March 24, 2015

ENGLISH LEARNERS PANEL ANNOUNCE SWEEPING RECOMMENDATIONS

Speaker of the House Brendan Sharkey (D-Hamden) and Co-Chairs of the English Language Acquisition and Educational Equity Workgroup, State Rep. Juan Candelaria (D-New Haven) and Kelvin Roldán, a senior leader in the Hartford Public Schools and a former Hartford State Representative, announced proposed sweeping changes to Connecticut's bilingual education laws and the state's approach in supporting the needs of English Leaners.

The panel, convened by Speaker Sharkey at the beginning of the 2015 Legislative Session, was charged with helping the Connecticut General Assembly understand the needs of English Learners (EL) in the State of Connecticut. Using a research-based approach and accessing national experts, the Work Group was directed to provide the General Assembly with legislative recommendations that will yield improvement in academic and social outcomes for EL students.

"Ensuring every child is provided with equal educational opportunity is an ongoing challenge, and making that a reality for the thousands of English Language Learner students throughout our state requires a focused plan." said Speaker Sharkey. "Rep. Candelaria and Kelvin Roldan have shown inspired leadership on this important issue, and I look forward to helping implement as many of their workgroup's recommendations as possible."

"As a strong supporter of bilingual education, I have heard from too many constituents whose children academically fall behind their classmates because they lack English language proficiency," Rep. Candelaria said. "The findings of this panel reaffirm what we have been discussing about education reform as it relates to the achievement gap among Latinos and minorities. We must turn things around quickly if we want all our students to excel the way they need to."

"In order to close Connecticut's significant achievement gap, we must address the needs of our English Leaners. They have been left behind for far too long. Connecticut's system is woefully underfunded, understaffed, and lacking capacity. The system needs urgent attention," stated Mr. Roldán.

The workgroup presented the recommendations in four categories: Program Design, Teacher Capacity, Accountability, and Resources that include:

• Increasing the current period of bilingual instruction from 30 months to 60 months
• Allowing for teachers' certification reciprocity with other states and design multiple alternative paths leading to certification for bilingual and ESL teachers
• Establishing research-based pilots across the state
• Providing adequate funding to support programming and support for English Leaners
• Moving to a system that allows students to take standardized tests in their native language
• Allowing Regional Educational Service Centers to play a bigger role in the delivery of professional development and services

The panel expects the recommendations to make their way to the General Assembly for consideration during the current legislative session.