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Raul Bustamante 0637 CPO Way New Brunswick, NJ 08901 April 6, 2015 Mr. John Krenos Curriculum Committee Chairperson New Brunswick Board of Education 105 Commercial Ave New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Re: Educating Hispanic Immigrants in New Brunswick   Dear Mr. Krenos,  The number of high dropout rates among the Hispanic immigrant community in current public school systems and ESL programs continues to remain high. For Hispanics, the goal of enrolling in an ESL program is to help them succeed with their future work, children, and personal desires. However, Hispanics find these programs difficult and ineffective. While not all ESL programs are ineffective, it is important to focus on those that are, especially when the majority of residents in New Brunswick are Hispanics. The problem with current ESL instruction is the rise of dropout rates. According to Lukes “initial studies indicate that immigrant adult learners with limited schooling and low literacy are least likely to be successful in traditional ESL programs” (22). Two of the most fundamental components that current ESL programs lack and make it “least successful” is due to “educators” trying to “insert culture into the education” and the “discontinuity between what students experience at home and what they experience at school” (Ladson-Billings 159). ESL programs omit cultural relevant pedagogy in its instruction and instead focus on teaching students the basis of learning the English language without incorporating student’s backgrounds into the teaching. To address this problem, Hispanic immigrants must have the opportunity to enroll in ESL programs to not only learn English, but to learn their roles in US society and how their culture is incorporated through it by empowering them through a cultural relevant curriculum. Included is a copy of a business proposal to introduce a culturally relevant ESL program here in New Brunswick that will incorporate the recognition of one’s culture, teaching their social political nature in society, and workshops to empower these Hispanic English language learners to strive in US society. I appreciate your time and effort in reading this proposal that I feel can contribute to the success and well-bring of struggling Hispanic immigrants. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me via cell-phone at 201-736-1726 or email rb673@scarletmail.rutgers.edu. Sincerely,

Raul Bustamante

 

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A proposal to provide a cultural relevant ESL program in New Brunswick, NJ

Submitted by:

Raul Bustamante

Submitted to: Mr. John Krenos

Curriculum Committee Chairperson New Brunswick Board of Education

105 Commercial Ave New Brunswick, NJ 08901

April 6, 2015

Prepared for:

Writing for Business and Professions Professor Stewart Teicher

Educating Hispanic Immigrants through the Ladson-Billings

Program to Success

 

 

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Abstract In this paper, it is proposed that since the majority of New Brunswick residents are Hispanics that they be provided with a cultural relevant ESL program. The Ladson-Billings Program, which is a program named after an inspiring educator who realized the importance of cultural relevant teaching to improve the achievement among students, is going to focus on three major components: empowerment, seeing one’s culture, and understanding Hispanics social political nature. The paper starts of by explaining the underlying problem that exist within current ESL programs, public school systems, and gives the overall reason as to why there continues to be a rise in dropout rates among Hispanics enrolling in ESL programs. Hispanic immigrants enroll in ESL programs to benefit not only themselves personally, but to acquire the language and skills necessary for the workforce and to help them understand their children’s school progress and needs. Presented in this business proposal is research that proves that current ESL programs lack a sense of inducing education to one’s culture and omitting student’s backgrounds into the curriculum. According to Gloria Ladson-Billings theory of cultural relevant pedagogy, this proposal uses her approach to improve academic success and learning among Hispanic English language learners. This proposal is entitled for a push to introduce a culturally relevant ESL program for Hispanics here in New Brunswick, NJ, where they will not only learn English, but also their social political nature in society through critical service learning, a type of learning sought out by Lisa Rabin where Hispanics immigrants will have the opportunity to challenge “U.S notions of individualism and social mobility” (91). The program will also incorporate their cultures into the program to understand their social nature in US society and provide workshops to empower and motivate them to learn how to apply for future potential jobs.

 

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Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………...... 3 Table of Contents …………………………………………………………………………...…….4 Table of Figures …………………………………………………………………………………. 5 Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………………….......… 6 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………….8 The Problem with Current Pedagogies …………………………………….……………. 9 Literature Review ………………………………………………………………………………. 10 The Lack of Empowerment, Recognizing Culture and Social Political Nature in Current Pedagogies ……………………….…………………………………………………………….. 10 Cultural Relevant Pedagogy ……………………………………………..…………….. 12 Critical Service Learning ………………………………………………………………. 13 Plan: The Ladson-Billings Program to Success …………………………………………………14 Empowerment Workshops ……………………………………………………………… 15 Cultural and English Learning ………………………………………………………… 16 Community Outreach Field Work ……………………………………………………... 16 Budget ………………………………………………………………………………………...... 17 Discussion and Evaluation Plan …………………………………………………………...…… 19 Works Cited ……………………………………………………………………………………. 21

 

 

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Table of Figures Figure One: Races in New Brunswick, NJ …………….……………………………………...… 8 Figure Two: Educational Attainment by Native and Foreign Races …………..…….….………. 9 Figure Three: Student Perceptions of Current ESL Programs ….......………….…………...….. 12 Figure Four: Components of Cultural Relevant Pedagogy ……………………….…..………... 13 Figure Five: Employee Salaries ……………………………………………………………...… 17 Figure Six: Building, Supplies, and Transportation ……………………………………...…….. 18 Figure Seven: Advertisement …………………………………………………………………... 18

 

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Executive Summary English literacy is crucial to obtain a professional career in the workforce. Without basic knowledge in the English language, it can prevent people from landing their dream job. Those that are struggling to obtain those professional careers due to a lack of English literacy are Hispanic immigrants coming from countries in either Central or South America where the primary language is Spanish. Due to immigrant patterns, the U.S Census of Bureau states Hispanics represent “17% of the U.S total population, making people of Hispanic origin the nation’s largest ethnic or race minority” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Yet, of that Hispanic total, those enrolled in educational programs such as public schools and ESL (English as Second Language) find it difficult. “Most of those failing through the cracks in the public school system are Hispanics, and it’s the same group seeking adult education in record numbers” (Huerta-Marcias 220). There is currently a problem between the rising numbers Hispanics represent in the United States and those that are failing in public education and other programs such as ESL. Furthermore, those rising numbers of Hispanics in the United States can be translated in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In New Brunswick, Hispanics constitute “53.4%” of the total population. This counts for more than half of the total population among those residing in New Brunswick. The National Center for Policy Analysis provides that “More than one-third (35.6 percent) of Hispanics aged 16 to 24 who were born outside the United States were dropouts” (Jones, Bou-Walked). These statistics show that Hispanics are currently suffering academically. Those Hispanic immigrants who have immigrated into the United States do not all simply choose life to come to them in terms of obtaining an education and successful job, but some of them turn to ESL programs to learn English in order to succeed in the workforce. These Hispanic immigrants “are least likely to be successful in traditional ESL programs” (Lukes 22) which causes them to dropout of public school education and English language learning programs. The problem that relates to Hispanic immigrants finding traditional ESL programs difficult is the way educators are educating its students. According to Gloria Ladson-Billings, she highlights that “educators traditionally have attempted to insert culture into the education, instead of inserting education into the culture” and there is a “discontinuity between what students experience at home and what they experience at school in the speech and language interactions of teachers and students” (Ladson-Billings 1). This factor on what the educator thinks how students will learn more effectively tends to be ineffective. It is important to understand that educators need to teach these students that education is important and crucial to succeeding in life both academically and financially. Also, the problem that exists within ESL programs is the disconnection between how teachers and students analyze certain situations. Students in ESL programs usually come from a different culture, which means they come from different upbringings linguistically. These educators are omitting their students’ goals and desires from the program, which overall results in a lack of motivation and eventually leads them to drop out from these programs.

The theory behind why current ESL programs are seeing high dropout rates among

Hispanic immigrants is due to a lack of a pedagogy that focuses on cultural relativism. Cultural relativism focuses on three components that make it successful on targeting a diverse group of

 

 

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students. These three components are (1) “empowerment,” (2) “recognizing culture,” and (3) “understanding their social political nature in U.S society”. (Milner IV 69-70) These three components are crucial to retain Hispanic immigrants in ESL programs and making their educational experience a successful one. A cultural relevant pedagogy aims not to revolve the student around the curriculum, but revolve the curriculum around the student. Cultural relativism sets to empower students to succeed not only academically but personally and professionally. Educators who successfully understand cultural relevant teaching understand that teaching is more than just teaching the content of a material, but working with students to achieve their ultimate goals by recognizing their culture into the curriculum. Lastly, an element in making cultural relativism successful for its diverse students is to understand their social political nature in the U.S. This means that educators teach these students the “why” are minorities such as Hispanics the lowest in terms of socioeconomic status, unemployment rates, and educational attainment, and answers the “how” can this demographic escape these struggles. In order to satisfy the “understanding their social political nature” component, critical service learning needs to be implemented.

Critical service learning is a unique way of teaching not only Hispanic immigrants, but

also any diverse group of students. This learning theory takes an approach of learning that requires more than learning in a classroom setting. Rabin defines critical service learning as a means that “leads to students to interrogate root causes for community issues, emphasizes the de-individualization of social relations, and pair’s students in collaborative relationships with community partners” (59). Educators who implement critical service learning in cultural relevant teaching focuses on forming partnerships between students and local businesses to develop business mindsets and get students to learn professional skills out in the field. This type of learning is a theory that recognizes student’s backgrounds and develops strategies to try to eliminate stigmas in their low socioeconomic status, unemployment rates, and educational attainment. Ultimately, the cause for these high dropout rates among Hispanic immigrants in the public school systems and ESL programs are caused by a lack of cultural relevant pedagogies and incorporating critical service learning into the teaching. To provide Hispanic immigrant students with the best educational experience, I am proposing to launch the Ladson-Billings Program to Success that uses cultural relativism and critical service learning as the focus to learn English effectively and gather the necessary skills to be competitive in the job market. To accomplish this feat, the program will require three sessions. Session one will primarily be empowerment workshops that develop these immigrants professionalism through resume building, interviewing strategies, and community college application tips. Session two will be the cultural learning aspect as well as English learning. By this means, the inclusion of Spanish books and analyzing these books before learning it in English is crucial. This session will also give the opportunity for Hispanic immigrants to express their cultures through food, cuisine, clothing, and traditions. Session three will require students to form partnerships with community organizations and local businesses so that they can foreshadow business owners and leaders to develop business-like mindsets. This session will also teach the “why” Hispanics are the lowest in terms of educational attainment and ways in which they can break that stigma. Overall, the program is set to learn English in a unique way by empowering students and recognizing their culture

 

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Introduction

Races in New Brunswick, NJ. Digital image. City-Data.com. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.city-data.com/city/New-Brunswick-

New-Jersey.html>.

Current ESL programs rely on two factors that make it ineffective for English language learners to succeed and results in the population with the highest dropout rates among public school education and ESL programs. These two factors are (1) a lack of a culturally relevant pedagogy and a (2) lack of critical service learning which both decrease motivation among Hispanic immigrants. Current statistics show that “more than half of the growth in the total U.S population between 2000 and 2010 was because of the increase in the Hispanic population” and the reasoning for this increase is “in part of relatively higher levels of immigration” (United States Census of Bureau). When looking at the majority of residents residing in the city of New Brunswick, NJ, Hispanics represent more than half of the total population. In order to succeed in the United States, the use of the English language is not only vital but a solution to upward social mobility among the Hispanic immigrant community. However, the rise of Hispanics in the U.S and those who are attaining an educational degree is low. The National Center for Policy Analysis provides that “More than one-third (35.6 percent) of Hispanics aged 16 to 24 who were born outside the United States were dropouts” (Jones, Bou-Walked). Dropout Hispanic students have another option in acquiring the skills necessary to achieve educationally and professionally through ESL programs. Huerta-Macias states that “most of those failing through the cracks in the public school system are Hispanics, and it’s the same group seeking adult education in record numbers…these people do not have access to adult education because such programs are traditionally offered in English” (220). In order to get Hispanics to succeed academically they need instruction that conserves and incorporates their cultures and language into the curriculum. A lack of culturally relevant pedagogy and critical service learning in ESL instruction leads Hispanic immigrants to drop out, and in order to mentor these students towards success, the focus on transforming the ESL pedagogy to become culturally relevant is crucial for this population to succeed academically and professionally in the City of New Brunswick.

Hispanics53.4%

White Alone 24.0%

Black Alone 14.3%

Asian Alone8.2%

Figure 1.Races in New Brunswick, NJ

Hispanic White Alone Black Alone Asian Alone

 

 

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The Problem with Current Pedagogies

Figure 2. Educational Attainment by Native and Foreign Races

“Educational Attainment in the United States.” Wikipedia. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015

The need to focus on the Hispanic population is crucial most importantly because of the

rising numbers they are representing in the United States, which puts them at the lowest in terms of their educational attainment. Marguerite Lukes of “I Understand English But Can’t Write It”: The Power of Native Language Instruction for Adult English Learners” explains what the rising population means to public school education. “The population of Spanish-speaking English Language Learners over the past decade has outpaced that of the general school population by an estimate 7:1” (Lukes 22). This ratio not only depicts Hispanics becoming the majority of newly enrolled students in the public school sector, but they represent a population without an English language background and struggle with the current school curriculums that tend to make them dropout of school systems and ESL programs. “The factor contributing to a higher dropout rate for immigrant Hispanics (whether or not they were educated in American schools) is a lack of English language proficiency” (Jones, Bou-Walked). For those Hispanic immigrants that do dropout because they lack English, enroll in ESL programs to give them another option in succeeding academically.

However, for those who do enroll in ESL programs also struggle with the curriculum. “When students are presented with conventional curriculum with no modifications, they tend to flounder, become overwhelmed, and mentally tune out or withdraw from active classroom participation” (Coyne 1). Current pedagogies are omitting a factor that motivates students to come to school. When it comes to other programs, those who do enroll are “are least likely to be successful in traditional ESL programs” (Lukes 22). The cause of this problem is that “educators traditionally have attempted to insert culture into the education, instead of inserting education into the culture” and there is a “discontinuity between what students experience at home and what they experience at school in the speech and language interactions of teachers and students” (Ladson-Billings 1). Educators are simply not realizing that “inserting education into the culture” is perhaps the best strategy in accommodating a diverse and struggling population. Generation

 

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after generation, there really is not that one person to break that cycle of not going to school to earn a degree or not enroll in ESL programs because of the benefits it can provide to them socially. Hispanic immigrants are constantly in this cycle where education does not seem to be the primary goal in seeking upward social mobility. Due to this problem that is occurring in the Hispanic population, specifically those enrolling in ESL programs, educators try to recognize that they struggle academically, so what they eventually do is try to dwell their cultures into education. However, the solution to keep retention amongst these English language learners is not incorporating culture into the curriculum, but informing these students that education is important for them as Hispanics. English language learners entering the ESL instruction realm are intimidated because there is dissociation between what they experience at home, and how their main language changes in the classroom setting.

Not inducing education into one’s culture and not connecting to student’s backgrounds are a problem for Hispanic immigrants because its absence causes a lack of motivation. ESL programs that lack cultural relevant teaching does not make the classroom atmosphere centered on their individualism and highlighting their goals and interests, which also results in a lack of motivation. Yet, Cummins, Mirza, and Stille of “English Language Learners in Canadian Schools: Emerging Directions for School-Based Policies” admits that “many educators who work with bilingual students and ELLs have had little preparation either in teacher education or through professional development to equip them to teach effectively in contexts where linguistic and cultural diversity is the norm” (27). ESL programs dictate how Hispanic English Language Learners should learn and act when it comes to differentiating between English and Spanish, thus resulting in a limitation of linguistic identity, which ultimately results in a lack of motivation. Menken, Kleyn, and Chae identify that “English as a second language (ESL) or bilingual education program is not designed to meet their specific needs” (123). ESL instruction do not make the classroom atmosphere centered on their individualism and highlighting the immigrant’s goals and interests, which also results in a lack of motivation. “Motivation is recognized as one of the most significant factor affecting students’ performance of second language learning” (Souriyavongsa, Abidin, Mei 184-185). A lack of motivation in a classroom for students also lacks a sense of engagement. Hispanic immigrants are disengaged with the curriculum because it lacks a sense of cultural relativism, a pedagogy that connects to students coming from a different background. Current programs geared towards immigrant non-English speakers are deficient in the cultural and linguistic norm, which ultimately results in their high drop our rates.

Literature Review The Lack of Empowerment, Recognizing Culture & Social Political Nature in Current Pedagogies

Hispanic immigrants are not motivated because the pedagogical structure of current ESL programs lack “empowerment,” “seeing their culture,” and does not “understand their social political nature in society” (Milner IV 69-70). The absence of these three aspects that make cultural relevant teaching successful causes a lack of motivation for these learners, which results in their high dropout rates. Current ESL programs tend to make the teaching all about the content of learning English, eliminating their backgrounds into the curriculum. In order to develop success within Hispanic immigrants into the future workforce, educators need to teach these Hispanic immigrants how to think critically. Cultural relevant pedagogies aim to “examine

 

 

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critically education content and process and ask what its role is in creating a truly democratic and multicultural society. It uses student’s culture to help them create meaning and understand the world. Thus not only academic success, but also social and cultural success is emphasized” (Milner IV 68). Since these Hispanic immigrants come from Latin American countries other than the United States, they do not understand how to connect to the American culture and understand their place and status as a Hispanic immigrant in a white-dominated country. Therefore, it is crucial for educators to understand where these Hispanic immigrants come from and recognize their struggles without knowing English, without having a career set in stone for them because of their lack in the English language. Once educators are able to recognize their status as Hispanics who are struggling economically or their “social political nature” and overall “see their culture” by recognizing their linguistic and cultural backgrounds, the empowerment aspect of a successful cultural relevant pedagogy can be employed. Yet, a lack of these cultural relevant pedagogies in ESL programs and public school education is what contributes to high dropout rates among Hispanic immigrants who enroll in ESL programs. These programs does not emphasize that critical analysis of themselves in American society, and knowing their status in U.S society is crucial so that they can empower other struggling Hispanics, which are a huge portion of the minority population in the United States.

In my primary research, I distributed a survey to seven students who are currently enrolled in an ESL program whether it is a part of the public school system or an ESL program provided by the city. These seven students ranged from the ages of 19-33. Two of them were currently enrolled in an ESL program at a local community college and five of them were enrolled in a program provided by the city that teaches English. In order to investigate whether these ESL programs incorporated cultural relevant teaching and whether they are currently satisfied with their educational experience, I provided a survey that allows these students to rate their educational experience. The first question asked whether the program incorporated their culture (language) into the curriculum, and all seven of them stated “no”. The second question asked whether they felt that the program is helping them learn English, 4 out of 7 said “no” while the other 3 said “yes”. The third question asked whether the program did more than just teaching English (example: prepare them for future careers), all 7 answered “no”. The fourth question whether the program discouraged them from learning English, 6 of them answered “yes” while one answered “no”. The fifth question on the survey asked whether they would be better motivated in the program if their goals, desires, and culture was incorporated into the program, and 7 of them answered “yes”. The last question, which can also be depicted in Figure 3, asked their perceptions of their current ESL programs they are enrolled in. They rated their current ESL programs by either listing it as “difficult, moderately difficult, moderately easy, and easy”. 5 of the 7 students answered “difficult”, while one of them answered “moderately difficult” and the last student answered “moderately easy”. According to my primary research, current ESL programs are lacking culturally relevant teaching and that the students will feel better motivated if these programs incorporated some kind of aspect of their cultures into the curriculum. Whether these students learned English effectively, the, majority answered “no”, that the program is not helping them learn English. Currently, ESL programs are lacking that unique curriculum that focuses on the students themselves, yet they continue to focus primarily teaching English.

 

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Figure 3.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Furthermore, even though the problem with high dropout rates among Hispanic immigrants in ESL programs is correlated with a lack of cultural relevant teaching and connecting to student’s backgrounds in the classroom setting, a cultural relevant curriculum implemented in classrooms have made student outcomes successful. The goal of cultural relevant curriculum is to “use students culture in their curriculum planning and implementation” that “allow students to develop skills to question how power structures are created and maintained in US society” (Milner IV 69). The curriculum focuses on three major goals that are used to produce successful student outcomes.

The first goal of culturally relevant teaching is (1) empowering the students by “constructing meaning, to contribute to the multiple conversations in a classroom with agency, to succeed academically and socially, and gauge contradictions and inequities both in school and outside of school” (Milner IV 69). In order to empower students, educators need to focus on that teaching is doing more than the bare minimum, such as basing the educational experience by only teaching the content of the curriculum. Educators need to equip students with the skills that are needed beyond the classroom, such as teaching them the skills needed to succeed in the workforce. Empowerment in the cultural relevant pedagogy focuses on developing successful students both academically and professionally.

Secondly, the cultural relevant curriculum also focuses on (2) recognizing student’s culture by contributing their culture “to various genres of curriculum content and also to the fabric of society” (Milner IV 69). In order to “see their culture” in the cultural relevant curriculum, educators focus on incorporating students backgrounds and experiences into the learning, whether this is done through showcasing one’s cultural traditions or actually incorporating their language into the teaching. This component is crucial to focus on the

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

ESL  Program  is  "difficult"

ESL  Program  is  Moderately  Difficult

ESL  Program  is  Moderately  Effective

ESL  Program  is  Effective

Student Perceptions of Current ESL Programs

Student  Perceptions  of  Current  ESL  Programs

 

 

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student’s individualism and highlighting their interests to the curriculum, which can keep student retention in public school education and ESL programs.

Lastly, culturally relevant curriculum focuses on (3) making sure that the students understand their stance in American society by “linking curriculum instruction to sociopolitical realities” (Milner IV 70). This component focuses on teaching students their current status in American society, in terms of where their racial groups stand educationally and professionally. In order to “link instruction of sociopolitical realities”, educators teach students the “why” are certain demographics suffering in terms of their educational attainment, employment rates, and socioeconomic status. This component also gives strategies on ways in which struggling demographics can escape their current situations whether they struggle to obtain a degree or professional job. Overall, these three components are vital to producing successful student outcomes in ESL programs and public school education.

Figure 4. Components of Cultural Relevant Pedagogy

Critical Service Leaning Theory

Furthermore, in order to successfully accomplish the “understanding political nature” aspect in cultural relevant teaching, critical service learning is put in place to accomplish this goal. A model of success that successfully implements cultural relevant pedagogies was introduced in the “The Culmore Project” which made it vital to employ “critical service learning” as its focal point towards its students in order for them to understand their “sociopolitical realities”. Critical service learning is a type of learning that “leads to students to interrogate root causes for community issues, emphasizes the de-individualization of social relations, and pair’s students in collaborative relationships with community partners” (Rabin 59). The primary focus of critical-service learning is to engage English Language Learners in learning English through a unique way rather than in a classroom setting. This unique strategy tries to educate Hispanic immigrants in working with community partners to understand the struggles of their population in the United States and what they can do to improve it. “ESL students would be learning English not solely for functional ‘getting along’ in U.S society, but as a vehicle through which learners might interrogate power structures and imagine ways in which these structures might be transformed” (Rabin 63). Critical service learning serves as a method to

Cultural  Relevant  Pedagogy  

Empowerment Recognizing  CultureUnderstating  social  political  nature  in  

US  Society

 

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teach English Language Learners the social structure in society and where Hispanic immigrants fall under this hierarchy.

Critical service learning theory does something that current ESL instruction omits, which was building a curriculum to connect to student’s backgrounds. Critical service learning provides awareness and satisfies the understanding one’s social political nature in U.S society. Critical service learning focuses on a certain demographic, such as Hispanic immigrants, into identifying where they come from and how their background is affected in the social structure of the United States. The instruction provided through critical service learning recognizes Hispanic immigrants cultural and linguistic identities through teaching them power relationships among United States society and how they fit the piece in the puzzle. This curriculum is not only instructing them about their role in the United States social relations, but the method of instruction is in Spanish bridging them towards English fluency. Critical service learning acts as a means to teach students in unique way rather than solely teaching students the content of the curriculum. Critical service learning and cultural relativism “instruction connects to students’ lives by activating their background knowledge” and “instruction affirms students’ academic, linguistic, and cultural identities” (Cummins, Mirza, Stille 33). Successful teaching and student retention is heightened when educators in public school systems and ESL programs incorporate critical service learning and cultural relativism into the curriculum. These programs doesn’t become a place where the students are limited on what they can and cannot learn, instead they showcase and highlight students desires, goals, individualism by prioritizing their cultural and linguistic identifies as the focal point of the curriculum.

Plan: The Ladson-Billings Program to Success Hispanic immigrants currently represent a high rate of dropouts in school systems simply

because they lack the English language, which makes their learning and educational experience difficult and overall lacks their motivation. These programs lack two essential components in making an educational experience for Hispanic immigrants a successful one. These two components are (1) a cultural relevant pedagogy, and (2) critical service learning. The absence of these two components makes the educational experience for students a difficult one, because it is revolving the student around the curriculum, instead of revolving the curriculum around the student. In order to keep student retention among current ESL programs, incorporating their cultural and linguistic identities through a cultural relevant program is crucial.

Therefore, in order to provide a program for Hispanic immigrants to learn English in a unique way, my plan is to launch the Ladson-Billings Program to Success, named after Gloria Ladson-Billings who proposed to introduce cultural relativism into urban classrooms with a diverse group of students. This program would be specifically geared towards the Hispanic immigrant population in the city of New Brunswick, NJ. The program will take place at the Adult Learning Center in New Brunswick, the same building as the New Brunswick Board of Education. These Hispanic immigrants will have two options when attending the program. Option one will require students to attend the program four times a week for six months, and Option two will require students to attend the program twice a week for one year. The program will understand that many of the perspective students might have other obligations such as part time work, child care, etc., so it will give leniency towards those groups who cannot make Option one. Furthermore, the breakdown of how the program would be set up is that it would

 

 

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require students to attend three sessions to accomplish the three major components of a successful cultural relevant pedagogy.

Session One: Empowerment Workshops

The goal for the empowerment workshops is to accomplish the first component of a successful cultural relevant pedagogy “empowerment”. The meaning of empowerment for this program is simply not to empower and motivate students to do well in the program and outside of life, but practically work with them to reach their desired goals. These empowerment workshops are specifically going to empower students to develop their professionalism. The goal of these empowerment workshops is to make sure that when these Hispanic immigrants successfully leave the program, they are knowledgeable in reaching out to perspective employers and being able to carry themselves out professionally. Therefore, these workshops are going to require three goals. The first is resume building, where students are going to have the opportunity to learn how to create, design, and know the important criteria that goes into a resume. Resume building is important for these Hispanic immigrants, because most of the time they may not be familiar with the job process here in the United States where employers require a resume with the list of skills and experience needed to be competitive for a given position. This session will explain the importance of creating resumes and why it is useful in today’s job market. The students are expected to learn that a resume has different components to it, such as skills, work experience, education, objective, and sometimes-even references are required for some employers. The goal of this session is to make sure that our students are equipped building a resume so that they are able to apply for jobs that require resumes than lower waged jobs.

The second component that is going to be required for these empowerment workshops is focusing on interviewing strategies. In order to accomplish this, we are going to have a human resource manager assistant on site to help these immigrants succeed at an interview for a job they are applying to. Interviewing strategies include learning etiquettes, proper posture, eye contact, when to give the employer a handshake, the right things to say when one is going to an interview, and practice a list of questions that future employers might ask them. Each student enrolled in the program will have the opportunity to practice what makes a successful interview with an on-site human resource manager assistant who is familiar with the hiring procedures. Since these students will be applying to jobs around the New Brunswick area, they are required to learn how to succeed at an interview in the English language. The goal of this component in this workshop is to get these immigrants to start thinking about applying to jobs and acquiring the skills necessary to succeed at interviews.

The third component to the empowerment workshops is going to give students the opportunity to understand the community college application process. The program will expect students to not stop their education beyond this program, but to continue their studies by applying to community colleges. We want to make sure that they understand what exactly is required when applying to community colleges to further their education. We want to make sure that these Hispanic immigrants understand that when applying to community colleges, these applications will be in English, so the goal is to help them navigate questions they are not familiar what these applications might be asking. The reason as why to this session requires to understand the community college application, is to develop their mindsets into thinking of going to community college as an option. This session is empowering students to not stop continuing their education after this program, but to motivate them and push to continue their studies. The

 

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empowerment workshops are put in place to “insert education into their culture”, as proposed by Gloria Ladson-Billings.

Session Two: Cultural and English Learning

Session two is where the cultural and English learning is going to take place. This session is implemented to satisfy the “seeing their culture” component to a successful cultural relevant curriculum as well as providing the English learning aspect to it. Therefore, the session will be divided into two parts. The first part is where the cultural learning aspect is going to take place. In order to highlight these Hispanic immigrants culture in the classroom, each and every student will have the opportunity to showcase their own personal culture, whether it is through cuisine, holidays, traditions, clothing, music, etc. The goal of this session is to focus on the individual themselves and bring their past experiences and traditions into the program. In order to highlight each and every student’s individualism and culture into this session, each student will be required to present any cultural aspect that represents who they are to the classroom. Also, this session is going to incorporate the use of Spanish books. The reason for why we are introducing Spanish books into the curriculum for these students is to get these students to learn how to analyze textual information in Spanish before they learn it in English. Once these students learn how to analyze text in Spanish and these students show that they can master analyzing textual information in Spanish, then the session will proceed with analyzing textual information in English and learning how to hold a conversation in English through conversation exercises. To carry out these exercises, students will have to form groups and practice English conversation depending on the given weekly theme of the session. After the groups are comfortable with holding a conversation in English, they will than present their scenario to the classroom in English.

Session Three: Community Outreach Field Work

The third and last required session of the program is focusing on community outreach through field work. This session is set to satisfy the “understand social political nature in U.S society” component of a successful cultural relevant pedagogy. This session will require students to form partnerships with community organizations and local businesses so that they can foreshadow business owners and leaders to develop business-like mindsets. This session will also teach the “why” Hispanics are the lowest in terms of educational attainment and ways in which they can break that stigma. In order to teach these students the “why” are Hispanic immigrants lowest in terms educational attainment would be done through current statistics and provide them with information on how the lack of English language among this group prevents them from obtaining an educational degree, since school systems in the United States are offered in the English language. The goal of this session is to statistically show that Hispanic immigrants are currently struggling in economic terms because of their lack of education which is ultimately due to their lack of English. The need to show the reality of this group in the United States is crucial so that they can understand their current statues in the United States. Yet, this session is not only going to explain the “why” are Hispanic immigrants struggling in U.S society, but the session will also give advice to these students on how to escape those current stigmas. This session will teach students that in order to escape those stigmas; they need to first learn English in order to obtain an educational degree. Once an educational degree is attained, the process of applying to good paying jobs is the next step. This session will provide students information on why education is important for their population to escape their current socioeconomic status.

 

 

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This session will also require students to form partnerships with local businesses and community organizations in New Brunswick. The point to form partnerships is to network with businesses around the area and foreshadow business owners on how to run a business for example. This is where the critical service learning is being played, where students are interacting with community partners outside of the classroom to garnish professional experience firsthand. Critical service learning believes that the only way to learn professionalism and one’s status in U.S society is to get out in the field and learn how community organizations and businesses work and what kinds of people make up those sectors. Once these students have participated in the on field experience, they will have the chance to reflect upon their visits to this session with the instructor and peers. We want to allow Hispanic immigrants to have the opportunity to see that many businesses do not have Hispanics as leaders or do not represent the majority of those in the workforce. This will give a chance for these immigrants to see another reality that their racial groups are currently in, which is lacking a presence in the business workforce.

Budget Figure 5. Employee Salaries

Employees Cost ESL Instructors Option 1 (3) $119,638 (per year) ESL Instructors Option 2 (3) $53,168(per semester) Career Guidance Counselor (1)

$41,126 (per year)

School Administration $71,386 (per year) Human Resources Assistant $37,001 (per year) Curriculum Developer $56,649 (per year) Graphic Designer/Advertisement

$40,390 (per year)

These salaries have been estimated annual salaries by Pay Scale. Pay Scale has calculated these numbers by median salary. There are different costs for different occupations because of their duties. In Figure 5, there are two different rows of ESL instructors because there is going to be 3 different sets of ESL instructors teaching for Option one of the Ladson-Billings Program to Success, which requires four times a week for six hours and for Option two which requires twice a week for six hours. Part of this list is a career counselor who will be in charge of talking to these Hispanic immigrants progress in the program and discussing their future plans once they have successfully completed the program. The career counselor is set to discuss the goals and desires for these students and work to achieve those goals.

Furthermore, in order to successfully manage the functions of the program, there is going to be the programs administration that will be in charge of carrying out rules and regulations, standards, and manage the resources that come inside the school such as supplies, transportation, and curriculum services. In the program, there is also going to be a human resource assistant on site to work one on one with students in the empowerment workshops. These assistants will be in charge of working with the ESL instructor on how to successfully formulate resumes for perspective jobs and teach the students interviewing strategies. The program is also going to

 

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need a curriculum developer to create a unique cultural relevant pedagogy to motivate students to not only learn the English language, but an opportunity to highlight their culture, language, and goals. Lastly, there is going to be a yearly graphic designer who will help design and create the logo for our program as well as design our poster for advertisement.

Total for Salaries: $419,358

Figure 4. Building, Supplies, and Transportation

Adult Learning Center $15,000 (per year) School Supplies $1000 (per year) Transportation $50,000 (per year)

In order for this program to be possible, it needs a location where Hispanic immigrants residing in New Brunswick will be able to attend without a burden to travel afar. Therefore, the program would take place at the Adult Learning Center, the same building as the New Brunswick Board of Education. Out of the $15,000 it will cover three rooms in the Adult Learning Center where the three sessions will take place. We will also include school supplies such as notebooks to keep track of their English learning as well reflect on their own field experiences with local community organizations and businesses as well as provide them with other supplies such as pens and planners. The program will make sure that these Hispanic immigrants will not have to go out of their way to buy any school supplies. Lastly, the final cost to make this program successful is transportation. The program will offer transportation services provided by Rutgers Charter Bus Rental program. The reason why the program is including a charter bus is that sometimes many of these Hispanic immigrants may not own some kind of vehicle; therefore, the program will make sure that these students will not have to worry about transporting themselves to the Adult Learning Center from their home and vice versa. Also, Rutgers Charter bus will be there when students are going out in the field when partnering up with local community organizations and businesses.

Total for Building, Supplies, and Transportation: $66,000

Figure 5. Advertisement

Posters $200 Pamphlets $100

In order to successfully advertise the program and get the word out to Hispanic immigrants, there are going to be two different ways on accomplishing just that. The first component are posters made by the graphic designer that will include our logo, name of the program, the purpose of our program, dates and times the program will take place and information regarding how one can register. The graphic designer will also design the pamphlets. Hispanic immigrant residents in New Brunswick will be able to take these pamphlets from their children’s schoolteachers, local Hispanic restaurants in New Brunswick, and inside the Board of Education building in New Brunswick. All advertisements are going to be in Spanish.

Total for Advertisements: $300

 

 

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ENTIRE COST FOR THE LADSON-BILLINGS PROGRAM TO SUCCESS: $485,558

However, there is currently a grant available for the program called the Hispanic Serving Institute Grant. The grant is offered to any institution or program that currently services the Hispanic population, whether this is at a university, community college, or program dedicated to commit on achieving success for Hispanics. The grant is offering the Ladson-Billings Program to Success a minimum of $525,000 and a maximum of $650,000. At the minimum grant price with $525,000 and incorporating the cost of the program, the difference will leave the program with $39,442. With the reaming costs, the program will use these costs for contingency and other miscellaneous costs such as perspective field trips to other community organizations and local businesses, future programs, school supplies, etc.

Discussion and Evaluation Plan Hispanic immigrants in the United States are continuously rising, meaning an increase of non-English speakers. These immigrants that move into this country attend schools and find most public school education systems and ESL programs difficult because of their lack of the English language. The correlation between the risings numbers that Hispanic immigrants in the U.S are representing and the rates to which these people are dropping out is high. The problem exists within current pedagogies that lack a curriculum geared towards immigrants coming from a different culture and background. These pedagogies in school systems and ESL programs lack both cultural relativism and critical service learning as the focal point of instruction. Without cultural relativism and critical service learning in school systems that target a population who come from different cultures causes students to dropout from these programs. Educators that try to accommodate a struggling population try to incorporate culture into the curriculum, which in fact does not yield successful outcomes. Educators need to implement education into the culture of a population that struggles academically. To accomplish this, implementing cultural relativism and critical service learning into the curriculum is effective in producing a successful educational experience.

In order to reach out to Hispanic immigrants to succeed both academically and professionally, the launch of the Ladson-Billings Program to Success is a unique ESL program targeted for this group to learn English effectively and develop their own professionalism. The program will focus on providing these students a cultural relevant curriculum that teaches these students English and professionalism through critical service learning. The program will require three sessions that satisfy the three components on making a successful cultural relevant pedagogy, (1) “empowerment,” (2) “recognizing their culture,” (3) and “understand their social political nature in U.S society” (Milner IV 69-70). These sessions will run through empowerment workshops that aim to develop professionalism by teaching them how to make resumes as well as interviewing strategies and community college application tips. Students will have the opportunity to showcase their own culture through cultural learning classrooms as well as learn how to analyze textual information in Spanish before learning them in English. The focus on conversation in English will also be prioritized in the cultural learning classroom, as they will discuss each other’s culture in English depending on the week’s theme. Lastly, the program will give these students the opportunity to learn why the Hispanic population are the lowest in terms of educational attainment, and ways they can break that stigma. They will also be required to form partnerships with local community organizations and businesses to develop business like mindsets.

 

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Ultimately, the purpose of the program is to break the stigma that current Hispanic immigrants currently represent in the educational system if the U.S. The program acts as a response to the dropout rates Hispanic immigrants are representing because most of the pedagogies in the U.S lack cultural relevant teaching, and with the inclusion of these curriculums will motivate students to attend these sessions and learn English and their “social political realities” in a unique way. To evaluate whether these students are effectively learning English and feel better motivated from the program they will be distributed an end of the year program evaluation. First the students will be tested to talk about different themes such as greetings, how to talk during an interview, and their current needs in English. Second, they will be provided an end of the year evaluation survey that will ask whether the program has helped them learn English, if they felt the program has motivated them to continue their education and/or apply to the workforce, and whether they would recommend the program to other relatives or friends who lack English and would like to learn the language in a unique way. Overall, the survey is intended to highlight that a cultural relevant pedagogy is most effective when teaching a diverse group of students who struggle academically, and is intended to provide them the tools and skills to not only succeed in an educational setting but in the workforce.

 

 

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