It's not just - as I noted in this recent post at Sound Politics - that unassimilated, non-English-speaking parents in the Wapato, Washington school district are protesting that homework doesn't come with Spanish language instructions so they can help their kids figure it out. Now, Washington's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has told the district it can't convert to all-English classroom instruction to help low-performing Spanish-speaking "bilingual" students really learn how to read English. The Yakima Herald Republic reports:
For the past two years, kindergarten students in the bilingual program were taught in both English and Spanish, with more English employed as they advanced.But (district bilingual program director David) Juarez said under that method most students aren't proficient in English until about fourth grade, when they begin taking Washington Assessment of Student Learning tests.....Only one-third of second-graders in the bilingual program this year are passing oral reading fluency tests, and more than 50 second-grade students still mostly speak Spanish, Juarez said. "Those students will not pass that WASL — they won't even have a chance," he said. If students going into the third grade next year don't meet WASL requirements, the school district will lag in state and federal Adequate Yearly Progress requirements, he said.
OSPI's bilingual potentate says Wapato should instead draw on the expertise of other Yakima Valley school districts dealing with the same issues. Remarkably, Gov. Christine Gregoire said in a talk yesterday that one way to ensure all Washington state students pass their WASLs is to give them the math tests in their native languages. Brilliant! Our colleges and employers will surely welcome high school graduates who can't deal with quantitative verbiage in English. This is one of many dark places to which the ethnic balkanization of public policy leads.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 15, 2005 05:38 PM | Email ThisIn my home, we speak Korean, and I make sure that that is the language we speak at home. My daughter, who is in kindergarten, did not speak much English when she first started at this school (private with no bilingual program) though she could read quite a bit. Now, I am having hard time making sure that my daughter speaks Korean at home because English now has become her primary language.
Why can't public schools function that way?
Posted by: C. Oh on December 15, 2005 06:18 PMHaving said that, I still believe that the math portion of the WASL is too much about reading and writing which totally disadvantages ESL students no matter how long they have been here.
Posted by: westello on December 15, 2005 07:08 PMAlso, how about more strict requirements for speaking English - instead of this no-boundaries/anything goes/political correctness crap with the intent of not offending anyone - which really screws up things worse for all - like FUBAR ! There is nothing in the US Constitution that guarantees freedom from being offended. I am very annoyed with what I keep hearing about the current state of the education system today and that's stronger than being offended. Mainly because I know that people in high positions know better - but don't care enough to do anything !
Posted by: KS on December 15, 2005 07:25 PMMy point is that why are we allowing people into this county that are not motivated enough to learn english when there are thousands how work hard to try to get in. It's not an issue of penalizing their parents; they assume the risk by entering this country and not learning english before coming. Tax payers shouldn't be penalized for a person would doesn't want to learn english nor is motivated enough to learn english when there are thousands standing in line to come to America. Oh by the way, the Thai gentlemen was not allowed into the US. Apparently, there is a quota on how many people can enter the US from Thailand.
Posted by: marc on December 15, 2005 08:47 PMGive me a break! When I went to Germany I learnt German. They were not required to make it so that I do not need to change to the new environment I chose! When my parents came to this country they learnt english. My father went through college here with the english he learnt from the BBC during the war. Whiners will remain whiners until they are made to change!
Posted by: fred on December 16, 2005 10:03 AMThese people moved to a country that communicates predominantly in the English language. Their children are receiving a free, taxpayer supported education. Immigrants have been coming to the United states for decades and learning how to communicate in English. Why should it be any different now?
Posted by: Gary on December 16, 2005 12:14 PM"forever" contracts for school consulting--i love it--meanwhile, the poor schmuck student tries to get a job and sues everyone because he can't get an $80k job starting out--why? because he can't write an intelligent sentence in English;
ahhh...America...land of Opportunity!
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on December 18, 2005 07:46 PM