I've seen quite a bit of coverage about this recent review of California's Prop 227:
It doesn't matter whether California students who don't know English are taught in bilingual classrooms or fully immersed in the language, according to a five-year study of California's Proposition 227. What matters is the quality of the education they receive."We don't see any compelling evidence that one is better than the other," said study co-director Amy Merickel with the American Institutes for Research. "We've been arguing about the wrong thing for a long time. ... It doesn't appear that forcing the majority of students to take the immersion pill is going to be a solution."
Seven years after California's controversial Prop. 227 passed and reduced the use of bilingual programs throughout the state, the 228-page study largely sidestepped the political debate surrounding English learners. Instead it recommended that educators put less emphasis on dictating specific methods and more on rewarding academic success.
The media is essentially touting the issue as "a draw." It's an interesting one, given the following salient points of the research:
Key findings from the study include:# Since the passage of Proposition 227, students across all language classifications in all grades have experienced performance gains on state achievement tests.
# During this time, the performance gap between English learners and native English speakers has remained virtually constant in most subject areas for most grades.
# Interviews with representatives of schools and districts among the highest performers in the state with substantial English learner populations further supported the finding that there is no single path to academic excellence among English learners.
The key points also note, though, that there are critical factors here, even if there's not one critical method:
The factors identified as most critical to their success were: staff capacity to address English learners’ linguistic and academic needs; school wide focus on English language development and standards-based instruction; shared priorities and expectations in educating English learners and systematic, ongoing assessment and careful data use to guide instruction.Posted by kswygert at February 22, 2006 10:51 PM