Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Educated Reporter: Closing the Gaps: Improving Outcomes and Opportunities for English Language Learners

The Educated Reporter: Closing the Gaps: Improving Outcomes and Opportunities for English Language Learners:

Closing the Gaps: Improving Outcomes and Opportunities for English Language Learners



This week, we're revisiting some of the top sessions from EWA's 66th National Seminar held at Stanford University. We asked journalists who attended to contribute posts, and today's guest blogger is Trevon Milliard of the Las Vegas Review-JournalStream any session from National Seminar in your browser, or subscribe via RSS or iTunes. For more on diversity in public education, visit EWA's Story Starters online resource. 

More than 5.3 million American public school students would struggle to understand this sentence.

These students need to be taught the English language in addition to the usual material in math, science and social studies, presenting a monumental challenge for educators nationwide, according to Patricia Gandara, a UCLA education professor whom President Barack Obama appointed to the Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. She is also co-director of the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“In the words of teachers themselves, they don’t feel qualified,” said Gandara,