Gain for English-Only Classes

LAUSD Deserves Praise in an Effort That's Far From Complete

The bilingual education program in Los Angeles public schools is often maligned for taking too long to get students into English-only classes. So the significant progress the district is making in that direction deserves notice.

Nearly 26,000 bilingual-ed students were switched to English-only instruction after the last school year, an increase of about 2,000 students from the previous school year and more than double the number who made the change after the 1992-93 school year. But that’s still too low.

To transfer from classes taught at least partly in their mother language, students must achieve grade-level performance in English. This means proving they are academically fluent, which is a much tougher hurdle than social fluency.

Critics have complained that non-English-speaking students take an average of five years to make the transition to English-only classes in the Los Angeles public school system. Supt. Sid Thompson responded a year ago by making accelerated bilingual transfers a primary goal of the district. The current stay in bilingual classes ranges from two to six years, depending on the campus. The federal recommendation is fluency in three years or less, especially for students who begin school in this district.

Some non-English-speaking parents have pressured the district to move their children into English-only classes before they were ready. A vocal group of Latino parents pulled their children out of the downtown Ninth Street Elementary School in February and kept the youngsters away until changes were made to improve the bilingual program there.

The majority of students currently entering L.A. public schools speak a language other than English at home. Nearly half of the district’s 650,000 pupils are enrolled in bilingual classes. An effective program is critical to the district’s ability to produce more students who can read and write–and succeed–in English.



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