experience an achievement gap that outpaces that of other minorities in both the Memphis Schools and the nation. The Pew Hispanic Center of the Pew Charitable Trusts cites 3 reasons for the learning gap in both Memphis Schools and the nation. It claims that ELL students are likely to: attend low achieving inner-city schools, come from minority or disadvantaged families, and have experienced a “traumatizing migration.”
One reason that Memphis Schools have such a large ELL population is that the Catholic Resettlement Program brings many into the city each year. Tennessee’s urban districts, like Memphis Schools, currently have about 6,700 ELL students, and gain 500 more each year.
What can Memphis Schools do to bridge the gap and prepare students for the high stakes testing to come? Like the rest of the country Memphis Schools are implementing a number of initiatives to address class size, teacher shortages, lack of funding, and the achievement gap. Memphis Schools currently offer an English as a Second Language (ESL) Summer Intervention Program. Some Memphis Schools educators would like to see exemptions written into the NCLB law for ELL students and children with individual educational plans. But there are also those in the Memphis Schools who feel that the only way to truly raise standards is to set a bar that is desirable, but difficult. Essentially, it will be a decision made at the national level that will continue to have a dramatic impact on the Memphis Schools.
Patricia Hawke is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. For more information please visit Memphis Schools
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