Daviess County public schools are launching a ‘Newcomer’ program.
“Newcomers are students who are brand new to an English-speaking school and often brand new to the United States. These students typically have had very interrupted or little or no formal schooling,” says Jana Beth Francis, who oversees the English language program for Daviess County schools.
She says the program is based on students who have arrived in the district in the past nine years.
In 2007, Daviess County Public Schools had 77 students who were English language learners. This year, that number stands at 461.
Teachers throughout the Daviess County school district will be trained this summer in strategies to help newcomer students succeed. The district is also instituting tuition reimbursement for high school teachers to get certification to teach English language learners.