Mauricio Lopes OSSE Testimony

On Wednesday, September 10, 2008, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education for the District of Columbia (OSSE) held a public hearing on parental involvement as it prepares to embark on its proposed five-year strategic plan. The D.C. Language Access Coalition was represented by Lead Education Organizer, Mauricio Lopez, who presented testimony at the hearing.

During the public response portion of the hearing, Mauricio testified to OSSE Officials and members of the public in attendance about the work of the The Coalition and its members in conducting outreach and education activities to families, specifically focusing on residents of the city that have limited or no knowledge of English. As part of his testimony, Mauricio highlighted three key points for OSSE to consider as it continues to hone and prepare implementation of its next five-year strategic plan, which mentions increasing parental participation in the school system as one of its goals. A brief summation of his key points made to OSSE follow below.

1) He commended OSSE Officials for wanting to increase parental
participation in the school system, however, he expressed
concern that the proposed plan does not include efforts to
reach out to limited and non-English speaking families to
better facilitate their participation in their children's
education.

2) He revealed that students enrolled in ESL and bilingual
programs have largely been ignored by the school system
as evidenced by their lower levels of achievement on
the DC CAS.

3) Mauricio emphasized the need for OSSE to make a more
concerted effort to reach out to these families and to seek
greater understanding of the obstacles that they face within
the school system. He highlighted the point that the number
of families and individuals with limited and no
knowledge of English will continue to grow as more and more
people will establish permanent households within the
District and as immigrant communities choose to move to the
city.