CONTACT: SHERI ANNIS
(310) 737-1969

Wednesday, June 16, 1999.

Oceanside, CA---One year after the landslide victory of Prop. 227 which dismantled bilingual education in California, the Oceanside Unified School District near San Diego became the first school district in California to release post-Prop. 227 standardized STAR test scores.

The Oceanside test scores revealed extraordinary increases in the performance of English learners, with scores in nearly all subject areas and grade levels doubling or even tripling in percentile terms. Average percentile increases ranged from 120% in mathematics to over 180% in reading. The students had taken the tests about seven months after enrolling in the English immersion programs established by Prop. 227.

Among California districts, Oceanside had followed perhaps the strictest adherence to the terms of Prop. 227, deciding to require that instruction be 98% in English and granting virtually no waivers for bilingual programs. This had led to considerable controversy, with pro-bilingual activists denouncing the district’s English immersion emphasis and contrasting it with the efforts of most other California school districts to circumvent the new law and maintain as many of their bilingual programs as possible.

However, Oceanside Superintendent Ken Noonan, himself the founding president of the California Association of Bilingual Educators (CABE) and of Mexican descent, stood by his interpretation of the law: "I read [Prop. 227] over and over again with an eye toward trying to salvage the bilingual program. I couldn’t find language in the bill that in any way gave us leeway to do that." Noonan had strongly opposed Prop. 227, but after the vote promised to give it "an honest try."

According to Prop. 227 author Ron Unz, the results are extremely heartening. "Although most other school districts in California have dragged their feet in implementing English immersion programs, we’re now cautiously optimistic that statewide immigrant test scores will show significant improvement. I’m sure the parents in many other districts will wish their schools had truly followed Prop. 227 and doubled their scores just like Oceanside."

Bilingual education activists are currently lobbying Gov. Gray Davis and Sacramento Democrats for legislation eliminating the use of STAR tests for immigrant students.

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