Educators say law leaves Hispanic students behind

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Tuesday, May 6, 2003 | 9:28 a.m.

At Rancho High School, where Isaac Barron teaches, more than one in four students are learning English as their second language.

Barron, who teaches English to about 150 of these students, said it is "saddening to see how many (students) don't make it," referring to a dropout rate of about 30 percent among Hispanic students.

At a national conference on Hispanics and education Monday, Reg Weaver, president of the 2.7 million member National Education Association, said the Bush administration's legislation requiring the test scores of English as a Second Language students to be included in evaluations of a school's performance sets students like Barron's up for even more failure.

The law, known as "No Child Left Behind," is a "sheep in wolf's clothing" for Hispanics and other minority students, he said.

The leader of the union representing teachers said that the act tried to reform schools without paying for programs like bilingual education.

"The law does not take into account whether or not the student is proficient in English," Weaver said. "It is not designed to encourage students to stay in school."

The conference, held at the Riviera and organized by Aspira, a Washington-based nonprofit that works on educating Hispanic students nationwide, was focused on the issue of Hispanics dropping out.

Larry Mason, the only Hispanic on the Clark County School Board, left Weaver's speech saying that the union leader's gloomy scenario will play out in the Las Vegas Valley as much or more than in other school districts nationwide.

The key issue, he said, is dedicating resources to helping the district's 45,000 students who are learning English as a second language.

"Our immigrant students have parents who contribute to the economy and pay taxes, but the kids aren't given the tools to learn the language," Mason said.

"We are going to have a lot of Latino students ... left behind" by the legislation, he said.

Barron agreed. He attributed the Hispanic dropout rate to the difficulty of persuading students they'll have a chance at success when they see little success in their studies and to them having so few role models who can show them the value of an education.

He recalled one student telling him what he earned waiting tables at the Bellagio.

"He was earning more than me," Barron said. "That student walked out of the classroom and I never saw him again.

"Having these students take another test where they have absolutely no chance at success won't help," he said.

Jack McLaughlin, state superintendent for public instruction, who also attended the conference, said the current proposal before the Legislature to give $77 million to English-language programs is "not nearly enough."

"I don't think this has been given the priority it should," he said.

"This population is only growing, and the idea is to stay ahead of the curve, not wait until it gets to be a crisis."