Bilingual Education and New York City:
A Resource Guide and Companion to the Public Seminar, February 6, 2001
The Center for New York City Affairs
Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy

Introduction: The Facts

English Language Learners, or "ELLs" in Board of Education jargon, come from homes in which a language other than English is spoken, and have scored at or below the 40th percentile on the Language Assessment Battery. The LAB is a standardized exam developed by the New York City Board of Education specifically designed to identify ELLs (Chancellor's Report on the Education of ELLs, 2001).

More than half of all ELL students are in bilingual education programs. These programs begin with classes taught primarily in the student's native language, and over time exposure to English is increased significantly. A significant portion of their day is devoted to English as a Second Language instruction, in which the student receives intensive assistance in learning English. About 85 percent of the students in bilingual programs are native Spanish speakers, according to the recent report of the Mayor's Task Force on Bilingual Education.

Bilingual education of some form has been practiced in the United States for over 200 years. However, the use of this educational technique has been increasingly criticized over the past decade.

There are many reasons why bilingual has become a hot political issue this year, including the natural result of attention following the passage of Proposition 227 in California and the consequent dismantling of much of that state's bilingual education apparatus. Leading supporters of the anti-bilingual campaign there have focused new attention on New York City, which is second only to Los Angeles in the number of English Language Learners in the United States.

In addition, New York State's new graduation requirements mandate that all students, pass five Regents examinations-including the English Language Arts Regents.

What has the City done to accommodate its ELL population?

The majority of students entering into bilingual programs in middle and high school grades fail to exit these programs within their academic career. They show high dropout rates and low graduation rates.

Students entering at earlier ages acquire English proficiency more readily and are much more likely to move into English-only programs. However, the lower success rates of older students has been used by opponents of bilingual to challenge the effectiveness of the city's bilingual programs.

Suggested reforms have included calls for an increase in the number of certified bilingual teachers. Another suggested reform is the revision of the Language Assessment Battery (LAB) tests. In 1999, 20 percent of ELLs passed the English Language Arts Exam, even though they had not achieved the required score of the 41st percentile on the LAB to exit the bilingual program. This disparity has caused some to speculate the LAB itself, not the program, is preventing students from exiting bilingual education. A third, politically charged reform measure would be to eliminate bilingual education as we know it in New York altogether and replace it with an immersion program similar to that outlined in California's Proposition 227.

While opinions on which reforms would best suit New York's students are hotly debated, there is wide agreement that reform is needed. Before the close of this school year, New Yorkers will see many changes in its bilingual education system. The specifics of those changes will rest mainly on the fiscal burden the State and the City are willing to bear as well as the work and opinions of active participants in the bilingual education arena that include parents, students, educators, community advocates, researchers, and our elected officials.

1. The Chancellor's Report on the Education of English Language Learners, December 19, 2000. This is the blueprint for Schools Chancellor Harold Levy's proposed reform of the bilingual education system in New York City. It is available on the Web at http://www.nycenet.edu/daa/reports/chan_ELL_ed_report.pdf

Most of the following articles can be downloaded from the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education - www.ncbe.gwu.edu.

I. Bilingual Education and the Role of Parents and Community

"Promoting Partnerships with Minority Parents" by Luis Alfredo Rosado (1994)
In this article, Rosado, based upon interviews with and questionnaires filled out by 50 Latino parents and grandparents, offers some solutions to the question of how to get minority-language parents more involved in their children's schools. Rosado's recommendations are basically to:

a. Empower Latino parents through literacy training, ESL courses and classes on mainstream American culture.

b. Restructure the curriculum to reflect demographics of schools (i.e. greater emphasis on Latino culture and language).

c. Have administrators and teachers demonstrate greater "respect" to Latino parents.

"If Your Child Learns in Two Languages", by Nancy Zelaska and Beth Antunez (2000) This comprehensive guide gives parents of children acquiring English as a second language helpful advice ranging from researchers' descriptions of the best approaches to bilingual education, to how parents can assess whether or not schools are meeting their children's needs. It also includes an introduction to the American educational system as a whole. The guide alerts parents to their rights and the choices they should be given in terms of selecting academic programs for their children. It also provides parents with a fairly comprehensive list of other organizations they can go to for information and help in trying to ensure a quality education for their English language learners. The report can be downloaded from the Web, and is available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. Reports may also be requested by contacting the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education (NCBE) directly at (202) 467-0867.

"Directory of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Programs" - Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL).

For parents who have determined that a two-way ("Dual Language") immersion program is the best choice for their children, this directory offers a fairly exhaustive list of programs that exist nationwide. It includes the addresses and phone numbers of the schools, contact names, demographic profiles and other background information on each school such as class size in each grade and the objectives of the program. Each program has also been assessed by an independent auditor who reviews such indicators as parental involvement.

"School Information for Asian American Families" - National Asian Family/School Partnership Project

While this report was completed with Asian families in mind, the information is valuable for all immigrant families. The report highlights important factors that may effect the way children learn such as class size, teacher expectations and what sort of bilingual program the child is enrolled in. It also provides such information as how to enroll a child in public school, how to deal with a child's suspension or expulsion and how to determine whether the assessment tools used by the school are helping or hurting children. The list goes on. The English version is available on line but versions are also available in Cambodian, Chinese, Hmong, Lao and Vietnamese and may be obtained by calling the NCAS at (617) 357-8507.

II. Bilingual Education and Instructional Approaches

"Why Bilingual Education?" By Stephen Krashen (1997)

In this article, Dr. Krashen tries to dispel some of the misconceptions surrounding bilingual education. His research explains why promoting literacy in a student's native language usually speeds along their ability to read well in English. In other words, he writes, the best bilingual programs are those that first concentrate on literacy in the primary language. Other key components of a good bilingual program are ESL instruction and courses in specific subject areas, such as math, social studies, etc.

"Two-Way Bilingual Education: Students Learning Through Two Languages," by Donna Christian (1994)

This report promotes the use of two-way bilingual education as the most effective way to teach English to non-native speakers, teach a new language to English speakers, and promote positive attitudes among children towards different languages and cultures. Overall, these programs provide content area instruction and language development in two languages. She contends that many researchers have come to the conclusion that language is best developed within a content-based curriculum rather than as the core object of classroom instruction.

"Lessons From Research: What is the Length of Time it Takes Limited English Proficient Students to Acquire English and Succeed in an All-English Classroom?" By Gilbert N. Garcia (2000)

This article attempts to inform policy makers and educators on the results of key research in the field of bilingual education and its implications for the design of educational programs and assessments for Limited English Proficient students. One of the most informative aspects of the article is the annotated bibliography provided in its latter half, along with a listing of other resources for those wishing to become better informed on the issue.

"Advances in Research in Bilingual Education" by Gonzalez & Maez (Fall 1995)

The authors attempt to explore ways in which bilingual education can be made more effective in this country. They begin by positing that educators often overlook the fact that when most English Language Learners are not in the classroom, they require the use of the non-English language. By not supporting the native language, schools set these students up for a myriad of future social problems. Academically speaking, the bilingual approach to education also supports greater academic achievement. While the authors admit that research linking academic achievement to bilingualism has yielded mixed results, they contend that the more rigorous the study, the more positive the benefits of bilingualism.

"Becoming Bilingual in the Amigos Two-Way Immersion Program" Cazabon, et.al. (2000)

This study examines the Amigos Two-Way Immersion Program in Cambridge, MA. Through case studies, surveys and standardized test scores, the authors test whether the program provides its students with an education that is at least as good as that offered elsewhere. Through the case studies and surveys, the authors hoped to ascertain the students' attitudes towards becoming bilingual. Results showed that students overall had very positive opinions about becoming bilingual. Overall, English Amigos did better than the English control group in all grades for Reading and all grades except 7th (there was no significant difference) in Math. The Spanish Amigos did better than the English controls in Reading in all grades except 7th (they performed below the control group). The results were about the same in Math except that in the 8th grade there was no difference in achievement between the two groups.

"A Critical Period for Second Language Acquisition? A Status Review" - Kenji Hakuta (1999)

The author basically disputes the idea that there exists a critical period for second language acquisition. Indeed, he states that the evidence that exists (and which shapes public and policy opinions on the subject) is at best scant and unreliable. There is no qualitative difference between child and adult learners, although there does seem to be a monotonic decline in ultimate attainment in second language with age. However, evidence still does not point to a critical period in language acquisition. This report, although it does not make any references to specific bilingual education programs and practices could be very helpful in shaping future program designs of bilingual programs, especially in jurisdictions that have held on to the belief that small children necessarily acquire second languages faster than others.

"Review of Research on the Instruction of Limited English Proficient Students" - Patricia Gandara (1997)

The author conducted this research for the Latino Caucus of the California Legislature. It is basically an investigation as to whether bilingual works in California. Much if the article contains facts that are specific to California but it also contains some interesting information that might extend to New York City as well. Areas of discussion include the effect of primary language instruction on achievement, best-practices of bilingual classrooms, testing of ELLs, and socioeconomic summaries of schools that serve ELLs.

"The Education of Immigrant Children in New York City" - Francisco Rivera-Bati, (1996)

This is a brief synopsis of what the author believes are the greatest issues facing immigrant children and education in this city. He cites lack of English-speaking skills and lower socioeconomic status as the major reasons why immigrant children do not perform better in schools. He also states that immigrant students have higher dropout rates than native-born, with English proficiency playing a major role in the discrepancies. A 1994 General Accounting Office study reported that the dropout rate of Hispanic immigrants was 49% for those who did not speak English well but only 12% for those that did. At the same time, he states the higher levels of motivation among immigrant students. The two major hypotheses for the discrepancy are that immigrants in general are a highly motivated population that use education as the means of upward mobility and that immigrant children perform better than "involuntary minority" children because the latter experience a historically-rooted discriminatory treatment in both society and educational institutions. The author goes on to identify existing services for immigrant students with limited English proficiency.

"The Changing Face of Racial Isolation and Desegregation in Urban Schools" - Carol Ascher (1993)

The author examines what she sees as a sharp increase in resegregation across the country. The author points out that as of the late 1980s, segregation appears to be worse for Hispanic students than for African-American students. In 1986, more than 70% of Hispanic students, compared to 64% of Blacks, were enrolled in schools that were more than 50% minority and almost a third of all Hispanic students were enrolled in schools that were more than 90% minority. She also states that increasing "school choice" among parents does not necessarily bring about changes in this trend. In terms of children with limited English proficiency, the author contends that while some schools have sacrificed desegregation goals to teach these students, others have subordinated native language instruction to desegregation. She states that both Hispanics and Asians perform more poorly in predominantly black schools than in predominantly white schools. If segregation continues, it is very likely that immigrant students in predominantly black schools will continue to achieve at lower levels than their cohorts in predominantly white schools.

Selected Studies on California and Proposition 227

"Evaluating California's Proposition 227" - Mark Hugo Lopez (October 2000)

"The Initial Impact of Proposition 227 on the Instruction of English Language Learners" - Patricia Gandara, et.al. (2000)

National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education
ERIC Clearinghouse on Language and Linguistics
Center for Research on Educational Diversity and Excellence (CREDE)
Center for Multilingual, Multicultural Research (CMMR)
Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL)
New York City Board of Education
New York City Mayor's Office