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Editor’s Note

“Language exerts hidden power, like a moon on the tides.”
—Rita Mae Brown, Starting From Scratch

The power of language is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the classroom. It forms the basis of learning and can be an almost insurmountable barrier for some children who enter our schools without English proficiency.

Ten years ago, the first issue of Northwest Education spotlighted “The Hispanic Child.” Its stories provided descriptions of “teachers and administrators who are reaching across the cultural and linguistic divide to educate the newcomers.” A decade later, the divide has grown wider and Hispanic students—who make up the largest minority group in Northwest classrooms—have been joined by growing numbers of newcomers from countries that were once just distant locations in an atlas: from Somalia and Sudan to the Ukraine, Cambodia, and Laos. Indeed, today one in 12 Northwest students has limited English proficiency—even if they were born in the United States—and the number of Hispanic students in the region is increasing by 7 percent each year.

Giving these children a strong foundation in the language of our education system has become not only an equity and social justice issue, but one with federal consequences. Under No Child Left Behind, states must meet “annual measurable achievement objectives” on students’ progress toward English proficiency. In addition, the performance of these students on state reading, mathematics, and science tests enters into the mix when determining whether schools are making adequate yearly progress.

As Arlene Sandberg, an English as a Second Language (ESL) resource teacher in Anchorage, points out, “The classroom is changing. Before, it was, ‘this kid’s bilingual, that’s bilingual’s problem.’ A lot of classroom teachers never saw their role as a stakeholder in a child’s achievement if the child was bilingual or special education. You can’t do that anymore. This child belongs to all of us.”

State assessments in reading and math reveal that achievement gaps between English language learners (ELL) and all students range from 21 to 57 percent in the Northwest. How to attack the gap has spawned highly charged debates over program models and legislative policies at a time when tensions are rising over a national immigration bill. There is even disagreement over how to describe children who are not fluent English speakers: ELL, LEP, ESL, or EAL (English as an additional language). We have chosen to use the term English language learner throughout this publication, unless another term is used in an official capacity.

Rather than focus on the contentious issues, this Northwest Education edition looks at how schools and districts are tailoring ELL instruction to match their demographics and their resources; differences among the new state language proficiency assessments; and approaches to key concerns like parental involvement. Also in this issue, we introduce a new section—NWREL News—with information on the Laboratory’s current research, products, and services.

As always, we welcome your feedback and information on how your school is meeting today’s educational challenges.

—Rhonda Barton, bartonr@nwrel.org