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Students and teachers struggle to meet English immersion goals
October 2, 2005

Rashad Masoud and his sixth-grade classmates at the William McKinley School in Revere are learning about decimals. All eyes are focused on a white board as math teacher Kathy Kerrins uses a picture of a square with 100 boxes to illustrate the problem, .08 x .02 = ?

Masoud looks lost. It’s not the math, but the words that are confusing him. The 11-year-old, a Palestinian who moved to the United States a month ago, is still learning how to count to 100 in English.

As Kerrins colors 16 of the 100 boxes to illustrate the solution for the class, aide Jessica Consoli discreetly stands by Masoud’s desk and draws a diagram with 100 boxes to quietly help him through a different exercise. The youngster, who has grown up speaking Arabic, haltingly counts in English as Consoli points to each box. He makes it to 38.

By June, Masoud is supposed to be nearly fluent in English, according to a voter-approved law known as Question 2.

Two years after Massachusetts public schools launched the required English immersion classes for thousands of immigrant children, many students and schools are struggling to meet the one-year time limit specified by the law, according to a recent report from the state Department of Education.

The law was designed to fundamentally alter the way non-English speaking children were taught. In the past, they were placed in bilingual education classes, where students were taught separately in their native tongue and gradually eased into mainstream classes. Critics said students often languished for several years under that method. The new approach directs schools to immerse youngsters in intensive English instruction for one year and then move them to regular classes.

However, most immigrant students in Boston’s northern suburbs â€â€