York County is seeing more students who don’t speak English as a native language, but schools are finding fewer educators certified to teach them.
The number of students who are learning the English language has been growing, mostly in the York City School District but also in some suburban districts, at a smaller scale.
At the same time, there are fewer teachers obtaining the English as a second language, or ESL, certification, needed to provide additional services to those students. It’s one area of shortage the state is seeing as fewer people show interest in becoming educators.
“The need for (ESL) certified teachers is really … important, not only for urban school districts, but I think suburban districts are starting to see that as well,” said Debbie Hioutis, coordinator of special programs in the York City School District.
What’s offered for English learners
Students for whom English is not their native language are called English language learners, or ELL students. Schools are required to provide services to help those students achieve proficiency in the English language as well as meet traditional academic standards.
Those services might look different depending on the students’ level of proficiency in English.
On a recent day at Jackson K-8 School in York, ELL teachers Mary Lynn Hoffman and Lynne Lenker worked with students, who had been pulled from their regular classrooms, on their English. Older students practiced prefixes. Younger students worked on more basic words.
The teachers also work in the students’ classrooms, offering additional help for the English learners as they focus on the content their classmates are learning.
York City School District has far more ELL students than other local districts — about 26 percent this year, according to the district. Hanover has the next highest population, at about 7.5 percent, according to data from the state.
And while the population is low in most other districts around the county, several, particularly those around the city, said the group is growing…