District hires new program coordinator to encourage further
growth
Morgan Hill – Non-English speaking students in the Morgan Hill School District are ahead of the state average in proficiency with their second language, according to the results of the recently released California English Language Development Test.

Of the 1,380 English Language Learner students in the district tested last fall, 281 or 20 percent of them tested at the highest “advanced” level. Only 88, or 6 percent, tested at the lowest “beginning” level, and most of those students were in grades two through four.

Statewide, 47 percent of English language learners scored “advanced” or “early advanced.” Districtwide, 52 percent of Morgan Hill English language learners scored in the two highest levels.

Students scoring at the advanced level, said Pat Blanar, director of curriculum and assessment for the district, “communicate effectively with various audiences on a wide range of familiar and new topics to meet social and academic demands.”

Early advanced students, she added, can use English in other areas of learning and can begin to vary their uses of the language.

Once a student reaches the advanced level, they are ready to move out of the ELL program .

Locally, students have consistently outperformed state averages on the CELDT test, but the gap has narrowed. In 2001, 40 percent of ELL students in the district scored at early advanced or advanced, compared to 30 percent countywide and 25 percent statewide. Last year, local ELL students scored 5 percent higher than the state average and 4 percent higher than Santa Clara County with 52 percent.

“Over the past three years the district has been without a coordinator of English learners and categorical programs,” said Blanar. “Despite this lack of personnel, the students and staff have continued to work diligently to improve language acquisition for our English learners, as the data demonstrates. However, we know that we can do better.”

Results from the 2002-2003 school year showed 46 percent of the students scoring at the top two levels; in 2003-2004, 51 percent; and in 2004-2005, 52 percent.

Blanar said the district, under the guidance of new Superintendent Alan Nishino and new Assistant Superintendent Michael Johnson, is taking steps to improve the performance of ELL students.

Three new programs, directed at specific grade levels, have been put in place, Blanar said, and teachers and administrators have received training on the programs.

The idea, she said, is to move students out of the program as quickly as possible.

Also to that end, Nishino hired Ricardo Amador to oversee the ELL and categorical programs.

His focus, Blanar said, “will be to work with the English Learning community to encourage them to become our partners as we continue to work together to improve their children’s academic success.”

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