Language barriers

18%

Percentage of students in the SCSD that are learning English

10k

Since 2000, Syracuse has become home to over 10,000 refugees

By Jana Seal news editor

In 2020-2021, only around 20% of Syracuse City School District elementary schoolers reached a proficient score in the New York State Regents Exam’s English Language Arts section. But the state’s standardized test only covers one of 74 different languages represented by students across SCSD schools.

SCSD, which as of 2021 comprises over 18,000 students, serves the four neighborhoods in the city of Syracuse, all of which have highly-concentrated refugee populations. Since the year 2000, Syracuse graduate students has brought in over 10,000 refugees. With this influx, educational environments serving the city’s population have seen a boom in linguistic diversity among children in public city schools.

Among the 74 languages in SCSD, common spoken languages include Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Dari Persian, Drench, Fuluh, Haitian Creole, Karen, Kinyarwanda, Nepali, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Tigrinya and Vietnamese. The district’s student population also represents around 80 different countries of origin.

Currently, New York state schools operate under English as a New Language systems, said Stephanie McMillen, a communications sciences