My high school played Rolette in football. I remember every one of their teammates had beards or mustaches as freshman and they were built like college football players. Needless to say, we didn't fair well against them in football. I am surprised to find they only have 500 students out of 3000 who speak English as their primary language. I don't say that because I'm shocked that non-English speaking students beat us so badly every year, but because I never noticed it in speaking with them before, during, or after games for three years. My current county has 24% ELL students, and it's hardly an issue except when we have parent/teacher conferences and we need translators. Parents of ELL kids are typically further behind than the kids. If anyone is in Rolette, or knows what language it is 82.2% speak there, I'd be interested to know.
What is your county doing in preparation for ELL students? What is the percentage of students who are ELL in your county? Some in California are starting bilingual schools, ESL classes, teachers who have SDAIE training and SB-395 qualifications. It all means we can teach non-English speaking students anything, even without knowing their primary language. My district doesn't hire teachers who aren't qualified to teach ESL or ELL students. Many districts around the nation do not have the percentage of ELL students as we do in California schools. Will the ELL programs in rural and Middle America be the next failed government program, or will we have a simple and slow take-over of English language in the United States? At the rate of growth since 1996, if it were to continue, we'd be a non-English speaking nation in a matter of 60 years and we'd have an increased achievement gap so large it'd be difficult to close. Surely, NCLB will be obsolete and invalid long before that since schools will simply not be able to meet the requirements set forth.
But seriously, how does Rolette County, North Dakota beat the percentage of Imperial County, California for the most ELL students? Is the math wrong? Did the New York Times report inaccurately?
On the county level nothing is done about ELL students.In New York each community is a district on its own. Compared with other parts of the country that have one county as a district. This means that not every district is as good as the next when it comes to language services. (or any other services for that matter) My district is overly rich and affluent. This means that we have some of the best intervention services in the county. A five minute drive to the north and the you will find a school district that is very poor and reliant on state aide. This just means that in new york is you live in a rich community the school is good and vice versa. Services are fragmented and unequal when looking at schools on a county level in NY
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