LEARN NC, a program of the University of North Carolina at the Chapel Hill School of Education, has recently published an excellent series of well-researched and timely articles examining the cultural background and expectations of Latino students and their parents. These articles provide background on Latino immigrants in North Carolina, administrative challenges in binational education, and strategies through which teachers can build on what Latino students bring to their classrooms to create a learning environment that meets the needs of all students. An important body of scholarly work with practical applications, the articles cover five areas:

Background on Latino students
Climbing the school ladder: A challenging task for immigrant Latino students
From rural Mexico to North Carolina
Bridging language barriers

Connecting with Latino students
Funds of knowledge
Helping Latino students feel comfortable in your classroom

Policies for immigrant transfer students
The Binational Migrant Education Program

Curriculum for Latinos
Reaching Latinos through social studies
Deficit thinking

Possibilities for the future
The DREAM Act
Highly recommended reading for North Carolina ESL teachers!
Read articles at http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/brdglangbarriers


A Snapshot of the State of US Education
The recently released Condition of Education 2006, a congressionally mandated report that provides an annual statistical portrait of education in the US, gives mixed reviews of student achievement. Prepared by the National Center for Education Statistics and using the latest figures available, the report shows that high school students in the United States are consistently outperformed by those from Asian and some European countries on international assessments of mathematics and science. Fourth graders, by comparison, score as well or better than most of their international peers, although their counterparts in other countries are gaining ground. The 50 indicators included in the report cover all aspects of education, from student achievement to school environment and from early childhood through post-secondary education. Other findings show that:

-	US public schools have the most diverse student population than at any other time in history. Minority students make up 43 percent of public school enrollment. Between 1972 and 2004, the percentage of racial or ethnic minority students enrolled in the nation's public schools increased from 22 to 43 percent, primarily because of growth in Hispanic enrollment. In 2004, Hispanic students made up 19 percent of public school enrollment, up from 6 percent in 1972.
-	Nineteen percent of children ages 5-17 speak a language other than English at home. The number of children ages 5 to 17 who spoke a language other than English at home more than doubled between 1979 and 2004, from 3.8 million to 9.9 million.
-	Achievement gaps in reading, from the first assessment in 1992 to 2005, between white and black and white and Hispanic fourth- and eighth-graders have shown little measurable change.
-	Most parents report being "very satisfied" with their child's school.

The report is available at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe.

Expert Panel Says US Education System Must be Redesigned
Warning that Americans face a grave risk of losing their prosperity and high quality of life to better educated workers overseas, a panel of education, labor and other public policy experts yesterday proposed a far-reaching redesign of the United States education system that would include having schools operated by independent contractors and giving states, rather than local districts, control over school financing.

"If we continue on our current course, and the number of nations outpacing us in the education race continues to grow at its current rate," the panel reported, "the American standard of living will steadily fall relative to those nations, rich and poor, that are doing a better job."  The New York Times online, December 15, 2006


Bush, Lawmakers Meet to Plan Next Phase of NCLB 
President Bush pushed for renewal of the No Child Left Behind law in a January 9 meeting with congressional leaders but was noncommittal on their request for more money to help schools meet the law's requirements. Democrats, who won control of Congress in November, say the administration and Republican lawmakers have underfunded the law by about $50 billion, compared to what was originally called for. Republicans say it is common practice for legislation to be funded at less than the full level.

The lawmakers attending Monday's meeting struck a bipartisan note and pledged to work together to get the law renewed for five more years. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings listed a few areas of concern that came up during Monday's meeting, including how to test special education and limited-English speaking students.  Read entire article


Schools, Teachers Fight No Child Left Behind in Court
The National Education Association and districts in Michigan, Vermont and Texas have asked a federal appeals court to revive a lawsuit challenging the way government-mandated programs are funded.  The suit was dismissed in November 2005.

The three-judge appeals court panel took the case under advisement and did not say when it will rule. The outcome would apply directly to the districts in the case, but could affect how the law is enforced in schools across the country.
CNN.com, November 30, 2006


Rationing Education: Tested and Left Behind
According to Jennifer Booher-Jennings, it's ironic that the No Child Left Behind Act, 
intended to right the injustices suffered by poor and minority children, has in fact caused more rationing of education. Many educators game the NCLB system by reaching first for the low-hanging fruit, the students closest to passing. Dubbed the "bubble kids," because their scores put them on the bubble of the passing mark, these students give schools the biggest bang for the buck. In response to this incentive, many schools have rationed out practically all of their resources to these students. Meanwhile, the lowest-performing students, the "hopeless cases," languish. So do their high-performing classmates, who are relegated to the waiting room while the bubble kids are cured. Read entire article


Point of view . . .
Immigrants' Dreams vs. Out-of-state Tuition
All immigrant kids have at least one story they can recount about feeling out of place and awkward. Compound this feeling of difference with being "illegal" and it creates additional layers of marginalization. Undocumented kids grow up feeling unwanted and undesirable, struggling vigorously with their identity and their sense of belonging in the world.

Public universities in North Carolina charge undocumented students out-of-state tuition fees, even though they may have been educated in the state all their lives. Even at a reasonably priced public university, out-of-state tuition is staggering. Upon hearing these steep prices, undocumented high-schoolers can become despondent and drop out of school. There is plenty of evidence that even the smartest and most ambitious students among the undocumented are not going to college. What happens to the huge public investment, the millions of taxpayer dollars spent on K-12 education? Most likely, it gets wasted.

The opportunity to go to college typically comes around only once. Closing that door relegates immigrants to a life of unrealized potential and missed opportunities. They become an invisible second-class citizenry, truly the "illegals" society so eagerly labeled them to be.  Read entire article


On the lighter side . . .
"The school board cut 15% off all teachers"
For me, one of the serendipitous aspects of teaching ESL is being privy to language usage which, although incorrect, is frequently charming and delightful. In her article entitled ESOL Kids Say the Darndest Things, published in the Fall 2006 Carolina TESOL Newsletter, Yvonne Mitchell offers some examples.

"My mother is an inferior decorator," said a student. Another reported: "I always ate lunch at school. But every day my mother made me suffer." One student observed that "My father has to wear expensive business dresses to work every day." A romantically inclined ELL declared: "When you kiss me, you make my blood evaporate."

My intermediate students are required to submit "Listening Logs," whereby they check their comprehension via writing a summary of a TV program, newscast, or internet audio file.  I always look forward to reading these reports, for they invariably contain language which is intriguing, sometimes startling, and always interesting. Some examples:

One student wrote that: "Ross has a hard time forgetting his X-wife." A careful listener understood that "California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gave the key on the dress." (keynote address) Referring to the high price of cigarettes in the US as opposed to Japan, a student defiantly stated: "In spite of these handicaps, I smoke firmly today."  Finally, we can be sure our country is in good hands because one student reported that President Bush was "working hard in the overall office."

Several students listened to the presidential address on the one-year anniversary of the events of 9/11, when "A long year passed, the enemy attacked our country." Their interpretations of the president's speech were moving: "We see the images so many times they are sear our souls and we memory the heart."  "We seen a great of Americans in airline passengers who defiant their hijackers and ran a plan to the ground and spare the lives of others."  "We are managing the terror is hard and painful."

A message of hope from one student who, though not understanding the "letter" of the language, surely understands its spirit: "Though they died in the tragedy, they didn't die in the vain. And they will watch over United state, the America. God bless." Sheer poetry.
                                                                                           - Nancy Swisher, ESL Globe Editor