L.A. Parents Use “Parent Trigger” To Create Unusual New School Plan

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Empowered by California’s “parent trigger” law, the parents at one elementary school cast their votes Tuesday in an unusual election.

They were deciding whether the struggling 24th Street Elementary School in Los Angeles should remain in the L.A. Unified School District, break away and be run by a charter school operator–or opt for an unusual combination of the two.

While public school districts and charter schools often compete to enroll the same students, the parents took the unusual step, and 80% opted for merging both models together.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the parents voted for L.A. Unified to handle the kindergarten through fourth grades, and the charter school to handle grades five through eight. Parents will also participating in the hiring process for new staff.

The majority of the children at the school are Latino, and the vote gave voice to many of the Spanish-speaking immigrant parents. That was reflected during the vote. However, they did not work alone. The campaign was largely organized by the group Parent Revolution.

The Times reported that the vote, which took place in a park, had a festive atmosphere and included face painting, piñata and tamales.

“I’ve seen the struggle of some parents here that they’ve gone through so many problems with their children,” parent Esmerelda Chacon told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m very , very happy with the results we got.”

The California law allows a majority of parents at a failing school to petition seeking reforms, including replacing the principal and much of the staff to closing the school.

So far, the parent trigger concept has proved to be controversial. In Florida, for example, the debate has raged over whether the law reflects an effort to privatize education by converting public schools into charter schools run by companies.

It remains to be seen whether putting parents in charge of a school can be an effective turnaround model. But it’s an experiment many are setting their hopes on.

- “Parents choose unique school takeover model in ‘trigger’ vote,” Hechinger Report.

- “Florida Senate revises ‘parent trigger’ proposal,” The Tampa Tribune. April 11.

Hartford, Conn., Schools Reach Agreement On ELLs

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Years after concerns were first raised about how the Hartford Public Schools in Connecticut were instructing English Language Learners, the district has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, pledging to make a number of changes to address the needs of the population.

The Center for Children’s Advocacy first filed a complaint with the OCR in April 2007. The student population includes many Spanish-speaking students, in addition to refugees from various countries.

The February 2013 agreement includes ensuring that ELL students receive at least 45-60 minutes a day of ESL instruction from an ESL-certified teacher (or bilingual) and that ELL students receive support in learning core content. It also required the district to actively recruit qualified ESL- and bilingual-certified staff, and offer professional development on ELL instruction to general education teachers.

In addition, when administrators meet to review school performance data they also will review ELL data, including examining the students’ academic progress and graduation rates. In addition, the district will make interpreting services available to parents–but agreed to avoid using students as interpreters.

The district also must provide certain information to the Office of Civil Rights by October 2013, including the numbers and types of ELL staff at each school, a description of professional development opportunities, and a copy of its plan for communication with non-English speaking parents.

By December 2013, the district must provide information including a list of all ELL students and their proficiency levels, the schedules of ELL teachers, and a description of support services in core content for ELL students.

According to the Learning the Language blog, attorney Stacey Violante Cote with the Center for Children’s Advocacy said that the group became concerned about a lack of services for ELL and immigrant students.

“That’s why this agreement with OCR is so necessary,” she said. “We need something that is going to outlast any administrative turnover or changes in the district’s reform agenda.”

Meanwhile, the blog reported that Mary Beth Russo, the school system’s lead facilitator for ELL services, said the district began implementing changes far before the agreement was signed. Those changes included offering school choice to ELLs. Hartford also began publishing a guide providing information about ELLs at every school, including their academic performance and the staff working with the population.

ELL students face considerable hurdles to overcome. According to the Hartford Courant, only 49% of ELL students in the district graduated in four years in 2010, compared with 62% of non-ELLs.

- “After Federal Probe, Hartford Schools Agree to Improve Services for ‘English Language Learners,’” The Hartford Courant.

- Hartford Board of Education Resolution Agreement

California Migrant Pre-K Program Makes Inroads

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

The Central California Migrant Head Start programs can serve as a model of how to effectively welcome Latino families, reports EdSource Today. Children are taught in Spanish and English.

Latino families are less likely to enroll their children in preschool programs than other ethnic groups, but some programs are making inroads. In 2011, the program became one of ten early childhood programs from across the country to be named a Head Start Center of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“We know from 20 years of research that a lot of Latino parents prefer to use home-based care, and that preschools appear to be excessively formal and sometimes not inviting institutions,” University of California, Berkeley education professor Bruce Fuller told the media outlet.

The story describes how 3- and 4-year old children listened to the story of the three little pigs in Spanish–but discussed the story in both English and Spanish. Classroom tools are labeled in both English and Spanish as well.

The program also recruits parents at venues as diverse as churches, flea markets and on farm job sites.

Berta Sanchez said her three-year-old daughter is doing well in the program.

“My daughter knows her ABCs, she knows the song about the ‘little star’ and she can write her name,” Sanchez told EdSource Today.

Other programs making inroads with Latino families and improving early learning opportunities include Abriendo Puertas, HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters), and Avance.

Are school districts in your community involved in any similar efforts?

- “A winning Head Start: Program for children from migrant families gets national recognition,” Santa Cruz Sentinel.

- “NCLR Spotlights Four Pre-K Programs Successful With Latino Children,” Latino Ed Beat.

Broad Prize Finalists Recognized for Hispanic Student Gains

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Four finalists are in the running for the elite $1 million Broad Prize for Urban Education, recognized for their success in boosting the achievement levels of low-income, Latino and black students.

The winner won’t be announced until Sept. 25. The winner will receive $550,000 in scholarships for students, and the three other finalists will receive $150,000 each. According to the press release, 75 of the nation’s largest districts were eligible and considered for the prize.

But here are a few details on the achievements of the finalists:

- Corona-Norco Unified School District, California. Higher percentages of Hispanic and black students are testing at the “advanced” achievement level in reading, math and science, than in other districts.

- Cumberland County Schools, North Carolina. The school system’s graduation rate increased twice as fast as in other urban districts–by 4% between 2007 and 2009, versus the average of 2%.

- Houston Independent School District, Texas. The district had the highest SAT participation rate among other urban districts for all students. In particular, 84% of the district’s Hispanic students took the exam.

- San Diego Unified School District. Hispanic, black and low-income students improved in science more than students in much of the state.

Corona-Norco Unified and Houston were both finalists in 2012.

To get an idea of just how coveted the prize is, San Diego superintendent Bill Kowba called it “the Oscars of the education world,” KPBS reported. A Houston Chronicle editorial boasted that the city is known as “the Silicon Valley of education reform.”

- “A Sampling of 2013 Broad Prize Finalist School District Student Gains That Bested Other Urban School Districts,” The Broad Foundation.

- “HISD makes urban education’s Final Four,” The Houston Chronicle.

- “Inland Empire school district repeats as finalist for academic prize,” The Los Angeles Times.

- “San Diego School District Nominated for National Award,” KPBS.

Community College Recognized for Work with Latino Students

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Santa Barbara City College in California recently won national praise and a $400,000 prize, in large part because of its success with Latino students and emphasis on transferring students to four-year colleges.

The Aspen Institute awarded its Community College Excellence Award to the Santa Barbara campus along with Walla Walla Community College. The evaluates four areas: student learning outcomes, degree completion, labor market success after college, and facilitating minority and low-income student success.

More than 30% of Santa Barbara’s roughly 28,763 students are Hispanic. About 48% of the college’s Latino students graduate or transfer within three years–compared with 35% nationally. The college places a priority on moving students on to four-year colleges and universities.

Edith Rodriguez, 22, the daughter of Mexican parents, had a juvenile record when she decided to turn her life around. NBC Latino reports that she learned about the Running Start “bridge” program at Santa Barbara City College when a representative spoke at her high school. During the summer program she took math and English enrichment courses, and once enrolled in colleges she received extra support such as tutoring.

“In my neighborhood, the people I grew up with are not in college right now because they don’t know anything about it,” Rodriguez told NBC Latino. “Most of us need to be motivated, and we don’t know about these opportunities. These programs help us.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that president Lori Gaskin believes that its key to reach out to students early.

“We reach out to students like Edith even before they set foot on campus, before they realize that college is a potential opportunity for them,” she told the publication. “Our students don’t necessarily have role models or cheerleaders at home.”

- “Community colleges awarded for advancing and graduating Latinos,” NBC Latino.

- “Aspen Prize Honors 2 Community Colleges for Students’ Successes,” The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Chicago School Closings Impact Black and Latino Families

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

The Chicago Public School system is poised to shutter 53 elementary schools across the city to resolve a nearly $1 billion deficit, impacting thousands of mostly black and Latino children and their families.

Last year, about 44% of CPS students were Latino and 42% were African-American out of a total enrollment of 404,151.

Most of the schools being closed are in predominantly black neighborhoods with declining student enrollments. However, according to NBC Latino, eight of the schools being closed have enrollments that are more than 20 percent Latino. One of those schools is Ana Roque de Duprey Elementary School in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Chicago Teachers Union representative Sara Echevarria opposes the decision to close Duprey.

“This school has people who are vested in the community, who understand the culture in the community; a lot of these kids are special ed kids who need the support and the smaller class sizes,” Echevarria told NBC Latino.

However, the article notes that Chicago school officials say that the campus is only one-third full.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has defended the closings, and said they will enable the school system to spend more money on the remaining schools.

Latino Policy Forum executive director Sylvia Puente raised concerns about the 1,500 pre-kindergarten spots at the schools being closed.

“There is a severe shortage of Latinos in our early childhood education programs, so how these slots will or will not be redistributed should be studied,” Puente told NBC Latino.

A rally against the closures is scheduled for Wednesday.

- “Chicago school closing plan ignites emotions,” The Chicago Tribune.

- “Rahm Emanuel on School Closings: Chicago Mayor Defends Action as Tough But Needed,” AP.

Illinois District Requires ESL Training for Some Teachers

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

The second-largest school district in Illinois will soon begin to require all teachers at 10 of its lowest performing elementary school campuses to earn English as a Second Language teaching credentials.

The U46 school system in Elgin, Illinois, served more than 40,000 students in 2011. The student enrollment is about 49% Latino and 22% limited English proficient. The failing schools impacted are heavily Latino.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the impacted schools are those that have been on “academic watch” for five years and are required to restructure under No Child Left Behind.

Some teachers are concerned that earning the ESL credential will be expensive. The ESL requirement is just one of many of the district’s restructuring changes.

The Courier News reported that school board member Amy Kerber said the plan is a “really massive undertaking and massive system shift.”

More districts are taking steps to encourage all teachers to undergo training on training English Language Learners, to address the growth in the number of children needing such specialized instruction.

- “U46 teachers, parents and school board members offer their reactions to ‘massive’ restructuring plan,” Elgin Courier News.

- “Hispanic Parent Leadership Institute seeks to educate, get parents involved,” TribLocal.

- “School Superintendent Adds His Dimension to Federal Equity Report,” Hispanic Link Report.

Latino Students in Virginia Often Attend Segregated Schools

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

A new study finds that Latino students are becoming more segregated in Virginia schools–particularly in the northern part of the state where they are the largest minority group.

According to the study by The Civil Rights Project at UCLA, Northern Virginia is the only part of the state where Latino students are more segregated than black students.

“Despite Virginia’s long history with school desegregation, little political attention has been paid to the growing multi-racial diversity of the state’s enrollment and rising levels of isolation for its black and Latino students,” the report says.

The report examined data from the National Center for Education Statistics between 1989 and 2010, and found the following about school enrollments in 2010:

- About 6% of the state’s Latino students attended schools where white students make up less than 10% of the enrollment.

- Despite segregation, schools are also becoming increasingly diverse as well. In 2010, more than 60% of Latino students attended a multiracial school where three or more racial groups made up at least 10% of the enrollment. It was a dramatic increase from 1989, when the rate was 10%.

- The typical Latino student attended a school where low-income students made up about 41% of students.

The study breaks out numbers depending on the region of the state- Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, Richmond-Petersburg and Northern Virginia. The report makes various suggestions as to how the state can increase integration, including using magnet schools to promote more racial integration and avoiding rezoning policies that increase racial isolation.

Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project, called attention to the need for the state to adjust to its changing demographics.

“Though many racial issues remain unsettled for black students, Virginia now faces another kind of change as it becomes a truly multiracial state, which poses a different set of risks and opportunities,” Orfield said. “Leaders need the vision to renew efforts to achieve justice and integration for blacks and to be sure that the growing Latino communities are not locked into segregation and inequality.”

- “UCLA Report Finds Virginia’s African American Students Face Increasing Racial Segregation and Poverty in School,” The Civil Rights Project at UCLA.

Latino Charter School Operator Promotes English Immersion

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

The United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) began as a Latino advocacy group in Chicago in the 1980s. But now the UNO name is known more for education, as a charter school operator running ten K-8 schools and one high school.

UNO enrolls about 6,500 students, about 95% of whom are Hispanic, 93% low-income and 38% English Language Learners.

The group still emphasizes serving Hispanic students. What I find interesting is that the system emphasizes using English immersion techniques for English Language Learners. The school system’s web site emphasizes that the curriculum offers “a complete American experience.”

Juan Rangel, CEO of UNO, recently emphasized the approach in an essay about how to best educate Hispanic children for Education Next. Rangel himself did not speak English when he enrolled in kindergarten, The New York Times noted in a profile of him. He was born in Brownsville, Texas, to undocumented immigrant parents from Mexico.

“I picked up the language so fast,” he told the Times.

In his most recent essay for Education Next, he promotes the necessity for schools to promote assimilation to immigrant children.

Rangel’s support of English immersion is interesting, given that many Latino educators support the bilingual education model. Illinois is one of the states that uses bilingual education to educate ELLs. Rangel points out that his students perform better than those in Chicago Public Schools on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT).

In particular, the following passage stands out:

“Immigrants and native-born Americans alike recognize English as a unifying feature of American society and as a key to immigrant advancement. Poor English-language skills not only delay full assimilation for our community, but also deny Hispanics full access to American opportunity. UNO chose English-language immersion over the traditional bilingual transition program to teach English to its children and families.

Structured English-language immersion challenges the conventional approach to educating English language learners (ELL). Our students’ limited English-language skills could easily be used as an excuse for low performance or a need for unlimited resources, but we see it as a necessity for teachers to differentiate their instruction to reach all learners, including ELL students. Most pragmatically, English immersion is effective in closing the performance gap between ELLs and their peers nationwide, and is financially viable and scalable—unlike the many bilingual transition programs that require untenable complements of teachers and resources and produce mixed results at best.

I believe, and our schools’ performance bears this out, that a well-rounded, rigorous program with excellent teachers and leaders works with any population of students, and works especially well for Hispanic immigrant children.”

According to the Illinois Interactive Report Card, about 76 percent of UNO students met or exceeded state standards. The system does face academic struggles–it did not make adequate yearly progress.

- “Emphasize Civic Responsibility and Good Citizenship,” Juan Rangel, Education Next.

- 2012 Illinois School Report Card for UNO Network Charter Schools.

Las Vegas School System Could Stop Translating Written IEPs

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Katherine Leal Unmuth

Children with special needs who are also English language learners must overcome significant hurdles to succeed academically. If their parents don’t speak English and are not comfortable navigating the school system, the potential barriers to student success grow even taller.

The Las Vegas Sun reports that since 2004 the Clark County School District has provided the parents of its 8,000 ELL special education students with verbal and written translation services. These services help parents understand the complex federally required Individualized Education Plans (IEP) that outline the personalized goals for children with disabilities.

But the school district has proposed cutting out the written IEP translation services to achieve necessary budget cuts, the newspaper reports. The proposal wouldn’t cut the verbal translators present at parent-teacher meetings, which school districts must provide by law.

Fernando Romero, a Hispanic community activist and a Clark County parent whose son has autism, has spoken out against the proposal. ”As a father of an autistic child, I am very upset to hear that they are planning to do this,” Romero told the newspaper. “I know how long it takes to understand the IEP and how technical it is. I’m appalled by this.”

The school district hired a consultant who made recommendations on cuts based on efficiency. In the case of the written IEP translations, the consultant determined that the documents often were sent so late to parents that they were no longer useful. District officials have said they could save $20,000.

latinoedbeat

Covering Latino children and research about Latino education and research

Category Archives: Uncategorized