El Monte Hails Gains in Bilingual Education

Fourth-grade teacher Peggy Outsen had never considered becoming a bilingual teacher.

But she agreed to begin taking the special classes in Spanish necessary for state certification after an aggressive recruiting campaign by El Monte City School District officials that included economic incentives and promises of more classroom support.

Fifty-one other teachers have also agreed to begin the training.

As a result, the district, which was facing the loss of $3 million a year in state aid because of the lack of bilingual teachers, is now in compliance with California standards.

“It was very difficult to get teachers before,” said Carolyn Robinson, a resource teacher who helped devise the incentives and sought recruits. “They had to put out a lot of work and did not get compensated.”

The incentives include the option of receiving a bonus of up to $750 a year for taking required classes or credit toward a step increase in the salary scale. The teachers were also offered a bilingual aide for at least three hours a day and $50 to buy classroom supplies.

The class Outsen recently completed “was a little dreary on Monday nights after working all day,” she said. “But I got paid for it.”

Two More Classes Remain

Although Outsen must still take two more classes and pass state tests to receive certification, she already notices a difference in her teaching at Columbia School.

“(The class) helped me understand my students better than before,” Outsen said. Nine of her 25 students have limited proficiency in English. “I talk slower and I’m making sure they understand,” she said. “It doesn’t take much longer. It’s just that I’m aware of it.”

Since taking the course, which was taught in a district classroom by a teacher hired by the El Monte system, Outsen said she has become “more generous and more empathic than I was before, rather than saying, ‘Weren’t you listening?’ ”

Under state law, a bilingual classroom must be provided whenever there are 10 or more students of one language group in a grade level.

Last September state officials notified the district that it could lose up to $3 million a year in supplementary funds it receives for having large numbers of students who have difficulty speaking English. About 3,020 of the district’s 10,500 students are classified as having limited English proficiency, according to district officials. Most of them speak Spanish.

40 Bilingual Teachers

According to state standards, the system needed at least 118 bilingual teachers, but only had 40.

This semester the system needs at least 90 bilingual teachers, said Lynn W. Baugher, a manager in the State Department of Education division that monitors the bilingual teaching program.

The minimum number dropped because some students have left the system, others have improved their English skills and teams of bilingual and non-bilingual teachers were placed in some classrooms, she said.

El Monte still has only 40 bilingual teachers. But the 52 teachers who have entered the special program have received waivers to teach bilingual classes. The teachers have six years to complete the classes in bilingual methodology, culture and Spanish. They must then pass state tests in each subject to receive certification as bilingual teachers.

The incentive program is costing the system about $36,000 a year, said Benigno Campos, who is in charge of bilingual education for the district.

But schools officials say the effort is well worth the expense since the $3 million in state funding represents 10% of the district’s budget.