The Buffalo school system has made enormous strides since the Council of the Great City Schools conducted its first review of the district 10 years ago. It has accelerated that progress in the last several years with strong leadership and a better instructional system that is clearly capable of raising student achievement. The results are evident in the gains in state test scores in both reading and math.
The school board and administration have now turned their attention to the performance of English language learners (ELLs) in Buffalo. This group makes up only about 9 percent of the district’s enrollment, but it is growing substantially. In addition, the overall performance of ELLs is not progressing as well as general performance in the district.
Because of concerns about this lower academic performance, the district’s school board developed and approved an important and forward-looking policy for ELLs. The policy clearly articulates a priority on improving the achievement of these students and providing them full access to the district’s general instructional program.
In response to these concerns, the district’s leadership has retained a skilled and committed director of language programs to work with the school system’s talented chief academic officer on improving services for these students. Programs have begun to improve, and results are evident for ELLs in the early elementary grades. After that, however, these students do very poorly academically and often leave school early without the requisite skills to be successful.
The problem appears to be that the general instructional program is showing progress for most students but is too poorly defined for English-language learners. The program is inconsistently implemented, it misses a considerable number of students, and it often reflects very low expectations. In addition, services for English language learners appear to be conceived and delivered as if they were remedial services.
The Council’s team of experts made a number of important observations. More than anything else, however, it was clear to the Council’s team that English-language learners simply did not have adequate access to the core instructional program of the school district. For the most part, ELLs were often separately served or were served in a way that did not build academic vocabulary, comprehension skills, or English-language acquisition skills. There appeared to be an assumption that the basic literacy program in the district would take care of the instructional needs of these students.
Visits to classrooms often revealed teaching at very low levels in classrooms where there were large numbers of English-language learners. Or ELLs were pulled out of classes where instruction was occurring in core subjects in order to receive language supports.
Second, it was clear that professional development was inadequate for both general education and bilingual education teachers in differentiating instruction and using the materials and models that the district has designed. The district did not have the data on English-language
learners that would help inform their instruction, shape the professional development for their teachers, or serve to modify programs that were not producing results. And there was no strong system of accountability among staff or teachers if these students were not doing well.
Third, it was clear that the district’s capacity to serve English-language learners was not well integrated organizationally into the school system’s instructional operations. One of the conclusions that Council research teams have come to over the years is that language services for this student group need to be well coordinated with and integrated into the broader instructional program of a district if academic achievement is to improve. It is also important that districts have a clearly articulated language development strategy, something that the Buffalo school district appears to lack.
Districts with strong ELL academic achievement share certain characteristics:
1. They have a clear plan for the faithful and regular implementation of programs meant to serve students and that there be a logic behind who gets what services, in what amounts, and what times.
2. They have a culture of shared accountability for results with this student group, and they staff their schools strategically around the programs and services that are needed, rather than defining the services around who is available at any given school.
3. These components are coupled with a strong, ongoing, and coherent professional development program that builds the capacity of staff—both bilingual and general education—to improve instructional services for students.
4. They use their data to inform the instructional program with ELLs and the allocation of personnel and resources.
The Buffalo public schools lack many of these key ingredients to improving the academic achievement of English language learners. However, the Council and its team of language experts have fashioned a set of recommendations and proposals that we believe will improve the language programs in the district and make them more consistent with urban school systems that are showing progress with these students. Most important in those recommendations is a complete re-conceptualization of the district’s current remedial approach to language issues and how they are addressed in the district.
The school district has already taken the most important step: It has asked for assistance and for the critical input of other cities that have faced some of the same challenges. It was very clear to the Council and its team that the Buffalo public school district and its leadership are determined to make things better for English language learners in the city, improve their achievement, and welcome them into the community. We hope this report will help make that happen.