Principal Leadership, Volume 4, Issue 7 (3/1/2004). pp. 44-49.
Language:
English
Abstract:
Language-minority students are the fastest-growing population in U.S. public schools. Between 1991 and 1999, the number of language-minority school-aged children in the United States rose from 8 million to 15 million, and the number of K-12 students classified as limited-English-proficient (LEP) increased from 5.3 million to 10 million (Escamilla, 1999b). Although eight languages--Spanish, Vietnamese, Hmong, Cantonese, Cambodian, Korean, Laotian,and Navajo--comprise 85% of linguistic diversity (Escamilla, 1999a), 350 language groups are actually spoken in U.S. school districts (Escamilla, 2000). An influx of immigrant students in any school--large or small, urban, suburban, or rural--challenges everyone involved in education. Many U.S. schools are experiencing a tremendous increase in students who are not proficient in English. In this article, the results of a pilot study by the author illustrate how meeting the needs of these students challenges many areas of a school system. The author suggests a list of best practices and a wealth of Web resources that can help meet this challenge and serve this population of students.