Challenges of Increasing Diversity

by Jason Bengs

Districts around the country are facing an unprecedented shift in demographics.  This is not new information to anyone that has been in education for any length of time.  In fact, Yvette Donado shared this statistic, not as an earth shaking revelation, but to lay the groundwork for her presentation.  To emphasize her point, Donado shared that in New York City schools there are eight hundred languages spoken.  

Donado, senior vice president and chief administrative officer for Educational Testing Service (ETS), has spearheaded ETS's initiative to address the needs of english learners.  For this session she intended to focus on two objectives:

• The impact of "minorities" being the majority in most schools across the United States
• The significance of Latino test scores compared to other groups.  

Working for ETS, Donado is supportive of the ETS mission to advance quality and equity in education for all people.  The presentation was laced with statistics, as you would expect from someone working for ETS.  Donado did take the time to share her thoughts on how these statistics impact education, but did not spend much time on the comparison of test scores.  

Because of the rapid change in demographics, accurate assessment is difficult.  In some districts English learners often mistakenly are identified as special needs students.  This can devastate a student that is already struggling and set back the language acquisition process.  Along with this assessment problem, there is also a raging debate on how we provide equitably for the needs of all students.  

Donado highlighted the impact that many of the current reform initiatives are having on schools.  For profit charters, voucher systems, and private schools have further compounded the issues by transplanting more of the affluent students to higher performing schools.  The end result is an increase in the number of "second class" citizens. This will result in a circle of poverty that will only increase over time.  Despite the doom and gloom statistics that unfortunately accompany a session like this, Donado gave ideas for overcoming the statistics.  

• Provide a well-rounded education for all students.  As many of the more affluent students move out of the district the opportunities and experiences move with them.
• Know who you serve and how best to reach them.  If many of your parents are working two jobs, they probably are not able to come to activities at the school during traditional times.  Why not provide times on the weekend to help engage the families?
• Strive to be inclusive.  Don't immediately assume that families don't want to be involved in the learning of their students.  Instead create every opportunity to involve them.  Also make sure all groups are represented or heard on decisions. Boards should accurately reflect the communities they serve.
• Find ways to connect students with experts in the field—degreed professionals—that come from the same background.  Many students think that it is impossible to rise above their circumstances; they need models that have succeeded at doing that.

We face a situation in the United States that is not present in many parts of the world, but that does not mean we have nowhere to go for ideas.  Many other countries teach multiple languages to their students beginning in kindergarten.  How much easier would transitions be for English learners if others around them were able to communicate with them in their own language and facilitate the acquisition process?  We also do a poor job of preparing preservice teachers to work with English learners, and need higher education to modify their programs to better assist teachers in this area.  

Finally, we need to align ourselves with like-minded community groups.  No single entity can tackle this issue alone.  It will take a unified effort from multiple groups to eliminate some of these barriers, and in order for our schools and our country to succeed we must tackle these issues.

—Jason Bengs, principal of Southwest Elementary in Clinton, Oklahoma.

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