New English learning law brings challenges

East Valley school districts are preparing for sweeping changes in the way they are required to teach children who do not yet speak English.

A new state law, set to go into effect in August, will require schools to segregate children who cannot pass an English exam into separate classrooms. Those students will take at least four hours of English language instruction, squeezing out much of their time for other subjects such as science, social studies and math.

It’s a big change: Currently, most English learners spend their school days in mainstream classrooms surrounded by English-speaking peers.

The rules will apply to any child who cannot pass the state’s new English proficiency exam, the Arizona English Language Learner Assessment, dubbed “AZELLA.”

The impending changes leave some educators uneasy. At a recent meeting of the Mesa Unified School District governing board, some members worried that English learners would graduate late because the required four-hour English lessons wouldn’t give them enough time to earn required credits in other subjects.

“If they don’t pass AZELLA, they can’t go into concept classes. Then they can’t pass AIMS. It’s a double-whammy,” said Superintendent Debra Duvall. “There is community concern about this one-size-fits-all mind-set.”

In districts with large numbers of English learners, the new rules will change the dynamics in hundreds of classrooms.

In the Tempe Elementary School District, about one-quarter of roughly 13,300 students are English learners. At a few schools, roughly half are English learners, said Sylvia Gonzales, director of English Language Learning.

The Tempe district has been discussing how to adhere to the new rules set out for them, a conversation she described as “very difficult” and “challenging.” Administrators are still in the planning stages, and will be gathering feedback from principals next month, then seeking approval from the school board early next year.

In the Mesa district, too, the roughly 9,000 English learners are placed in mainstream classrooms, said Suzan DePrez, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

Sometimes, a Spanish-speaking classroom aide assists students, but, per state law, all instruction must take place in English.

At the secondary level, DePrez said, some English learners do take separate classes, where they receive a daily dose of two hours of English instruction.

The new rules come as the result of a bill passed in 2006 requiring the state to create a more uniform method of instructing its English learners. The bill established a task force charged with adopting a model for English language instruction.

It also required the state Department of Education to develop the AZELLA. Passing that test is the only way in, and out, of the state’s new English Learner program. However, there are some early indications the test is more difficult than AIMS. Duvall said nearly 300 Mesa students have passed all three portions of Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards, but have not yet passed AZELLA.

A task force, consisting of university faculty, school administrators and others — the chair is an economist — met for more than a year, and came up with a research-based approach to learning English.

Depending on the child’s grade level, the four required hours of instruction will include blocks of conversation, grammar, reading, vocabulary and writing.

Task force members said that math and science can be taught in those classes, as long as the main focus remains on language development. DePrez said the curriculum for the courses is supposed to be very specific, leaving little room for variance.

“I expect there will be many challenges with it, but we’re going to do the best we can to do what we know is best for kids and be in compliance with the mandates,” said Gloria Chavez, a fifth-grade teacher at Mesa’s Adams Elementary School.

She is concerned, however, because teachers have yet to see any of the curriculum.

The idea of placing English learners in separate rooms is also creating some questions for school districts currently under court-ordered desegregation agreements with the federal Office of Civil Rights.

“We are under an agreement and we do have our students as widely spread around schools as possible. They’re bused that way. So pulling them all together according to language ability was a major philosophical concern,” Gonzales said. “We are really struggling with this. It almost appears as if we’re moving backward.”

Legal issues aside, some educators have academic concerns about separate classrooms.

Mike Oliver, principal at Mesa’s Zaharis Elementary School, said the approach his school uses — which highlights dialogue and ‘grand conversations’ — works well with English learners.

A large part of that, he said, is because those children are interacting with fluent English speakers.

“Where is an (English learner) going to learn best? In an environment where they’re doing worksheets, going through prescribed curriculum a teacher is transmitting, or in an environment where there’s a lot of beautiful language being spoken, where there is dialogue? Where they get to hear the voices of others, not just the teacher?” he said. “We learn in the company of others.”