Newcomer English Learner Students in Oklahoma Ease Into Education Through Summer School

Expanded learning time has received a lot of attention over the last couple of years as a tool to address students’ learning disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many states and districts have used federal relief funds to implement summer and afterschool programs as well as tutoring services focused on “accelerating learning” to help students make up for lost instructional time. However, it has not always been clear whether students most affected by the pandemic, such as English learners (ELs), have been prioritized and targeted by these programs.

I recently spoke with two EL education leaders at two separate school districts in Oklahoma to learn about how they each incorporated newcomers into their respective summer school programs in 2022. Sally Diaz, Secondary EL Instructional Facilitator at Putnam City Schools, and Gracye McCoy, ELD Pathways Manager at Tulsa Public Schools had noticed an increase in the number of refugees resettled in the area and saw a need to provide these students with extra time to acclimate to their new schools. Although there isn’t a universal definition for newcomer students, they both decided to focus on those who had been in the U.S. for less than one year, some of whom were refugees and others who were recent immigrants. While these summer programs differed in their design and depth of EL focused services provided, they offer examples of how these students’ linguistic development can be factored into extended learning programs.

Ready. Set. Summer! at Tulsa Public Schools

English learners in Tulsa Public Schools represent 37 percent of the total K–12 population and these students speak 76 different languages. Between October and December 2021,Tulsa Public Schools received around 300 Afghan refugee students. District leaders wanted to keep these newcomer students engaged and continue their language learning over the summer. And so, they added a newcomer module onto a pre-existing summer program called “Ready. Set. Summer!”(RSS) and specifically conducted outreach to refugee students in middle and high school.

RSS weaves academic components into a camp atmosphere where the first half of the day is structured around academics through STEAM or STEM subjects, and the second half of the day is composed of three rotations where students can participate in various club-type activities such as soccer, crafts, cooking class, or other activities they may be interested in. Newcomer students who participated were able to choose whether to attend one or both parts of the day, and according to McCoy, a fair amount opted for the full six hours.

A total of 30 newcomer refugee students enrolled in the program and daily attendance ranged between 16–19 students. The newcomer-specific module was offered in the second part of the day as one of the three club-type activity rotations. During the one hour newcomer-specific module, students were provided a Chromebook and the district partnered with an existing vendor, Off2Class, to provide virtual tutors and instruction. The virtual tutoring session was focused on linguistics and grammar as well as conversational practice in English. At the beginning of the summer session, the district arranged for a trilingual refugee navigator to help students get set up and help them log in the first couple of days. After that, an adult staff person was present in the classroom every day to monitor the lesson.

In terms of impact and outcomes, all students who participated in RSS scored slightly higher on the benchmark assessments given at the beginning of the school year in the fall, especially in literacy. For newcomers, however, the biggest gains were seen in their soft skills. According to McCoy, participating students started the year feeling more comfortable in the school setting and more connected to their peers in English Language Development (ELD) classes. McCoy also observed that these students felt more comfortable having conversations in English with adults and people that were unknown to them.

The cost of adding the newcomer-specific module was marginal because the virtual tutoring component leveraged the district’s existing license with Off2Class. This year, McCoy plans to open the program up to all newcomer immigrant students who have been in the U.S. for less than two years, not just refugees, which will expand eligibility to about 200 students between three school sites. In addition to this, the district plans on supplementing the Off2Class program with their own teachers who will be paid with federal funds.

Summer Recharge Program at Putnam City Schools

English learners represent 25 percent of students in Putnam City Schools (PCS) and the top four languages spoken are Spanish, Pashto/Dari, Vietnamese, and Arabic. In recent years about 30 percent of new student enrollments have spoken a language other than English at home, which means they may qualify for EL services. Typically newcomers from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras have settled in the area although recently they have seen an increase in recent arrivals from Cuba and Venezuela. And in the summer of 2022, PCS welcomed 200 newcomer refugee students from Afghanistan over the span of eight weeks.

In spring 2022, Diaz was given the opportunity to provide input on how ESSER funding could be used in the district. Seeing the increased numbers of middle and high school newcomer students, Diaz decided to develop a four-week summer program specifically for middle and high school newcomer students.

In middle school, 52 newcomers participated in a half-day program from 8am–12pm (Monday–Friday) where they were given breakfast and lunch and rotated through three classes. In the first class each student was given a different thematic workbook that they were able to take home. The second module was structured around Off2Class, similar to Tulsa, where students benefited from virtual tutoring as well as learning about technology literacy. And in the last class, students connected the booklets from the first class to more project based learning and activities on various topics such as family, food, clothing, and other real-life themes.

In high school, the curriculum consisted of the same three modules that middle school students had but because their program was a full day from 8am to 3pm, they went through these rotations twice a day. In addition to these modules, the 38 high school newcomer students also attended a course structured around the naturalization test that all high school students are required to pass in order to graduate in Oklahoma. The test consists of 100 questions and for this class, Diaz partnered with the district’s social studies curriculum coordinator to thematically organize 25 questions to focus on per week. High school newcomers also benefited from a field trip to the Oklahoma History Museum as well as weekly community guest speakers on a range of issues including immigration, health care and insurance, home ownership, and college and career opportunities.

In terms of impact, Diaz shared that the biggest change she saw among the students who participated was their self-confidence and comfort in their new school. Diaz said that these students tend to come in with a lot of anxiety and stress. This program gave them a sense of calmness by creating a space for them to connect with students at other schools who had gone through similar issues. And for the high school students specifically, all of them achieved passing scores on the state-mandated naturalization test.

Without accounting for staff and transportation costs, Diaz estimates that the program cost about $60,000 which covered supplies for hands-on activities, supplemental curriculum and the Off2Class license for the whole year. In terms of staff, the program brought on six EL teachers, three half-day and three full-day, who were paid $35/hour, and two bilingual aides, one half-day and one full-day who were paid $20/hour. In addition to this, the district provided transportation for all of the students, though ESSER funds could not be used for this expenditure.

Language learning is just as much about social interaction as it is about academic outcomes and it is important that schools and districts increase the amount of time newcomers and other EL students are able to interact with their peers whenever possible. As these programs showed, minimal financial investment can add significant value to participating students through a growing sense of comfort in their new community. And although these programs were narrowly focused on newcomer needs, evidence from other school districts shows that structured extended learning time can benefit the broader EL population. As McCoy stated, “summer school programs that are hands-on, engaging, and thematic, work in favor of multilingual learners whether they are recently arrived ELs or not.”

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