WASHINGTON (September 15, 2011) – The last thing our country needs right now is
to roll back hard-won progress in student achievement and improvement of
America’s public schools, particularly for low-income students and students of
color. In large measure, that’s what a new package of Senate bills to amend the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act would do.

Yes, all students must be prepared for college and career, as the bill aspires.
What’s more, parents and the public do deserve much better information about how
well their schools and students are doing. But under the guise of increased
flexibility and freedom for local policymakers, this package of proposals would
maintain the flow of federal education funding, while handing accountability for
returns on that investment back to the states.

Indeed, when left to their own devices, states have a long, well-documented
history of aiming far too low and shortchanging the schools that serve our most
vulnerable children. It’s because of that history that Congress sought to hold
states accountable for results in the first place.

For example, the 1994 version of ESEA required states to design their own
accountability systems for schools and districts. The law demanded that these
systems expect “continuous and substantial improvement” such that all students
met state-set proficiency standards, “particularly economically disadvantaged
and limited English proficient children.”Six years later, only two states —
Texas and New Mexico — had included subgroup performance as part of their
accountability determinations.

In the 2001 version of ESEA, known as No Child Left Behind, states were given
the discretion to set their own goals and improvement targets for high school
graduation rates. The result? More than half of them chose to set their annual
target at “anyprogress,” meaning that even a bump from 50.0 percent to 50.1
percent was acceptable. Meanwhile, the District of Columbia and two states said
it was good enough to not lose ground.

By once again giving states the latitude to aim for the lowest common
denominator — and hamstringing the federal government’s ability to respond
—these bills would turn the clock back to the 1965 version of ESEA. Back then,
the federal government served as little more than an ATM machine. In today’s
America, students and taxpayers both deserve more.

See the original release at edtrust.org

The US Senate Education committee is working to reauthorize the ESEA through a series of amendments. Included here is the Senate version of ESEA Title I amendment that impacts all students in the United States if passed. The bill attempts to gut accountability for the most vulnerable students in US schools- English Language Learners by giving states the discretionary authority to decide where and how to spend our federal tax dollars to improve student achievement on the lowest 5% of the schools that do not meet the state accountability goals. ELLs are enrolled in schools at all levels in the education system and not just in the states lowest 5%. What the bill effectively does is eliminate Title III funds and the requirements that accompany the state grants by combining them with Title I and allowing the states to spend federal education funds specifically targeted for ELL language acquisition and academic achievement any way the state chooses. This is outrageous and a direct violation of the students’ academic civil rights. Since 1974 the Supreme Court has mandated that for language minority children and students “language may not be a barrier to academic content knowledge” at grade level. Yet, even current assessment results reported by the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) The Nation’s Report Card in 2009 indicate that in 4th and 8th grade reading and math there is a 29% and 27% academic achievement gap between ELLs and other subgroup populations. Even with the numbers as dismal as these- it is interesting to note that since the passage of NCLB and the implementation of the Title III requirements for ELLs these student results are an improvement over the prior 30 years. NCLB for ELLS is working (albeit slowly- not due to any failure or flaw in the law but due to adults’ unwilllingness to fully implement the law for ELLs). Now, once again Congress wants to eliminate strong accountability for our nation’s fastest growing and most vulnerable student population and for some of us – our children! Are we to remain silent or forcefully advocate on behalf of the students and children who have NO voice or representation in our local schools, districts,states,and halls of Congress! Who will speak for the Children!

Kathleen Leos and Lisa Saavedra

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2. dcl-factsheet-201101
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David G. Hinojosa will become Southwest Regional Counsel

January 3, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA – This week, Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel, announced important developments in the leadership of the MALDEF national litigation team. Longtime senior MALDEF attorney Nina Perales has become the Director of Litigation. In this capacity, she will oversee MALDEF litigation efforts throughout the country.

Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel, stated ”I am very pleased to have Nina Perales as our national Director of Litigation. Nina has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the nation’s top civil rights litigators. With her expertise and dedication to the MALDEF mission, she will ensure that our docket of civil rights cases flourishes and our roster of significant courtroom victories expands in the years to come.”

David G. Hinojosa is the new Southwest Regional Counsel. He will direct MALDEF’s litigation, advocacy and public education in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming, Kansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

On Mr. Hinojosa’s promotion, Mr. Saenz said “David Hinojosa’s years of dedication to MALDEF and his growing national reputation for leadership and ingenuity in the field of education civil rights litigation make him a worthy successor to the many highly accomplished attorneys who have previously led the MALDEF San Antonio office, including most recently Nina Perales. I look forward to his leadership building upon the office’s already exemplary reputation.”

read the rest at maldef.org

Mr. Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation addressed the Chief State School Officers at their annual Policy Meeting in Kentucky this weekend to help the chiefs prioritize “shrinking state education budgets” with needed school reform. He emphasized the Common Core Standards, teacher preparation and professional development – all worthy and required to meet student achievement goals. He also stressed that as states consider cutting education dollars they focus their funds on continuing to develop infrastructure. GILD would like to add that educators, in understanding the importance of data, infrastructure, professional development and teachers, do not overlook the importance of English language learners’ academic civil right to learn their second language –English – with all of its components in order to access academic content at grade level. One of the most important expenditures a state can make is to take the time and focus the dollars on developing a separate and equal corresponding set of National English Language Proficiency Standards and align them to the current National Common Core Standards in English language arts, mathematics and science. The fastest growing demographic of the student population in the United States needs not only to acquire a second language, but is required to master the same knowledge and skills in each subject area at grade level as all other students in the classroom.

This past month, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) hosted a forum on the Common Core Standards and ELLs. What AFT secretary-treasurer Antonia Cortese called “the start of an important conversation” took place at AFT national headquarters on Oct. 21, when leading researchers, policymakers and practitioners gathered for a policy forum that explored ways to make Common Core state standards work for English language learners (ELLs). For more information on the forum visit: http://www.aft.org/newspubs/news/2010/102510ell.cfm.

If you would like to view the presentation given by GILD at the forum, click here.

This past month, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) hosted a forum on the Common Core Standards and ELLs. What AFT secretary-treasurer Antonia Cortese called “the start of an important conversation” took place at AFT national headquarters on Oct. 21, when leading researchers, policymakers and practitioners gathered for a policy forum that explored ways to make Common Core state standards work for English language learners (ELLs). For more information on the forum click here.

If you would like to view the presentation given by GILD at the forum, click here.

The “Science” Behind Language Development

Recent research and presentations sharing results on how children develop language and presentation bring to light that there are learning benefits to students who know or are learning more than one language.

Language “Mapping” by the Infant Brain: New Methods and Theoretical Principles

At the forefront of research on language are new data demonstrating young children’s strategies in the early acquisition of language. Neural and Behavioral Aspects of Early Language Development; Presenter: Patricia K. Kuhl, Ph.D. read more . . . .

The World’s First Brain-Imaging Center

This past summer, the University of Washington, Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences opened the world’s first brain-imaging center adapted to study language and cognition in infants and young children in Seattle. Read more . . .

Pennsylvania State is the Home of the “Purple Lab”

Principal Investigator, Dr. Judith Kroll indicates that their research is focused on the cognitive processes that support the acquisition and proficient use of a second language. Learn more . . . .

Upcoming Product Release

GILD has spent the last year conducting research, analysis and reviewing numerous Spanish language arts programs throughout the nation and in multiple other countries and embarked on the development of Spanish Language Arts Standards. GILD is in the process of finalizing PreK – 12th grade Spanish Language Arts content standards and will be gathering teacher, educator and research input/suggestions/revisions on the draft standards in the near future. Keep checking back for more on this . . . . .

Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation asked 40,000 of our nation’s public school teachers for their thoughts on American Education with the goal of placing teachers’ voices at the center of the discourse around education reform. read more…

Closing the Expectations Gap, 2010

Each year, on the anniversary of the 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools, Achieve releases a 50-state progress report on the alignment of high school policies with the demands of college and careers. Closing the Expectations Gap, 2010 is the fifth annual report in this series. The report details state progress implementing the American Diploma Project policy agenda. read more…