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The 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Home v. Flores drives another nail in the coffin of bilingual education, the failed teaching practice in which immigrant children are segregated and taught primarily in their native language. Bilingual education is a documented failure in schools all over the U.S. Arizona’s Nogales Unified School District recognized the superiority of structured English immersion (SEI) methods for teaching English language learners (ELL), but in 1992, some students and parents sued the state, claiming it wasn’t taking “appropriate action” to overcome barriers faced by ELL. The Supreme Court, in a decision written by Justice Samuel Alito, concluded: "Research on ELL instruction indicates there is documented academic support for the view that SEI is significantly more effective than bilingual education. Findings of the Arizona Department of Education in 2004 strongly support this conclusion." SEI has proved its superiority to bilingual education wherever it has been implemented. New numbers released by the Arizona Department of Education show that 40,000, or 29%, of ELLs enrolled in SEI classes passed the English fluency exam and will transition into mainstream classes this year. That is up from only 17,813 students, or 12%, of ELLs who passed the English-fluency exam after taking bilingual education classes in 2006-07. Upholding the Arizona plan, the Supreme Court ruled that the Nogales school district is doing exactly what the law requires, namely, taking “appropriate action” by using English immersion techniques to teach English to students who grew up speaking another language. The experience of other states supports the Court’s decision. Massachusetts effectively uses English immersion instead of bilingual education. The Boston Globe reported that immigrant students (who came to the U.S. only a few years earlier barely knowing English) were class valedictorians in 17 of the 42 high schools in Boston. One of these immigrant kids, a boy from Haiti, not only led his school but won a four-year scholarship to MIT. A recent study by Editorial Projects in Education provides further encouraging news from Massachusetts. Compared to the rest of the country, 36% of the state’s ELL students reached a proficient level in English, as opposed to only 16% nationwide. If that level of success holds true, most kids will learn English quickly enough to be out of special programs in two to three years (whereas most bilingual ed students remain speaking only their native tongue for many years). Nogales school officials had to battle a vocal multilingual lobby that seeks to coddle non-English speaking children. Yet, polls continue to show that more than 90% of all Americans view English as our nation’s unifying language and essential for newcomers to learn in order to participate in the American dream. The Supreme Court has sent a clear signal: get rid of bilingual education and teach the English language so immigrants can succeed in America. By Phil Kent, Atlanta-based author and board member of Pro-English. - http://www.philkent.com |
