Closing the Achievement Gap: How to Reach Limited-Formal-Schooling and Long-Term English Learners

Rating:
Summary: "Closing the Achievement Gap", August 22, 2002
Review: This book, "Closing the Achievement Gap: How to Reach Limited-Formal-Schooling and Long Term English Learners", is an excellent resource for teachers of older English learners with limited formal schooling or English learners with more conversational than academic fluency. Yvonne S. Freeman and David E. Freeman, professors at the Graduate School at Fresno Pacific University, describe in detail these two types of students and provide four main ideas to help teachers meet the academic needs of these struggling students. The Freemans' also cite research on effective teaching practices and describe three teachers working with these particular students in a multi-grade, a middle, and a high school classroom. All three teachers are successfully implementing research proven theories in their classroom practices to help close the achievement gap.
Overall, the Freemans' did a good job in examining each point thoroughly. The format was concise, comprehensible, and the strategies described can easily be used with my Newcomer students. I thought it was a good idea to present three different perspectives of teachers working with a range of age groups. It demonstrated that the theories and strategies presented can be effective across grade levels.
I recommend that school administrators and professors of teaching candidates also read the book for the strategies presented and for the valuable research on second language acquisition. The academic gap of struggling English learners will only continue to widen if educators and administrators do not become more knowledgeable in this area.