It is my privilege here at HMH to work with educators at schools across the country who are doing amazing things to help their students learn, grow, and develop the skills they need to build their futures. As we head toward the end of another school year, I’m excited to introduce a new segment for The Spark, the HMH Customer Spotlight. In this segment, we will be sharing with you some of the inspiring stories that we come across everyday – students and teachers who are finding creative ways to make a real difference in their classrooms, schools, and communities.
Our first customer spotlight falls on Moreno Valley Unified School District (MVUSD) in southern California. MVUSD serves over 35,000 students (K-12) in 43 schools, approximately 25% of whom are classified as English language learners (ELLs). Most of the students (83%) qualify for free and reduced-price meals and among the district’s ELLs, 88% are designated long-term English language learners (LTELs).
We have been working with MVUSD since 2013 on an incredible new pilot project, Families for College, that MVUSD has created to help their middle school ELL students prepare for a college-ready future. As part of the program, the district has been using one of our English language development program, English 3D, which focuses on boosting the quantity and quality of students’ academic English language skills. In other words, helping students build the academic English abilities that teachers and professors expect in classrooms.
Students and teachers are embracing this new approach and the results of their hard work have been extraordinary. Over 85% of participating students improved in one of more of the domains on the California English Language Development Test (CELDT), an assessment which measures a student’s English language proficiency, while more than 60% of students increased in two, three, or four domains:
In fact, their work has been so impressive, it inspired a feature story in the LA Times. Take a look and meet Jesus Perez and his family – just one example of the incredible, human stories that our customers share with us and that we are privileged to be able to share with you.
