A School Reform That Isn't
Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy has formalized his plan to reform bilingual education in the city's schools. In a nutshell, the reform amounts to: "Give me more money." Levy wants $75 million more from taxpayers so he can "change" the system. As if the $11 billion now spent on the city's school kids isn't enough. And what kind of "reform" does Levy have in mind? Well, pretty much no reform at all. His most radical suggestions: * A new, intensive English-language instruction program to be offered in addition to the bilingual-ed program already in place. * Ending mass waivers that permit students to remain in the program virtually forever. Apparently, Levy has no sense of bilingual ed's utter failure to provide a bridge for immigrant kids who don't speak English. And that's a shame. Levy should have learned from the compelling lessons of California. In a 1998 referendum, residents of that state decided to scrap the bilingual-ed program for most non-English-speaking kids in favor of intensive English instruction. Two years later, test scores are up across the board for the former bilingual-ed students. Yet the key point is this: The most dramatic improvements were made in those California districts that most strenuously resisted waivers and other loopholes that allowed kids to remain in bilingual ed. Levy's plan, on the other hand, is itself one giant loophole. The chancellor can't make any guarantees about how many children will be placed in the "high intensity" classes. It's a safe bet that many will wind up right where they are - in the same failed bilingual-ed classes they're now trapped in. Levy should be dispensing with the nip-and-tuck and pushing to have the system abolished altogether. The way they did in California. (And, by the way, what Arizona voted for last month, as well.) No wonder Mayor Giuliani expressed anger over Levy's request for more cash. "I didn't see this as a more-money issue," he said. "I saw it as a Let's straighten out the program' issue." Giuliani knows that non-English-speaking kids are being shortchanged. Few ever learn English, and too many are permanently disadvantaged as residents of English-speaking America. The Borough of Manhattan Community College's president, Antonio Perez, had it about right when he described the program last week: It's "a multimillion-dollar cottage industry that benefits no one but the industry itself," he was quoted as saying. "We're doing an injustice to these young people if we do not find a vehicle to get them through the process quicker." What's Levy waiting for? |