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"They speak Spanish,doudoune moncler, speak Mandarin, speak Cantonese, speak Thai, Korean, there's a whole United Nations of languages in LA Unified School District,louboutin pas cher," said Harry Pachon.
Critics complain that academic standards for English learners are uneven in the core subjects such as as mathematics and science.
Los Angeles has the second largest school system in the United States,moncler pas cher, after New York. It has more than 220,000 students in special classes for non-English speakers. Harry Pachon, a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California, says many in those classes were born in the United States, but speak a language other than English at home.
"We know that LA Unified's English-learner high school students have the lowest levels of achievement across the board," said Russlynn Ali. "Right now,burberry pas cher, only three percent of them are proficient in math and English."
School officials say 90 languages are spoken in LA schools.
Wednesday, Duncan's assistant secretary for civil rights, Russlynn Ali, launched the first of a series of actions in Los Angeles as she announced a probe into the treatment of English language learners in the city's public schools.
"What is a proficiency level? Is it 50 percent of English? Is it 40 percent of English? Or is it 60 percent of English? And when do you reclassify the student?" he asked.
She says the investigation of the Los Angeles Unified School District will reveal reasons for their low academic performance.
Federal officials say they will work with local schools to ensure that all students get a good education,casque dr dre, regardless of their race or gender, disability or national origin. The officials promise civil rights reviews in more than 30 school districts around the United States.
Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, welcomes the investigation. He sees a lack of attention to the core academic subjects in some English-learner classes, and says it is a problem not just in Los Angeles.
The US Department of Education has announced an investigation into the teaching of English-language learners in Los Angeles public schools. These students, who are immigrants or the children of immigrants, make up one-third of the LA school population. The investigation is the first of a number of civil rights actions planned for local school systems around the United States.
Just days ago US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan went to Selma, Alabama, to announce that his department would step up enforcement of federal civil rights laws to ensure that students of all backgrounds have equal access to a good education. The location of the announcement, in the Southern city of Selma,abercrombie france, was symbolic. It was the site of a clash between police and civil rights activists in March,franklin marshall, 1965, when hundreds of marchers were beaten by police.
Los Angeles school superintendent Ramon Cortines, who appeared at a news conference with Ali, said he welcomes the probe and looks forward to identifying what he calls best practices for teaching English learners. He says some of the city's schools do well with students who are not proficient in English.
"There is a problem nationwide with the teaching of English learners," said Thomas Saenz. "It is a major element of the achievement gap that we as a country must address in order to have our education system succeed."
"But I also believe, because I know, the data says, we are not consistent across the district and there are many children and young people falling through the cracks,abercrombie and fitch," said Ramon Cortines.
"Our sense of urgency couldn't be greater,doudoune moncler pas cher," she said. "What's happening in Los Angeles and across the country is economically unsustainable for us as a nation."
Pachon co-authored a study that showed that 30 percent of one large group of English-speakers were kept in special classes from the third through 8th grades. He says that is far too long. He notes that federal officials will look into such questions as the criteria for evaluating proficiency in English.
One third of the students in Los Angeles public schools are placed in special classes for English language learners. The approaches differ from school to school. Bilingual education was banned in California in 1998 under a voter-sponsored measure called Proposition 227, and many classes for English learners require English language immersion. But schools can be given waivers and they use a variety of methods, including dual-language programs.
Education official Ali says the probe will also look at how teachers are trained and evaluated, how data is collected and whether school officials communicate with parents in a language that the parents can understand.
LA school superintendent Ramon Cortines says the achievement gap between English-learners and English-proficient students leaves a large group of youngsters ill prepared for college or careers. Education Department official Russlynn Ali says this hurts the country as a whole.
相关的主题文章： The year 2011 was a momentous one around the world. The shape of the Middle East changed after the Tunisian government fell to people power in January. This event started the Arab Spring that saw Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak resign and popular uprisings spread across the Arab world. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s murder in October completed his country’s successful uprising. There were many natural disasters in 2011. The biggest was the earthquake and tsunami that devastated much of Japan’s northern coastline. It killed 15,840 people and created one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters. Floods in Rio de Janeiro and Thailand killed thousands. The world population officially hit 7 billion, although Osama bin Laden, Apple’s Steve Jobs and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died.
