Interim Director Wants to Enhance Migrant Student Options

By Editor Ken Harvey

A certificate of mastery in vocational programs is needed for students who are not able to pass the WASL test and earn a regular diploma, says Washington's new interim Migrant Education director.

Dr. Margaret Ho says many of the students needing a viable alternative in 2008, when high school students must pass the WASL exam to graduate, will be migrant students and English language learners.

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is working hard to develop summer programs and other support to help more students pass the WASL test. State Supt. Terry Bergeson and Gov. Christine Gregoire are lobbying legislators for additional funding to help increase the percentage of high school students passing WASL from below 50 percent last year to something much closer to 90 percent in 2008.

"Everyone is focused this year on the graduation requirement that kicks in for this year's 10^th-graders to pass the WASL," says Ho. "Although some alternatives are being developed for the general population, there are not yet alternatives specifically developed for migrant students or English language learners. It is a difficult situation."

The new migrant director is working with others at OSPI on several initiatives, but is most anxious to develop better vocational options especially for students who, because they have not mastered English yet or perhaps arrived in the U.S. without much previous schooling in their native country, simply cannot realistically be expected to pass the WASL.

"I have been working to make connections with career and technical programs both in the K-12 system and at the higher education level to see what can be done to get equivalent credit and industry-recognized certificates of mastery for our students regardless of whether they decide to pursue a high school diploma," Ho explains.

"In other words, if a student wants to become a dental hygienist, can we fund that tuition out of basic education funds for that student to start in a high school program and then move on to a technical college to complete that work so they can go out and get a job? If we are successful in getting funding support for this, it would keep a number of our students enrolled in school who might otherwise get discouraged and drop out entirely," she says.

"If you have an industry-recognized certificate of mastery and become, let's say, a journeyman carpenter or plumber or auto mechanic, that may have equal or greater value to a high school diploma for some families," Ho says. "My interest is to keep students enrolled in high school so they can walk away with something of value and be able to get a job, feed themselves and become responsible, contributing members of society."

OSPI is looking at all the alternatives, says Ho, but nothing has been finalized yet that addresses the needs of the migrant and bilingual students she represents.

The interim director hopes to be able to promote this concept no matter how long she serves in her new position.

Ho joined OSPI over a year ago as a program supervisor in bilingual education, but after OSPI failed in nearly six months to find an ideal person to replace Dr. Richard Gomez, Ho was asked to temporarily lead the Migrant and Bilingual Program.

"I have lots of things I would like to accomplish, but I don't know what my timeline will be," she says. "It was presented to me that it could be as short as one month or it could be forever."

But even if replaced, Ho would only move about 20 feet back to her old desk to continue her efforts as a bilingual program supervisor. Meanwhile, she offers excellent experience and training as director.

Ho was born to an immigrant Chinese family where Cantonese was her first language. She learned English like many other young immigrant children when she went to school.

"The only ESL program I had was that I got to go to kindergarten two years," Ho says. "I learned English by immersion - the sink or swim method."

After high school, Ho graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in political science, secured her teacher's certificate and began teaching school. Later she earned her master's in business administration at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma and a post-master's certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Seattle University while employed by Seattle School District.

"I was working almost exclusively with English language learners," says Ho. "I wanted to find how better to serve my students, and I knew what we were doing wasn't working very well. I wanted some professional help."

"That turned out to be a real door-opener for me in many ways," she continues. "I became very engaged in the study of second-language acquisition and decided to pursue a doctorate at Seattle University in education leadership, finishing my dissertation in alternative language models for second-language learners."

At OSPI, grant management was a large part of her job as a program supervisor, but Ho also worked hard help school districts secure the grants and to develop high-quality programs.

As interim director, Ho wants to enhance general management and coordination of staff operations, but she also wants to do more.

"There is a lot of work we can do to provide districts with more support. The districts are up against it right now with all the requirements of NCLB [the No Child Left Behind Act]. The people on the line are being asked to do a tremendous amount, and they are not being given a lot of help to do it," she says.

"I see that as our primary role to develop specific training opportunities that will be useful to the districts, and to help them in program design and implementation," she adds.

But Ho is not sure how much she will be able to do in her current assignment.

"The scope of what I can do is somewhat limited because an interim position is not the same as having a permanent position," Ho says. "There is a different level of responsibility and authority that are delegated."