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NEA Today May 2002
NEA Today May 2002
- NEA Today: Cover Story - May 2002
Reader Services Archives NEA Today Table of Contents: May 2002 Cover Story s English Lessons News s Debate s Idahoans Rally Against Budget Cuts s Getting Through the Rough Patches s Forget About Buying That Cape Cod on Lovely Cape Cod s Rights Watch s Interview Learning s Innovators s Problems & Solutions s Reading s Inside Scoop s ESP On the Team s Tips for the Wired Classroom Departments s Letters s President's Viewpoint s My Turn s Health and Fitness s People s Money s Resources s In the Light LaneCover Story
English LessonsWhen students don't speak English, what's the best route to classroom success--and high test scores?
At Chandler Magnet School in Worcester, Massachusetts, a sign outside the main office reads, in bold red letters, "¿Qué necesitas para pasar el MCAS? Asistencia, Aspiración, Ayuda, Asignaciones, Actitud." (What do you need to pass the MCAS? Attendance, aspiration, help, homework, attitude.)
Many students here don't speak English yet, so they'll be taking the third and fourth grade versions of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), the state test, in Spanish. And, of course, the school and its educators will be judged on their performance.
Motivational signs like these may be popping up nationwide in the next few years as the revised federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act takes effect with its new testing mandates. English-language learners (ELL) will be expected to reach the same levels of achievement as fluent English speakers, and schools where they don't will face escalating penalties (see below).
The number of ELL students is growing fast nationwide--up 27 percent in just two years.
Some educators feel the best way to help ELL students achieve is to "immerse" them in English instruction, with little or no use of their native language, even if that means they can't follow what's going on in class for a while.
Others favor teaching in the native language while also teaching English part of the day--"bilingual" education.
Worcester schools have advocates of both points of view and many more in between, but in Massachusetts, the decision on how to educate these children may not be made by educators at all. It may be determined at the ballot box next fall if a referendum severely restricting bilingual education passes.
Bankrolled by Ronald Unz, the Calif-ornia software tycoon who underwrote anti-bilingual campaigns in several other states, the referendum is opposed by the Massachusetts Teachers Association. If passed, the restrictions would take effect in the fall of 2003.
Passage of the proposal would throw a monkey wrench into Worcester's varied and sophisticated language instruction system where the guiding principle is, one size doesn't fit all.
Here, 10 percent of school children are not fluent in English, and the ranks keep growing. Worcester educators have responded with bilingual classes, two-way bilingual classes, "structured" English immersion, after-school tutoring, and many more variations, depending on students' ages, their skill level, the number of other students speaking their language, the availability of bilingual teachers and teaching assistants, and the preferences of their parents.
Angelique Rivera, who teaches kindergarten at Chandler Magnet School, strongly supports bilingual education because of her own experience growing up in a Spanish-speaking Puerto