Boards want English language learner plan
Trustees pushing for more funding to support influx of immigrant children
The growing number of schoolchildren not fluent in English should prompt government to create a provincial English language learner curriculum, school trustees from across Alberta said Monday.
The provincial government should also restore seven years of extra funding to schools with English language learners (ELLs) enrolled and increase the rate of funding, said trustees at an Alberta School Boards’ Association meeting.
“These are our future citizens,” St. Albert public school trustee Cheryl Dumont said in an interview.
“If we can’t have them graduating at the same rates ... and if we can’t have them getting the same marks, etc., as non-English language learners at our school, then we’re at a disadvantage as a society.”
In response, Alberta’s education minister hinted more funding for English language learners may be possible. David Eggen said Monday he’s examined several options — but in a followup email, refused to reveal the options he’s considering, or how much they would cost.
“I’m very interested in ensuring success for English language learners,” Eggen said an in interview.
“We know that our economy is attracting new Canadians to this province at a very encouraging rate.”
In Edmonton schools, the number of English language learners has ballooned during the last decade or more. Last year, 118,194 Alberta students were ELLs — nearly double the 60,667 enrolled in 2008.
No longer an urban phenomenon, Christ the Redeemer Catholic school board in southern Alberta began to see an influx of ELLs about a decade ago, superintendent Scott Morrison said in an interview Monday. That division has about 20 schools from Canmore to Oyen.
Sixty per cent of Catholic students in Brooks are learning English, as are 40 per cent of kids in High River, Morrison said. Schools in Okotoks and Canmore have also seen a surge — all thanks to local industries employing more immigrants.
There is no provincial curriculum for teaching ELLs in elementary and junior high school, and the high school curriculum is more than 20 years old, said Christ the Redeemer board chairman Ron Schreiber.
Although teachers should have specific training to instruct ELLs, that training remains optional in university education degree programs, Schreiber said.
Christ the Redeemer opted to hire its own ELL specialist to train teachers in best practices to teach kids not fluent in English.
It’s a service that’s unaffordable to some small boards and should be offered by government, Schreiber said.
His motion to urge the government to provide more support and dedicate more employees and attention to ELL curriculum, instruction and assessment was backed by 90 per cent of school boards at the meeting.
Government spokeswoman Kate Toogood said in an email ELLs are being considered during the re-writing of Alberta’s K-12 curriculum.
It also set benchmarks for ELLs and funds professional development initiatives.
Three-quarters of school boards backed a second motion Monday calling for the provincial government to restore seven years of extra funding for ELLs to schools, and to increase the amount allotted per student.
Schools did receive seven years of top-up funding for each ELL until 2013, when government cut it back to five years.
School boards receive an extra $1,178.10 per student — an amount that has stayed static since 2013.
This year, the government provided $103 million to schools for English language learners and another $34 million to support refugees.