Dual Language Education Challenges & Opportunities

Published by the Washington Post, October 24, 2014

Two languages, two sets of opinion about bilingualism. On the one side is the research that consistently shows that bilingualism is good for you. It leads to an enriched set of experiences, a new way of seeing the world, and more prosaically but no less importantly, is associated with reduced rates of dementia. People who are multilingual are perceived as more intelligent and educated, and they have better international contacts and resources in their careers.

On the other side, we also hear about the perniciousness of bilingualism among immigrants, the uselessness of supporting and preserving minority and indigenous languages, and the educational and economic harm that comes from ‘wasting’ valuable resources on bilingual education initiatives. Some even see maintaining another language as seditious, a compromise to national security, or at the very least, evidence of conflicted loyalties or identities, or that a person cannot be fully trusted.

These opposing views tells us more about stereotypes and social pigeonholing than about language. To put it bluntly, bilingualism is often seen as “good” when it’s rich English speakers adding a language as a hobby or another international language, but “bad” when it involves poor, minority, or indigenous groups adding English to their first language, even when the same two languages are involved.

Published by the Tyler Morning Telegraph, October 16, 2014

The board received an update on planning for operation of the new career and technology center, which will house a wide variety of facilities from a high-end hair salon to television studio.

Information will be sent to parents and a pathway selection guide furnished, administrators said, also giving an update on hiring personnel.

In an unrelated presentation, Chief Academic Officer Dr. Christy Hanson updated the board on what is being done in response to a report that the board received in July from Gibson Consulting Group that evaluated the bilingual program last spring.

The consultants recommended Tyler ISD re-examine the bilingual model and English as a Second Language (ESL) model that it uses and determine whether it’s still appropriate and the best model for the district.

The district uses a late exit subtractive bilingual model of bilingual education.

That means students receive most of their instruction in their native language in prekindergarten and kindergarten with some introduction of English, but less and less of their native language is used and more English language is used as they progress until they are getting all their instruction in English in fifth grade.

The district has formed a steering committee of teachers, principals, parents and administrators to determine if that model is still appropriate, Dr. Hanson said.

The committee will look at research related to the models and what is working in other communities that have demographics similar to TISD, she said. She anticipates the committee will make recommendations to the board next spring.

The consultants found misunderstandings and inconsistencies related to how Tyler ISD works with English language learners through both the bilingual and English as a Second Language program.

“We are having to look at training that we are providing to teachers, both at the campus level and the district level, not just our bilingual teachers but our non-ESL and bilingual teachers and how they are working with English language learners in their class,” Dr. Hanson said. “We are having to put together a training plan for teachers and administrators.”

Also in response to the consultants’ report, the district looked at how it is monitoring and supporting what teachers do in the classroom.

The monitoring piece will come from both the district level and the campus level.

“We have increased our training modules to be able to implement sheltered instruction strategies in the classroom,” Dr. Hanson said.

“We’ve made those strategies part of our walk-through process so that when principals and school administration people are in the classroom, we’re able to give teachers feedback about any of those strategies that we have happening that are effective, and coach them to use some of those strategies if we don’t see any of them happening.”

That was implemented as soon as the district heard from the consulting group.

Another thing the district is doing, Dr. Hanson said, is providing a strong collaborative pathway between the curriculum and instruction department, the bilingual/ English as a Second Language department, the bilingual teachers and the nonbilingual teachers for planning instruction, coaching and to insure that strategies are embedded in what’s being done on the nonbilingual/ESL side.

Published by the Los Angeles Times,September 28, 2014

Brown also signed a bill by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) that would ask voters on the 2016 ballot to consider repealing key parts of Proposition 227, the 1998 law restricting bilingual education in California by requiring school instruction in English.

Lara said the old initiative is stifling multilingualism in California and harming students who will need to speak more than one language to compete in the global economy.

Children who participate in multilingual immersion programs not only outperform their peers in the long run, they also have higher earning potential when they enter the workforce,” Lara said in support of his SB 1174.

In this week's Q&A, we interview Rebecca Callahan, researcher and associate professor of education at the University of Texas at Austin....

She co-wrote the recently published book The Bilingual Advantage: Language, Literacy and the US Labor Market.