Bilingual Education
Tony Snow
GUESTS: Jon Du Pre, Teri Schultz, David Lee Miller BYLINE: Tony Snow SNOW: When California began its controversial English-only program for public schools, opponents complained about racism and predicted educational catastrophe. Well, now, it turns out those fears may have been unfounded. Fox News' Jon Du Pre explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One day in 1776, General George Washington came to visit... JON DU PRE, FOX CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most of the 1st graders at this Los Angeles school didn't speak English when they started kindergarten last year. Now, they're thriving in an English-only classroom. ANNETTE KESSLER, WEEMES SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: Yes. And the scores show it. DU PRE: The latest California test scores show immigrant school kids are doing much better now that bilingual education is gone and all their classes are taught in English. For limited-English kids... (VIDEO GAP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... George Washington came to visit... DU PRE: Most of the 1st graders at this Los Angeles school didn't speak English when they started kindergarten last year. Now, they're thriving in an English-only classroom. KESSLER: Yes. And the scores show it. DU PRE: The latest California test scores show immigrant school kids are doing much better now that bilingual education is gone and all their classes are taught in English. For limited English kids, the mean scores for grades 2 through 6 went up dramatically, 39 percent. Second graders, often used as the benchmark for success, improved by 9 percent in reading, 14 percent in math statewide. KESSLER: So now how many languages do you speak? CLASS: Two. KESSLER: To that effect, you have equal access for these children. They are now getting the advantage of the teacher teaching them, not teaching assistants, not other persons. DU PRE (on camera): He only talks in English to you? EMERSON GALDAMEZ, 1ST GRADER: Yes. DU PRE: What does that do to help you? How does it help you? GALDAMEZ: I learn more. HEIDY GAMEZ, 1ST GRADER: He show us how to read and talk loud and speak English. DU PRE (voice-over): When Californians passed the English-only initiative in 1998, opponents predicted doom for non-English-speaking kids. Those opponents say the improved scores are misleading because California has also reduced class sizes and focused more on phonics. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kids in emergent programs in the early grades may be gaining verbal skills, but they aren't necessarily gaining the kind of literacy that they're going to need to be able to understand the academic subjects that are going to come down the pike. ANDY ROTHERHAM, PROGRESSIVE POLICY INSTITUTE: I think you can't take an objective look at what's happened in California and not say that 227 had a difference. DU PRE (on camera): There is another unexpected result. Teachers at schools such as this one, once divided between Hispanics and all others, are seeing children from different cultures beginning to play with each other -- united now, they say, by a common language. In Los Angeles, Jon Du Pre, Fox News. |