Whittier School Elementary School Teachers visit Edison Language Academy in Santa Monica.

Whittier School Elementary School Teachers visit Edison Language Academy in Santa Monica.

We met with some of the Staff members of Edison Language Academy.

Steve Martinez - Principal Mary - Community Liaison

Edison Two-Way Dual Language Program - Jim Cummins model with spanish immersion model. 90/10 model Spanish is Target Language & English Language Development.

Pico Cooridor - Port of Entry for Latinos Santa Monica - Divided by Highway

Early 80's

Lack of parent involvement Challenges Low Scores Gang Issues 98 percent hispanic 99 percent Spanish Dominant

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Mid 80's School Closings Was selected to be closed. Parents and teachers were united in a movement to keep school open and go honor the heritage language.

School organized. Found a model

1985 - Teacher and Community members drew up plans to sell a dual language program. Decided to phase it in grade by grade.

1986 - Started the dual language program. Decided to phase it in grade by grade.

Committee had the research to back up the concerns of their parents. K-1 plan. English minority

Staff - Each year 2 teachers were displaced. Be sensitive to staff and staffing issues.

English Only - options to go to other schools. No transporation provided

School recruited students

Gentrification -

Now English Dominant Families want to have their children to become biliterate because they know the English language development will not suffer.

Kinder 60/40 population (Spanish/English dominant)

Challenge to keep program honest to model. Get Spanish dominant children to make sure there are appropriate models in target language.

If one cannot challenge the population one can change the instruction. Some schools Increase the English Exposure in Kinder...

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Middle school has a strand that is an extension of Edison Dual Language School.

State mandated curriculum - textbooks series. 80 and 90's "Do your own thing" mentality.

New adoption in math Houghton Mifflin New adoption in Language Arts 2001 Scholastic in Spanish Scholastic in English

Transitions: Primary,Middle,High School

Whittier should think about the children as they transition to middle school. Communication must be done with upper grade schools. Two Way schooling must be done from Pre-K to 12 for these programs to be successful.

One of the options we need to do is maybe to go to a closed campus academy status...

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Intensive Classroom for children on with a ratio of 1/4 teacher to students. for students on the verge of failing.

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Parent Reach-out

Community Liaison staff person Parent Participation Parent Accountability (tardy, homework, conferences) Communication Community Liaison works as a parent and teacher advocate. Recruit in Pre-Schools

Bilingual Advisory Committee

Parent Training Demystifying the curriculum or classroom practice. Role playing

Questions

How do we get teachers on the same page?

A lot of information to parents. English development issues Informational sessions and taking them into the classroom to see language development. Orientations must be very clear to parents! This is a serious committment over the length of K-12.

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Behavioral Issues

Provide them opportunities to be successful Benchmarks communicated with parents Pair up children.

2nd graders have a spontaneous translation 3rd grade transfer is relatively smooth in second semester.
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