First Ohio TESOL Summit - A Success!
Roland Sintos Coloma

On Saturday, April 29, 2006, the first-ever Ohio TESOL Summit brought together 40 representatives from various Ohio colleges and universities, P-12 school districts, and community organizations at Otterbein College in Westerville, OH. The Summit aimed to examine the state of the TESOL profession and to develop partnerships and proposals for TESOL development in Ohio. More specifically, its goals were: (a) to increase awareness of the various TESOL programs in higher education institutions and the ELL / ESL programs in P-12 school districts; (b) to address the needs of school districts and community groups in relation to English language learners, their parents and families as well as TESOL and regular classroom teachers; and (c) to formulate collaborations and other actions that work toward the well-being of all students, educators, and communities.

The day began with introductions from the Summit co-organizers, Roland Sintos Coloma of Otterbein College and Brenda Custudio of Columbus Public Schools, who are also Ohio TESOL board members. The President of Otterbein College, C. Brent DeVore, welcomed everyone to the host institution. Susan Tave Zelman, the Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction, gave the Opening Remarks where she stressed the need to collaborate among professionals, integrate global awareness in the curriculum, and raise expectations while providing support to students and educators. The President of Ohio TESOL, Lillian Acker, followed with a personal and professional talk which highlighted her experiences as a student, teacher, and advocate.

The morning was filled with reports from colleges/universities and public school districts. Representatives from 11 colleges and universities shared the history and development of their TESOL programs, their endorsement/licensure programs and courses, their partnerships with schools and communities, and their unique characteristics and plans for the future. The following institutions presented during the “State of TESOL Programs in Higher Education” session: Capital, Cedarville, Cleveland State, Kent State, Ohio Dominican, Ohio State, Otterbein, Univ. of Akron, Univ. of Cincinnati, Wright State, and Youngstown State. Subsequently, representatives from 11 school districts shared the needs, successes, and challenges of their P-12 ELL students and families, TESOL and regular education teachers, and building and district administrators. The following districts presented during the “State of ELL/ESL Programs in P-12 School Districts” session: Akron, Columbus, Cleveland Municipal, Dublin, Fairfield, Gahanna-Jefferson, Hilliard, Reynoldsburg, South-Western, Westerville, and Whitehall.

Before and after lunch, representatives from other organizations and the Ohio Department of Education provided respective insights on community relations as well as an update on pressing issues regarding teacher licensures, curriculum standards, and testing. Guadalupe Velásquez, the Executive Committee Chair of the Latino Empowerment Outreach Network (LEON) and the New Americans Coordinator for the City of Columbus, and Hawa Siad, the Executive Director of the Somali Women and Children’s Alliance, Inc., provided perspectives on the interests and needs of Latino/a, Somali, and other immigrant and refugee populations. The final report came from Abdimur Mohamud, a staff member at the Lau Resource Center in the Ohio Department of Education, who offered the latest information on federal and state policies and programs and answered questions from the audience.

The afternoon focused on break-out groups to identify issues and solutions, and closed with recommendations and plans of action. The Summit participants selected from six topics to join and discuss. The topics included: highly qualified teacher; curriculum at the P-12 level; curriculum at the college and university level; NCLB and student assessment; professional development for teachers and administrators; and family and community relations. Within their groups, they identified the main concerns in relation to their selected topics, the successes that they have seen, heard or been a part of as well as possible solutions and plans of action. After each group reported back to the entire Summit, Brenda Custodio led a “Recommendations” discussion as the next steps to pursue.

Representing key stakeholders in TESOL and ELL/ESL development in the state of Ohio, the Summit participants recommended the following five points:

1. All Teacher Education Programs and all teacher licensures need to integrate information about working with English language learners in meaningful ways.
2. TESOL educators and regular classroom / content area teachers need to collaborate at all levels.
3. Higher education institutions and P-12 school districts need to form greater collaborations with community and other educational organizations (i.e. NCATE, Ohio Education Association, and content area associations).
4. Educators need to publicize at the national, state, and local levels the effects of NCLB in curriculum, instruction, student assessment and achievement, and teachers’ working conditions.
5. Educators need to advocate for undocumented students, especially in their pursuit of attending college in the U.S. and establishing a better future for themselves and their families.

The success and benefits of the first-ever Ohio TESOL Summit can be gleaned from the written evaluation comments of the participants themselves:

“Long overdue summit! Excellent idea.”

“Extremely well organized and quite valuable.”

“This has been a wonderful opportunity for higher education, Pre-K-12, and community representatives to get together, share concerns, collaborate, and plan for the future.”

“Glad to meet colleagues from all over the state. Thanks for all your work!”

“Change will come from this type of activity. All of us are so much stronger than we are individually.”

The 2006 Ohio TESOL Summit was co-sponsored by Ohio TESOL and Otterbein College (Offices of the President and the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Department of Education, and the Campus Center).