SHAFTER, Calif. (KERO) — The reclassification ceremony at Golden Oak Elementary honors students' hard work in achieving English proficiency, emphasizing the value of bilingualism in their educational journey.
- Golden Oak Elementary held a ceremony to celebrate students reclassified as English proficient.
- The event recognized the hard work of English language learners who passed the ELPAC assessment.
- Principal Diane Barnett emphasized the importance of bilingualism for students' future opportunities.
- Students expressed pride in their achievement and the value of maintaining their Spanish language skills.
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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
For the average person, reading, writing, and speaking English is commonplace, but for English language learner students, it can be tough to do all three. I'm Sam Hoyle, your Shafter neighborhood reporter. On Tuesday, at Golden Oak Elementary dozens of ELL students and parents celebrated a milestone.
According to Department of Education data from the 2023-24 school year, approximately 40% of students at Golden Oak were classified as English learners and take the ELPAC or English Language Proficiency Assessment of California, which determines how fluent a student is in English. Depending on where they stand, these students are placed in other classes that will help them learn the language.
Tuesday's ceremony re-classified these students as English language proficient, meaning they not only have a grasp of Spanish but now English as well.
For Principal Diane Barnett, this celebration is a recognition of the hard work that these students have done to get to this point.
"That ELPAC test that the scholars have to take is very difficult, and I would even suggest that some of our English-only students would struggle with it. It is, it's really hard," said Barnett. "They work really hard at the work that they do here in school. Their parents are very supportive, not only by reading to them in Spanish and by supporting them with their homework and making sure they come every day, it's just it's really on the children to really do the work."
One of the things that Barnett noted in her address to students was a congratulations on achieving this feat, but also asked them to stay up on both of the languages they speak because being bilingual is a skill.
"It makes me feel special," said Joseluyn Segura.
"It makes me feel great because I get to stay in contact with a language that I've learned," said Mia Marin. "I get to learn a lot of new things, I can communicate with people and it feels great."
"It makes me feel grateful for myself and happy for myself," said Alexander Hernandez.
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