Burroughs is lucky to have many successful students, and this year several students are being recognized for a particularly impressive achievement.
Being reclassified from English Learner (EL) to Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) is a big success, especially for students who have been working hard all year to become fully bilingual while balancing all regular workloads.
Earning the distinction this year are Burroughs students Leopoldo Vazquez, Eissa Sukar, Azucena Ramos Gonzales, Emi Fisher, Shiza Chaudhry, Amna Chaudhry, Moazzma Chaudhary, and David Bimbela Avila.
“I’m very proud of these students and their accomplishments,” said Burroughs Principal Carrie Cope. “The students earned high academic grades and were successful on the CAASPP test and the ELPAC test. This is an outstanding achievement.”
Being an English Learner is not easy when the school setting is based in the English language, and it takes hard work to become completely fluent in English, which is often regarded as a particularly challenging language to master.
English teachers often agree that many native English speakers would struggle to pass the test EL students are required to take to demonstrate their proficiency and earn RFEP status.
That being so, it is worth celebrating that non-native English speakers have spent the time to learn the language to a higher degree of detail than many native English speakers have been able to learn successfully.
“It is a joy to honor these students who have worked very hard to achieve in the classroom while attaining English proficiency despite facing a variety of challenges that come along with being an English Learner,” said SSUSD EL Coordinator Jennifer Williams. “We are very proud of each student and we look forward to seeing what they achieve in the future.”