ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Education Editors and Writers, Editorial Writers, Olympia reporters 

Contact: Casey Corr
State Board of Education
206-523-5617

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO TAKE UP ACHIEVEMENT GAP FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Why is a growing population of students falling further behind?

What’s working, what’s not?

Our goal is to help every child succeed.

The State Board of Education will meet in Yakima Aug. 23 and 24 to focus on challenges facing English language learners in Washington Schools. Students, parents, educators, researchers and others will give their perspective.

According to the state’s most recent annual report on the subject, the 2005 Washington Assessment of Student Learning showed a significant gap between English Language Learners and their peers. “An achievement gap of 40­55 points exists regardless of the subject assessed between low-income ELLs and their peers of the same racial or ethnic background who are neither low-income nor ELLs.”

The public and news media are invited.

Click Here to view the full agenda.

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