Educating English Language Learners: The Literacy Gap in the Underacheiving Demographic
With the recent rise in immigration, the demographics of the American classroom are changing. English Language Learners are becoming more common, and with this change comes the challenge of effectively educating them. Unfortunately, this demographic has been observed to have a major achievement gap, as many students are placed in mainstream classrooms without basic literacy skills. This gap can be bridged through intentional focus on literacy with these students. This thesis examines styles of education for English Language Learners and instructional strategies in an effort to identify which styles and strategies can bridge the literacy and achievement gap most effectively. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS 4 Educating English Language Learners The Literacy Gap in the Underacheiving Demographic The American educational system is set apart from many educational systems around the world for its intentionality in reaching every student. Educators across America agree that every student deserves differentiated instruction to help him or her reach his or her fullest potential, and when a student underachieves, educators must make adjustments are to help him or her improve and get up to pace with his or her classmates. However, an entire demographic is slipping through the cracks, and few are effectively meeting the needs of this demographic. One of the largest demographics of the American classroom is also the demographic with the largest achievement gap. English Language Learners (ELLs) are the students who are entering American classrooms with little knowledge of the language of instruction. ELLs are defined as students who receive or are eligible to receive special services because English is not their first language (Goldenberg, 2008, p. 10) They make up one of the largest and fastest growing demographics in the American classroom (Flynn Hill, 2005, p. 1) and as a demographic they have a large achievement gap between them and their English native peers (National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, 2010, p. 17) ELLs are the demographic that is not being reached. The Rising Number of English Language Learners in the American Classroom The numbers are staggering. One in every nine students in classrooms in the United States is an ELL, and these students represent over 400 languages (Goldenberg, 2008, p. 10) The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition reported that the demographic has grown by almost 2 million over the past decade, a 51% increase (as ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS 5 cited in "English language learners," 2011) With an annual growth rate of 10% (Ortiz, 2009) this group of students is expected to reach 40% of the classroom population by the 2030s (Thomas, 2001) States such as South Carolina, Arkansas, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia are going to be particularly impacted by this growth, as they are the states that are seeing the most growth in the Hispanic population (Ortiz) What is problematic about this growth? ELLs are not achieving on the same level as their peers (National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, 2010, p. 17) and as their prevalence continues to grow they will continue to make up a higher percentage of the student population in American classrooms. The Achievement Gap Contrary to what may be commonly believed, many ELLs are born in the U.S (Goldenberg, 2008) Therefore, these students have only ever attended the American school system. However, they are nowhere near the achievement level of their peers (National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, 2010, p. 17) As Calderon, Slavin, and Sanchez (2011) expressed: These students, who have been in U.S. schools since kindergarten, are still classified as limited English proficient when they reach middle or high school suggesting strongly that preschool and elementary programs are not adequately addressing the needs of English learners. (p. 104) For the majority of ELL's who have only ever known American schools, the responsibility falls solely on the American educational system to properly educate these students. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS 6 The achievement gap between ELLs and native English students is large. On the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, fourth grade ELLs scored 36 points lower than their peers on the reading section of the test and 25 points below their peers in math. The results in eighth grade were worse with a difference of 42 points in reading and 37 points in math (Goldenberg, 2008) Scoring lower in upper grades is a trend among many studies done on the achievement of ELLs, indicating that instead of improving with extended exposure to the English language, there is actually some kind of breakdown in the educational process of these students. Steve Drummond (2007) discovered this trend in an analysis of scores on The National Assessment of Educational Progress. When comparing the achievement gap in reading scores between Latino students and their English native classmates, he found that the gap was the most narrow in fourth grade, but from that point on it progressively widened as students moved through school. The responsibility for this breakdown falls on the American educational system. In reality, 85% of ELL students actually begin kindergarten in America and are failing to succeed in school (Ortiz, 2011) Simply put, the American educational system has failed ELLs and left them with a gap that is impossible to bridge on their own. A Call to Bridge the Gap Suggested reasons for the existence of the gap are broad. Some, such as Macswan (2000) would argue that this problem is linked to an undefined ethnocentrism possessed by Americans, including educators. Others, such as the Center for Education Policy (2007) would say it is linked to a lack of funding (p. 1) An even greater population, such as the Master Teacher (2010) would assert that it is due to lack of research or training to ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS 7 teach this demographic (p. 1) All of the following likely have played a role over the years, but regardless the reason for the gap, educators must begin to build bridges over it. In 1978, efforts were made to begin to bridge this gap in the court case of Casteneda v. Pickard. In this United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit case, a Mexican American father, Roy Casteneda, claimed that his children's school was discriminating against them and failing to provide them with adequate bilingual education to prepare them to participate in the mainstream classroom. The result of the case was The Equal Opportunities Act of 1974, which established a three part criterion for schools in educating ELLs. The criteria were as follows: The bilingual education program must be "based on sound educational theory." The program must be "implemented effectively with resources for personnel, instruction materials, and space." After a trial period, the program must be proven effective in overcoming language barriers/ handicaps. (Casteneda v. Pickard, 1978) Unfortunately, due to the current achievement gap, it is apparent that the programs in many schools today still do not live up to these standards as they ignore recent research on the topic, and there is clearly a lack of effectiveness in their current strategies. In recent times, legislation and educational standards committees are still addressing the issue of better educating ELLs and are placing similar demands on school systems, but the gap continues to remain. In 2002, the George Bush administration passed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation with bipartisan support. NCLB was passed to address achievement gaps of all types for all learners in American public schools. ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS 8 According to Harper and DeJong (2009) one of the major focuses of NCLB is minority groups, one of which is ELLs (p. 140) Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, each state must create and meet criteria for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in all students, including the sub groups (Accountability for Adequate Yearly Progress) Though ELLs are a major subgroup of AYP, the achievement gap still remains. Dr. Wayne E. Wright of the University of Texas and San Antonio led a discussion that claimed that the problems with the NCLB standards for ELLs are both the instability of the ELL subgroup and the problem with testing accommodations for ELLs. The ELL subgroup is so unstable because as soon as a student is near English proficiency, he or she is moved into the mainstream and no longer reflective of the ELL population in standardized testing, leaving the ELL subgroup to consistently have low preforming students due to their lack of fluency in the English language. Testing accommodations are also a major concern because while students may know the content, they often have trouble with comprehending the English standardized test. Other issues with NCLB include a standardization of content for students who have very diverse needs, and a lack of extended focus on literacy for ELLs. While the intentions were good with the reform of NCLB, it is possible that in standardizing education for ELLs the gap has been widened instead of bridged. In more current educational initiative, the Common Core Standards also address ELLs. The Common Core Standards are a set of national English and Mathematics standards that were created in 2010 for the purpose of a more consistent standard set to prepare American students to "compete successfully in the global economy" (Common Core Standards Initiative, 2011) The Common Core put out a document to address the ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS 9 expectations for ELLs under its mandates: ELLs are expected to meet all grade level standards. Yet the document offers little rationale of how they are to obtain the English proficiency to meet these standards. It merely insists that ELLs may need more time in certain areas "Application of Common Core Standards for English Language Learners"