Nearly two-thirds of school districts and charter schools have not fully implemented Arizona’s immersion program model for English-language learners, a study has found.
The Arizona Auditor General reviewed 73 districts and charter schools for fiscal year 2010 and found nearly two-thirds were not in compliance with the state-mandated model.
Four Tucson-area districts were included in the study, they are: Catalina Foothills, Vail, Sunnyside and TUSD. It was found that the two largest districts in the city — TUSD and Sunnyside — were not fully implementing the model.
The model, adopted in fiscal year 2008, requires students to receive four hours of English language development per day in a Structured English Immersion classroom setting with other ELL students. It was designed so that most ELL students could become proficient in 1 year.
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Districts cited various challenges to complying with the model, including finding and training teachers and ensuring that lesson plans meet the four-hour requirement.
While the study found that the percentage of students attaining English proficiency rose by 9 percent, the effectiveness of the model remains unknown as there are significant data limitations regarding implementation and student outcomes, the study said.
