Oregon allocates $5 million for school ESL programs

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Oregon is allocating $5 million to help 40 school districts better teach English as a second language.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (http://bit.ly/2i91tBb ) that recent graduation and test results show that three-fourths of the state’s ESL students aren’t proficient in math, 60 percent can’t read well by the end of middle school and a third never graduate from high school.

The state is providing funding to the 40 districts it says have done the worst job of helping students learn English. Each district is required to make a custom plan to improve its effectiveness and will be judged on the results achieved by 2020.

Bend-La Pine, Reynolds, Jefferson County and Umatilla school districts are among 15 singled out as having the deepest crises.

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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com