Educators at a small public school for immigrant students at the foot of the Manhattan Bridge here believe its unusual instructional approach鈥攚hich includes mixing students at various levels of English proficiency鈥攊s a key reason why Brooklyn International High School has a graduation rate that outpaces that of many other public schools in New York City.
That model, being used by eight other small high schools for immigrants in this city and one in Oakland, Calif., is supported by a New York City-based nonprofit organization, Internationals Network for Public Schools, which has plans to transplant it to other cities.
The nonprofit was started in 2004 with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to build on the success of four international high schools that already had been started in the city by helping to expand the number of such schools. Brooklyn International opened its doors in 1994.
The New York educators鈥� enthusiasm is understandable, if the completion rate at Brooklyn International is any measure: Eighty percent of its students graduate after four years, while, on average, 60 percent of New York City鈥檚 students do the same.
Particularly impressive is the school鈥檚 success with English-language learners. The four-year high school graduation rate in 2007 for students who were still ELLs at graduation was 65 percent; in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available, the city鈥檚 average four-year graduation rate for ELLs was 26 percent.
While some may question whether English-learners could be shortchanged by attending a school with only other immigrants, Pamela Taranto, the principal of the 392-student school, said that anyone with that view can 鈥渓ook at our results.鈥�
Note of Caution
Experts on ELLs sound a note of caution, however. They say that teaching ELLs in groups with mixed levels of English fluency can be effective, but that schools must have a strong professional-development program to prepare teachers to deliver differentiated instruction.
鈥淚t鈥檚 extremely difficult to pull off,鈥� said Claude Goldenberg, an education professor at Stanford University who is conducting a study for the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 Institute of Education Sciences on differentiated instruction for ELLs.
For example, he said, teachers would have to learn how to give different assignments to different students, vary what questions they ask different students, put students in flexible groups that change throughout the day and school year, and adopt other strategies to teach students of different English-proficiency levels effectively in the same classrooms.
鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult to sustain that,鈥� said Mr. Goldenberg.
On the other hand, he said, when ELLs are grouped with students who have similar English skills, the students at the beginning and intermediate levels can get a watered-down curriculum. 鈥淭eachers tend to oversimplify because they don鈥檛 want to frustrate them,鈥� he said.
Professional-development is a key part of Brooklyn International鈥檚 model, according to Ms. Taranto, who said it takes teachers in her school about three years to become adept at carrying out the school鈥檚 instructional model.
Teachers are assigned in teams of five to work with the same cohort of students, and they often coordinate with one another to facilitate interdisciplinary learning projects. Ninth and 10th graders take all classes together, and for those grades the same teachers stick with the same group of students and team of teachers for two years.
Not 鈥楽cared鈥� to Speak
Students at Brooklyn International highlight a different aspect of the school that they say helps them to acquire English fluency and academic content: the fact that it admits only immigrants. Everyone is an English-learner at the time of enrollment.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel scared to speak English here,鈥� said Richard Abreu, a 16-year-old 10th grader from the Dominican Republic, who said he had felt ignored by many other students at the two other New York City schools he attended. 鈥淧eople thought, 鈥業 can鈥檛 talk to him. He doesn鈥檛 speak English,鈥� 鈥� he recalled.
Stephany Li, a senior, said that when she arrived from China more than five years ago, she was placed in a bilingual program with other Chinese students and didn鈥檛 mix with other students. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 speak any English at all when I was in junior high,鈥� said Ms. Li, who now speaks English with ease.
Brooklyn International students also say they get practice speaking with native speakers of English during required internships in the community during junior year.
With students from 44 countries, the school isn鈥檛 lacking racial and ethnic diversity, Ms. Taranto noted. 鈥淔or a lot of our students, they are coming from countries where everyone is like them,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey are very interested in the diversity here.鈥�
Classroom Interaction
On a recent fall day, the school鈥檚 focus on interactive lessons and differentiated instruction was evident in three different classes on core subjects visited by a reporter: a science class for 9th and 10th graders and a social studies class and an English class for seniors.
Dina Begum, a 10th grader from Bangladesh, was a natural leader in her group of four students who were conducting a science experiment comparing the surface tension of tap water and soapy tap water.
鈥淲e need a beaker, right?鈥� she said to start the group out.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 the title, baby?鈥� she asked when they started making a graph of their data. 鈥淣ow, let鈥檚 get to work,鈥� she said, when they鈥檇 finished the graph and were supposed to write an analysis.
As the only 10th grader in the group and the student with the highest proficiency in English, she was assigned to write two paragraphs analyzing the experiment while the student with the lowest English proficiency was assigned to write two sentences.
In the English class with seniors, students in a group with Koey Chen, a 16-year-old from China, urged her to participate, even though she was reluctant to speak.
The students retold a short story they had read for homework by taking turns saying a couple of sentences about it in a circle鈥攃alled a 鈥渞ound robin鈥� exercise. Ms. Chen was silent when it was her turn to talk鈥攁nd a boy started to jump in for her.
鈥淒on鈥檛 say it for her鈥攁sk her a question,鈥� said Marco Ma, another student from China, whom the teacher had selected to lead the group.
鈥淚 only read up to here,鈥� admitted Ms. Chen, pointing to a copy of the short story.
But rather than let her off the hook, Nathaly Cabral, 17, a student from the Dominican Republic, tried to draw her out. 鈥淲here did you read up to? What happened there? What was [the character鈥檚] reaction to that?鈥� Ms. Cabral asked.
The students relented only when Ms. Chen said the words her teacher had told her permit her to skip her turn: 鈥淚 pass.鈥�
