Thursday, January 12, 2012

A Few Words on Language

About 16% of Providence public school students are classified as English Language Learners, and the Achievement First Mayoral Academy application indicates their plan to reach out to non-English-speaking families in an effort to create a student body that mirrors the populations of the sending-districts' schools.  ELL students are expected to become proficient in English at a "rapid" pace, and may be provided with supplemental "pull out" or "push in" services up to twice per week.  


Achievement First believes, as a result of their research, that the key to rapid proficiency is full immersion in English.


ALL instruction will be in English.  


The Rhode Island Department of Education's LEP/ELL Advisory Council, having conducted some research of their own, recognizes and endorses the "importance of native language in promoting academic achievement for English Language Learners."  And the RIDE website directs those interested in effective English Language instruction to the National Council of Teachers of English report, which emphasizes the importance of bi-lingual education.


But the Commissioner of Education must not have an awful lot of confidence in her own advisors - probably because she was blown away by the evidence provided in AF's application for their English instruction model.  After all, their "Research on Immersion" takes up almost a third of a whole page.  


The first piece of evidence in favor of immersion is a 1997 magazine article from the Raleigh/Durham Business Journal.  The AF charter application includes a quote from the piece:


"A review of 300 studies of bilingual education found only 72 that were methodically sound.  Of those studies, 83% comparing bilingual to immersion found that kids learn to read better through immersion."


Please take a moment to re-read that quote, keeping in mind that this is Achievement First's primary defense of its immersion model.  Is that even English?


John Hood, author of the tongue-twister above,  isn't just Achievement First's top source for its "English-Only" education model, he's also the president of the John Locke Foundation and author of other fascinating articles like, "Anti-Smoking War Could Deny Consumers' Choice" - an argument against tobacco regulations (did I mention that the John Locke Foundation receives funding from RJ Reynolds?) and "Ban Cell Phones? No Way!" - in response to legislation requiring hands-free cell use in cars.  And Mr. Hood is an outspoken climate-change skeptic, working with funding from the Koch Brothers and Art Pope to create the "illusion of disagreement" among climate scientists.  


Considering the vast amount of research conducted on language instruction in this country over the last thirty or so years, isn't it strange that an education management company would choose to use this article as evidence of the effectiveness of immersion?


The second (and final) piece of research cited in Achievement First's narrative is a book by Bill Honig, "Teaching Our Children to Read."  


It's interesting that Honig would produce a book extolling the practice of English immersion, as a report he released in 1991 claimed that California was suffering from a shortage of bilingual teachers.  While 8.000 of their teachers were bilingual, the state needed at least 14.332 additional bilingual educators to meet the needs of the growing Latino population.  In the same report, he claimed that the U.S. would need 97,000 bilingual teachers by the year 2000.  A Honig-led task force concluded that their "number one priority is to certify and develop and assure that we have enough qualified bilingual staff."  A 1985 LA Times article reported that "Honig challenged Education Secretary William Bennett's contention that bilingual education has been a failure, saying such programs work."  


I wonder if Bill Honig is aware that his book is quoted in an charter school application.  I'm also curious to know whether the authors of the application (or the reviewers, for that matter) have read anything else he's written.  Because, as it turns out, Bill Honig is a pretty outspoken opponent of organizations like Achievement First.  He accused the Foundation for Educational Choice of "attempting to use taxpayer money to breed 'cult schools'."  In June, 1990, his article, "School Vouchers: Dangerous Claptrap" appeared in the New York Times, and for the Winter '90-'91 Brookings Review, he wrote "Why Privatizing Education is a Bad Idea." 


And now here's something you'll really like:
In the January 3, 2011 Initial Renewal Report for Achievement First's Bushwick Academy,  published by the SUNY Charter Schools Institute, inspectors reported that "at the time of the renewal inspection visit, English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in the school were receiving immersion services from the school’s special services team, and in some cases informal pull-out instruction under the supervision of the special education coordinator. The Institute has determined, and school leaders have acknowledged, that this model for providing services to ELL students at the Elementary Academy has been ineffective given the absence of formal ELL program for what is a sizable ELL population. In addition, the perceived treatment provided for ELLs as similar to that for special education students could be seen as a violation of federal law."


Hmm.


It's not good enough for New York, but it's acceptable for Providence?  Are we really willing to sacrifice 16% of a school's students to programs proven to be ineffective?  And I guess what I really want to know is: how has this application managed to move through the evaluation process so smoothly?  Achievement First has been selling itself as the solution to closing the gaps in student achievement, but all I find are the gaps between their pedagogy and their claims of success. 

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