The Pros And Cons Of English Language Learners

There is a large growing population of students who are learning English as a second language in public schools, especially in Texas, California, and New York. These students are not receiving the proper attention and education, making them ill prepared to have a successful academic career. The institutions such as family, school, and the district and the state all play a factor in the obstacles ELLs students face that traps them in the same poverty cycle. English Language Learners (ELLs) are one of the fastest growing sup groups that the public school systems are encountering today. Doubling over the past 15 years, now in 2015 the public school systems are mentoring about 10 million students who cannot speak the language. Out of these

However, it is obvious that attending a public school as a English Language Learner, students face tremendous obstacles from the first day they walk in the class room. Blank says other factors that are seen in these students; “Two thirds come from low-income families and three out of four ELLs are Spanish speaking. But what is most significant—and troubling—is that these students’ academic performance is well below that of their peers and that ELLs have excessively high dropout rates.”(NEA 1). From the beginning of their educational career ELLs are put at a disadvantage because they do not have the proper recourses or skills to succeed in the classroom. Then if they decide to drop out, they will work at a low- income job simply repeating the cycle that put them at a disadvantage. Along with demographics reflecting student’s success, the state standardized test (STAAR) and the college readiness exam (SAT) both highlighted the public school systems’ lack of preparation. The Dallas Morning News discusses the shocking low sores on the SATs; “Most minority students, as in the past, fell far short of the benchmark. Only 17.6 percent of Hispanic and 13.2 percent of black students in Texas met the college readiness

Kim Keller discusses the poor testing the state of Texas has recently conducted; “STAAR exams and their accompanying standards are developmentally inappropriate… The ability for abstract thought does not develop until roughly age 12, and yet word problems and reading interpretation make up a large part of the elementary curriculum and testing.” With out proper direction done by the state, the public school systems can not effectively teach ELLs students. Working on this issue has brought the state to develop programs to try to close the achievement gap. In 2008 “The No Child Left Behind Act” (NCLB) drew attention to this achievement gap between ELL students and others, but overall was not successful at preparing students. Under the law, each school within a school district must prove that everyone in the student body must meet certain set standards in math and reading. The NEA examines the program’s ability; “Accurately assessing these students in English—required by the law—is challenging. ELLs are expected to master content in English before they have reached a certain level of English proficiency.” Testing students before they can fully understand the language shows how out of touch policy makers are with