catalyst-chicago.org

Adriana, de 14 años, está trabajando en una tarea más ardua que sus asignaturas escolares: su madre, una inmigrante mexicana, le ha pedido que le traduzca una citación judicial. Cuando Adriana lucha con vocabulario desconocido, como jurado y summons, que es la palabra citación en inglés, su madre brinda la sabiduría del mundo real para ayudar a su hija a entender el documento legal.

Among the 32 KIPP schools across the country are 32 unique first-year experiences. However, few have gone through the spectrum of setbacks and victories as has the school in Oakland.

KIPP opened a school in the Oakland Unified School District in the summer of 2002. Since then, the school has survived a districtwide deficit of $100 million, nearly a quarter of the overall $450 million operating budget; a state takeover of the district; principal and teacher turnover; a facility relocation; and a name change.

Lead researcher:

Marjorie Faulstich Orellana,

Northwestern University

Key findings:

Children of immigrant parents often perform translating tasks for their families that are more complex than educators realize. They also may build a range of literacy skills that can boost their test scores.

Who was studied:

Researchers surveyed 280 children at a predominantly Latino elementary school on the Northwest Side, and observed 18 of them at home and school.

Recommendations:

Created three years ago with the encouragement of Mayor Daley, tuition-based preschool was another way for the district to attract more middle class families into the system. So far, the plan is working.

More than 63 percent of the 161 5-year-olds who were enrolled in tuition-based preschool last year stayed at the same school for kindergarten this fall.

"These numbers show the program has been successful," says Lucinda Lee Katz, chief officer of early childhood education.