Only recently (2008), the U.S. Department of Education has proposed mandates under Title 3 of the Elementary Secondary Education Act/NCLB, which concerns English learners, that California is requesting relief from. Bottom line of these mandates is that they will cost significant sums of money and time to implement and further complicate the most sophisticated EL program in the country (ACSA, 2008).
Results
In a 381-page report prepared for the California Board of Education in 2004, American Institutes for Research reached the following conclusions regarding the affectivity and success of the EL program in the state of California as mandated by Proposition 227:
Meeting the Needs of California ELs. "While we see evidence of improved academic success with ELs in California, substantial gaps in achievement remain" (American Institutes for Research, 2006, p. VII-1). The study indicated strongly that the special needs of ELs in California were not being met. It pointed out that most ELs are poor, and that they face the challenge of learning English and their school courses at the same time. With California's high academic standards, the report made it clear that there is much work to be done in these areas for ELs to have an optimum learning environment.
The Bottom Line. The question is if it was wise to enact Prop. 227, and has it been effective? Does it compare favorable with bi-lingual methods? The answer, from the AIR report:
"Very little evidence can be found in the empirical analyses conducted during this study that its basic premise was correct (i.e., that immersion methods of instruction are
uniformly superior to bilingual methods in enhancing educational outcomes for ELs). It is not possible to unambiguously resolve the question of the relative superiority of immersion vs. bilingual approaches given the shifting definitions associated with various instructional approaches for ELs in state data over the years, and the inability to track individual student-level data over time. Nevertheless, the best analyses we have been able to conduct given data limitations indicate that differences across models of instruction -- holding constant such critical factors as student demographics -- are minimal or nonexistent" (American Institutes for Research, 2006, p. VII-2).
Further, the extensive report stated:
"...based on our overall achievement findings, we conclude that Proposition 227 focused on the wrong issue... A new paradigm, shifting away from the immersion/bilingual debate, is needed to focus more on the larger array of factors that make a difference for EL achievement" (American Institutes for Research, 2006, p. VII-3).
We will return to this study's recommendations later.
Evaluating Bi-Lingual Methods
The second study results presented here involved the bi-lingual classroom education of ten Cambodian students who spoke no English (Obudo, 2007).
These students attended a large, urban school in Southern California in the 1980s, prior to the passage of Proposition 227 and the mandate of English-immersion. Their prior schooling ranged from zero to five years. Since we are using these ten students as a random sample of how the bi-lingual program worked, we must note that all ten were placed in English-only classes with instructors who were not trained to teach English Language Learners. All of the students were moved from class to class within the same school year in an attempt to find the grade level that they fit best. They received little or no language support. That is, the instructors were not proficient in teaching these students the English language.
Now, at this point, we might say, well, what's the point? The point is that these circumstances occurred more frequently than we think with bi-lingual classroom education. Remember, the point was to place students in "normal" classrooms and have them learn English by osmosis and with as much help as possible by teachers who had 30 other students to teach.
And, according to Rhodes, Ochoa, and Ortiz (2005), "...only 19 states provided certification or endorsement for teachers in the field of bi-lingual education, and only 17 legally mandate this training be provided" (Rhodes, Ochoa, & Ortiz, 2005, p. 60). They further report that a signficant number of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students in this country is not being taught by certified ESL and bi-lingual teachers.
The Bottom Line. All the participants had difficulty understanding the lessons, leading to frustration and lack of confidence. The research on immersion vs. bi-lingual education is inconclusive. For every study that supports one or the other, there is another, usually just as valid, that does not support it. Obudo concludes that it is not the system used that counts, but the quality of instruction -- basically the same general conclusion that AIR came to in its far more extensive research on Proposition 227.
After test results showed that English learners in California had made "negligible progress in mastering English since last year,"...
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