Vonderlack-Navarro Summary

The primary goal of any school district’s English Language Learner policy should be to ensure that all students receive equitable access to the curriculum. The Office of Civil Rights memorandum (May 25, 1970) requires school districts to take affirmative steps to provide equal access to instructional program for students with limited English proficiency. The Illinois Constitution guarantees every child from kindergarten through grade 12, access to a free public education; which means, regardless of a child’s home language, he/she deserves a free and appropriate education (Illinois State Board of Education, 1998).

Recently, as the schools in the United States become more diverse in cultures, the needs for new English learners to learn the basic of English and grow in fluency has expanded. Nevertheless, a major of English learners receive insufficient education and have low achievement at school. Therefore, the approach of the schools for English learners might not be sufficient for them to unchain themselves from the boundary of differences in language and culture. As a result, the article “What It Takes for English Learners to Succeed” from Jana Echevarria, Nancy Frey, and Doug Fisher provides a guideline for teachers to help their English learners by using the four practices of “Access, Climate, Expectation, and Language Instruction.” The four practices can be divided into two categories. Access, climate, and expectations focus on educational settings, while language instruction focuses on teaching contents.

The learning outcome was to understand the role of politics and its impact on Latinos living in USA. To gain a better understanding of this some range of themes were introduced to help understand the central issue. They are:

While many may believe that the most important issue to Latinos is immigration reform, a survey taken by the Pew Research Center in 2013 reveals that “some 57% of Latino registered voters called education an ‘extremely important’ issue facing the nation today” (Krogstad). The reason why this is seen as most important may be due to Texas’s overall low national rankings. As reported by the U.S. News and World Report, of the 1,492 Texas high schools examined for the nation’s best high schools, only 357 made the list in 2014 (Brown 367). As an increasing number of students “have come… from families that are ethnic minorities or economically disadvantaged,” such low rankings possibly result from the low quality education that they receiving as “historically, Texas not served minority and less affluent student as well as it has Anglo and middle-class students” (Brown 367). Additionally, in the 2012-2013 academic school year, the Texas Education Agency reported that 51 percent of students in the state are Latino, therefore as the amount of Latino students increases throughout the state, the higher the notice of this lower quality education as compared to their Anglo counterparts (Brown 367). This has lead to an outreach throughout the Latino community to improve the quality of education that they are

Buenrostro emphasized the idea of Latino children being the majority ethnicity population attending K-12th California public schools. Documenting his research process Buenrostro demonstrated many statistics on school enrollment and challenging academic performance that Latino students from grades K-6th are facing. Buenrostro ultimately concludes that the results provided in this factsheet will help school districts and board members take action and come up with an idea on what can be improved in order to help these particular students succeed and obtain necessary resources. Ultimately, this fact sheet represents an important contribution to my research topic because it addresses numerous ideas about the education system in Latino students.

The author, Melinda D. Anderson, sheds light on a growing problem in America. Today, thousands of students are experiencing difficulties when trying to earn an education because of the language barriers that prohibit them. Additionally, educators are ignoring this dilemma and making matters worse by enforcing English-only policies. The author believes that educators should discover a way to intertwine languages in order to help struggling students to overcome their language barriers.

The continued growth of speakers of languages other than English is reflected in the rapidly increasing students in U.S. schools for whom English is a second language. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics (2005) show that the number of school-age children who spoke a language other than English reached almost 10 million in 2004. Such a dramatic increase continually challenges educators to provide effective language programs with quality instruction for students who are culturally and linguistically diverse. Some educators choose to view these challenges as opportunities by offering a dual bilingual program as an educational option for meeting the needs of monolingual speakers.

Considering the school’s focus on English as a second language instruction, the staff and school program are developed to provide these students with the optimum learning support in English acquisition. Every teacher is either certified in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) or is currently pursuing their certification. All of the teachers integrate language support in their sheltered classrooms. Some of the staff also speaks a language other than English. This makes it easier to communicate with many of the students. In addition to this, there are ESL

Out of a total of 2.6 million their current population is 214,378 students, speaking over 160 languages (Blueprint for English Language Learners (ELLS) Success, 2014). This has increased the responsibility of the education department to devise strategies, provide tools and materials, and formulate assessment criteria for effective instruction and enhanced learning. This is something that has been clearly outlined in Regulations of the Commissioner of Education Part 154. In these regulations the Office of Bilingual Education and Foreign Language Studies (OBE-FLS) acknowledges that without provision of support ELLs cannot be assumed to academically succeed in a system where English prevails. To emphasize this aspect the NYSED P-12 Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) require every teacher to be skilled to support ELLs who are acquiring knowledge of content as well as working towards making progress in their English language

ESL students are at higher risk of academic failure (Correll, 2016; Hernandez, Denton, & Macartney, 2008) and are further expected to be arrested or put in prison than native English speaking students (Correll, 2016; Garcia & Cuellar, 2006). Consequently, the need for teachers to be adequately prepared for recognizing and affirming ESL students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds and abilities is critical as teachers provide appropriate instructional accommodations (Correll, 2016). To prepare teachers to educate ESL students, educational leaders continue to grapple with implementing effective teaching practices. Significant academic achievement gaps persist between ESL students and native English speaking students (Correll, 2016; Goldenberg, 2010; Short, Fidelman, & Lougit, 2012; Coady, Harper & De Jong, 2016). The adoption of national curriculum standards by most states, the passage of No Child Left Behind (2001) legislation, and increased measures of school accountability at the state level have resulted in a greater focus on the literacy and language development of ESL students. Preparing ESL teachers who can meet the language and literacy needs of ESL students is critical as it is likely that children who do not speak English fluently will be enrolled in these teachers classrooms (Correll, 2016). Yusof, Lazim, and

Deborah K. Palmer and Ramon Antonio Martinez argue that being bilingual shouldn’t be a disadvantage to how students learn, but it should be promoted in all English Language Arts classroom. In New York and Texas, English is the primary language that is being taught in schools and if a student is not proficient in English, he/she would be placed in an ESL class to improve their English. Since many English classes aren’t implied to incorporate bilingualism in their lesson planning, it shouldn’t mean that it should be ignored. Previous research has shown that students incorporate their bilingual skills in their everyday language practices and skills connecting to the English language arts standards that it might even be used as a resource in class.

This peer reviewed journal article is a great guide to conduce English Learners on the right path of academic success. It explains the struggles faced by English Learners attending a new school, new language, and new culture. But, it also offers solutions and strategies on how American schools should address the language, literacy, and academic needs for English learners more effectively. According to the authors, one of the most important steps when teaching English learners is that, “In programs where English is the primary language of instruction for literacy development, it is critical for teachers to show respect for the student’s primary language and home culture.” The article identify the elements of effective instruction and review a variety of successful program models.

In such a diverse country, educators need to be able to understand and meet the needs of all the students in a classroom. A classroom today is going to have a diverse population and each student will learn differently from the others. The acquisition of language advances through stages. In the USA today, there are many different languages spoken. In our classrooms many children will speak more than one language. Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages, which has a positive effect on children’s cognitive development (Latham, 1998). Bilingualism can also negative when the students did not accurately developed full proficiency in both languages as this can be very frustrating to the student as well to the teacher. Not being able to communicate in either language can have a negative impact on the student.

Within the past Ten years, the number of English Language Learners (ELLs) has doubled. An increase of more then 2 million of ELLs students in the U.S schools, left professionals within the field of Education with no choice but to face the challenge of understanding cultural differences. Not to mention, understanding how these differences affect students’ performances in school or on standardized tests, learning style, overall all academic achievement as well as language development. These differences must be understood, valued and respected by all services providers, especially those who are responsible for placing students in the appropriate educational program according to their needs (Roseberry-McKibbin, 2014).

The way English is taught around the world contributes to linguistic imperialism. Other countries’ English programs are “a vital site for social and linguistic reproduction, and the inculcation of relevant knowledge, skills, and attitudes, and therefore particularly central in processes of linguistic hierarchism” (Phillipson 245). In other words, proper education is key when it comes to learning English. ELL students rely on receiving outstanding education in order to contribute to the success of the English speaking world. Without proper education, these students may not be able to keep up with how fast the English language is becoming the standard of the world. They could fall behind along with their country if they do not live up to that standard. EFL programs vary in English speaking countries and consist of different methods of teaching students to learn the language. One of these methods is the dual-language method, which consists of learning English alongside a student’s native language. This is not always ideal for parents, who “advocate English-only classes, hoping for a fast-track approach. Although English-only classes may help with spoken fluency, it has not been proven effective for learning the written aspects of the language” (Lynch). The desire for their children to keep up with the English speaking world is behind these parents’ criticism of the dual-language method. However, English is not easy to teach, especially alongside another language.