Sobrato is another one of those "non- profit" corporations. It is not offering a program for free. What is a "non-profit" corporation? Is it a corporation that claims to serve some public interest and simply declares no "profit"? Who are the employees of this "non-profit" and what do they take in pay and benefits?

Again, we're going to school districts that are notoriously underperforming to see what they are trying. Why don't we look closer to see what neighboring districts are trying? Believe it or not, there are Spanish-speaking students in Los Altos schools. They have MASSIVE amounts of help and by 4th grade are doing amazingly. Can MVWSD think outside the box, just down the street, and see what LASD is doing? It's probably cheaper and less binding than what this "non profit with dozens of rules" has. Just my opinion but I think we're chasing the wrong dog here.

@JW

"Again, we're going to school districts that are notoriously underperforming to see what they are trying."

Good question, but perhaps the districts that are struggling need methods that are designed for such districts and are (hopefully) most effective in such districts.

"Why don't we look closer to see what neighboring districts are trying?"

Perhaps higher performing districts are using methods that would be of no meaningful value in struggling districts.

"Believe it or not, there are Spanish-speaking students in Los Altos schools. They have MASSIVE amounts of help and by 4th grade are doing amazingly."

Indeed, but they also have tax-payers willing to give triple the money that the voters here in MVWSD are willing to give. They also may have far more effective parental engagement over there and the parents over all have higher educational backgrounds.

Those 2 factors matter far more than the ideas coming from the Board or District.

"Can MVWSD think outside the box,"

Once bitten twice shy...comes to mind.

The last time our district tried "thinking out of the box" we ended up with the Teach-To-One debacle.

"...just down the street, and see what LASD is doing?"

I'm fairly sure, from what I've seen in MVWSD Board meetings, they are also looking at all the area school districts methods.

"It's probably cheaper and less binding than what this "non profit with dozens of rules" has."

"Just my opinion but I think we're chasing the wrong dog here."

Could be, but as long as people "feel" that the "achievement gap" is something evil that school districts are capable of eliminating or even reducing, then any district leadership will try anything to seem to be trying to "solve" this perceived evil.

The only school districts in the USA that don't have an "achievement gap" are the ones that have nothing but failing schools all failing equally and thus no evil "achievement gap".

Politically, it's far simpler to let everyone fall to the bottom than it is to inspire all kids to do their very best. The political problem is caused by the fact that kids are not identical widgets stamped out on an assembly line. Kids are all unique and all learn in different ways at different times and at different "achievement levels" according to the testing methods we have come up with.

And since parents have widely differing educational levels themselves and have widely varying levels of engagement in their kids education, which is by far the most important factors, then the "achievement gap" is simply a reflection of reality and not subject to being "solved" by political methods.

It's sort of like complaining about the "height gap" in humans. At worst we can cause kids not to grow to meet their potential and thus eliminate the "height gap" by starving kids. At best we can make sure every child gets proper nutrition and exercise so they can all reach their own maximum height potential.

However, the schools can only do part of the job to help kids reach their maximum potential, mostly it's up to the parents, for academic achievement or height.

Trust me, I know that usually everyone falls to the bottom. That's the big problem. If this non profit takes the struggling students out to reach them then sign me up! Enable my kids' teachers to teach them and not force them to read math word problems to their neighbors because their neighbors can't read English in 4th grade. It's not fun to fall to the bottom, in 4th grade, when you started at the top. Then it's time to bail.

The biggest problem, as you noted, is parent involvement/help/concern for education/concern for learning English. Sometimes this feels like an insurmountable Mount Everest, no?

There's an old saying in K-12 education --- "It all begins at home." Just how does the school district propose to ensure that children get adequate support, encouragement, and a pro-intellectual home environment from their parents?

I think we really need to look at these studies that cite fluency in the native tongue as an indicator of fluency/achievement in English. I think this may only apply to households where parents have higher education in their native tongue. If the parents have not completed elementary school or even high school in their native tongue, they could not be deemed fluent in academic language at home. Most of these kids are speaking social language at home and at school (in their second language). Many times they are often not going beyond social language in English because there is no one enforcing the academic language at home (in either language they speak).
We need to stop throwing money away at programs that are not working and as someone mentioned, look at where programs are working, and why they are working. I'm sure there are not as many elementary aged ELL students in Los Altos as there are in Mountain View, at least not Spanish speakers and in reality, these are the students we are focusing on when we mentioned the "gap". So, are their programs really working with these ELL students? Why are they working and why wouldn't they work here. If not Los Altos, there are many other cities struggling with the same issues of closing this gap. Let's see what they are doing and implement good strategies here.

I would love for Judy Crates to weigh in with an opinion on this program (maybe after she learns more). I hope someone asks her in an environment where she can be 100% forthright.

She's been a principal at both Castro and in Redwood City, has extensive experience in ELL environments, and sincerely cares about kids. I would value and trust her judgment.

Let's call a spade a spade, shall we?
English learners who learned their colors, shapes, letters and numbers in their native tongue - they do great at school and are usually reclassified in a year or two. Because there is something called positive transfer which allows you to carry knowledge no matter which language you learned it in.
As posters above mentioned, it all begins at home.
We are not talking about English learners, we are using this misnomer for disadvantaged kids of poorly educated, overworked parents. Studies show that these kids often come to PRESCHOOL being already behind their peers, no matter their native language.
Instead of implementing some weird programs (and what are students who are not English learners or Spanish speakers supposed to do while this curriculum is being implemented?), perhaps we could start by offering English classes for parents (with childcare and at various times of the day) that would teach PARENTS academic language.
It would also help if those parents received some education in nutrition.
However, as someone above mentioned, if struggling kids are pulled for this new program and it helps kids performing at grade level or higher get more teacher attention and more challenging materials, then yes, I am all for this program. But I doubt that there will be more than 45 mins of differentiated instruction a day with this program.

Isn't this exactly what Mistral has been doing for years? That's what I liked about the program. What will the Sobrato program do to the existing Mistral program?

We don't know how the native Spanish speakers of mistral are doing as a result of the program. Also, these Spanish speakers are usually kids of educated parents.
What is good for mistral may not be good for Castro.

THANK YOU.

I couldn't agree more. You hit the nail on the head when you said we are lumping two groups of children in as "ELL" students when they're actually very different.

One thing though, and that is - many of these kids don't go to preschool and that's one of the big issues.

Also- good questions about what would other students do, how long per day, other commenter asking if this would change Mistral, why are we doing random trials and not what we have really seen work....this is a great discussion. Wish the super was reading ;)

I actually wouldn't mind if my kid got some Spanish instruction too. I mean there has to be some benefit to having so many Spanish speakers around ;)

This program sounds interesting, but what are the English-speaking kids at those three schools supposed to do? I guess the idea would be to have a program run in the school for the kids who needed it, but English speakers at those schools would stay in the regular classroom? I think a program like this would only hurt kids who already speak English if they were forced to be a part of it.

@True costs - Illegal immigrants come to America from many countries, not just Mexico and not even just Latin America. Forty percent cross the border in airplanes and overstay visitor visas. Trump used this as a great way to get votes from people who are scared and looking for someone to blame, but the issue goes well beyond one country.

Web Link

So this looks like just another mess, imposed through the district office. Now Monta Loma is going to be turned into a dual language school like the program at Mistral? Also Castro and Theuerkauf? All these schools, forced to have their kids sent through classes, set up like the CHOICE SCHOOL that their parents dis NOT choose? Early Acquisition of Language, not English.

Oh well, I guess this is legal now, that is what Proposition 58 did to parents who admit that their families speak Spanish at home? Maybe Spanish speaking parents need to Resist if they don't want to choose this Spanish Kids classes. If they refuse to answer the language spoken at home questions, their kids will not be forced to go to these classes.

Force choice dual immersion language schools, just the thing when this whole darn program seems to be quote A Pilot program unquote. The SEAL pilot program. Another U-Pay non-profit pilot program, unproven by-the-numbers.

Schools made every generation of immigrants into new Americans, and each time, the past generations looked at the next with concern. Anyone who is concerned about the future of America should double down on public schools, not cut them down. Look through the politics and apply the parenting wisdom, take care of the future Americans you got, not the one you wished you had.

No, the other commenter isn't ranting about illegals in his/her class. He/she said that there is a strain on English speakers. I've seen it. My kids have been there and we had to move because they we're being pulled down to lower educational standards as one teacher cannot teach kids at such vast learning differences. It's just a fact. My kids really struggled. And to be fair, the kids at the "bottom" really struggle too. It's not fair for either.

We need more teachers in each class if we're going to have a class of 28 where 66% are ELL. I think we can both agree that's a hard group to teach single-handedly.

This teacher is being honest because this is what he/she comes to teach. He/she isn't teaching kids about Trump, goodness. It's just hard, hats all. If you have a child at ML, Th, or Castro you will know 100% how hard it is.

Please don't blame this on the district office. It is, in fact, something the Board is pressuring to be implemented, not the district office staffers. It's a very expensive program that the data indicates doesn't really help English language learners. The Board is looking at the program through rose-colored glasses on this one.

sorry commenter - I'm not "an Insider" to how the leadership works and how stuff gets on an agenda. I think I agree with you that "the data doesn't support"

The state academic dashboard data seem to show SEAL is not a good fit for MVWSD. .

Data Coding in California education data dashboard reports:
SED - Socioeconomic Disadvantaged; ELL - English Language Learners; ELA - English Language Arts, and the Progress dashboard coding colors are more complicated than I can discuss.

Hoover Elementary [SEAL Demonstration Site] 88% Disadvantaged, 70% ELL Web Link

English Learner Progress = RED, lowest (1/5), ELA Progress Hispanic = YELLOW (3/5), Math Progress Hispanic = YELLOW (3/5)

ELA ELL Low = (-56 pts), SED Low = (-49 pts), Hispanic Low = (-49 pts)
Math ELL Low = (-57 pts), SED Low = (-52 pts), Hispanic Low = (-51 pts)


Christopher Elementary [SEAL Demonstration Site] 83% Disadvantaged, 49% ELL Web Link

English Learner Progress = ORANGE (2/5), ELA Progress Hispanic = ORANGE (2/5), Math Progress Hispanic = YELLOW (3/5)

ELA ELL Low = (-55 pts), SED Low = (-55 pts), Hispanic Low = (-50 pts)
Math ELL Low = (-60 pts), SED Low = (-59 pts), Hispanic Low = (-58 pts)


Miner Elementary [SEAL Demonstration Site] 73% Disadvantaged, 46% ELL Web Link

English Learner Progress = ORANGE (2/5), ELA Progress Hispanic = ORANGE (2/5), Math Progress Hispanic = ORANGE (2/5)

ELA ELL Low = (-57 pts), SED Low = (-54 pts), Hispanic Low = (-51 pts)
Math ELL Low = (-62 pts), SED Low = (- 63 pts), Hispanic Low = (-66 pts)


//// 2 possible MVWSD sites: ELL, SED, Hispanic students ///
Castro Elementary 83% Disadvantaged , 76% ELL
English Learner Progress = YELLOW (3/5), ELA Progress Hispanic = YELLOW (3/5), Math Progress Hispanic = YELLOW (3/5)
ELA ELL Low = (-31), SED Low = (-28), Hispanic Low = (-29)
Math ELL Low = (-42), SED Low (-40), Hispanic Low = (-39)

Theuerkauf Elementary 68% Disadvantaged, 48% ELL
English Learner Progress = Green (4/5), ELA Progress Hispanic = YELLOW (3/5), Math Progress Hispanic = YELLOW (3/5)
ELA ELL = Low (-17), SED Low = (-19), Hispanic Low = (-13)
Math ELL = Low (-35), SED = Low (-39), Hispanic Low = (-37)

THE DATA is SPEAKING: “SEAL may be good for districts with very, very low performance, but MVWSD is already showing much better performance than the 3 SEAL Demonstration Sites.” But holistic board members, like Laura Blakely, may not be listening to mere achievement data. What do the school PTA parents think?

There are many schools that have proven that schools can eliminate the achievement gap, all involve some bold reforms. SEAL sounds very promising, even exciting for what it could mean for the future of Mountain View.

Yet even the most promising program should first be tested at one school site, safest done over the summer, and then rolled out at the pace district teacher-leadership can grow to support it.

Any contract that requires the district to commit 3 years, 3+ school sites, and $2.7 million, and also limits those schools from launching other instructional initiatives is far too high a price. This is the first test of what was learned from Teach To One. I hope the district and our school board passes.