Cultural differences can be drastic at times, says Joshua Cramer, LPS supervisor of federal programs. Photo: Natasha Richardson, NewsNetNebraska
Questions about two of those issues-discrepancies in expectations for minority students and the achievement gap-are frequently in the news, and LPS believes it has at least one answer: the English Language Learner Program.
ELL has about 30 teachers, along with bilingual liaisons, who provide support with language and culture to about 2,200 LPS students across 50 nationalities and 60 different languages.
"The big advantage (of ELL programs) is communication, communication and communication," said Oscar Rios Pohirieth, LPS cultural specialist.
Without the ELL program, Pohirieth said, students would be thrown into a classroom where they might feel out of place. "The ELL program takes the time, assesses these students' ability to speak English and places that student accordingly to the level that is appropriate to that student's needs."
ELL places students in one of six different levels of English proficiency. Students in level one spend all their time in the ELL classroom and focus heavily on English vocabulary, in addition to the regular curriculum. This time in the ELL classroom gradually decreases until students reach level six. At this point, the students spend no time in an ELL classroom but have a coach to help and guide them along the way.
In addition to assistance with language, ELL also aims to help students learn and understand the culture of the United States.
"If you come from a culture that has different practices, there are going to be things that are different," said Joshua Cramer, LPS supervisor of federal programs.
The cultural differences can be drastic at times, he said.
"You might have a culture where a student has never been to school before, so they may have a difficult time understanding the law in the United States, which says that you need to come to school," Cramer said. "In their culture, it may be optional to go to school."
In addition, he said, families new to the United States often have trouble knowing what foods to buy at the grocery store and the proper ways to prepare the foods. Cramer also cited subtle cultural differences, like whether it is acceptable to maintain eye contact while speaker with another person.
Because of all these differences, Cramer said, LPS educators spend a lot of time learning about the cultures within the school system. Teachers turn to books, films, bilingual liaisons and community cultural centers in Lincoln as sources for information.
Acquiring cultural competency, however, is not an overnight feat, Cramer said.
"It's not like I go to college and learn about 50 different cultures, and I come to work here, and I know everything I need to know," Cramer said. "That information changes every day. If I have a packet of information about the Muslim faith, and I read it today, tomorrow it may be different.
"So it's a day-to-day, lifelong learner type of activity. None of that information is stagnant, none of it stays the same, because culture and ethnicity is changing every day. And so it's really a lifelong enterprise. For as long as there is an educator in the system, they're going to be learning about different cultures and different ethnicities and the practices therein."
And while LPS is making a significant effort to create opportunities for all students, Cramer acknowledges that there is still an achievement gap.
"I do not want to deny the fact that there is an achievement gap in the Lincoln Public Schools, just like we see nationally," Cramer said. "That's to say that Asian and white students are outperforming their Latino, African American, Native American counterparts on most measures, and we know that's it's not that Asian and white students perhaps are smarter.
"So it's some combination of factors, both societal and educationally, that's going on. I do not think you would meet an educator in our system who would say that they don't have the same expectations for every single student, but we still have that achievement gap. And so that's something that we're always trying to improve. We're always trying to do a better job."
These efforts extend to professional learning communities, which are groups of educators who get together to discuss issues within the educational community, then plan and make changes accordingly.
"As a school system, we're involved in a constant state of reflection," Cramer said. "We do not have answers to all the questions, but we're always asking the questions, and we're trying to get closer to the answers."
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