To ensure English language fluency, the state of Arizona has forced schools to adopt a new English Language Learners program beginning this academic year.
The program defines four levels of English proficiency: pre-emergent, emergent, basic and intermediate.
The first two levels require that students have four hours of daily instruction.
Schools in South Tucson are struggling to meet the mandates in this model.
The largest schools serving the one-square mile city are run by the Tucson Unified School District.
TUSD’s schools are handling the ELL mandate in a variety of ways.
Ochoa Elementary is pulling its ELL learners out of regular classes for two hours of English language instruction and two hours of reading.
Mission View Elementary requires two hours of English language instruction and is grouping all bilingual students together for an additional 30 minutes of English as a second language.
At the high school and middle school levels, the district is offering ELL classes in blocks of two or four hours, depending on the student’s level of English competency, said Steve Holmes chief academic officer for TUSD.
Jesus Celaya, principal of Drachman Montessori Magnet School, said that two-thirds of the schools in the district are applying the two-hour model.
Celaya added that some of the parents of the 50 children in his school were upset when the program began, because their children were being separated from their peers but have since adjusted to it.
“This is a transition year, and the state has allowed us to operate under this two-hour model for the time being,” Holmes said.
Holmes estimated the district would need to hire 100 additional teachers to reach the four-hour daily requirement.
“We would love to do the four hours but we didn’t have the resources to hire the teachers,” Holmes said.
When the state was in the process of instituting the new ELL program, districts from across the state submitted a funding request for $274 million. However, the state only offered the districts $40 million and TUSD did not qualify for any of that money because the district receives desegregation funds.
However, it isn’t only the large districts that must implement these new mandates. Charter schools are also being forced to comply with this new program.
In the Cesar Chavez Middle School and Aztlan Academy, there are 160 to 170 students, but only 10 need ELL instruction taught by one teacher, according to Veronica Antonio assistant director of the schools.
The schools are offering not four hours of daily ELL instruction, but two.
“It seems every year the state is changing the ELL requirements,” Antonio said. “It is just so hard to maintain and keep up to date.”
The new requirements strain the small school’s resources. “But our primary concern is making sure our students are proficient,” Antonio said.
Tucson Urban League Academy is another charter school serving the city, offering grades 6-12 it has an enrollment of 92 students. However, only three of their students are ELL students.
These three students receive three hours a day of English instruction.
“It is something we had to do for our kids, so we did it,” said Lorraine Richardson principal of the academy.
