< back
 
 
FOES OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION CITE RECENT TEST SCORES TO BOLSTER POSITION; FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO DRAMATICALLY INCREASE THE NUMBER OF TRANSLATED DOCUMENTS
Two years ago, California voters went to the ballot box to formally bar school districts from offering bilingual schooling to immigrant children. Critics of the measure warned that immigrant students would fall behind and catastrophic results would ensue. 
Now proponents of the measure are citing new test results in California claiming that not only are immigrant students not falling behind, but that the students are doing even better than before. Scores for students classified as limited in English increased by 9% over the last two years and rankings increased from the 19th percentile nationally to the 28th percentile. Math scores increased by 14 points from the 27th percentile to the 41st. 
Voters in Arizona will soon be taking up the issue and anti-bilingual forces are working to get the issue on the ballot in Massachusetts and New York. Many people in those states are closely watching California, which has one-tenth of the nation’s schoolchildren, to see if their experiment is successful. 
Some critics of bilingual education have reversed their positions as the results have come in. Ken Noonan, the founder of the California Association of Bilingual Educators, recently came full-circle in his position and now is a supporter of the ballot measure. Noonan was shocked at how much faster kids learned English when fully immersed in the language. 
Some, however, claim that it is too early to conclude that bilingual education was a failure. Critics of the measure claim that California schools are merely emphasizing standardized exams more and have modified curricula to be geared toward preparing students for the tests. 
In related news, President Clinton has issued an Executive Order calling on government agencies to dramatically increase the number of documents translated into foreign languages. Administration officials are worried that the government is not adequately serving many people who do not have strong English skills. Nearly 14% of households in the US, according to the Census Bureau, speak a foreign language at home. 
Many of the newly translated documents will cover education and health. The move is being hailed by groups like the National Association for Bilingual Education. Opponents of bilingual education and other groups calling for English to be the official language of the United States attacked the plan, claiming that it will be extremely expensive and lead to the “balkanization” of America. Opponents also cited politics as a factor in the timing of the announcement. Latino voters are expected to be one of the most important voting groups in the upcoming national elections. 
The Executive Order can be found online at http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/12R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/2000/8/11/2.text.1 
 
< Back | Next >
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk.