A visit from “NBC Nightly News” showcases BCPS success in teaching all children
10/3/08

“We had heard that a mantra of Superintendent Hairston was that ‘all means all,’ that every child deserves a good education. You see that going on here,” said Joo Lee, a producer with NBC News, about her visit to Dumbarton Middle School.

When a new program – designed to teach English to students who speak different languages – came to Dumbarton Middle School 15 years ago, Nancy Fink remembers those students typically sitting in the back of the classroom. They usually didn’t participate, she says. Expectations for them, it was understood, were different.

“You were expected to help them acclimate to life here, and that was about it,” says Fink. She has been an educator at Dumbarton since 1983 and is now principal at the Rodgers Forge school.

NBC Nightly News producers Joo Lee and Amber Payne discuss ESOL with BCPS Chief Communications Officer Kara Calder and Dumbarton Principal Nancy Fink.

But times change. From 1990 to 2007, the minority student population in Baltimore County Public Schools rose by 169 percent. Enrollment growth has soared even faster among students in the school system’s English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program, rising from 873 students in 1990 to 3,064 children last year – an increase of 251 percent. These changes have contributed to what Superintendent Dr. Joe A. Hairston calls a “seismic shift” in the county’s demographics.

At the same time, student performance levels have consistently risen. Forty percent of the county’s high schools rank among the top 5 percent nationally, according to Newsweek magazine.  Education Week recognizes BCPS as having the nation’s fourth highest graduation rate among large school systems. MSA scores have risen steadily for the last five years. And, among the long list of system, school, and student superlatives, BCPS has the nation’s highest graduation rate for African American males in large school districts, according to the Schott Foundation. 

An NBC Nightly News cameraman films students at work

“The media is drawing our attention as a nation to what we have known all along in Baltimore County,” says Dr. Hairston.  “Demographic studies show that over the past 15 years, Baltimore County has become substantially more diverse – economically, racially, and ethnically…Yet – defying expectations – the school system has maintained and even raised levels of student achievement.”

In October, “NBC Nightly News” begins a series on the nation’s changing demographics and what it means for the future. The series kicks off at Dumbarton with a focus on how the school and Baltimore County reflect both the new face of American education and how a school and school system can successfully prepare all children to contribute to and prosper in an ever-changing global society and economy. 

The NBC Nightly News crew works in the cafeteria

Student success and diversity are evident at Dumbarton Middle School. Today, the school of 950 students serves as the largest of four county middle school ESOL centers, supporting the educational needs of 122 students from 38 nations speaking 32 languages. And instead of relegating students to the back of the class, Baltimore County’s ESOL program now ensures that children are challenged in rigorous courses, that they learn and achieve not only in English but in other core curriculum areas as well, and that they are important, vital members of the school community.

The NBC Nightly News crew visits a classroom.

“We came to Dumbarton because of what’s happening here, how this really is a model for the rest of the country,” said Joo Lee, a producer with NBC News. “It’s amazing to see this place; it’s like a miniature United Nations.” 

Lee and her crew spent nearly an entire day visiting classrooms, interviewing students from places such as South Korea, West Africa, Guatemala, and Afghanistan, and taking in the culture of a vibrant, busy Baltimore County middle school.

Students gathered in the cafeteria reflect the diversity of the school, county, and nation.

And as they visited with staff and students, reminders of the multicultural world were everywhere. In the hallways, flags of dozens of nations lined the walls. At lunchtime in the cafeteria, Spanish, English, French, and other languages blended in as students shared laughter and gossip. And in the classrooms, students from around the world worked side by side to decipher stories, ponder history, and untangle mathematical equations.   

The NBC News crew learned about the special challenges facing English Language Learner students, many of whom must not only adjust to a new school and curriculum but must do so with little or no English at their command, with a small support network of friends and family, and with little knowledge of American culture or traditions.

A tapestry depicting many nations hangs in ESOL coordinator Jill Williams’ office.

“Quite often, we help to provide a mentor family for them outside of their own families,” said Jill Williams, Dumbarton’s ESOL chairwoman. “For many of these children, the school becomes the center of their lives.”

“We had heard that a mantra of Superintendent Hairston was that ‘all means all,’ that every child deserves a good education,” said Lee. “You see that going on here.”

The visit was also a highlight of the young school year for Dumbarton’s students, many of whom asked questions of the camera crew and producers and teased one another about becoming television stars.

“NBC Nightly News” plans to broadcast the segment featuring Dumbarton Middle School’s ESOL program and BCPS on Monday, October 13, at 6:30 p.m. The date and time are subject to change.

“We’re proud we could show off this part of our curriculum and program,” said Principal Fink. “We are ahead of the curve here in Baltimore County, and it’s nice to be able to share that.”

Story and photos by BCPS communications specialist Charles Herndon.

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