National Rankings Show ESL Students In Chicago Are Closing Academic Gaps
CHICAGO (CBS) -- National rankings show that students trying to learn English in the Chicago Public Schools have been making some major academic progress.
Mayor Emanuel said it's not easy learning English while you are also trying to learn math and other subjects. His grandfather had to do it. And, often, English learners lag way behind those who already know English. WBBM's Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports.
But, Janice Jackson, Chief Education Officer for the Chicago Public Schools, said a national evaluation association shows students here were catching up fast over the last year.
"At the district level, the math achievement for ESL students, the gap actually dropped by a whopping 48 percent; and for reading it dropped 28 percent."
Mayor Emanuel said "when Chicago's students are given the chance, they will break down barriers."
While visiting Canty Elementary School on the North Side, Mayor Emanuel praised the accomplishments.
"When you are trying to not only learn the language, but to grasp everything else at the same time, is tremendous work that we are not only seeing here, at Canty, but we are seeing district wide throughout the city of Chicago," he said.
There are 14 different languages represented at the Canty school, with Polish, Spanish and Arabic among the leading ones.
