The Educated Guess Half of English learners left behind

The Educated Guess

Half of English learners left behind

Posted in English learners

A new report on English learners in California is indicting and disturbing. At the end of elementary school, half of English learners still lack basic fluency in academic English. Their future in school is bleak without it.
Long-term English learners – students who have been in school at least six years without becoming proficient in English — will fall father behind once they arrive in middle or high school. Ninety percent are two or more years behind in math and English language arts and have gotten at least two Ds or Fs in the past year. By the time they are juniors in high school, three-quarters will be testing at the bottom – basic or far below basic – in math and English on state tests.
(Read more and comment on this post)

By John Fensterwald on June 1st, 2010

Layoffs scaring off future teachers

Posted in Equity issues, Teacher Development, Tenure

Many of the 26,000 teachers in California who got pink slips in March may have their jobs back by August, if their colleagues agree to furloughs or give-backs and if districts pass parcel taxes next month and come up with other savings. Los Angeles Unified alone has rescinded two-thirds of the 3,100 layoff notices it issued two months ago.
But the damage to the teaching profession will last beyond the disruptions and uncertainty of the next few months. In a paper issued this week, the Santa Cruz-based Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning openly worries about the impact on the future supply of teachers that California will need over the next decade.
(Read more and comment on this post)