English learning teachers serve growing number of Agawam students

May 18, 2022 | Mike Lydick
mlydick@thereminder.com

School Committee member Wendy Rua, right, speaks with Ashley Martins, the director of English language education for Agawam schools, following Martins’ presentation to the committee on May 10.
Reminder Publishing photo by Mike Lydick

AGAWAM — The number of English learners (ELs) in Agawam schools continues to increase, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the district’s director of English language education recently reported to the School Committee.

Ashley Martins, who is in her third year as the English language education director, said in a presentation at the committee’s May 10 meeting that during the 2021-22 school year the district has 187 ELs, compared to 163 in the previous school year.

Students in Agawam schools speak 29 different languages other than English, and come from more than 26 countries from around the world.

“I just want to stress what an asset these students bring to the classroom. Because of this cultural and linguistic diversity, students in Agawam are receiving a worldly education within the walls of our schools,” said Martins.

Russian is the top native language, spoken and written by nearly 40 percent of ELs in the district. The next highest is Turkish, 15.8 percent, followed by Spanish, 14.6 percent, Ukrainian, 7.6 percent, and Albanian, 4.7 percent. The remaining 17 percent are other non-English languages.

Martins added that English learners are described as students whose native language is not English and who are not currently able to perform ordinary classroom work in English.

Currently,13.6 percent of Agawam students do not speak English as their first language. Statewide, that average is about 24 percent. A smaller percentage of the school population — 11 percent statewide, and 5 percent in Agawam — are identified as being an EL.

“We have many students who are bilingual or multilingual, which means they don’t need English language support in the classroom,” Martins explained. “After EL students prove they can do independent classroom work without needing support, they are no longer considered ELs. They’re then considered former English learners (FELs), who are monitored on our caseload for four years.”

A breakdown of EL and FEL students by school shows that at the elementary level, Robinson Park School has the most ELs, with 41 students, followed by the Early Childhood Center with 23, Clark and Granger schools with 27 ELs each, and Phelps with 19. Doering School has 17 ELs in the middle school grades, Agawam Junior High School has 11, and Agawam High School has 22.

As for FELs, AJHS has the most, with 50, followed by Doering with 44, Phelps with 16, and AHS with 14. The fewest FELs are at Clark, Granger and Robinson Park, with 5, 6 and 6, respectively.

Martins said Agawam is “fortunate” to have one English language teacher at each school, with the exception of Robinson Park, which has two because of its higher EL population. There’s also a paraprofessional who works with the high school EL teacher, who is funded by a federal grant because of the number of ELs in the district.

She also told the committee that the ECC is one of just a few early childhood schools in Western Massachusetts to have a full-time EL teacher for preschoolers.

“This school year is the first time the ECC has physically had an EL teacher to provide direct English-as-a-second-language support to the district’s pre-K English learners,” she added.

In the past, ELs were identified, but there were no direct services for them. Martins said that students identified as ELs comprise nearly 13 percent of the ECC’s student body.

“Having a full-time teacher for ELs at the ECC has been something I’ve envisioned since becoming director. I consider this my pride and joy,” she said, adding that ECC Director Cynthia Sykes agrees with her vision.

Martins also shared with the committee that the English language education program was audited last November by the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for the first time in nine years.

Martins explained that the purpose of the review is to monitor the district’s compliance with state and federal laws and regulations for English language learner education.

“The review is done to determine if an ELE program is proving to be effective in overcoming language barriers,” said Martins. The final report found Agawam to be a Tier 1 district, meaning it has no or a low risk to student outcomes. “This is great news for us,” she said.

The final report found two areas that needed improvement, both related to translations. The first is with report cards and the second concerns documents and messages sent from teachers.

“With 29 different languages, you can imagine what a difficult task that is, but we are working to improve that,” said Martins.

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