It'll Take Vigilance to Repair City Bilingual Program
New York City schools Chancellor Harold Levy went public this week with an ambitious but level-headed repair program for bilingual education. The initiative could represent a major step forward in a school system where 15 percent of all students-160,000 children - cannot speak English proficiently. But wait. Before anything can happen, the plan must clear two obstacles. First, the Board of Education must sign off on it. This might not be so hard. While at least one board member is unhappy with the package, it seems to satisfy Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. That's a large plus. The bigger obstacle is this: Assuming that the plan wins approval, Levy must force one of the world's most intractable bureaucracies to implement his grand vision-and the traps in his 41-page proposal are everywhere. Example 1: Levy wants to move students from bilingual classes to mainstream classes within three years. It's a great objective. Some kids now languish in these classes-taught in their native tongue-for up to nine years. Yet he has (sensibly) declined to make the three- year mark an absolute cutoff date. So what will happen if most bilingual-ed teachers choose not to adopt Levy's sense of urgency? What will happen if they don't mainstream most pupils within three years? A successful program will demand relentless vigilance. Example 2: Levy wants parents to play a stronger role in choosing the best direction for their children. It's a wonderful idea. His plan proclaims that "parents should be provided with detailed and timely information about the effectiveness of available programs." Uh- oh. This isn't the kind of thing the school system does well. And bilingual-ed officials are famous for pressuring parents to keep their kids out of the mainstream as long as possible. Can Levy shake that legacy? And can he turn thousands of newcomers into savvy advocates for their children? More power to him if he can. So far Levy has drawn up a very nice piece of paper. He deserves a chance to make it work. |