Teachers at CPS are using Rosetta Stone for various purposes, with some using the software as a way to integrate technology into their classrooms, while others are using it as a station within their instruction. Furthermore, parents use Rosetta Stone both at home and when they come into CPS to attend English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.
“On the west side we have Roberts Academy which is the school with the largest ELL population. We have parent coffee hours where parents come in and are exposed to English as well as different topics. They can get on a computer that’s available for them and get access to Rosetta Stone there or they can use it on their phones through the app,” says Kobayashi.
The impact of these parent coffee hours has been significant, as parents who once were not able to understand and comprehend parent-teacher conferences or meetings regarding their children’s education can now understand important details about their child’s schooling.
“We have a video clip of a mom who says before [the Rosetta Stone implementation] she was coming to meetings and an interpreter would be provided and she wouldn’t be able to understand anything that was being said. But now as result of using the program, she may not be able to speak fluently but she certainly understands what’s being said,” says Kobayashi.
In order to ensure every member of the community had access to Rosetta Stone, CPS had to overcome the challenge of providing hardware to its community members as well as computer and software training.
“Given that we wanted [Rosetta Stone] offered to all of our key stakeholders, we wanted to make sure that the hardware was available to them to get access to software,” says Kobayashi. “So we took some time in getting that information and then getting purchases of hardware out there. One of the challenges in terms of our ELL parents was that because some of them never had access to hardware, they were not computer literate. Our challenge was that we first had to back up and teach our parents just basic skills- how to turn on a computer, use a mouse, and learn keyboarding skills. So that hindered our progress in terms of the implementation.”
Since the initial implementation, CPS now has approximately 1,200 students, 1,500 staff members and 750 parents involved in the program and using Rosetta Stone.
By involving parents in its language learning program, CPS is helping to increase parents’ involvement in their children’s education and helping to improve language literacy across the community.
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