Changing Children's Lives by Putting Kids First

• In Event: Disrupting Disruption: How Three School Districts Closed the Graduation Gap

Abstract

This presentation will focus on Union City Public Schools, New Jersey. For forty years, Union City has been a predominantly Latino enclave, and 99% of the students are Latino. Three-quarters live in households where the primary language is Spanish, with close to half being English language learners. A quarter have been in the country less than three years, and school officials estimate that a third of the students are undocumented. Three-quarters of the students are eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch.

Demographics like these are often associated with high drop-out rates and low student achievement. In fact, in 1989, the district ranked the second worst in the state on New Jersey’s Early Warning Test in English and math. Now, in contrast, 85% of the students graduate from high school and 72 percent enroll in college.

In this presentation, the district’s superintendent will elucidate the factors that support the district in attaining such high achievement, including the following:
• Building a model early education program that partners with private and community-based providers to enroll almost all three and four-year-olds. To make this investment succeed, the district trained its pre-k teachers in everything from English as a Second Language to project-based learning, and recruited a cadre of specialists to serve as instructional coaches.
• Adopting a language-rich curriculum in elementary school. Recognizing that many students from high poverty families, and especially English language learners, start school behind their peers because of a language deficit, the district adopted a curriculum filled with reading and writing.
• Tailoring bilingual instruction to match students’ individual progress. The district revamped its approach to teaching English language learners to reflect what research shows is important: carefully calibrated steps that lead to fluency, initially in Spanish and then in English.
• Individualizing instructional opportunities. The district uses assessment results and teachers’ knowledge of students to provide students with individualized supports. In determining students’ classes, schools assign students with special needs first. When patterns are seen in overall student outcomes, the district takes a more holistic approach to identifying the underlying issues and solving them.
• Supporting educators. To ensure high-quality instruction, Union City has invested in in-class coaching for both new and veteran teachers.

Evidence supporting the importance of these elements come from a comprehensive analysis of student achievement data that looks at individual, classroom, school, and district trends over time.

This presentation offers insights into how a district with a large immigrant population can beat the odds and metamorphosize from a failing district to one that stands out for its academic successes. It shows that running an exemplary school district does not demand heroics, just hard, steady work.

Author

• Silvia Abbato, Union City School District