The growing number of Hispanic students in the Boston public schools is a challenge regarded as a burden by many school officials. These young people deserve to receive sensitive, skillful schooling that will prepare them for success.

Globe reporters Peggy Hernandez and Diego Ribadeneira examined the difficulties experienced by Hispanic students. Many are kept behind, others are slighted by teachers, far too many drop out before graduation.

The School Committee, preoccupied with budget troubles and the search for a superintendent, has little time to consider new approaches to Hispanic education. Mayor Flynn has wisely appointed a special commission to examine the question.

Hernandez and Ribadeneira found instances of hope and caring: the stern, loving mothering of Senonia Santos and the innovative use of bilingual education at the Rafael Hernandez School. Not all parents will be as skillful as Mrs. Santos, but more schools can be like the Hernandez.

Instead of segregating Spanish-speakers in special classes, the Hernandez phlosophy is that every pupil is bilingual. All 391 are learning a new langugage, whether Spanish or English.

The mayor’s commission needs to find ways to spread the Hernandez spirit throughout the system. It should focus on five areas.

– Teachers need to be trained to appreciate the strengths of their students from other cultures. In every school with Hispanic children, at least one staff member should be Spanish-speaking.

– Teachers must take care not to keep children back in the early grades. Schools need to devise teaching methods that focus on each child’s strength, ensuring that the first three grades are a time of achievement, not a foretaste of failure.

– The schools spent millions on bilingual programs, with indifferent results. Two-way bilingualism is successful at the Hernandez, but students in programs tied to conventional schools drop out frequently. Why do these other programs fail, and how can they be improved?

– Many Hispanic children take part in remedial programs that take children out of the regular classroom. Some educators believe these programs stigmatize children as failures and cause them to fall behind in their regular classwork. Like bilingual courses, these programs need to be assessed.

– Half the Hispanic students who enter the ninth grade will drop out before graduation, a dismal rate that must be improved. It may be a waste of resources to intervene in high school when the problem is rooted in earlier grades.

The Boston school system has many skillful, caring teachers and administrators. It lacks, however, a system-wide commitment to nurture the Hispanic youngsters who make up 19 percent of its students. That challenge must be met if the school system as a whole is to succeed.



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