Students in the Somerville Public Schools who are learning English are in most cases doing it more quickly than similar students across the state, according to a report recently published by the Massachusetts Department of Education.

English language learners take the Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment (MEPA) once a year to show their ability to read, write, speak and understand the language. A total of 882 ELL students in the district took the exam this spring. 

Public officials made references to the report during the Dec. 14 hearing about the proposed Somerville Progressive Charter School. They did so to convince people the school district's programs for English language learners serve those students well.  

“The recently released MEPA progress report identifies an unbelievably positive set up statistics,” Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi said at the hearing. 

Results of the spring 2011 MEPA

A total of 62 percent of English language learners, from kindergarten through high school, made progress on the MEPA, compared with 58 percent of students across Massachusetts, according to data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Students are considered by the state to have made progress if they moved up one or two steps on the scale from the spring or fall 2010 assessment. The scale ranges from 1 (low) to 5 (high). 

• 56 students tested at level 1, meaning they cannot yet communicate in English. 
• 111 students tested at level 2, meaning they can communicate through simple written and spoken English at school but often make errors. 
• 305 students tested at level 3, meaning that they can communicate through basic English but sometimes make errors.
• 284 students tested at level 4, meaning they are generally fluent and make few and minor errors. 
• 126 students tested at level 5, meaning they are fluent across all academic subjects. 

The breakdown in progress by grade

• 73 percent of students in kindergarten through second grade progressed, compared with 69 percent statewide.
• 49 percent of third and fourth graders progressed, while 52 percent of students across the state did.
• 71 percent of fifth and sixth graders progressed, compared with 58 statewide.
• 73 percent of seventh and eighth grade students progressed, compared with 65 percent across the state.
• Finally, 48 percent of high school students made progress, compared with 45 percent across Massachusetts. 

Regarding the 38 percent of students who didn’t advance to the next step, Sarah Davila, the director of the ELL program, noted that progress was more likely among students in the Sheltered English Immersion Program. 

Davila said she feels like some people have misrepresented Somerville Public Schools as having low expectations for the 52 percent of children whose first language isn’t English.  

“I believe we have very high expectations for our students,” she said, “but we have knowledge of ELL development in the schools and differences in beginning level students and higher level students and how those students perform on individual measures.”

“I think there’s a lot of indication that we’re certainly not failing our students but that we have a lot of work to do to improve our results. We’re working very hard at the high school to improve support for students.” 

For example, Davila said, the administration is making sure that teachers can accommodate English learners as it focuses on improving literacy among all students.