Latino student struggles challenge Conn. reformers
In this Friday, Dec. 2, 2011 photo, bilingual teacher Millie Vera, left, hugs parent Blanca Salas at the end of a parent-teacher conference for Salas' daughter Lizbeth at Windham Center School in Windham, Conn. Connecticut's investment in teaching of English as a second language declined steadily over the last decade despite a 50 percent increase in the Latino population. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)WINDHAM, Conn.—As a parent liaison in a school district with a fast-growing Hispanic majority, Ana Lozada navigates a deep cultural divide: Parents think teachers are racist. Teachers doubt parents' commitment. And in many cases, one side speaks only English and the other only knows Spanish.
The disconnect helps explain the struggles of public schools in Windham, a district in rural eastern Connecticut that ranks near the bottom in a state known better for high-performing schools in the tony suburbs of New York City. Last year, the state took the unprecedented step of intervening here to address budget problems, falling test scores and soaring dropout rates.
But the frustrations of the Latino families that Lozada encounters are hardly unique to this blue-collar former mill town: Hispanic achievement gaps have