Many in ESOL Classes, But Less Being Spent

Manassas has one of the highest concentrations of English-learning students in Virginia, but the city's small school system spends significantly less on specialized English teaching for those students than other systems nearby, according to state and local education data.

Nearly 35 percent of the 6,500 students in the city's public schools have limited English proficiency, the highest percentage in Northern Virginia, according to Virginia Department of Education figures.

Yet Manassas is spending less than 3 percent of its $91 million budget this school year on English for Speakers of Other Languages programs. The ESOL funding amounts to not quite $1,200 per English-learning student.

Fairfax County schools spend just under 3 percent of their budget on ESOL programs, according to local data, for the 18.5 percent of county students who are learning English. As a result, Fairfax spends more than $1,900 on ESOL programs for each English learner. Comparable data show Arlington County, which also has a high concentration of English-learning students, spends almost $3,500 a year on specialized programming for each of them.

Not everyone is convinced that Manassas schools have done all they can for these students who need extra help.

"My concern is they become fluent in English or they won't be able to make it and neither will their parents," said Mary Ann Husk, president of a parent-teacher organization at Weems Elementary School. More than half the school's 560 students are learning English.

"The demographics have changed so quickly," said Angie Seward, a second-grade ESOL teacher at Weems. "I think [school officials] are now starting to realize that they need to change their thinking."

In recent years, waves of immigration have brought growing numbers of English-learning students to Manassas. There were about 1,650 in fall 2004, 1,930 in 2005 and 2,260 in 2006. The total is expected to reach almost 2,600 in the fall.

School officials say they are doing the best they can with the funding they have.

"There isn't any question about going back and asking for more money. I know I have to take the money I'm receiving and build a needs-based budget," said Manassas schools Superintendent Gail Pope. She said the system is striving to ensure that its limited ESOL dollars are doing maximum good.

The ideal ratio of ESOL teachers to English-learning students is 1 to 33, said Allen C. Griffith, chairman of a state committee on limited-English students who is also a Fairfax City School Board member. In Manassas, the ratio is 1 to 59, according to local data. Alexandria's ratio is 1 to 36, and Fairfax County's is 1 to 32. Loudoun County public schools have the lowest ratio in the area, 1 to 20.

Michaelene Meyer, deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Manassas, said such figures show that "we need to look and compare ourselves to other divisions to see if we really are supporting it to the level we should."

Manassas officials point to Weems as a model for elementary instruction.

For third-grade students who are English learners, teachers Jennifer Bell and Lilly Diaz create instructional materials using elements from the children's native countries in the lessons to pique interest and using visual and hands-on aids.

In a recent reading lesson, Diaz read a story about making chocolate. She asked her students, "Do you have cocoa in Mexico? Do you have cocoa in El Salvador?" A chorus of yeses followed.

"They get a sense of self-importance," which gives them confidence, Bell said. She followed with a lesson on fractions in which the children broke chocolate bars into pieces to represent numerators and denominators.

For second-graders, Seward and Mary McNamara write key elements of their lessons on chalkboards, ask questions repeatedly and build on what children know. Second- and third-graders are grouped according to their level of English comprehension to help target lessons.

On the secondary level, Osbourn High School is seeking to develop a program that addresses the needs of teenagers with no English skills while pushing them to enter the regular curriculum within two years, assistant principal Eric Barna said. He said the program is similar to one in Arlington dubbed "high-intensity language training."

Such techniques and other experiments are proliferating in schools that serve high numbers of immigrants and immigrant families. But advocates say funding is critical.

"We know how to make it happen," Griffith said. "We know how to make them succeed. We have models for it, but we know it costs a lot of money."

It is unclear exactly how funding levels are related to academic achievement for Manassas students. Like other Northern Virginia school systems, Manassas in the last school year met academic standards under the No Child Left Behind law for limited-English students, state test results show. Manassas was about average in Northern Virginia, with a 70 percent pass rate for English performance for such students. Fairfax County had the highest rate, with 77 percent passing, and Loudoun the lowest, with 62 percent passing.

Virginia's testing program for English learners is in flux, however, because of a federal mandate to raise the difficulty of tests given to many of those students.

Manassas officials said they expect in the coming year to have internal test data on student performance that will help schools revamp their curricula. Pope said that the city's teachers put a premium on literacy instruction, building good reading and writing skills by emphasizing basics.

"I know children are making progress because I've been around, and I see them on a weekly basis and I've seen children grow this year."