DEARBORN — Dearborn Public Schools considers about 43 percent of its students “English language learners,” although an untold number of those students might be native born.
Some, in fact, may even be second generation Americans, one school trustee was told.
Trustees called the number of English language learners into question during the board’s regular report on literacy programs in the district. The January report talked about different approaches for teaching students academic English.
Teacher Leader Maura Sedgeman told board members that 8,345 of Dearborn’s 19,315 students are considered English language learners. Those students are spread across the grade levels, she said. Dearborn is training all teachers in Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol, a common technique for strengthening language skills.
“These strategies are good for all students, not just those learning English,” Sedgeman said.
Even if a child’s parents have been in the country for years, their English might lack the academic grammar and vocabulary needed in school, Sedgeman said.
Trustee Hussein Berry said he was told of a middle school student who was recently labeled ELL. But the student was born in the United States, as was his mother. His father has been in the country for decades, Berry said. He wondered how, after so many years in Dearborn Schools, a child of English speaking parents could still be considered learning the language.
After the meeting Sedgeman said of such a case, “That’s an exception to the rule.”
Superintendent Brian Whiston said students who come into the district from homes that speak little or no English usually need three to five years before they move out of ELL. The national average is closer to seven years, he said.
Sedgeman said there are five different levels of language learners according to the English Language Proficiency Assessment test. Continued...
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