Language barrier hampers students

Terry Webster

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1999 | 10:13 a.m.

Nearly all English Language Learner students who took the High School Proficiency Exam in Clark County last year, failed it.

About 92 percent of high school senior English Language Learners in the Clark County School District failed one or more areas on the three-part exam, said Lore Carrillo, director of the English Language Learners Program Department. Passing the test is a high school graduation requirement.

Many of the students are taking the exam again, and results are not yet available.

Carrillo, who was named director this fall, has a plan to remedy the test results, including tutoring programs for students and more training for teachers. The school district has allocated $150,000 for the program, and state and federal grants are being pursued for additional support.

"Another area I'm looking at is getting instruction assistants or aides to work with a group of about five students," Carrillo said. "They could work with the students and really target the skills they are lacking."

Two factors are contributing to the high failure, Carrillo said.

"There is a language barrier, and there is a need for trained teachers who know how to adapt and adjust the curriculum."

That means teachers will be given pointers on how to best instruct English Language Learners, the school district's fastest growing population.

The population of students, who speak English as a second language, is increasing at a rate more than double that of the school district overall.

Over the past year, the group has increased by 13.6 percent, compared to a 6.7 percent total student population increase. There are currently 217,000 students in the Clark County schools.

Starting in January, a tutorial program will be offered at 10 year-round schools during track breaks so students can get extra help. After-school tutoring programs also will be offered, Carrillo said.

Helena Garcia, an education and community advocate, said something has to be done because the failure rate is inexcusable.

"They say 92 percent are failing like it is nothing," she said. "It's an embarrassment. If 92 percent of white students were failing anything, there would be an uproar."

Garcia said the new plan sounds like a good idea -- if it actually happens.

Patricia Cunningham, Chairperson of the Alliance for Social Justice, also was appalled by the exam results.

"What it says to me is pretty much what I told everyone a week ago -- that we are in the midst of an educational crisis," she said. "If you have 90 percent of any student body that is failing, it is going to impact the whole community. Why can't people see that?"

School Board president Ruth Johnson said she feels changes are needed in the way the Proficiency Exam is administered.

"You can't penalize a child for not speaking a language," Johnson said. "If parents come here, their children come too, and they go to our schools. They really don't have much choice in it. I don't see how the state can test a child in a language they don't understand. I think that's unethical."

Johnson said she would like to see the state offer the Proficiency Exam in other languages.

Carrillo said her ultimate goal is to have all English Language Learner students graduate with a high school diploma, so they have the opportunity to go to college.