Students learning English in San Benito County schools are
improving at a steady pace and have exceeded state expectations,
according to the California English Language Development Test
results released Tuesday.
Hollister – Students learning English in San Benito County schools are improving at a steady pace and have exceeded state expectations, according to the California English Language Development Test results released Tuesday.
In San Benito County, 39 percent of students in English Language Learner programs are now considered proficient in English, meaning they can read, write and understand the language. That’s an increase from last year, when 35 percent of ELL students in the county tested proficient and 8 percent higher than the benchmark set forth by the California Department of Education.
The test is administered every fall to assess students whose first language is not English in order to make sure they are making yearly gains towards the eventual goal of fluency in English. This year, 2,204 students in the county took the test, with the majority testing in intermediate or early advanced categories, meaning they are about half way in becoming completely proficient in their new language.
Half of all English learners at San Benito High School are considered proficient in their new language, meaning they can be reclassified as regular students.
Many English learners are already in regular classrooms, but get more individualized attention from teachers or stay after school to get up to speed on skills. Others are in bilingual education programs, but only if their parents have signed a waiver, an option that was created following the passage of Proposition 227 that prohibited bilingual education in California.
Proficiency means the students can read, write and understand by listening in accordance with their grade level. In the Hollister School District, 40 percent of students who took the test are considered proficient and 25 percent in the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District.
Dr. Jean Burns Slater, superintendent of San Benito High School District said the results indicated that the students deemed English Learners at the school were improving.
“I am seeing students advance (through the different levels) as they move from the ninth to the 12th grade,” she said. “It’s a big change.”
School officials and educators assume a student entering school in the U.S. needs about five years to become fully proficient in English, although it can take longer if a student has poor attendance or moves from one school to another, said Lonna Martinez, coordinator of English Language Learners at the Hollister School District.
The district’s median score improved in all three skill areas, despite 80 more students taking the CELDT last fall than in 2003.
However, Martinez said she could not make any conclusions about her district’s performance without looking at individual scores.
“I don’t know whether the same students who took the test last year also took it this year because our enrollment has stayed about the same,” she said.
Across the state, 47 percent of English learners scored in the early advanced or advanced categories of the test, making educators conclude that English Language instruction was working in California.
The results, “show a clear indication that statewide efforts to help all students learn English as quickly as possible are working,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell earlier this week.
Compared to other states, California has the largest number of students whose native language is not English.
Students who score in the early advanced proficiency can go on to be reclassified, following a teacher evaluation and consultation with parents.
If schools fail to meet state benchmarks for student progress on the test, they can eventually lose their Title III funding, a portion of the No Child Left Behind Act that funds English language instruction in schools across the country.
Karina Ioffee covers education and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected]
