Full Report - Center for Collaborative Education

Table 9. Enrollment in Programs for English Language Learners, Pre-K to 12. BPS, SY2009
N of Programs Enrollment
1
N %
Total ELL Programs and Enrollment 96 6,972 100%
SEI 72 6,142 88.1%
Multilingual 13 799 13.0%
Language Specific (All) 59 5,343 87.0%
Two-Way Bilingual2 3 411 5.9%
TBE3 2 147 2.1%
SIFE 19 272 3.9%
Multilingual 4 19 0.2%
Language Specific (All) 15 253 3.6%
Language Specific SEI Programs 59 5,343 100%
Spanish 34 3,273 61.3%
Haitian Creole 7 546 10.2%
Chinese languages 4 437 8.2%
Cape Verdean Creole 3 579 10.8%
Vietnamese 4 290 5.4%
Portuguese 4 136 2.5%
Somali 3 82 1.5%
Language Specific SIFE Programs 15 253 100%
Spanish 7 126 49.8%
Haitian Creole 4 73 28.9%
Cape Verdean Creole 3 36 14.2%
Somali 1 18 7.1%
Notes: 1 Source: OELL, List of BPS Schools and ELL programs, Jan 2009; 2 All Two-Way Bilingual programs are
Spanish/English programs. 3 All traditional TBE programs are Chinese language programs.
in the primary language as students learn English.
This model’s major goal is for students to build the
capacity to learn solely in English. In the Boston
Public Schools, there are two Chinese language TBE
programs. One hundred and forty seven students
participated in these TBE-Chinese programs in
SY2009.
Enrollment in Programs for Students with Limited or
Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE). SIFE programs
work with students of age 9 through high school
age with limited or interrupted schooling, who
do not have the educational skills that are needed
to perform grade-level academic work. As in the
SEI programs, BPS offers both Multilingual and
Language Specific programs. Multilingual programs
bring together students from various language
groups while Language Specific programs focus on
High Intensity Literacy Training provided in the native
languages most prevalent among SIFE students
in BPS (i.e., Spanish, Haitian Creole, Cape Verdean
Creole, and Somali). SIFE programs have grown
substantially in the past years and in SY2009, the
19 SIFE programs enrolled 272 students, 3.9% of
all LEP students in ELL programs.
Enrollment in Programs Not Specifically
for English Language Learners
In SY2009, over 40% of LEP students in BPS were
enrolled in programs not specifically designed for
ELL students. Of the 4,718 LEP students not in
ELL programs, 71% were in general education
programs and 28.5% were enrolled at different
levels of special education programs. 3 This enrollment
represented a growth of 267.7% (Table 7)
over the enrollments in SY2006, when only 12.3%
of LEP students were not enrolled in ELL programs.
This pattern is not common in Massachusetts. In
SY2009, Boston showed the highest proportion of
LEP students in programs not for ELLs among the
10 districts in the state with the largest enrollment
of ELLs (English language learners Sub-Committee,
2009, p. 9).
English language learners are enrolled in these
programs in large numbers as a result of parental
decision to opt out of ELL programs. Opting out
may be due to parents’ choice to seek a specific
school placement where there may not be available
programs for ELLs or because the parent is
concerned about the quality of ELL programs or because
they desire full immersion for their children’s
30 Improving Educational Outcomes of English Language Learners in Schools and Programs in Boston Public Schools