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Don’t reduce teacher training for our students
After three years, hundreds of emails of input, attendance at 6 rules development workshops and a State Board meeting to protect ELLs, something unexpected happened that shows when ideologues want their way they'll do they need. Now, the padlock is on the door to exclude any countering views.
by Rochelle Cisneros
Over the last three years, hundreds of parents, classroom teachers, teacher educators, second-language acquisition experts, and community leaders have volunteered free time at night and on weekends working toward one goal -- that of bringing about policies that foster academic success for students who are learning English in the state’s public schools.
They engaged in this process as the Florida Department of Education, under Commissioner Eric Smith, sought to make improvements in the current set of proposed rules for programs for Speakers of Other Languages, also known as ESOL.
ESOL Rules provide guidance to district administrators and protect the rights of children.
On March 17, 2009, the State Board of Education received and passed proposed rules affecting English Language Learners (also known as ELLs). Many of the rules reflected the fruit of all the sustained effort and input from parents, ESOL experts, and other advocates.
However, after the State Board meeting, in a March 18 Notice of Change, the Department of Education changed its definition of “Basic Subjects” to include reading, thus raising the specter again of reduced teacher training for those who teach students to read.
This stunning turn of events takes place long after Governor Charlie Crist's veto of the bill to reduce teacher training in 2007; after the same bill came back and was defeated in 2008; after hundreds of parents, professionals, and advocates presented input in writing and at rules development workshops; and after the State Board of Education meeting on March 17.
It appears that the Joint Administrative Procedures Committee is setting educational policy on its own. By reducing the training requirement of reading teachers, policymakers are putting children at the end of the line, ignoring constituents, ignoring legal obligations, and ignoring the connection between teacher preparation and development and student outcomes.
Teachers expect to receive teacher training opportunities that prepare them to provide effective instruction. The fact is that, as it is today, the professional development program for reading teachers in Florida does not prepare teachers to teach reading to English Language Learners, and it certainly does not prepare them to function as ESOL teachers. The administrative priorities have been directed to making rules even when the rules themselves are not logical and certainly, not helpful to children.
Every parent, teacher, and community leader should ask who is accountable for putting children first. This month, two municipalities, Pembroke Pines and Mascotte, passed resolutions supporting more training for ESOL teachers. More cities are expected to follow their example.
Since 2007, parents have been at the forefront of the campaign to gain a veto of an ESOL bill that would have hurt ESOL students' opportunities for school success and violated civil rights laws. The parents and their partners in joint efforts were successful. Due to the efforts of the parents, the same bill, introduced again in 2008, died. The parents from the Orange County Parent Leadership Council were represented at the March 17th meeting of the State Board of Education, where advocates spoke for changes that would protect English literacy and academic progress for students learning English.
We all want all children to learn English and to do well in school, but it is up to the parents to continue to make their voices heard on these issues. Parents are the first teachers and the best advocates for their children. Parents must continue to stay involved.
Florida is facing extraordinary educational challenges that require policymakers to keep children’s needs in the forefront. They were reminded of that priority on March 16, when Florida’s Attorney General’s office received formal notice from META, a public interest law firm that defends the rights of ESOL students, advising that the proposed rules conflict with Florida’s legal obligations.
Rochelle Cisneros was an ESOL teacher and teacher educator in California and Florida. A longtime member and co-moderator of the Florida Sunshine State TESOL Advocacy E-group, Mrs. Cisneros is an advocate for children and families to ensure literacy and academic achievement for English Language Learners. She now works in private industry in corporate training.
— Rochelle Cisneros
Orlando Sentinel
2009-03-24
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_hispanicaffairs/2009/03/advocate-dont-reduce-teacher-training-for-our-students.html#more
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