Language Education Policy

Boston Globe editorial urges bilingual education for Boston schools

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A Boston Globe editorial on July 13, 2015 urges superintendent Chang to increase bilingual and dual language education in Boston Public Schools:

When it comes to educating the surging immigrant population in Boston, many in educational and political circles ignore the evidence of failure all around them. The achievement gap for so-called English-language learners — students enrolled in school but without English proficiency — promises to haunt Boston for a generation unless the ineffective and highly unsuccessful English immersion mandate is reversed. The Boston Public Schools continue to watch these students fall through the cracks. Their dropout rates are consistently higher, and they have among the lowest MCAS scores in the city. Saving more of these students from a life without meaningful educational achievement stands as one of the signal challenges for new superintendent Tommy Chang. Read more…

The Boston Globe: Bring back bilingual education for Boston schools

Happy Graduation!

MATSOL Language Education Policy, National News

Congratulations to the students around the country who graduated from high school with a Seal of Biliteracy — Let’s make this possible for Massachusetts students as well!

  • Illinois: Nearly 800 Illinois students in Class of 2015 graduate with the Illinois State Seal of Biliteracy
  • New Jersey: Washington Township High School was one of 12 school districts in New Jersey that participated in a pilot program that recognizes students for biliteracy — an honor that is aimed at giving students a competitive edge upon high school graduation.
  • California: The Napa Valley Unified School District recognized 137 high school graduates who attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in one or more languages in addition to English with a Seal of Biliteracy.

See more at SealofBiliteracy.org.

Seal of Biliteracy

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Support the Seal of Biliteracy in Massachusetts! Support An Act to Establish a State Seal of Biliteracy H.422/S.336 and An Act relative to Language Opportunity for Our Kids (LOOK) H.498/S.262.

“A lot of businesses want to know, ‘Do you know Chinese? And how do I know you know?’ And you can have your certificate as verification.”

NPR: On The High School Diploma: A ‘Bilingual’ Stamp Of Approval?

Shortage of Dual Language Teachers

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The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) has cited finding highly qualified teachers as the greatest challenge in implementing an immersion program. Aside from needing to be fluent in the target language, teachers also need to be competent in language learning strategies and the relevant pedagogical skills.

The LOOK Bill will create a certification for Dual Language educators in Massachusetts.

Education Week: Shortage of Dual-Language Teachers: Filling the Gap

Who are Dual Language Learners?

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New America’s EdCentral is publishing a part of a 10-week series on research, policies, and practices pertaining to the education of dual language learners (DLLs) in U.S. public schools.

Children between the ages of zero- and eight-years-old are the most diverse age group in the United States. Compared to other age groups, they are more likely to be racial and/or ethnic minorities, be born to immigrant parents, and speak a language other than English. Many of these young children are considered dual language learners (DLLs). Yet despite this fact, it is somewhat difficult to find a good estimation for just how many DLLs there are.

The New America Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of challenges facing the United States.

New America EdCentral: http://www.edcentral.org/dllreader2/

America’s Lacking Language Skills

MATSOL Language Education Policy

Kirsten Brecht-Baker, the founder of Global Professional Search, recently told me about what she calls “the global war for talent.” Americans, she said, are in danger of needing to import human capital because insufficient time or dollars are being invested in language education domestically. “It can’t just be about specialization [in engineering or medicine or technology] anymore,” she said. “They have to communicate in the language.”

From The Atlantic: America’s Lacking Language Skills

Monolingual Ph.D.’s?

MATSOL Language Education Policy

Most US doctoral programs have dropped their foreign language requirements.

Being monolingual is a concrete drawback for today’s science professors, too, given that scientists in most other nations are capable of working in multiple languages. Foreign-language proficiency is not essential to get research done, but it does increase one’s options. Most U.S. scientists might believe that knowing multiple languages is not critical, however, I imagine we might get a different answer if we ask their current and potential research collaborators for whom English is a second language. While internationally visible scholarship is primarily published in English, many of the laboratories that generate this work do not necessarily use English on a day-to-day basis in the lab.

 

Different Programs for Different Contexts

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A new report from Education Commission of the States on State Level English Language Learner Policies examines issues of finance, identification of ELLs, educator quality, and more.

In the section on recognizing the implications of different ELL program approaches, the report states:

State leaders should recognize that different programs will be effective in different contexts. For example, rural school districts with few ELLs and urban districts with high concentrations of ELLs will need different program approaches. Likewise, long-term ELLs, students exiting ELL programs in the early grades and ELLs with interrupted education, for example, all need different kinds of supports and services.

From Education Commission of the States: State Level English Language Learner Policies