ATLANTA (AP) -- The Southeast has the nation's fastest-growing Hispanic population but is perhaps the region least prepared to teach public school students who don't know English, a new study shows.
Educators in the South are unprepared to teach immigrants, and in many cases discriminate against non-English speakers, according to the study conducted by the University of Southern California. The result is lower test scores and higher dropout rates for Latino children.
"Some teachers just put them in the back of the room and teach their regular lessons because they don't know how to include immigrant students," researcher Andrew Wainer said Thursday.
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At Georgia's Gainesville Elementary School, which has hundreds of Spanish-speaking children, Principal Shawn McCullough said some educators think their duty to include Hispanic students stops with a sombrero in the front office or "taco Tuesdays in the cafeteria."
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