How One Colorado School District Is Helping Migrant Students This Summer

During the last week of summer classes at Westminster, about 19 children practiced creating sentences in English to describe pictures displayed on an interactive whiteboard at the front of the classroom.

“I see kids playing soccer,” said one child, Mathias, of a photo showing a group of older children playing soccer in the rain.

But teacher Sydney Pollock wanted her third- through fifth-graders to practice starting sentences with “This” or “That” and using a singular verb in a sentence. She reminded Mathias that “children” is plural. As she wrote the word on the board, she asked the class how to write it in the singular. Throw in an “S,” the kids said.

Mathias tried again. “This kid is playing…”

Don’t forget the verb, Pollock reminded him, pointing to the examples on the blackboard.

“This kid plays soccer,” Mathias said, excited that he got it right.

Westminster Public Schools was one of many districts in Colorado that received a wave of new immigrant students after the school year began. In the four months from October to February alone, the district reported enrolling 216 new students. Westminster received $877,000 in one-time state funding to help cover the cost of educating students who were not included in this year’s state funding because they started school after October.

With this assistance, Westminster allocated $10,000 to create a new summer school program to help Spanish-speaking students continue to practice their English. This was specifically intended to enroll many new immigrant students who were just starting to study.

The summer program enrolled 135 students in kindergarten through 11th grade. Kate Herter, who served as program director this summer, said she estimates about 85% of students enrolled were new to the country this year.

Herter said the goal is to provide students with a space where they can feel more comfortable practicing their English skills so they will feel more confident learning next school year.

When the kids started the summer program, they started learning to talk about food. We spent the next week learning about money and counting US dollars. Next to Pollock’s class, another group of students learned how to create sentences in English to describe different seasons, making observations about cold, rain and leaves.

“We really try to focus on language that they can use immediately in the community,” Herter said.

Susana Zubia López was one of the family liaisons who helped the district call all the newly arrived families and invite them to enroll their children.

She added that most families are excited about the opportunity for their children to continue learning English.

Zubia López said that of the new immigrant families she contacted, the only ones who did not register their children were those who were moving or said they were taking a trip.

The district provided free transportation to the four-hour day program, as well as breakfast and lunch just before students returned home at noon. Students participating in the program were also able to receive vaccines to be ready for school in the fall.

“We didn’t want a gap,” said Zubia López. “Our goal was for the gap to not be that big.”

In 2018, Westminster signed a deal with the federal government to make changes to how it identifies and serves students learning English as a new language after the Justice Department found the district may not have been properly identifying and providing resources for students. The district began making changes as the pandemic began.

In summer 2021, Westminster also used COVID relief funds to extend the school year by an additional 12 days to give students more learning opportunities. But this is the first year, district leaders said, that the district has had a targeted summer program for students learning English.

Herter said teachers are regularly collecting data and will assess whether students show improvement in their English language development next year.

For now, teachers have also been working to make students feel more comfortable. In Pollock’s class, one girl spelled out a sentence about a painting she was looking at, but initially begged the teacher who came over to her table not to make her say it out loud.

Nearby, as students were learning about the seasons, teacher SanJuanita Carbajal had her students watch an animated video with a catchy song about the seasons. Initially, the students did not sing along with us. However, after a few minutes they joined.

Sara Gonzalez, who teaches first and second graders in the program, said the students knew she spoke Spanish and began the program trying to speak to her primarily in Spanish.

He often tells them he doesn’t understand to encourage them to practice their English. Now, she said, she sees them trying to speak more English.

“We know they will feel more confident learning later,” Herter said.

Yesenia Robles is a Chalkbeat Colorado reporter covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at [email protected].