Limited-English Students Struggling to Close Language Gap

Four-Fifths of English-Poor Students Are U.S. Natives

A 2005 Urban Institute report found that 56 percent of children who enter high school with limited English proficiency are U.S.-born -- which means, according to the institute, "that many children are not learning English even after seven or more years" in U.S. schools.

With one in four new U.S. students expected to have limited fluency by 2025, Office of English Language Acquisition Director Kathleen Leos was online Friday, March 2 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the problem and what the Education Department is doing to address it.

A transcript follows.

As assistant deputy secretary, Leos has visited 35 states and Puerto Rico to interpret No Child Left Behind, train administrators and create federal-to-state-to-local partnerships to ensure that state agencies and communities understand the responsibilities they have to include limited-English students in the Act's accountability systems.

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Kathleen Leos: Good afternoon, thank you for joining me in today's chat on a topic of great importance to me personally and professionally -- the education of our nation's 5 1/2 million English language learners and the role of language development as the foundation of strong literacy skills for our ELL academic achievement.

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San Bruno, Calif.: What should we be doing with the large number of working adults who have limited English language ability? What new programs have been developed in the last 10 years?

Kathleen Leos: There are many new programs developed for English language development for adults. The office that can provide information to you is the Office of Adult Education. I am happy to pass this request to them and they can give you current information.

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Silver Spring, Md.: I've heard similar statistics before, but in different contexts. The last time I heard it, it was a Latino activist almost advertising that "The vast majority of third generation Americans of Latino decent speak English fluently". Third generation!? Over 50 percent of high schoolers non-fluent in English were born in this country!? What is the reasoning for these numbers in recent years? Certainly there is FAR better education than there was 90-plus years ago. But yet, when my great-grandparents came here from eastern Europe speaking not a world of English, they learned enough to get by. And my grandparents, first generation Americans, didn't even speak Hungarian outside of a few words. While I don't claim that the attitude of my great-grandparents was correct -- don't look back, that's the old country and we're Americans now -- I feel like there's a certain pride in being a part of one's new culture that is lost in family's of foreign descent these days. I just can't see any other reason -- it's by no means the educational system, because I promise you no one was teaching any of my grandparents English aside from their, parents who struggled to learn it themselves. It's not that ethnic groups live in closed communities -- my great grandparents all lived in HEAVILY Hungarian neighborhoods of N.J. So what is possibly the reasoning that makes the end result so vastly different from the turn of the century?

Kathleen Leos: There are over 5 million non-English speaking students in America's schools. They are the fastest growing group of students at an annual rate of 10 percent. Currently 1 in 9 students in our classrooms are "limited English proficient," or LEP. By 2025 that number will hover around 1 in 4 students. No Child Left Behind, the current reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, is the education legislation that addresses the English language development and academic achievement of all LEP students in a systemic and comprehensive manner. All children identified as LEP must acquire the English language and achieve at the same high standard in reading and math set by the state for all students.

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Washington, D.C.: I find the quote used to introduce this topic incredibly simple and unsophisticated, much like the authors, policy makers, and business leaders, at the forefront of this debate. First, all native English speakers are academic English language learners, whereas ESL learners must first attain communicative competence prior to making the transition to academic language. The Urban Institutes report also fails to point out the fact that meaningful learning is almost entirely experiential, i.e., driven by family and community norms. If English language learners are perpetually being modeled nonstandard, poor English, what do you expect these students to learn? Add the fact that most of these students are taught with black Americans that also speak a nonstandard form of English creates a major obstacle to learning academic language. Simple solutions are always championed by simpletons that are almost always monolingual and have never migrated to a new country, with no money or education, and then forced to take a test to prove their mastery of the English language. Proposed solutions, from the right, are always brutal and tantamount to parental outsourcing and brute force immersion. Please respond.

Kathleen Leos: There is a statutory provision in NCLB Title III that requires states to ensure that the teachers who teach "limited English proficient" students are fluent in the language of instruction. The level of fluency is determined by the state but must be demonstrated by the individual with both oral and written exams. The district is allowed to develop the assessment and receive state approval or the state may develop the assessment and send it to the districts to administer.

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Arlington, Va.: At the risk of sounding too hide-bound, maybe part of the problem is that English language programs are more aimed at promoting community than teaching English. I know a little of what I speak. My stepson matriculated into Arlington's English for foreigners' program (HILT) in the middle of the seventh grade. He was one of two students who were not of Hispanic origin. Most of his class had been in the HILT since first grade. Part of his incentive to move on to the "regular" classes (he tested out of HILT by ninth grade) is he felt like the proverbial you-know-what at the family reunion. Now I realize that my stepson had the advantage of living with a native speaker, but it seems to me that somehow the school system should be putting more pressure -- that's right, pressure -- on students to learn English more quickly so that these limited resources can be best applied. I get the feeling that these kids would rather have stayed with their friends than learn English.

Kathleen Leos: All students identified as a Limited English Proficient student through a language assessment are immediately recommended for placement in a language education instruction program. The program is to address the English language development needs of the student and academic content knowledge that is at the appropriate grade level as soon as the students enters the school. NCLB Title III then requires each student to be assessed annually for progress made in their acquisition of the English language and attainment of the language. In grades 3-8, and one time in high school, the student must also take a content test in reading and math unless the student is a "recent arrival," then a different manner of assessment is allowed.

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San Juan de Puerto Rico, USA:"Limited-English" speakers, second-language households, when Spanish became a foreign language in Estados Unidos? The move for universal bilingual education makes sense in economic terms. Should not the USA educational system be geared towards a global economy?

Kathleen Leos: Yes.

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Springfield, Va.: I'm bothered that so many high school freshmen with poor English have been in U.S. schools for so long. But it sounds to me like a problem with the homes, not the schools. Kids who have received ESOL instruction for that long and still have limited English are not hearing, speaking, or reading English at home. As a result, they come to school each Monday having heard no English since Friday, and they come to school each September having heard no English since June. How can parents with limited English skills themselves help their children with homework, reading, etc? And how can we encourage parents to take a more active role in helping their children acquire English without crossing the line into cultural assimilation?

Kathleen Leos: There have been several surveys taken in households where English is not the first language spoken at home. Eighty-seven percent of the families surveyed indicated that the No. 1 priority for them and their children is education and that they want their children to learn English.

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Washington, D.C.: Ms. Leos, good luck on your quest. I am bilingual and run a day care center in a predominantly Hispanic section of the city. It has been horrifying to discover that many of my children not only don't speak English, which is to be expected, but many don't speak Spanish, either! Their parents are so harried trying to make a living, worried about being deported, and the like that they barely talk to their children, much less read to them or teach them their ABC's. There was an article in The Post to this effect a couple years ago, which caused outrage but no action that I can discern. This simply shows the scope of the problem. I think that my two children, who are also bilingual, are getting a decent education, but keeping in contact with their teachers, monitoring their progress, and helping with homework, etc., takes a major commitment of time and energy. If parents don't have time to even talk to their children, it's unrealistic to think they will be able to do this. I wish you well but can't say I am optimistic about your chances of success.

Kathleen Leos: The U.S. Department of Education has published and distributed information nationwide to parents (in multiple languages), teachers, districts and states on the importance of the parent's involvement in their child's education. Title I funds are also made available for districts and schools to support and encourage a variety of activities to include parents in school decision-making. The goal is to have parents have as much information as possible to make good decisions related to the education of their child.

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Rockville, Md.: We are seeing some school districts in Virginia resisting the testing of English Language Learners (ELL) on the Commonwealth's Standards of Learning assessments because ELLs are not ready to take the assessments. Do you have any suggestions on how Virginia can make the assessments ready for ELLs? It seems that this is a two-way street and states can also make the tests more accessible for ELLs and well as ELLs getting ready to take them.

Kathleen Leos: Secretary Spellings announced a special LEP State Partnership Initiative in 2006 that invited all states to work with assessment experts and practitioners in the development of valid and reliable content assessments that appropriately include LEP students. All states are voluntary members of the partnership.

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Fairfax, Va.: As a immigrant to the United States who was in ESL for one year, I have many opinions about the issue. I noticed that some of the kids that learned English the fastest were those that completely stopped speaking Spanish at home. I recall that several of my classmates learned English this way, and it really annoyed me. Sure, they may learn the language, but at the same time, they lose Spanish. Only 10 years later, when they realize that speaking Spanish is an asset in the job market, do they acknowledge that they should have continued speaking their native language. So the answer to the problem, therefore, must be found at schools, and not primarily at home, I feel.

Kathleen Leos: The No Child Left Behind Act allows states and districts to select any language education program approach that the community, district or state thinks is appropriate for the children in the district. Some may choose bilingual programs, others may choose English as a Second Language programs or variations of either. The program choice is a state or local decision.

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Baltimore: There shouldn't be any excuses not to be able to help your children improve English, no matter your socioeconomic or cultural condition.

Is the child failing English? Make the child take intensive English classes after school, take the child to the library, read a book.... make the child proud.

Parents don't speak English? Make time to take ESL courses or free English courses offered. I did it.

Don't have time to learn English or help your kids? That is paternalistic and getting the parents off the hook. People should be held responsible.

Kathleen Leos: The U.S. Department of Education provides funds for adult education classes, including learning English. Funds are available for family literacy programs and also parent involvement activities. Different program offices within the Department of Education monitors states and local districts to ensure that the federal funds are spent on the activities to increase English language acquisition and parent involvement and increased information to parents about their child's academic status.

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Springfield, Va.: I'm not as interested in surveying parents' avowed dedication to helping their children learn English as I am in statistics showing how many parents learn the language themselves and help the children learn it. This information would be far more telling. Isn't it important to determine if the problem here is a problem at home, rather than attributing it to something the schools aren't doing correctly?

Kathleen Leos: The Office of Adult and Vocational Education has current statistics and can be provided at a later date. There was a study done a few years ago that determined that 40 million adults in the U.S. are not functionally literate. The majority of the adults are English-language learners. Also there are more adults in ESL classes in the U.S. than in basic adult education classes.

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Manassas, Va.: The last words of the article resonated the most with me.

"In other words, cultural differences should not be allowed to become a justification for inaction."

Action, I fervently believe, starts with the family.

Ten years ago, I came to this country with my wife and baby with practically nothing. I already knew English, but my wife did not. For two years, she took ESL classes every weekday in the evening for four hours. Now, she reads and writes English correctly, is a proud U.S. citizen, and is expected to get her BA degree at the end of the year.

All of us went through tremendous hardships those years, but we always understood how important it was to speak and write English correctly. We constantly apply this understanding by being very involved in our kids' education.

By the way, I work two full-time jobs, yet my wife and I still find enough time to be together as a family and to contribute to their development.

The way I see it, there simply is no excuse to neglect one's child's mastery of English.

Kathleen Leos: Your personal story is an inspiration to many families and children. I hope you tell your story often and in varied audiences.

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N.Y.: That "many children are not learning English even after seven or more years" has far more to do with nurture than nature.

Most remedial English classes fail because of the basic fact that you're recreating the same conditions that have prevented people from improving after "all those year in U.S. schools." Instead of clustering non-proficient kids together, as it always happens -- which is segregation, even if unintended -- spread them out. Set up your environment for immersion. Draw people out of their comfort zones -- I'm not talking about assimilating the poorer performers (let's face it, inevitably there's a slight supremacist tone to that kind of talk). I'm talking about drawing the "native-sounding" speakers out of their comfort zone just as well, so that people do not just naturally fall in with people like them, as most humans are naturally inclined to do.

Kathleen Leos: NCLB Title III has new requirements in how limited English proficient students receive language instruction. The program approach is up to the state or local district. However, no matter what approach is used it must be based on current scientific-based research. There are many new research projects underway in the U.S. related to the acquisition and development of language while learning academic content knowledge. Several researchers are beginning to publish their work and train teachers in new methods and strategies.

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Northern Virginia: So what you are saying is that the $60 million dollars a year Fairfax County Public Schools pay each year for ESOL programs is basically a waste?

Kathleen Leos: I think this question references the article.

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Washington, D.C.: Why is it that Maryland (and other states) can successfully test second-language children and Va. cannot?

Kathleen Leos: All states have joined Secretary Spellings LEP Partnership Initiative to develop content assessments that appropriately include LEP students in reading and math assessments.

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Kathleen Leos: I want to thank everyone today for joining me in this important discussion on how to best educate our Limited English Proficient students throughout America's classrooms.

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