Revisiting Bilingual Education In Hartford

When she was a Brownie troop leader, Diane Alverio had her second-graders read stories. She found two girls way behind the others in reading English. They were both in a bilingual program.

Would they catch up? Were they being shortchanged? Was this program working, she wanted to know.

As a member of the state board of trustees running Hartford schools, Alverio is asking the same questions about the 4,100 kids in Hartford’s bilingual education program.

“No one’s answering the question why some kids are in the program for five or six or seven years. Is this helping or hurting children? I’m not satisfied with the information we’ve received so far,” she said.

Bilingual education is center stage today, as California voters decide whether to eliminate bilingual classrooms and replace them with one-year English immersion programs.

Called Proposition 227, the ballot question was raised by parents and educators who believe too many kids are staying too long in bilingual classes without learning enough English.

The same question has been raised for years in Hartford.

Much baggage comes with the bilingual issue, but what we’re really talking about is a method of teaching.

Nearly everyone agrees that children need to learn standard English to succeed in this country. Most people agree that the public schools need to offer some kind of English education program for youngsters who need to learn the language. The question is what kind of program.

The method mostly used in California, and Hartford, is called “transitional bilingual education.” In this method, children are taught most subjects in their native languages, and are taught English as well. Theoretically, they can keep up with their peers in subjects such as math and science that aren’t dependent on language.

They are supposed to increase their English instruction over time, until they’re ready to be “mainstreamed” into regular classes.

The method looks good on paper, and works for some kids. But I’ve been looking at this in Hartford for a decade, and I know it’s been failing a lot of youngsters as well. A few years ago, I found a sophomore at Hartford Public High School who was born in Hartford and was still in the bilingual program in the 10th grade, even though he seemed to speak English well.

“It’s easier,” he said.

Well, no one was pushing him into mainstream classes. Instead, his teachers were protecting their jobs. It’s not supposed to be a jobs program.

The quality of bilingual teaching is uneven. Hartford’s hired some bilingual teachers over the years who barely spoke English. Not surprisingly, they didn’t teach English well.

The Hartford trustees held a meeting on bilingual education in April. Alverio said she was disappointed at the “superficial quality of the administration’s presentation,” and has asked for another meeting in June.

“It’s not about taking a hatchet to it; we need to take a good look at it. We need data, and then we’ll go from there.”

Alverio was born in Puerto Rico. She spoke Spanish at home and learned English in school, well enough to be a writer and TV news reporter. So she knows it can be done. She has the same reaction to Hartford’s kids as she did to her two Brownies a few years ago: “I don’t want Latino children falling behind.”



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