Union Leader – by Kimberly Houghton
NASHUA — School officials are expecting more students to participate in the district’s English Language Learners program next year, prompting a request to hire an additional teacher.
“The reality is, this is the fastest-growing segment of the population within American schools today,” Superintendent Mark Conrad told the Nashua Board of Education’s budget committee recently.
There are about 745 students in the district learning English as a second language, with most of them speaking Spanish as their primary language.
Robert Cioppa, director of the ELL program in Nashua, anticipates that fewer students will test out of the program next year. It will be the first year ELL students will be taking assessment tests online, he said.
“Some of (the students) have very limited exposure to computers,” Cioppa told the committee.
Typically, about 20 percent of the ELL students test out of the program every year; about 20 percent of new students are admitted, according to Cioppa.
Although the online test to determine a student’s competency in English is optional this coming year, it will likely be mandatory the following school year, said Cioppa.
Howard Coffman, a local school board member, questioned whether the ELL students are being set up for failure.
“There is not going to be a good year to implement this online,” Conrad said, noting the computer exams are already underway and the results will be known this spring.
Cioppa is proposing that one new ELL teacher be included in the district’s proposed budget. That teacher would be charged with team-training other teachers who may be working with ELL students.
Currently, there are 22 ELL teachers in the program, in addition to several paraeducators. Each teacher carries a caseload of between 30 and 45 ELL students, Cioppa said.
In addition to the 22 ELL teachers, there are 75 teachers trained in ELL instructional strategies to be incorporated into the general classroom when needed.
Conrad explained that those 75 teachers who have completed ELL certification are not qualified to meet one-on-one to assist ELL students outside the mainstream classroom.
khoughton@newstote.com
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This is one reason why your kid isn’t learning anything in school, the other reason is that they don’t WANT him to learn anything.
I guess we should be relieved that they’re not insisting that the rest of us learn Spanish. (at first, you’ll have to learn Spanish to earn a tax credit. A few years later, the tax form will be written entirely in Spanish)
When you apply for a job: No habla Espanoal? Sorry.. no travajo for you.
Map Of Sanctuary Cities, Counties, & States:
http://cis.org/Sanctuary-Cities-Map