Issued Today That Refutes Texas Results of Program
DALLAS TX - Texas State Representative Roberto R. Alonzo immediately denounced a report issued today by a Texas conservative group saying that Texas bilingual education programs have produced poor results for both students and taxpayers and should be replaced with an immersion-based approach to English-language instruction.
The report was issued earlier today by the Austin-based Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF). The report entitled Does Bilingual Education Work? The Case of Texas - was written by well-known anti-bilingual researcher Dr. Christine Rossell of Boston University.
Put simply the report is flawed in so many respects it is laughable and even difficult to listen to all those flaws no matter how hard one tries. It is apparent that the report is agenda-driven. It does not take a rocket scientist to immediately see that the conclusion was written before the research was even undertaken and I use the term research loosely here as I do not understand how this report even has any credibility when it refutes every success and totally ignores all federal court rulings that already shown that bilingual programs in Texas are indeed succeeding. Additionally it seems like that the researcher wrote her conclusion first starting plugging data at random and then aligned her numbers to fit the body of her report and finish with the introduction said Rep. Alonzo.
Furthermore the TPPF report makes so many wrong assumptions about bilingual students but then again one has to wonder why should anyone be surprised if they hired someone from the east coast who knows nothing at all about the educational system and population demographics of Texas. To simply take a cookie cutter approach and attempt to transplant in Texas all the wrong things that the east coast is doing with their educational system will simply not work. We have excellent researchers well-qualified educational experts plenty of court rulings and sufficient documentable data in Texas all pointing in the same direction - bilingual education is indeed working but we need to invest more equitable funding into the program and train more bilingually certified teachers if we are to do our students any justice continued Rep. Alonzo.
Texas law since 1973 has required bilingual education to be provided whenever 20 or more children in any one grade level share a foreign language and are not fluent English language speakers. In using Californias formal errors in their mandated bilingual education program Texas policymakers and bilingual education critics can learn from programs that have failed despite their attempts to improve bilingual education for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students. Keep in mind that the educational future of all Texas children is at stake when we make unsound decisions.
A study commissioned by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in 2000 called the Texas Successful Schools Study also demonstrated that Texas students participating in bilingual education programs like those found in California outperformed other students who mere merely submerged" in English-Language Immersion Programs (ELIP). The results based on a study of students with at least 5 years of bilingual education paralleled the same results as studies done on the efficiency of Californias bilingual education reform. In this study the students academic performance was compared to that of English Language Learners (ELL) who were not enrolled in those bilingual education programs and/or exited prematurely from the program. The study further showed that ELL students who remained in the program until they were designated as English proficient" met or exceeded the performance of native English-speaking students in the same grade levels at the same schools. At their core ELIP programs devalue and exclude due to a narrow view of language the unique cultural traditions and lived histories of ELL students. In contrast research shows that when teachers value and nurture the cultural and linguistic capital that ELL students bring to school it contributes to a stronger foundation for academic growth.
Additionally more often than not sink-or-swim methods of learning subject children to the postponement of their curriculum learning so they may acquire English language skills. It is no secret that research shows that if ELLs are given a well-staffed well-designed and well-funded bilingual education instruction before asking them to perform at the same level as their counterparts will allow them to gain proficiency in English. Certainly we can see that this method is more conducive to a well-rounded compassionate and individually-paced acquisition of the English language and adaptation to the American school system. Rather than eliminating bilingual education legislators should increase bilingual education funding support scholarships for bilingual teachers in training and promote the growth of dual-language programs that allow non-English speakers to become literate in two languages continued Rep. Alonzo.
In closing in her report Dr. Rossell wrongly states data is not disaggregated by program (ESL v. Bilingual) and then uses a flawed analysis. On the contrary we have plenty of historical data already in Texas and volumes of statistics in our TAKS Summary Reports showing that Texas students in bilingual education programs are indeed succeeding and outperforming their non-bilingual counterparts. Plus in our increasingly-changing society coupled with a competitive technological climate and highly diverse population it only makes sense that we must encourage rather than discourage more bilingualism among our students. The bottom line is that Dr. Rossell needs to be kindly shown the door and advised not to mess with Texas children concluded Rep. Alonzo.
