Thanks to a partnership between the Aurora Public Schools English Language Acquisition department, RISE Colorado and Global Bhutanese Center of Colorado, Bhutanese and Nepali parents may now have a better idea of how to support their children's education.
The three organizations recently hosted a parent workshop at Crawford Elementary School. More than 50 parents from several APS schools -- Crawford, Kenton and Sable elementary schools, Boston K-8, East Middle School, Aurora West College Preparatory Academy, and Aurora Central and Hinkley high schools -- came together to learn information on educational inequity, closing the achievement gap and accelerating learning among minority students. The presentation was in Nepali.
Shiva Sapkota, a Nepali refugee and 2012 Aurora Central honors graduate, served as a special guest speaker. Sapkota is now a student at the University of Colorado Boulder. APS English Language Acquisition staff members said the parent feedback was "100 percent positive."
"We will continue reaching out to other refugee groups to learn more about how to better support our linguistically and culturally diverse families and students in APS," said ELA Grant Project Coordinator Ayde Avila.

