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BY NIGEL JAQUISS |
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There are 4,400 students enrolled in ESL/Bilingual programs. Another 5,000 students in the district speak something other than English as their first language.
ESL/Bilingual programs serve students who speak more than 50 languages among them. The Hispanic population is the fastest-growing group.
According to the audit, only 27 of 4,400 ESL/Bilingual students have been classified as talented and gifted. This figure is far lower than statistics would suggest, although Luccetti says, "The biggest issue isn't TAG; it's learning the ABCs."
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Activist Richard Luccetti is frustrated by school officials. "I call it the lollipop syndrome," he says. "They call me a sucker and send me on my way."Portland desperately needs more Hispanic teachers--and the infrastructure to support them--says the Hispanic Parent Association. Although the group has grown increasingly critical of the Portland Public Schools ESL/Bilingual education programs in past years, the recently released PPS performance audit may give the Hispanic community its strongest ammunition yet. Hispanics make up 6 percent of the local student population, the audit notes, but 13 percent of the dropouts. Over the past 10 years, the number of Hispanic students in Portland has nearly doubled; the number of them dropping out has almost tripled. The head of the Hispanic Parent Association, Richard Luccetti, says the district does a lousy job of teaching Hispanic students. "I told [interim superintendent] Diana Snowden that parents might as well send their kids to the berry fields and then on to McDonald's," Luccetti says. The feds agree with him. For four years, the district has been out of compliance with federal Department of Education directives for the education of limited English proficiency students. Although the federal objections to PPS's program fill several pages, they boil down to three complaints: the district has failed to properly identify which students need help; has inadequately instructed those who do; and does not properly evaluate the results of its programs. In Luccetti's opinion, the district's non-compliance is directly related to the loss of Hispanic students. "The ESL program is instrumental in creating the dropout rate," he says. He believes that Spanish-speaking students are tracked toward dead-end jobs and feel nobody in the district cares about them. "The landscape in this country is changing tremendously, and the schools are the last ones to recognize it," he says. Indeed, the audit supports Luccetti's assertions. "Since 1995/96, PPS has experienced a 22% increase in the students who speak Spanish and require ESL/Bilingual Education services," the audit states. "However, the program has historically experienced difficulties with hiring a sufficient number of Spanish speaking staff." Currently, says acting ESL/Bilingual supervisor Minh Tran, about 90 percent of the program's 145 teachers are Anglos. Tran hired three Hispanic teachers over the summer but admits that increasing the Hispanic staff is a struggle--much more so than hiring Russian or Vietnamese teachers. Competition for Hispanic teachers is fierce because demand exceeds supply nearly everywhere. "You show me 15 Spanish-speaking teachers, I'll hire them right now," Tran says. Money is a problem, also. "It's difficult to hire people because of the low pay across the district," he says. "If we compete with Beaverton, Gresham or Reynolds, the teacher is more likely to go there." Although most instruction of Hispanic students is carried out in English--which means teachers need only speak that language--Tran, a Vietnamese immigrant, is sympathetic to the contention that students do better with teachers who speak their language. A key finding in the performance audit indirectly supports the notion: Over the past decade, dropouts among European-American and African-American students have actually decreased significantly. Tran and other district officials struggle to explain why the Hispanic dropout rate has failed to show similar declines. The transience of Hispanic families, many of whom come to Oregon for seasonal work, is the most common explanation. Gary Williams, coordinator for management information services in the district, adds that the most economically disadvantaged students quit school the most often. Regular attendance is also an issue, as is the lack of positive role models. In his 14 years of activism, Luccetti has heard such excuses many times, and he doesn't buy them. "I tell people we're going to be the Ozzie and Harriets of the '90s," he says. "We're here to stay." Luccetti believes that the language barrier and perhaps an excessive deference to authority may impede immigrant families, but he firmly rejects the notion that Hispanics are not culturally attuned to education. "When did you ever hear of a parent who wanted his kid to fail?" he asks. And yet Hispanics are failing. Limited English proficiency students--of whom Hispanics are the biggest group--score consistently two to four grades below their mainstream peers on the Portland Achievement Level Tests. The failure of Hispanic students has tremendous ramifications for Portland; for the foreseeable future, they will be the fastest-growing group both in the schools and in the city. "If we don't provide them the tools," Luccetti says, "they aren't going to become members of society."
originally published September 23 , 1998
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