English Learners Make Small Gains On SAT 9 Tests

Impact of Prop. 227 unclear. Davis credits adult tutoring program.

For the second year in a row, students still learning English improved their test scores at roughly the same rate as their fluent classmates.

But English learners continue to post scores well below the national average, according to Stanford 9 scores released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.

Gov. Davis said the improving scores show that statewide accountability measures are helping all students.

“That’s a good sign,” he said.

The governor said it is hard to say if Proposition 227, which said immigrant students should be taught in English, had anything to do with the gains. The ballot measure, enacted in June 1998, said language-minority students should receive a year of intense English instruction before moving to mainstream classes. Bilingual programs are allowed if parents request waivers, but only if children are 10 years or older, already know English or have special needs.

Before Proposition 227, 29 percent of the state’s 1.4 million English learners were taught in their native tongues. By the 1999-2000 school year, that figure had dropped to 11 percent.

According to the latest results, reading scores for English learners increased an average of 1.1 points over the 10 grades tested. Reading scores for all students increased an average of 1.2 points.

Similarly, math scores for English learners increased an average of 1.8 points over the 10 grades tested. Math scores for all students increased an average of 1.5 points.

The governor said a state-sponsored adult tutoring program, which is free to any parent who promises to work with his or her child, deserves the credit for improving scores.

That tutoring program is an outgrowth of the English-only initiative, which required that the state spend $50 million a year for 10 years to help immigrant parents learn English.

“We have spent lots of money trying to get children fluent in English,” Davis said. “And it appears to be working.”

Bee staff writer Susan Herendeen can be reached at 578-2338 or [email protected].



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