Reaching the other 90%

About 20 years ago I learned that the budget for ESL classes only allowed enough funds for instruction for less than 10% of the eligible population. The result was long waiting lists, overcrowded classes and a high turnover.  I am not sure that the situation is any better today.  A sad part is that with technology it is quite possible to provide ESL instruction to the other 90%.  And this year I am urged on to raise this question once more due to the fact it is now more acceptable to promote equality in various arenas of our society including education.  We could do this  -it only takes willpower.

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This is something that has driven me crazy for some time. I spend a whole lot of time thinking about solutions to it. I'll briefly share two that I think are viable:

When we saw how hard funder priorities were shifting toward framing English as a workforce skill, we developed a curriculum that integrated a range of literacies—e.g., financial, health, digital—to then have that program funded by corporate entities—e.g., banks, healthcare providers, telecom companies—with foundations focused on those areas. I ended up not staying at the org long enough to take that to scale, but we had some success selling the model to funders.

There are insanely profitable language schools with empty seats, while community-based programs in all 50 states have waiting lists. It's insane. I think there is a lot of potential for programs in which students who can pay for classes subsidize the cost of education for those who cannot. I developed an online English school, Ginseng English, attempting to implement this model. The biggest snag we have hit is that most folks looking for online English classes want individual classes, so the profit margin per class doesn't reach the point where that subsidy becomes substantial. Still working on it, though, and we will be trying the same model for in-person classes in the (hopefully not-too-distant) future.