Fremont Adult School Makes a Difference

The California English Literacy and Civics Education (EL Civics) program aims to help adult acquire the language and literacy skills they need to become U.S. citizens, exercise the rights and duties of citizenship, and enrich the communities in which they live. Each year, CASAS recognizes an EL Civics program that teaches skills required for citizenship and empowers students to make a difference in their community. To be recognized as a Making a Difference Award recipient, agencies must meet specific data collection criteria, document the effectiveness of their project, and show that the project goes beyond the classroom to affect the community in a positive manner. The 2010 EL Civics Making a Difference in the Community Award recipient is Fremont Adult School.

Advanced Level ESL students at Fremont Adult School heard about a proposed $2 million dollar reduction to the adult school’s budget, which would cut 40 percent of the funds for the 2010-2011 program year. The budget had already been cut by 30 percent in September 2009, and the students knew that with an additional 40 percent cut, Fremont Adult School would be in an unstable position. This announcement came just as the students were studying EL Civics COAPP #39.5 (Government). This educational unit focuses on democratic government practices, voting, civil rights, and participating in local politics. The students quickly began a grassroots campaign in which they applied EL Civics lessons in order save their adult school. The students put these EL Civics lessons into action and mobilized their peers and community to fight against the budget cuts.

In the end, the students helped to convince the school board to reduce the adult education budget cuts by 25 percent, from $2 million to $1.5 million.

The campaign began with students educating fellow classmates (in all programs and levels) about the budget cuts. Students visited different classes to inform them about the budget cuts, warn them about the impact they would have, and encourage them to take action. Many of the students wrote letters to the School Board, stressing the importance of keeping the adult education program alive. Students used online social networks to spread the word of these cuts to the community and mobilized people to attend school board meetings in January and February 2010. They spread the word to their family and friends, who also took action. Regardless of their level of English skills, students were able to contribute to the effort. Within a few weeks, the Adult School community became a vocal and public voice in opposition to the budget cuts.

Students wrote testimonials and spoke on behalf of different immigrant groups at the school board meetings, where they were joined by many adult school students and supporters who also wanted to have their voices heard. Together, these supporters described the negative impacts that the budget cuts would have on their families and the entire community. This grassroots campaign was successful in reducing the budget cuts and garnered local publicity for Fremont Adult School. More importantly, it allowed the students to work together and created a strong sense of pride in the school.

In addition to the reduction in budget cuts, this project has led to increased attendance and registration Fremont Adult School. The attendance levels during the time of the grassroots campaign (January-March 2010) increased significantly, and 90 percent of the students re-registered for the Spring Quarter (after the budget hearings), despite a $30 materials fee. Students reported that they were proud of the work that they did and that they had improved their English skills during this process. In addition, Fremont Adult School exceeded the California State performance averages in all ESL levels in 2008-09.