Background
The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is rank the 8th largest school district in the country, with approximately 135,000 students across 218 schools (School District of Philadelphia website). The district’s unique urban location allows for a more “racially and ethnically diverse” population of students. Thus making the majority of the students that make up the demographics of the district to include: Black/African Americans (51%), Hispanic/Latino (19.5%), white (13.7%) and Asians (8%). Of the 135,000 students enrolled in the district, roughly 13,000 were identified as English Language Learners (ELL), 9.8% of the district’s population. The School District of Philadelphia’s ELL students are identified through the district’s …show more content…
Once the students are identified, they are given a placement test to establish their English language proficiency level in reading, writing, listening and speaking. The students are then placed in appropriate programs once it has been determine that they need assistance with their English language skills development. These programs include: English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Transitional Bilingual Program (TBP), Dual Language and the Newcomer Learning Academy (NLA). Furthermore, the district offers ELL students and their family’s access to the Multilingual Assessment Center (MAC) as a way to bridge the communication with the local schools. The goal of these programs and services “is to develop English language proficiency necessary for academic success and to prepare ELLs for their transition into the general program of instruction”. However, with these provisions in mind, the Center for Schools and Communities reported, “national assessments in 2013 showed that reading scores of ELLs were significantly lower than non-ELLs, a trend that has changed …show more content…
According to the ESL Portal, there are best practice and instructions that serves as a guideline for those who works with the English language learner population. “State regulation, 22 Pa. Code § 4.26, Pennsylvania’s local education agencies (LEA) must provide a program for each student whose dominant language is not English for the purpose of facilitating the student’s achievement of English proficiency and the academic standards” (ESL Portal PA). The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) also mentioned, “the PDE provides professional learning opportunities in a variety of platforms delivered by national, state, and local experts”. However, this particular school lacked the professional training as well as the program needed for the success of these students. Without programs and proper interventions set in place to ensure the success of ELL students, how can we appropriately assess whether or not their struggles and challenges are due to actual academic difficulties? Nevertheless, it appeared that the school did try to accommodate the needs of the students with the resources that they have
The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is rank the 8th largest school district in the country, with approximately 135,000 students across 218 schools (School District of Philadelphia website). The district’s unique urban location allows for a more “racially and ethnically diverse” population of students. Thus making the majority of the students that make up the demographics of the district to include: Black/African Americans (51%), Hispanic/Latino (19.5%), white (13.7%) and Asians (8%). Of the 135,000 students enrolled in the district, roughly 13,000 were identified as English Language Learners (ELL), 9.8% of the district’s population. The School District of Philadelphia’s ELL students are identified through the district’s …show more content…
Once the students are identified, they are given a placement test to establish their English language proficiency level in reading, writing, listening and speaking. The students are then placed in appropriate programs once it has been determine that they need assistance with their English language skills development. These programs include: English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Transitional Bilingual Program (TBP), Dual Language and the Newcomer Learning Academy (NLA). Furthermore, the district offers ELL students and their family’s access to the Multilingual Assessment Center (MAC) as a way to bridge the communication with the local schools. The goal of these programs and services “is to develop English language proficiency necessary for academic success and to prepare ELLs for their transition into the general program of instruction”. However, with these provisions in mind, the Center for Schools and Communities reported, “national assessments in 2013 showed that reading scores of ELLs were significantly lower than non-ELLs, a trend that has changed …show more content…
According to the ESL Portal, there are best practice and instructions that serves as a guideline for those who works with the English language learner population. “State regulation, 22 Pa. Code § 4.26, Pennsylvania’s local education agencies (LEA) must provide a program for each student whose dominant language is not English for the purpose of facilitating the student’s achievement of English proficiency and the academic standards” (ESL Portal PA). The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) also mentioned, “the PDE provides professional learning opportunities in a variety of platforms delivered by national, state, and local experts”. However, this particular school lacked the professional training as well as the program needed for the success of these students. Without programs and proper interventions set in place to ensure the success of ELL students, how can we appropriately assess whether or not their struggles and challenges are due to actual academic difficulties? Nevertheless, it appeared that the school did try to accommodate the needs of the students with the resources that they have