Identifying ways to improve the success of ELLs is crucial, especially because of the huge achievement gaps among ELLs and native English speaking students. ELLs are faced with an enormous task in America to learn all of the content that other students are learning while, at the same time, also being responsible for mastering the English language. Most ELLs have the odds stacked against them from the very beginning due to socioeconomic factors coupled with language barriers. If standardized testing scores aren’t high enough, this often leads to budget cuts and lack of funding which, in turn, leads to less resources- and the cycle continues.
With California schools having such a high population of language minority students, this issue is exasperated. In fact, “From 2004-2005 in California, 42% of public school students fit the broad definition of linguistic minority and 25% were classified as English learners. Further, 78% of language minority students and 85% of English learners in California speak Spanish” (Gandara, 2006). Pinpointing areas to support ELLs is key to their present and future academic success. This support must come from teachers AND parents.
Projects like the Inspire Campaign need to have a clear agenda and objective to encourage California schools to create a safe and welcoming environment for students AND parents so as to foster more parent/teacher meetings and interactions. Parents must feel safe coming to the school and there should be incentives to do so. During my internship at an international high school, teachers throughout the school had their students plan, organize and promote a “cultural night.” Parents and the surrounding community were invited to come to the school to see artistic creations that the students were showcasing which were representative of their heritage and cultural background. The event was a huge success because of the diversity of the event and the welcoming atmosphere of the school. After talking to many of the parents, they felt as though they were more “in tune” with what was happening in the school and in their child’s education, and many set up subsequent teacher conferences to talk more about their child’s academic journey.
I believe that bringing people together around a common theme or through a community event can have a profound impact in creating a sense of security and belonging, which may not otherwise exist. This case was a huge success and began to break down barriers between “minority language” parents and this (technically) English-only high school.
By funding, or even just encouraging California schools to hold more community based events, I think there would be a huge increase in parent involvement and collaboration with teachers and staff.
Sources:
Gandara, P. and Russell Rumberger. (2006). Resource needs for California’s English Learners. Santa Barbara, CA: UC Linguistic Minority Research Institute.
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