Immersion plan on hold
Editorial
The state Supreme Court has rejected the English immersion proposal that called for an end to bilingual education and only one year of intense English instruction before students are mainstreamed into regular classrooms. The backers of Colorado English for the Children - U.S. Rep Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and Linda Chavez of the Washington, D.C.-based think tank One Nation Indivisible - have vowed to be back. Chavez, a former Denverite and public liaison in the Reagan administration, said her organization and backers will strive to get the measure on the 2002 ballot. We don't believe the decision means that we've seen the last of this initiative. It will be back on the table. But for the time being we're pleased with the decision. The court ruled 7-0 that the wording of the initiative included improper and confusing catchphrases. Had the initiative gone to the voters and passed, it could have disrupted the new English Language Acquisition Program in the Denver Public Schools, which gives children no more than three years of bilingual education before they move into English-speaking classrooms. The DPS approach is promising, offering a faster transition than traditional bilingual programs, but with compassion so students are less likely to slip through the cracks and can become proficient in their native language as well as English. This program, which operates under a federal mandate, deserves a chance to prove its effectiveness before the implementation of something different. Chavez argues that a California immersion initiative, with language almost identical to the Colorado proposal, was upheld by both California and federal courts. In Colorado, however, the measure had to meet the standards set by our own state constitution; in that regard, the Supreme Court held, the measure failed. Scores have risen among children in English immersion classes in parts of California, but it has not been conclusively determined that immersion alone accounts for the increases. But one thing is certain: This initiative will be back. The language will be clarified, and by 2002, we'll have more information on the effectiveness of immersion in California as well as the DPS program. We will revisit this issue often because the goal of all involved should be to help children succeed in school and life. |