Alba Morales, a teacher from the University of Monterey in Mexico, is a long way from home. For the last two years she's been teaching English at Valley Point Elementary School in Dalton, Ga., as part of the Georgia Project, a program that brings teachers from Mexico to help a community that has been swamped by a boom in the Spanish-speaking population.Fifteen years ago, one out of every 100 students at Valley Point one was Hispanic. Now, 27 out of every 100 students are Hispanic, more than one in four.“I was overwhelmed. When I first walked into the school I couldn't believe I was in Georgia,” said Erwin Mitchell, who started the Georgia Project. His daughter told him of the problems that schools like Valley Point were facing. Through business contacts Mitchell helped set up an exchange with the University in Monterey and brought teachers like Morales to Dalton, and took teachers from Georgia to Mexico so that they could learn language and culture skills to help them with the burgeoning population here. The Georgia Project has been exchanging teachers and students for nine years. This year, there are eight teachers from Mexico spread out around Dalton to help a Latino community that has topped 60 percent of the student population in schools around the city. The program’s success thus far is evinced in students like Alejandra Hernandez, who grew up in Juanajuato, Mexico and emigrated to Georgia speaking no English. “First, I needed a lot of help, then less and less and less, and just a little bit now,” she said. The fourth-grader recently tested into the gifted program at school. “I've been working with groups a long time. I'm 81-years-old, seen a lot of different committees. This is the first one where I've seen results immediately,” Mitchell said. At Valley Point, Hispanic students outscore their peers by two points on standardized tests in English and math. But leaders say the real proof is watching students go from being shy and alone to being full participants in their education and community.“America is becoming a mosaic, a rainbow of all shades in the classroom,” Mitchell said. “Anyone resistant to that might as well get used to it because it's not going to go away.”
Program Benefits Hispanic Students
The Georgia Project has been exchanging teachers and students for nine years. This year, there are eight teachers from Mexico spread out around Dalton to help a Latino community that has topped 60 percent of the student population.
