To improve educational opportunities for Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students in the nation, the US Department of Education will hire more minority teachers beginning in the school year 2011.
At the same time, the department will also embark on a three year plan to improve the delivery of service to AAPI students who are not proficient in the English language.
These two goals of the Education Department are part of recommendations submitted by the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders’ (WHIAAPI) to President Obama last week.
“It is important to recruit more teachers who are representative of the student populations they serve and who are trained to educate diverse student populations,” the Education Department stated in its report.
“While AAPIs comprise 3.9% of the total enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, they represent only 1.5% of teachers,” the report said.
The Department of Education said it will increase the number recruitment activities targeted at AAPI teachers starting in the school year 2011.
To achieve this, it will forge partnerships with schools and other organizations in areas where there is a high AAPI population. At the same time, it will also meet with AAPI leaders throughout the country to inform communities about its recruitment efforts.
While doing these outreach activities, the Department of Education will also tell communities that it plans to increase the number of English language learning programs to support AAPIs whose first language is not English.
“Studies and data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress indicate that English language learners including AAPIs are much less likely than other students to score at or above proficient levels in both mathematics and reading or language arts,” the report stated.
The department said it will identify states or school districts with English language program models which are appropriate for AAPI student populations. It will also provide technical assistance to areas with a large AAPI population for the implementation of these programs.
Earlier, the WHIAAPI had said that Education is one aspect of the government that will resonate with AAPIs.
“This is important to AAPIs. We are not strangers to benefits of education,” Kiran Ahuja, WHIAAPI executive director told media in a recent telephone conference.
She added that the Department of Education’s goals also match President Obama’s directive to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.
In the same briefing, Chris Lu, Cabinet secretary for President Obama’s executive office, said the government has projected that 90% of the jobs in the 21st century will require more than a high school degree.
“This is why the president has an ambitious goal to have the highest prop of college graduates in the world,” he said.
For this reason, the government’s goal is to prepare some 100,000 teachers who are proficient in the areas of Science, Technology, English and Math over the next decade. In addition, some 10,000 new teachers will be recruited over the next two years, he also said.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(Las Vegas Mar 24-30, 2011 Sec A pg. 1)
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