Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein today congratulated English Language Learners (ELLs) for their progress in reading and math during a visit to PS 149 in Queens. ELLs at PS 149 and across the City made significant gains on State Math and English Language Arts (ELA) exams this year, building on progress made since the beginning of the Children First school reforms. The ELA gains are especially significant because a new state regulation, prompted by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, required ELLs with more than one year in the school system to take the test; previously, ELLs were exempt until they had spent at least three years in the system. As a result, more than twice as many ELLs took the exam this year citywide, and 16% met standards, a 5.3 percentage point increase over 2006, and a 12.1 point increase since 2003. In math, 45.1% of ELL students are now proficient, up from 35.8% in 2006 and a 28.4 point increase since 2003.
“We must do more to help English Language Learners succeed, but this year’s results show we’re moving in the right direction,” Chancellor Klein said. “The diversity of our City and our schools is one of our great assets. As we learn from each other, we grow together into a better, richer City. I look forward to working with educators and parents to build on our recent progress.”
English language learners are also scoring at the lowest level on state tests with much less frequency. The percentage of ELLs scoring at Level 1 on the state ELA exam fell by nearly 11 points since 2006, from 41.8% to 30.9%. Since 2003, the percentage of ELLs scoring at the lowest level has dropped by 28.5 points. In math, the percentage of ELLs in grades 3 through 8 scoring at the lowest level fell by 8.7 points since 2006, compared to a 4.6 percentage point decline for English proficient students. Since 2003, the percentage of ELLs scoring at the lowest level in math has dropped by 28.4 points, compared to a decline of 23.9 points by English proficient students.
Since 2003, the Department of Education (DOE) has adopted and improved upon a range of strategies to better serve ELLs. These strategies include:
- Sixty-six formal Dual Language programs focusing on Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Haitian-Creole, and Korean. A new French Dual Language program is planned for the 2007-08 school year.
- Ten new ELL-focused small high schools. The DOE plans to open three more in September 2007.
- More than 13,000 educators trained in how to better serve ELLs.
- More than $3.2 million dollars spent on creation of classroom libraries with books in Spanish, Haitian-Creole, and Asian languages.
- Expanded services provided by the Translation and Interpretation Unit. The unit translates key documents into eight languages (Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Bengali, Haitian-Creole, Korean, Urdu, and Arabic). It also offers over-the-phone interpretation in more than 150 languages.
ELL students at PS 149 have made significant gains in both math and reading. 22.5% of ELL students met standards on this year’s ELA exam, a 9.8 point increase over 2006. In math, 70.9% of ELL students met standards, compared to 52.3% in 2006.
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Contact: David Cantor / Maibe González Fuentes (212) 374-5141