We don’t need to make a federal case of this. It’s already a federal case.

That’s why we’re stunned that Denver Public Schools’ new court-ordered bilingual program is plagued by significant problems.

One would think a school district under a federal order would strive to dot every ‘i’ and make sure there’s a tilde on every eligible ‘n.’ But not so with DPS.

The federal monitor assigned to oversee the district’s English Language Acquisition program has found problems galore, though the program, which is designed to fast-track children to English proficiency, has been operating barely one year.

In some schools, untrained clerks have decided where to place students – in classes of mainly Spanish speakers, chiefly English or only English. Children have been assigned to classes simply because there was room for them there or, astonishingly, merely because they have Spanish surnames. Such crass decision-making smacks not only of incompetence, but also of inherent racism. Considering how many people we know who have Spanish surnames but speak only English, the thought of sending them to primarily Spanish classes is mind-boggling.

Such problems erupt when organization is slipshod, and that’s the case here. Individual schools have been allowed to create their own curricula, which isn’t a wise move when trying to meet a federal mandate throughout the district.

DPS set up a computer system to collect data from schools so the program coordinator could check students’ classification and placement. But the system hasn’t worked, and it may never work, the federal monitor reports. Even teachers and principals dismiss it as useless, since they can’t get access to the data. In addition, some principals don’t fully understand the ELA program. And the program chiefs may not have full authority to prod principals to take the appropriate actions.

In short, this is a program in trouble, though it only has two years to succeed if the court order is to be lifted.

Most important, about 14,000 of Denver’s 70,000 students are in the bilingual program, fighting to obtain a strong grasp of English so they can segue into purely English classes within three years, as mandated for the majority of students under the court order.

Any program deficiencies that stall these children’s progress must be corrected at once. The ELA was conceived over years of painstaking work by the DPS administration. Its successful implementation is crucial.



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