Translators in demand as immigration grows

Numerically, that hasn’t changed much. Operationally, however, district administrators have been in emergency mode, trying to address a population they’d never served before: the limited-English speaker.

“I’ve been in Mississippi most of my career, and I’ve probably seen maybe one or two families, two or three students (from limited-English-speaking backgrounds),” said Superintendent Robert Walker.

Meeting the needs of its 14 English language learners (ELLs), who hail from Mexico, Central America, Taiwan, and the Philippines, has become a pressing and daunting priority for Lumberton school officials.

Engaging their parents has also been difficult for school officials, said Linda Smith, Lumberton’s curriculum director. The district tapped a local pastor who speaks Spanish, relied on children who were bilingual, and used electronic and hardbound translation dictionaries.

Reaching out to immigrant parents is important, school officials agree, because research has confirmed the importance of parent involvement on student achievement.

One in five children in the United States was born outside the country or has parents who are immigrants. If current immigration trends continue, the Urban Institute estimates the children of immigrants will comprise one-quarter of the U.S. school population by 2010.

In 2000, six out of seven ELLs in elementary schools and two of every three secondary school ELLs lived in linguistically isolated homes where no one over the age of 14 could speak English well or at all. Also in 2000, almost half of elementary school ELLs had parents with less than a high school education.

The huge growth in immigration, along with expanding mandates to provide written reports to parents, is putting more pressure on school districts to hire translators. Even for large districts, providing language access to families can be challenging.

Despite its long history as an entry point for immigrants, New York City hasn’t been as adept at helping newcomers navigate the school system once they arrive. “What we’d done in the past was whoever had bilingual skills was tapped in whatever way they could help. It was very haphazard,” said Director of Translations Kleber Plama.

Under pressure from immigrant rights groups, the New York City Department of Education created a translation unit three years ago and last year approved an internal policy that bolstered the district’s desire to provide language access to all parents.

The translation unit has 40 employees and a budget of $4.5 million. The translators convert official documents and other critical information into at least eight different languages, dispatch interpreters to school sites and events, and provide phone interpretation services.

The Montgomery County, Md., school district, which officially lists more than 140 languages spoken by its students, also provides extensive translation services. “We’re a system that has an awful lot of information, whether you’re translating for 1,000 or 10,000 people,” said Bill Prather, the district’s translation technology specialist. “There are practical issues involved.”

For example, although Spanish is the most commonly spoken language in the district -- it is spoken by more than 75 percent of all ELLs nationwide -- Montgomery County’s Spanish-speaking families come from different parts of the world and speak a variety of  dialects.

Further complicating matters is the wide diversity in parents’ education levels. “Some of our kids come from families as foreign service delegates, as World Bank employees, as visiting professors, and some come quite simply as immigrants,” Prather said. “We have parents who have a second-grade education, no formal education, or have PhDs. We have to find something that is accessible to everyone but not infantile.”

Montgomery County also makes an effort to engage immigrant families in the education process, rather than just provide information to them.

The district, for instance, disseminates a monthly news­letter and produces a monthly television program in at least five different languages.

Parent community coordinators act as a bridge between families with limited English skills and the school system. They attend parent meetings, connect parents with relevant services and programs, and serve as advocates for families.