Hollister
– Hollister School District educators are hard at work
implementing a slew of changes and programs that they believe will
help more English Learner students master the language this year
than ever before.
Hollister – Hollister School District educators are hard at work implementing a slew of changes and programs that they believe will help more English Learner students master the language this year than ever before.
“We want to reclassify significantly more students than we did last year,” said Antonio Vela, English Learner coordinator for HSD.
According to the California Department of Education, more than 1,500 of the district’s 4,600 students are English Learners. While EL students improved 22 points overall on their STAR tests this year, they still scored 40 points lower than the Latino student average and nearly 140 points lower than white students.
Last year educators and parents developed a laundry list of new programs and materials the district could develop and invest in to promote student achievement and ensure that more EL students are able to reclassify as “English Only” students. The Board of Trustees set aside roughly $300,000 to fund the new programs, and educators have been working through the summer to implement them this fall.
“We have to serve around 1,900 students, so we’ve been trying to get started as early as possible,” Vela said.
Hundreds of EL students were given assessment tests over the summer, which were hand-graded to help gauge their English skill level, and still more students are taking the tests during these first few weeks of school. The tests will help EL teachers decide which areas to focus on during the school year. In the past, students took a similar exam for the state in November, the results of which were often not available until January – after the first semester was already finished.
“It’s a lot of work to grade that many tests, but it’s something that is really going to help the students get where they need to be,” Vela said.
In the past, EL students have attended regular classes and were expected to pick up English language skills as they went along. After-school interventions – essentially staffed, structured, English study-time – were available, but only if the students’ parents knew to request them.
Beginning this year, all EL students will spend a portion of their day receiving instruction in English speaking, reading, writing and listening before they are returned to their regular classes. And all HSD teachers are being trained in new methods to reach their EL students when they do return to class. Special after-school writing seminars will also be available this year for students who speak English well, but traditionally fail the written portion of the state test that allows them to reclassify as EO students. Last spring around 85 students were able to reclassify.
“I think that is really going to be an amazing thing,” said Sarah Freitas, president of the EL and Migrant Ed parent committee. “A lot of kids just need that extra push to pass their writing test.”
The district is also establishing a “Newcomers’ Center” program, a special half-day class designed for students who are new to the country. Class sizes will be fewer than 20 students and a center will be instituted at every HSD campus. One is already up and running at Rancho San Justo Middle School, and several others should begin within a matter of weeks.
English Development classes will also be offered at most of the school sites this year for parents, and will be open to all parents regardless of where their child attends school. District officials are hoping each class will be able to serve around 25 people, and all will take advantage of new language software that will also be available for students.
“If your child goes to Sunnyslope but their English class is in the morning and you can’t make it, you can go to an afternoon class at R.O. Hardin and get the same education,” Vela said. “A lot of departments are working together to make sure this works for everyone.”
Starting this year, students will also be sent home with Spanish and English textbooks in subjects such as math, so that their parents will still be able to help them regardless of their own English skills.
“This is going to help a lot of kids and their families,” Freitas said. “When everyone works together and does their best, you get the best results for the kids.”
The first meeting of the EL Parent Advisory Committee will be Sept. 20. For more information call 630-6300.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
