VA situation

[Stephen Krashen <krashen@USC.EDU>]

Mickey VanDerwerker wrote:
> Hi all,
> I know that there has been talk on this list about ESL issues. We have a bill
> coming up soon (like tomorrow a.m. or Friday a.m.) that I would like to speak
> to but need some pertinent facts.  The bill in question is posted below. If I
> get to speak to it, it will be brief.
> BTW, Juanita, in VA, PAVURSOL is working quite extensively on legislative
> relief for high stakes tests.  It is hard, messy work.  We'll update you all
> when the smoke (and mirrors) clear.  Our story on the 1/2 million tests that
> misclassified our students is also starting to gather steam....
> Mickey
> Programs for limited English proficiency students. Prohibits school boards,
> when designing programs to promote the education of children with limited
> English proficiency and to enhance achievement through a proven instructional
> method, from operating bilingual programs or English as a Second Language
> courses that are content oriented and conducted in a language other than
> English. This bill requires the school boards to implement English-immersion
> programs exclusively. This provision must not, however, be construed to
> prohibit or restrict school boards in using bilingual teachers or other
> bilingual personnel and volunteers in communicating with limited English
> proficiency students and their families in their native or first language.

This issue came up on another listserv about a week ago and I sent the following letter to State Senators Howell and Saslaw at that time:

Dear Senator Saslaw,

I understand that the Virginia Senate Education Committee will soon be considering Senate Bill 1240, which will prohibit bilingual education and require English immersion exclusively.  I am a university professor specializing in language education. The research shows that the best way to help children acquire English quickly and do well in school is to utilize a careful combination of the child's first language and English.

Quality bilingual programs introduce English right away and teach subject matter in English as soon as it can be made comprehensible, but they also develop literacy in the first language and teach subject matter in the first language in early stages.

Developing literacy in the first language is a short cut to English literacy. It is much easier to learn to read in a language one understands, and once a child can read in the primary language, reading ability transfers rapidly to English.

Teaching subject matter in the first language stimulates intellectual development and provides students with valuable knowledge that will help the child understand instruction when it is presented in English.

Research confirms that this combination works. Students in quality bilingual programs acquire at least as much English as children in all-English programs, and usually acquire more. Studies also show that students in bilingual education drop out less than comparison children in all-English programs, and that graduates of bilingual programs outperform comparison children in school.

Several media reports claim that test scores rose in California after proposition 227 passed, and that dropping bilingual education was beneficial.  There is no evidence linking prop 227 and test score increases. Test scores rose throughout California, including in districts that maintained bilingual education.  Critics of bilingual education have emphasized results of only one district: Oceanside dropped bilingual education, embraced all-English, and test scores went up. But Oceanside had a poorly conceived bilingual program, one that taught only in Spanish until grades five or six.  Properly organized bilingual programs introduce English the first day, and teach subject matter in English as soon as it can be made comprehensible.

I will be happy to provide more details on this topic.

Sincerely,

Stephen Krashen, Ph.D.
Professor of Education
University of Southern California
e mail: krashen@usc.edu