Hollister
– In an effort to address the sizable achievement gap between
students that primarily speak Spanish and their classmates, the
Hollister School District will spend about $300,000 next year to
implement several new programs designed to help the struggling
students learn English.
Hollister – In an effort to address the sizable achievement gap between students that primarily speak Spanish and their classmates, the Hollister School District will spend about $300,000 next year to implement several new programs designed to help the struggling students learn English.
“Many of our students are not achieving the way they are supposed to and need to be,” HSD Director of Instruction Anita Franchi said. “That’s a clear sign that things need to change.
According to the most recent figures available from the California Department of Education, more than 1,400 of HSD’s 4,400 students are “English language learners,” meaning that no English is spoken in the student’s home environment and he or she is essentially unable to learn in a normal, English-speaking classroom. Roughly 150 English learner students are identified or join the district each year and many are first-generation Americans or migrant students, said Franchi.
The district’s ELL students score 87 points lower on their Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) exams than the district’s average of 698, and 176 points lower than Caucasian students, who scored 787 in 2005. The statewide goal for 2005 was 800 out of 1,000 points.
When school began in the fall, HSD, with the help of the district’s English Learner Parents group, created a laundry list of new materials and programs for the district to invest in that they believe will allow ELL students to thrive and close the achievement gap with their fellow students.
“With a little extra attention and language development, these kids can be successful,” said Franchi.
Currently, ELL students attend regular classes and are expected to develop English proficiency as they go along, which is fine, Franchi said, but not for the entire day. After-school interventions – essentially staffed, structured English study time – are available, but only if the student’s parents know to request them.
Beginning next year, all ELL 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 ELL students when they do return to class.
“If the funding is there and we really adhere to our new master plan, and continue to use the district’s assessments, I believe that these children will see a lot of improvement,” Assistant Superintendent Peter Guitierrez said. “And we owe that to our children, our parents and our community.”
The jewel in the crown of these reforms, however, is the newcomer’s center, a special half-day class designed for students who recently arrived in the country. Class sizes will be fewer than 20 students and a center will be created at every HSD campus.
“We want to make sure they have intensive help and support before we put them in an English speaking classroom with so many other kids,” said Franchi.
The district’s efforts also target parents. Next year, several workshops will be held to ensure that the families of ELL students understand the options they have in educating their children, and 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 native language.
“I don’t think we’ve been very good about making sure parents have access to information they need in the past,” said Franchi. “Sometimes they need a little help, or they just forget.”
All told, the reforms will cost the district approximately $300,000, in restricted funds and will require three or four staff positions to be effective.
The move is not without controversy, however – HSD Trustee Dee Brown voted against the decision to move forward with the new programs in late March, on the belief that the programs push students to learn English too quickly.
“I believe in teaching English as fast as possible, but research shows that it takes 5 to 7 years to learn a language,” she said. “You can’t teach a baby to walk before they roll over, sit up, crawl and all of that.”
Franchi says, however, that she has personally worked at other school districts who have utilized similar programs and seen great success.
“If we can help these students understand English, we are supporting our teachers, who can focus on helping every student,” she said. “This is something every parent should be excited about, not just English learner parents.”
