There are currently over 145,000 “English Learner” students in Virginia. This represents public school students who speak English as their second language. Concerningly, Virginia ranks sixth worst in the country in terms of its EL student high-school graduation rate. Clearly, from these statistics, a significant proportion of EL students in Virginia public schools are educationally underserved and comparatively struggle to develop English proficiency — a crucial skill that has been demonstrated to improve employment access and long-term financial stability in the United States.
Given the importance of attaining proficiency in English, it is critical to consider some of the main sources of the disparities in graduation rates. Chief among these is Virginia’s required standardized subject test program, called the “Standards of Learning,” which consists of a series of tests, taken throughout elementary school, middle school and at the end of high school. The tests assess student proficiency in English, history, mathematics and the social and natural sciences. Only by receiving verified credits by passing SOL exams can students graduate from high school, and SOL test results for ELs consistently trail those of non-EL students. Therefore, this standardized instruction aspect of the Virginia public education system ought to be reformed to better accommodate EL students. To resolve this discrepancy, Virginia should implement a new sequence of standardized instruction, specifically tailored for EL learners, in tandem with technological reforms to the SOL preparation system.
The foremost reform to EL instruction should be to separate English language instruction from the SOL program, so that enough attention is given to both educational priorities. Currently, many EL students in Virginia work both to advance their English proficiency and prepare for their SOL test simultaneously. Indeed, the Virginia Department of Education makes every effort to streamline English proficiency instruction and integrate it into other programs, such as preparation for SOLs, rather than taking any time to address English proficiency by itself. While this approach is time-effective, it does not provide adequate instruction in either area — neither English language nor core subject proficiency. By not devoting enough attention to developing English proficiency among non-native speaking ELs, these students are disadvantaged in their exams, and consequently their graduation rates and their futures.
Instead, EL students should first be given intensive and immersive English language proficiency instruction before they begin core subject instruction in high school, and well before they are faced with subject proficiency tests, such as the SOLs. This opportunity should be offered to all EL students, regardless of grade level. According to Education First, 700 to 950 hours of English instruction is necessary to reach “fluency” — generally considered to be the B2 or C1 levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Along those guidelines, therefore, this proposed instruction would take roughly five to eight months assuming a proportion of a 30 hour school week.
While this reform jeopardizes the traditional four-year timeframe of high school, it is necessary to provide EL students the English education they need, not just to better excel in their pre-collegiate academic work, but also as an important applicable skill for their lives post-high school. That traditional high school timeframe was determined by a committee of elite educators at the end of the 19th-century because they believed four years was the amount of time necessary to learn important disciplines needed for professional life. The decision made by the committee, since then, has become a social construct, yet has not evolved to the modern educational environment which should take into account the needs of ELs.
To use the committee’s original logic, since the English instruction EL students require would greatly improve their professional lives, then the high school timeframe should be amended to fit. According to Pearson, 88 percent of employers deem English an important professional skill, and, according to EF, English speakers can earn a 25 to 35 percent larger salary. Therefore, the potential career benefits of learning English before the start of high school and far before SOL exams outweigh the slight temporal setback from spending more time in the educational system.
With the election of Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger as Virginia’s next governor, the state of Virginia will begin a period of broad reform. In her plan to improve Virginia’s school system, Spanberger mentions that one of her main goals is to ensure that English Learner students have just as great of an opportunity set as native English speakers upon graduation from the Virginia school system. Spanberger must diligently approach these reforms so that Virginia’s English Learners can more easily retain English proficiency, which may improve EL graduation rates, professional opportunities and financial stability.
Teddy Madara is an opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. Columns represent the views of the authors alone.
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