Module 1 CI5103

Analyzing Diverse Students’ Learning Needs American College of Education CI5103 - Curriculum and Instructional Design for Diversity Dr. Gao May 28, 2023

Introduction In 2016, “ACS data indicate that 5 percent of U.S. children ages 5 to 17 are LEP” (Sugarman & Geary, 2018, p. 2). LEP stands for limited English proficiency. Of this group, 74 percent come from only native born parents and 26 percent come from one or more foreign-born parents. In the United States in 2016, 28,363,805 children were in low-income families. Children with only native-born parents make up 19,216,957 and 9,146,848 have one or more foreign-born parents (Sugarman & Geary, 2018, p. 2). In Illinois in 2016, students took the PARCC exam. In the English language arts category students in grade 3 who met or exceeded standards that are English learners was 20 percent. Students in grade 4 was 6 percent. Students in grade 5 and 6 were 2 percent respectively. Students in grade 7 were 3 percent and students in grade 8 were 4 percent (Sugarman & Geary, 2018, p. 5). All students in these grades who met or exceeded standards ranged from 35 to 40 percent (Sugarman & Geary, 2018, p. 2). Literature Review Bilingual students need our help to advocate for them. Learning can be hard for any student, but when you are still learning the language that you your teacher is instructing you in, it puts an entire new barrier on to you education. The sources I have used discuss the learning disabilities that bilingual students may go through as they continue their education while learning a new language. One common theme found in these articles was that bilingual students should be able to use their native language throughout the day to help support their education. Trying to 1dentify words in a new language is a barrier for bilingual students. We have to find ways to help support

Another study of bilingual students focuses on Minnesota. This source talks about the lack of dual language assessments for students who speak a language other than English, “In 2014, no assessment existed for many of the most common heritage languages spoken by MN students...” (Galbert & Woogen, 2021, p. 746). Students did not even have an option to take standardized tests in a language that makes more sense to them. Because of this, they were not able to score as highly as other students. This can be a fine line because many educators believe that students who are learning English should be fully immersed in the language. On the other side of this argument, we are not setting up our students for success if we are not giving them the tools that they need to succeed. I believe these sources did a great job talking about the different struggles that bilingual students go through. A big strength I noticed was from the articles that discuss how bilingual students take their assessments. There was a lot brought to light that should really be considered to support these students. Barriers One of the most critical barriers for bilingual students” academic success continues to be assessments. Bilingual students do not all have the appropriate resources to take their assessments. As we read about before in Minnesota, there was not an option for students to take a test in their native language (Galbert & Woogen, 2021, p. 746). Students are being set up for failure when we as educators do not give them support as they are learning a new language. Another barrier is that many of the bilingual students are living in low-income families. They are unable to provide their bilingual students with greater resources to continue their education as families who are not in low-income families would be able to.

Overcoming Barriers The most effective approach to help support bilingual students taking assessments would be to have dual language tests. “Conducting dual language assessments and allowing ESL students to use code-switching (i.c., the use of two languages in a sequential manner between sentences) and code-mixing (i.€., the use of two languages in a simultaneous manner within the same sentence) are advisable because they allow students to show higher levels of cognitive and language skills, and academic competence” (Gonzalez, 2012). If students are not given the resources to help them succeed, on paper, bilingual students will continue to look like they are below the average student. In reality this is an easy way to fix that. It must be advocated for. Conclusion The solution of having dual language assessments for bilingual students will meet the curriculum needs by allowing them to show more success. The problem is not that these bilingual students do not know the content on the test, rather that they are unable to answer the questions that are not in their native language. Giving them dual language tests will allow them to show what they actually know without any barriers.