Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Symposium: Educating English Language Learners

(Worcester, MA – November 12, 2004) Worcester State College, in partnership with the Massachusetts Association for Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (MATSOL), will conduct a Symposium on Educating English Language Learners in Massachusetts on November 17, 2004, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. in the Blue Lounge of the Student Center at Worcester State College.

The symposium will focus on the Commonwealth’s Transitional Bilingual Education statute (G.L. c. 71A) as amended by the passage of ballot initiative Question 2 in 2002. The new laws require every school district and charter school in the Commonwealth to have clearly defined procedures for providing and evaluating a program for students who are English language learners and have limited English proficiency. Topics will include the legal framework for educating English language learners, initial identification and assessment, and proficiency benchmarks and outcomes in sheltered English immersion classrooms.

Presenters will include Jill McCarthy, a long-time participant in language minority education and a principal writer for the Massachusetts state standards for English Language Learners, and Paula Merchant, Executive Director of MATSOL and formerly a member of both the national and state ESL standards development teams.

Principals and teachers from Worcester and surrounding school districts that are currently supervising WSC student teachers will be in attendance.

The schools are: Chandler Elementary School, North High School, May St. School, North High School, Paton School, Gibbons Middle School, Shepherd Hill Regional High School, Accelerated Learning Laboratory, Charlton Elementary School, Nipmuc Regional Middle School, South High School, Oxford High School, Worcester East Middle School, Sutton High School, Gardner High School, St. Peter Marian, Columbus Park School, Tatnuck Elementary School, Clinton Middle School, Shrewsbury High School, West Tatnuck School, Algonquin Regional High School, and Central Tree Middle School.

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