More than 2,000 teachers get extra training
More than two thousand students completed four-week "English Language Learner Summer Enrichment Academies," a first-of-its-kind Boston Public Schools (BPS) program that helps children with limited English skills prepare for the upcoming school year.
To help celebrate their accomplishments, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Boston Public Schools Superintendent Carol R. Johnson visited the ELLSEA program at Blackstone Elementary, which serves as a model for district-wide language education being unveiled this fall.
“Many of these children come from families that are new to Boston,” said Mayor Menino. “One of the best ways we can welcome them into our community is by ensuring they receive same top-notch education that we guarantee for ch
ildren whose families have been here for generations.”
Since January, more than 2,000 BPS teachers have started “category training,” which provides them with the added skills necessary to help students improve their English language skills. This will enable BPS to help children with limited English skills at every school beginning this fall. Until now, BPS has concentrated its English Language Learning programs in specialized schools throughout the city. Now, the district is expanding its efforts to offer high-quality programs in nearly every neighborhood.
This year, new testing data revealed that 28 percent of BPS students struggle to understand English, and nearly 40 percent of students speak a language other than English at home.
“I am so proud of our teachers, who have proven their dedication to educating every child by undergoing extra training and developing important skills that will help all of our students succeed,” Dr. Johnson said. “Their effort means that more BPS teachers are able to improve the lives of every student, no matter what school they are in or how well they understand the English language. This fall, we can promise parents that our teachers and principals are working to build lesson plans that are tailored around the needs of each child.”
Beginning in September, BPS principals and teachers will develop lesson plans for individual students whenever testing data indicates the student does not have a complete command of the English language. This is a major component of the district’s ongoing effort to coordinate classroom instruction and after-school programs around the needs of individual students. For the first time, BPS is using assessments and other diagnostic testing to develop data-driven, coordinated lesson plans around the needs of every student in the district.
