Nearly 5.5 million English Language Learner students are enrolled in America’s public school system. According to LULAC officials, this student population is being left behind. ELL students — 80 percent of whom are Hispanic — are among the country’s lowest-performing students. In 2007, only 4 percent of eighth-grade students scored above “proficient” in reading for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, compared with 31 percent of ELL students. In addition, only 49 percent of ELL students graduate from high school on time.
Peter Zamora, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s Washington, D.C., regional counsel, favors testing in native language to level the playing field. Zamora, a credentialed bilingual educator, says that in teaching 12th-grade English at a California high school he learned that, “most English-language learners are not going to be able to perform well on an English assessment test.”
LULAC is also petitioning for implementing culture-based curricula, an educational approach which is not supported by NCLB. Data from the Nation Indian Education Association reveal that learning in an environment that incorporates native language, culture and traditions increases students’ mastery of math and science. Federal education policy that promotes culturally based teaching is critical in shrinking the achievement gap, advocates say.
“School climate is tied to academic achievement,” said Dr. Joel Gomez, associate professor of educational leadership at The George Washington University. “Research shows that when kids feel good about going to school they do better.”
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