Teachers in Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland are receiving training to best address the needs of an influx of students that frequently slip through the cracks. The school system’s teachers are being trained to better understand English Language Learners who have fled their Central American home for a better life and ended up in their classroom.

"'Many of [the school system’s ELLs] are unaccompanied minors who are entering as a result of fleeing violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — they are coming with complex trauma,' says Karen Woodson, the Director of ESOL programs for the Montgomery County schools,” according to WAMU.

The school system’s administration enlisted in the help of the National Compadres Network, a non-profit that offers services like La Cultura Cura, a course that trains school staff to understand the traditions of Hispanic cultures while encouraging healthy ways to handle student trauma.

Administration sought help after nearly 700 unaccompanied Central American youth entered the school system- a 92 percent increase in two years. While the educational tools were there, the article says, educators lacked the tools to provide socio-emotional support to these students who were displaying defensive and sometimes violent behavior.

“We could not meet the socio-emotional needs of this population, because they’re suffering from complex trauma ...Our teachers in schools tell us that they were witnessing behavior in children they had not seen before and were asking for help,” said Karen Woodson, the Director of ESOL programs for the Montgomery County schools to WAMU.

“What we are trying to do is create spaces with the approach that you are welcome because we understand the impact of what it is to feel in spaces where you feel unwelcome, where you feel less than, and so we’re saying that all children are sacred and we want to make them feel as such,” said Compadre Network trainer Osvaldo Cruz.

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

4/13/2016