Schools bridging the language divide

Monday, March 20, 2006 | 7:08 a.m.

Nationwide, English Language Learners account for 8 percent of all students in grades K-12, compared with 21 percent in the Clark County School District. Instructional methods and programs vary widely from state to state, although most are variations on three basic methodologies. All three are used in Clark County.

Immersion or "English Only": Students are taught by English-speaking teachers and discouraged from using their native language while at school. Of Clark County's 317 schools, 309 use immersion. Research suggests immersion is the quickest way for students, particularly younger children, to learn a new language.

Bilingual: Teachers switch between the students' native language and English. As students become more proficient and advance in grade level, a higher proportion of instruction is conducted in English. Students are not taught to read or write in their native language. Three Clark County schools use bilingual instruction with students taught in Spanish until the third grade.

Dual-language: The academic day is evenly divided between instruction in English and the second language. Students are taught to read, write and speak both languages. The student populations ideally include native speakers in both languages, giving children equal opportunities to serve as "language models" for their peers. Currently five Clark County schools offer versions of dual-language instruction.

Sources: Clark County School District, *Center for Equity and Excellence in Education at George Washington University and National Center on Educational Outcomes, University of Minnesota, September 2003.

When kindergarten begins in August at Hollingsworth Elementary School in Las Vegas, each class will be welcomed by two teachers - one who says "welcome" and the other "bienvenidos."

Hollingsworth, along with Dearing Elementary School, are both shifting from "English only" to "dual-language" instruction, in which the academic day is evenly divided between Spanish and English. More than half of Hollingsworth's students have limited proficiency in English and 70 percent of the children are Hispanic.

"What was amazing to me was the community response," said Hollingsworth Principal Doug Wilson. "I expected the Hispanic parents to be happy, and they were. But my other families are just as excited that their kids are going to be learning Spanish."

Dual-language programs, in which daily instruction is evenly divided between two languages, have long been used overseas and are growing in popularity nationwide. All students receive the same instruction in both languages, regardless of which is their native tongue.

Wilson plans to spend the next few months locating teachers who are able to read and write in Spanish to help staff his six kindergarten classrooms.

"It's not just about the spoken language," Wilson said. "They must be biliterate and that's not easy to find."

The teachers will work in two-person teams and divide the curriculum between them, based on their own strengths and experience, Wilson said.

Finding qualified teachers isn't the only hurdle. Schools must have enough classroom seats for full-day kindergarten, rather than the more common split sessions. At Hollingsworth, a school improvement grant from the state is helping to cover the new program's cost, including teacher training and instructional materials.

Educators say the investment will pay off in the long run because unlike language programs designed to help Spanish-speakers only, dual-language also helps English speakers.

"Our economy is looking for people who are bilingual," said Hollingsworth kindergarten teacher Tasha Thatcher, who will be involved in next year's program. "In the long run, all of our students stand a chance of getting much better jobs and careers."

The new programs come as the Clark County School District wrestles with how to better serve its ever-growing population of English language learners. Nearly one out of every five district students has limited proficiency in English.

Currently five Clark County elementary schools offer versions of dual-language instruction - Harmon, Herron, McDoniel, Walker and Wengert.

The first campus was Wengert Elementary School, which has specific classrooms in grades K-4 set aside for the program. Four other schools went a step further and established dual-language for all students, beginning with kindergarten and adding another grade each successive year.

At Walker International Elementary School in Henderson, dual-language functions more like Spanish immersion. Just 1 percent of the students are not native English speakers, compared with the district average of 20 percent.

District officials had initial concerns that dual-language would prove unpopular with parents whose children were assigned to Walker. The opposite has proved true. Walker Principal Alan Bowman has a lengthy list of families who requested zoning variances so that their children can enroll at the school.

Bowman hopes to add a second immersion program, possibly in Mandarin Chinese.

At Harley Harmon Elementary School in Las Vegas, dual-language is in its second year, with all kindergarten and first-grade students taking part. At the same time that it began dual-language, Harmon was selected as one of 17 struggling Clark County schools to receive grant funds for an intensive literacy program known as "Reading First.''

About half of Harmon's students have limited proficiency in English and 70 percent of the enrollment

Of all of the Nevada schools participating in "Reading First," Harmon has posted the highest reading scores on standardized tests for the past two years. The demographics of the other schools are similar to Harmon, said Principal Del Bean.

"The only difference is that we're doing dual-language," Bean said. "When you compare apples to apples, we're coming out on top, and it's hard to argue with that."

A side benefit has been improved relationships among students.

"I see the kids getting along together better because they are able to communicate with each other," Bean said. "I haven't found a downside" to dual-language.

Charlene Green, associate superintendent of student support services, which includes the district's ELL program, said she was pleased with the early success of dual-language, particularly at schools with high percentages of students whose first language is English. However, Green said, that doesn't make dual-language a silver bullet for the district's myriad challenges.

At a recent conference hosted by federal education officials, the room was divided into various camps, each endorsing a different approach to teaching the English language, Green said.

Rather than focusing on a single program, the Clark County district is keeping an open mind, Green said.

"The bottom has to be how do we allow kids to make progress," Green said. "If you have good teaching skills and take what you do seriously, you're going to get somewhere - whatever methodology you use. We don't have to sit around and debate that 97 people over here like this method and there are 27 people over here who don't."

The expectations from dual-language are so high in the district's east region, which includes Hollingsworth and Dearing, that a group of about 100 Hispanic parents have grown impatient waiting for it and other programs.

"All we hear is talk," said Andres Mendoza, president of the group. "We meet with (district) people and they say they care, but then they do nothing."

The parents say they support a plan calling for more intensive English-language instruction across all grade levels, more parent education programs and enhanced career and job training opportunities. The plan was written by Eva White, assistant superintendent in the east region, with assistance from Priscilla Rocha, coordinator of the district's Community English as a Second Language Program.

In November, Agustin Orci, then deputy superintendent of instruction, gave his support to the plan and parents were optimistic that wheels would begin turning, Rocha said.

Instead, the plan appeared to stall on the desk of Robert Alfaro, who took over as superintendent of the district's east region in July.

Alfaro said Thursday that his goal is to accelerate instruction and vocabulary acquisition for students who are recent arrivals to the United States. He has met with the ELL specialists assigned to each of the region's schools, as well as parents and students. He has also had several meetings with Rocha and Mendoza.

Community outreach like Rocha's adult education classes are essential components of the district's program, Alfaro said.

"Two key indicators of student success are being able to speak the English language and the parent's involvement in the school," Alfaro said. "What Priscilla is doing is helping the parents learn so they can support their children in the home."

As for the improvement plan written by White, Alfaro said there are elements he fully supports, particularly expanded teacher training and the dual-language programs.

Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes met Friday with Alfaro, Rocha and interim Chief Academic Officer Lauren Kohut-Rost to discuss improvements to the program in the east region.

Rulffes said the meeting was collegial, with all parties agreeing there were common threads and themes in the various improvement plans that have been put forth.

The next step will be to identify the models that have shown proven success either as pilot studies in Clark County or elsewhere. Rulffes has also met with the Latin Chamber of Commerce and Las Vegas-Clark County Library District officials to discuss potential partnerships.

"We need to look outside, to employers and the business community, for supplemental help," Rulffes said. "I'm not talking about money to the district necessarily but programs and services and support.''

The district increased its ELL budget by $3 million this year, which included funding specialists at individual campuses. For the past two legislative sessions Clark County, along with the state's 16 other school districts, fought unsuccessfully for additional funds for ELL students.

The request is expected to be one of the central planks to the districts' iNVest '07 plan when the Legislature meets next year. And that's one of the reasons Rulffes is planning a districtwide review of ELL instruction, initiatives and services.

Rulffes said a study is under way to determine which approaches to English-language acquisition are being used in the nation's larger urban districts.Clark County is experimenting with several techniques, including intensive instruction for new immigrants and interactive computer software programs.

"I don't think we can go (to the Legislature) with a loosely structured set of disconnected programs,'' Rulffes said. "We have to show success before we ask for funding."