Report: Non-English speaking students need more help

Date: 9/15/2010

Sept. 15, 2010

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

SPRINGFIELD -- The School Committee heard a presentation on Thursday about English as a Second Language (ESL) students that Superintendent Dr. Alan Ingram described as "not a pretty picture in all situations."

According to the report, there are significant achievement gaps between those students who are native English speakers and those for whom English is a second language.

The School Committee was told a greater emphasis must be made to train teachers

Beth Narvaez, the chief academic officer for the School Department and Dr. Rosann Tung of the Center for Collaborative Education presented the report.

Ingram introduced it by noting that there are over 50 languages spoken by Springfield students, with 24 percent of the students speaking another language and 13 percent with limited English proficiency (LEP).

The report noted that 91 percent of those LEP students speak Spanish. The next two most frequently spoken languages among the LEP students are Somali, with 3.5 percent and Vietnamese, with 2.3 percent.

The statistical date from the School Department showed that LEP students have a higher rate of special education needs and Tung noted there is "no reason" immigrant groups should have this higher rate.

Ingram said there would be a separate report presented on special education students very soon. School Committee Member Christopher Collins said that, in years past, the district's special education programs attracted students with needs to the city, boosting the percentage of those students.

Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment (MEPA) results, the standardized test given to LEP students, showed that Springfield students have not only seen a decline from 2006 to 2009 but also scored considerably lower in reading and writing than listening and speaking English. What was also discovered, Tung noted, is the participation in the MEPA test was less than what it should have been for the district.

Attendance rates start out in elementary school almost the same for LEP students and native English speakers but decline in middle school and high school. Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System results in elementary grades are almost identical for the two groups, but also fall away in middle and high schools.

The dropout rate is also higher for LEP students.

The LEP students are not evenly distributed throughout the city's schools, Narvaez said, with 12 schools having more than 20 percent LEP students and one school having 36 percent. Only 5 percent of the city's teachers have an ESL license, she added.

The report recommended initial actions be taken to address the problem that included developing a team approach to the needs of English Language Learners and incorporating the program into the academic department. Narvaez said there has to be expanded training programs for teachers and increased licensing of ESL teachers.

There must also be an analysis of the needs of each school as Narvaez noted some school's LEP students are testing higher than others. She said what Worcester and Boston are doing to raise achievement levels should also be studied.

Ninety percent of the LEP students are eligible for the free/reduced lunch program compared with 81 percent of the overall population of the Springfield Public Schools. School Committee Member Antoinette Pepe contested this apparent link between academic achievement and poverty and said individual students should be evaluated.

Ingram agreed the free lunch indicator "was not a predictor of educational success."

"Poverty is not an excuse for poor performance," he added.