam.

State officials acknowledged the spike could have been connected to the temporary cancellation of the Regents exams, and specifically the English exam, but they couldn’t say to what extent.

The effects of that policy could become clearer soon, as the state prepares to release graduation rates from the 2021-22 school year, when Regents exams resumed. The data could help inform a commission tasked with recommending changes to the state’s graduation requirements in 2024, including whether the Regents exams should still be required for students to graduate.

More English language learners take advantage of the Regents cancellation

Students typically take the English Regents exam at some point between freshman and senior year — with some taking it multiple times in hopes of eventually passing so they can get their diplomas. (Some students can appeal their scores and still graduate.)

In the 2018-19 school year, nearly 3,000 English language learners graduated from city public schools within four years, and roughly 67% of them had passed their English Regents at some point. In comparison, nearly all students who graduated and were not learning English as a new language had passed their English exams.

By 2020-21, when the English Regents was optional, the number of English language learners who earned diplomas rose to nearly 4,900, while just 8% passed their exams. (Pass rates also fell for other students who graduated, as more of them earned diplomas. Still, more than three-quarters of non-English learners had passed the test.)

The data doesn’t prove that English Regents exams are the source of low graduation rates among English learners because other factors could have influenced the recent rise, multiple policy experts who reviewed the data said.

Still, there’s “pretty good evidence” that canceling the exams was “one of the things that caused kids to be able to graduate,” said Julie Sugarman, senior policy analyst for K-12 education who focuses on English learners at the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigration Integration Policy.

Sugarman also noted that counselors could have encouraged more students to graduate, or looser grading policies could have helped students. (In Toribio’s case, he said his teachers were also flexible with his assignment deadlines as he searched for a new job during the start of the pandemic.)

Still, the data shows strong signs that “students who disproportionately struggle with high stakes standardized tests are disproportionately impacted” when those exams are no longer required to graduate, Sarah Part, a senior policy analyst with Advocates For Children, which has been advocating to remove Regents as a graduation requirement, said in an email.

English language learners typically don’t graduate on time

Graduation rates for English learners have been historically low — 46% graduated on time in 2020 in New York City, compared with 79% of all students citywide. Advocates and policy experts have cited many reasons, including that newer immigrant students might juggle work with school and lack of enough support in classrooms as they’re still learning the language.

Those rates have steadily grown since 2016 by an average of roughly 4 percentage points annually. But the 14-point jump in the 2020-21 school year was an anomaly. It was so high, that for the first time in eight years, English learners no longer had the lowest four-year graduation rate among the city’s major student groups, surpassing children with disabilities.

Research has found little evidence that requiring high-stakes graduation exams improves student achievement, and doing so may actually increase dropout rates for struggling students. The English exams can be particularly hard on English learners, advocates and researchers said. Sugarman said she often hears from educators about students who have passed all of their classes, but can’t pass the English Regents exam.

Just 3% of the city’s English learners who graduated last year did so without using any exemptions from Regents exams, compared to 28% of non-English learners, according to an analysis from The Education Trust-New York.

That organization described their findings as a “signal that students may be underprepared for postsecondary opportunities.”

At the same time, the data is likely fodder for advocates who have called for the state to stop requiring the Regents exams to graduate.

“What are more meaningful measures that can still capture the student’s learning and still give them different possibilities in different ways, so that their ability to graduate doesn’t depend on one test they take on one day for a few hours out of the four years plus of their high school career?” said Juliet Eisenstein, senior staff attorney with Advocates For Children who sits on the state’s commission that is reviewing graduation requirements.

Juanmy Moscoso, an English learner who graduated in 2021, took the English Regents exam five times before passing it, finally succeeding his junior year of high school, three years after he first moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic. He was part of the minority of English learners who passed the exam prior to graduating in 2021.

He felt that his teachers had done all they could to prepare him, but it was tough to pass the exam while also juggling a challenging course load, including several Advanced Placement classes.

“The problem is me not knowing the language as I wanted,” Moscoso said.

Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, an associate professor of international education at NYU, who has studied English language learners, has raised the larger question of why officials expect newcomer English learners to graduate on time to begin with — an argument other policy researchers have also made.

Those students are acclimating to a new country, as well as a new language, and could benefit from extra support and more time instead of “getting them out as quickly as possible,” he said. He said that many newer immigrants don’t pursue college and wondered if that would be different if they received more support in school.

There are signs that English learners who get more time to learn the language perform well academically. The graduation rates for students who are former English learners typically outpace their peers.

Toribio, the student who graduated in 2020, went on to attend community college. But he stopped attending because he was struggling to pay for school, according to an advocate who has helped him in the past. He hopes to go back soon.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering New York City schools with a focus on state policy and English language learners. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

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