NCES: National Center for Education Statistics
I just received my Hispanic Caucus Newsletter. There was an interesting section about English language learners in the Public schools. The National Center for Education Statistics at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/ has reports on longitudinal and survey studies. You can down load these reports and others. I‚m giving you abstracts on a few of them.
English Language Learner Students in U.S. Public Schools: 1994 and 2000. Nationally, the number of ELL students in public schools increased from approximately two million students in 1993-94 to three million students in 1999-2000. Regionally, over half the national total of U.S. public school ELL students in 1999-2000 were in the West region. The issue Brief also examined the extent to which ELL students were concentrated in schools in 1999-2000. Nationally in 1999-2000, 62 percent of public school students were in schools with an ELL student population of less than 1 percent of the school population. However, in the West, 19 percent of students were in schools with ELL populations comprising at least 25 percent of the school population; 7 percent of students in the West were in schools comprising over 50 percent ELL students.
Comment: The West gained in numbers of ELL students and the Northeast lost ELL students. The Midwest and South increased between 1993-94 and 1999-2000, the South has more ELL students than the Northeast.
Who teaches Reading in Public Elementary Schools? The Assignments and Educational Preparation of Reading Teachers. This issue Brief describes the qualifications of public school elementary-level reading teachers relative to general elementary teachers, in terms of their educational attainment, their educational preparation and certification in reading, and their educational preparation and certification in elementary education. Data are drawn from the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). In 1999-2000, 36 percent of public school reading specialists reported an undergraduate or graduate level major in reading, 81 percent reported a state certification in reading, and 32 percent reported both a major and certification in reading. Among general elementary education teachers, 5 percent reported a major in reading, 3 percent reported certification in reading, and 2 percent reported both a major and certification in reading.
Comment: Three-quarters of reading specialists held full time positions and were more likely than other teachers to have part time or itinerant assignments. They tend to teach pull-out classes.
Full-day and Half-day Kindergarten in the United States: Findings from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99. Full-day kindergarten was more prevalent in public schools located in cities (64) and in small towns or rural areas (63 percent) compared with suburban or large town areas (46 percent). Overall, 56 percent of kindergarten children attended a full-day program. Among public school kindergarteners, 54 percent attended a full-day program. The percentage was higher among private school kindergartners (67%). In public schools, 79 percent of Black kindergarten children attended a full-day program; this is a higher rate than was found for White (49 percent), Hispanic (46 Percent) or Asian (40 Percent) public school kindergartners. Additionally, public school kindergartners whose family income was below the federal poverty threshold attended full-day programs at a higher rate (62 percent) than those from more fluent families (51 percent). Children in full-day classes learned more during the year in both reading and mathematics compared to those in half-day classes after adjusting for learning differences associated with race/ethnicity, poverty status, fall achievement level, sex, class size, relative amount of time for subject area instruction, and the presence of an instructional aide. Children in very large classes (25+) made slightly less progress in reading compared to those in medium size classes (18-24). Additionally, the presence of a classroom aide was not associated with differences in reading progress among White children in either half-day or full-day programs; however, Black children in full-day classes with an aide made greater progress in reading compared to Black children in full-day classes without an aide. Overall, the results presented in this report support previous research on full-day kindergarten and its positive association with learning in reading and mathematics during the kindergarten year.
These were interesting brief reports and there are more online. There are issues that these reports raise. For instance, who are the teachers that are teaching reading to those ELL children in the U.S.? Their qualifications are now something we need to think about. That and whether they have any understanding or training in English as a second language. I was upset that Hispanic children make up only 46 percent who attend full-day kindergarten classrooms. Especially since its been documented that children learn more reading and math skills when in full-day programs.
The more we learn about the people we are to collaborate with, the better we can serve children.
Visit us on Facebook 
