Local Video
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| Public will opine on immersion program |
By: SUZANNE ROOK, Managing Editor
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Posted: Saturday, November 28, 2009 1:05 am
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By SUZANNE ROOK
Managing Editor
NORTHFIELD — A year-and-a-half review of Companeros, the district’s elementary school Spanish immersion program, moves into the community’s hands.
The district has three community meetings scheduled next week — two in English, another in Spanish — to receive input on possible changes to the program which began in Northfield in 1993.
The review committee, Superintendent Chris Richardson said, will present several options — from increasing the percentage of instruction in Spanish to essentially disbanding the program and having all students take a Spanish class, similar to their time in music, art or physical education.
Richardson declined to provide specifics on the proposed options earlier this week, saying the presentation was still being modified.
Companeros was first under review in 2004-05, but when deep, district-wide budget cuts came soon after it was completed, the study was shelved, Richardson said, because there was no money available to make programmatic changes.
With improved finances, and a district advisory council suggestion that Companeros be studied further, the School Board OK’d a more extensive review in 2008. For more than a year, said Richardson, a large group of teachers and administrators have hashed out the program’s issues and benefits as well as student needs, but want parent input before going to the school board with a recommendation on the program.
When the program began, the district had only a handful of students with a limited proficiency in English. But as its Latino population has blossomed, Companeros has become a place where Spanish-speaking students have gained Spanish literacy skills and a proficiency in English. The classes are currently taught at Bridgewater and Greenvale Park Elementary schools.
Results from the 2005 study of Companeros by Tara Fortune and Diane Tedick show that Northfield Companeros students perform better overall on state standardized tests than their counterparts in traditional classrooms — a finding that’s true for all students, including Hispanics and those with limited English proficiency.
“Hispanic learners in the Companeros program are achieving higher scores than Hispanic learners not enrolled in the Companeros program, particularly in the upper grades in math,” wrote the researchers.
The community feedback sessions will include a presentation of their proposals for the program’s future, some which could impact all elementary students, the estimated costs and the strengths and study group’s concerns of each. Attendees will then break into small groups with district staff facilitating each group’s discussion. Before concluding, the groups will present a summary of their discussion to the entire gathering.
The information will be collected for further review and incorporated into a final recommendation set to go before the School Board sometime after the first of the year. Depending on the changes approved, modifications to Companeros would begin in the fall of 2010 or 2011.
IF YOU GO
Community feedback sessions on the school district’s Companeros program are set for 6:15 p.m. Monday in the Northfield High School auditorium and on Tuesday at the Greenvale Park Elementary gym. The 4:15 p.m. session is in English while a 6:15 p.m. session is in Spanish.
— Suzanne Rook is the managing editor and covers education. She can be reached at srook@northfieldnews.com or 645-1113.
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