Loss of ESL services may be a problem
By Viet Le
Special to AsianWeek
It’s been a summer of change for the financially- and academically-struggling Philadelphia School District. Last December, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania took over the school system, the eighth largest in the country. More than half of the district’s 70 low-performing elementary and middle schools will be run this fall by private managers, making this the nation’s largest experiment in school privatization.
But every experiment has its risks, and Asian Pacific American activists and educators in Philadelphia say they fear the fate of what has often been considered “marginal” programs such as bilingual education and immigrant services. Moreover, they say the non-English-speaking population has been shut out of the rapid and turbulent school reform process — swept away in a rising tide...
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