The Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) is proud to announce that U.S.A. Learns, an online interactive English language learning site created by SCOE, will be honored at the 33rd Annual Golden Bell Awards program of the California School Boards Association (CSBA).
The highly respected Golden Bell Award will be presented at a special ceremony during CSBA's Awards Luncheon at the Westin Saint Francis Hotel in San Francisco on Saturday, December 1, 2012. The event is held in conjunction with the California School Boards Association's Annual Education Conference.
U.S.A. Learns is a free English as a second language (ESL) instructional program developed primarily for immigrant adults with limited English language skills who cannot attend traditional classroom programs because of difficulty with schedules, transportation, or other barriers.
"U.S.A. Learns is helping people all over the world to improve their English language skills," said Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David W. Gordon. "This remarkable website is having a positive impact on adult literacy for English learners."
Learners can use U.S.A. Learns in an independent mode, registered or unregistered, or it can be used under the auspices of a tutor or teacher. The potential learner might work from home, a public library, or a workplace setting. All instructional materials are accessed online.
"We launched U.S.A. Learns in November 2008 and since then the program has been used by nearly 3.8 million learners, two-thirds of them from the United States," said John Fleischman, SCOE Assistant Superintendent of Technology Services. "Its popularity and the loyalty of learners are powerful testimony for both the need and the appeal of using the Web to provide English language instruction."
The CSBA Golden Bell Awards program promotes excellence in education by recognizing outstanding programs in school districts and county offices of education throughout California. The goal of this awards program is to contribute to the development and evaluation of curriculum, instruction, and support services.
This is the sixth Golden Bell Award for the Sacramento County Office of Education. In 2011, Project MOVE, a program that improves functional mobility skills for children and adults with severe physical disabilities, received the honor. In 2010, LINKS, a SCOE career technical education program tailored to individual students based on their specific needs, received a Golden Bell. In 2008, SCOE's ROP Manufacturing Technology-Welding program, at the now-closed Carson Creek Jr./Sr. High School within the former Sacramento County Boys Ranch, received the prestigious honor. In 1999, the Outreach Construction Technology Program was also recognized by the California School Boards Association with a Golden Bell. In 1992, SCOE's Juvenile Court School's system was honored for the Linkage to Education Program.