Burgeoning class sizes, a diverse student population, parental demands for choice and an ever-expanding curriculum are straining the education system.

The week, Calgary Herald reporter Shelley Knapp is examining these and other issues in a series titled 3Rs -- Reading, Writing and Revenue, Alberta Schools: Doing More With Less.

TODAY: English as a second language

WEDNESDAY: Parental demand/parental involvement

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Inadequate support for the roughly 36,000 English as a second language students across the province is causing more than half of them to drop out of school before reaching Grade 12, say critics.

"This is a very serious problem," says Hieu Ngo, director of the Coalition for Equal Access to Education.

"This needs to be addressed quickly. These students deserve equitable instruction."

Statistics show that between 25 and 40 per cent of ESL students complete Grade 12, compared with the 73 per cent provincial average for all students.

Ngo stresses ESL learners need at least two years of ESL education just to develop basic communication skills. It takes up to another five years to develop cognitive academic proficiency.

Alberta Learning's push to mandate that in 2006 all students must begin mastering a second language before graduating has Ngo pushing back for cash to support those who need help mastering English.

"Many ESL learners already possess a proficiency in other languages," he reasons.

"They need to receive quality ESL education to acquire English as their second language."

Charles Webber, an associate dean in the U of C's education faculty, agrees that funding difficulties are plaguing the ESL system.

"Their needs are not as well met as they could and should be," says Webber, agreeing there is a much, much greater chance these students will drop out.

"It behooves us to address this because the society costs are too great."

Learning Minister Lyle Oberg did not respond to repeated requests by the Herald for an interview.

The department does acknowledge that Calgary has the largest English as a second language student population, followed by the Horizon School Division, which services the area around Taber and Vauxhall in southern Alberta.

The province estimates it will provide $20 million from its $3.8-billion budget this school year for ESL students in grades 1 to 12.

At the Calgary Board of Education, statistics show there are 56 languages and cultures represented in the city's 216 public schools that require the services of translators and interpreters. Last year, those services were accessed more than 24,000 times.

In 1982, there were 1,185 ESL students enrolled in CBE schools, or one per cent of the total.

Today, the 11,057 ESL students in the CBE represent 11 per cent. The group also has high dropout rates.

To address the mounting pressures of meeting their unique needs, the public board established six ESL Centres of Excellence, each with a different focus.

Cheryl Oishi, the former system principal for the board's ESL program, is proud of the work being done with these students.

"This really is about value-added, what can we do to help these students succeed."

Already, there have been successes as one of the students has graduated out of the intensive program at Forest Lawn and back into mainstream classes after only one term.

The province has also made some strides in the ESL arena, says Ngo, including enshrining in the School Act a child's right to ESL education.

Work still needs to be done, he adds. The coalition is now lobbying the government to push for ESL becoming a subject like math, extension of ESL funding to kindergarten and the development of an ESL curricula for kindergarten to Grade 9.

Frank Bruseker, president of the Alberta Teachers' Association, has seen first-hand the impact that inadequate supports can have on ESL learners.

As a Grade 9 science teacher, he encountered students who had very little grasp of the English language.

"When I would hand them a textbook, they would give me that look like 'What are you talking about?' " says Bruseker.

The Learning Commission, the first review of Alberta's learning system in the past 30 years, also stated in its interim report released in January that ESL and a lack of support was a common theme through many of the public presentations.

The commission is expected to deliver its final report on Oct. 23.

sknapp@theherald.canwest.com