SIFE+(Eva)

Current Issue in Education: SIFE

The current emphasis on accountability, embodied by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has become an enormous force in education. One of the many issues NCLB raises is how to support students with special challenges in meeting the high standards we hold for all students. One challenge facing 13.4% of New York City public school students is learning English. According a summer 2006 Student Demographic Report, 141,173 NYC students were designated as English Language Learners. Learning English is obviously essential to these students’ academic success in the United States and has a huge impact on their economic earning possibilities for the future. Language learning experts, notably Jim Cummins (2001), have identified first language literacy as a key to academic success in a second language. While languages can differ greatly, many reading and writing strategies can be transferred from one language to another. This transfer of native language literacy is a huge support to students trying to catch up with their English-speaking peers. However, some students have not had the benefit of formal schooling or literacy education in their native language. In fact, the city estimates the number of Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) as upwards of 15,000 students or roughly 11% of the ELL population (p.11). Nancy Cloud (1996) describes these students as having "limited or no literacy in their native language or in English, and often have difficulty in reaching their potential as a consequence of not having received the breadth of education preparation afforded by continuous formal school. Moreover, they have not yet acquired the academic skills which are associated with their grade level" (p. ii). The state education department EMSC-VESID committee, in their 2004 "Report on Building Capacity to Improve the Performance of Limited English Proficient/English Language Learners" recommended the following definition for SIFE students, "all newly arrived immigrant students with interrupted formal education (English spoken as well as limited English proficient) who enter a school in the United States after grade 2 (p.16)". The situation is even more dire when you consider that the 47% of these students enter the school system in high school, most of them in ninth or tenth grade. These students can be lacking the most basic literacy skills yet have a mere four years to acquire literacy, learn the English language, and catch up to their age group in all content area curricula in order not to be "left behind." Without serious and systematic support, these students will not graduate from high school. New York City offers SIFE grants for schools willing to put together a comprehensive support plan. The city also recommends certain methodologies and trainings for teachers with SIFE in their classrooms. Among them are SIOP, ExCELL and WestEd’s Q-TELL program (Quality Teaching for English Language Learners). The Q-TELL program focuses on five types of scaffolding to help students acquire academic skills and content. Detailed descriptions of the different kinds of scaffolding can be found in Pauline Gibbon’s (2002) book, __Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning__. Another important resource for teachers of SIFE is Nancy Clouds (1996) __Annotated Teacher Resource Bibliography__ which is available online through ERIC. Most of the resources listed on this biography deal with Newcomer programs and what goes into creating and maintaining an effective such a program. An additional resource for professional development is the local Bilingual/ESL Education Technical Assistance Center (BETAC). Long Island University’s BETAC lists "effective services for Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE), grades K – 12" as one of its professional development offerings. Again, lack of formal education and literacy does not only affect these students in English classes but in all academic areas. The ERIC Development Team notes that assessing the progress of these students in mathematics cannot be accurately done with traditional pencil and paper tests: Teachers need to find different ways to assess literacy students’ progress in mathematics. The point from which this growth is measured varies greatly from one literacy student to another but is usually far below the math and English levels of their ESL and native English speaking peers. (p.6-7) The committee also makes five recommendations for effective instructional strategies: 1) Select mathematics tasks that engage students’ interests and intellect 2) Orchestrate classroom discourse in ways that promote the investigation and growth of mathematical ideas 3) Use, and help students use, technology and other tools to pursue mathematical investigations 4) Seek, and help students seek, connections to previous and developing knowledge and 5) Guide individual, small-group and whole-class work. (p.4) In short, there are some quality resources and professional development options available to teachers of SIFE students. However, in order for these students not to be "left behind" schools, school districts and regions must understand the needs of the SIFE population and provide appropriate resources.

References

Brooklyn/Queens Regional Bilingual/ESL Education Technical Assistance Center [|(B/Q Regional BETAC)]

[[[|http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/education/betac/about.html|]Cloud]], Nancy. (1996). "Annotated Teacher Resource Bibliography for Working Effectively with Limited English Proficient Students with Interrupted Formal Education." Nassau BOCES Bilingual Education Technical Assistance Center (BETAC) ED 404 872 also available at: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/biling/pub/overage.html

Cummins, J. & Hornberger, N. (eds). (2001). __An Introductory Reader to the__ Writings of Jim Cummins. Cleveland, England: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

[|ELLs in New York City: Student Demographic Data Report.] (Summer, 2006)

EMSC-VESID Committee NYS. (2004). __Report on Building Capacity to Improve the__ [|Performance of Limited English Proficient/English Language Learners].

Gibbons, Pauline. (2001). __Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning: Teaching__ Second Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.