Older children and those who are weak in their native language are stalled in the city’s bilingual education programs-which are taught in their home language-and few graduate on time, a new study shows.
In addition, one in three bilingual students are placed in special education, raising concerns that students who don’t know English are mistakenly placed alongside those with actual disabilities, according to a Board of Education study obtained by Newsday.
Board officials have yet to publicly discuss the study, nor has Schools Chancellor Harold Levy commented on it. The study raises a number of questions for a school system filled with immigrants, many of whom arrive speaking little or no English.
In the city, bilingual education has grown rapidly with one out of every eight public school students placed in bilingual or English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. Critics have long complained that the board’s program keeps too many kids in bilingual classes for too many years, and often provides teachers who struggle with English.
The research comes at a time of intensive soul-searching about the effectiveness of bilingual classes, which are taught in a student’s home language. A recent California study stunned educators by revealing that immigrant students taught in English, in English as a Second Language classes, made far greater progress than students taught in bilingual classes.
Even for the youngest students in the city, ESL classes were more successful than bilingual programs. But young children who are skilled in their own language also did well, as long as they entered in kindergarten or first grade.
Other findings: Among kindergarten students, 84 percent enrolled in English as a Second Language programs (meaning they were taught in English) reached proficiency after three years, while only 73 percent of the bilingual education students did. Those who were switched back and forth between the two classes did terribly; only 20 percent reached proficiency.
Spanish-speaking students- who represent the majority of immigrant students-are much more likely to be put in bilingual classes.
Only one in seven of the students who entered city schools in ninth grade acquired proficiency in English by graduation.
Students who were switched back and forth between English and bilingual classes did far worse, even at a young age, than students who were placed in one program.
On a hopeful note, students who successfully learn English in bilingual or ESL programs within three years did better than the general student population on the citywide 1998 reading test.
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