Achievement levels of bilingual students are too low
WORCESTER-- Someone yelled, “Fire!” in a New York public school many years ago, and Jose Perez, who spoke only Spanish at the time, was there. He was a second-grader in an “English immersion” program at the time and remembers being terrified as his classmates began exiting the classroom in a hurry. “I had absolutely no idea what was going on,” Mr. Perez recalled. “People were running. Somebody took me by the arm and led me from one room to another. It was the most traumatic experience in my life. “That first year or so, I did not know what the teacher was saying in that (immersion) class,” said Mr. Perez, a candidate for the District 2 City Council seat. “What I did learn, I picked up on the street, at home and from my friends. I still have problems because of that sort of a system.” Maria E. Florez of Oxford, a poet, writer and mother of two bilingual children, was 14 when she came to this country from Colombia and found herself in a ninth-grade public school classroom in Rhode Island. She had some assistance from an English as a Second Language program, but was placed in regular classes. “They told me grades were given out every quarter,” she recalled. “The first quarter I received an 'NA,' for 'grade not available.' The second quarter I got another NA. The third quarter I got grades. They weren't C's, either. They were B's and A's. “I think you need to trust kids and realize they can take the challenge,” Ms. Florez said. “You cannot do it all for them. Sure, you make them comfortable, but are they being challenged?” Mr. Perez and Ms. Florez represent the bookends of a roiling debate in Massachusetts on how students for whom English as a Second Language should be taught. Sen. Guy W. Glodis, D-Worcester, is at the forefront of the debate after allying himself with Ron Unz, 39, the software entrepreneur who helped fund successful drives to end traditional bilingual education in California and Arizona. The two men recently launched a ballot campaign to replace bilingual education with English-only instruction in the state's public schools. “I believe non-English-speaking students are being segregated in public schools,” Mr. Goldis said. “When you are non-English-speaking, you are thrown into bilingual classes, separated from the mainstream and given teachers who are not certified to teach in the commonwealth -- many of whom are not even proficient in English. “That is catastrophic,” he maintained. “Every child deserves an equal education.” Mr. Glodis is among those who believe that Title 7 of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, has been abused by many educators. He believes that the basic tenet of the act is to teach immigrant children English so they can do regular class work with their English-speaking classmates. Others believe, however, that to keep second-language students at the grade level for their age, they need to be taught other subjects in their native tongue while they are learning to speak English. The Massachusetts Transitional Bilingual Program adopts the latter approach, recommending that students take up to three years of bilingual classes before attending regular classes. Mr. Glodis and others argue that many students are being kept in bilingual programs well beyond three years. “Studies show that only 10 percent of bilingual students are being mainstreamed annually,” the state senator noted. “Who in their right mind could defend such a system? Every statistic indicates that it is a colossal failure,” he said. “Every MCAS test released suggests that bilingual students have the lowest test scores in all categories being tested. Bilingual students have the highest dropout rates, the lowest college admission rates.” The suggestion that the state's bilingual program is having an adverse impact on students is wrong, according to School Superintendent James A. Caradonio. He noted that there has not been, for example, any study on the effectiveness of the state's bilingual program. “People have not examined what's going on in Massachusetts and in Worcester,” Mr. Caradonio said. “These folks have blinders on. They are like Don Quixote. They set up this windmill and tilt with it.” The superintendent pointed out that of the approximately 7,800 Latino students attending Worcester schools, only about 12 percent are in the bilingual program. About 90 percent of those taking part in the program are transferred to regular classrooms within three years, he said. Mr. Caradonio noted that parents have the right to request their children be taught in regular classes. The superintendent also criticized the English-immersion proposal because it fails to distinguish between elementary- and secondary-school bilingual students. “Having the same expectations for older students that you have for prekindergarten, first-, second- and third-grade students defies logic and common sense,” he said. “People are being too emotional, too political on this issue. They are treating someone's inability to speak English as a disease. It's not a permanent condition. It is something that can be learned over time.” Fe J. Sharp, who teachers English as a Second Language at South High Community School, said research shows that for a student learning English, oral proficiency takes three to four years, while academic proficiency can take from four to seven years. As a result, she said, it is unfair to throw non-English-speaking students into a regular classroom, then expect them to keep pace with other students. Success at the secondary level for second-language students, according to Ms. Sharp, often depends on the basic skills they bring with them to the classroom, as well as their motivation and home environments. The teacher noted that the distressing outcomes Mr. Glodis attributes to the failure of the bilingual program also are being experienced by minority students and students from low-income families. “It's not about bilingual education,” she said. “It's about basic skills and poverty and all those problems that interfere with the academic achievement of any student.” Despite her differences with Mr. Perez on English immersion programs, Ms. Florez agrees that the challenge of learning a new language in a new country can often be a traumatic experience for young people. “I used to go home crying all the time,” she said. “I did not want people to think I was dumb. I did not know English, but I knew everything else. But my teachers were patient with me, and that is what you need -- a staff that is sensitive about the need of students. Ms. Florez also said she would like to distance herself from those who would use the debate on bilingual program to spur a backlash against immigration and to nurture an English-speaking-only society. Mr. Perez said he believes that, like himself, Mr. Glodis, a longtime critic of bilingual education, is interested in raising the achievement levels of bilingual students. “Mr. Glodis' heart is in the right place,” Mr. Perez said. “He is interested in kids moving on and getting the right placement. But dismantling the state's bilingual program is taking a step backward. “It should not be a political issue,” he added. “It should be an issue of accountability.” |