Md. schools forbid illegals head count
The Maryland State Board of Education on Tuesday said Frederick County officials are prohibited by federal law from seeking a count of how many illegal immigrants are in the county school system.
In its seven-page unanimous decision, the state board said county officials haven’t shown sufficient reason to look into the legal status of all of the students in the school system and that asking immigration status might discourage some parents from enrolling their children in schools.
“As the head of the public education system in Maryland, we cannot risk nor abide such a request,” the board said in its ruling.
Read full article via Washington Times
Parents claim board bias , Halton group files claim, saying French schools have too many girls, few special needs students
The handful of Oakville schools that only offer French immersion are driving students out of their neighbourhood in search of an English program and are also leading to “segregation” based on gender and ability, a group of parents charge.
Despite voicing their concerns and making many presentations to the Halton District School Board, the parents say their worries have not been addressed, and earlier this month filed a claim of discrimination.
The French immersion schools typically have a higher population of girls and fewer special needs students.
“The French immersion program in (the board), as currently structured and housed, is having a significant and detrimental, discriminatory effect on students based on sex, ability and place of origin,” says the March 10 letter of complaint to the Halton board’s executive officer of human resources, signed by 20 parents and community members, most of them on school councils in Ward 4, north of the QEW around Third Line.
Read full article via ParentCentral.ca
Officials at odds over English case
Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Terry Goddard are at odds over how involved Goddard’s office should be in a divisive education case currently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The long-running case, known as Flores vs. Arizona, could help determine how much money Arizona public schools must spend on students who enter the classroom without a strong understanding of the English language.
On one side of the dispute is state schools Superintendent Tom Horne and Republican legislative leaders, who say that Arizona’s Legislature has already passed a law giving students sufficient money to help children learn English, and that any further demands by a federal court would constitute meddling in state business.
Their opponent is Tim Hogan of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest.
A year ago, Hogan convinced the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the state had failed to comply with a 2000 federal district court order requiring it to adequately fund a language program.
The decision meant the state faced the threat of fines up to $2 million a day.
Read full article here Officials at odds over English case.
Bilingual reading program mutual learning experience
Teaching also becomes a learning experience when Spanish Honor Society students at Glasgow High School volunteer to read in Spanish and English to young children during Bilingual Story Time at the Newark Free Library.
Library specialist Adriana Camacho-Church, who started the program at the library three years ago so young children could become bilingual, said she sees the older children benefiting with them, because it gives them an outlet to practice.
“They actually have to perform in front of these kids and read in both Spanish and English,” Camacho-Church said. “So these students are learning how to present themselves in front of an audience. It’s a good learning experience for them as well.”
Glasgow High’s Sierra Stevenson, who is in her third year of Spanish at the school, agrees
Read full article via The News Journal.
Conversational Café offers relaxed place to practice English
People for whom English is a second language now have a relaxed place where they can speak the language — the Conversational Café offered for three hours every Sunday in the Daily Grind at 166 Costello Drive by Literacy Volunteers-Winchester Area.
The café convened for the first time Sunday, with five participants. “We actually sat and talked for three hours,” said Literacy Volunteers Program/Volunteer Coordinator Peg Crompton.
The participants hailed from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. One man, enrolled in an adult English as a Second Language course, has been in the United States for two months, and speaks little English, she said.
While people can receive formal language instruction through Northern Shenandoah Valley Adult Education four nights and two days a week, the café provides a more relaxed environment to practice English, Crompton said.
The café is open to any English-language learner, Crompton said. “It doesn’t matter what language you speak, because we’re speaking English only.”
And while the café is held between 1 and 4 p.m., people do not have to come for the entire time, Crompton said. “You can come in anytime during that time” and stay as long as you want.
The café at the Costello Drive Daily Grind may be the first of many, said Crompton, who hopes to see them one day at other Daily Grind locations in the area.
Read full story via Winchester Star.
Progress, one step at a time
Mijanielle Achille says that the Genesis Center, an adult education program, is like a second home to her.
The 40-year-old Haitian immigrant received job training, spruced up her English language skills and got help landing an internship at Rhode Island Hospital, ultimately turning that into a full-time job. Genesis also provided Achille, a mother of three, with child-care support so she could focus on her training.
Achille, who is now studying at the Community College of Rhode Island to become a certified nursing assistant, yesterday morning shared her success with Governor Carcieri, educators and roughly three dozen others who attended a conference about adult literacy strides in Rhode Island.
The program was held yesterday at Network RI, a one-stop career center, and was co-hosted by Adult Career and Technical Education Director Johan Uvin.
“I don’t think I would have finished without their support. This center is like a big family,” Achille told the audience.
Progress, one step at a time | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal.
ESL teacher won’t have visa renewed; might leave for Mexico
Touches of Cecilia Flores can be found all over Oakley Elementary School. Whether it’s the mural she helped design, the tissue box she painted or the 36 English as a Second Language students she works with every day, her presence can be felt throughout the school.
In June, Oakley Elementary may lose that presence.
Flores is a citizen of Mexico, and Buncombe County Schools has decided to no longer sponsor her work visa. If she doesn’t find another employer before June, she may have to return to Mexico.
Read full article here: Asheville Citizen-Times.
North Myrtle Beach instructor wins S.C. Adult Education ESL teacher of the year
Tammy Humphreys takes her students to the library like most teachers passionate about English do, but she also gives them coffee breaks, teaches them how to open checking accounts and understands if they have to skip class now and again.
Humphreys, who is one of nine English as a second language teachers in the Horry County Adult Education Department, won the first S.C. Adult Education ESL teacher of the year award at a state banquet Friday. She helped start the North Myrtle Beach ESL program last year, and she beat more than 80 other teachers statewide to win the honor.
Read full story - Myrtle Beach Online.
ESOL Students in D.C. Area Narrow Achievement Gap
English language learners have become star pupils in the Washington region, drawing accolades for top-performing schools that serve immigrant communities and showing standout results on state reading tests and national rankings.
From 2003 to 2008, gaps in the pass rates between English learners — pupils designated as having limited English proficiency — and other students narrowed by half on Maryland and Virginia state tests. The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress ranked Virginia’s English learners first in the nation for fourth-grade reading and Maryland’s fifth.
In January, the trade publication Education Week reported that achievement gaps in reading for students of limited English proficiency were smaller in Maryland and Virginia than in most other states. According to D.C. data, English learners in the District’s public schools perform at about the citywide average in reading, which is low but climbing.
Read full story here: washingtonpost.com.
Financial crisis hits ESL enrolment
“The global financial crisis is affecting many ESL [English-as-a-Second-Language] schools because learning a new language can be considered a luxury item and affordable to parents when times are good,” he said. “Obviously, there will always be a portion of international students who need to learn a new language. But, the majority of ESL students, particularly international students from Japan and Korea, has declined significantly. This is a common echo for many ESL schools in Vancouver.”
But the story is brighter when it comes to diploma and degree-granting schools, both at his locations in Canada and overseas in China and the Philippines. Said Chu: “Parents are advising their children to stay in school to either earn a degree or learn a trade skill instead of wasting time finding a dead-end job. This trend is positively affecting our international enrolment as some students in China are taking it one step further by enrolling into our overseas diploma or degree programs in Canada from China.”
Read full story via Financial crisis hits ESL enrolment in B.C..