Schools’ Staff Proposes a “More Efficient” Learning Model

Board member Lynne Hurley seeks the floor, as Cindy Cullen looks on.

Tuesday evening, May 17^th, at the Wade Administration Building in Martinsville, Superintendent of Schools Michael Schilder and Assistant Superintendent Cheryl Dyer outlined a proposal for a Magnet School Program for English Language Learners (ELLs), who are studying English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL).

Schilder and Dyer were supported by District staff members present in the audience who were on hand as subject-matter experts to take questions and to expand on certain points.  This program, if approved, will be implemented at the Bradley Gardens Primary School as early as next September.

The Magnet School proposal was put on the table because, in the words of Dr. Schilder, “Our ESL program is not meeting the needs of our kids.”  There are approximately 112 ELL students, about half of which employ Spanish as their primary language.

The lengthy and thorough 75-minute presentation to the Board was very specific – its goal was to explain the need to improve English proficiency for ELL students, as well as related test scores for those students, some of whom are at risk. 

If approved, the Magnet School Program will be sited at the Bradley Gardens Primary School.  It is the product of a Student Achievement Task Force which Schilder described as a “Think Tank” whose purpose was to study ways and means of improving English Language skills for students having difficulty in Language Arts and Mathematics, some of whom are not meeting State of New Jersey test scores.

Underlying this problem according to Dyer is the fact that not only does it take at least three years for ELL students to reach an acceptable level of  “social interaction” language skills in English, but another 3 years to attain “academic language” proficiency. 

English skills are critical not only for speaking the language, but become essential in grasping mathematical concepts and in achieving overall academic success, especially as ELL students eventually move into high school.

Otherwise, these students become significantly at risk in comprehending what is taught and, consequently, also become at risk in achieving satisfactory test results intended to measure academic success.  Dyer emphasized that “ELL students are not meeting the Math and English” requirement in “New Jersey proficiency tests.”

According to Dyer, the problem which needs to be solved is that there is simply “too much distribution of (ESL) kids” across the District, and that “teachers do too much travelling and lose too much instructional time.”  Therefore, she concluded, we “need a more efficient model to increase instructional time.”

The Magnet School Program, she went on to say, would “really accelerate language development” for ESL students.  It would increase “Language Arts instruction from forty to eighty minutes.” 

Though not intended to be approved by the Board of Education last Tuesday evening, Superintendent Dr. Michael Schilder wanted to obtain the Board’s feedback so that he could proceed to “communicate (this program) with the Bradley Gardens staff.” 

The Magnet School proposal will come up for further Board review and approval at a future meeting, most likely in time for implementation in the fall, if that is the Board’s decision.