Harry Reid: “in the State of Nevada in Las Vegas, there is a very innovative teacher. Her name is Priscilla Rocha. She is a wonderful…”

“in the State of Nevada in Las Vegas, there is a very innovative teacher. Her name is Priscilla Rocha. She is a wonderful woman who has been a friend of mine for many years. She is also a member of the State board of education. She teaches the fourth grade, and she has had almost 20 years of experience. She has taught in Texas. As I indicated, she now teaches in Las Vegas. About 3 years ago, she started an afterschool program in her classroom in response to the many struggles she saw with children who had limited English proficiency. She observed that the parents were not equipped with English skills or the academic background to help these children with their homework. Children were going home in some instances with no supervision because both parents worked. She found that these children kept falling further and further behind in their academic work, and she recognized that it was only a matter of time until the children dropped out of school. What she calls her homework center operates as follows: Children in grades 1-5 are referred to the program by teachers and school counselors. Parents are first notified, and they have to sign a consent that the children can enter into this afterschool homework program. She has found it easy to get college students to help by tutoring the children on a one-to-one basis. She has also found that some children need to stay in the program only for a matter of weeks. Others need to spend a matter of years in the program.”