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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am sure the schools will be somewhat relieved - smaller class sizes and more attention to students who are not struggling.[/quote]

Agree in part, though why do you assume all these kids struggle? Kids brought over illegal - sure they're ESL and who knows what primary education they had in their villages. But US citizen kids? They grow up learning English - even if thru TV in a Spanish speaking home; and they go to American school from the start so there's no reason for them to be behind; and while it may be shocking, first gen immigrants are hard on their kids re grades, even illegal ones who don't understand what their kids are studying still demand their kids get As and Bs bc they don't want their kids to be dishwashers and janitors.[/quote]

I teach ESOL in ES and your statement is not at all what I've experienced.  Most of my students are native born U.S. citizens and they come to school in pre-k or K with little to no English.  The bright ones move quickly in and out of ESOL (2-3 yrs) and do well in school.  Their natural intelligence gets them through up until MS where their peer group often drags them down.  The other students are in ESOL for more like 4-6 years and even when then do test out, the demands of the curriculum make it difficult for them to get into a selective HS.  They go to the zoned HS which is crap and then either drop out or scrape by.  The girls often become pregnant and the boys often drop out to get jobs.  They start behind and most of them stay behind.  Their parents work a lot and they themselves are just scraping by so nobody is at home to make sure homework gets done, etc.  They are most likely doing the best they can.  Most of them want a good education for their kids but realize the extent to their involvement in it.  If you look at high achieving students everywhere, you almost always see someone behind them (parent, grandparent, mentor) pushing them to do well.  These kids are almost always doing better than their parents.  Their parents might have gone to school in their home country through 6th or 8th grade so if their kids make it to HS or even graduate, they've done better than their parents.  8th grade graduation at our school is a huge over the top affair and it's because it might be their last graduation (even though it isn't really a graduation).[/quote]

Another ESOL teacher here (high school) and I completely agree with this.  Many of the parents want their kids to do well in theory, but because of their own lack of education they don't even know what that entails.  And many of my high schoolers are expected to work to help the family out.  Working 40-50 hours a week + high school courses does not usually have a good outcome. But no matter what, life here is better than where they came from.[/quote]

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