December 16, 2003
Making English our official language
Should English be the official language of the United States? Mauro Mujica of US English Inc. argues; you decide:
Many nations showed [in a recent poll] almost unanimous agreement on the importance of learning English. Examples include Vietnam, 98 percent; Indonesia, 96 percent; Germany and South Africa, 95 percent; India, 93 percent; China and the Philippines, 92 percent; Honduras, Japan, Nigeria, and Uganda, 91 percent; and France, Mexico, and Ukraine, 90 percent.
To an immigrant like myself (from Chile), these results come as no surprise. Parents around the world know that English is the global language and that their children need to learn it to succeed...Given the globalization of English, one might be tempted to ask why the United States would need to declare English its official language. Why codify something that is happening naturally and without government involvement?
The answer is that English in schools, workplaces, and government offices is "on the retreat" in the US:
Historically, the need to speak and understand English has served as an important incentive for immigrants to learn the language and assimilate into the mainstream of American society. For the last 30 years, this idea has been turned on its head. Expecting immigrants to learn English has been called "racist." Marta Jimenez, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, speaks of "the historical use of English in the United States as a tool of oppression."...
Citing census statistics gives an idea of how far English is slipping in America, but it does not show how this is played out in everyday life. Consider the following examples...
In May, about 20 percent of the students at Miami Senior High School, where 88 percent of the students speak English as a second language, failed the annual Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) exam, which is required for graduation. The poor results prompted protests and demands for the test to be given in Spanish as well as English. Over 200 students and teachers gathered outside the school waving signs and chanting "No FCAT." A state senator from Miami introduced a bill that would allow the FCAT to be given in Spanish.
Over and above the issue of whether the ability to read English is considered essential in NLCB (and I believe it is), translating exams is no simple task. Anyone who suggests this as a "solution" to help more non-English-speaking students get high school diplomas has no idea of the cost in time and money that's involved, not to mention the fairness and validity issues. Given that Florida is already so strapped for cash that they need to re-use test items, what makes these activists think the cash and know-how are available to develop a Spanish FCAT that is parallel to the English version?
What's more, if that floodgate is opened, what's to stop other activists from demanding Chinese FCATs? Serbo-Croatian FCATs? What use will the FCAT be at that point? What makes these activists think that colleges will be willing to accept students who have not demonstrated mastery of English?
Update: Winston's Diary has a related tale about real students floundering in college thanks to the "post-colonialists" who abhor the "linguistic imperialism" involved in requiring US college students to be proficient in English:
I have had, quite literally, students who could not understand me when I asked them to join a group to work on study questions regarding an essay the class had read...Whatever their major is, they cannot be understanding the content of the class, if it is being delivered in English. How much are they really learning?
...Why is [the language barrier] allowed to persist?
I place the blame on two factors.
The first is the greed of the American university system. This student and others like him are paying a premium price to attend public universities in the United States. They are provided with ESL classes that are, frankly, a joke...
But from the other side of the political fence (sort of) there are those who make the acquisition of the English language a political issue...when too big a deal is made out of the under-performance of ESL students in English classes, the post-colonialists pop out of the woodwork and start lamenting the terrible conditions in these students' home countries that have forced them to come to the U.S. to seek a "quality" education and that we should not practice linguistic imperialism in forcing these students to learn the English language and possibly lose their culture in so doing. We must respect the "linguistic choices" of these students, and read the papers they submit to us for their ideas alone, regardless of whether those ideas are truly being communicated.
But, regardless of which side you decide to listen to, you wind up with students with whom you cannot communicate. Isn't this robbing them of at least part of the quality education they came here for in the first place?
November 19, 2003
Voucher concerns and FCAT standards in Florida
Florida Education Commissioner Jim Horne spoke to members of the state Board of Education about the "embarrassing revelations" concerning the state's voucher system:
"There are things I'm not proud of that we've missed," Education Commissioner Jim Horne told members of the state Board of Education. "If you don't believe it's managed real well, the blame is with me," he said. "We will make sure these programs are more effective."...
More than 24,000 Florida schoolchildren participate in one of the state's three voucher programs. The majority, about 11,500, are in the newest program - the Corporate Tax Credit program for low-income children. A small number of high-profile problems have prompted critics to complain the state isn't keeping a tight enough rein on the programs.
A scholarship funding organization in Ocala, for example, is now under criminal investigation. Law enforcement is trying to discover what happened to $168,000 that was supposed to be spent on vouchers for low-income children but disappeared. In July, voucher funding was cut off to an Islamic school in Tampa. The school was co-founded by Sami Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida professor alleged to have terrorist ties...
Horne has proposed a package of changes that would tighten controls over the programs. But board member Bill Proctor said he is concerned the reforms don't go far enough. For instance, Proctor wants students who use vouchers at private schools to take the FCAT so their academic progress can be evaluated.
And speaking of the FCAT, Florida's BOE has decided not to raise FCAT standards this year:
A divided Florida Board of Education decided Tuesday to leave the standards where they are for now, despite a state rule that calls for adjustments this year. The lone dissenting vote was board member Charles Garcia, who called Tuesday's vote "the low point of my tenure on the board."...
The naysayers worried about the effect raising standards could have on morale, and were also concerned that they had not seen enough data showing the effect of using the FCAT as a promotion tool. I completely understand their desire to know more about the effects, but I wonder if they're just waiting to see how many of the 42,000 third-graders who originally flunked the FCAT will have passed it by the spring of next year.
There will be some changes, however:
Next school year, all students - including those with disabilities and limited English skills - will be included in the school grade calculations. Those changes are expected to lower grades for many schools, but a state study shows that 38 percent of Florida's D and F-rated schools would actually benefit from the change. Only 20 percent of A and B-rated schools would benefit.
The state standard for the writing test will be raised from 3.0 (on a scale from 1 to 6) to a 3.5 next school year. The standard will be raised to 4.0. in 2006-07. A 4.0 is the average writing score right now.
Also in 2006-07, science will be added to the school grading mix.
Parents in Florida also won't have access to test forms:
Florida's high-stakes exam that determines whether students graduate from high school or are promoted from the third grade will remain confidential, a state appellate court ruled Thursday [November 6th].
In a unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal, the judges determined that the questions from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test would remain secret, unlike the test scores that are released to students and parents...
Gov. Jeb Bush praised the decision, saying it upheld the state Department of Education's long-standing policy of keeping tests confidential. If the tests had to be released each year, the governor and DOE officials said it would have driven up the costs of the exam by forcing the state to revise it annually...
State officials said although the test booklets aren't released, parents get diagnostic reports and their children are offered remedial help if they struggle. They also said the FCAT was no different than other scholastic tests, such as the SAT or ACT, where only test scores and not the tests themselves are released...
Actually, the 1980 "Truth-in-Testing" bill gave examinees in New York the right to see SAT test forms; a 1982 study concluded that examinees who saw their test forms and then retook the SAT did not show a significant change in performance. Other organizations also release most or all of their test forms - the LSAC, for example, releases three out of the four LSATs it administers each year.
Nevertheless, releasing FCAT items would indeed drive the costs of the test up, and substantially more time and effort would be required to construct new tests that are properly developed and equated each year.
June 23, 2003
Optional essays to be added to the ACT
ACT, Inc, will be adding an optional essay to the ACT assessment beginning in 2005. They're currently in the midst of the grueling process of selecting essays, training raters, and setting standards for grading the essays. No word yet as to how many colleges will begin requiring the essay for admission. An essay section will also be introduced to the SAT in 2005.