Preventing ELLs from Dropping Out

Preventing ELLs from Dropping Out


Of the six states that account for approximately 70 percent of the country’s Hispanic students, only 50 percent of them graduated above the national average, says an article about preventing ELLs from dropping out. Arizona, which has one of the largest numbers of Hispanic students, experienced the second-sharpest decrease in overall graduation figures with only 75 percent of the 2013 class graduating. Illinois and New York have similar findings.

As an early voice that assisted in focusing nationwide attention on preventing students from dropping out, The National Education Association has pressed policymakers and partners in supporting interventions that would encourage collaborations and close academic achievement gaps, equipping educators, communities and families with the necessary resources ensuring more students, like ELLs, will graduate. The Association states point-blank that teachers need more availability of programs that will help engagement and instruction for diverse and/or at-risk students. Programs and policies that prevent dropout must also be preserved and fully-funded, it says.

Older English language learners (ELLs) struggle more than younger ones and are more likely to drop out of high school compared to native English-speaking students, says the EdSurge organization. Not surprisingly, even if they’ve been in the American school system since kindergarten, the reason some ELLs are dropping out later is because they never received a firm foundation in the first place.

By providing parent involvement programs and training for teachers for English learners, The Latino Family Literacy Project gives ELLs the start they need and contributes to lowering the dropout rates. Its age-specific programs are designed to establish family reading routines for parents and their children on the school site.

Teacher trainings are available through in-person workshops or online webinars. For those who cannot attend in-person, the online training is grade-level specific and is approximately 1.5 hours long. It provides training for the implementation of all programs: infant/toddler, preschool, elementary, and middle/high school levels. Curriculum manuals are shipped in advance for review during the online training. For more information, please contact The Latino Family Literacy Project.