Breaking Down the Language Barrier Julie Sanchez, a first-grade teacher at Henry Elementary School, reads the book 'Dancing Dinosaurs' to Crystal Sotelo, 6, left, and Mariel Prado, 6, during an English language session at the school.

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First-grade teacher Julie Sanchez reads the story "Dancing Dinosaurs" with two of her students, acting out some of the words they have difficulty understanding.

She bends down low in her chair and moves slowly to help convey the meaning of the word "creep" to 6-year-olds Crystal Sotelo and Mariel Prado.

Both of the Henry Elementary School students are learning how to speak and read English in Sanchez's class, called a structured-English immersion class by district officials.

"They seem to know enough of the oral English; now we need to work on comprehension." Sanchez said. "By acting out the vocabulary, it gives them a sense of what they're reading in the book."

In the Rialto Unified School District, 21.8 percent of students are classified as English language learners such as Sotelo and Prado. That is a far higher percentage than other school districts that SchoolMatch auditors said were demographically similar.

Having a higher number of students for whom English is a second language poses several challenges that school districts with low numbers of such students might not encounter, district officials said.

The lack of limited-English students in those other districts makes the comparisons in the audit suspect, Rialto officials said.

"All those students' performance levels are rolled into our scores," said Mick Brown, Rialto's assistant superintendent of instruction. "It just makes analysis a little bit difficult."

Since Proposition 227 passed in 1998, all students are required to be tested in English regardless of their proficiency level, said Lupe Navarro, program specialist for the district's English Language Leamers program. Proposition 227 eliminated bilingual education statewide.

"The scores reported represent all students, including the LEP (limited-English proficient) students. There is no breakdown," she said. "It's not really a good way of looking at the students at all. They're all at different levels of English fluency."

When reporting scores on the state's new Stanford 9 test, the state lumps all the English language learners together instead of dividing them up based on their fluency level, Navarro said.

Having a large number of English learners means the district has to closely monitor the instructional program to ensure students are meeting state standards, she said.

In some cases, students might be moved from one level to another too quickly, before they become proficient, district officials said.

At Henry Elementary School, for example, less than 20 percent of students meet grade-level standards, Principal Patricia Haney said.

Proposition 227 eliminated the district's bilingual classes, in which students were taught in both their native languages and English.

The district has since employed a program referred to as structured English immersion, in which students are taught primarily in English. Teachers only speak in the students' native languages when explaining a concept or providing background information.

First-grade teacher Sanchez said she has adapted her teaching style to the new model.

She uses more visual aids to explain concepts and encourages students to use English when speaking with one another. The walls of her classroom are covered with posters and diagrams, most of which are in English.

Having a large number of students who don't speak English also makes it difficult to assess their progress because the state lacks standards for testing their comprehension and other skills.

Most of the assessment is based on teachers' judgments, which means the teachers must decide if a student has mastered the language well enough to move to another level of fluency, Haney said.

A related problem is dealing with parents who speak no English, which limits their ability to work with their children on assignments, school officials said.

"They're limited in what they can do to help these kids with their literacy skills," Haney said.

Teachers often have to translate directions on homework into Spanish so parents are able to help their children.

Students learning to speak English also are hurt in other subjects because they receive fewer minutes of instruction in areas not directly related to language.

Students in structured English-immersion classes, for instance, receive 90 minutes of English-language development. That leaves little time for subjects such as social studies and science.

"It's not very in-depth and not to the extent they would be getting in a regular classroom," Haney said.

Most teachers weave social studies and science lessons into the 90-minute block of language arts and reading,

Crystal Sotelo, 6, practices her English skills during a reading assignment at Henry Elementary School

Working with a high number of English-language learners puts extra pressure on everyone in a school, from the classroom aide to the principal, Brown said.

One of those pressure points is older students entering school who have had no English training.

Not all English-language learners enter school in kindergarten or first grade. Some transfer students enter school in fifth or sixth grade with little or no English skills.

"They just have a lot further to go and need a lot more attention," Brown said. "It's more challenging when you have a student with 10 years of training in their primary language trying to learn English."

Charon Smith, a seventh-grade language arts teacher at Rialto Middle School, said she has several English learners in her class who need extra help understanding some of the concepts she presents.

The students can speak and communicate in English, but they have difficulty understanding grammar, Smith said. That typically is caused by students not understanding the grammar of their native language, which makes it more difficult for them to learn English grammar, she said.

"A lot of them are fluent in speaking. They have no problem communicating," she said. "The problem comes in with the reading and the writing."

Smith said she often modifies her lessons to include visuals and hands-on activities.

"You have to really stay focused on them. It is difficult, but it's not impossible," she said. "It just takes a little more effort and a little bit more work."

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Language: Schools Focus on Improving Skills

Analysis of reading and mathematics achievement
for limited English proficient (LEP) and all students
(all students include the LEP population)
1997-98 Stanford achievement test/9
(scores recorded as national percentile rank)

SCHOOL	LEP Reading	LEP Math	ALL Reading	ALL Math	% LEP enrollment	# LEP Students	# ALL Students
Elementary Schools
Bemis Boyd Casey Dollahan Dunn Fitzgerald Garcia Henry Hughbanks Kelley Morgan Morris Myers Preston Simpson Trapp	11.25 11.4 13.6 19.0 10.0 SS 12.4 9.2 SS 12.4 14.0 15.0 17.4 10.8 12.6 SS	14.75 18.8 21.6 28.25 18.78 SS 18.0 18.4 SS 18.2 17.6 20.2 30.2 18.8 16.8 SS	27.0 20.0 18.6 30.4 18.0 35.8 21.8 16.8 29.4 19.4 17.6 28.8 23.8 20.8 21.8 29.4	26.2 27.0 23.0 33.0 22.2 34.2 22.8 20.8 31.0 22.0 16.8 31.2 30.6 25.6 22.2 30.2	14.3 23.0 35.4 11.3 21.9 4.3 22.8 41.9 5.9 21.4 13.2 23.3 17.2 25.3 15.1 5.2	109 136 232 78 132 32 156 265 39 158 80 178 84 169 122 25	762 590 655 690 603 744 684 633 661 738 606 764 488 668 808 481
Middle Schools
Frisbie Kolb Kucera Rialto	12.0 14.5 14.0 9.0	19.5 19.0 14.5 13.0	25.5 28.5 34.0 29.5	28.0 27.0 32.0 27.5	17.3 6.1 10.9 1.1	178 46 92 12	1029 754 844 1091
High Schools
Eisenhower Milor Rialto Zupanic	6.3 SS 10.0 SS	22.7 SS 21.7 SS	24.7 16.3 21.0 30.0	32.0 18.0 30.3 31.0	10.4 4.5 17.4 0	272 10 410 0	2615 222 2356 101

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