[I remember when this initiative was on the ballot. Those radical
liberals who opposed it claimed the sky would fall down, and
worse. To me it just made good sense. If somone cannot be fluent
in English in this country, that person is basically condemned to
be on the absolute lowest position on the totem pole. --MS]
----------------------------------------
May 18, 2000
English fluency soars in Los Angeles schools
By Andrea Billups THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A record number of non-English-speaking students in the Los Angeles
Unified School District have become fluent in English, prompting
supporters of California's Proposition 227 initiative to claim victory.
Figures released earlier this month by the 690,000-student school system
— sued recently for failure to provide adequate services to its students
— show the highest annual increase in students achieving English fluency
since the system began keeping data on their progress.
>From December 1998 to December 1999, more than 32,000 of the state's
313,442 "English learners" were reclassified as fluent, according to the
district's language acquisition branch.
"The results are positive and, I believe, cause for celebration," said
Ramon Cortines, Los Angeles' interim superintendent of schools.
"Particularly encouraging is the fact that the greatest increase is
occurring before the students leave elementary school."
Two years ago, California voters approved Proposition 227, which
mandated that state public schools teach non-English-speaking students
primarily in English until they are fluent.
Fluency means a student can understand and complete lessons taught in
English, the Los Angeles district says. The students are evaluated by
teachers and must meet certain standards in reading, writing, listening
and speaking before they are reclassified.
Of the students who have become fluent, more than 19,000 were in
kindergarten through fifth grade, the district said. Forty percent of
those who are now deemed fluent were in fifth grade. That, said Mr.
Cortines, is crucial, because it means most of the newly fluent students
will spend the majority of their school years in "mainstream" English
classes taught at their appropriate grade levels.
Sheri Annis, spokeswoman for English for the Children, the California
group led by entrepreneur Ron Unz that sponsored Proposition 227, said
she was not surprised by the results.
"It's a no-brainer," she said of the Los Angeles school district's
success. When students are taught only in English, "they learn the
language, and therefore are able to succeed on the state's standardized
tests."
"We see this as a positive step toward full implementation of English
immersion programs as called for under Prop 227," she said.
Before the English-only initiative was passed by California voters,
bilingual programs permeated the Los Angeles school district, the
state's largest. Limited-English-speaking children made up 45 percent of
the student population, Miss Annis said.
"Now we're seeing that certain classrooms are switching over and at
least defaulting toward English, rather than Spanish. This accounts for
the stronger transition rate to mainstream English classrooms," she
said.
Other school systems, particularly those in the San Francisco area but
many sprinkled throughout the state, have been slow to follow through on
Proposition 227's provisions, which Miss Annis believes will hurt
children in the long term. If students are speaking Spanish at home,
for example, schools ought to teach them English because they cannot get
those skills from their families, she said.
Children who become fluent ultimately will benefit "because they will be
able to compete on their SAT scores and simply get a better-paying job,
and have much more opportunity in general."
The school system has focused its efforts on training more teachers to
effectively instruct non-English-speaking students, and has implemented
other measures designed to reduce class size and improve reading skills.
While Miss Annis was hopeful, proponents of Proposition 227 said it was
likely too soon to gauge whether the law should receive sole credit for
the turnaround in Los Angeles.
Proponents, however, conceded that the news in Los Angeles was
encouraging and perhaps a sign that students whose native language was
not English would not be hurt by English immersion, as they had argued
when the law was before voters.
"Of course I think it's positive that scores didn't crash, but is it
really working? It's too soon to tell,"Theresa Fay-Bustillos, vice
president of legal programs for the Mexican American Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, told the Los Angeles Daily News.
Her group opposed Proposition 227.
Mrs. Fay-Bustillos questioned whether students would be able to use
their newly acquired language skills as they move into more difficult
course work in the higher grades. "What you're going to witness in a
classroom is verbal fluency," she told the Daily News. "But that's not
the same as literacy."
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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