Guest Speaker: Mary Jo Montenegro

Guest speaker Mary Jo Montenegro gave an enlightening presentation this morning on the state of K-12 education among latinos in Cincinnati.  Information in three key areas surprised me:

• The top seven languages other than English spoken by students in CPS are Spanish, French, Arabic, Wolof, Soninke, Kirundi, Nepali.  While the top three languages on this list come as little surprise, I did not expect the presence of three African languages nor of Nepali.
• The disparity found in research between the length of time required for the typical LEP student to master a language socially (2-3 years) and to do so academically (7 years) seems to provide a clear rationale for bilingual (as opposed to monolingual) education for these students.
• The white, non-hispanic population of the student body of Cincinnati Public Schools in 2011-2012 was 25.3%, yet the 2010 Census shows 48.1% of "white persons not Hispanic."  Given that the geographic boundaries of the City of Cincinnati and those of CPS roughly correspond, and that it's unlikely that half of the white students in Cincinnati are in private schools, we are likely seeing a substantial impact of an aging white population.