Some of our new students may have never experienced learning in a formal classroom. Some have escaped persecution but are still managing the trauma that comes from living as refugees. Others come from fractured families, split by borders and politics. Some of these children arrived on American soil unaccompanied—alone.

I share this with you so that you understand that English Learners, even under the best-case scenarios, have unique needs that must be addressed if those children are to succeed. And, I share this with you because those children need to succeed. They don’t have an alternative available to them.

At Providence Public Schools we are very grateful to you for approving ELL funding in fiscal year 2017. We have used that funding to enlarge the ranks of our ESL-certified teachers and to provide relevant professional development. We have invested in programming, technology and support services to help address the needs of the ELL student population. Most recently, we have been creating new high school program for students known as Newcomers – students who are new to this country and have had at least two years of interrupted formal education.