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HOLA ANNOUNCES ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER

PREFERENCE IN LOTTERY AND AN INCREASED CHANCE
FOR LOW-INCOME STUDENTS
First Public Charter School in NJ to Offer

3-to-1 Preference in Lottery for both ELLs and Low-Income Students

HOBOKEN, NJ (January 19, 2018)—The Hoboken Dual Language Charter School (HoLa) announced today
changes to its lottery that benefit low-income students as well as English Language Learners (ELLs).

With these changes, HoLa is once again leading the state in increasing educational equity for students
through its enrollment practices. In 2016, HoLa was the first public charter school in New Jersey to
implement a preference in its lottery so that low-income students received two chances in the annual
lottery rather than just one. Charter schools across New Jersey have since added a low-income
preference to their lotteries. Last week, the New Jersey Department of Education approved HoLa’s
request to increase that weighting to three chances.

HoLa’s public lottery for the 2018-2019 school year will be held on Friday, January 19, 2018, 9am at 123
Jefferson Street in Hoboken.
The NJ DOE also approved HoLa’s request to include a preference for English Language Learners. With
this addition, which will be implemented starting in the 2019 lottery, HoLa will be the first charter school
in NJ to offer a preference for both low-income students and English Language Learners at three times
the rate of a typical lottery chance. In other words, applicants who are learning English or who are
considered low-income will have their names put into the lottery three times rather than just once.

“We are excited to be able to offer low-income students and students learning English an even greater
opportunity to attend our school,” said Jennifer Sargent, Founder and Executive Director of HoLa. “Every
year we have over 500 students apply to enter our school across all grades, and we want to make sure
that opportunity exists for all Hoboken students, no matter their background.”

ELECTED OFFICIALS AGREE

“It’s vitally important that all students have access to the school of their choice, regardless of their
background,” said Assemblywoman Annette Chaparro. “I appreciate Hola’s commitment to ensure
equity in their enrollment policies.”

“Hoboken is making history this week with the decision by HoLa to increase its low-income weighting
and to introduce a preference specifically for children who are learning English,” said Mayor Ravi Bhalla.
“As a parent who has witnessed firsthand the excellence of both charter and traditional public schools, I
appreciate the efforts of our charter schools to ensure equal opportunity for all of our children.”

"HoLa is showing what an inclusive and diverse charter school committed to equity in our community
can do," said City Council President Ruben Ramos. "I'm glad to see this commitment to our most
vulnerable children in the city."

A HISTORY OF HIGH STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

In granting its approval, the NJ DOE wrote that “preliminary PARCC results for school year 2016-17
suggest that HoLa continues to be a high-performing charter school.” HoLa students achieved scores
more than 20 percentage points above the state average in English Language Arts and 30 percentage
points above state averages in Math last year. The DOE also noted HoLa’s long wait list in granting
HoLa’s request to add a handful of additional seats in the 2018-19 school year. Every year, HoLa has 44
spots in Kindergarten; about half are typically taken up by siblings of current students. For the 22
remaining Kindergarten spots, there are usually 15 times as many applicants as there are seats.

HoLa’s unique language-acquisition model is known to offer a range of cognitive and academic benefits
to all students, but especially students who are academically at-risk, such as low-income students as well
as certain English Language Learners. Indeed, dual-language programs which support the first language
of ELLs have numerous, long-lasting academic benefits for this at-risk population and studies have
shown they are the best educational model for closing the achievement gap for ELLs.

"This is an important step towards addressing educational inequity in our community, particularly for
English language learners, who benefit more from dual-language programs such as HoLa than any other
educational model," said Jennifer Austin, an HoLa founder, board member and ​ a professor and
language acquisition expert at Rutgers University.

HoLa is a Tier 1 ranked school and for the past four years has been designated as a Model World
Languages School by the NJDOE. In 2017, HoLa graduated its first class of 8​th​ graders who have gone on
to a variety of public and private high schools, many with significant scholarships.

A COMMITMENT TO EQUITY

HoLa is proud to be working with the Hoboken Housing Authority to ensure that Hoboken residents with
school age children are aware of the upcoming lottery.

"​All Hoboken families deserve to have equal options for schools, so we are glad that our colleagues at
HoLa have decided to increase its low-income preference in the lottery so that even more families have
an opportunity to attend the school of their choice," said Marc Recko, Executive Director of the Hoboken
Housing Authority. “We look forward to continuing to partner with HoLa to ensure our families know
about this new opportunity.”

For the low-income preference, any child who can provide proof of ONE of the following would get his
or her name placed into the lottery three times, rather than once:

● Lives in Hoboken public housing;

● Lives in Hoboken Section 8 housing;
● Child or guardian qualifies for SNAP/TANF benefits, or
● Child already qualifies for free or reduced price lunch in his/her current public school

If a parent believes that their student qualifies as an ELL, HoLa will administer ACCESS for ELLs
assessment.

“Ensuring that all of Hoboken’s children have an opportunity to attend HoLa was intrinsic to the school’s
very foundation,” Ms. Sargent said. HoLa was originally conceived in 2008 by the founders not as a
charter school but as a program within Connors Elementary School, the district school in Hoboken with
the largest concentration of low-income students by far. It was only after the district option was
approved and then subsequently reversed by the Hoboken school board that the founders applied to
become a charter school and received approval from the state in 2009. The school opened with grades
K-2 in 2010 and has grown by one grade a year since then.

"Implementing increased weighting for applicants from financially disadvantaged families, in addition to
weighting for ELL applicants, is a crucial step in expanding upon HoLa’s efforts to enroll a more diverse
student body,” said Molly Vollman Makris, PhD, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, CUNY and author
o​f Public Housing and School Choice in a Gentrified City: Youth Experiences of Uneven Opportunity​, a
book that focuses primarily on Hoboken. ​ “​ It is ideal for children to attend school with peers from an
intersection of backgrounds in terms of ethnicity, race, socioeconomics, and primary languages spoken
at home; increased enrollment of socioeconomically and linguistically diverse students will enrich the
educational experiences of all HoLa students. Efforts made toward increased school diversity, equity of
opportunity, and parental awareness of available school choices are to be commended."

ABOUT HOLA

HoLa is a K-8 dual language immersion charter school with about 400 students. Students spend 90% of
their day in Spanish-speaking classrooms in the early grades, regardless of their language backgrounds.
Students gradually receive increasing amounts of instruction in English, and by 4​th​ grade, instruction is
50% Spanish and 50% English.

Kindergarten is the typical entry point for HoLa, although HoLa accepts students in every grade where
there is an opening. Currently, Hoboken residents and siblings of existing students get a preference to
attend HoLa, and that will not change. Every year, HoLa has about 44 spots available in Kindergarten and
some portion of these spots are reserved for siblings, which leaves the remaining spots open for over
350 applicants.

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