Many of us are troubled by the realization that Connecticut has the nation’s largest educational achievement gap between English-language learners and students fluent in English. While many wring their hands and bemoan this sad fact, Violet Jiménez Sims is trying to do something about it.

Ms. Sims, whom we honored in 2008, has become an advocate for reform of the bilingual education system in Connecticut’s public schools. She served on a panel of educators who addressed this issue at a conference at Central Connecticut State University Feb 27-28. Earlier in February, she spoke at a forum on the topic at the New Britain Public Library.

Most recently, she posted an op-ed essay advocating reform in bilingual education in the CT Mirror online publication. We are reprinting it here.

Ms. Sims taught Spanish and English for Speakers of other Languages (ESL) for several years at New Britain High School and now is a bilingual educator and instructional coach at Manchester High School. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies from the University of Connecticut and is pursuing her doctorate at the University of Bridgeport.

Congratulations to Violet for working to make a difference. She is one of many Alma Exley Scholars who are having a positive impact in a variety of ways. Following is her op-ed from the CT Mirror. – Woody Exley

By Violet Jiménez Sims

Central Connecticut State University has taken the lead in speaking up for a marginalized sector of our population with the recent conference titled “Dos Días para Transforming Bilingual Education in Connecticut.”

This topic is especially important to the children, parents, and educators across Connecticut, as a recent Hartford Courant article pointed out the shameful fact that our state leads the nation with the largest achievement gap between English Language Learners (ELL) and their peers who are English fluent.  According to the article, the gap in Connecticut is 54 percent larger than the national average. Why is this happening? Several reasons.

First, Connecticut state statute limits bilingual education (defined as a program where students receive academic support in their native language) to a maximum of 30 months, even though well-established research shows that students need a minimum of five years to attain grade level proficiency in a second language.

Second, Connecticut does not fully embrace dual language models, the best way for children to reach fluency bilingually. There are only six dual-language schools in the entire state and cities such as New Britain have closed down these research-based programs that are thriving internationally and throughout the rest of the country.

For example, New York currently has hundreds of dual language schools and is expanding by as many as 40 new dual language schools this year. These models are superior because they allow both ELLs and monolingual English speakers to become fully bilingual.

Third, bilingual education in Connecticut is not equitable.   For example, affluent suburban communities, such as Avon and West Hartford, offer world language instruction kindergarten through high school.  Meanwhile, most ELLs attending Connecticut’s urban districts are at risk of losing their native language as their schools focus on pushing ELLs to acquire English with methods that sacrifice their first language, but do not lead to grade level proficiency; a process known in language acquisition theory as fossilization.  Therefore, suburban children have the privilege of becoming bilingual, while our urban students lose their home languages and half-learn English.

Local districts in Connecticut have wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on “get proficient quick” schemes, like Kevin Clark’s English Language Development (ELD) program, which have failed elsewhere and have been challenged by the U.S. Office of Civil Rights.

Proponents of such programs claim that their data shows sharp improvements in English proficiency, but these results are skewed as they use assessments created by the same people that sell the programs and teachers are trained to “teach to the test.” The validity of these programs is highly undermined by assumptions and a lack of alignment to empirical research, or strong theory. Additionally, ELLs are segregated from their English-fluent peers for several hours a day, where they miss the other important academic subjects like Social Studies and Science. These corrupt practices must stop.

Properly educating our youth is beneficial to the entire population. Thank you to CCSU for taking the lead in Connecticut by hosting a much-needed conversation on how to change bilingual education in our state. Over 200 professionals participated. Our children and society depend on this continued valor.

Our selection committee really knows how to pick ’em!

When we selected Desi Nesmith as the Alma Exley Scholar for 2000, we recognized his potential to become an outstanding educator.

Our confidence was reinforced a few years later when he was honored as Teacher of the Year at Mayberry Elementary School in East Hartford.

We weren’t surprised when he received the Promising Young Professional Award from his alma mater, the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut, in 2009.

That was the year he became principal of SAND Elementary School in Hartford. In his first year, he transformed the school from one of the state’s lowest performing schools to one of the most improved. And he was recognized as Best First-Year Principal by the Connecticut Association of Schools.

Since 2011 Desi has been principal of Metacomet School in Bloomfield. Under his leadership, student academic performance has improved dramatically and the achievement gap has been narrowed significantly.

In recognition of his outstanding leadership, the Milken Family Foundation has honored Desi with the prestigious Milken Educator Award, the only one in Connecticut this year. The honor includes an unrestricted $25,000 prize.

The award was presented at an assembly which Principal Nesmith thought had been scheduled to honor the children for their academic achievements. He introduced State Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor, who congratulated the students for reducing the third-grade achievement gap in reading by 19 percent, with reading scores exceeding the state average by 8 percent.

Then Dr. Jane Foley of the Milken Family Foundation caught Desi completely by surprise by announcing that he had been chosen for the prestigious award. (Dr. Foley and Commissioner Prior are with Desi in the photo above.)

After composing himself from the surprise of his life, Desi told the students that not too many years ago, he had been sitting right where they were, and that they, too, could fulfill their dreams and aspirations. (He grew up in Bloomfield and attended Metacomet School for first and second grades.)

It was such a pleasure for me to see Desi receive this much-deserved honor. I have followed his career since he received our scholarship as an undergraduate at UConn. It is abundantly clear that Desi cares deeply about his students and wants every one of them to succeed. Moreover, his inspired leadership is enabling them to succeed.

Seeing scholarship recipients like Desi grow, mature and have an impact in their careers is what makes being involved with the Alma Exley Scholarship Program so rewarding. Everyone who has supported the program over the years can take some satisfaction in knowing they have played a small part in helping to launch the careers of a wonderful group of outstanding educators.

– Woody Exley

I’m old enough to remember when doctors used to make house calls. I remember our family doctor coming into my bedroom, carrying his little black bag, and taking my temperature. Whether or not he cured what ailed me, his caring presence made me feel better.

My teachers, however, never came to my home. In fact, I didn’t know that teachers made house calls until I talked with Glenn Allen Jr.

Mr. Allen, whom we honored as an Alma Exley Scholar in 1998, began making home visits in his first year of teaching, and has been doing so ever since. Generally, he visits when a youngster is getting into trouble or has attendance issues.

“Sometimes when I say I’m going to their house, they don’t believe me,” he told me recently. “And they’re shocked when I arrive. But visiting students at home with their parents enables me to make a deeper connection. When I’m sitting on the couch in their living room, it brings our relationship to a different level.”

Mr. Allen, who grew up in East Hartford, Conn., has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Connecticut. He teaches Special Education English at Carson High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He has also served two years as a dean of students, and for several years he was on the coaching staffs for football and track & field.

I had the opportunity to visit Mr. Allen at Carson High School on a recent trip to Los Angeles. It was a great pleasure to see him in action with a class of 10^th graders, who responded to his caring manner.

“Making the effort to visit students at home always has an impact,” he said. “Over the past 14 years, not once have I been to a student’s home that his or her behavior hasn’t improved.”

When students have been in trouble, they’re usually resistant to Mr. Allen’s visits. Sometimes, when they greet him at the door, they tell him their parents aren’t home. Or Hispanic students sometimes tell him their parents don’t speak English. But he persists, and the students’ jaws drop when he speaks to their parents in fluent Spanish.

When students are resistant, he tells them, “Look, I don’t have to be here. I’m not getting paid extra to do this. I’m here because I care about you and want you to be successful.”

Showing that he cares has an impact. He continues to make these home visits because he sees the results in improved behavior and academic performance.

Mr. Allen says he has become more forgiving of students in the classroom as a result of seeing the conditions they are dealing with at home. Many of his students live in poverty, and some are in group homes.

“I wish more teachers would make home visits,” he said. “Some personal attention from the teacher can make all the difference.”

–      Woody Exley