Latino Education: What’s Working in Georgia

Paul H. Matthews, Ph.D. & Bernadette Musetti, Ph.D.

Co-Directors, Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education

October 19, 2005

Georgia Demographics: Responding to a Need

-Statewide, Georgia’s overall

population is about 8%

Hispanic: 660,000- 1 million

-Many counties and

communities are already

over 25% Hispanic

-Poultry, construction, carpet, agriculture, …

-By 2008, at least 12 counties are expected to be >25% Hispanic – some as much as 75%! (UGA Selig Center) And by 2050 the largest group…

http://factfinder.census.gov/leg2/98/33492998.gif

2000 Census results, Hispanic/Latino by County

Latino Students in Georgia• Over 120,000 students (PreK-12) identified

as Hispanic were served statewide in 2004-05, compared with fewer than 24,000 in 1994-95.

• Predominantly at lower grades• 2/3 of all Latino students are in just 12 counties

– Gwinnett has ~ 20% of all Latino students– Cobb Co., 10%; DeKalb Co., 6.5%; Fulton Co. 6%;

Hall Co., 5.7%– But smaller counties may be highly impacted too!

Educational ChallengesAbout 60% of Hispanics in GA

classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP)

Hispanic students in GA on average do not graduate at the same rate as other groups: well under 50%

• Scores on high stakes tests, such as GHSGT, CRCT, and others, are lower on average for Hispanics than for other groups• Recent reports (e.g., TRPI 2004) suggest that little is being done overall for helping schools help Latino students

CLASE: State-wide Support since 2003

• Direct work with ~700 teachers

• Team-based work with about 36 school- and district-based teams

• Professional development and support of localized Action Plans for improving Latino education– Parent engagement– Staff development– School climate– Innovative programs

Feedback from Participating Educators“My group is actively seeking ways to make the school inviting for

Latino families. At CLASE we learned more about the needs of Latino students, so now we are offering programs to meet these

educational needs.”

“We have seen academic growth at our school with our ESOL students due to practices and programs implemented from our

Action Plan.”

“It has really impacted the Latino students because the programs are really trying to make them comfortable.”

“It will have a huge effect for years to come.”

“Good impact - educating regular classroom teachers about LEP students and strategies to help these kids. We will continue to

educate teachers and parents.”

“CLASE took us to a new level.”

What’s Working? Illustrative Vignettes

District Level Teams: Top-Down Success• District-level leadership

provides resources, support, funding, and energy to implement new ideas

• Newcomer Academy

• Sheltered Instruction in Science & Literature

• Multicultural Literacy Circles (Book Clubs)

• Using data driven instruction to raise achievement (90/90/90)

• ESOL Endorsement for Teachers

• International Baccalaureate program (beginning in school with high minority student population)

• International Experiences

• School-wide ESOL endorsement at Elementary (2500 students)

• Connecting Reading (Multicultural Literature) to Writing (for Multiple Purposes) for English Learners

• Transition Center and 4 yr old Program

• Community Partners

• Articulation with Technical College

District Level Teams: Top-Down Success

An Elementary School• Spanish Language Support

in K-1 classes

• Even Start (English classes, parenting, classroom time)

• Home Visits

• Bilingual library and book loan to homes

• 2 Staff visits to Mexico

• Sister School in Mexico (scholarship program; 2 libraries established)

• Pen Pal Program Mexico

• Parent Days Hispanic Parents (ESOL students)

• Counselor training

• Hispanic Heritage Night (Mariachis, Folklorico, Student chorus in Spanish)

• Latino Parents Elected to School Council

A Middle/High School Newcomer Academy

• ELLS with Interrupted Formal Schooling

• Core Content (LA, Math, Life Skills and Social and Cultural Adjustment)

• L1 Support• Team Taught• Multimedia Instruction• All Staff doing National

SIOP Training (Title II)• PLAZA COMUNITARIA

• GED Instruction• Transition into ESOL and

Mainstream• Location—INTEGRATED• Support from MS/HS• All electives and Lunch in

Home School• Parent Engagement &

Education• Partners, e.g. Catholic

Social Services

A High School

• Intensive Staff Development

• Focus on Graduation (test prep, tutoring, etc)

• National Site Visits by Staff

• Staff Multicultural Book Club

• Smaller Learning Communities

• HSF College Fair

• Data collection and analysis

• Pre-Collegiate “Steps to University” for ELLs

• Spanish for Native Spanish Speakers

• “Unidos” Student Leadership Club

• 6 “Career Pathways”

• Apprenticeship Program w/ Technical College alignment

• Newcomer Video

• Sheltered Courses

• “0” / “5th” Periods

What else does CLASE do?

• Summer Institutes and Conferences• Outreach Presentations: over 40 topics available

Education

-Effective Strategies for Diverse Classrooms Culture

-Working with Latino Families Health

-Latina Teen Pregnancy • Grants, research, presentations, etc.• Graduate student mentoring and support

Athens-Area Service LearningPinewood Estates/Oasis Catolico

–90 tutors, ~65 students K-6–Friday Culture Days & Special Projects

Garnet Ridge Boys & Girls Club–10 tutors, 45 students K-8

Pinewood Library/Plaza Comunitaria

–15 tutors, 25 students 1-12

www.coe.uga.edu/oasisStudents receive HW help, English help, reading, games, & more

ELAN 4620/6620: service learning with academic credit

Mothers & Daughters in “Conversations of the Soul”

• What: A seven session forum for moms and daughters to voice opinions and concerns, to safely display grief and joy and share dreams for the future.

• Who: Immigrant mothers new to the US & their daughters in elementary or middle schools

• Why: To provide an outlet for addressing social and emotional issues with a focus on educational achievement for both mothers and daughters

• Where: 6 Schools in Metro Atlanta (Gwinnett, Fulton)

International Experiences• 12 teachers each to Costa

Rica or Mexico for last two summers – focus such as teaching

science, social studies– language and cultural

experiences– cross-cultural awareness

• Applied projects – Ex: scholarship and sister

school program for Mexican students begun by teachers from Martin Elementary School

What else does UGA do for Latinos?

• Steps to College: Clarke; Gwinnett• Vamos a la Universidad• TELL• Latino Youth Leadership Program• OVPPSO: UGA Latino Compilation• Campus groups: SLE, HSA, CLACS, Latino Adv. Board• Conferences

– Bilingual Family-School Liaison Conferences– Literacy: Reading & Writing to Learn– Effective Counseling for Latinos

– Latinos & Socioeconomic Development in the SE– PSO National Outreach/Engagement

Integrated Support from UGA• Large scale technical assistance in rapidly

changing communities: the ARCHWAY Project– Cross-campus collaboration by UGA in Colquitt Co.– Coordinated by Office of Vice President for Public

Service and Outreach

• CLASE role: – district-wide CLASE team – response to community requests:

counseling, curriculum development and teacher professional development

– collaboration with ABAC

Two Ideas to Watch For…• Hall County and others are using

INCLUSION as a program model for providing support for English Learners

• ESOL teacher is in the classroom with the mainstream teacher--In contrast to the more common “pull-out” model

• Jones Elementary: organizing by grade level (e.g. 2nd grade ESOL teacher goes into 2nd grade classes)

• Requires COMMON PLANNING TIME

• PUBLIC charter school• Spanish-English Dual

Language Program• Planning to open Fall 2006• The charter has been

submitted in Clayton and Fulton Counties

• Initially K-1, then add grades yearly through 5th

• Mixed classes of native Spanish and English speakers

• Academic instruction in Spanish and English

• ALL CHILDREN learn to read, write, and speak Spanish and English

Unidos Dual Language Charter School

Founder: Dell Perry, dellp@uga.edu

www.unidoscharter.org

U nidosDual Language

S chools, Inc.

U nidosDual Language

S chools, Inc.

Want to Know More?

• CLASE website, www.coe.uga.edu/clase• CLASE list-serve• Dr. Bernadette Musetti bernadet@uga.edu• Dr. Paul Matthews pmatthew@uga.edu• Elida Perez-Knapp eknapp@uga.edu