Employment Disputes of ELL Educators in Public Schools - Essay Sample

Introduction

This paper is a review that seeks to summarize the article given on a survey of recent employment disputes of educators engaged in serving English language learners. Its aims to produce critical points that are discussed in the article and the implications for the public schools

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There are many challenges faced by both the ELLs (English Language Learners) and the educators who serve them in public schools. The article brings to light these issues and also highlighting the conflicts involving methods and resources to happen at the expense of both instability and employment conflicts for many ELL educators.

The need to thin the achievement gap between the whites and the Hispanic ELLs has led to some evident sources of conflict with a focus on the needs of Hispanic ELLs evident. The first source of conflict is the disaggregation of ELLs' data to allow assessing by subgroup to demonstrate adequate yearly progress. However, the ELLs are not reaching attainments comparable to American students. This has lead to a perceived need to outlaw single method of instruction of bilingual education, which has led to a drop in attainment. The Hispanics are found to lag in educational achievement, and this difference is a great reason for litigation

According to the U.S Supreme Court, there is a need to come up with a program that can remove language barriers that may hinder ELLs in attending public schools. The EEOA (Equal Educational Opportunity Act) was passed to enforce ELLs' rights as established in Lau. It discourages discrimination in offering education opportunity and further stipulates that education agencies take action to overcome language barriers

Some courts have been scrutinizing decrease in the ELL workforce or terminations based on various doctrines. In one case, Delaware Superior Court reversed the order by a hearing officer to terminate a tenured ELL teacher. The dismissal had been allegedly due to a decrease in enrollment, but the court later found out that enrolment in ELL services had was very healthy. Another termination case was between the Adams County School District and Jaramillo. Jaramillo's termination was based on insubordination, over her efforts against replacing of bilingual methodology with English. Also, the same situation was observed in the case between B. Maze and the North Forest Independent School District. In both cases, by trying to ensure implementation of ELLs' programs, are on the verge of losing jobs.

Issues of implementation and provision of proper bilingual education for ELLs are often of public interest. However, employees face the risk of discipline or termination while seeking to advocate for these services. The issues that deal with the language of instruction are very volatile, and in most cases, may lead to disagreements between educators and administrators.

In 2002, a referendum outlawing bilingual education in Massachusetts was passed, and since then, there has been a lot of arising challenges. The referendums' regulations adopted require that the teachers be literate and fluent and written assurances given annually. However, these policies are problematic since they work together to intimidate or demoralize the non-native teachers who are relied upon to serve ELLs in Massachusetts' public schools. Moreover, by outlawing bilingual methodology, then the persistent achievement gap in public schools with continue to widen and hence ELL failure.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is much chaos on how to best meet the needs of ELLs in public schools. In as much as many of the ELL service issues are settled, there still exist hidden controversy on local levels. The debates and concerns are raised mainly by public school educators who in most cases, risk suffering negative consequences. Lack of unanimity is the major hindrance to the society's objective to meet ELLs need