When it comes to providing English learners with an equitable education, some researchers point to the need for more-strategic collaboration between general classroom and content teachers and multilingual specialists.

About 10 percent of all public school students were classified as English learners in 2019. While only 2 percent of all public school teachers teach English as a Second Language as their main assignment, 64 percent of all public school teachers have at least one English learner in their class, according to the latest federal data available, which is from the 2017-18 school year.

At the Sept. 28 to 30 conference of the WIDA consortium—which offers language assessments for English learners in 36 states, several U.S. territories, and federal agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Education—tips and tricks were shared on how to best meet the needs of this growing student population, including the call for collaboration among educators.

Andrea Honigsfeld, a professor of teacher education for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, or TESOL, at Molloy University in New York, and Valentina Gonzalez, an educational consultant and author for Seidlitz Education, a consulting group for those working with multilingual learners, presented actionable practices that teachers can use when working with English learners and multilingual certified in their districts.

The hope is that if all educators in a district view multilingual learners as their students, rather than just the responsibility of certified or an add-on to their already packed workload, it prevents marginalization of these students and benefits teachers as well.

“When we collaborate with one another, we’re reducing the workload we have,” Gonzalez said.

The co-presenters shared the following five key strategies to bring about effective collaboration.

Collaborative planning

Collaboration starts at planning meetings. Schools should create opportunities for at least a weekly common planning time where grade-level teams at the elementary level, or content-area certified at the secondary level, can work together with the English language development team or specialists. They would examine the curriculum and plan out how they will scaffold and differentiate instruction for multilingual learners and others who need the extra support, Honigsfeld said.

In an ideal world, she added, administrators would set up two of these weekly planning periods so that one could be a larger group or team meeting to focus on questions such as what are the curricular goals and grade-level standards. The second meeting would dive deeper into students’ individual and group needs.

Questions in these collaborative planning meetings should also consider: what type of academic language and literacy opportunities are embedded in the lesson; how can teachers ensure all students can be successful and participate fully; and how to use scaffolding to ensure students understand the content while being appropriately challenged.

Intentional partnership building

At some point during the school week there may be teachers who are doing exemplary work when it comes to supporting multilingual learners alongside their peers and others who are still learning what strategies work best. This is where educators can intentionally build bridges by, for example, inviting colleagues to visit during certain class periods to either observe or offer feedback, Honigsfeld said.

“Many seasoned teachers might have started out their careers with the notion of ‘my classroom, my kids, I close the door and behind the door it’s my way of reaching these students,’ ” Honigsfeld said. “And with the best of intentions, we’re creating silos or pockets of excellence.”

In cases of resistance to such partnerships or to partnerships with a specialist within the classroom, finding ways to build trust among colleagues is key, Gonzalez said.

“Sometimes just talking less and listening more offers the other partner space to contribute, aiming for parity in the lesson, aiming for parity in the classroom, or in planning, and sharing the spotlight with one another,” she added.

Content and language integration

The ability to incorporate academic language lessons into a multitude of subjects is key for supporting multilingual learners and their peers.

For instance, in math class, teachers can think about typical sentence structures that the students use in a math lesson, such as the comparative forms of “less than” or “greater than.” Within the math lesson, teachers can explore these language forms and other nuances of academic language (such as using “than” rather than “then”) as part of the content area, Honigsfeld said.

Integrating content and language also means coming up with creative opportunities for class participation like a talking activity where students articulate the thinking that goes beyond solving a math problem.

And teachers must remember that “every student, even your highly gifted monolingual, English-speaking student will be an academic language learner,” Honigsfeld added. “It’s not an add on, it is not something that now we’re taking away time from all the other students. Instead, we’re supporting all students in their academic language development.”

Technology integration

Honigsfeld and Gonzalez advocate for teachers to use technology as a tool both for collaborating with fellow colleagues (such as sharing resources on Padlet), and for better engaging all students, and particularly English learners.

Multilingual learners, for instance, can benefit from watching prerecorded lectures they can pause and rewind and then dig deeper into with the teacher in class. This is something that can benefit their monolingual peers as well, Honigsfeld said.

Tools like Flipgrid can also allow students to record themselves, so they respond orally rather than in writing and practice that aspect of language acquisition.

Coaching and consultation

Recognizing that there are school districts that struggle to recruit and retain enough certified to support their English learners and the heavy workloads teachers already have, coaching and consultation among educators in a school is helpful, Honigsfeld said.

This can look like teachers across class periods sharing materials and strategies to support multilingual learners since they each only get about 15 or 30 minutes to work directly with these students, she added.

It goes back to the importance of all educators thinking of themselves as the teachers of multilingual learners even when that student population isn’t as sizable in their school as other groups. And district and school administrators play their own role by giving teachers the time and resources needed to make all five of these strategies work, Honigsfeld said.

According to Metro Nashville Public Schools’ open data portal, of Nashville’s roughly 82,600 students, 22,069 — about 27 percent — are active English learners or have transitioned out of the district’s English Learners program within the past four years. These students bring 129 languages to the district and represent 145 countries. The top five most-spoken non-English languages are Spanish, Arabic, Kurdish, Somali and Burmese. 

But multilingual students represent much more than numbers and data points. They and their families have a lot to offer to the district. Former English learners include MNPS student board member Abenezer Haile and former student board member Angelie Quimbo. Quimbo was also a co-valedictorian at Hillwood High School — one of the 18 2021-22 valedictorians and salutatorians who, at some point in their education, received services through MNPS’ Office of English Learners. MNPS’ executive director of English Learners Molly Hegwood tells the Scene that many students who exit the EL program outperform their peers whose primary language is English.

Audrey Sika Mvibudulu-Feruzi was an EL student who later became an EL teacher, though she’s since moved out of the district. “Initially, when I went to college, I just wanted to be a general teacher,” Mvibudulu-Feruzi tells the Scene via Zoom. “After two years and a half in, I just told myself, ‘No, let me work with the EL population, that’s where my heart is at, that’s where I came from.’ ” Drawing from needs she had as a student, Mvibudulu-Feruzi created an afterschool program that helped EL students take charge of their education. 

There are many roles within the district that support EL students, from immigrant youth transition certified to EL teachers, parent outreach translators, student ambassadors and more. There’s also the more targeted Students With Interrupted Formal Education program for those who have large gaps in their education — typically refugees or asylees. The state requires a ratio of one EL teacher for every 35 students. MNPS has only 67 in-person interpreters to serve the thousands of students who are active or exact English learners — along with their families — but the district also utilizes an over-the-phone interpretation service, which it was able to expand using federal COVID-19 relief money. Those dollars also provided more opportunities for teachers to get EL certifications, but whether those resources will continue at this level when those dollars run out remains to be seen.

As is the case throughout MNPS, EL students could certainly benefit from more staff support. Though the district was not able to provide exact vacancy numbers in time for the publication of this article, Hegwood tells the Scene: “I wouldn’t say our staffing is any better or worse than any of the other areas. It’s very similar in the sense of trends across the district.” Efat Welson is an MNPS interpreter and a translator for the special education department. She tells the Scene she’d still like to see the district hire more interpreters — a request she made directly to the board of education in April.

EL teachers who work with students are not interpreters, and they don’t necessarily speak the languages of the students they serve. “Teacher fluency in the students’ native language is not required for strong English language instruction, but it certainly is a plus,” says former school board member Gini Pupo-Walker, who directs equitable-education advocacy group Education Trust in Tennessee. “That said, hiring bilingual staff at all levels is important and should be a priority for districts.” 

Serving multilingual families means more than providing interpreters and classroom assistance. It takes a spectrum of wraparound services to truly support students — EL and otherwise — but those services aren’t always executed perfectly. While the district has interpretation services, for example, it can be difficult for some families to know how to access them.

“I think there’s a lot of information that’s available — I don’t think there’s enough information that’s accessible,” says Maria Paula Zapata, director of programs at community nonprofit Conexión Américas. “And that point of, ‘How does it become accessible?’ I think is a greater question that we would need to involve families to really get at, like what does that mean?”

Conexión Américas has a Parents as Partners program that allows Spanish-speaking parents to connect with one another and learn about the school district. Zapata describes the program as a “really beautiful peer-to-peer model, where it’s not just a staff member saying, ‘Here’s what you need to do.’ But it’s actual parents saying, ‘Hey, I’ve gone through this program as well. I’ve had children in the school system … and here’s some things that we think can be helpful.’ ”

While programs like these are often helpful, they don’t exist in all languages spoken in the district. 

MNPS leverages outside support through its Community Achieves initiative, which connects students and their families with services that can tend to a range of needs. There’s also a collaborative effort from local organizations, led by Nashville’s teachers’ union, the Metropolitan Nashville Education Association, to implement their own community schools model.

Zapata notes that details matter. Bilingual signage and friendly staff can be the difference between a positive experience with the district or a negative one. “The warmth of your front office? It is a really big indicator of whether families feel included in your school,” she says. 

Like many students, English learners could benefit from more support. This can mean donating resources, donating money to organizations that support them, tutoring kids and responding to schools’ specific needs. Also, as Mvibudulu-Feruzi points out, “Just take the time to learn where children are coming from. … I know that when I was younger, when I had an educator … who was interested in my culture or interested in where I came from, or even interested in me having a different accent than the Southern accent … that brightened my day. That made me feel safer at school. [It’s also important to make sure you’re not] looping everyone into one culture because we don’t all have one culture, and even within a culture, there are subcultures.”

“We need to start seeing EL students not for the additional supports that they may need, but how much potential they have to shape and contribute to our community — if we provide them all the things they need to be successful,” says Zapata. “If you want [a] multicultural, multilingual, diverse workforce … you need to invest in them now. Otherwise, we’re losing out on everything that we say we want for the future. And I think that that’s the most important [thing]. We’re not talking about poor little kids who don’t speak English now, we’re talking about the future of a multicultural workforce.”

To reach true digital equity, offering access to devices and the internet is not the only work to be done. Providers must also ensure that the people they’re serving know how to use this technology.

The 2022 Technology Learning Collaborative conference gathered experts to share what they are doing to boost digital literacy in Philadelphia. The session “Supporting Digital Access and Literacy for the Adult Learner: Experiences Providing Digital Navigation Support and Using Northstar in the Classroom” featured panelists who help community members develop basic tech skills.

That includes involvement in the digital navigator program established by the City of Philadelphia in 2020, which connects residents to individualized tech support via helpline or in-person guidance. Most commonly, panelists said, people who seek out this program need help with getting info on low-cost internet options, accessing free or affordable devices, and enrolling in digital literacy and other adult ed programs.

The panel featured:

Here are the big takeaways from their discussion:

Adult learners have a range of needs

Beyond Literacy supports adults and families as they gain literacy skills, including digital literacy workshops and a student support program for adult learners. Farrell said digital skills building has always been part of the curriculum at Beyond Literacy, but wasn’t as highly used until the pandemic forced previously IRL activities online. The nonprofit switched to online classes and provided more tech support for its students as they navigated those changes.

Beyond Literacy has since become involved in the City’s digital navigators program. Smith said the org also uses the online learning program Northstar Digital Literacy as a way to gauge what skills learners already have so it can build upon them.

“It’s a way to answer the question, ‘Do learners need support with basic digital literacy?’ And we find that also the certificates offer a lot of incentive for folks to move on to the next assessment,” Smith said.

Boateng and Heil from the Office of Children and Families said their office can cover the costs of the Northstar program subscription for local orgs. They are also able to offer advice on how to best use the program with the staff and resources a given program has, and are developing professional development workshops to implement as well.

Boateng noted that an important aspect of this work is using digital literacy skills in other adult learning classes, such as ESL or GED classes: “Getting people involved in digital literacy, even though someone might need help with a computer, that’s not always the driving force to get to a class,” she said. “It’s sometimes like, ‘I want a GED’ — ‘Oh, while you’re here, let’s also get computer help.’”

What makes a good digital navigator?

The ExCITe Center provides digital navigator help, too, acting as a digital support staff for the community and connecting Philadelphians with resources. Sato said Drexel’s digital navigators program has been operating since spring 2020, and in that time, the ExCITe Center has been able to provide out over 360 computers to individuals expressing a need. It’s also trained about 20 digital navigators, most of whom are university students, she said.

“We just want people to know that there’s help out there for you. You just gotta look for it,” Sato told Technical.ly after the panel. “The digital landscape is constantly evolving. It’s very scary, but no, you’re not alone. We’re here to walk through the process of starting your journey with getting digital skills.”

A good digital navigator is someone who enjoys talking to and helping people, she said. Anyone can be trained to communicate technical information; it’s most important that the communicator is personable. Farrell said there’s also a case management component to it — that’s it’s important for digital navigators to follow up with the people they’re helping.

“A digital navigator really should be there to not just do the handoff referral, but also follow through on whether the service was received or what kind of issues might have impacted that,” Farrell said. “Maybe just a nudge, encouragement or really like problem solving if there was an issue.”

Collaboration for a shared mission

Sato told Technical.ly that Philly’s digital literacy programs are collaborative, so if one doesn’t offer what you need — ESL support, getting a GED or getting a device — it’s as simple as calling up another program and asking if they can help, “so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

“There’s often shared stories or shared practices,” she said. “Having a collective is always better than being individual, I think we’ve learned especially during the pandemic. It’s always better to be collaborative.”

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Nation's largest Hispanic Serving Institution FIU joins tech training initiative

Oct 11, 2022 (PRNewswire via COMTEX) -- PR Newswire

MIAMI, Oct. 11, 2022

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.

Thousands of parents and guardians who submitted applications for Gauteng learners going into grades one and eight next year will find out from Monday to 30 November which schools they will be placed in, said education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.

The Gauteng education department’s admissions portal, which was launched online in 2016 to streamline the process, received its highest number of applications ever after applications for the 2023 school year opened in July, he said.

Parents applying for their children were able to join an “e-queue” at five schools at the same time. From Monday, they will be sent text messages with offers of placement, and must respond within seven days, Lesufi said at a media briefing at Hoërskool Menlopark in Pretoria.

Record-breaking numbers 

He said 764 062 applications were submitted and processed for grades one and eight. Of these, 330 227 were for grade one pupils, and 457 433 for grade eight.

But only 332 477 — or less than half — learners have been placed in their first choice schools because of limited spots available and based on the placement criteria. 

He said learners are placed in a school based on specific criteria, rather than on a first come, first served basis. The criteria for placement into Gauteng public schools is home and work addresses in the school’s feeder zone; which schools the siblings of a prospective learner go to, and whether the home address is in a 30km radius of the school.

“We come from an era where our schooling system was divided into two parts — those who are privileged and those who are not privileged,” said Lesufi. 

“Parents and guardians had been faced with many challenges such as applications not being accounted for; surnames being used as a tool to eliminate them; and being told the school is full before entering the premises.

“We want to encourage people to learn closer to where they stay. The first key criteria is home address. If you stay closer to the school, the better … If you have a sibling in that particular school, this will also prioritise you so parents don’t have to drop one child at one school and drive to another.”

Pressure high schools

The education department had identified 275 primary schools and 221 high schools where the number of applications exceeded the number of learners the schools could accommodate, Lesufi said, but added that every child would be placed.

Primary schools in the Pretoria North district ranked among the top three high-pressure schools. Laerskool Akasia received 1 538 applications but could only accept 255; Laerskool Theresapark received 1 172 applications but could accommodate 210 learners, while Laerskool Rachel de Beer could only accommodate 211 learners of the 1138 who applied. 

“The most sought after school in our province is Hoërskool Langenhoven,” said Lesufi, adding that 2 607 parents applied for placement at the school, which could only accept 300 grade eight learners. 

Other high-pressure schools were Alberton High School, which could only accept 210 of the 2 488 applicants, and Parktown Boys’ High, where only 152 out of 2 328 learners could be accommodated.

Lesufi said the high volume of applications to these schools was in line with new urban developments in the areas. For example, new developments in Alberton were the reason for the more than 2 000 applications to Alberton High School. 

“Two thousand three hundred [learners] is two new schools. That means around that area we need to build two new schools as a department,” Lesufi explained. “Almost 2 100 parents who want to take their children there, will unfortunately not be in the position to take their children there.”

The online application portal — which has in the past been notoriously glitchy for users — doubles as a tool for the education department to plan where to build new schools based on where parents want to send their children, and in areas where they are needed. 

“I think many people feel that we have taken this route for purposes of frustrating them, for purposes of placing them with an unacceptable level of anxiety, but with online registrations, you can queue at five schools at the same time. Your forms will be accounted for, your application will be accounted for and we can be in a position to trace each and every application,” said Lesufi.

“We have identified 599 additional primary school classrooms and 698 additional classrooms in secondary schools. With all these interventions, unfortunately it will not be possible to accommodate all applicants to schools they prefer. However, all applicants will be placed at schools with available space.”

The MEC said the most sought after township school was Phumlani Secondary School in Germiston, adding: “They can only take 200 learners, but we have 2 228 applications received in that area.” 

He attributed the high volume of applications to the school’s language policy, which incorporated three to four popular languages.

Obviously, the other major part of this equation is the learners themselves, so what do they think? Seventeen year old Ella Woolley recently passed her test and was full of praise for the EV experience. “I absolutely loved it. The opportunity to learn in an EV was great, and the only thing to get used to was the lack of noise. But what I also noticed was that learning in a larger car [the Peugeot e-2008] gave me added confidence, and I feel like I could drive anything now. For anyone thinking of learning in an automatic, I’d definitely recommend it.”

Incidentally, it’s difficult to establish the number of driving tests taken in an EV because the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency bundles them in with automatic cars, but their figures do show that those are rising while the number of manual tests are falling. 

One last thing we’ve not yet touched on is cost. For learners it’s comparable to a conventional automatic car, so only slightly more expensive than a manual. For instructors, The AA says that a franchise costs from £219 per week, and although higher than for a petrol model (the equivalent Peugeot 208 is £169 per week) taking into account the fuel and recharging costs sees the electric car come out fractionally cheaper overall. 

As for the experience as a whole, the ringing endorsements from instructor and learner alike are clearly good news for the industry as we make the transition to an electrified future.  We’ve certainly come a long way from the noisy old Austin Metro that this writer passed his test in, but for those getting behind the wheel for the first time there certainly seems nothing to fear from going electric.    

For new and used buying guides, tips and expert advice, visit our Car Advice section, or sign up to the Telegraph Cars newsletter here and to join the Telegraph Motoring Club Facebook group click here

A-Z Car Finder

The learners of Ekangala Engineering School of Specialisation are obtaining a range of critical skills suitable for the mining sector, thanks to a new curriculum. 

The new school of specialisation is the 21st to be launched by Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, and its curriculum focuses on skills needed in the mining sector.

It is located at Ekangala in Bronkhorstspruit, which is home to several mines, including Petra Diamonds in nearby Cullinan.

School principal Zanele Tjiana says the idea to change the name and curriculum of the former Ekangala Comprehensive High School to Ekangala Engineering School of Specialisation came from the Premier’s Office.

“I supported the idea and highlighted the fact that many people in our community are unemployed because many factories have shut down. The school now focuses on mining because Ekangala is surrounded by mines,” she says. 

The school now offers technical subjects and a dynamic curriculum that teaches welding, fitting and turning, automotive mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, excavation and mining skills.

According to MEC Lesufi, exact statistics show that 85% of matric learners go to university after matric and become academics. Schools of specialisation will help create more artisans and technically skilled people.

“Learners in such schools will be able to either work immediately at industry-leading companies, or they will embark on entrepreneurship and start their own businesses,” he says.

The school has partnered with Petra Diamonds to arrange field trips for the learners to the mines so that they can explore career opportunities in the industry.

Petra is also sponsoring bursaries for learners from Grade 10 right through to tertiary level. Currently, three youngsters have bursaries to study at the University of Pretoria.

Two of them achieved 100% in mathematics and physical science. A Grade 10 learner is also benefitting from the partnership.

School fees are R800 per year and in exchange, learners receive a quality education.  According to the Department of Basic Education, if parents who, for whatever reason, cannot afford school fees and needs assistance to apply for exemption or lodge an appeal, they may request the school fees committee chairperson or any members of the School Fees Committee to assist him or her in making the application.

The School Fees Committee must respond in writing to the parents on the outcome of their application within 14 days of applying. The school achieved an 80% matric pass rate in 2021 and hopes to increase this to 90% this year.

There are currently 1 061 learners from Grade 8 to Grade 12. One learner, Sihle Sibanyoni (17), who is in Grade 11, enjoys electronics, technical mathematics and technical sciences subjects.

“I want to become an electrical engineer and ‘the next big thing’ in the mining industry,” she says.

To be admitted to the school, applicants who have passed Grade 7 must pass an aptitude test with an average of 60% in mathematics, English and natural science.

-This article was originally published in the GCIS Vuk'uzenzele.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.