Background Context

Demographics

Lowell, MA is a culturally diverse, urban school district that serves approximately 16,000 students, 65% of whom are English language learners. Between 50% and 80% of the student population is eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. Asian American students represent 27.9% of the total district population, and Latinos represent 21%. The district provides bilingual education in five languages. ESL instruction is provided to many of the students who speak one of 13 low-incidence languages.

Student Population:
English language learners (ELL) 65%
Transitional Bilingual Education Program 23%
Qualify for Free/Reduced Price Lunch 50-80%

Background

The project began at the request of the school district, which had begun a standards development effort that would lead to improved classroom practice. Students had scored below the state average on all measures of the statewide assessment program. According to district educators, many ELLs who had been exited from bilingual or ESL programs were having academic difficulties in mainstream classes.

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This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu