Ana Lopez arrived in Wichita from northern Mexico, knowing only a few English words.Unable to talk with classmates or understand her teachers, she started out at Curtis Middle School feeling shy, nervous and frightened. Then, Wichita Public Schools placed her in an intensive language class with only one other English learner. “My teacher,” Lopez said, “was able to pick up on my struggles quickly — how I wasn’t able to pronounce certain letters, where my challenges came from.”She said the program made a lasting impact on her life. “It’s so important to teach students early on,” Lopez said, “so they can have all the skills that they need.”Wichita Public Schools places students still learning English in up to two years of intensive English learning classes. Throughout the program, students are tested to see if they are ready for a regular classroom and won’t be left sitting at a desk unable to understand lessons. This year, Wichita Public Schools expanded English learning classes to all elementary schools to better serve the growing number of students who don’t speak English at home. The district plans to expand classes to all middle and high schools next year.A more diverse KansasIn recent decades, local schools have seen the number of English learners grow. “It is very deep work,” former East High School social worker Samuel Paunetto said, “but we need to do it because in the next 20 to 30 years, it’s going to grow even more.” U.S. Census statistics show that the immigrant population in Sedgwick County increased 2% from 2015 to 2022. In Kansas, only Johnson County has more foreign-born residents. Wyandotte County ranks third.Kansas State Department of Education records show the number of Wichita students tested for English proficiency has increased 3% each year since 2021. Statewide, English learners made up 8.3% of students in 2012-2013. Ten years later, that number has grown to 9.2% statewide. Wichita Public Schools budgeted $17.9 million for English language learning last year. While funding has kept pace with inflation, the need for services continues to grow. Shana Barton, an English teacher at Pleasant Valley Middle School, speaks about the challenges she faces with students who are new to the United States. (Marcus Clem/The Beacon)Shana Barton, an English-learning teacher at Pleasant Valley Middle School, said the program needs more money. She often has to buy workbooks and school supplies with her own money.“Last year, one of my classes was like 45 students,” she said. “It took over three months to get another teacher.”Barton specializes in teaching newcomers, students born overseas who don’t speak English at home. She feels the district is well equipped to teach Spanish-speaking students, who make up the majority of newcomers. The challenge, Barton said, is the 110-plus other languages spoken in Wichita Public Schools. After Spanish and Vietnamese, Swahili is the third-most spoken language by newcomers.How to serve every kid in every schoolAt Wichita Public Schools, all students who don’t speak English as their first language take a test, showing how well they speak, read, write and understand English. If a child has no English skills at all, they need an average of seven years of classes to become conversational in the language, although younger students learn faster. In past years, many students needed to ride the bus to another school to take English classes. Some parents, determined to keep their kids close to home, removed them from the program. “If you go to a place and you don’t speak the language,” Spanish language specialist Maria Kury said, “and then you go to another place that’s big and unfamiliar, it puts a toll on the student.” Ana Lopez studied in the English language learning program of Wichita Public Schools through her junior year of high school and praises the impact it had on her life. (Marcus Clem/The Beacon)Starting this year, English-learning teachers started traveling between schools. The goal is to keep students in a familiar environment, so they can pick up math, science and the like as their English improves.“It means that kids get a better chance to be successful,” she said. “It makes everyone else more conscious about the needs of our English learners.”To stop parents from removing their kids from the program, the district has added classes at 21 elementary schools and one middle school and plans to add them next year to the four middle and two high schools that don’t have them yet.The post Wichita schools are adapting to help more English learners succeed appeared first on The Beacon.