Referendums are a good way to gauge the will of the people. There are issues, however, that don’t necessarily lend themselves to ballot box solutions. One of them is English language instruction for immigrant K-12 students. In 2002, voters approved English immersion, popularly known as “sink or swim” English. Many voters reasoned that immigrant K-12 students would learn English better and faster in an English-only environment.
Telemundo special correspondent Marcela García documented the human costs of the policy in a recent Boston Globe opinion column. She told the story of Juan Carlos Sanchez, a young Guatemalan student who cannot speak English after a year in an immersion program at East Boston High School.
“I can’t carry a full conversation in English. I’m completely lost in classes like biology, where I sit next to English-speaking students,” he told García in Spanish.
He also works as a janitor and dreams of going to college. He once spent a weekend working at Northeastern University. He described to Garcia his feelings in a way that recalls scenes from Good Will Hunting. “When I was cleaning that weekend in Northeastern, the whole time I was imagining what it would feel like to be there as a student. I saw myself there,” he said.
For an English speaker, trying to navigate a biology class in a Guatemalan high school using basic Spanish would be challenging enough; taking a test, writing a paper, or working on lab project would be impossible. What if a student is not proficient enough in his or her own native language to tackle the sciences? Yet that’s what education has come down to for many students like Juan Carlos, especially older ones forced to navigate a new education system in an alien country.
Education statistics also confirm failure. Last year, 50 percent of English language learners and former ELL students received “warnings” on the English language arts portion of the MCAS; 61 percent received the same designation in math. A three-part Dedham Transcript series found that the MCAS is the major hurdle for some young students.
Instructors are part of the problem. The US Department of Justice called out the Bay State two years ago for failing to have enough qualified teachers in its “sheltered English immersion” program. In response, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education implemented a new set of teaching guidelines and requirements known as “Rethinking Equity and Teaching for English Language Learners” or RETELL.
Many states are struggling with how to best teach English language learners. Arizona is considering how to revamp a controversial “structured English immersion” program that puts students in a four-hour block of English classes.
Some parents have moved to enroll their children in language immersion schools, where students are taught exclusively in Spanish or another language and English is gradually introduced. Once the realm of private institutions, like the Northern California school profiled by Fox Latino, these language immersion environments are slowly gaining popularity. Utah and Delaware are considering expanding immersion programs.
A few forward-looking states are encouraging bilingualism in other innovative ways. California and New York issue diplomas that indicate that that the graduate is proficient in two languages. Texas is also considering such a policy.
Massachusetts is taking baby steps toward bilingual immersion. Holyoke is opening a “kindergarten center “ that will feature Spanish and English classes. In New Bedford, a proposal is on the table for an immersion program in one of its elementary schools. But the dollars to fund the program are not.
Rep. Jeffrey Sánchez , a Boston Democrat, has filed a bill designed to improve the academic performance of English language learners that includes a “two-way bilingual education” component. Sánchez explained to Telemundo’s García that he has been filing the bill for the past ten years.
–GABRIELLE GURLEY
BEACON HILL
Lt. Gov. Tim Murray is expected to resign effective next month to take over the Worcester Chamber of Commerce, according to everyone. In case you aren’t sure who Tim Murray is, we’re here to help.
The Senate budget plan would expand the number of Gateway Cities (actually municipalities) by a third, CommonWealth reports.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
More woes for the administration of Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua, as the Globe reports on a federal investigation into possible corruption involving receipts at a city-owned garage run by a Lantigua ally.
A federal judge rejected a motion by the city of Quincy to dismiss a suit by a fired police officer who claims his First Amendment rights were violated by city officials when they fired him for ticketing his neighbors for not restraining or cleaning up after their dogs.
Saugus launches a new economic development committee. First priority: make Route 1 businesses more diverse, the Item reports.
CASINOS
The Wynn casino plan for Everett dangles a new goodie: A “flyover” solution to the perpetually traffic-snarled Santilli Circle.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
The Senate Judiciary Committee approves immigration legislation, Politico reports.
Salem News columnist Barbara Anderson, recalling her experiences with the IRS, says it’s time “to drain the swamp” down in Washington. Tea Party groups are partying like it’s 2010 all over again. The head of the IRS unit at the center of the Tea Party audits invokes her Fifth Amendment rights, and won’t testify before Congress.
Conservative pundit and publisher William Kristol says comparisons between President Obama and President Richard Nixon are totally off-base and unfair — to Nixon.
ELECTIONS
With yesterday’s deadline to submit nominating signatures, the field of Boston mayoral candidates has been winnowed — relatively speaking — to 15, though not all of these may make the actual ballot once the process of certifying signatures is complete.
The SouthCoast Alliance has lined up a Providence television station to broadcast its proposed debate between Rep. Ed Markey and Gabriel Gomez in hopes of enticing the two Senate candidates into accepting the offer to debate in New Bedford. Gomez is relying on the finance industry for a large chunk of his campaign funds, Masslive reports.
Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch will run for a fourth term.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Poverty is shifting from urban areas to the suburbs, Governing reports.
EDUCATION
A new study shows that Boston charter high schools outperform district schools on three key tests of student achievement, though they have lower four-year graduation rates.
Massachusetts officials place the Spirit of Knowledge charter school in Worcester on probation, the Telegram & Gazette reports.
edX, the online college course consortium started by Harvard and MIT, is taking on 15 new partners, including Boston University and Berklee College of Music.
HEALTH CARE
Economist Richard Florida maps teen pregnancy rates in the United States. He finds that teen pregnancies are lowest in states that have the most robust access to contraception and abortion services — but also in states where teens tend to binge drink and smoke marijuana.
With black children drowning at a rate three times that of whites and Hispanics, the Greater Boston Y has started a program to teach water safety to poor inner city kids whose parents can’t afford lessons or don’t have access to pools.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
A state acoustic study has found Fairhaven’s two wind turbines violate noise regulations, prompting opponents to call for the turbines to be shut down. In Falmouth, voters yesterday rejected a Proposition 2½ referendum that would have paid to shut down and dismantle that town’s two controversial turbines. CommonWealth’s Back Story last week looked at the continuing fights in communities over turbines that are already up and running.
The site of the former Creese and Cook Tannery in Danvers is designated a Superfund site, the Salem News reports. A shuttered Attleboro chrome plating plant also makes the Superfund list.
The Atlantic examines how climate change is altering tornado season.
The Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s first bald eagle nesting survey has found 30 active nests around the state.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
A four-month undercover investigation of drug dealing in Boston among suspected gang members culminated yesterday in the arrest of 58 people.
A Cape Cod man has been charged with selling fake Viagra pills. Make your own joke.
MEDIA
ESPN is laying off about 400 staffers, roughly 10 percent of the employees at the Disney-owned “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” mostly as a result of high rights fees to acquire games and events, according to Deadspin.
The Justice Department seized the phone records of Fox News staffers, The New Yorker reports. The Daily Beast reports on President Obama’s war on journalism.
Jann Wenner puts his 22-year-old son in charge of Rollingstone.com, Adweek reports.
The Herald speculates that the New York Times Co. could sell the Boston Globe and Boston.com to two different investment groups.