Fixing Bilingual Ed
For more than 30 years, I've worked for the Latino community in New York City. As a member of the Lindsay administration, I advocated the creation of the city's bilingual programs and still believe bilingual education can benefit some students. But like Herman Badillo, who co-authored the congressional legislation that funds bilingual education, my initial enthusiasm for these programs has tempered. I see the need for reform. Bilingual education was originally intended to serve as a means of helping non-English-speaking students learn English while they kept up academic studies in their native language. It was always meant to be transitional. But in too many cases, it has become an end in itself. When 85% of students entering bilingual programs in the ninth grade can't get out by the end of high school — and more than 50% of the program's population doesn't make the transition to mainstream English-speaking classrooms within three years — we need to recognize the status quo is failing our children. We have an obligation to make these programs work the way they were originally intended. That's why I agreed to serve on the mayor's Task Force on Bilingual Education. To do this, we need to restore a concept that's missing from city programs: accountability. At hearings on bilingual education last month, there was emotional testimony from parents and advocates on every side of this issue. But it is difficult to believe the needs of children are being met when a parent like Rosario Carrasco asks, "How could my daughter have spent five years in bilingual education and not have learned enough to pass the reading test?" Her child's experience is all too common. According to Board of Education data, only 6.9% of middle school bilingual students demonstrated they could read at grade level on the 1998 citywide reading test. One of every four students remains stuck in bilingual programs a full eight years after entering the system. I've seen bilingual programs that work. I've also visited "bilingual" classrooms where the teacher wasn't truly bilingual. We should build on the successful programs. But we also have a responsibility to identify the programs that are failing and reform them so children have a better chance of succeeding. In the process of strengthening the programs that work, we should be open to the idea that there is more than one instructional option that might benefit children. One-year accelerated English acquisition programs are proving popular and successful in other areas of the country. We should offer a similar option. Some critics label any attempt to reform bilingual education as "anti-immigrant." Not true. We want immigrant kids to learn English precisely so that they can succeed. Immigrant families want this as well. Let me be clear: The goal of the mayor's task force is to reform bilingual education so that it achieves its originally intended result — helping children participate in the American dream. Betanzos, a former Board of Education member and president of Wildcat Schools, is a member of the mayor's Task Force on Bilingual Education |