English-immersion programs best
Don Soifer
Recently, activists in Denver - led by a retired University of Colorado professor, Dr. Charles King - announced that they are launching a ballot initiative to replace bilingual education in Colorado. The initiative is based on California's Proposition 227, which effectively ended most bilingual programs there after winning decisively in June 1998. In fact, the Colorado version is tougher: It explicitly does not allow any districtwide waivers and says classes must be entirely (not just predominantly) in English. More than half of Colorado's school districts have English learners, and more than one-quarter have bilingual programs. It is no coincidence that bilingual-education reform has become one of the fastest-moving public policy movements in the country. An Arizona law passed last year implemented unprecedented changes, ensuring parental consent and requiring school districts to monitor the progress of English learners. Connecticut passed important reforms as well and, in Massachusetts, legislation has been introduced to end all bilingual education. California passed a number of additional bilingual reforms in 1999, including one law offering school districts a $ 100 bonus for each child who successfully 'graduates' from English learner to English proficient. In the past, bilingual-education reform has often been perceived as an issue dominated by conservative Republicans but, as the evidence has become overwhelming, this dynamic has changed. In fact, all of the above changes were sponsored by Democrats, who understand that these reforms are about helping young people. Official U.S. Department of Education documents obtained by the Lexington Institute show that some Colorado bilingual programs have shown remarkably little success improving students' English skills. In one joint program between five rural school districts in north-central Colorado, only 18 percent of students in grades 3-12 showed any gains at all. Other such programs spent federal bilingual dollars on purchasing Spanish-language math textbooks, planning video 'broadcasting' within and between schools, and sending teachers to the National Association of Bilingual Educators' national conference in Albuquerque. Bilingual programs vary in methodology but share a common reliance on segregated instruction in students' non-English native language. Advocates of the bilingual approach assert that children can learn English more effectively after they have already acquired fluency in their native language. As a result, students can remain in these programs for up to seven or eight years, or even longer. Many do not even begin learning written English until the fifth grade, when it is much harder for children to make up lost ground. Furthermore, research suggests that children who learn a second language at a younger age can do so more effectively with less likelihood of a pronounced accent. As California schools begin to close out their second full year under the state's new law, evidence indicates that children are thriving under English immersion. One study by the San Jose Mercury News found that second-grade English learners in mainstream classrooms averaged at the 35th national percentile in reading results on the Stanford-9 test, while their peers in bilingual classrooms averaged in the 20th percentile. That message has carried far, even to Washington, D.C. In October, the U.S. House of Representatives passed unprecedented bilingual-education reforms, which the Senate is due to consider in the coming weeks. The legislation would require school districts to provide vital information about such programs to parents and to obtain their consent before children are placed in bilingual or other programs tailored for English learners. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., one of the leaders behind that legislation, observed, 'Bilingual education is doing a terrible disservice to our Hispanic and other-language minority young people. Providing them with the English language skills they need is critical to ensuring them the opportunities for success they deserve.' Don Soifer is executive vice president of the Lexington Institute, a public-policy think tank in Arlington, Va. |