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Glendale News Press
July 3 2004
Rate of English learning doubles
Number of English- language learning students moving into higher
classes jumps from 15% to 30%.
By Darleene Barrientos, News-Press
NORTHEAST GLENDALE - When Garnik Sarkissian arrived in the United
States in 1995 and began attending John Muir Elementary School, he
did not know any English.
Garnik, now 17, graduated as valedictorian of Glendale High School
last month and is on his way to the University of Pennsylvania, where
he plans to triple major in biochemistry, math and business. Garnik
was also accepted into a program in which he will receive yearly
grants and be paid to conduct research projects.
Garnik was reclassified from an English-language learner to a
fluent-English proficient student just three months after arriving at
his elementary school and was taking advanced classes seven months
later, he said.
"Back in Armenia, kids were placed at the same level and you couldn't
advance," he said. "In America, you can go as high as you want to go.
That's what I like about this place."
Garnik might be an extreme example, but Glendale Unified School
District officials were proud to hear that students learning English
are being reclassified as being proficient in the language at a
faster rate than the rest of the state. The district's language
census report was presented this week during the school board
meeting.
The rate of reclassified students has doubled since last year,
jumping from 15% to 30%. The state's rate in 2002-03 was 7%. The most
recent numbers for the state were not available Friday.
The high rate of reclassification is contrary to the belief of some
local parents who believe the district keeps their children in the
program too long. Last summer, members of an Armenian parent group
criticized the district's program at several school board meetings
and on local Armenian talk shows.
The district reclassified 2,700 students from English-language
learners to fluent-English proficient since the last report. Of those
students, 1,657 were from the elementary schools and 1,043 were at
the middle and high schools.
The district's enrollment was 29,294 students during the 2003-04
year.
"It means that we're doing good work. We're getting kids into
mainstream classes [faster]," Supt. Michael Escalante said. "We want
kids to have the skills to move forward."
The high numbers this year were possible because of the district's
English-language learner programs' extra efforts, coordinator Joanna
Junge said. Junge said her staff concentrated its efforts on some
children who had not been reclassified after five years.
"There were a number of students who we discovered were still having
problems and not able to reclassify. It wasn't that they were
[English-language learners], it was some other kind of learning
problem," Junge said. "We've always done that, but we really
mobilized our efforts and gave the kids more intensive testing."
For some of the children, having trouble with math was keeping them
from being moved up, Junge said. In a case like that, district
workers reclassified those students under an option that allows
students who have been in a Glendale school for more than five years
to move on to a mainstream class if the student's deficiencies are
determined to be unrelated to learning English.
"If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a school district
to reclassify," board member Pam Ellis said.
July 3 2004
Rate of English learning doubles
Number of English- language learning students moving into higher
classes jumps from 15% to 30%.
By Darleene Barrientos, News-Press
NORTHEAST GLENDALE - When Garnik Sarkissian arrived in the United
States in 1995 and began attending John Muir Elementary School, he
did not know any English.
Garnik, now 17, graduated as valedictorian of Glendale High School
last month and is on his way to the University of Pennsylvania, where
he plans to triple major in biochemistry, math and business. Garnik
was also accepted into a program in which he will receive yearly
grants and be paid to conduct research projects.
Garnik was reclassified from an English-language learner to a
fluent-English proficient student just three months after arriving at
his elementary school and was taking advanced classes seven months
later, he said.
"Back in Armenia, kids were placed at the same level and you couldn't
advance," he said. "In America, you can go as high as you want to go.
That's what I like about this place."
Garnik might be an extreme example, but Glendale Unified School
District officials were proud to hear that students learning English
are being reclassified as being proficient in the language at a
faster rate than the rest of the state. The district's language
census report was presented this week during the school board
meeting.
The rate of reclassified students has doubled since last year,
jumping from 15% to 30%. The state's rate in 2002-03 was 7%. The most
recent numbers for the state were not available Friday.
The high rate of reclassification is contrary to the belief of some
local parents who believe the district keeps their children in the
program too long. Last summer, members of an Armenian parent group
criticized the district's program at several school board meetings
and on local Armenian talk shows.
The district reclassified 2,700 students from English-language
learners to fluent-English proficient since the last report. Of those
students, 1,657 were from the elementary schools and 1,043 were at
the middle and high schools.
The district's enrollment was 29,294 students during the 2003-04
year.
"It means that we're doing good work. We're getting kids into
mainstream classes [faster]," Supt. Michael Escalante said. "We want
kids to have the skills to move forward."
The high numbers this year were possible because of the district's
English-language learner programs' extra efforts, coordinator Joanna
Junge said. Junge said her staff concentrated its efforts on some
children who had not been reclassified after five years.
"There were a number of students who we discovered were still having
problems and not able to reclassify. It wasn't that they were
[English-language learners], it was some other kind of learning
problem," Junge said. "We've always done that, but we really
mobilized our efforts and gave the kids more intensive testing."
For some of the children, having trouble with math was keeping them
from being moved up, Junge said. In a case like that, district
workers reclassified those students under an option that allows
students who have been in a Glendale school for more than five years
to move on to a mainstream class if the student's deficiencies are
determined to be unrelated to learning English.
"If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a school district
to reclassify," board member Pam Ellis said.