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FAYETTEVILLE, AR -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 11/29/07 -- Children of select public schools and all
charter schools in Arkansas, and their parents will now have access to new
translation technology from IBM (NYSE: IBM) that will help bridge the
communication gap for the growing numbers of Spanish-speaking families and
English-speaking teachers.
IBM awarded a grant valued at nearly $1.4 million to the University of
Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions for IBM's
¡TradúceloAhora! (Translate Now!) program, software that translates e-mail
messages and Web pages bi-directionally (English-to-Spanish and
Spanish-to-English) automatically.
The college's Charter School Resource Center will make the technology
available to at least 72 schools across the state. The goal of the
technology is to enable parents who speak only Spanish and teachers who
speak only English to communicate more easily so that the parents can
remain involved in their children's progress, which is critical to
educational success.
Training sessions designed to help teachers and schools access and use the
software will be held at locations across the state. The schools selected
to have access to ¡TradúceloAhora! will be notified by the University of
Arkansas when the sessions are set. The schools chosen include all the
charter schools in the state, all the small, rural districts to which the
Arkansas School for Math and Science already provides technological and
curriculum support, and the Springdale School District because it has the
largest Hispanic student population in the state.
According to recent U.S. Census data, Arkansas had one of the country's
fastest growing Hispanic populations in the past six years with an increase
of 59 percent from 2000 to 2006. According to the Arkansas Department of
Education, 37,477 students, or 8 percent of all students in Arkansas, are
Hispanic. In Northwest Arkansas, the Springdale School District has a 39
percent Hispanic enrollment in the public school system.
"Providing technology that helps eliminate the barrier between English and
Spanish can allow for successful communication that can play a major role
in the healthy development of every member of the Hispanic family," said
Chris Holmes, IBM senior state executive for Arkansas. "The College of
Education and Health Professions Arkansas Charter School Resource Center is
giving parents of Hispanic children across the state a way to stay
connected to the school, their child's progress and the community."
"We are grateful to IBM for making this gift to the University of
Arkansas," said Reed Greenwood, dean of the College of Education and Health
Professions. "It will help strengthen our college's outreach efforts across
the state by providing a practical and much-needed resource for our
schools, Spanish-speaking English Language Learner students and their
families."
The easy-to-use technology provides a pathway to help Hispanic families
facilitate their interaction with the community at large. In practice,
Spanish-speaking parents can use ¡TradúceloAhora! to e-mail their child's
teacher in their own language. In the classroom, Spanish-speaking students
can use the translation capability on Web pages to keep up with classroom
curricula while they learn English.
A recent report by the Springdale School District suggests that becoming
fluent in English takes too long and that English Language Learner students
are "stalling out" when they reach mid-level fluency. Access to a program
that could translate Web sites and other communications may aid in the
language learning process.
"Anything like this that builds a bridge between parents and educators will
be beneficial to the community. We need to create more ideas like this and
promote them to the community," said Al Lopez, school/community liaison for
the Springdale School District and advocate for bilingual issues and
education in northwest Arkansas. "It will be good for everybody. We have to
team up and not let language be the barrier and programs like this will
help."
Public charter schools are public schools of choice that operate with
freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public
schools. The charter establishing each such school is a performance
contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served
and methods of assessment. Charters are granted for a period of up to 5
years. At the end of the term, the state Board of Education may renew the
school's contract. According to the Arkansas Department of Education, there
currently are 20 public charter schools operating in Arkansas.
¡TradúceloAhora! is based on IBM's WebSphere translation technology. The
grant program is in its fourth year and most recently 200 schools and
nonprofit organizations received access to this technology, bringing to 350
the number of organizations participating in the program in the United
States and Latin America.
Since 1994, IBM has been a leader in elementary and secondary school
reform. Reinventing Education, IBM's flagship program with an investment
of $75 million worldwide, has led to the development of a series of
high-impact technology tools and more importantly, introduced technology
into school district operations in an effective manner with resulting
improvements in student achievement.
CONTACT:
Laura Jacobs
university relations
(479) 575-7422 laura@uark.edu
Jamie Banks
College of Education and Health Professions
(479) 575-3126 jbanks@uark.edu