English-language learners meet federal requirements

Students learning English in the Carson City School District are largely meeting federal expectations, according to results announced at Tuesday's school board meeting.

Laurel Terry, who served last year as the district's director of the English-as-a-second-language program, presented the Annual Measurable Achievement Objective report along with this year's director Chris Butson.

The objective measures student achievement in three areas.

The first is a four-part exam, which tests students in their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Under federal guidelines, 51 percent of English-language learners must make a 25-point gain on the test from the previous year.

Last school year, 73 percent of ESL students in the Carson City School District made that improvement.

The second objective is that students continue to become proficient in English. In order to reach that, 14.2 percent of ESL students have to test proficient by scoring the highest possible score on the test.

In Carson City, 21 percent of the students made that mark.

Terry said it is a significant accomplishment. When the test was being developed, she said, even native English speakers had difficulty with it.

"Only about 40 percent of native speakers passed the test," she said. "It's rigorous."

The third element is academic progress as determined by the No Child Left Behind Act. Under the 2001 federal act, not only do schools and districts have to make "adequate yearly progress," but subgroups do as well.

As a subgroup, all English-language learners have to meet the bar. Last year, both middle and high school students succeeded in doing so. ESL students at the elementary school level fell short.

Last year, about 1,300 students were enrolled in the English-as-a-second-language throughout the district. The year before, there were 1,446.

Terry said Spanish is the most common foreign language spoken by students in the school district. However, there are about 13 languages spoken overall, including Farsi, Arabic and Chinese.

She credited student success to targeted curriculum, detailed improvement plans and sheltered instruction, where students learn language and content simultaneously.

Butson said she plans to build on that success, encouraging teachers and administrators to work together to serve the population and increasing parental involvement.

She said there also is a new program to provide individual education plans for students who are struggling to learn the language.

"We're looking at individual needs to make progress," she said.

School board trustee Lynnette Conrad said in addition to meeting federal requirements, helping students learn to speak English benefits all students,

"If we have kids who are learning the language and being productive, it benefits our whole community," she said.