Elaine Klein in GC News feature story, "Serving the 'Highest of High-Risk Students"

Elaine Klein, associate professor emerita of Linguistics at the Graduate Center and Queens College, and Gita Martohardjono, associate director of Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society (RISLUS) and associate professor and program chair of Linguistics, are featured in GC News feature story about Students with Interrupted or Inconsistent Formal Education (SIFE) and the Bridges program that serves this population.

From the article:

Over the last few decades, most urban schools have adapted to teaching English language learners, also known as emergent bilinguals; such students generally have a basic educational foundation and some literacy in their home language. However, students categorized as SIFE often have limited literacy in their home language and lack a foundation in subjects such as math and science. It is therefore not surprising that such students have among the lowest graduation rates and highest dropout rates in urban secondary schools throughout the United States.

[...]

The [Department of Education] hired the GC's Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society (RISLUS), where Klein is a senior research associate, to come up with recommendations.

 

Klein and Gita Martohardjono, the associate director of RISLUS and associate professor and program chair of Linguistics, did extensive research and compiled their findings and recommendations in two reports.

 

After presenting their research, Klein met with two respected teachers in New York City's public schools: Suzanna McNamara and Annie Smith, who were also working on plans for improving SIFE education.

 

The three joined forces and officially launched Bridges to Academic Success in 2011 at the Graduate Center. The project was jointly managed by RISLUS and the Center for the Advanced Study of Education (CASE), with Klein as principal investigator, McNamara as director of curriculum, Smith as director of professional development and an instructional colleague, Aika Swai, as program director.

Read the article in its entirety here.