The funds are specifically designated for students in the fourth through eighth grades who are working below their current grade levels, she said.
"This [English Language Acquisition Program] funding is helping students achieve and be successful in school," she said. "It's kind of difficult to isolate how much of this success is due to this [program] funding, but we do believe that it is doing some good."
The Burbank Unified School District has about 1,000 elementary and middle-school students in its English as a Second Language Programs who will benefit from the grant funding, said Sue Boegh, director of educational support services for the Burbank district.
"[The funds] provide some of the things that would not be within the regular resources of the school, so that you can provide extra tutoring for students," she said. "From that standpoint, the schools really look forward to receiving this to enhance the programs that they have now."
Schools in Burbank often use the funds to supplement current programs, she said.
Burbank has had success with its English-language learner programs, with 18% to 20% of English-language- learner students passing an English Language test, effectively declassifying them as English learners, she said.
"This additional help makes it possible for students to make up the gaps they might have and be reclassified," she said.
This year the Burbank district has 964 students classified as English learners in grades four through eight, roughly 15% of all students, she said.
As they will be in Burbank, the funds will be used to supplement existing programs in the Glendale district, where approximately 2,340 students in grades four through eight are English-language learners, said Joanna Junge, the director of the Intercultural and Special Projects Department for the Glendale Unified School District.
